Mariona Pajares Murgó

My research focuses on plant community ecology, with a particular interest in species interactions, community assembly and the processes shaping biodiversity. My previous work has explored how biotic interactions and community context influence plant recruitment, including the role of fungi and plant-soil feedbacks. At ISEM, I will extend this research by studying regeneration processes in Mediterranean ecosystems, focusing on abandoned olive groves in southern Spain. I will investigate how interactions between established plants and recruits, represented through recruitment networks, influence community dynamics and the emergence of alternative regeneration pathways. Using network analysis and ecological modelling, I will examine how interaction structure and landscape context shape community assembly and ecological resilience. More broadly, this work aims to improve our understanding of how plant communities respond to disturbance and environmental change, with implications for ecological restoration and the sustainable management of Mediterranean ecosystems.

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=lYxRU0EAAAAJ&hl=es