Red coral effectively recovers in Mediterranean protected areas after decades of overexploitation

Protection measures of the Marine Protected Areas have enable red coral colonies (Corallium rubrum) to recover partially in the Mediterranean Sea, reaching health levels similar to those of the 1980s in Catalonia and of the 1960s in the Ligurian Sea (Northwestern Italy).

Sub-national “climate clubs” could offer key to combating climate change

‘Climate clubs’ offering membership for sub-national states, in addition to just countries, could speed up progress towards a globally-harmonised climate change policy, which in turn offers a way to achieve stronger climate policies in all countries.

El ICTA-UAB estrena su programa “Locos por la Tierra” de la Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera

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Victoria Reyes-García receives an ERC Proof of Concept grant linked to the LICCI project

Victoria Reyes-García ICREA Research Professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) is one of the 76 top researchers that will receive ERC Proof of Concept grants.

Moving towards low-carbon lifestyles: a question of collective action

Originally published on the CUSP blog .

ICTA-UAB demands the UAB to reduce number of flights

Given our current climate emergency, recently acknowledged by the UAB, the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) has drawn up a proposal urging the University to put into action a new travel policy to tackle one of its most polluting activities: Flying.

New assessment finds EU electricity decarbonization discourse in need of overhaul

It’s well known that the EU is focusing its efforts on decarbonizing its economy.

ICTA-UAB to organize the International Conference 2020 on Low-Carbon Lifestyle Changes

ICTA-UAB will host the International Conference 2020 on Low-Carbon Lifestyle Changes with the aim of exploring the role of changing lifestyles in climate change mitigation.

Iron availability in seawater, key to explaining the amount and distribution of fish in the oceans

People tend to pay more attention to how much food they are eating, than with how rich their diet is in essential micronutrients like iron.

Mining waste dumped into Portmán Bay continues to release metals into the sea 25 years later

The waters of the Mediterranean Sea continue to receive dissolved metals from the mining waste deposited in Portmán Bay (Murcia) 25 years after the cessation of mining activity.

A new ICTA-UAB project to assess the impacts of micro- and nano-plastics in the tropical and temperate oceans

A new project led by ICTA-UAB researcher Patrizia Ziveri is one of five projects selected for funding by the Joint Programming Initiative Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans (JPI Oceans).

Big data reveals extraordinary unity underlying life’s diversity

Limits to growth lie at the heart of how all living things function, according to a new study carried out by ICTA-UAB researchers  .

Jeroen van den Bergh, awarded an honorary doctorate by the Open University of the Netherlands

The environmental economist at ICTA-UAB Prof. Dr Jeroen van den Bergh was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Open University of the Netherlands.

High lead concentrations found in Amazonian wildlife

Researchers from ICTA-UAB and the UVic-UCC detect high levels of lead concentration in wildlife samples from the Peruvian Amazon caused by lead-based ammunition and oil-related pollution in extraction areas.

Study gauges trees’ potential to slow global warming in the future

The Pyrenean forests, the Cantabrian coast and Galicia show an important potential to accumulate even larger amounts of carbon dioxide in the future and thus help to slow down the increase in CO2 concentrations which are warming the planet.

Why do environmentalists eat meat?

A study by researchers at the ICTA-UAB analyses the reasons why environmentally-minded scientists find it difficult to give up meat consumption, one of the world's greatest environmental problems.

La gestión del verde urbano permite incrementar la presencia de pájaros en las ciudades

Incrementar la biodiversidad del verde urbano permitiría aumentar la presencia de aves paseriformes en las ciudades mediterráneas, según un estudio científico realizado por investigadores del Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología Ambientales de la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) que analiza qué estrategias hay que implementar sobre la vegetación urbana para conseguir "naturalizar" las ciudades favoreciendo la entrada de flora y fauna.

The Ebro River annually dumps 2.2 billion microplastics into the sea

An ICTA-UAB study analyses the distribution and accumulation of microplastics from one of the main rivers of the western Mediterranean.
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Jordina Belmonte Soler
Jordina Belmonte Soler

My scientific career has developed in Spain (Barcelona) and France (Montpellier, Marseille). I obtained a PHD in Biological Sciences at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (1988) on the “Identification, study and annual evolution of the pollen content in the atmosphere of Catalonia and Balearic Islands”. I stayed at the Laboratoire de Botanique Historique et Palynologie de la Université de Saint Jerôme (Marseille, France) from 1990 to 1992. Back to the UAB, I became “Professora Titular” in 1993. Since then I’ve been teaching Botany and Vegetation to students on Biology and Environmental Sciences and Aerobiology to Master students at the time than making research on aerobiology and developing several management positions (Director of The Department on Animal Biology, Plant Biology and Ecology; Coordinator of Environmental Sciences; Director of ICTA). I have been recognized as “Membre d’Honor” of the “Col·legi d’Ambientòlegs de Catalunya” (COAMB) in 2016 and with the “Premi de Recerca i Investigació” of the “Col·legi de Biòlegs de Catalunya” (CBC) in 2018. From November 2018 on, I am the President of the “Institució Catalana d’Història Natural” (ICHN).

Research interests
My research is on aerobiology: study of the diversity, levels and dynamics of pollen and fungal spores and their allergens in the air, the relationship with vegetation, meteorology, climate and atmospheric transport, and the application to the study of the climate change and to the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of the allergies and phytopathologies. I lead the Grup de AEROBIOlògica, Transport Atmosfèric i salut, AEROBIOTAS, (2017SGR1692) and coordinate the Point of Information on Aerobiology (PIA, http://lap.uab.cat/aerobiologia), the platform used to disseminate the results of the projects Aerobiological Network of Catalonia (Xarxa Aerobiològica de Catalunya, XAC) and the Project EOLO-PAT (Predicción Aerobiológica para Tenerife). I am member of the “Conseil Scientifique de la Réseau National de Surveillance Aérobiologique” (RNSA) in France; elected member of the WG Aerobiology & Pollution (IG Environmental & Occupational Allergy) of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) and Vice President of the European Aerobiology Society (EAS).

Keywords
Aerobiology, Allergens, Allergies, Atmospheric Transport, Climate Change, Phytopathology, Pollen, Public Health, Fungal Spores.

Jordina Belmonte Soler
Email UAB: Jordina.Belmonte@uab.cat
Web: http://lap.uab.cat/aerobiologia
Other locations:
Unitat Botànica - Dept. Biologia Animal, Biologia Vegetal i EcologiaDespatx C1/219 Telèfon +34 93 581 2040
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