RESEARCH | forests

Research interests

I am interested in the response of forest ecosystems to global change drivers, in how plants interact with soil and other species, and in promoting successful ecosystem restoration through active and passive measures

My research has strong practical implications for i) the establishment of forest management strategies for adaptation to climate change by improving our understanding on structural and functional responses of forest ecosystem to global change drivers at different spatial and temporal scales, and ii) to enhance the success of forest restoration and management measures in a context of changing environmental conditions. Increasing our knowledge in these topics would allow us to develop adaptive policies and management practices oriented to protect forest ecosystems, mitigate the effect of climate change, increase forest area, and guarantee the long-term provisioning of functions and services provided by forests.

Research projects

FUNFOREST - Towards a multiFUNctional evaluation of FOREST management strategies for adaptation to climate change

PI: Enrique Andivia
Project funded by the Spanish Network of National Parks for the period 2023-2026

The main objective of FUNFOREST is to evaluate different forest management strategies for climate change adaptation in mountain National Parks from a multifunctional perspective that considers ecosystem services related to forest productivity, carbon sequestration, resistance and resilience to disturbances, nutrient cycling regulation, and biodiversity conservation, including the vast hidden biodiversity in soils. The integration of all these aspects into a multifunctional index will allow managers to holistically evaluate the impact of possible management strategies on the overall functioning of forest ecosystems, which will promote the implementation of adaptive management that guarantees long-term ecosystem resilience. The proposal will generate a variety of resulting products such as databases on the structure and dynamics of forest ecosystems in mountain National Parks, a disturbance response atlas, an inventory of soil biota, or a multifunctional evaluation system that will support the establishment of multicriteria management systems and decision-making.

QueVADIS - Colonization differences among coexisting oaks: from acorn properties and dispersal to facilitation

PI: Pedro Villar-Salvador and José Mª Rey Benayas (Universidad de Alcalá)
Project funded by Spanish Research Agency for the period 2023-2027

The overarching goal is the QueVADIS project is to assess the factors that drive the differences in colonization capacity of sympatric oak species in Spain and the resulting patterns. We hypothesised that oak species have different capacity to colonize new sites due to differences in reproduction and recruitment traits. To achieve the main goal, we propose four general objectives: (1) to evaluate large-scale and long-term patterns of oak species regeneration; (2) to assess differences among oak species in acorn production and desiccation sensitivity and the consequences for seedling establishment; (3) to understand the role of corvids on acorn dispersal and recruitment of coexisting evergreen and deciduous oaks in Atlantic and Mediterranean ecosystems; and (4) to evaluate the plant traits and mechanisms that determine complementarity in direct facilitation between ecologically distinct nurse shrubs and juveniles of oak species.

BIOSTAR - An evaluation of the main underlying mechanisms of the BIOdiversity–STAbility Relationship across scales

PI: Enrique Valencia (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)
Project funded by Spanish Research Agency for the period 2023-2027

BIOSTAR aims to investigate mechanisms underlying the relationship between biodiversity and stability within and across scales, using an approach based on plant functional traits. The project proposes three Work Packages: WP1) evaluate the potential impacts of biodiversity on the stability of biomass temporal stability using pre-existing temporal datasets of plants communities at global scale. These data allow an evaluation of relationships between different components of functional structure and stability of species and communities; WP2) study the effects of changes in the dominant species on the stability along a regional aridity gradient. We will perform a removal experiment modifying the functional trait structure of plant communities, and the consequent change in multiple functions and services; and WP3) evaluate at local scale how a removal experiment, where we will change the functional trait structure related with important mechanisms of stability, such as dominant species effect and insurance effect, will affect the stability of multiple functions and services, and how a manipulative warming treatment affects all these changes.

ADAPTAMIX - ADAPTAtion of Mediterranean forests to climate change: the role of MIXed stands on promoting resilience to drought events

PI: Enrique Andivia
Project funded by Spanish Research Agency for the period 2020-2024

Project website

The ADAPTAMIX project aims to investigate whether tree diversity enhances the productivity and stability of Mediterranean forest ecosystems in response to drought events. For that, we use tree-ring chronologies to compare growth trends and growth resilience and resistance to drought events in mixed and monospecific forests (SO1). We also combine isotopic and nutrient analyses to determine physiological mechanisms underlying the diversity-productivity-stability relationship in forests (SO2 and SO3), and we conduct field experiments to evaluate plant-plant interactions under different scenarios of increased aridity (SO4). We hypothesized that admixture will improve tree responses to environmental stress, and that increased tree water use efficiency and nutritional status in mixed stands are the underlying mechanisms of the positive effect of tree diversity on plant responses to drought. ADAPTAMIX combine different research approaches to integrate fundamental and applied science, thereby producing new scientific insights as well as management-oriented outputs for the management of Mediterranean forests. Ultimately, we aim to provide knowledge and know-how to increase the resilience of Mediterranean forest to future global change conditions.

PEN-CAFoRR - Pan-European Network for Climate Adaptive Forest Restoration and Reforestation

PI: Vladan Ivetic (University of Belgrade)
Project funded by COST actions 2020-2024

Project website

The PEN-CAFoRR Action aims to address key research questions for climate adaptive forest restoration and reforestation success: 1) setting the goals; 2) selecting the best forest reproductive material (FRM) regarding origin, composition, as well as genetic and biodiversity conservation; 3) determining the appropriate attributes and methods to produce targeted FRM of good quality and sufficient quantity to meet society demands; 4) applying the best available establishment techniques of pre-planting site preparation, seeding, and planting; and 5) developing of post-planting protection and silviculture until trees reach an autonomous stage to promote resilience and adaptation of new forests to future challenges.

VERDAT - Vulnerability and Risk of Scots Pine ecosystems against Climate Change: design of an “Early warning” & Monitoring System

PI: Miguel A. Zavala (Universidad de Alcalá)
Project funded by Spanish Network of National Parks 2022-2024

The VERDAT project aims to develop a diagnostic tool that allows evaluating the vulnerability of Scots pine ecosystems that can be used as a tool to support decision-making (e.g. adaptation measures) by integrating an "Probabilistic Risk Analysis" (PRA) and an "Early Warning and Monitoring System" that allows us to diagnose in advance the processes ofdecay and species substitution. The basis of the PRA are the models developed from data from different levels of organization -individual, stand and forest- and with different data sources -genetic adaptation, IFN, dendrochronology, historical inventories and remote sensing-, which allow defining the contour of "safe space" of the species from the exposure, previous impacts, structure and diversity. We will use the concept of vulnerability thresholds as an early warning indicator to retrospectively assess species´ "safe space" based on remote sensors trend and seasonality variables as well as dendrometric variables and auxiliary field data. These models have been validated with information from the entire range of the species, including areas currently in decline. The models will be used to carry out a Risk and Vulnerability Analysis of main Scots pine forests in PN Sierra Nevada, PN Sierra de Guadarrama and PN de Ordesa y Monte Perdido national parks to generate three products: i) A cartography layer of "Risk and Vulnerability"; ii) This information will be combined with other layers of information to form a "Decision Support System for Adaptation" and, iii) A "System of Early Warning and Monitoring Indicators". The Early Warning indicators will allow the manager a key period to assess the different options before a foreseeable Impact. The monitoring indicators through their periodic updating will allow to carry out a monitoring of the adaptation measures.