Climate change is making forests all over the world more vulnerable to drought, causing tree mortality episodes with serious ecological and social consequences. As yet, the traits of the vegetation replacing trees that have died as a result of drought are not known.
Recently, my friend Paul Zedler raised a question between insidious and philosophical: our scientific procedure based on searching for processes and establishing causal relationships, has no significance unless it translates into actions. I had no other option than accept the premise, otherwise I would get exposed at the top of the infamous ivory tower.
The human footprint on Earth is undoubted and inevitable to some extent . Science and technology, far from contributing to create more inequalities, must be able to mitigate these impacts, contribute to progress and improve the welfare of all the people in the world.
Fractals fascinate everyone who sees them. Why do we feel this sensation? And why do we often find them in nature?
At the end of the 19th century, the border region between Italy and Slovenia had mountains with no trees. A massive reforestation ordered by the Austro-Hungarian Empire allowed to recover forests and revitalize the region. Now, however, those pines planted a century ago are in danger.
Trees that have grown in highly suitable climatic conditions are less capable of dealing with extreme droughts, according to a study that underlines the importance of taking a forest's history into consideration when deciding how best to conserve and manage it.
Evolution leads to an increasing number of species, and that's why it is so difficult for us to know how many of them inhabit the Earth. Should we spend efforts to conserve all of them or would it be enough with just a few?
How are plants organized in the world? Why have they evolved this way? Francisco Lloret answers that after researcher Carlos Herrera was granted with the Haeckel Price in ecology.
Some giant trees, such as cedars and redwoods, are an example of great longevity and their populations depend much more on tendencies than on specific traumatic episodes. Climate change and human pressures can put their survival at risk.
We are in the middle of the wildfire season, and the ecologist Francisco Lloret explains what we can learn about fires and how we can adapt to them to avoid catastrophic large wildfires.
A study with the participation of researchers from CREAF and the UAB warns that increasing droughts could affect forests’ species composition and structure, making them more vulnerable.
Life on Earth barely extends over its surface. But organisms have been able to transform its climate for millions of years. Now, humans seem to reach it again in a record time.
The forth post of Francisco Lloret's section Festina Lente. In this one he explains different dimensions of combining forest management with biodiversity conservation.
What is the future that the Mediterranean forests expect? Climate change is already strongly felt and its impacts reach everywhere. Francisco Lloret tells the current situation and how we will have to prepare ourselves and forests to the coming changes .
The almost infinite amount of data that we are capable of generating, known as 'big data', offers great opportunities but also great challenges for both Science and society in general.
The use of the term 'resilience' has been extended. But success entails risks. When dealing with complex concepts encapsulated in a word, the risk translates into confusion. It is therefore worth entertaining the passage and meditate for a while.
We seek a candidate to apply for a 4 years doctoral fellowship to carry on in the CIBIO (Vila do Conde, Porto) and CREAF (Bellaterra, Barcelona) within the Doctoral Programme in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution (BIODIV), funded by the “Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia” (Portugal).
Researchers from the UAB, CREAF and the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN-CSIC) have analysed how the deterioration of woods caused by droughts associated to global warming are affecting the microbial composition of the soil and modifying carbon cycles.
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