Maria Dolores Asensio Abella serves as a Researcher at the Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy. Her academic responsibilities include teaching undergraduate and graduate courses across three degree programs: Agricultural Ecology and Fundamentals of Plant Production (Sustainable Agriculture and Forest Management), Sustainable Cultivation Methods and Quality of Products for Processing (Food and Wine Sciences), and Quality of Horticultural Products (Food Science for Innovation and Authenticity), plus doctoral-level Statistical Methods for Agricultural and Environmental Research. Her research program centers on plant-soil-climate interactions, with primary focus on nutrient cycling dynamics (nitrogen, phosphorus, micronutrients) and physiological responses to drought/heatwaves in Mediterranean agricultural systems and tropical forests. Key methodologies include long-term field experiments, ecotron simulations, and soil volatile organic compound monitoring across diverse ecosystems from Italian shrublands to French Guiana rainforests. She investigates critical mechanisms governing ecosystem resilience, including microbial enzyme activity, soil element composition shifts, and plant volatile emissions under climate stressors. Analysis of her 2023-2025 publications reveals a cohesive trajectory examining climate change impacts through comparative ecosystem studies. Her work demonstrates how drought intensity modulates grapevine/apple tree physiology, identifies phosphorus limitation as a key constraint in tropical soils, and quantifies nighttime warming effects on Mediterranean shrubland nutrient cycles. This interdisciplinary approach integrates soil science, plant physiology, and biogeochemistry to develop sustainable agricultural practices while advancing fundamental understanding of ecosystem responses to global change. Dr. Asensio Abella mentors students through her instructional roles across bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programs, though specific PhD advisees are not documented. Her research collaborations span international field sites including French Guiana (tropical forests), China (subtropical plantations), and Mediterranean experimental sites, facilitating cross-ecosystem comparisons of climate change impacts. Current work continues to explore soil-plant feedback mechanisms under heatwave conditions, with implications for optimizing resource use in vulnerable agricultural and natural ecosystems.







