Carlos Lara Romero

I am a plant ecologist with a strong interest in how global change drivers affect evolutionary processes in plants. I combine different approaches and disciplines including, among others, population genetics and genomics, spatial statistics, ecophysiology, and network analyses. My primary goal is to advance our understanding of ecological systems and their conservation. I place particular emphasis on the use of data science techniques for research and knowledge transfer, while fostering data literacy in both students and academic colleagues.

My research career has yielded significant insights across various domains. Through the study of biotic interactions, particularly in plant-pollinator and plant-plant relationships, I’ve contributed to our understanding of structural dynamics and its impact on plant fitness, with broad scientific and social impact. Additionally, my investigations into genetic mechanisms underlying organisms’ responses to changing environments have provided novel insights into adaptation processes in plants.

My work extends to applied ecology, where I’ve made significant contributions to the conservation and restoration of pollinators, advancing assisted evolution techniques in plants, and contributing to the conservation of crop wild relatives.