
Prof. Dr. Josep Peñuelas (CREAF-CSIC)
CSIC Research Professor & Main researcher
Global ecology, climate change, atmospheric pollution, biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds emissions, remote sensing, plant ecophysiology, functioning and structure of terrestrial plants and ecosystems, chemical ecology and metabolomics, macroecology and biogeochemistry.

Dr. Iolanda Filella (CREAF-CSIC)
CSIC Senior Research Scientist
Development of remote sensing techniques to assess plant and ecosystem functioning, global and climate change effects on the structure and functioning of Mediterranean ecosystems, mechanisms and functions of plant-emitted volatile organic compounds.

Dr. Marc Estiarte (CREAF-CSIC)
CSIC Titular Research Scientist
Climate change effects on ecosystem productivity, plant phenology and soil gas exchange. Climate change experiments on natural ecosystems.


Dr. Jordi Sardans (CREAF-CSIC)
CREAF Research Scientist I3
My main work is in the context of the relationships between terrestrial ecosystems structure and function with biogeochemical cycles (P, C, N, K,..), and coupling ecological stoichiometry and ecometabolomics approaches with ecosystems composition and function. I apply these studies to experimental and observational field data and to metadata analyses

Dr. Romà Ogaya (CREAF-CSIC)
CREAF Research Scientist I4
Global change effects in plant ecophysiology. Climate change and nitrification effects in plant photosynthetic activity, chlorophyll fluorescence, water relations, and ecosystem productivity.

Dr. Jofre Carnicer (University of Barcelona – UB and CREAF-CSIC)
CREAF Associate Researcher
Plant-herbivore interactions, arthropod biodiversity responses, wood growth and dendroecology.

Dr. Aleixandre Verger (CREAF-CSIC)
CREAF Research Scientist I4
Remote sensing, vegetation-climate dynamics, global change
http://www.creaf.cat/en/personal/aleixandre-verger-ten
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/A_Verger


Dr. Weiqi Wang
Associate Researcher in Global Ecology Unit (CREAF-CSIC)
Global change and ecological stoichiometry, wetland biogeochemistry, industrial and agricultural wastes reuse in agriculture, greenhouse gases mitigation, Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems

Dr. Sandra Nogué
Associate Researcher in Global Ecology Unit (CREAF-CSIC)
Palaeoecology, Biogeography, Island Biology
My research interest examines the mechanisms by which vegetation interacts with the environment using a palaeoecological approach.
https://www.southampton.ac.uk/geography/about/staff/snb1g15.page

Dr. Xavier Domene
Soil science professor
Soil science, soil biology, ecotoxicology, soil quality indicators, soil ecosystem services and biochar.

Dr. Dolores Asensio (CREAF-CSIC)
Post-doc
Soil enzyme activity, microbial biomass, microbial stoichiometry, soil VOCs.


Dr. Oriol Grau (CREAF-CSIC)
CREAF Research Scientist I4
I am currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Global Ecology Unit (CREAF-CSIC-UAB, Catalonia). My research combines several disciplines in Ecology: plant biology, fungal biology, community structure, functional ecology, ecosystem dynamics, plant-soil interactions and diversity patterns. I have been doing research on contrasting ecosystems across the world: in alpine (Pyrenees, Himalaya), subarctic (Scandes), arctic (Greenland), tropical (French Guiana), and in mediterranean regions (Catalonia). I have conducted observational and experimental studies in most of these regions to analyse the effects of environmental variability on ecosystem functioning.
For more information you can e-mail me (grau.oriol@gmail.com) or check the website: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Oriol_Grau

Dr. Guille Peguero (CREAF-CSIC)
CREAF Research Scientist I4
Effects of nutrient imbalances at local and regional scales on the composition and phylogenetic structure of soil mesofaunal communities.

Dr. Olga Margalef (CREAF-CSIC, IIASA)
CREAF Research Scientist I4
Biogeochemical aspects of phosphorus cycle.

