Blanca Ivañez Ballesteros

• Ecological interactions, mainly in the tropics
   
• Ecosystem services, from pollination to pest control

• Socioecosystems and agroecology

Ecological intensification and multifunctionality of cacao agroforestry systems in Peruvian landscapes (ECO-CACAO)

2022 - current: PhD student at the University of Wuerzburg, Germany

2020-2021: Collaboration with Grupo de Ecología Tropical de España (Spanish Tropical Ecology group)

2018-2020: MSc in Biology, Ecology, at Københavns Universitet, Denmark

Master thesis: "Ants as Ecosystem Engineers: changes in soil conditions and greenhouse gas emission"  supervised by Prof. Dr. Michael Poulsen, Dr. Søren Christensen and Dr. Flemming Ekelund

2017: Internship at IRNAS (Institute of Natural Resources and Agrobiology of Seville)-CSIC, Sevilla, Spain

2017: Internship in the Centre for Plant Sciences, Plant Molecular Biology, University of Leeds, UK

2014-2018: BSc in Biology at the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain

Bachelor thesis: "Landing orientation of water birds in Santa Pola salt marshes (Alicante)"  supervised by Prof. Dr. Francisco Javier de Miguel Águeda

2024: Oral Presentation at the European Conference for Tropical Ecology in Lisbon, Portugal. Iváñez-Ballesteros, B.; Aycart, P., Ocampo-Ariza, C., Albino-Rosas, A., Berrospi-Chinchayhuara, D., Thomas, E., Maas, B., Tscharntke, T., Steffan-Dewenter, I. (2024).  Assessing Cacao Pollination: Impact of Landscape and Farming Practices on Pollinator Diversity and Fruit Yield in Northern Peruvian Amazon

2023: Article: Tscharntke, T., Ocampo‐Ariza, C., Vansynghel, J., Ivañez‐Ballesteros, B., Aycart, P., Rodriguez, L., ... & Thomas, E. (2023). Socio‐ecological benefits of fine‐flavor cacao in its center of origin. Conservation Letters, 16(1), e12936. 

2021: 5 mins presentation at the XIV Scientific Marathon in the Royal Botanical Garden (RJB-CSIC) in Madrid, Spain. Iváñez-Ballesteros, B., Cayuela, L., Gomez-Zurita, J. 2021. Taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity of Chrysomelidae  through the altitudinal gradients in the Ecuatorian Andes

2020: Master thesis at Københavns Universitet: Iváñez-Ballesteros, B. 2020. Ants as Ecosystem Engineers: changes in soil conditions and greenhouse gas emission

2018: Poster at I Jornada Primeros Pasos, Biology Deparment, Autonomous University of Madrid. Iváñez-Ballesteros, B. and De Miguel-Agueda, F.J. 2018. Landing orientation of water birds in Santa Pola salt marshes (Alicante)