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Research activities

My research on plant and lichen ecology uses functional ecology and community ecology to understand biodiversity, mineral nutrition and the impact of disturbances. At the University of Caen-Normandie, I study the impact of heatwaves on grassland plants and how functional diversity and sulphur metabolism can mitigate their impact in plant communities. My research at UNICAEN is funded by the Winning Normandy/Marie Skłodowska-Curie COFUND programme (2023-2025).

Current programs

• DIVSULPHEAT "Functional diversity and sulphur nutrition as levers to enhance grassland production upon heatwaves" 2023-2025 : WinningNormandy.

Publications

•    Cera, A., Verdugo‐Escamilla, C., Marín, J. A., & Palacio, S. (2023). Calcium sulphate biomineralisation: Artefact of sample preparation?. Physiologia Plantarum, 175(5), e14017.
•    Cera, A., Montserrat-Martí, G., & Palacio, S. (2023). Nutritional strategy underlying plant specialisation to gypsum soils. AoB Plants, plad041.
•    Palacio, S., Cera, A., Escudero, A., Luzuriaga, A. L., Sánchez, A. M., Mota, J. F., ... & Tejero, P. (2022). Recent and ancient evolutionary events shaped plant elemental composition of edaphic endemics: a phylogeny‐wide analysis of Iberian gypsum plants. New Phytologist, 235(6), 2406-2423.
•    Cera, A., Montserrat-Martí, G., Luzuriaga, A. L., Pueyo, Y., & Palacio, S. (2022). Plant affinity to extreme soils and foliar sulphur mediate species-specific responses to sheep grazing in gypsum systems. Plant Ecology & Diversity, 15(5-6), 253-263.
•    Cera, A., Mendes, J., Cortada, À., & Gómez-Bolea, A. (2022). Cover of Ramalina species as an indicator of habitat quality in threatened coastal woodlands. The Bryologist, 125(3), 424-432.
•    Cera, A., Montserrat-Martí, G., Luzuriaga, A. L., Pueyo, Y., & Palacio, S. (2022). When disturbances favour species adapted to stressful soils: grazing may benefit soil specialists in gypsum plant communities. PeerJ, 10, e14222.
•    Cera, A., Montserrat‐Martí, G., Drenovsky, R. E., Ourry, A., Brunel‐Muguet, S., & Palacio, S. (2022). Gypsum endemics accumulate excess nutrients in leaves as a potential constitutive strategy to grow in grazed extreme soils. Physiologia Plantarum, 174(4), e13738.
•    Heiden, N., Cera, A., & Palacio, S. (2022). Do soil features condition seed germination of gypsophiles and gypsovags? An analysis of the effect of natural soils along an alkalinity gradient. Journal of Arid Environments, 196, 104638.
•    Cera, A., Duplat, E., Montserrat-Martí, G., Gómez-Bolea, A., Rodríguez-Echeverría, S., & Palacio, S. (2021). Seasonal variation in AMF colonisation, soil and plant nutrient content in gypsum specialist and generalist species growing in P-poor soils. Plant and Soil, 468, 509-524.
•    Cera, A., Montserrat-Martí, G., Ferrio, J. P., Drenovsky, R. E., & Palacio, S. (2021). Gypsum-exclusive plants accumulate more leaf S than non-exclusive species both in and off gypsum. Environmental and Experimental Botany, 182, 104294.
•    Cera, A., Masó, G., Llimona, X., & Gómez-Bolea, A. (2020). Assessing changes in epiphytic lichen community after 45 years, a study case in white poplars from northern Iberian Peninsula (Jaca, Aragon). Collectanea Botanica, 2020, vol. 39.
•    Cera, A., Fernández-Brime, S., Vila, J. & Llimona, X. (2019). Aportació al coneixement de la diversitat liquènica en brolles de Cistus a Catalunya. Butlletí de la Institució Catalana d'Història Natural, 83-90.
•    Cera, A., Force, L., Navarro Rosinés, P., Gómez-Bolea, A., & Llimona, X. (2018). Noves dades sobre líquens i fongs liquenícoles dels substrats rocosos carbonatats a Catalunya. Butlletí de la Institució Catalana d'Història Natural, 9-22.
 

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