Oscar Alberto Rojas Castillo

Oscar Alberto Rojas Castillo is a Ph.D. Candidate and Guest Researcher in the Department of Biology at the University of Copenhagen's Faculty of Science, specializing in Freshwater Biology. With extensive international research experience across six countries, he brings a global perspective to his work on biodiversity, land-use change, and freshwater ecosystems.

His educational background includes an MSc in Applied Ecology from the International Master in Applied Ecology program (University of Poitiers, University of Kiel, and University of Coimbra) and a Bachelor's in Biology focusing on the impact of oil palm plantations and land-use change on stream water quality. His academic journey reflects a consistent dedication to understanding human impacts on aquatic ecosystems.

Rojas Castillo's research expertise centers on freshwater ecology, conservation biology, and land-use change impacts. His work investigates how agricultural expansion, particularly oil palm cultivation, affects freshwater biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, with special attention to the protective role of riparian buffers. He excels in statistical programming and data analysis using R, and has developed sophisticated methodologies for assessing biodiversity patterns in tropical streams.

His scientific achievements include a meta-analysis in Conservation Biology that has significantly advanced understanding of riparian buffer effectiveness, along with multiple high-impact publications examining microbial communities, leaf-litter breakdown, and long-term ecological changes in diverse freshwater systems. His research has been recognized with the TALENT Doctoral Fellowship Scholarship, supporting his doctoral work on oil palm expansion impacts.

As an active collaborator, Rojas Castillo has worked with researchers across multiple continents, contributing to a growing body of knowledge about sustainable management of freshwater resources in agricultural landscapes. His work bridges theoretical ecology with practical conservation applications, offering evidence-based solutions for mitigating biodiversity loss in tropical regions.