Dr. Catherine Preece (CREAF-CSIC)
Postdoctoral Marie Curie fellow
I am a plant ecologist and my current work is investigating the effect of drought on plant-soil interactions in the Mediterranean-climate region. I am particularly interested in learning more about how plant root exudates mediate soil microbial diversity and function under water stress, and the feedbacks the microbial community have on plants. An increase in extreme drought events could negatively impact biodiversity and soil quality in both natural and agricultural habitats. Attempts to mitigate drought effects will benefit from a thorough understanding of water stress on plants and soils and also the complex interactions between the two.

Dr. Benjamin Stocker
Postdoctoral Marie Curie fellow
I am a climate and environmental scientist with a special interest in interactions between climate change and terrestrial ecology and biogeochemistry. My work is dedicated to providing data-informed predictions of how land ecosystems respond to a changing climate, increasing CO2 and changes in nutrient cycles. I'm developing numerical models, as simple as possible and as complex as necessary to learn the most.
http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/b.stocker

Dr. Manuela Balzarolo
Postdoctoral Marie Curie fellow
My main research topic is the application of proximal and remote sensing techniques to explore the terrestrial ecosystem biochemical responses to climate change and drought. I’m currently working on modelling ecosystem phenology, productivity, carbon and water fluxes and by using satellite observations from different sensors.
Research project: INDRO - Remote sensing INdicators for DROught monitoring

Dr. Rossella Guerrieri
Postdoctoral Marie Curie fellow
My research activities have aimed to gain a deep understanding of the coupled C-N-H2O cycling in forests, by linking different scales of investigations, i.e., from the tree to the ecosystem, and methodological approaches (e.g., stable C and O isotopes in leaves and tree rings, eddy covariance data). During my Marie Curie fellowship at the CRAEF I will focus on tree canopies and their role in altering the chemical composition of precipitation and, consequently, the nutrient cycling within forests. I will explore the biological diversity hidden in the canopies, particularly bacteria, and its role in processing the atmospheric N.

Dr. Lei Liu (CREAF-CSIC)
Post-doc
I’m interested in soil microbial mediation of ecosystem response to global changes in land use, nitrogen deposition, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling, with a particular focus on tropical forests. Besides, my work also included soil functional microorganisms such as mycorrhizal fungi which involved in P cycle response to global climate change.

Dr. Adrià Barbeta (CREAF-CSIC)
Post-doc
I am focused on the development of tree-ring chronologies within gradients of nutrient availability in French Guiana and in fertilization experiments, using classical dendrochronological approaches plus tree-ring isotopes techniques.
I am also interested in the effects of experimental fertilization and nutrient availability on the linkage between belowground water movement mediated by roots (hydraulic lift and downward siphoning) and root nutrient uptake. More generally, I would like to explore the effect of nitrogen addition and/or phosporus limitation on plant water relations of tropical, mediterranean and temperate forests.


Dr. Gerard Farré (CREAF-CSIC)
Post-doc
My research has focused on the measure of VOC emissions from plants, especially focusing on floral scent. I am especially interested in understanding the factors that exert evolutionary pressures determining floral emissions at the species and population level, and also the environmental factors that affect these emissions at the organism and tissue level through their effects on plant physiology and VOC physicochemistry. I am also interested in exploring the effects of such changes in floral scents on the ecological interactions that these emissions mediate with diverse floral visitors (pollinators, larcenists, florivores).

Dr. Marcos Fernández-Martínez (CREAF-CSIC)
Post-doc
The effect of nutrient availability on forest features, productivity and carbon balance from a macroecological perspective.

Dr. Marta Camino (Antwerp University and CREAF-CSIC)
Post-doc
Modelling soil C dynamics

Dr. Marc Peaucelle (CREAF-CSIC)
Post-doc
I am an environmental scientist currently working on the representation of plants in global terrestrial biosphere models.
I'm particularly interested in the interactions between the vegetation and their environment, but also their ability to face environmental changes.

