Helena Ruíz

Biography

She has a BSc in Biology and MSc in Biodiversity Conservation, Management and Restoration, both by the University of Granada. From 2014 she is a Phd Student at the CREAF and her thesis is focused on the assembly of plant-animal interactions at the landscape scale in a context of forest regeneration.Particularly, she is interested in the study of antagonistic plant-animal interactions that some insects establish with Quercus ilex, a very important species of the Mediterranean forest. From the point of view of landscape ecology, they study how new forests are colonized according to their spatial characteristics and the life-history traits of the insects but also, the impact that these interactions might ultimately have on the regeneration dynamics of these new habitats. In addition, using DNA molecular techniques, we aim to know to what extent these colonization spatial patterns leave a signature on the genetics of these species.   

Research Interest

The study of antagonistic plant-animal interactions that some insects establish with Quercus ilex, a very important species of the Mediterranean forest.