Curriculum summary

Currently a senior lecturer in ecology at the UIB Department of Biology, Dr Baraza has completed four 5-year and three 6-year research terms, is a coordinator on the Master’s Programme in Applied Biotechnology in the Environmental Area, and a member of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory on Climate Change and the Expert Committee on Energy Transition and Climate Change in the Balearic Islands.

Her scientific research began in plant-ungulate herbivore interaction (mainly in goat farming) through environmental studies, whose findings are a basis to product management and conservation plans. Her PhD thesis (2000-2004) as part of the Land Ecology Group at the University of Granada looked into the effect of ungulate herbivores on forest regeneration. During her post-doctoral stay at the renowned Institute of Ecology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico with tutoring from Dr Alfonso Valiente, she developed the following research project supported by the Ramón Areces Foundation: An Evaluation of Natural Resources for Goat Farming Feed and its Effect on Vegetation in the Tehuacán Valley. She is currently a member of the teaching and research staff at the University of the Balearic Islands. She has continued her research into plant interaction with the wild and domesticated varieties of the Majorcan wild goat (Capra hircus var. majorcan). She has also widened her area of research with work aimed at the use of mycorrhizal fungi in agriculture, managing a regional project on their use in vegetable crops to increase tolerance to salt stress and taking part in a European project that analyses their use in improving perennial ryegrass farming for biomass production. She has recently moved into the research area looking into ecosystem services provision in farming systems. Her research work has enabled her to work in five different countries and seven different institutions—opportunities that have been hugely beneficial to her professional development. In most instances, she also undertook teaching, transfer and outreach activities.