Current Research
My dissertation work is focused on the resilience of biocrust communties to climate disturbances, specially drought. Biocrusts are assamblages of bryophytes, lichens, cyanobacteria, algae and soil fauna that live in the first cm of soil, these communities are mostly found on drylands and are involved in important ecosystem functions. I am investigating disturbance effects on a community, population and transcriptomic level, using biocrusts and dryland moss Syntrichia caninervis from the Colorado Plateau region in Utah.
I am conducting my disertation work at the Bowker Lab at Northern Arizona University, USA.
I am conducting my disertation work at the Bowker Lab at Northern Arizona University, USA.
DROUGHT IMPACTSI am currently investigating the effects of long-term induced drought on biological soil crust communities structure and composition. This research inquires the resistance of a dryland community to persistent drough and the interaction of environmental gradients at the Colorado Plateau region.
|
PLASTIC MOSSESI am currently evaluating the morphological plasticity of Syntrichia caninervis when faced with climate disturbances. I established a field experiment on three sites on an elevation/climate gradient at the Colorado Plateau region. The species S. caninervis is a key biocrust component and common species in the region, carrying out important ecological functions. This research involves moniroting certain bryophytes morphological traits and the analysis of their gene expression in stressful scenarios simulating Climate Change.
|
BIOCRUST DIVERSITYWe design an experiment creating custom biocrust communities with different species diversity levels and levels of genotypic diversity of two target mosses. We studied the effects of diversity on the community productivity and its resistance to an intense drought scenario. This research involved constant photomonitoring and the use of reflectance indices to track growth and productivity.
|
Previous Projects
I developed a research project as an undergraduate in the Ecology Lab at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos and Natural History Museum of Lima in Perú.
Fossorial birds, biocrust and plant diversity
The hyperarid Peruvian desert holds fog-fed ecosystems known as Lomas. These fog oases are biodiversity hotspots, where soils have a vast biocrusts cover. I looked at the interraction of burrowing birds, biocrust and native plant diversity. The natural and constant bird disturbances to the biocrust cover had a positive effect to the diversity and stablishment of the herbacious vegetation.
Check out more details about it on the article here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2019.104011 This research had some great media coverage. You can read more about it here. |