CRETUS STAFF

Pilar Díaz Tapia

Associate Professor
Department Botany
Centre: Faculty of Biology
Research Group: Biodiversity and Applied Botany  (BioAplic)
Phone: +34 881 813233
Email: pilar.diaz.tapia@usc.es 

I graduated with a degree in Biology (2004) and obtained my PhD (2013) from the University of A Coruña. I obtained a postdoctoral contract funded by the Xunta de Galicia, which allowed me to undertake two-year postdoctoral stays (2014-2016) at Queen’s University Belfast (UK), the University of Melbourne (Australia), and Bournemouth University (UK), before returning to the UDC (2016-2019). Subsequently, I obtained a Senior Talent contract funded by the Xunta de Galicia at the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO-CSIC) – Oceanographic Center A Coruña (2020-2022). In 2023, I joined the USC, becoming part of CRETUS in 2026.
My research focuses on the field of Phycology, studying different aspects of the biodiversity, ecology, and biology of marine macroalgae. During my predoctoral stage, I focused on the taxonomic and ecological study of macroalgae in a specific habitat: sand-covered rocks. I characterized the species of this diverse habitat, discovering new species and analyzing the role of sedimentation in determining the spatial variability of benthic communities. I acquired a high level of specialization in the systematics of the most diverse group of red algae (Ceramiales), initially using morphological studies and classical sequencing (Sanger). During my postdoctoral studies, I incorporated the use of the most advanced sequencing techniques (high-throughput sequencing) into my research to address questions about algal systematics through phylogenomics, as well as to apply these tools to the integrated study of the biodiversity of marine organism communities through metabarcoding. In this line, my work on systematics is pioneering in the field of phycology, with one of my papers receiving the Provasoli Award from the Phycological Society of America.
I am currently developing projects that aim to contribute to a better understanding of macroalgae biodiversity and how it is impacted by global change, implementing new tools for its study. The overall objective of these projects is to implement the use of metabarcoding for the study of the biodiversity of macroalgae communities and for the detection of invasive macroalgae species. My lines of research also include the characterization of marine macroalgae biodiversity, including the description of new species and the study of their classification through morphological, phylogenetic, and phylogenomic studies.

Research Lines

• Biodiversity of marine macroalgae using morphological identification, barcoding and metabarcoding.
• Systematics of marine macroalgae.
• Detection, ecology and biology of introduced and invasive marine macroalgae.
• Impacts of global change on marine macroalgal communities.