Dr. Portugal ’s research focuses on understanding how environmental changes affect animal behavior and physiology, as well as the interplay between these factors. Employing a macroecological approach, they investigate evolutionary drivers of traits to predict species’ responses and adaptations to global change. Key research priorities include avian collisions within sensory ecology, the impacts of environmental stress on group behavior and physiology, and the role of social environments in collective decision-making. Their work combines laboratory studies with extensive fieldwork across diverse locations such as Zambia, Panama, Australia, and South Africa, studying species like homing pigeons, avian brood parasites, and naked mole-rats.