Research interest:

I am an evolutionary ecologist pursuing to understand and disentangle the complexity of evolutionary processes in plants. My main research interest is studying adaptive processes of plants in response to ecological variability. My work to date combines diverse methodological and theoretical frameworks that enables me to study processes that drive evolutionary change using multidisciplinary approaches such as environmental niche modeling, landscape and population genetics, quantitative genetics, and evolution experiments with plants.

Projects:

AdapTest - Testing and predicting rapid plant adaptation across broad climatic conditions

CV:

2024 - now. Post-doctoral Researcher. Humboldt Research Fellowship, funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Goethe University Frankfurt (Germany).

2022 - 2023. Post-doctoral Researcher. Juan de la Cierva Formación fellowship, funded by MINECO. Instituto de Productos Naturales y Agrobiología Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (IPNA-CSIC), Tenerife (Spain).

2020 - 2021. Post-doctoral researcher. INVASION project, funded by BBVA Foundation. University of La Laguna, Tenerife (Spain).

4/2020 - 10/2020. Post-doctoral Researcher. Remedinal-TE project, funded by Madrid Autonomous Region. Biodiversity and Conservation Area, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), Madrid (Spain).

02/2020 - 03/2020. Post-doctoral teaching position in Conservation Biology and Tropical Ecology. Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja (UTPL, Ecuador).

2014 - 2019. PhD in Natural Resources Conservation. Fellowship funded by MINECO. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), Madrid (Spain).

2012 - 2013. Research, lab and field technician positions. Funded by Spanish DGI Plan Nacional de I+D+I. Projects LIMITES and ANCESTROS. Biodiversity and Conservation Area, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos (URJC), Madrid (Spain).

2010 - 2011. M.Sc. in Biodiversity Characterization and Conservation, URJC, Madrid (Spain).

2004 – 2010. B.Sc. in Biological Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Madrid (Spain).

Publications:

A detailed list can be found at ORCID, WoS, and Google Scholar.

International publications published (Peer-reviewed) (* corresponding author, ^# equal contribution):

Sacristán-Bajo, S.*, Lara-Romero, C., García-Fernández, A., Prieto-Benítez, S., Morente-López, J., Rubio Teso, M.L., Torres, E. 4, Iriondo, J.M. (2025). Assisted gene flow management to climate change in the annual legume Lupinus angustifolius L.: from phenotype to genotype. Evolutionary Applications. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.70087

Orihuela-Rivero, R.*, Morente-López, J., Reyes-Betancort, J.A., Schaefer, H., Valido, A., Menezes de Sequeira, M., Romeiras, M.M., Góis-Marques, C.A., Salas-Pascual, M., Vanderpoorten, A., Fernández-Palacios, J.M., Patiño, J. * (2025). Geographic and biological drivers shape Anthropogenic extinctions in the Macaronesian vascular flora. Global Change Biology. 31(2), e70072. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70072

Lanuza, J.B., Knight, T.M., Montes-Perez N., Glenny, W., … Morente-López, J., … Bartomeus, I. (2025). EuPPollNet: A European database of plant-pollinator networks. Global Ecology and Biogeography.  34(2), e70000. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.70000

García, Y. ^#, Giménez-Benavides, L.^#, Iriondo, J.M. ^#, Lara-Romero, C. ^# *, Méndez, M. ^#, Morente-López, J. ^#, Santamaría, S. ^#. Addition of nocturnal pollinators modifies the structure of pollination networks (2024). Scientific Reports.

Poyatos, C.*, Sacristán-Bajo, S., Tabarés, P., Prieto-Benítez, S., Rubio Teso, M.L., Torres, E., Morente-López, J., Lara-Romero, C., Iriondo, J.M., García-Fernández, A. (2023). Differential patterns of within- and between-population genetically-based trait variation in Lupinus angustifolius L. Annals of Botany. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcad123

Torres, E.*, García-Fernández, A., Iñigo, D., Lara-Romero, C., Morente-López, J., Prieto-Benítez, S., Rubio Teso, M.L., Iriondo, J.M. (2023). Facilitated adaptation as a conservation tool in the present climate change context: a methodological guide. Plants. 12(6), 1258. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12061258

Morente-López, J.^#, Arjona, Y.^#, Salas-Pascual, M, del Arco-Aguilar, M., Emerson, B.C., García-Gallo, A., Jay, L.S., Naranjo-Cigala, A., Reyes-Betancort, J.A., Patiño, J.* (2023). Biogeographic origins and drivers of alien plant invasions in the Canary Islands. Journal of Biogeography. 50(3), 57-590. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/jbi.14556

Sacristán-Bajo, S.*, García-Fernández, A., Lara-Romero, C., Prieto-Benítez, S., Tabarés, P., Morente-López, J., Rubio Teso, M.L., Alameda-Martín, A., Torres, E., Iriondo, J.M. (2023). Population origin determines the effectiveness of facilitated adaptation for the advancement of flowering onset in Lupinus angustifolius (Fabaceae). Under second review in Evolutionary Applications. 16(1), 62-73. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13510

Morán‐López, T.*, Benadi, G., Lara‐Romero, C., Chacoff, N., Vitali, A., Pescador, D., Lomáscolo, S.B., Morente-López, J., Vázquez, D.P., Morales, J. M. (2022). Flexible diets enable pollinators to cope with changes in plant community composition. Journal of Ecology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13893

Morente-López, J.*, Kass, J.M., Lara-Romero, C., Serra-Diaz J.M., Soto-Correa, J.C., Anderson, R.P.^#, Iriondo, J.M.^# (2022). Linking ecological niche models and common garden experiments to predict phenotypic differentiation in stressful environments: Assessing the adaptive value of marginal populations in an alpine plant. Global Change Biology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16181

Prieto-Benitez, S.*, Morente-López, J., Lara-Romero, C., García-Fernandez A., Rubio Teso, L., Iriondo, J.M. (2021). Evaluating assisted gene flow in marginal populations of a high mountain species. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 9, 345. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.638837

Arjona, Y.^#, Morente-López, J.^#* (2021). Digest: Parallel rather than unique local adaptation along a steep elevation gradient. Evolution. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14206

Morente-López, J.*, Lara-Romero, C., García-Fernandez A., Prieto Benitez, S., Rubio Teso, L., Iriondo, J.M. Gene flow effects on populations inhabiting marginal areas:  origin matters (2020). Journal of Ecology. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.13455 . Publication shortlisted for the 2021 Harper Price of the BES.

Morente-López, J.*, Scheepens, J.F., Lara-Romero, C., Ruiz-Checa, R., Tabaré, P., Iriondo J.M. (2020). Past selection shaped phenological differentiation among populations at contrasting elevations in a Mediterranean alpine plant. Environmental and Experimental Botany. 170, 103894. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envexpbot.2019.103894

Morente-López, J.*, García C., Lara-Romero, C., García-Fernandez A., Draper D., Iriondo, J.M. (2019). Geography and environment shapes landscape genetics of Mediterranean alpine species Silene ciliata Poiret. (Caryophyllaceae). Frontiers in Plant Science. 9, 1698. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.01698

Morente-López, J.^#, Lara-Romero, C.^#*, Ornosa, C., Iriondo, J.M. (2018). Phenology drives species interactions and modularity in a plant - flower visitor network. Scientific Reports. 8, 9386. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-27725-2

Martín-Robles, N.*, Morente-López, J., Freschet, G. T., Poorter, H., Roumet, C., Milla, R. (2018) Root traits of herbaceous crops: pre-adaptation to cultivation or evolution under domestication. Functional Ecology. 33(2), 273-285. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13231

Giménez-Benavides L.*, Escudero A., García-Camacho R., García-Fernández A., Iriondo J.M., Lara-Romero C., Morente-López J. (2017). How does climate change affect regeneration of Mediterranean high-mountain plants? An integration and synthesis of current knowledge. Plant Biology. 20, 50-62. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/plb.12643

Lara-Romero, C.*, García, C., Morente-López, J., Iriondo, J.M. (2016). Direct and indirect effects of shrub encroachment on alpine grasslands mediated by plant-pollinator interactions. Functional Ecology. 30(9), 1521-1530. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12637

Lara-Romero, C.*, García-Fernández, A., Robledo-Arnuncio, J.J., Roumet, M., Morente-López, J., López, A., Iriondo, J.M. (2016). Individual spatial aggregation correlates with between-population variation in fine-scale genetic structure of Silene ciliata (Caryophyllaceae). Heredity. 106(5), 417-423. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/hdy.2015.102

Milla, R.* & Morente-López, J. (2014). Limited evolutionary divergence of seedlings after the domestication of plant species. Plant Biology. 17(1), 169-176. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/plb.12220 

Milla, R.*, Morente-López, J., Alonso-Rodrigo, J. M., Martín-Robles, N., F. Chapin III, F. S. (2014). Shifts and disruptions in resource-use trait syndromes during crop evolution. Proceedings of the Royal Society. 281(1793), 20141429. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1429