Sonia García-Marco

Biography

Graduated in Chemistry (specialisation in Agricultural Chemistry) from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) in 1999 and Ph.D. from the Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Chemistry Program at the UAM in December 2005. My research and teaching focuses on different aspects of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry.
Research and teaching track record:
1) From 1999 to 2006: Technician/predoctoral/postdoctoral Fellows at the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, UAM, and in the “Micronutrients in Agriculture” research group led by Professor Juan José Lucena Marotta. Achievements during this period: 12 JCR articles (10 in Q1), 1 book chapter, 1 patent. Participation in 7 research projects funded by private companies from the fertilizer sector and 5 research projects from national and regional public research programmes. The main objective of this work was to contribute to the legal framework of fertilizers based on synthetic iron chelates, collaborating in the improvement of the methods of analysis for the iron chelates, by developing methods for the determination of new authorized chelating agents ([o,p]EDDHA and EDDHSA), studying the quality of the formulations marketed in recent years, studying the ability of the iron chelates to supply Fe to plants and developing new Fe chelates (DCHA, patent EP1939157-A1; WO2008077897-A1). In that period I participated as a member of the European working group (CEN/TC 260/WG5) on the "Determination of chelating agents".

2) From 2007-2009: I moved to the Instituto de “Investigaciones Agrobiológicas de Galicia” (IIAG-CSIC) with a I3P postdoctoral contract. There, I joined the “Biochemistry, Quality and Soil Conservation” group under the supervision of PhD. Serafín González Prieto, focusing on the study of the nutrients dynamics (mainly micronutrients such as Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn) in soil-plant agroforestry systems. Achievements during this period: 8 JCR articles (5 in Q1). Participation in 3 research projects from national and regional public research programmes. In the forest systems, the short-, medium- and long-term effects of fire, the implementation of flame retardants and post-fire management techniques (grass seeding vs straw mulching) on the soil-plant system (soil and eroded sediments chemical properties, vegetation cover, plant nutrient content) were studied. With regard to agricultural systems the effects of long-term conventional and conservation tillage on soil quality (physical, chemical and biological characteristics and stratification of these in the soil profile) in forage rotations in a humid-temperate area were assessed.

3) From 2009-now: Lecturer position (Profesor Ayudante Doctor and Contratado Doctor) and Associate Professor, at the Department of Chemistry and Food Technology, “Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Agronómica, Alimentaria y de Biosistemas”, “Universidad Politécnica de Madrid”. Achievements during this period: 12 JCR articles (11 in Q1). Participation as research group in 9 research projects from international, national (one as Co-IP) and regional public research programmes. Main researcher of 3 research projects funded by private companies from the fertilizer sector. All these projects are related to the study of strategies to mitigate greenhouse gases (nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, methane,) and other N reactive compounds (nitric oxide and ammonia) from agricultural systems and to maintain crop yield and quality. As researcher in Contamination of agro-ecosystems by agricultural practices (COAPA) research group led by Professor Antonio Vallejo García, the use of different N fertilizers (organic, mineral, stabilised N fertilizers with nitrification and/or urease inhibitors), fertilization timing and rate, conservation agriculture practices (no and minimum tillage, cover cropping, crop rotations) and irrigation systems (including the interaction between irrigation and fertilization) have been studied. We are also studying the effectiveness of nitrogen fertilization and understanding N oxides emissions processes with the application of 15N as isotopic tracer (I am responsible for this task).
I have been regular user of large equipment as HPLC, UV-v Molecular Absorption Spectrophotometer; Flame Absorption/ Emission Atomic Spectrophotometer with graphite chamber, ICP, Gas chromatography, FIA. Currently, I am the laboratory manager of “Laboratorio de Química Agrícola y Técnicas Analíticas Instrumentales”, laboratory nº 212 of “Red de Laboratorios de la Comunidad de Madrid” supervised by Ph.D Jesús Novillo.
I carried out predoctoral and postdoctoral stays in prestigious international research centers: Department of Food Science at the University of Bologna in Italy, in the group headed by professor Mauro Andrea Cremonini, specialist in NMR (6 months); Rothamsted Research, North Wyke in UK, under the supervision of Laura M. Cárdenas, Senior Research Scientist specialist on the role of the N pools in gaseous em