Staff

Graduated in Geology (2007-2012) in the University of Zaragoza, I received the Gregorio Casañal Poza Award to the degree expedient. Master in the same University (2013), with a project about the MIS3 avifauna of Aragón. PhD in Geology at Universidad de Zaragoza (2019) with a maximum qualification of Excellent Cum Laude and an International Mention with a thesis entitled “Evolución de las faunas fósiles de Aves del Cuaternario de Aragón y del norte de la peninsula ibérica”, which included the analysis of 13 different sites from the north of the Iberian Peninsula. My main research line concerns the analysis of bird remains in the Iberian Peninsula during the Pleistocene and Holocene, a line with few specialist researchers, but with a high potential as a tool for paleoenvironmental reconstruction, as birds appear in most of the Quaternary sites. I have work with avian remains from several sites, including Atapuerca sites, and sites from Asturias, Aragón, País Vasco and Navarra, most of them Upper Pleistocene, but also including early Pleistocene and Holocene sites. My work is based on the analysis of bird bones and eggshell remains. The eggshell remain analysis represents a new research line in the Quaternary record of the Iberian Peninsula. This new line includes a new set of methodologies, with SEM, petrographic microscopy and cathodoluminescence, among other techniques. The main objectives of my research are the comparison of the avian assemblages of the past with the extant ones and the paleoenvironmental reconstruction, in order to give a complete approach of the environments inhabited by early human populations and the effect of paleoenvironmental changes in the distribution of the avian taxa along the Pleistocene. I had a postdoctoral research fellowship at Universidade Nova de Lisboa in Portugal, within the project XtalEggs. This part of my research includes the analysis of the evolution of the eggshell structure in birds, and the taphonomic implications of eggshell accumulation.

I am the first author of 7 papers published in SCI journals, with a H-Index of 8 (Scopus) and 182 citations. Also, I have 14 more papers in SCI high impact factor journals as a co-author, as “Scientific Reports”, “Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology”, “Quaternary Science Reviews” or “Journal of Vertebrate Palaeontology” among others. I am the first author of 10 works presented in National and International Meetings, and a co-author of 29 more works, most of them concerning bird remains in Pleistocene sites. I have participated in 9 research projects, including 3 projects in Gobierno de Aragón programs, 4 projects in MINECO and Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, and 2 in Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia de Portugal projects. During my research I have been able to collaborate with researchers from several national and international institutions, including Portuguese, Italian, French and German Institutions, among others.

I have been a reviewer for peer reviewed SCI journals, as Comptes Rendus Palevol, Quaternary International or the Journal of South American Earth Sciences. Currently I am a member of the editorial board of the open access Ciências da Terra-Earth Science Journal.

During my research career I have been the recipient of several fellowship before and during my predoctoral career, including a Training fellowship for undergraduated researchers (Beca de Colaboración, University of Zaragoza, 2011-2012), a Master Researcher Fellowship (Beca de Máster IUCA, University of Zaragoza, 2013), a Predoctoral Researcher Fellowship (Ayuda Predoctoral de la Diputación General de Aragón, 2014-2018). As a postdoctoral researcher I had a contract in the Departamento de Ciências da Terra, in the NOVA university of Lisbon (2019-2020). From January 2021 I will be conducting my research in the Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social in Tarragona, as I have been the recipient of the Juan de La Cierva Formación call of 2020.

During my PhD I made several research stages in Research Centres and Universities both in Spain and in other European institutions, including the Università di Ferrara (Italy), the MNHN (France), Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal), LARC (Portugal), CENIEH (Burgos), IPHES (Tarragona), EBD (Sevilla), Museo de Arqueología (Bilbao) and the Museu de Prehistoria (Valencia). Plus, a year of my Geology Degree in the University of Cardiff (UK) in the Erasmus program.
I have participated as a teacher in 3 subjects of the Geology Degree, and in the Máster en Mundo Antiguo y Patrimonio from the History Department, both in the University of Zaragoza, including the subjets Paleontología Continental, Paleontología Técnica and Paleobiología de Vertebrados y Humana, and Arqueología del Paisaje, with a total of 181.5 hours. I have participated in Scientific Dissemination activities, as Jornadas de Puertas Abiertas of the Facultad de Ciencias (2016-2017) and V Circuitos Científicos (2015), Encuentros en la Primera fase of the MCNUZ (2020), and the III Jornadas Geológicas de las Güixas (2021). I have participated in the documentary “Loarre, Castillos y Dinosaurios”, also as a scriptwriter. I have worked as a technic in scientific dissemination, designing and developing palaeontological museums within the company Paleoymás S.L. (Fonelas P-1 early Pleistocene site Centre, the future Museo de Ciencias Naturales de Arnedo, among other museums, centres, and open-air installations). I attended the “Curso Universitario de Especialización en Museología: teoría y práctica”, imparted by the IGECA of the Universidad Europea Miguel de Cervantes.

I have an active part in the field work of my research group, participating in 10 field work campaigns of Atapuerca, in campaigns centred in the Quaternary Record of the Pyrenees, and in several campaigns concerning the Jurassic, Cretaceous and Eocene record of Aragón and Portugal. Also, I am the director of the digging campaigns in the late Cretaceous dinosaur egg site from Loarre, Huesca. I was an organizing member of the XVIII Encuentro de Jóvenes Investigadores en Paleontología (EJIP). Also, I have collaborated with the organization of several meetings (IAS Meeting of 2011, OSM PAGES 2017, among others). I have participated as a chairman for the Quaternary Session in two meetings (XVI and XVII EJIP), and I’ve been part of the scientific committee of two meetings (2nd Palaeontological Virtual Congress and XVIII EJIP).