Sandra Brucet

Universitat de Vic - Universitat Central de Catalunya

Experimental Sciences & Mathematics

I was born in Girona in 1976. I graduated in 1998 and obtained my PhD in Biology in 2003 at University of Girona. After that I was a postdoc at the University of Oslo (2006) and the National Environmental Institute of Denmark (2006-2008). From 2009 to 2012, I worked as a research scientist at the European Commission-Joint Research Centre (Italy). I was also a Visiting Scientist at the Middle East Technical University, Turkey. In 2012, I was hired at University of Vic to set up a research group on aquatic ecology from scratch. In 2013, I obtained a Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship to work at the University of Aarhus (Denmark).  In September 2015, I was appointed ICREA Research professor at University of Vic. Currently, I am heading the Research Group on Aquatic Ecology (GEA) that hosts ten members. GEA researchers are members of the newly created Chair on Water, Nature and Wellness.


Research interests

The research of our group focuses on the response of aquatic ecosystems and their biodiversity to global changes, such as eutrophication, habitat destruction or global warming. We used the organisms’ size structure as an alternative to taxonomical approaches to assess biodiversity and ecosystem processes. We are also interested in basic and applied aspects of ecological theories relating organisms’ body size, metabolism and temperature. Our research is holistic including the whole trophic structure from phytoplankton to fish. We focus on different aquatic ecosystems (lakes, rivers, ponds, wetlands) and use complementary approaches such as experiments, latitudinal comparisons and models. Ultimately, we aim to apply our research results to solving problems related with the conservation of aquatic ecosystems, especially those affecting autochthonous species and degraded habitats.

 

Selected publications

– Benejam L, Teixeira-de Mello F, Meerhoff M, Loureiro M, Jeppesen E & Brucet S 2016, ‘Assessing effects of change in land use on size-related variables of fish in subtropical streams‘*, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 73, 4, 547 – 556.

– Mehner T, Keeling C, Emmrich M, Holmgren K, Argillier C, Volta P, Winfield I & Brucet S 2016, ‘Effects of fish predation on density and size spectra of prey fish communities in lakes‘*, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 73, 4, 506 – 518.

Brucet S, Tavşanoğlu ÜN, Özen A, Levi EE, Bezirci G, Çakıroğlu Aİ, Jeppesen E, Svenning J-C, Ersoy Z & Beklioğlu M 2017, ‘Size-based interactions across trophic levels in food webs of shallow Mediterranean lakes‘, Freshwater Biology, 62, 1819–1830.

– Ersoy Z, Jeppesen E, Sgarzi S, Arranz I, Cañedo-Arguelles M, Quintana XD, Landkildehus F, Lauridsen TL, Bartrons M & Brucet S 2017, ‘Size-based interactions and trophic transfer efficiency are modified by fish predation and cyanobacteria blooms in Lake Mývatn, Iceland‘, Freshwater Biology, 62, pp 1942–1952.

– Cañedo-Argüelles M, Sgarzi S, Arranz I, Quintana XD, Ersoy Z, Landkildehus F, Lauridsen TL, Jeppesen E & Brucet S 2017, ‘Role of predation in biological communities in naturally eutrophic sub-Arctic Lake Mývatn, Iceland‘, Hydrobiologia, 790, pp 213–223.

– Cañedo-Argüelles M, Brucet S et al. 2017, ‘Effects of potash mining on river ecosystems: an experimental study‘, Environmental pollution, 224, pp 759 – 770.

*Both publications came out in 2017 with 2016 date.


Selected research activities

– PhD thesis Ignasi Arranz: The body size structure of lake fish and its response to biotic interactions and environmental variation

– Project Fundació Andrena: Management and restoration of temporary ponds and wetlands in Can Torres (Alt Empordà, Spain).

– Plenary talk at International Conference Fresh Blood for FreshWater: Ecological impacts of global warming and water abstraction on lakes.