Dr Miguel Franco

International Tutor

Qualifications

Visiting Research Fellow, The Open University (1999-2000)

Senior Researcher, National Autonomous University of Mexico (1992-2000)

Head of Department of Evolutionary Ecology, National Autonomous University of Mexico (1997-1999)

Visiting Research Fellow, University of Melbourne (1996)

Visiting Research Fellow, The Open University (1990 through 1996)

Associate Researcher, National Autonomous University of Mexico (1986-1992)

PhD, University College of North Wales (1985)

MSc, National Autonomous University of Mexico (1981)

BSc, National Autonomous University of Mexico (1979)

Professional membership

British Ecological Society

Botanical Society of the British Isles

Teaching interests

Teaching is an integral part of my wider academic interests and is linked to my research activities. At Plymouth I have taught in, among other undergraduate modules, Animal and Plant identification Skills,  Principles of Conservation Biology, Issues in Conservation Biology, Applied Conservation Biology, Conservation in Practice, Ecology Fieldcourse, Methods in Demography, and Population Ecology and Conservation. At postgraduate level, I have taught the Ecology Fieldcourse, Techniques in Botanical Conservation, Plant Taxonomy and Identification, and the statistics section of Postgraduate Research Skills and Methods. Undergraduate modules have been embedded in the programmes (BSc Hons) Animal Behaviour and Welfare, Biological Sciences, Conservation Biology, Ecology, Environmental Biology, Marine Biology, Marine Biology and Coastal Ecology, Plant Sciences, and Wildlife Conservation. Postgraduate modules have been imparted in programmes (MSc/MRes) Biological Diversity, Botanical Conservation, Marine Biology, Sustainable Aquaculture, and Zoo Conservation Biology.

Staff serving as external examiners

External examiner:
Ulian, T. 2004. The demography of Oritrophium peruvianum (Lam.) Cuatr. and the impacts of harvesting on its populations in the Venezuelan Andes. PhD thesis, University of Greenwich.
Zuidema, P. 2000. Demography of exploited tree species in the Bolivian Amazon. PhD thesis, Utrecht University.

Research interests

I am interested in the study of the factors that determine variation in the dynamics of populations (1-6) and how this variation underpins the evolution of the wide diversity of life histories found in nature (7-10) and the evolution of senescence (11-13). Because demography deals with the currencies of survival, growth and reproduction as measures of ecological success, my interest in the study of population dynamics extends into the use of demographic tools to conserve and manage threatened species (14-18). I am also interested in understanding the mechanisms through which plants compete (19) and coexist (20-21) and how resource limitation and differential resource allocation generates particular patterns of the relationship between population mass and population density (22).

1) Golubov, J., Mandujano, M.C., FRANCO, M., Montaña, C., Eguiarte, L., & López-Portillo, J. 1999. Demography of the invasive woody perennial Prosopis glandulosa (honey mesquite). Journal of Ecology 87: 955-962.

2) Mandujano, M.C., Montaña, C., FRANCO, M., Golubov, J. & Flores-Martínez, A. 2001. Integration of demographic annual variability in a clonal desert cactus. Ecology 82: 344-359.

3) Zuidema, P.A. & FRANCO, M. 2001. Integrating vital rate variability into perturbation analysis: an evaluation for matrix population models of six plant species. Journal of Ecology 89, 995-1005.

4) Stott, I., FRANCO, M., Carslake, D., Townley, S. & Hodgson, D. 2010. Boom or Bust? A comparative analysis of transient population dynamics in plants. Journal of Ecology 98: 302-311.

5) Ferrer, M.M., Montaña, C. & & FRANCO, M. 2015 Habitat-specific demography, source-sink dynamics, and the niche of a common shrub in a heterogeneous and fluctuating environment. Ecography 38: 930-938.

