Conference 2

This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the history of biology and forestry in Portugal. It will focus on the one state-owned cork oak station devoted to forestry research, showing how its foresters and scientists shaped, and relied on, the state-controlled unions, both for producing and distributing varieties of cork oak and for controlling the seeds and plants forest owners used. Portugal played a very special role in the international development of Mediterranean forest genetics during the first half of the twentieth century. Forestry genetics were decisive for the Estado Novo government, and the Alcobaça Station became a model for the future organization of other countries' applied forestry research centers. The paper shows how the milieu of forestry scientists and breeders played an important role in the development and institutionalization of genetics in Portugal. The paper will explore how these relationships made it possible for the scientists to test, multiply, and distribute the seeds and plants they produced at the laboratory throughout the Portuguese landscape , thus demonstrating the role of scientists as active agents of state formation and landscape transformation within a corporate political economy. The history of the Alcobaça Forest Station is an important example of fascist institution building.

Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences, 2017

This paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the history of biology and forestry in Portugal. It will focus on the one state-owned cork oak station devoted to forestry research, showing how its foresters and scientists shaped, and relied on, the state-controlled unions, both for producing and distributing varieties of cork oak and for controlling the seeds and plants forest owners used. Portugal played a very special role in the international development of Mediterranean forest genetics during the first half of the twentieth century. Forestry genetics were decisive for the Estado Novo government, and the Alcobaça Station became a model for the future organization of other countries’ applied forestry research centers. The paper shows how the milieu of forestry scientists and breeders played an important role in the development and institutionalization of genetics in Portugal. The paper will explore how these relationships made it possible for the scientists to test, mul...

2003

During the last fifty years ecology has matured as a scientific discipline. In this paper I analyse the temporal development of the paradigm based on physical systems (the ecosystem paradigm), and the evolutionary ecology paradigm. I first analyse the contents of 61 textbooks to calculate the relative importance of ecosystem and evolutionary ecology in the training of new generations of ecologists.

In some situations the use of isonymy is the best strategy for studying the genetic structure of a population and its biological history. In this study different population parameters were calculated for one of the most isolated valleys in the Pyrenees – the region of the Alta Ribagorça in Catalonia, Spain. Surnames from marriage records covering the continuous period from 1638 to 1988 were used. From 1950 onwards this region underwent important social, economic and biological changes related to the introduction of hydroelectric and mining industries, and the change from livestock farming to a society based on services. Two periods were analysed (1638–1950 and 1951–1988) allowing population changes that occurred in the region to be determined. The study focused on calculating the number of surnames by gender, diversity index (H), population sub-structure (RP − RPr)/RPr and inbreeding coefficient (Ft) and detection of possible genetic barriers. The results demonstrate the importance that geography initially had in shaping the genetic structure of the population and how this was gradually replaced by other parameters such as roads or the social and economic importance of towns. An interesting phenomenon is that inbreeding has traditionally been associated with rural life, isolation and endogamy. However, for the Alta Ribagorça it was observed that in the second period, 1951–1988, inbreeding mainly depended on the composition of migrant groups and the reaction of the native population to the arrival of migrants from outside the region.

The forests in the Iberian Peninsula have been strongly influenced by past climatic changes, but reconstructing their historical distributions and dynamics is very difficult due to the complex climatic characteristics and relief of the region. Research disciplines such as phylogeography and species distribution modelling can describe the past range dynamics of individual tree species in relatively great detail and help elucidate how these species have reacted to climatic changes. Here we review phylogeographical and modelling studies from species representative of the major Iberian forest types and attempt to extract general trends from the diversity of individual species histories in the Peninsula. To date most studies focus on geographical range dynamics during the Pleistocene, but an increasing body of evidence shows that some species have also retained the genetic imprints of much more ancient processes. Many widespread Iberian species show a deep and often remarkably clear-cut divide between populations from the Mediterranean and from the Atlantic regions of the Iberian Peninsula, suggesting that both areas have independently sustained viable populations over extended periods. In fact, phylogeographical studies commonly find that species had several glacial refugia across the Iberian Peninsula. On the other hand, distribution models help identifying further suitable areas that could have sustained so far undetected refugia. Such studies are of interest for species conservation, because refugium populations are high-priority targets due to their long- term persistence and unique evolutionary trajectory. Overall, we conclude that palaeoecology, phylogeo- graphy and species distribution modelling have a great potential to inform each other because of their complementary perspectives and results. A true integration of these approaches is therefore fundamental for further progress in our understanding of past Iberian environments and the organisms they harboured.

Environmental History, 2013

Forest Ecology and Management, 2002

Abstract White oaks phylogeography in the Iberian Peninsula Marta Olalde, Ana Herra ´ n, Santiago Espinel, Pablo G. Goicoechea Neiker A.B., Granja Modelo-Arkaute, Apdo 46, 01080 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain The geographic distribution of maternally inherited chloroplast DNA polymorphisms was studied to determine the phylogeographic structure of white oaks in the Iberian Peninsula. Almost 1000 mature trees from nearly 200 populations were sampled in the distribution areas of the six white oak species that are recognised in Iberia. The analysed trees roughly represent the species distribution and their respective abundance. The PCR–RFLP procedure used by all project partners revealed up to 14 cpDNA haplotypes. Seven of them had not been previously described and have not been found elsewhere in Europe. Phylogenetic relationships among the haplotypes support the existence of four maternal lineages, one of them being restricted in Europe to the Mediterranean Spain and Corsica. Genetic diversity analysis confirmed the previously described extensive sharing of haplotypes among species, but also detected some species effect in intra- and inter-specific cytoplasmic gene flow. Geographic structuration of genotypes was studied by means of autocorrelation analysis. Autocorrelation was significant for ordered and unordered alleles both when considering all populations and when analysis was restricted to lineage B. However, in both instances there was not significant autocorrelation for the contribution of the genetic divergence between haplotypes to the total coefficient of differentiation. Autocorrelograms reflect the existence of a patchy distribution of haplotypes at different scales when all lineages are considered and when only lineage B is taken into account. Finally, discussion centres on the possible role played by the Iberian Peninsula as the European westernmost refugia for the white oaks during the last glacial period. We present several lines of evidence that make us to favour the persistence of white oaks in small northern refugia during the full glacial period. # 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. Keywords: Oaks; cpDNA; Phylogeography; Genetic diversity; Glacial refugia

An extensive oak woodland, of about 1000 km2, dominated by evergreen cork oak (Quercus suber) and semideciduous Q. canariensis, is found in southern Spain, near the Strait of Gibraltar, and contrasts with the paradigm of deforested Mediterranean mountains. Several factors, ecological, geographical and historical, have contributed to the origin and maintenance of this forested landscape. The rough relief and the acidic, nutrient-poor soils (derived from Oligo-Miocene sandstone) made tbis area unsuitable for cultivation. The oceanic influence favours the growth of oak trees. In particular, the cork oak is well suited to acidic soils and the humid Mediterranean climate. Three historical milestones seem relevant to the preservation of this woodland. Its location at a frontier during medieval times (thirteenth to fifteenth centuries) discouraged villages and reduced human pressure on the woodland resources. The rise of the value of cork he1ped to preserve the cork oak woodland during early nineteenth century industrial times. Contemporary consciousness about the conservation of woodland landscapes (somewhat unusual in the Mediterranean region) led to their designation as Los Alcornocales (meaning 'The cork oak woodlands') Natural Park, devoted to the development of the region.

Phylogeography of Southern European Refugia, 2007