Chapinería

The specific goal of this project is to estimate the combined effects of relevant factors of change on the ecology of Iberian holm oak forests at a soil-plant relationship level, and to determine whether these effects will influence the contribution of these forests to climate change (through greenhouse gases exchange).

By measuring a number of key soil and plant parameters, we aim to quantify the impacts of climate change and fragmentation in the C and N cycling in these systems. Also, by monitoring the exchange of greenhouse gases between soil and atmosphere we will try to improve our knowledge about the contribution of these forests to global warming, and how this contribution will vary due to previous effects of climate change and fragmentation.

Additionaly, we are also studying a problem of increasing importance in Europe, and specifically in the Iberian mediterranean forests, the dieback. We aim to better understand the causes of the supposedly drought-related dead of trees and how this depends upon and/or influences a variety of physical, chemical and biological variables that we are monitoring, such as soil temperature and moisture, C- and N-related pools and processes, or microbial diversity.

Selected publications:

Rodríguez A, Curiel Juste J, Rey A, Durán J, García-Camacho R, Gallardo A, Valladares F. 2016. Holm oak decline triggers changes in plant succession and microbial communities, with implications for ecosystem C and N cycling. Plant and Soil 414, 247-263. DOI: 10.1007/s11104-016-3118-4.

Rodríguez A, Durán J, Rey A, Durán J, Bourdouris I, Valladares F, Gallardo A, Curiel Yuste J. Under review. Forest die-off intensifies the decoupling of carbon and nitrogen mineralization resulting from drying-rewetting cycles in a Mediterranean woodland.