PhD Supervisors: Marisol Felip (UB and CREAF) and Jordi Catalan (CREAF).
His PhD research, within the WATERSCAPE project, focuses on the mechanisms underlying the coexistence of diatom species in high-mountain aquatic ecosystems. The study combines field observations and experiments in the Sant Nicolau Valley, in Aigüestortes i Estany de Sant Maurici National Park, to investigate how spatial and temporal environmental variability influences diatom communities and species coexistence.
In the laboratory, experiments with selected species are used to study their individual responses to environmental conditions as well as their interactions when growing together. By combining these results with observations and experiments under natural conditions, the research aims to better understand how environmental heterogeneity contributes to the maintenance of biodiversity and to test ecological theories of species coexistence.