Heavy metal tolerance in bryophytes
Bryophytes are highly resilient plants capable of enduring the most extreme environmental conditions. Some bryophyte species are well known facultative metallophytes, as they survive in heavily contaminated habitats. Others, frequently referred to as copper mosses, are specialized dwellers in heavy metal enriched habitats. I study the capacity of terrestrial mosses to accumulate and tolerate high levels of heavy metals to elucidate the molecular basis of the existence of phenotypic variation for these traits in bryophytes. For this, I use last generation molecular tools like RNA sequencing and epigenotyping by sequencing (epiGBS). I am especially interested in the potential role of epigenetic variation on the regulation of heavy metal accumulation and tolerance in bryophytes due to the high incidence of asexual propagation in this plant group. This project got funding from the Marie S. Curie programme of the EU
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Sexual traits in dioecius mosses
Bryophytes are unique among the land plants because more than 60% of the species present separate sexes (i.e. dioecy) and females often outnumber males in natural populations (i.e. strongly female-biased sex ratios), as opposed to seed plants (4 – 6% dioecy, and frequently male-biased populations). Sex-ratio bias may lead to spatial segregation of sexes and therefore difficult or even prevent sexual reproduction. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the sex ratio biases in bryophytes including demographic factors, niche differentiation, and evolutionary history. I am deeply interested in studying the causes and consequences of sex ratio biases in dioecious bryophytes, as well as sexual dimorphism in these organisms.
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Biomonitoring of air quality
The moss biomonitoring technique takes advantage of the capacity of bryophytes to accumulate heavy metals to use them as biomonitors of air quality. This technque has been widely used in Europe for the past 50 years to assess the the atmospheric deposition of heavy metals. During my PhD I worked on the methodoloical optimization of this technique and also collaborated on the development of an active biomonitoring tool, the mossphere, through the EU funded project MOSSclone.
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Estación Biológica de Doñana
Avda. Americo Vespucio, n 26. 41092, Sevilla, Spain |