Susana Rodriguez Echeverria

Experiência

I completed my PhD degree on the characterization of the legume-rhizobia symbiosis in natural shrublands in the University of Salamanca (Spain) in June 2002. I moved to Portugal in July 2002 with a postdoc contract from a MarieCurie RTN and afterwards went through a FCT postdoc grant, a researcher contract FCT Ciência 2008 (2009-2013), and a Principal Investigator contract from FCT IF (2014-2019). Since 2020 I am an Assistant Teacher at the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Coimbra. I am also the co-coordinator of the Terrestrial Ecosystems and global change research line of the Centre for Functional Ecology (CFE-UC).

I am interested on biotic positive interactions such as mutualisms and facilitation and on soil microbiota-driven effects. My current research is focused on the effect of global change on biodiversity and biotic interactions in mountains. Related to that, I am a member of the Scientific Committee of the Estrela Geopark and the coordinator of the Research group on Biodiversity of the Estrela Geopark Network for Science and Education. Ultimately, I would like to link ecological research, traditional rural practices to contribute to sustainability and conservations in mountains. To do so in the last years I have obtained funding trough different projects: Estrela, an FCT-funded research project on the effects of warming on high-altitude ecosystems in Serra da Estrela; Remonstar, a PROMOVE-Fundação La Caixa project aiming at integrating climatic and ecological research in mountains; and Presinmed, a Biodiversa project focused on global change threats and the preservation of mountain wet meadows.