Medrano, Alba

Alba Medrano is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology, and Environmental Sciences at the University of Barcelona. Her main research interest is centered on the ecology and marine conservation of coastal benthic communities. Currently, her research focuses on understanding the consequences of marine heat waves on Mediterranean benthic species, mainly by combining long-term environmental and ecological datasets with biological monitoring. Alba has been involved in long-term biological monitoring of Medes Islands Protected Area, Cap de Creus Natural Park, and Port-Cros Natural Park since 2015.

Alba started her scientist career in Chile where she worked as a research assistant in diverse projects evaluating ecological resistance and resilience to extreme climate events on corals and macroalgae in Central Chile and Easter Island between 2010 and 2014. Her PhD thesis addressed long-term ecological changes of coastal macroalgal beds in the Medes Islands Protected Area and it also aimed to enlarge the current knowledge of the role and effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas and active restoration actions as conservation tools to preserve macroalgal forests.

Selected articles:

• Medrano, A., Hereu, B., Cleminson, M., Pagès-Escolà, M., Rovira, G., Solà, J., and Linares, C. (2020) From marine deserts to algal beds: Treptacantha elegans revegetation to reverse stable degraded ecosystems inside and outside a No-take marine reserve. Restoration Ecology, 10.1002.
• Medrano, A., Linares, C., Aspillaga, E., Capdevila, P., Montero-Serra, I., Pagès-Escolà, M., Zabala, M., and Hereu, B. (2020) Long-term monitoring of temperate macroalgal assemblages inside and outside a No take marine reserve. Marine Environmental Research, 153, 104826.
• Medrano, A., Linares, C., Aspillaga, E., Capdevila, P., Montero-Serra, I., Pagès-Escolà, M., and Hereu, B. (2019) No-take marine reserves control the recovery of sea urchin populations after mass mortality events. Marine Environmental Research, 145, 147-154.
• Buck-Wiese H., Burgués I., Medrano A., Navarrete-Fernandez T., Garcia M., Wieters EA. (2018) Patterns in sexual reproduction of the dominant scleractinian corals at Rapa Nui (Easter Island): Pocillopora verrucosa and Porites lobata. Aquatic Biology, 27:1-11.
• Wieters EA., Medrano A., Pérez-Matus A. (2014) Functional community structure of shallow-hard bottom communities at Rapa Nui, Easter Island. Latin American Journal of Aquatic Research, 42[4]: 827 – 844.
• Wieters EA., Medrano A., Quiroga G. (2013) Spatial variation in photosynthetic recovery of intertidal turf algae from acute UVB and temperature stress associated with low tides along the central coast of Chile. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 449, 340-348.

Contact: amedrano@ub.edu
ResearchGate: Alba Medrano