Postdoctoral researcher Research Team: EcoPEPS e-mail: andreu.cera-rull@unicaen.fr Tel: +33(0)2 31 56 58 62 Location: CAMPUS 1, Building J3, Door IR 053 Address : Université de Caen Normandie, CS 14032, Esplanade de la paix, 14032 CAEN CEDEX 5, France

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., Bugalho M.N., Catry F.X. (2024). Deer exclusion is necessary to promote post-fire herbaceous regeneration in the understorey of a mediterranean forest. Restoration Ecology 32, e14208. 
• Cera A., Brunel-Muguet S., Lemauviel-Lavenant S. (2024) Grasslands: an asset to secure livestock feed in the face of heatwaves? A literature search. In Why grasslands? (eds. C.W. Klootwijk, M. Bruinenberg, M. Cougnon, N.J. Hoekstra, R. Ripoll-Bosch, S. Schelfhout, R.L.M. Schils, T. Vanden Nest, N. van Eekeren, W. Voskamp-Harkema, A. van den Pol-van Dasselaar), Grassland Science in Europe, vol. 29, 74-76.
• Lecomte X., Bugalho M.N., Catry F.X., Fernandes P.M., Cera A., Caldeira M.C. (2024). Ungulates mitigate the effects of drought and shrub encroachment on the fire hazard of Mediterranean oak woodlands. Ecological Applications, e2971.
• Muller C.T., Cera A., Palacio S., Moore M.J., Tejero P., Mota J.F., Drenovsky R.E. (2024). Nutritional convergence in plants growing on gypsum soils in two distinct climatic regions Get access Arrow. Annals of Botany, mcae127.
• 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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