6) Salguero-Gómez, R., Jones, O.R., Archer, C.R., Buckley, Y.M., Che-Castaldo, J., Caswell, H., Hodgson, D., Scheuerlein, A., Conde, D.A., Brinks, E., de Buhr, H., Farack, C., Gottschalk, F., Hartmann, A., Henning, A., Hoppe, G., Römer, G., Runge, J., Ruoff, T., Wille, J., Zeh, S., Davison, R., Vieregg, D., Baudisch, A., Altwegg, R., Colchero, F., Dong, M., de Kroon, H., Lebreton, J.-D., Metcalf, C.J.E., Neel, M.M., Parker, I.M., Takada, T., Valverde, T., Vélez-Espino, L.A., Wardle, G.M., FRANCO, M., & Vaupel, J.W. 2015. The COMPADRE Plant Matrix Database: an open online repository for plant demography. Journal of Ecology 103: 202-218.

7) Silvertown, J., FRANCO, M., Pisanty, I. & Mendoza, A. 1993. Comparative plant demography - relative importance of life cycle components to the finite rate of increase in woody and herbaceous perennials. Journal of Ecology 81: 465-476.

8) FRANCO, M. & Silvertown, J. 1996. Life history variation in plants: an exploration of the fast-slow continuum hypothesis. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, B, 351: 1341-1348.

9)  FRANCO, M. & Silvertown, J.. 2004. A comparative demography of plants based upon elasticities of vital rates. Ecology 85, 531-538.

10) Adler, P.B., Salguero-Gómez, R., Compagnoni, A., Hsu, J.S., Ray-Mukherjee, J., Mbeaus-Ache, C. & FRANCO, M. 2014. Functional traits explain variation in plant life-history strategies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 111: 740-745.

11) Silvertown, J., FRANCO, M. & Pérez-Ishiwara. 2001. Evolution of senescence in iteroparous perennial plants. Evolutionary Ecology Research 3, 393-412.

12) Baudisch, A., Salguero-Gómez, R., Jones, O.R., Wrycza, T., Mbeau-Ache, C., FRANCO, M. & Colchero, F. 2013. The pace and shape of senescence in angiosperms. Journal of Ecology 101: 596–606.

13) Mbeau-Ache, C. & FRANCO, M. 2013. The time distribution of reproductive value measures the pace of life. Journal of Ecology 101: 1293-1280.

14) Silvertown, J. FRANCO, M. & Menges, E. 1996. Interpretation of elasticity matrices as an aid to the management of plant populations for conservation. Conservation Biology 10: 591-597.

15) Chediack, S.E. & FRANCO, M. 2003. Harvesting and conservation of heart palm. In: C. Galindo-Leal & I. de Gusmao Camara (eds.), The Atlantic Forests of South America: biodiversity status, threats and outlook, pp 406-412. Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International. Island Press, Washington D.C., USA.

16) Keiman, A.F. & FRANCO, M. 2004. Can't see the forest for the butterflies: the need for understanding forest dynamics at the monarch's overwintering sites. In: K. Oberhauser & M. Solensky (ed.), The monarch butterfly: biology & conservation, pp 135-140. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA.

17) Rodríguez-Ortega, C., FRANCO, M. & Mandujano, M.C. 2006. Serotiny and seed germination in three threatened species of Mammillaria (Cactaceae). Basic and Applied Ecology 7: 533-544.

18) Juarez, L., Montaña, C. & FRANCO, M. 2014. The viability of two populations of the terrestrial orchid Cyclopogon luteoalbus in a fragmented tropical mountain cloud forest: dormancy delays extinction. Biological Conservation 170: 162-168.

19) García-Barrios, L., Mayer-Foulkes, D., FRANCO, M., Urquijo-Vásquez, G. & Franco-Pérez, J. (2001). Development and validation of a spatially explicit individual-based mixed crop growth model. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 63, 507-526.

20) Verhulst, J., Montana, C., Mandujano, M.C. & FRANCO, M. 2008. Demographic mechanisms in the coexistence of two closely related perennials in a fluctuating environment. Oecologia 156: 95-105.

21) Cázarez-Martínez, J., Montaña, C. & FRANCO, M. 2010. The role of pollen limitation on the coexistence of two dioecious, wind-pollinated, closely-related shrubs in a fluctuating environment. (submitted).

22) FRANCO, M. & Kelly, C.K. (1998). The interspecific mass-density relationship and plant geometry. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA) 95: 7830-7835.

Research degrees awarded to supervised students

Conferences organised

Plant life histories: ecological correlates and phylogenetic constraints. Royal Socierty Discussion Meeting. London, 1996.