I am an ecologist broadly interested in understanding how ecological processes respond to global change. I have focused throughout my whole career on the study of human-derived impacts on the timing of the life cycles of organisms (phenology), ecological interactions, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem services. My last purpose is to use this knowledge to forecast future changes in ecosystems derived from human activities and give scientific support to policymakers and managers.
I earned my PhD at the University of Granada (Spain) in 2008, funded by a competitive FPU fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education. I then earned an Erasmus-Mundus fellowship to a one-year postdoctoral stay at the University of Aleppo (Syria), where I carried out a cooperation research project comparing forest regeneration in Mediterranean ecosystems from SE Spain and N Syria. I then moved to the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (France) in 2009 where I stayed for 2,5 years (funded by the Caja Madrid Foundation and by the Spanish Ministry of Education, both of them highly competitive fellowships). I started focusing at that time on the study of tropical plant phenology and the influence of climate on plant reproduction. In 2012, I moved to Brazil, where I stayed until 2017 (with a maternity gap of almost one year). I worked first as a teacher assistant and was funded later by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Brazilian CNPq (funding: ~ 6 k€) for six months, and finally, I won a competitive postdoctoral fellowship of the São Paulo Research Council (FAPESP, ~80 k€, of which ~10 k€ exclusive to research costs). My research in Brazil focused on climate cues triggering fruit phenology in the Neotropics over broad latitudinal and temporal scales. After a maternity leave of almost 1 year, I was awarded in 2018 a prestigious Marie Curie IF at the Estación Biológica de Doñana-CSIC (Spain) where I evaluated how phenological changes in interacting plants and animals affect their dynamics over seasonal and long-term time spans (funding: ~170 k€, of which ~20 k€ exclusive to research costs). I was the PI of two recently finished projects funded by competitive calls of the Spanish Research Agency: 1) MISMATCH project, started on 1/12/2021, aimed at understanding bird-fruit mismatches resulting from climate-induced shifts in phenology and geographic ranges (funding: ~180 k€, of which ~45 k€ exclusive to research costs); 2) BIRDeep project, aimed at automatically monitoring birdsong diversity in Doñana, developing the bioinformatics and deep-learning approaches necessary for understanding spatio-temporal changes in bird communities (funding: ~172 k€).
I have been three times a Visiting Researcher at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama (in 2005, 2011 and 2012), where I compared phenological patterns of fruit production between Barro Colorado Island (Panama) and Nouragues (French Guiana), collaborating with Joe Wright and Rick Condit. I spent 3 months at the University of East Anglia (UK) in 2014 collaborating with Carlos A. Peres in the implications of fruiting seasonality for frugivores, thanks to a BEPE fellowship by FAPESP (funding: ~16 k€, of which 1000 € exclusive to research costs). I keep active collaborations with colleagues in the USA, UK, France, Brazil, and Spain.
I have delivered 4 invited talks and given more than 60 contributions to national and international conferences between 2003-2024. I have been involved in the organization of 8 symposia at scientific meetings (including the prestigious Theo Murphy meeting of the Royal Society). I have been the PI of 4 funded projects and I have also worked as a collaborator of 15 research projects funded by competitive calls. I have also successfully supervised 5 Master’s Thesis, 1 Bachelor Thesis, 1 JAE Intern of CSIC, and 10 Erasmus+ interns.
I have given courses on topics related to Botany, Ecology and R programming in Universities in Spain, France, and Brazil. I am an editorial board member of the Biotropica journal and have reviewed ~40 manuscripts for indexed journals, including Journal of Ecology, and Nature Ecology and Evolution among others.
Regarding my institutional responsibilities, I have developed several roles as a spokesperson at the center where I worked. In addition, I was involved for two years in the development of the EBD seminar series, on a weekly basis. I have been a member of the EBD's Equality Committee.
I am especially involved in outreach activities that I have developed during my career, especially those aimed at the general public or young scholars at schools. I am particularly engaged with the motivation of young girls for developing a scientific career and I have participated for several years in the 11F initiative. I have also developed twice outreach activities during the European Night of Researchers. My research is shown in two TV programs of Canal Sur, regional television, and several press releases and outlets.
