Juan de la Cierva Postdoctoral Researcher
I carried out my PhD studying the role of waterbirds as vectors for dispersal of seeds, nutrients and contaminants in Andalucía (Spain) by combining fieldwork, laboratory work, GPS programming, modelling and networks analysis at the Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC) and Universidad de Alcalá (Caixa-Severo fellowship). After my PhD, I worked as postdoctoral researcher at Estación Biológica de Doñana (EBD-CSIC) studying the role of birds and livestock as vectors for Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria with implications for human health. In the year 2023, I got a competitive Margarita Salas fellowship from Universidad de Alcalá in collaboration with the Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC), where I started a competitive Juan de la Cierva grant in January 2024 with Dr. Joan Navarro. Currently, I work with seabirds as sentinels of the ecosystem health (pathogens and contaminants).
Current Research:
I am a researcher focused in understanding the spatial patterns behind the ecosystem functions provided by wildlife (mainly birds) to the environment in a global change context. To date, I focused my research lines to: (1) understand the spatial ecology and connectivity of different model species by using GPS trackers; (2) comprehend the relation of wildlife in in ecosystem functioning in anthropic environments; (3) develop applied studies to use seabirds as sentinels of the impacts of human-related stressors, such as pathogens or emergent pollutants in a One Health framework.
Research Interests:
Animal Ecology; Urban Marine Ecology; One Health; Connectivity; Ecotoxicology.