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Main research topics
Plant invasions
On the one hand, I study how external factors (e.g. climate, human pressure, etc.) determine the distribution and abundance of alien plants across environmental gradients, habitat types and spatial scales.
For example, in my PhD I aimed at understanding features that make plant communities more invasible in Mediterranean coastal dune environments.
This work highlighted the importance of considering spatial scale for reconciling apparently contradictory patterns in plant invasions.
On the other hand, I also focus on understanding the mechanisms that determine impacts of plant invasions on native biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
I combine large observational datasets, manipulative experiments and simulation modeling to address these issues.
Community assembly
Biological invasions provide an exciting large-scaled experiment, but the interactions between exotic and native species often reflect the mechanisms driving community assembly and species co-existence in general. In this field, questions I am addressing include: how do species co-occurrence patterns vary along natural gradients?
How is co-occurrence related to functional similarity and phylogenetic relatedness of species? Can we disentangle the processes driving the patterns we observe (environmental vs. biotic filtering)?
I use functional and phylogenetic approaches to answer these questions, combining observations in the field with null-model analyses and statistical modeling.
Conservation biology and global change
Building on the previous research axes, I deal with many aspects of the conservation of grassland habitats including: the assessment of ecosystem integrity,
the recovery of the vegetation following simple management measures, the impact of plant invasions on native biodiversity and the effects of land use and
climate change on the distribution of species and habitats.
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