Seed dispersers, seed predators, and browsers act synergistically as biotic filters in a mosaic landscape

In this study, we analize the functional influence of animals on the plants they interact with in a mediterranean mountain. We hypothesise that seed dispersers, seed predators, and browsers can act as biotic filters for plant communities. We analyse the combined effects of mutualistic (seed dispersal) and antagonistic (seed predation, herbivory) animal interactions in a mosaic landscape of Mediterranean mountains, basing our results on observational and experimental field. Most of the dispersed seeds came from tree species, whereas the population of saplings was composed predominantly of zoochorous shrub species. Seed predators preferentially consumed seeds from tree species, whereas seeds from the dominant fleshy-fruited shrubs had a higher probability of escaping these predators. The same pattern was repeated among the different landscape units by browsers, since they browsed selectively and far more intensely on tree-species saplings than on the surrounding shrubs. In synthesis, our work identifies the major biotic processes that appear to be favoring a community dominated by shrubs versus trees because seed dispersers, predators, and herbivores together favored shrub dispersal and establishment versus trees.This work was supported by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Spanish Government) Project CGL2011-29910 to R.Z. and by EU Marie Curie Fellowship to L.M (FP7-2011-IEF-300825)

Efectos de la variación en el régimen de precipitación sobre la regeneración del bosque montano mediterráneo

Herrero A & Zavala MA, editores (2015) Los Bosques y la Biodiversidad frente al Cambio Climático: Impactos, Vulnerabilidad y Adaptación en España. Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente, Madrid.Peer Reviewe

Fine Scale Determinants of Soil Litter Fauna on a Mediterranean Mixed Oak Forest Invaded by the Exotic Soil-Borne Pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi

16 páginas.-- 5 figuras.-- 1 tablas.-- 56 referencias.-- This article belongs to the Special Issue "Ecology and Management of Invasive Species in Forest Ecosystems".There is growing recognition of the importance of soil fauna for modulating nutrient cycling processes such as litter decomposition. However, little is known about the drivers promoting changes in soil fauna abundance on a local scale. We explored this gap of knowledge in a mixed oak forest of Southern Spain, which is under decline due to the invasion of the exotic soil-borne pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi. Meso-invertebrate abundance found in soil litter was estimated at the suborder level. We then explored their statistical correlations with respect to light availability, tree and litter characteristics, and P. cinnamomi abundance. Oribatida and Entomobryomporpha were the most abundant groups of Acari and Collembola, respectively. According to their trophic level, predator and detritivore abundances were positively correlated while detritivores were, in turn, positively correlated with pathogen abundance and negatively influenced by light availability and tree defoliation. These overall trends differed between groups. Among detritivores, Diplopoda preferred highly decomposed litter while Oribatida and Psocoptera preferred darker environments and Poduromorpha were selected for environments with lower tree defoliation. Our results show the predominant role of light availability in influencing litter fauna abundances at local scales and suggest that the invasive soil-borne pathogen P. cinnamomi is integrated in these complex relationships.O.G. acknowledges postdoctoral financial support provided by the European Union Horizon research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 661118-BioFUNC. O. G. also thanks research support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the IMPLANTIN project (CGL2015-65346-R). L.G.A. acknowledges support from the MICINN project INTERCAPA (CGL-2014-56739-R)

An excess of niche differences maximizes ecosystem functioning

10 páginas.- 3 figuras.- 1 tabla.- 47 referencias.- Supplementary information is available for this paper at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17960-5Ecologists have long argued that higher functioning in diverse communities arises from the niche differences stabilizing species coexistence and from the fitness differences driving competitive dominance. However, rigorous tests are lacking. We couple field-parameterized models of competition between 10 annual plant species with a biodiversity-functioning experiment under two contrasting environmental conditions, to study how coexistence determinants link to biodiversity effects (selection and complementarity). We find that complementarity effects positively correlate with niche differences and selection effects differences correlate with fitness differences. However, niche differences also contribute to selection effects and fitness differences to complementarity effects. Despite this complexity, communities with an excess of niche differences (where niche differences exceeded those needed for coexistence) produce more biomass and have faster decomposition rates under drought, but do not take up nutrients more rapidly. We provide empirical evidence that the mechanisms determining coexistence correlate with those maximizing ecosystem functioning.O.G. acknowledges postdoctoral financial support provided by the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 661118-BioFUNC.Peer reviewe

Genes y edad de los abetos pirenaicos, claves en su respuesta al cambio climático

Noticial en el Blog de la Web Fundación Descubre: Fundación Andaluza para la Divulgación de la Innovación y el ConocimientoUn estudio demuestra que los abetares más antiguos son más tolerantes a condiciones de aumento de temperatura y disminución de precipitación. El mantenimiento de la diversidad ayuda a los expertos a contar con individuos adaptados, idóneos en las restauraciones, que eviten el decaimiento de la especie.Peer reviewe

¿Cómo influye la riqueza genética de los abetos pirenaicos en su respuesta al cambio climático?

