- 1999-2005 BsC in Environmental Sciences, Rey Juan Carlos University (Spain)
- 2006 Msc in Protected Areas Management, Complutense University of Madrid, Autónoma University of Madrid and Alcalá de Henares University (Spain)
- 2008 Msc in Science and Environmental Technology, Rey Juan Carlos University (Spain)
- 2007-2010 PhD in Environmental Sciences, Rey Juan Carlos University (Spain)
- 2011 Remedinal postdoctoral fellow, Rey Juan Carlos University (Spain)
- 2012 Fulbright postdoctoral fellow, Colorado State University (USA)
- 2013-present Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow, Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive (France)
I´m a Marie Curie IEF fellow working with Stephan Hättenschwilerat CEFE on the project DECOMFORECO (Litter decomposition in forest ecosystems: assessing the functional role of climate, litter quality and soil organisms). I´m broadly interested in addressing questions regarding the functional outcomes of plant-soil interactions. The main topics that motivate my research are plant and ecosystem responses to soil nutrient heterogeneity, plant-soil interactions along successional gradients, relative contribution of climate, litter quality and soil organisms to litter decomposition at different spatial scales.
Publications
M. Delgado-Baquerizo,F.T. Maestre, A. Gallardo, M. A. Bowker, M.D. Walle nstein, J. L. Quero, V. Ochoa, B. Gozalo, García-Gómez, S. Soliveres, P. García-Palacios, M. Berdugo, E. Valencia, C. Escolar, T. Arredondo, C. Barraza-Cepeda, D. Bran, J.A. Carreira, M. Chaieb, A.A. Conceicao, M. Derak, D. Eldridge, A. Escudero, C. I. Espinosa, J. Gaitán, M. G. Gatica, S. Gómez-González, E. Guzman, J. R. Gutiérrez, A. Florentino, E. Hepper, R. M. Hernández, E. Huber-Sannwald, M. Jankju, J. Liu, M. Miriti, J. Monerris, K. Naseri, Z. Noumi, V. Polo, A. Prina, E. Pucheta, E. Ramírez, D.A. Ramírez-Collantes, R. Romão, M. Tighe, D. Torres, C. Torres-Díaz, E.D. Ungar, J. Val, W. Wamiti, D. Wang & E. Zaady. 2013. Decoupling of soil nutrient cycles as a functionof aridity in global drylands. Nature 504: 672-67.
García-Palacios, P., F.T. Maestre, J. Kattge & D.H. Wall. 2013. Climate and litter quality differently modulate the effects of soil fauna on litter decomposition across biomes. Ecology Letters 16: 1045-1053.
Delgado-Baquerizo, M., F. T. Maestre, A. Gallardo, J. L. Quero, V. Ochoa, M. García-Gómez, S. Soliveres, C. Escolar, P. García-Palacios, M. Berdugo, E. Valencia, B. Gozalo, Z. Noumi, M. Derak & M. Wallenstein. 2013. Aridity determines N availability in semiarid Mediterranean grasslands. PLoS ONE 8: e59807.
García-Palacios, P., R. Milla, M. Delgado-Baquerizo, N. Martín-Robles, M. Álvaro-Sánchez, D.H Wall. 2013. Side effects of plant domestication: ecosystem impacts of changes in litter quality. New Phytologist 198: 504-513.
Soliveres, S., F. T. Maestre, A. Escudero, P. García-Palacios, F. Valladares & A. P. Castillo-Monroy. Changes inrainfall amount and frequency do not affect the outcome of the interactionbetween the shrub Retama sphaerocarpa(L.) neighbour grasses in two contrasted semiarid communities. Journal of Arid Environments 91: 104-112.
García-Palacios, P., F. T. Maestre & R. Milla. 2013. Community-aggregated plant traits interact with soil nutrient heterogeneity to determine ecosystem functioning. Plant and Soil 364: 119-129.
García-Palacios, P., R. Milla, M. Álvaro-Sánchez, N. Martín-Robles, M. Maestro. 2013. Application of a high throughput laboratorymethod to assess litter decomposition rates in multiple species experiments. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 57: 929-932.
García-Palacios, P., F. T. Maestre, R. D. Bardgett & H. de Kroon. 2012. Plant responses to soil heterogeneity and global environmental change. Journal of Ecology 6:1303-1314.
