- Dep. Ciencias del Medio Natural, Universidad Publica de Navarra
Campus de Arrosadia, Pamplona, Navarra, 31006 Spain - +34 948 169 859
- • 2 year of specialized on forest growth in a mixed pine and beech forest ecosystem in northern Spain. • 1 year of sp... more• 2 year of specialized on forest growth in a mixed pine and beech forest ecosystem in northern Spain.
• 1 year of specialized research on eddy-covariance in a foggy mountain forest ecosystem in north east Taiwan.
• 2 year of specialized research on forest ecosystem restoration in central Taiwan.
• 7 years of specialized research on sustainable forest management and relationships between environmental variables and tree growth.
• 3 years of research experience with impact of climate change on boreal and temperate forests.
• Expert knowledge of forest ecology literature, forest stand dynamic models, sustainable forest management and relationships between environment and tree growth, gained through academic research.
• Demonstrated capacity to work in international and national projects and research groups including partners from diverse cultural and professional backgrounds, professions and interests.
• Accomplished presenter with experience presenting at national and international scientific meetings.
• Proficiency in writing scientific articles, reports, book chapters, and grant proposals for government and academia.
• Highly competent computer skills, including ecological software, statistical analysis packages, database development and management.edit
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
To facilitate the reintroduction of five native late-successional Taiwanese Fagaceae species into Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica (D.) Don) plantations, we experimented with methods to alleviate their establishment limitations. We... more
To facilitate the reintroduction of five native late-successional Taiwanese Fagaceae species into Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica (D.) Don) plantations, we experimented with methods to alleviate their establishment limitations. We tested different combinations of tree species, seedling development stages, and site preparation techniques. First, we directly sowed both fresh and germinated acorns under both closed and opened (thinned) canopies. Both fresh and germinated acorns survived only six months at most. Wildlife consumption was the most critical factor hindering their survival. We subsequently experimented with different methods for increasing establishment rates, such as thinning in combination with understory control, applying chemical animal repellents to seeds, using physical barriers against seed predators, and using seedlings of different ages. Among the methods experimented, none was effective. The effects of silvicultural treatments to deter seed consumption lasted only the first few weeks after sowing, whereas the effects of physical barriers were inconsistent. We also tested planting 3-month and 1-year-old seedlings. Seedling survival after 9 months was about 20% on average for 3-month-old seedlings but reached 80% for 1-year-old seedlings. Our results suggest that planting seedlings older than six months or establishing physical obstacles to prevent seed predation will be the most effective strategies to reintroduce late-successional hardwood Fagaceae species into Japanese cedar plantations.
Density is an important wood mechanical property and an indicator of xylem architecture and hydraulic conductivity. It can be influenced by forest management and climate. We studied the impact of thinning and climate variables on annual... more
Density is an important wood mechanical property and an indicator of xylem architecture and hydraulic conductivity. It can be influenced by forest management and climate. We studied the impact of thinning and climate variables on annual stem radial growth (ring width and ring density, and their earlywood and latewood components) in two contrasting Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) stands in northern Spain (one continental, one Mediterranean). At each site, three thinning regimes (control or T0, removing 20% basal area or T20, and removing 30% or T30) were randomly applied to nine plots per site (three plots per treatment) in 1999. Thinning was repeated at the Mediterranean site in 2009 (increasing thinning intensity in T30 to 40%). Eight trees per plot were cored in spring 2014. Second thinning at the Mediterranean site and first thinning at the continental site generally caused significantly wider ring (RW), earlywood (EW) and latewood (LW) widths, although no differences between T20 and T30/40 were found, supporting in part the common observation that radial growth is enhanced following thinning as competition for water and nutrients is reduced. At the Mediterranean site, values of latewood density (LD) and maximum density (Dmax) relative to pre-thinning conditions were significantly lower in T0 than in T30. However, at the continental site, relative changes of ring density (RD) and LD were significantly higher in T0 than in T20 and T30. Climate significantly affected not only RW but also RD, with significant RD drops during or right after unusually warm-dry years (e.g., 2003, 2011), which were characterized by LD reductions between 5.4 and 8.0%. Such RD decreases were quickly followed by recovery of pre-drought density values. These results indicate trees temporarily reduce LD as a way to enhance hydraulic conductivity during dry summers. However, climate effects on wood density were site-dependent. We also detected that the thinning effect was not intense enough to prevent drought-induced changes in wood density by altering water availability, but it could help to reduce wood properties fluctuations and therefore maintain more homogeneous wood mechanic features.
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Chapters downloadable at: http://www.intechopen.com/books/biodiversity-in-ecosystems-linking-structure-and-function During the 20th century urban development was extended to all the regions of the world. With a booming human population... more
Chapters downloadable at: http://www.intechopen.com/books/biodiversity-in-ecosystems-linking-structure-and-function During the 20th century urban development was extended to all the regions of the world. With a booming human population and the intensification of economic development (first in Europe and North America and lately in the rest of the world) practically all the ecosystems in the world were impacted in one way or another. Therefore, it was just a matter of time that some of the iconic wildlife species of the world started to suffer from fast reductions in their populations, or even facing extinction. The danger of losing species such as whales, lions, tigers, elephants, panda bears, gorillas, brown bears, buffalos, sequoias, etc., was very real. This danger was highlighted by scientist and environmental managers around the world, and the society responded with the creation of environmentalists groups, whose social pressure helped to create lists of endangered animal and p...
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Sustainable forest practices are often designed to mimic natural disturbance and successional processes, yet succession is poorly understood in many ecosystems. On northeastern Vancouver Island, the “disturbance hypothesis” is a widely... more
Sustainable forest practices are often designed to mimic natural disturbance and successional processes, yet succession is poorly understood in many ecosystems. On northeastern Vancouver Island, the “disturbance hypothesis” is a widely assumed succession model asserting that shade-tolerant western redcedar (Thuja plicata Donn ex D. Don) and the ericaceous shrub salal (Gaultheria shallon Pursh) invade and colonize highly productive western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.) – Pacific silver fir (Abies amabilis Douglas ex J. Forbes) stands (HA) on zonal sites in the absence of stand-replacing wind disturbance. This leads to the development of low-productivity, low-density, uneven-aged, open-crowned redcedar–hemlock–salal stands (CH). In conflict with this model, old, apparently stable HA stands lacking redcedar can be found on such sites as well. We sought evidence for the predicted transition to CH stands by examining stand composition, crown closure, tree size class frequency di...
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Ecological networks link different ecosystem parts allowing the transfer of matter and energy. Among the ecosystem components, primary producers are vital for the rest of ecosystem components as they use solar energy to produce biomass... more
Ecological networks link different ecosystem parts allowing the transfer of matter and energy. Among the ecosystem components, primary producers are vital for the rest of ecosystem components as they use solar energy to produce biomass that will be later processed by symbionts, parasites, herbivores, and their predators. In terrestrial ecosystems, plants are the dominant primary producers, with trees as the most important among them. Therefore, in a context of global change, it is necessary to understand how changes in climate variables such as temperature and precipitation could affect the net primary production (NPP) of trees. In this chapter we introduce our research on how climate has affected the productivity of three conifer species in the Canadian Pacific Northwest. Data on annual tree ring growth was compared with predictions from a simple model of climate limitation on net primary production. The results showed that using a simple predictor of NPP based on temperature, prec...