Dr. Mónica Ladrón de Guevara (CREAF-CSIC)
Post-doctoral Marie Curie fellow
I study, by using rainfall manipulation experiments, the adaptation capacity of dryland grass species to changes in soil water availability. The transgenerational effects of the treatments will be evaluated through phenotypic and genomic approaches.
Research project: Differential adaptation capacity of dryland grasses to directional changes in water availability (DIAGRASS)

Dr. Sara Marañón Jiménez
Postdoctoral Marie Curie fellow
Temperature-driven effects on the ecosystem C:N stoichiometry, soil N losses and N transformation rates assessed with isotope dilution and 15N tracing techniques, as well as on the changes of N transfer to plants through the symbiotic association with mycorrhiza.
Research project: Resilience of Soil Stoichiometry in subartic soils under Temperature- Induced Soil Carbon Losses: Where does the N go? (StoiCa)
@SMaranonJimenez

Dr. Gaofei Yin
Postdoctoral Marie Curie fellow
Remote sensing (canopy reflectance modeling, biophysical parameter retrieval), vegetation responses and feedbacks to climate change.

Dr. Aude Valade
Post-doctoral Marie Curie Fellow
The objective of my research is to advance the understanding of future impacts of droughts of European forest. For this, I am working on improving the representation of drought-related physiological processes in land system models using a traits approach.
Research project: M-TRAIT

Dr. Susanna Strada
Postdoctoral Marie Curie fellow
Explore the relationship between isoprene emissions and soil moisture in the Mediterranean region by combining in-situ and satellite observations and assess the effect of this relationship on surface ozone concentrations using regional climate modelling.
Research projects: IDIOM2
------------------------------LUCAS

Dr. Daijun Liu (CREAF-CSIC)
Post-doc
I focus on global change effects on forest ecosystem structure and function, especially on ecophysiological and demographical changes. I will study climate change and nutrient availability on forest growth, tree mortality and species recruitment, richness and vegetation productivity.

Dr. Chao Zhang (CREAF-CSIC)
Post-doc
I focus on the response of ecosystem function and structure to climate change based on remote sensing technique. The objective is to assess the influence of climate change on carbon fixation at different temporal and spatial scales using photochemical reflectance index and fluorescence.

Dr. Estela Romero
Post-doc
I am an ecologist broadly interested in the effects of multiple stressors –natural or human related− on the functioning of ecosystems. I earned my degree in Environmental Sciences, and then moved to the Marine Ecology for my PhD. Much of my research interests lie at the intersection of environmental processes and human activities, and I am particularly enthusiastic about those projects that try to bridge science and resource management. I have worked in research institutions of Spain, the UK, and France, and in projects concerning terrestrial, marine and freshwater issues. My work so far has been focused on two major axes: (1) The functioning of coastal marine ecosystems, and specifically the response of plankton to changes in nutrients and turbulence; (2) The land-ocean interface, in particular the links existing between water resources, the agro−food system, and the flows of N and P to the environment. I am currently focused on characterising the N and P biogeochemical cycles in Mediterranean river basins.
Research project: Imbalance-P

Dr. Luciana M. Motta
Post-doc
I am a biologist interested in how natural and human-driven impacts alter natural ecosystems and its biodiversity. My background is focused mainly on aquatic ecosystem functioning, biodiversity and management. I am currently doing my postdoc research in Patagonia, Argentina (INIBIOMA-CONICET and CENAC, Nahuel Huapi National Park), doing a collaboration with the Global Ecology Unit to study the impact of introduced ungulates in soils and water of Patagonian wetlands.
Research project: "Cross-ecosystem impacts of non-native ungulates in wetlands of Patagonia: synergy or antagonism?" ("Impacto de ungulados introducidos en mallines del noroeste de Patagonia: ¿sinergia o antagonismo?")
https://www.ecoinvasion.info/people

