About the talk

Temporary ponds have been degraded or destroyed in recent decades, leading to significant detrimental consequences for their singular biodiversity. Particularly, Mediterranean temporary ponds are priority habitats for conservation in Europe under the Habitat Directive. I and my research group have mapped temporary ponds in peninsular Spain to build a temporary pond cartographic database, detecting intensive agricultural practices as the main degradation of temporary ponds. We also conducted a sampling of temporary ponds across a latitudinal gradient of peninsular Spain analyzing physicochemical and biotic (invertebrates, aquatic vegetation) variables. I have also monitored the temporary ponds of the Doñana National Park (DNP), and compared our results with physicochemical and biotic information recorded in previous decades. Our team has also detected the flagship large branchiopod (LB) species as ecosystem engineers in the functioning of temporary ponds, through mesocosm experiments performed in the DNP and Poland. Nowadays, I have just started a research project to evaluate the role of LB species as sentinels for the conservation and restoration of temporary ponds in the face of global change. 
 

About the speaker

As Ramon and Cajal fellow at the Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC), I am a limnologist with sound background in the conservation of temporary ponds, addressing how their biodiversity face global change. I am now collaborating with specialist researchers in biological invasions, addressing the temporary ponds deterioration in the Doñana National Park (DNP) and peninsular Spain, and the restoration of ponds, mainly related with my own projects as Principal Investigator (BRANCHIOPONDS, ClimaRiskinPond and Respond, as two national and a European research projects, respectively). During my PhD Thesis, I have developed sampling protocols for spatial and temporal variations of the temporary ponds of the Doñana National Park, addressing a wide variety of organisms, since macro- and micro-invertebrates, amphibians, and aquatic plants, determining the physical and chemical, and spatial characteristics, and having experience in the use of climatic chambers. This has provided me a profound knowledge in the functioning of temporary ponds, being the use of community ecology key to understand the biodiversity patterns and the ecological processes behind, regarding environmental and spatial characteristic of ponds. The use of community ecology has also allowed me to expand my knowledge in the effects of land-use changes and non-native species on the biodiversity of terrestrial and aquatic arthropods in the Azorean oceanic islands. During my postdoctoral experience, with almost six years in international centers (Brasil and Portugal), and more than eight years as researcher and lecturer in national institutions (EBD-CSIC, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Universidad de Alcalá), I have brought an extensive network of national and international collaborators, formed my own research group and largely contributed to the dissemination of science to the society (e.g., www.climariskinpond.com).