María Losada

The effects of biodiversity on ecosystem functioning, such as mammals and plants on biogeochemical carbon cycle, and the interplay of biotic communities in ecological diversification processes at different spatial scales are the main research topics of my interest. During my PhD I studied the effects of mammal and tree communities on soil organic matter and microbial carbon utilization in the northern Amazon. I combined landscape-scale biodiversity data with soil biogeochemical, molecular and microbial analyses (ED-XRF, CNH analysis, FTIR-ATR, EcoPlates) to understand how mammal and tree diversity are affecting soil organic matter (SOM) composition, but also soil microbial carbon consumption. This is relevant because we can predict how and to what extent aboveground biotic communities, especially large species that are more susceptible to the current loss of biodiversity, are favoring the accumulation and sequestration of soil organic carbon rather than its release to the atmosphere, contributing to mitigate the effects of climate change. I am now involved in the project investigating the multilevel effects of predation-induced prey stress on temperate forest ecosystem functioning. The topic specifically focuses on the impact of predation risk by the presence of wolves and lynx on stoichiometry along trophic levels down to the soil through the potential stress response by ungulates (red deer and roe deer).