Helena C. Serrano

Researcher

Biodiversity Disturbed environments Phytoremediation Ecological indicators Ecosystem services

I'm interested in researching Ecology of Edaphic Challenges to Plants, either natural heterogeneity in the environment or anthropic environmental changes (e.g., elemental pollutants, agroecosystems). These are addressed in fields like Ecological Indicators and Biomonitors, Phytoaccumulation, Conservation, or Ecosystem Services; contributing to applications in ecological Restoration / Phytoremediation.

Key areas are:

# Biodiversity: monitoring biodiversity/agrobiodiversity in impacted environments, from plants to soil microbial communities; species conservation; action plans for less impact/no-loss/restoration management; ecosystem services and trade-offs; sustainable and nature-based solutions (e.g. for climate change adaptation).

# Eco-physiology in phytoremediation and ecological restoration: native plant species; ecological niches; phytoaccumulation; disturbance & resilience; ecosystem service’s trade-offs; mineral mining & quarries; vegetation reflectance indexes (e.g. NDVI).

# Ecological indicators of natural and anthropogenic pollution: plants, lichens and mosses as bioindicators/biomonitors; pollution deposition impacts.

Current affiliations:

• Researcher FCiências.ID, for the project SustInAfrica: Sustainable intensification of food production through resilient farming systems in West & North Africa. EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement 861924. 2020-2024 [URL: sustinafrica.com]

• Co-Leader of the eChanges group (Ecology of Environmental Change) of cE3c 2022-2024 [URL: echanges.fc.ul.pt]

• Invited Assistant Professor at CIÊNCIAS ULisboa 2021-2024 [URL: ciencias.ulisboa.pt]

• Member of the Direction (Treasurer) of SPECO (Portuguese Ecology Society) 2020-2025 [URL: www.speco.pt]

Habilitations:

• 2015: PhD Biology-Ecology, CIÊNCIAS ULisboa: “Ecology of a rare and endemic Plantago species”

• 2003: MSc Biotechnology (Biochemical Engineering), TÉCNICO ULisboa: “Effect of mycorrhization in the tolerance to heavy metal toxicity”

• 1997: Degree Biologia Vegetal Aplicada (Plant Biology), CIÊNCIAS ULisboa: “Genetic transformation of Castanea sativa mill. mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens”