Marine ecologist at CEAB-CSIC. Studying how global change reshapes Mediterranean marine forests, and how to bring them back.
I am a scientist interested in community ecology, especially in how the drivers of global change are affecting the way marine ecosystems function.
Over the years, my research has moved from describing these ecosystems to running experiments and building models, developing some of the first hypotheses about how disturbed marine habitats function, resist and recover.
Most of my research focuses on the direct and combined effects of major disturbances related to global change, such as pollution and global warming. I am also involved in the study of marine bioinvasions of macroalgae and their impacts on benthic ecosystems.
By better understanding the ongoing threats to marine ecosystems, I can direct my research towards developing and assessing tools for the restoration and conservation of macroalgal communities.
How the main drivers of global change, above all warming and pollution, act alone and in combination on the functioning of benthic communities, from shallow marine forests to coralligenous reefs.
Why some introduced macroalgae succeed, what they change in the communities they invade, and how native herbivores and a warming sea shift the balance along the invasion process.
Turning what we learn about threats into tools: assessing the state of macroalgal forests, finding the places where they can recover, and restoring the forests that have been lost.
Pla Estratègic de Restauració Ecològica dels Hàbitats Marins de Catalunya
The first strategic plan to restore Catalonia's marine habitats: the technical framework that will guide the management of the Catalan coast over the next decade.
Funded by Generalitat de Catalunya
Coordinated and Adaptive Monitoring of Biodiversity change across Mediterranean rocky ecosystems
Biodiversa+
Basis for Mediterranean macroalgal forests conservation
Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (PID2023-150997OB-100)
Innovative approaches for rescue and management of algal forests in the Mediterranean Sea
Biodiversa+ European Biodiversity Partnership
Impact of habitat fragmentation and loss on coastal ecosystems
The Research Council of Norway
Canopy algae forest conservation and restoration. Adaptation to future changing scenarios
Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2020-112985GB-100)
Algal Forest Restoration in the Mediterranean
EASME and European Maritime and Fisheries Fund
Alien invasibility in a warming sea
Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, FEDER
Response of the coralligenous community of Cabrera National Park to climate change
Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales
Emma joins Pristine Seas expedition campaigns as an expert in benthic ecology, surveying seafloor communities in some of the most remote and best-preserved places in the ocean.
A few metres down, red light is gone.
Among the most diverse and emblematic communities of the Mediterranean, built slowly by calcareous algae in dim light. In Cabrera National Park, the CORCLIM project followed a coralligenous wall at 40 to 45 metres through the mass mortalities caused by marine heatwaves.
At this depth, colour needs a torch.
Emma leads MarineForests, a team at CEAB-CSIC and the University of Girona working on the ecology, conservation and restoration of Mediterranean marine forests.
Ballesteros† E, De Caralt S, Cebrian E (2025) Back from Presumed Local Extinction: The Case of Sargassum hornschuchii C.Agardh (Fucales: Heterokontophyta) in the Spanish Mediterranean. Cryptogamie, Algologie 46(6). doi:10.5252/cryptogamie-algologie2025v46a6
Carlot J, Galobart C, Gómez-Gras D, Santamaría J, Golo R, Sini M, Cebrian E, Gerovasileiou V, Ponti M, Turicchia E, Comeau S, Rilov G, Tamburello L, Pulido Mantas T, Cerrano C, Ledoux JB, Gattuso J-P, Ramirez-Calero S, Millan L, Montefalcone M, Katsanevakis S, Bensoussan N, Garrabou J, Teixidó N (2025) Vulnerability of benthic trait diversity across the Mediterranean Sea following mass mortality events. Nature Communications 16(1): 1571. doi:10.1038/s41467-025-55949-0
Galobart C, Sitjà C, de Caralt S, Santamaría J, Vergés A, Boada J, Cebrian E (2025) Oxygen and pH fluxes in shallow bay habitats: Evaluating the effectiveness of a macroalgal forest restoration. Journal of Phycology 61(1): 20-33. doi:10.1111/jpy.13520
Galobart C, Zarcero J, Antich A, Turon X, Cebrian E (2025) Metabarcoding identifies macroalgal composition as a driver of benthic invertebrate assemblages in restored habitats. Scientific Reports 15(1): 9817. doi:10.1038/s41598-025-93327-4
Magliozzi C, Cardoso AC, Gervasini E, Melone B, Bizzotto EC, Brundu G, Cagnacci F, Cebrian E, Adriaens T, Alves MH, Bartilotti C, Carnevali L, Duarte S, Groom Q, Queiroga RM, Meeus S, Nunes AL, Preda C, Rendón-Hernández E, Vanden Abeele S, Scalera R, Vanhove MPM, Álvaro NV (2025) Aligning EU policies to address biological invasions: assessing invasion impacts across sectors. NeoBiota 102: 295-312. doi:10.3897/neobiota.102.152015