I am Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. I work on the microbial ecology of aquatic systems, many of them temporary, where, depending on the characteristics of the system, microbial mats can develop. These host complex communities of microorganisms that developed on our planet more than 2500 million years ago. In Spain they are normally found in saline environments such as numerous lagoons in Castilla-La Mancha or Monegros (Aragon). The countless pressures that these lagoons are receiving from human activity and climate change are drastically altering them and endangering their biota, especially the mats. For this reason, I am determined, along with my colleagues, to make public their precarious state and to defend them.
My hobbies include walking in the countryside, picking mushrooms in autumn and making pottery.