Noticia publicada por la Agencia Sinc: El Servicio de Información y Noticias Científicas (SINC) es la primera agencia pública de ámbito estatal especializada en información sobre ciencia, tecnología e innovación en español. En la página web de iAguaUn estudio demuestra que los abetares más antiguos son más tolerantes a condiciones de aumento de temperatura y disminución de precipitación. El mantenimiento de la diversidad ayuda a los expertos a contar con individuos adaptados, idóneos en las restauraciones, que eviten el decaimiento de la especie.N

Growth and resilience responses of Scots pine to extreme droughts across Europe depend on predrought growth conditions

Global climate change is expected to further raise the frequency and severity of extreme events, such as droughts. The effects of extreme droughts on trees are difficult to disentangle given the inherent complexity of drought events (frequency, severity, duration, and timing during the growing season). Besides, drought effects might be modulated by trees’ phenotypic variability, which is, in turn, affected by long-term local selective pressures and management legacies. Here we investigated the magnitude and the temporal changes of tree-level resilience (i.e., resistance, recovery, and resilience) to extreme droughts. Moreover, we assessed the tree-, site-, and drought-related factors and their interactions driving the tree-level resilience to extreme droughts. We used a tree-ring network of the widely distributed Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) along a 2,800 km latitudinal gradient from southern Spain to northern Germany. We found that the resilience to extreme drought decreased in mid-elevation and low productivity sites from 1980–1999 to 2000–2011 likely due to more frequent and severe droughts in the later period. Our study showed that the impact of drought on tree-level resilience was not dependent on its latitudinal location, but rather on the type of sites trees were growing at and on their growth performances (i.e., magnitude and variability of growth) during the predrought period. We found significant interactive effects between drought duration and tree growth prior to drought, suggesting that Scots pine trees with higher magnitude and variability of growth in the long term are more vulnerable to long and severe droughts. Moreover, our results indicate that Scots pine trees that experienced more frequent droughts over the long-term were less resistant to extreme droughts. We, therefore, conclude that the physiological resilience to extreme droughts might be constrained by their growth prior to drought, and that more frequent and longer drought periods may overstrain their potential for acclimation.Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) IJCI-2015-25845, UPO-1263216, UHU-1266324Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades RTI2018- 096884-B-C31, RTI2018-096884-B-C33German Waldklimafond FKZ 28WC-4-077-01Bavarian State Ministry for Food, Agriculture, and Forestry ST32

Efecto de la variabilidad de las propiedades físico-químicas del suelo en el rendimiento de la halófita costera Crithmum maritimum L.

Póster presentado en el XV Congreso Nacional de la AEET. "El valor de la naturaleza par una sociedad global"18-21 de octubre, Plasencia, CáceresEl hinojo marino (Crithmum maritimum L.) es una planta halófita perenne perteneciente a la familia Apiaceae, típica de ecosistemas costeros de Europa Occidental. Dada su elevada calidad nutricional para consumo humano, en los últimos años diferentes estudios han resaltado su potencial como cultivo comercial para la agricultura salina, una alternativa sostenible y prometedora ante la creciente salinización de las tierras agrícolas. Sin embargo, existe una falta de información referente a los rangos de tolerancia de la especie frente a los principales factores ambientales ligados a su cultivo, a lo que se suman diversas dificultades prácticas ligadas al cultivo de una especie no domesticada. Además, varios estudios han puesto de manifiesto un alto grado de variabilidad en los rangos de tolerancia a la sal, así como en el perfil nutricional en función de la procedencia geográfica del material. En este estudio se analizó el rendimiento de la especie (en términos de crecimiento, productividad, éxito reproductivo y calidad nutricional) en relación a las propiedades físico-químicas del suelo (pH, conductividad eléctrica, textura, contenido en materia orgánica y macro- y micronutrientes) en siete poblaciones naturales, representativas de los diferentes tipos de hábitat de la especie, localizadas en el sur de la Península Ibérica. Los resultados de este estudio permiten avanzar en el conocimiento ecológico y los mecanismos de tolerancia de las halófitas frente a diferentes factores abióticos, como la salinidad y la riqueza nutricional del suelo, aportando asimismo información relevante de cara a la valorización de la especie para su explotación en agricultura salinaN

Differences in nutrient composition of sea fennel (Crithmum maritimum) grown in different habitats and optimally controlled growing conditions

10 páginas.- 1 figura.- 5 tablas.- referenciasCrithmum maritimum L. is an edible halophyte with large potential in human nutrition field. However, it is unclear whether its nutritional value is maintained throughout the contrasting habitats where it commonly grows (cliffs, sandy and rocky beaches) and the nutritional profile of cultivated plants still remains uncertain. In this work, we provided for the first time a comparison of the nutritional profile of C. maritimum across its different type of habitats in the south of Spain and between wild plants and plant material under optimal growing conditions. The protein, amino acids, lipids, fatty acids, minerals composition and phenolic content of plants were analysed. Plants under field conditions exhibited a nutritionally balanced composition (3.8–6.2 g protein/100 g DW, 4.9–7.5 mg lipids/g WW, 3.9–5.0 g Na/100 g DW), with high phenolic content (30.2–48.0 mg/g DW) regardless of the variability of the contrasting habitats. In contrast, under optimal conditions, C. maritimum showed a greater protein and lipid content (10.2 g/100 g DW and 9.6 mg/g WW, respectively), and lower sodium accumulation (1.2 g/100 g DW), allowing a greater consumption of this halophyte without exceeding the daily intake recommendations. Conversely, phenolics were strongly decreased in these plants (6.1 mg/g DW) likely due to the absence of stress factors. © 2021 Elsevier Inc.This work was financially supported by two grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (RTI2018-099260-A- I00 to J. Cambroll é and RTI2018-099322-B-100 to X. Moreira).Peer reviewe

Efectos del cambio climático sobre la regeneración del bosque mediterráneo: una aproximación experimental

Tesis Univ. Granada. Departamento de Ecología. Leída el 24 de septiembre de 201