Maestre, F. T., J. L. Quero, N. J. Gotelli, A. Escudero, V. Ochoa, M. Delgado-Baquerizo, M. García-Gómez, M. A. Bowker, S. Soliveres, C. Escolar,P. García-Palacios, M. Berdugo, E. Valencia, B. Gozalo, A. Gallardo, L. Aguilera, T. Arredondo, J. Blones, B. Boeken, D. Bran, A. Conceicao, O. Cabrera, M. Chaieb, M. Derak, D. Eldridge, C. I. Espinosa, A. Florentino, J. Gaitán, M. G. Gatica, W. Ghiloufi, S. Gómez-González, J. R. Gutiérrez, R. M. Hernández, X. Huang, E. Huber-Sannwald, M. Jankju, M. Miriti, J. Monerris, R. L. Mau, E. Morici, K. Naseri, A. Ospina, V. Polo, A. Prina, E. Pucheta, D. A. Ramírez-Collantes, R. Romão, M. Tighe, C. Torres-Díaz, J. Val, J. P. Veiga, D. Wang, E. Zaady. 2012. Plant species richness and ecosystem -multifunctionality in global drylands. Science 335: 214-218.
García-Palacios, P., J. I. Querejeta, F. T. Maestre, A. Escudero & F. Valladares. 2012. Impact of simulated changes in rainfall regime and nutrient deposition on the relative dominance and isotopic composition of ruderal plants in athropogenic grasslands. Plant and Soil 352:303-319.
García-Palacios, P., M. A. Bowker, F. T. Maestre, S. Soliveres, F. Valladares, J. Papadopoulos & A. Escudero. 2011. Ecosystem development in roadside grasslands: biotic control, plant–soil interactions and dispersal limitations. Ecological Applications 21:2806-2821.
Castillo-Monroy, A. P., F. T. Maestre, A. Rey, S. Soliveres & P. García-Palacios. 2011. Biological soil crusts are the main contributor to soil CO2 efflux and modulate its spatio-temporal variability in a semi-arid ecosystem. Ecosystems 14:835-847.
García-Palacios, P., M. A. Bowker, S. J. Chapman, F. T. Maestre, S. Soliveres, A. Gallardo, F. Valladares, C. Guerrero & A. Escudero. 2011. Early-successional vegetation changes after roadside prairie restoration modify processes related with soil functioning by changing microbial functional diversity. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 43:1245-1253.
Soliveres, S., P. García-Palacios, A. P. Castillo-Monroy, F. T. Maestre, A. Escudero & F. Valladares. 2011. Co-occurrence of herbivory and water availability modulate the outcome of a grass-shrub interaction in a pulse-driven ecosystem. Oikos 120: 710-719.
García-Palacios, P.; Maestre F. T.; Gallardo, G. 2011. Soil nutrient heterogeneity modulates ecosystem responses to changes in the identity and richness of plant functional groups. Journal of Ecology 99: 551-562.
García-Palacios, P.; Soliveres, S.; Maestre F. T.; Escudero, A.; Valladares, F.; Castillo-Monroy, A. P. 2010. Dominant plant species modulates responses to hydroseeding, irrigation and fertilization during the restoration of semiarid motorway slope. Ecological Engineering 36: 1290-1298.
Maestre, F. T.; Bowker, M. A.; Escolar, C.; Puche, M. D.; Soliveres, S.; Mouro, S.; García-Palacios, P.; Castillo-Monroy, A. P.; Martínez, I.; Escudero, A. (2010). Do biotic interactions modulate ecosystem functioning along abiotic stress gradients? Insights from semi-arid Mediterranean plant and biological soil crust communities. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 365: 2057-2070.
Maestre, F. T.; Bowker, M. A.; Puche, M. D.; Hinojosa, M. B.; Martínez, I.; García-Palacios, P.; Castillo, A. P.; Soliveres, S.; Luzuriaga, A. L.; Sánchez, A. M.; Carreira, J. A.; Gallardo, A.; Escudero, A. (2009). Shrub encroachement can reverse desertification in semi-arid Mediterranean grasslands.Ecology Letters 12: 930-941.