Martina Pavlek, given a Marie Curie Action at the UB, among the distinguished scientists by the UE in the 20th anniversary of this program
Martina Pavlek, a young researcher with a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action at the University of Barcelona, is part of the group of the thirteen scientists distinguished by the European Union in the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of this community program, aimed at promoting the innovating potential and mobility of scientists in Europe.
The thirteen selected researchers, among who is Martima Pavlek, got the highest score in the 2016 call for proposals for individual fellowships of Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions. Since its creation, the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, promoted by the European Union, have given grants to a total of 100.000 researchers from all European countries.
Martina Pavlek, a young researcher with a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action at the University of Barcelona, is part of the group of the thirteen scientists distinguished by the European Union in the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of this community program, aimed at promoting the innovating potential and mobility of scientists in Europe.
The thirteen selected researchers, among who is Martima Pavlek, got the highest score in the 2016 call for proposals for individual fellowships of Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions. Since its creation, the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, promoted by the European Union, have given grants to a total of 100.000 researchers from all European countries.
HIDDENLIFE Project: when global change affects subterranean ecosystems
Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges lots of countries worldwide are now facing. Protecting biodiversity, improving the protection of natural ecosystems and stopping degradation of ecosystem services are the main principles of the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy. In this predicting scenario, the European Union has distinguished the scientific project by Martina Pavlek to document and analyse the effects of climate change on the cave fauna in the Dinarides mountain chain, a mountain system that crosses the Balkan Peninsula.
In this caves, hard to have access to, featured by a lack of light and complexity of special connections, a specific type of fauna with special adaptions to the environment (arthropods, nematodes, etc.). Although climate conditions in caves and micro-caves seem to be stable, some studies have warned about the future impact of global change on these fragile subterranean habitats.
Applying leading techniques of the field of genetics, molecular biology and evolutionary ecology, Martina Pavlek is studying three populations of cave-dwelling spiders in subterranean ecosystems to evaluate their vulnerability towards future scenarios shaped by global change in the entire planet.
Martina Pavlekʼs work is part of the HIDDENLIFE project from the EU 2020 Horizon program, supervised by Professor Miquel Àngel Arnedo, from the Department of Evolutionary Biology, Ecology and Environmental Sciences of the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute (IRBio). The researcher Martina Pavlek got the grant Marie Sklodowska-Curie in the last call for proposals, in which a total of four researchers were given a grant to study at the University of Barcelona.