Clara Espinosa del Alba

Post-doctorant

Research Activities

My research interests include the functional and regeneration ecology of plants, spatial and temporal microclimatic variation, and their consequences for plant community assembly. In recent years, I have extended my studies to invasive species and urban ecosystems, applying a functional ecology approach.

My bachelor studies started in Barcelona (Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, Spain) with a one-year exchange in Argentina (Universidad Nacional del Sur, Bahía Blanca).

For my master's, I moved to Sweden (Lund Universitet and SLU) with a focus on Conservation Biology, where I conducted research on restoration ecology in boreal forests and long-term monitoring in tundra ecosystems.

During my PhD at the University of Oviedo (defended in May 2026), titled “The Seed Regeneration Niche in Alpine Communities”, I focused on the regeneration stage of alpine species, combining lab and field experiments to study changes in regeneration across microclimatic gradients.

With the Atlantis project, funded by the Ingenium Alliance, we aim to assess the plant invasion risks along the Franco-Spanish Atlantic coast and quantify the ecological impacts of one of the main emerging invasive species: Carpobrotus edulis.

Research Keywords

  • Seed ecology
  • Alpine environment
  • Invasive species
  • Coastal habitats
  • Functional Ecoloy
  • Community Ecology
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