I am an ecologist broadly interested in understanding how ecological processes respond to global change. I have focused throughout my whole career on the study of human-derived impacts on the timing of the life cycles of organisms (phenology), ecological interactions, biodiversity conservation, and ecosystem services. My last purpose is to use this knowledge to forecast future changes in ecosystems derived from human activities and give scientific support to policymakers and managers.
I earned my PhD at the University of Granada (Spain) in 2008, funded by a competitive FPU fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education. I then earned an Erasmus-Mundus fellowship to a one-year postdoctoral stay at the University of Aleppo (Syria), where I carried out a cooperation research project comparing forest regeneration in Mediterranean ecosystems from SE Spain and N Syria. I then moved to the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle (France) in 2009 where I stayed for 2,5 years (funded by the Caja Madrid Foundation and by the Spanish Ministry of Education, both of them highly competitive fellowships). I started focusing at that time on the study of tropical plant phenology and the influence of climate on plant reproduction. In 2012, I moved to Brazil, where I stayed until 2017 (with a maternity gap of almost one year). I worked first as a teacher assistant and was funded later by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Brazilian CNPq (funding: ~ 6 k€) for six months, and finally, I won a competitive postdoctoral fellowship of the São Paulo Research Council (FAPESP, ~80 k€, of which ~10 k€ exclusive to research costs). My research in Brazil focused on climate cues triggering fruit phenology in the Neotropics over broad latitudinal and temporal scales. After a maternity leave of almost 1 year, I was awarded in 2018 a prestigious Marie Curie IF at the Estación Biológica de Doñana-CSIC (Spain) where I evaluated how phenological changes in interacting plants and animals affect their dynamics over seasonal and long-term time spans (funding: ~170 k€, of which ~20 k€ exclusive to research costs). I was the PI of two recently finished projects funded by competitive calls of the Spanish Research Agency: 1) MISMATCH project, started on 1/12/2021, aimed at understanding bird-fruit mismatches resulting from climate-induced shifts in phenology and geographic ranges (funding: ~180 k€, of which ~45 k€ exclusive to research costs); 2) BIRDeep project, aimed at automatically monitoring birdsong diversity in Doñana, developing the bioinformatics and deep-learning approaches necessary for understanding spatio-temporal changes in bird communities (funding: ~172 k€).
I have been three times a Visiting Researcher at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama (in 2005, 2011 and 2012), where I compared phenological patterns of fruit production between Barro Colorado Island (Panama) and Nouragues (French Guiana), collaborating with Joe Wright and Rick Condit. I spent 3 months at the University of East Anglia (UK) in 2014 collaborating with Carlos A. Peres in the implications of fruiting seasonality for frugivores, thanks to a BEPE fellowship by FAPESP (funding: ~16 k€, of which 1000 € exclusive to research costs). I keep active collaborations with colleagues in the USA, UK, France, Brazil, and Spain.
I have delivered 4 invited talks and given more than 60 contributions to national and international conferences between 2003-2024. I have been involved in the organization of 8 symposia at scientific meetings (including the prestigious Theo Murphy meeting of the Royal Society). I have been the PI of 4 funded projects and I have also worked as a collaborator of 15 research projects funded by competitive calls. I have also successfully supervised 5 Master’s Thesis, 1 Bachelor Thesis, 1 JAE Intern of CSIC, and 10 Erasmus+ interns.
I have given courses on topics related to Botany, Ecology and R programming in Universities in Spain, France, and Brazil. I am an editorial board member of the Biotropica journal and have reviewed ~40 manuscripts for indexed journals, including Journal of Ecology, and Nature Ecology and Evolution among others.
Regarding my institutional responsibilities, I have developed several roles as a spokesperson at the center where I worked. In addition, I was involved for two years in the development of the EBD seminar series, on a weekly basis. I have been a member of the EBD's Equality Committee.
I am especially involved in outreach activities that I have developed during my career, especially those aimed at the general public or young scholars at schools. I am particularly engaged with the motivation of young girls for developing a scientific career and I have participated for several years in the 11F initiative. I have also developed twice outreach activities during the European Night of Researchers. My research is shown in two TV programs of Canal Sur, regional television, and several press releases and outlets.
