Dr Bota has been a senior university lecturer in plant production at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) since 2017. During her PhD (2000-2004; grant awarded by the University of the Balearic Islands [FPU-UIB]), her research focused on the effects of the water deficit in photosynthesis, highlighting the relative importance of CO2 diffusion and metabolic limitations in photosynthesis due to drought. Her PhD thesis was entitled Photosynthesis Regulation in Response to Water Stress: Metabolic and CO2 Diffusion Limitations and granted the maximum mark of Cum Laude. Her contribution to the field can be seen in different publications in international journals, some of which continue to be widely cited year-on-year (e.g. DOI: 10.1055/s-2004-820867; 10.1093/aob/mcf079). Moreover, her PhD thesis won the 3rd Spanish Research Award for Water Relations from the Spanish Society of Plant Physiology.
Alongside her PhD, Dr Bota began more applied research linked to crop ecophysiology, looking at local genetic resources of vines and their genetic variability in terms of photosynthesis, drought response and efficiency of water use. The high viral infection index in local vine varieties required health recovery in infected varieties and a study into biotic stress caused by viral infection. Her post-doctoral period focused on this area (grant awarded by the DOC-INIA Programme). Characterising local minority vine varieties and their recovery led to collaboration and participation in authorising new vine varieties in the Balearic Islands (Giró Ros, Gorgollassa and Escursac) and the certification of two grape vine clones from the Manto Negro variety. She has continued this area of research into plant responses to abiotic and biotic stress, as well as genetic variability in these responses, to this day through funded support and participation in 25 research projects—two European, eleven national (four as principal investigator) and twelve regional (three as principal investigator). She has also taken part in different cooperation projects, two as PI. Throughout her career, she has undertaken many national and international collaborations, evidenced by her over 100 jointly authored publications with colleagues in different countries. Her research has appeared in over 60 scientific journals and publications, attaining an h-index of 29 (Scopus). Dr Bota began training young researchers during her post-doctoral period. To date, she has supervised five PhD theses (two still ongoing), three master’s theses and many final degree projects. She has taken part in assessing research projects for the National Agency of Project Assessment (ANEP) since 2014. She has also been a reviewer for several international journals and the editor of the Plants journal since 2021. Additionally, she has been head of the UIB Biology of Plants Under Mediterranean Conditions Research Group (PLANTMED) since 2020. Since 2022, she has been the deputy head of the Laboratory for Innovation in Agriculture (LIA) and from the following year, deputy head of the Agro-Environmental and Water Economics Research Institute (INAGEA). Within the main areas set out above, Dr Bota’s recent research interest has looked into crop adaptation in light of climate change and tolerance mechanisms in plants to environmental stress.