Dr. Paolo Zuccarini
Post-doc
Agronomist/environmentalist specialized in plant ecophysiological responses to abiotic stresses in the frame of Climate Change, and in nutrient cycling in agricultural and forest ecosystems
Research projects:
“What makes leaves fall in autumn? A new process description for the timing of leaf senescence in temperate and boreal trees”. (Ref.: ERC Starting Grant 714916)
“Imbalance-P: Effects of phosphorus limitations on Life, Earth system and Society”. (Ref.: Synergy Grant 610028)

Dr. Nora Bartolomé
Post-doc
As an environmental chemist, I want to understand the sources, transport, fate and exposure of organic pollutants in the different environmental compartments. My interests include environmental monitoring using active and passive sampling methods, risk assessment, and remediation of contaminated sites.

Dr. Ana María Yáñez
Post-doc
I am a post doctoral researcher with a Juan de la Cierva funding. I did my undergraduate in Environmental Science at the University of Nottingham. Then I did my master in Biogeochemical cycles and Atmospheric Sciences in Lund University, Sweden. After I did my PhD in climate and the environment at the Brazilian National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA) in co-supervision with the Max Planck Institute of Chemistry. Afterwards I continued as a post doctorate researcher for MPIC in the Amazon. My research was based on the interactions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) within and above a central Amazonian tropical rainforest. My latest position as a Post doctoranl researcher was at Freiburg University (Germany), working in a ERC grant trying to find out how much carbon is emitted by plants through secondary plant metabolism from tropical plants.
I am interested in the interaction between forest ecosystems and the atmospheric chemistry. Forest can react very quickly to changes in environmental factors, and up to date, not all processes have been described or elucidated. As global temperatures increase and climate change exacerbates it is important to understand how forested areas will react to such changes, as the impact in atmosphere can be very large, from direct global warming via aerosol and carbon dioxide production, increase the atmospheric lifetime of pollutants, or even alter rain distribution locally. We need to provide better information for modellers, so they can constrain the processes governing the forest atmosphere interactions so better guidelines on mitigation and adaptation strategies can be suggested to policy-makers.
Research projects: VOCO and ATTO


Ifigenia Urbina (CREAF-CSIC)
PhD student
Abiotic and biotic factors determinants of elemental stoichiometry in terrestrials ecosystems.

Kevin Bórnez Mejías (CREAF-CSIC)
PhD student
I´m studying the effects of climate change on plants phenology by using remote sensing. In addition, with this research we want to study the possible feedback between vegetation and climate.
The PhD project is conceived as an investigation on the climatology category, inside the area of Earth science. The thesis project is part of the Copernicus Global Land Project of the European Commission, where the investigation team of the Global Ecology Unit work on developing techniques of remote sensing to characterize the whole vegetation and phenology from satellite.

Zhaobin Mu (CREAF-CSIC)
PhD student
I focus on global ecology of VOCs emissions by plants. I will study the factors influencing those VOCs emissions and contributions of plants VOCs emissions to the ecosystem, etc.
Research project: Ecology of VOCs emissions by plants under global environmental changes

Bang-Xiao Zheng (CREAF-CSIC)
PhD student
Microbial Ecology, Soil Biogeochemistry, and Phosphorus Cycles.

Albert Bach (ICTA-GEU)
PhD student
I am currently developing my PhD thesis titled " Forest and Human Health: a new approach for forest management?" in which we aim at unveiling the potential relations or not between forests and human health involving Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds.

Helena Vallicrosa (CREAF-CSIC)
PhD student
My main work is about searching relationships between biogeochemical cycles and elemental composition of plant-soil system with some of the main ecological and environmental traits (grow, diversity, climate, soil type, photosynthetic capacity, metabolic function…) at world scale. Furthermore I am interested in niche modeling, mediterranean ecosystem and tropical forests.

