Team |
|---|
Begoña Martínez-Crego - Post-doctoral Researcher
I completed my BSc Marine Science at the University of Cadiz in 2001 and my PhD Ecology at the University of Barcelona in 2008. I have a long experience on the study of the impacts of human activities on seagrass ecosystems. From 2002 to 2010 I worked at Spanish National Research Council (CEAB-CSIC), narrowly linked to managers, on the design and use of biotic indices for assessing the ecological status of coastal waters. The main bulk of my research resulted in the development of a multivariate index (POMI) based on the seagrass Posidonia oceanica ecosystems, but I also explored indices based on rocky-macroalgae and soft-bottom macroinvertebrates. Since 2011 I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Centre of Marine Science (CCMAR, Portugal), where I am dealing with the effects of eutrophication and elevated CO2/ocean acidification on primary producers that are fundamental habitat-forming species (i.e. seagrasses and algae) and how they propagate through the trophic web. My current research particularly focuses on understanding the factors that mediate trophic relationships in seagrass ecosystems, with special emphasis on seagrass-herbivore interactions. My work has always integrated several levels of the biological organization (from biochemical to community-level) and inter-species interactions, which I believe is vital for understanding the functioning of ecosystems under both, natural and disturbed conditions.
