MedForLab

Did you know that plant communities are temporally and spatially dynamic? We are working on the causes and consequences of vegetation changes across Mediterranean and Temperate ecosystems , to provide solutions to current land management problems.

Most archaeobotanical remains are found carbonised; fortunately, the isotopic signal recorded in wood or seeds are partly preserved in charcoal or charred grains, allowing for long term reconstructions of anthropic or climatic events.

We know that fires burn only when forests are dry but, how dry, or how hot do they need to be? We have developed the first models to predict moisture in fine litter across landscapes and have developed the moisture thresholds on probability of fire occurrence across bioregions.

How do trees grow, regenerate and die? How will forests evolve in the future? We have developed models to predict stand dynamics and yield for different tropical, mediterranean and temperate ecosystems, combining advanced modelling and optimization techniques, and meta-analysis.

Forests provide multiple ecosystem services but, how to combine and optimize them? We assess trade-offs and optimal combinations among different ecosystems services to improve multi-objective forest management planning at multiple scales, from stand to landscape levels.

We know that fungi are a key component of forest ecosystems , but their role in all the ecological processes are still poorly known. We contribute to disentagling this fascinating kingdom, providing new insights into the ecology and diversity of fungi.

Advanced modelling of tree-ring data provides clearer and more structured information on spatial tree responses to climate instability. This is useful to improve our understanding of forest performance and dynamics underlying complex biogeographical interactions at regional and sub-continental scales.

Did you know that trees and ecosystems lose a substantial amount of water overnight? Yeap, that's true, and we have been exploring different possible functions such as whether it serves to increase nutrient delivery, or daytime photosynthesis, the challenge is still on!

Forests are much more than wood and timber. Our group provides new evidences about the socioeconomic and ecological importance of wild forest products and ecosystem services with the aim of supporting decision making in forest and environmental policies.

We're interested in discovering ways to increase forest production and biomass to diminish our plastic-dependency. We've synthesized information on processes under genetic control to help breeding under elevated CO2 that will need less water . Check out this cool commentary.

Did you know that black truffles are one of the most valuable products in the Mediterranean basin? We are contributing to improve the cultivation techniques of such amazing species.