Adrià Descals (CREAF-CSIC)
PhD student
Algorithm development for the estimation of biophysical variables (LAI, FAPAR, and FCOVER) from Sentinel-3 observations, using existing satellite products and synthetic data sets as training data for machine learning models.
Research project: C-GLOPS1 project

Santiago Schauman
PhD student
Functioning and structure of terrestrial ecosystems, remote sensing, biodiversity, protected areas.

Laura Blanquer
PhD student
Responses of mediterranean forest ecosystems to extreme drought conditions.
Research project: REGIME-SHIFTS


Kaijun Yang
PhD student
My main research topic is the ecology of VOCs emissions in the soil, biological and environmental effects. I will concentrate on the effect of biotic and abiotic factors on VOCs emissions in the soil and the interactions of biology and environment delivered by BVOCs, emphasizing the ecological significance.
Research project: Ecology of VOCs in soils: biological and environmental effects

Tomàs Serrano
PhD student
Environmental Analytical Chemistry. Ecotoxicology. Investigation of emerging pollutants. Antibiotics as contaminants. Analysis of new pollutants. Determination of emerging contaminants in plants. Improvement of analytical methods. Determination of contaminants in soils.
Research project: Determination of emerging contaminants in plants and soils: antibiotics and pseudo hormonal compounds

Daniela Boanares
Visiting PhD student
Foliar water uptake, plant physiology, water stress, plant metabolism, leaf anatomical traits, ecohydrology, Climate change.
Research project: Leaf traits linked ti foliar water uptake

Luisina Carbonell
Visiting PhD student
Currently I am a doctoral researcher at the Institute of Biosciences of Patagonia (INBIOP), conducting my thesis work called “Effects of the experimental increase of water and nutrients on ecological and physiological processes of the vegetation of the Patagonian steppe”. I study the physiological responses of native plants of this arid ecosystem to resource availability. My main interests are the study of gas exchanges, water relations, resistance to low temperatures, growth and productivity in shrub and grasses species of the Patagonian steppe.
Research projects:
- CO2 flows in Patagonian arid ecosystems.
- Impact of edaphic and atmospheric moisture sources on the water use efficiency of plants of the Patagonian steppe: determination from the use of stable isotopes of H and C and methods eco-hydrological and physiological.
- A desert with water: Why vegetation in the Patagonian Steppe does not use the available water resources in depth?

Miriam Raluy
Master student
The aim of the study is to determine the effects of soil warming in the N retention capacity of microorganisms, plants and soil and to detect potential mechanisms of the coupled soil N and C losses in response to warming at high latitude soils.

Paula Casadei
Master student
My current field of research focuses on the effects of urbanization on key ecosystem properties across environmental gradients. During my undergraduate thesis I used remote sensors to study the spatial patterns of the Urban Heat Island in 30 cities of Argentina. On september 2018, I started the Off. Masters on Terrestrial Ecology and Biodiversity Management at CREAF and look forward to dabble in new and exciting fields of research.

Marina Vergotti
Final Work Degree
Research project: Study of temporal seed production in European forests using methods of teledetection such as NDVI and EVI with the aim of establishing a masting predicting model




Laura Márquez Tur
Technician
Currently working as a technician, but also strongly interested in the study and conservation of biodiversity. My previous work experience mainly focuses on soil analysis and edaphic fauna, especially arthropods.

Dra. Anna Àvila Castells (CREAF)
CREAF Research Scientist
Ecology of atmospheric deposition


Dr. Francesc Sabater i Comas
Professor
Linking aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, nutrient cycling in freswhater and riparian forest ecosystems.

Dr. Alejandro Castellanos Villegas
Profesor Investigador Universidad de Sonora
Ecofisiología Vegetal y Funcionamiento de Ecosistemas de Zonas Áridas.
Research projects:
- Cambios de la cubierta vegetal e impactos de la actividad ganadera. Estudio de las interacciones ecológicas y socio-económicas.
- Estequiometría ecológica y percepción remota para el análisis de la distribución espacial e invasibilidad de zacate Buffel (Cenchrus ciliaris), en zonas prioritarias del Noroeste de México.

