Technician (IEO-CSIC)
Cova is a marine ecologist specialized on cold-water coral (CWC) ecosystems, working at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography which belong to the Spanish Research Council (IEO-CSIC). She has been interested in the spatial distribution, ecology and ecophysiology of CWCs since the beginning of my scientific career, when she was working with cnidarians from the Antarctica. Her investigations follow a multidisciplinary approach combining non-invasive methodologies (i.e. ROVs, manned submersibles) for the in-situ study of deep-sea benthic communities with experiments in aquaria studying coral growth, feeding behaviour as well as the effect of climate change on benthic organisms. The study of the reproductive biology and ecology of CWCs is also an important topic of my research activity. Key achievements of my carrier include some of the first quantitative video analyses of deep-sea benthic ecosystems and pioneering aquaria experiments that established the first in vivo growth rates for several CWC species. The most important motivation of my research is to provide the scientific knowledge necessary for the conservation of the deep sea, especially for the protection of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs).