Hi, this is Dani, welcome!

In short: I'm 35, from València, biologist, and I'm broadly interested in the evolutionary ecology of plants. I obtained my Ph. D. studying the ecology of Juniperus thurifera. I worked also in conservation biology of the endangered endemic Silene diclinis, and collaborate regularly with environmental administrations as scientific advisor for plant conservation and habitat management. After a job at theTinença de Benifassà Natural Parc (Spain) I'm starting a project in Missoula, Montana about invasive weeds at Callaway's Lab at the University of Montana. I'll investigate how environmental and geographycal change influences resource allocation in plants, and how this affects invasibility potential of introduced and invasive plant species.

In the next section (scroll to the right) you'll find information about my interests on ecology and conservation of plants. Further on (to the right), there are a bunch of links to scientific and non scientific interesting webs.

My CURRICULUM and PUBLICATIONS are also available. Contact me here.

Resources available for plants are limited. Plants have to split their resources between distinct demanding functions, like reproduction and growth. The study of such trade-offs and their plasticity is the underlying thread of my research.

In species with separate sexes (dioecious) females usually invest more resources than males in reproduction, resulting in different trade-offs between growth and reproduction for male and female plants. During my Ph.D. I studied the gender biased ecological performance of males and females of the dioecious tree Juniperus thurifera, and in how experimentally modified resource availability affected each sex's pattern.

I'm also interested in the conservation ecology of the endangered endemic Silene diclinis a species with only 2500 wild individuals in a few, nearby populations in Eastern Spain. This species developed a mechanism (barochory or atelechory) by which seeds are dispersed immediatly below mother plants, making sure that all seeds reach a perfect site for germinating and growing but making it impossible for the species to colonize new areas and driving the species to extinction in an evolutionary dead end.

I'm starting now a research project about invasive Centaurea weeds. Centaureas are originary from Europe and introduced in America. I'll compare the biology of two species: one introduced and not very succesful, and the other an noxious invasive. I intend to find if differences in trade-offs between species and locations are responsible for its different success in the new world.

You'll find more information about these species clicking in the links above. My complete CURRICULUM and PUBLICATIONS are also available. Contact me here.

Some valuable links for plant ecologists. Spanish ecologists have a clear meeting point at the l'AEET: Asociación Española de Ecología Terrestre and its magazine Ecosistemas. You can find there links to almost all the Spanish ecologists. However, I specially recommend you to visit: Carlos Herrera, Pedro Jordano, Patricio García-Fayos and Miguel Verdú (the last two were my advisors). Junior researchers will be interested in Joves Investigadors, F.J.I.-Precarios and Eurodoc the Valencian, Spanish and European Ph.D. associations.

I recommend you the most useful and difficult free software ever: R. You'll probably need help so please visit Jonathan Baron 's site. If you are interested in spatial statistics visit also Adrian Baddeley 's site. If you are a GLM person get here not one but two useful sites. And if what you have is a binomial distribution do not hesitate to get here: Binomial GLMs. I often use SPSS too, and the totally useful on-line help. If you use SPSS to run Mixed Models visit This site.

On a more personal side, find my pictures at flickr. If you like my web visit its designer site: Cristina Sansano. The music of Mei, you might be hearing it right now if you have your speakers on! Rebeca Vallejo latin-jazz. Innerlands celtic music and Ana interesting links. And if you like hiking and mountaineering join us at Camins i Amics! I often wander around other pages: Green design and architecture at Inhabitat. Also WorldChanging, Greenpeace and Amnesty International. A bit of serenity with Buddhism and Erich Fromm. Bookcrossing, the new way of reading. By the way, do not miss Jorge Cham's PhD Comics, the best graduate student comic strips ever!! Also Savage Chickens and if you are a real "science freak" don't miss XKCD!