Educational background

1991: Degree in Pharmacy. Pharmacy.  Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Faculty of Pharmacy.

1996: PhD Thesis at Universidad Complutense de Madrid

 

Current position:   Assistant Teacher, Department of Plant Biology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

 

Present research/professional speciality:

Experience in plant ecophysiological research, in particular studying the physiological response of lichens to extreme conditions (semiarid badlands and Antarctic ecosystems) and in Mediterranean mountain habitats.

Research specific skills: gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence techniques, long term monitoring of metabolic activity and microclimate.

Teaching experience in Plant Biology.

 

Scientific Career:

Research contract. Project GR/AMB/0614/2004, Spanish Science Ministry. Department of Plant Biology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2005)

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. Project 07M/0055/2002, Madrid Government. Department of Plant Biology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2003-2004)

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. Project ANT99-0680-C02-0, Spanish Science Ministry. Department of Plant Biology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (2000-2001)

Practicum and Lichen Herbarium assistant (MAF-Lich). Department of Plant Biology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (1994-1999).

Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Kiel, Germany (1994)

Predoctoral Fellowship Spanish science ministry. Department of Plant Biology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (1991-1994).

 

Selected Publications

Pintado, A., Valladares, F. & Sancho, L. G. (1997) Exploring phenotypic variability in the lichen Ramalina capitata: morphology, water relations and chlorophyll content in northern versus southern exposed populations. Annals of Botany 80: 345-353.

Sancho, L.G., Pintado, A., Valladares, F., Schroeter, B. & Schlensog, M. (1997) Comportamiento fotosintético de líquenes cosmopolitas en la Antártida marítima. Boletín de la Real Sociedad Española de Historia Natural (Sec. Biol.) 93: 113-118.

Schlensog, M., Schroeter, B., Sancho, L.G., Pintado, A. & Kappen, L. (1997) Effects of strong irradiance to the photosynthetic performance of the melt water dependent cyanobacterial lichen Leptogium puberulum (Collemaceae) Hue from the maritime Antarctic. Bibliotheca Lichenologica 67: 235-247.

Pintado, A., Sancho, L.G. & Valladares, F. (2001) The influence of microclimate on the composition of lichen communities along an altitudinal gradient in the maritime Antarctic. Symbiosis, 31: 69-84.

Pintado, A. & Sancho, L.G. (2002) Ecological significance of net photosynthesis activation by water vapour uptake in Ramalina capitata from rain-protected habitats. Lichenologist 34: 403-413.

Sancho, L.G., Pintado, A., Green, T.G.A., Panewitz, S. & Schroeter, B. (2003) Photosynthetic and morphological variation within and among populations of the antarctic lichen Umbilicaria aprina: Implications of the thallus size. Bibliotheca Lichenologica 86: 299-311.

Wirtz, N., Lumbsch, H.T., Schroeter, B., Green, A., Türk, R., Pintado, A., Sancho. L.G. & Schroeter, B. (2003) Lichen fungi have low cyanobiont selectivity in maritime Antarctica. New Phytologist 160: 177-183.

Sancho, L.G. & Pintado, A. (2004) Evidence of high annual growth rate for Antarctic lichens. Polar Biology 27: 132-317.

Pintado, A., Sancho. L.G., Blanquer, J.M., Green, A. & Lázaro, R. (2005) Functional Ecology of the biological soil crust in semiarid SE Spain: Sun and shade populations Diploschistes diacapsis (Ach.) Lumbsch. Lichenologist 37: 425-432.

Castro-Díez, P., Navarro, J., Pintado, A., Sancho, L.G. & Maestro, M. (2006) Interactive effects of shade and water stress on the performance of seedlings of three Mediterranean Quercus species. Tree Physiology 26:389–400.

Sancho, L.G., de la Torre, R., Horneck, G., Ascaso, C., de los Rios, A., Pintado, A., Wierzchos, J. & Schuste, M. (2007) Lichens survive in space: Results from the 2005 LICHENS Experiment. Astrobiology 7: 443-454.

Pintado, A. & Sancho, L.G. (2007) Influencia de la cubierta nival en el microclima y en la vegetación de alta montaña del Parque Natural de Peñalara. Quintas Jornadas Científicas del Parque Natural de Peñalara y del Valle de El Paular. Volumen 1. Comunidad de Madrid.

Sancho, L. G., Green, T.G.A. & Pintado, A. (2007) Lichen growth. Slowest to fastest: extreme range in lichen growth rates supports their use as an indicator of climate change in Antarctica. Flora 202: 667-673.

Pintado, A., Sancho, L.G., Blanquer, J.M., Green, T.G.A. & Lázaro, R. (2010) Microclimatic factors and photosynthetic activity of crustose lichens from the semiarid southeast of Spain: long-term measurements for Diploschistes diacapsis. Bibliotheca Lichenologica 105: 211-224.

Green, T.G.A.  Sancho, L.G. & Pintado, A. (2011)Ecophysiology of Dessication/Rehidration Cycles in Mosses and Lichens. In: Plant Desiccation Tolerante, Ecological Studies 215, Luettge et al. (eds.), Springer-Verlag, BerlinHeidelberg.

 

Sancho, L.G., Palacios, D., Green, T.G.A., Vivas, M. & Pintado, A. (2011)Extreme high lichen growth rates detected in recent deglaciated areas in Tierra del Fuego. Polar Biology 34:813–822.

 

De los Ríos,A., Raggio, J., Pérez-Ortega, S., Vivas, M., Pintado, A., Green, T.G.A., Ascaso, C. & Sancho, L.G.(2011)Anatomical, morphological and ecophysiological strategies in Placopsis pycnotheca (lichenized fungi, Ascomycota) allowing rapid colonization of recently deglaciated soils. Flora 206: 857-864.