Dr. Michał Bogdziewicz
Visiting scientist
I am broadly interested in plant reproductive behaviours, recently focused on mast seeding (large and
synchronized fluctuations in seed production), the impact of animal populations on plant recruitment and
population dynamics, and vice‐versa, effects of fluctuations in seed production on animal populations.
Research projects:
1. Experimental tests of mechanisms driving variability in reproduction of trees
2. Phenology synchrony or pollen coupling? Experimental evaluation of the role of pollen limitation and plant’ resource state in driving seed production in masting plants

Dr. Hoonyoung Park
Visiting postdoc
Vegetation phenology in the changing Earth, and its role in terrestrial carbon cycle from a global perspective.
Research project: Climate-Ecosystem-Carbon Nexus: Investigation of terrestrial ecosystem and carbon cycle responses to climate change and variability (2019-2021), supported by Korea National Research Foundation
https://sites.google.com/view/hypark432nm

Dr. Eder Santos
Visiting professor
Microbial biochemistry; Environmental microbiology; Microbial ecology; Metaproteomics; Metabolomics.
Our research focuses to learn how microbial physiology is shaped by the environment with a focus on complex ecosystems. Current research projects involve a range of complementary disciplines and approaches, including metabolomics, (meta)proteomics, metabolic network.
Research projects:
1) Metaproteomics and metabolomics of the phyllosphere from the Atlantic forest.
2) Plant microbiome engineering: a new approach for applied biotechnology.
3) Phyllosphere bioprospection by using a metabolomic approach.
Ex-MEMBERS OF THE GLOBAL ECOLOGY UNIT
Name | Position | |
Sara Marrafa | Master student | |
Dominik Sperlich | Postdoc | dominik@creaf.uab.cat |
Giorgio Alessio | Postdoc | |
Jorge Curiel | Postdoc | |
Patricia Prieto | Postdoc | |
Kacem Harrabe | Postdoc | |
This Ruthishauser | Postdoc | this@creaf.uab.cat |
Alfredo di Filippo | Postdoc | diFilippo@unitus.it |
Mónica Mejía | Postdoc | m.mejia@creaf.uab.cat |
Lina Marcela Castaño | Postdoc | lm.castano@creaf.uab.cat |
Sudhir Pandey | Postdoc | skpbhu@gmail.com |
Roger Seco | Postdoc | roger@creaf.uab.cat |
Rebeca Izquierdo Miguel | Postdoc | rebeca@creaf.uab.es |
María Díaz de Quijano | Postdoc | m.diaz@creaf.uab.es |
Catherine Morfopoulos | Postdoc | c.morfopoulos@imperial.ac.uk |
Alba Lázaro | Estudiant de Doctorat | albalazaro@ugr.es |
Josep Salvador Blanch | Estudiant de Doctorat | |
Benjamin Carrillo | Estudiant de Doctorat | |
Martin Garbulsky | Estudiant de Doctorat | |
Laura Nagy | Estudiant de Doctorat | laura.nagy@uni-bayreuth.de |
Manel Niell | Estudiant de Doctorat | mniell.cenma@iea.ad |
Marta Coll | Estudiant de Doctorat | m.coll@creaf.uab.cat |
Shawn Kefauver | Estudiant de Doctorat | sc.kefauver@creaf.uab.cat |
Marta Domènech | Estudiant de Doctorat | mdomenech.cenma@iea.ad |
Shasha Tao | Estudiant de Doctorat | s.tao@creaf.uab.es |
Pille Mand | Estudiant de Doctorat | pille.mand@ut.ee |
Elena Mezzini | Estudiant de Doctorat | elena.mezzini@gmail.com |
Jenny Hunt | Estudiants de màster | |
Karen Thirslund | Estudiants de màster | |
Jorge Silva | Tècnic | |
… |