- Email: penelope@ugr.es
About me
After graduating in Environmental Sciences (1998-2002) from the University of Granada (UGR), I worked in the private sector in the management of integrated Quality and Environmental systems (ISO 14000/2004, 9001/2000) in the construction company UC10 S. A. In 2004 I got a predoctoral grant from the Junta de Andalucía (not associated to a project) at the Applied Physics Department of the UGR. In 2008 I defended my doctoral thesis entitled “CO2 exchanges between atmosphere and karst ecosystems: applicability of commonly used techniques” and obtained a postdoctoral mobility contract from MICINN to work in the Biology department (University of Antwerp; Belgium; 2008-2010). Subsequently, I joined the EEZA-CSIC, (Almeria) with a “Juan de la Cierva” contract (2010-2013). In 2013 I was awarded a contract of the Plan Propio (UGR) for the incorporation of young PhDs to new research lines in the Department of Ecology of the University of Granada. Since March 2019 I am Full Professor in this Department.
My scientific publications are oriented to the study of the inter-annual variability of CO2 and vapor exchanges in ecosystems and the processes involved, as well as in the effect of management on CO2 uptake by terrestrial ecosystems or even methodological publications for the improvement of the application of the eddy covariance technique. My doctoral thesis initiated a new line of research focused on the study of subsurface ventilation processes and their effect on the net CO2 balance of an ecosystem. Currently, I am leading a new line of research in the Ecology department on greenhouse gas (GHG) measurements using the eddy covariance technique, measuring not only CO2 and water vapor but also methane emissions in various terrestrial ecosystems.