I am an Associate Professor of Botany at the University of Oviedo and a researcher at the Biodiversity Research Institute (IMIB). I lead research on seed regeneration as a key process for biodiversity and habitat restoration, combining vegetation ecology with open-science approaches and biocultural perspectives.
Research programme
🌱 1. Seed regeneration ecology
I study seed regeneration as a key process linking biodiversity, plant community dynamics, and ecological restoration. My work focuses on the regeneration niche, germination, establishment, and regeneration strategies across environmental and disturbance gradients.
This line is supported by SeedArc, a global germination data infrastructure aimed at addressing macroecological and evolutionary questions, identifying general regeneration patterns, and generating reusable resources for evidence-based restoration.
🌍 2. Anthropogenic and novel ecosystems
I investigate how plant biodiversity is structured and regenerates in landscapes transformed by human activity, including urban, industrial, and other novel ecosystems. I analyze novel species pools, donor natural habitats, and the processes that constrain or facilitate plant colonization, with direct applications to renaturalization and ecological restoration.
Within this framework, I use subtropical microrefugia and laurification processes, including paleotropical ferns, as model systems to study climate-driven range expansion and functional ecosystem change in northwestern Iberia.
This line is articulated through the SeedAnthropic project.
📜 3. Biocultural heritage and plant diversity
I explore historical and cultural relationships between plants, landscapes, and societies, including phyto-toponyms and other links between local knowledge and biodiversity. This line provides territorial context and ecological memory to restoration processes, helping integrate social and cultural dimensions into biodiversity management.
🔓 4. Open science and knowledge infrastructures
I develop open-science approaches including citizen science, open databases, and practices for transparency and research traceability. This transversal line supports my entire research program by enhancing reproducibility, international collaboration, and knowledge transfer to society.
Research outputs
- SeedAnthropic: Seed regeneration in anthropogenic and invaded habitats.
- SeedArc: A global archive of primary seed germination data.
- My publications in ORCID, Google Scholar, and ResearchGate.
- My datasets & code are available in GitHub. Also check the SylvanSeeds database and the seedr R package.
Outreach
- Join me in iNaturalist to observe our plant diversity.
- Check our project to catalogue the plants of the University of Oviedo.
- Follow my little explorations of the plant and biocultural diversity of Asturias in Instagram.
Contact
- My profile at the Department of Organismal and Systems Biology.
- My profile at the Biodiversity Research Institute (IMIB).
- Connect with me on LinkedIn.
- Email me.
