Marti March-Salas (Personal Website)

PostDoc

Research interest

My research mainly focuses on understanding how changing climatic conditions and genetic diversity affect the phenotypic variation, transgenerational responses and adaptation and functional processes of herbaceous plants, at different levels of biological organization (population, individual and intra-individual) and using different experimental approaches. I am also interested in developing studies for biodiversity conservation and to determine the plants responses under human pressures. In this regard, I am immersed in investigating the effect of rock-climbing on cliff plants and the soil microbiota linked to them, mosses, and lichens, especially in Mediterranean environments.

Projects

·        'WORLDCLIMB' - Climbing impact on cliff vegetation: first large-scale study on the worldwide Mediterranean biome 

       'ReCOVIDiv' - REcovery of vegetation after COVID-19 disruptions: assessment for bioDIVersity conservation and ecoclimbing 

      GrENE-net - Genomics of rapid Evolution in Novel Environments 

      Determinants of Behavioural Adaptability to Changing Environment 

      Effects of seasonality and environmental colour on life-history evolution 

      Breathing in the Parks - An initiative to assess Allergenicity of Urban Green Species 

      Ecological basis for the restoration of gypsum vegetation 

      GLORIA-EUROPE - The European Dimension of the Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments 

      BIOENAH - Botanical Garden Cruz Badiano: project for community recovery of Mesoamerican use of traditional medicinal plants species from native pharmacopoeia in Mexicos

      Influence of biotic and abiotic factors on cliff plant responses in the face of increasing climbing intensity and changing climates

      EcoClimb - Assessment of the effect of climbing on the conservation of cliff plants in protected areas of Spain

      Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales (OAPN) - Conservation of threatened cliff plants in Spanish National Parks

      Nachwuchsförderung Forschungsprojekte – Goethe University Frankfurt - Phylogenetic approaches to understand cliff plant evolutionary patterns

      GRADE Foundation - Influence of biotic and abiotic factors on cliff plant adaptation to increasing climbing intensity and stressful environments

      FEDER - European Research Funds | Agencia Estatal de Investigación - Assessment of the effect of climbing on the conservation of cliff plants in protected areas of Spain

      Freunde und Förderer der Goethe-Universität - Is the effect of rock climbing on cliff vegetation mediated by changes in soil composition?

      Freunde und Förderer der Goethe-Universität - Conservation of Cliff Microbiome

      Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación - Relative significance of the precipitation variance and predictability for the persistence of populations and natural selection

      HerbAdapt - Adaptation of understorey herbs to forest management

      Back to the wild - Combining transplant experiments with the resurrection approach to investigate rapid plant adaptations

CV

Google Scholar

Peer-reviewed publications

March-Salas M, Lorite J, Bossdorf O, & Scheepens JF (2023). Cliffs as priority ecosystems. Conservation Biology, e14166. Link

Springer K, Coquery T, Holland V, Fitze, PS, Scheepens JF, & March-Salas M (2023). Precipitation predictability drives evolution of drought tolerance in the common poppy, Papaver rhoeas. Functional Ecology. Link

Møller C, De Frenne P, March-Salas M; Vanneste T, Verheyen K & Scheepens JF (2023). Forest management drives evolution of understorey herbs. Forest Ecology and Management, 548, 121390. Link

March-Salas M; Morales-Armijo F; Hernández-Agüero JA; Estrada-Castillón E; Sobrevilla-Covarrubias A; Arévalo JR; Scheepens JF & Lorite J (2023). Rock climbing affects cliff-plant communities by reducing species diversity and altering species coexistence patterns. Biodiversity and Conservation 31:1617-1638. Link

Møller C, March-Salas M, Kuppler J, De Frenne P, Scheepens JF (2023) Intra-individual variation in Galium odoratum is affected by experimental drought and shading. Annals of Botany 131(3):411-412. Link

March-Salas, M; Scheepens JF; van Kleunen, M; & Fitze, PF (2022). Precipitation predictability affects intra- and trans-generational plasticity and causes differential selection on root traits of Papaver rhoeas. Frontiers in Plant Science 13:998169. Link

