Study of the bryophyte flora of Mediterranean environments. Biogeography of mosses and liverworts. Systematics and phylogeny of bryophytes. Assessment of the conservation status of bryophyte species.
Processes of coevolution, cospeciation and codiversification in symbionts. Development of methods of cophylogenetic analysis. Ecology of symbiont communities. Use of bipartite networks and functional diversity indices for their characterisation. Study of the impact of invasive hosts on native parasite communities.
Study of predatory and parasitoid insects as natural enemies of pests caused by other insects from different aspects: systematics, morphology, anatomy, ecology and conservation. Methodologies for biological and integrated control of insect pests in agricultural, forestry and urban environments. Faunistics and conservation of diplurans, odonates and hymenopterans.
Application of conservation techniques for endangered species, viability studies, germination physiology and seed and spore ageing.
Fundamental and applied limnology: Dynamics and functioning of epicontinental aquatic ecosystems. Community structure and functional diversity. Assessment of environmental and conservation status. Microbial ecology in lentic ecosystems: Study of the composition and functionality of the microbial community by molecular techniques. Metagenomics. Metabarcoding and e-DNA Biogeochemistry and carbon balances in Mediterranean wetlands, fluxes of carbonate greenhouse gases. Effects of environmental properties and conservation status on the climate change mitigation capacity of lentic ecosystems. Ecotoxicology. Geographic information systems (GIS). Remote-sensing. Polar limnology.
Ecology of aquatic interactions and their applications.
Systematics and identification of lichens (both fungus and lichenised algae) and non-lichenised fungi (including mushroom-forming fungi) of the Mediterranean area, as well as the identification of their secondary metabolism products. Conservation of species and their habitats. Biodeterioration of monuments.
Plant ecology (dune vegetation, nitrophilous vegetation, scrubland, forest fires, bioclimatology and biogeography); plant taxonomy (cariology, phenology, phylogeography, nomenclature); conservation biology.
Cryptic rotifer species. Distribution and sympatry. Ecological differentiation of species. Competitive relationships and coexistence mediation. Environmental fluctuations and maintenance of diversity. Density-dependent reversal of diapause and competition.
Classification, identification and nomenclature of marine bacteria: polyphasic
characterisation (phenotypic, genomic and phylogenetic), especially of
alpha/gamma-proteobacteria and bacteroidetes by MLSA, DNA-DNA hybridisation, taxogenomic indices and classical phenotyping.
Study of plant communities and their relationship with environmental factors. In-situ conservation.
