INVITED SPEAKERS

Dr. Alexander Rudov (RUS)

 Brief CV: Alexander Rudov, born in Astrakhan (Russia), graduated in Pharmacy (MSc) at the University of Urbino (Italy) 2005-2010. PhD in Biochemistry at the university of Urbino (Italy) 2011-2014 (Dissertation title: "Can we predict MicroRNA modulation in Pathogenesis?"). 2017-2019 MSc in Biodiversity and Evolution at the University of Bologna (Italy) (Thesis title: The diversity of C4 plants in SW Asia and their relation to climatic factors). From 2017 PostDoc at the Lab of Halophytes and C4 plants at the University of Tehran (Iran).

Research interests: Extremophilic plants, Gypsophiles, Ethnobotany, Ex situ Conservation, C4 plants.

Title for oral presentation: "The diversity of gypsum habitats and gypsophiles in Central Asia – an overview".

Dr. Ana Sánchez (ES)

 Brief CV: Associate Professor at the Biodiversity and Conservation area at URJC where I engaged in 2003 and where I have developed several research lines in relation with gypsum plants ecology, including studies on reproductive biology, population dynamics, and on the effects of habitat fragmentation and climate change mainly on plant-animal interactions and community assembly (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ana_Sanchez26).  

Title for oral presentation: "Rainy years counteract negative effects of drought on taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity: resilience in annual plant communities".

Dr. Carmelo Maria Musarella (IT)

Brief CV: Dr. Carmelo Maria Musarella, PhD is a biologist, specialized in Plant Biology. He studied and worked in several European Universities: Messina, Catania, Reggio Calabria (Italy), Valencia, Jaén, Almeria (Spain) and Évora (Portugal). Researcher on Environmental and Applied Botany and Professor of Plant Biology at the Mediterranean University of Reggio Calabria (Italy) since 2009. Its research topics are: flora, vegetation, habitat, biogeography, taxonomy, ethnobotany, alien species, endemics and biodiversity conservation. Author of more than 100 research articles and chapters published in indexed journals and books (SCOPUS, WOS and others), at national and international level.  

Title for oral presentation: "Assessing gypsum habitat in Sicily (Italy)". 

Dr. Charalambos Christodoulou (CY)

Brief CV: Charalambos Christodoulou is a graduate of the Cyprus Forestry College (1988) as well as the National School of Forestry, University of Cumbria (2003). In 2015, he obtained a PhD in Systematic Conservation Planning, at the University of Reading, focusing on the design of reserve areas using threatened species. He works with the Department of Forests, from 1988 to 1991 at the Management Sector and from 1991 at the Parks and Environment Sector. His main duties are the establishment and organization of the Department of Forests Herbarium, in- and ex-situ conservation of threatened and/or endemic plant species, restoration of habitats and management of protected areas.  

Title for oral presentation: "The Flora of Cyprus". 

Dr. Ignacio Querejeta (ES)

Brief CV: Permanent Staff Scientist at CEBAS-CSIC since 2009. Formerly “Ramón y Cajal” researcher (2004-2009) and Fulbright Scholar/Postdoctoral Associate at Center for Conservation Biology/University of California Riverside, EEUU (1999-2003). Author of 60 scientific papers in leading journals (New Phytologist, Global Change Biology, Plant, Cell & Environment, Ecology, Journal of Ecology, Functional Ecology, Journal of Experimental Botany, Annual Reviews of Phytopathology, Soil Biology & Biochemistry, Science of the Total Environment, Oecologia, etc.). Principal Investigator in 3 research grants funded by the Spanish National Science Foundation (Plan Nacional) and 1 research grant funded by the Science Foundation of Murcia Region (Fundación Séneca). Leader and coordinator of several active research lines at CEBAS-CSIC, including the following: global change impacts on dryland ecosystems; forest and mycorrhizal ecology and ecophysiology in Mediterranean ecosystems; functional diversity of plant water and nutrient use strategies; stable isotope biogeochemistry of drylands; revegetation and ecological restoration of semiarid ecosystems.  

Title for oral presentation: "Plant and soil microbial responses to climate warming and aridification in semiarid gypsum ecosystems of the Iberian Peninsula".

Dr. Irene Pisanty (MEX)

 Brief CV: Irene Pisanty studied Biology at the Science School of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where she also did her graduate studies, and where she has been teaching ecology subjects for more than 40 years. She has directed undergraduate and graduate thesis, developed as part as different research projects. Her interests include plant ecology, with emphasis in plant ecology, functional responses and disturbance and plant succession, as well as environmental change, sustainability and natural resources management. She was the Project Manager for the Ecosystem Conservation program at the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (1994-1998) in Montreal (Canada),  and the Senior Advisor for the president of the National Institute of Ecology of the Environmental Ministry of Mexico (2001-2006). Lately she has centered her attention on the consequences of the deep disturbance of an hydrological desert system and its consequences in the surrounding gypsum-rich terrestrial zone, in the Cuatrociénegas Valley in the Cihuahuan Desert.

Title for oral presentation: "A gypsic tale of ecosystem failure".

Dr. Juan Pablo Ortiz-Brunel (MEX)

 Brief CV: I studied biology at the University of Guadalajara (Mexico), where I am also cursing the last year of a direct PhD. My interests concentrate in plant taxonomy and biogeography. I have described seven new plant species. My research interests focus in some Asparagaceae and Cactaceae, the flora of western Mexico, and the flora of the gypsum outcrops of Mexico. Currently, one of my investigation lines involve the biogeographic patterns of the plants from the gypsum communities in Mexico. Also, we are studying this flora with a taxonomical approach and describing some new species

Title for oral presentation: "Plant species richness and endemism patterns of the gypsicolous flora of Mexico".

Dr. Yolanda Pueyo  (ES)

 Brief CV: Yolanda Pueyo graduated in Biology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (1999), and obtained her PhD at the University of Zaragoza and Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (IPE-CSIC) in 2006. Her PhD was focused on the abiotic and human factors determining vegetation in the Middle Ebro Valley (Spain). She stayed as a postdoctoral researcher in Utrecht University (The Netherlands, 2006-2008) and University of Zaragoza (2008-2009), mainly focusing her research on that period on the eco-hydrology functioning and modelling of semiarid ecosystems. She is tenure scientist in IPE-CSIC since 2009, and the director of the Institute since 2017. Currently, her main research lines are: (1) rangeland ecology and management; (2) ecology of gypsum ecosystems; (3) eco-hydrology of arid and semi-arid environments. She has produced 57 publications (41 articles in JCR journals). She has leaded or collaborated in 21 research projects, including international, national and regional projects. She has supervised or co-supervised 5 PhD students (2 in progress).

Title for oral presentation: "Grazing effects on gypsum ecosystems (NE Spain)".