I am interested in understanding the links between prokaryotic diversity and function in aquatic ecosystems, as well as in exploring how the connectivity and the dispersal of microbes between local communities or ecosystems may influence such links. In order to address these questions, I use different methods and approaches, such as single-cell techniques or Illumina sequencing, and I have worked in ecosystems as different as rivers, lakes, soils, groundwater and the ocean.

I did my PhD at ICM-CSIC (2006-2011), during which I explored the role of solar radiation as a regulator of the uptake of organic carbon by marine bacterioplankton communities using culture-independent techniques (e.g. MAR-CAR-FISH, flow cytometry cell sorting). Then I moved my focus to the study of freshwater bacterial communities through the use of high throughput sequencing technologies, first at the University of Girona (Spain, 2011-2012), where I investigated the effects of dams on riverine bacterial communities, and then across complex boreal aquatic networks from Quebec at the Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada, 2013-2015). Since 2015 I am back at the ICM working on the biogeography and dispersal of marine bacteria, trying to gain insight into the factors that determine their structure and diversity, as well as their connectivity with the surrounding continental habitats. My main current research interest is exploring the microbial dimension of submarine groundwater discharge, or SGD, a globally relevant hydrologic pathway that delivers large amounts of nutrients and elements to the coastal ocean. Within this line I am coordinating a research network MACGNET, which focuses on the multidisciplinary study of SGD through the collaboration with hydrogeologists, geochemists, biologists and physicists.