Krah FS, & March-Salas M. (2022). eDNA metabarcoding reveals high soil fungal diversity and variation in community composition among Spanish cliffs. Ecology and Evolution, 12, e9594. Link

March-Salas M, van Kleunen M, Fitze PS (2021) Effects of intrinsic precipitation-predictability on root traits, allocation strategies, and the selective regimes acting on them. Oikos 2022. Link

March-Salas M, Fandos G,  Fitze PS (2021). Effects of intrinsic environmental predictability on intra-individual and intra-population variability of plant reproductive traits and eco-evolutionary consequences. Annals of Botany 127(4): 413-423.                    

deCastro-Arrazola I, March-Salas M, Lorite J (2021). Assessment of the potential risk of rock-climbing for cliff plant species and natural protected areas of Spain. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9: 611362

Noriega JA, March-Salas M, Castillo S, García H, Hortal J, Santos AM (2021). Human perturbations reduce dung beetle diversity and dung removal ecosystem function. Biotropica 00: 1-14.

March-Salas M, Pertierra LR (2020). Warmer and less variable temperatures favour an accelerated plant phenology of two invasive weeds across sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island. Austral Ecology 45: 572-585.

Noriega JA, March-Salas M, Pertierra LR, Vulinec K (2020). Spatial partitioning of perching on plants by tropical dung beetle depends on body size and leaf characteristics: a sit and wait strategy for food location. Ecological Entomology 45: 1108-1120.

March-Salas M (2020). Hacia la evaluación del impacto de la escalada sobre la biodiversidad vegetal Mediterránea para promover medidas de conservación transfronterizas: proyecto WorldClimb. Conservación Vegetal 24: 45-47.

March-Salas M, van Kleunen M, Fitze PS (2019). Rapid and positive responses of plants to lower precipitation predictability. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 286(1913): 20191486.

March-Salas M, Fitze PS (2019). Changes in environmental predictability alter a plant's chemical composition and associated ecosystem services. Experimental and Environmental Botany 168: 103865.

March-Salas M, Fitze PS (2019). A multi-year experiment shows that lower precipitation predictability encourages plants' early life stages and enhances population viability. PeerJ 7: e6443.

March-Salas M, Moreno-Moya M, Palomar G, Tejero-Ibarra P; Haeuser E, Pertierra LR (2018). An innovative vegetation survey design in Mediterranean cliffs shows evidence of higher tolerance of specialized rock plants to rock climbing activity. Applied Vegetation Science 21(2): 289-297.

Benitez G, March-Salas M, Viasla-Kamel A, Chávez-Jiménez U, Hernández J, Montes-Osuna N, Moreno-Chocano J, Cariñanos P (2018). The genus Datura L. (Solanaceae) in Mexico and Spain – Ethnobotanical perspective at the interface of medical and illicit uses. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 219: 133-151.Karitter P

Preprints

Karitter P, Covers E, Karrenbauer, M, March-Salas M, Stojanova B, Ensslin A., Rauschkolb R, Godefroid S, & Scheepens JF (2023). Evolution of competitive ability and the response to nutrient availability: a resurrection study with the calcareous grassland herb, Leontodon hispidus. EcoEvorxiv (under review in New Phytologist). Link

Karitter P, March-Salas M, Ensslin A, Rauschkolb R, Godefroid S, & Scheepens JF (2023). Combining the resurrection approach with transplant experiments to investigate adaptation of plant populations to environmental change. EcoEvorxiv (under review in Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics). Link

Møller C; March-Salas M; De Frenne P & Scheepens JF (2023). Forest understorey herbs show little evidence of genetic adaptation but strong plastic responses to forest management intensities. EcoEvorxiv (under review in J. Ecology).

Czech L; Peng Y; Spence JP; Lang PL; Bellagio T; Hildebrandt J; ...; March-Salas M; … & Exposito-Alonso M (2023). Monitoring rapid evolution of plant populations at scale with Pool-Sequencing. bioRxiv (under review in eLife). Link