Abstract:
Substantial research efforts are being devoted in the last decades to understand how ecosystem structural attributes, such as biodiversity, affect ecosystem functioning and the provision of ecosystem services. However, most of this research has been carried out in ecosystems other than drylands, which cover ~41% of terrestrial surface and host over 40% of the global population. In this lecture ,I will summarize the results of recent and ongoing studies from my lab addressing the links between ecosystem structure and functioning in global drylands. I will also discuss how these links are impacted by changes in aridity and grazing pressure, two major global change and desertification drivers across drylands worldwide. This research is contributing to fill critical gaps in our understanding of how ongoing global environmental change is affecting dryland ecosystems worldwide -and the essential ecosystem services they deliver- and can help to address effective management and restoration actions

Bio:
Fernando T. Maestre (Sax, 1976), received his BsC. and PhD. in Biology from the University of Alicante, Spain, in 1998 and 2002, respectively, with the maximum qualification in both cases. He received the Academic Performance Award by Generalitat Valenciana in 1999. After his PhD. he spent two years at Duke University (USA) as a Fulbright postdoctoral fellow. In 2005 he returned to Rey Juan Carlos University, where he set up the Dryland Ecology and Global Change Lab and became an Associate Professor in 2008 and a Full Professor in 2018. In May 2019 he joined the University of Alicante as a Distinguished Scientist, becoming a Full Professor in 2023 (currently on a leave of absence). In February 2024 he moved to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), in Saudi Arabia, where he is now a Professor of Environmental Science and Technology. In addition to his stay at Duke, Prof. Maestre has conducted research stays in universities and research centers from USA (Universities of Montana and Vermont), China (Lanzhou University, Chinese Academy of Sciences), Australia (Western Sydney University), UK (Rothamsted Research) and Germany (Leipzig, Free University of Berlin). He has led over 20 research projects obtained in competitive calls totaling more than 7,000,000 €, including a Starting Grant (2010-2015, BIOCOM), a Consolidator Grant (BIODESERT, 2016-2020) and an Advanced Grant (BIOSHIFT, 2023) from the European Research Council. 
Prof. Maestre has published more than 320 articles in international peer-reviewed journals such as Science, Nature, PNAS, Nature Communications, Nature Climate Change, Nature Sustainability, Nature Microbiology, Nature Food, Science Advances, and Nature Ecology & Evolution. He is within the 1% of most cited authors worldwide (“Highly Cited Researcher”) since 2018. Prof. Maestre has published five books (two as co-author) and has edited four more, having also published more than 60 book chapters and scientific/popular articles in local, regional and national journals. He is or has been a member of the Editorial Board of ten scientific journals, has presented more than 150 communications in national and international scientific meetings and has given invited conferences in universities and research centers from 12 countries. Prof. Maestre has been a member of scientific panels in Spain and Finland. He has also received multiple research awards, including the National Research Award Alejandro Malaspina (Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain, 2022), the Rei Jaume I Award, Environmental Protection category (Rei Jaume I Foundation, Spain, 2020) Humboldt Research Award (Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation, Germany, 2015), the Prize for Young Researchers in Life Sciences (Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences, Spain, 2013), the “Miguel Catalán” Prize for Researchers under 40 years (Comunidad de Madrid, Spain, 2014) and a “Distinguished Scientists” Award (Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, 2019). He has also been elected as a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America in 2020 and as an Academician (“Académico Correspondiente”) of the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences in 2023.