CRETUS STAFF

J. Ángel Fernández Escribano

• Professor 
• Department: Functional Biology
• Center: Faculty of Biology (USC)
• Research group: Plant Ecotoxicology and Ecophysiology (ECOTOX)
• Tel .: +34 8818 13324
• Email: jangel.fernandez@usc.es
• Web group: http://www.usc.es/gl/investigacion/grupos/ecotox/

Bio

The researcher began his scientific career in 1995 in which he obtained an F.P.U. for the realization of his Doctoral Thesis. In this, the biomonitoring of air pollution with terrestrial mosses was applied for the first time in Spain at a regional scale, work that laid the foundations for the investigations carried out later. At the same time, in 1996 he completed his Bachelor Thesis on the use of aquatic mosses to monitor the metallic contamination of a river affected by spills of mining origin (work that was published in an international magazine).

Starting in 1999, once his Doctoral Thesis was defended, he began to publish his results in various scientific articles. Next, the objective of his research was to review the methodology on the use of terrestrial mosses, since during the realization of the Thesis some problems were detected that had not yet been solved since the technique began to be used in 1968. In these investigations the study of aspects such as: i) analysis of the spatial variation of metallic concentrations in moss was addressed; ii) analysis of temporal variations; iii) selection of the most suitable treatment / storage methods; iv) determination of representative sample sizes; v) selection of the most suitable geostatistical techniques; vi) study of the effect of sources of contamination; etc. In addition to evaluating the total levels of contaminants in the moss, he also worked intensively on the development of the sequential washing technique (SET), which allows the quantification of the contaminants according to their cellular location (ie extra or intracellular), which allows obtain more complete results from the ecotoxicological point of view. In parallel, it also developed various investigations aimed at the selection of the most suitable biomonitors for monitoring terrestrial ecosystems (ie tree leaves, pine needles, small mammals, slugs, and birds of prey), coastal (ie macroalgae and invertebrates) and fluvial ( ie trout fry and aquatic mosses). In recent years, and within the framework of a project of the 7th Framework Program of the European Commission, his line of research has been extended to the field of biotechnology, by participating in the development of a laboratory-grown terrestrial moss clone, to In order to develop a standard material (and a suitable exposure device) for the biomonitoring of air pollution. As a summary, throughout this research career he has participated in 6 national competitive projects (1 as IP), 7 regional competitive projects, 1 European project (as IP and scientific coordinator of the consortium) and around twenty contracts and agreements with companies Private and Public Administrations

All this activity has been reflected in almost a hundred articles published in international magazines, as well as twenty communications (oral and poster) at national and international conferences. On the other hand, he regularly acts as a reviewer for more than a dozen international magazines and is part of the editorial committee of one of them.

Projects 

Publications