Susana Gómez‐González

Center for Climate and Resilience Research

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Cristian Torres‐Díaz

University of Bío-Bío

Lohengrin A. Cavieres

Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity

Fernando Ojeda

Universidad de Cádiz

Miguel Berdugo

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Antonio Lara

Austral University of Chile

Manuel Delgado‐Baquerizo

Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla

Julio R. Gutiérrez

Scripps Green Hospital

Matthew A. Bowker

Northern Arizona University

Donaldo Bran

National Agricultural Technology Institute

Rosa Mary Hernández

Universidad Nacional Experimental Simón Rodríguez

Cooperative Institutions

University of Chile

University of Concepción

Universidad Rey Juan Carlos

Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas

University of La Serena

Universidad de Cádiz

Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity

Center for Climate and Resilience Research

Austral University of Chile

University of Alicante

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Widespread synchronous decline of Mediterranean-type forest driven by accelerated aridity

Nature Plants (2023)

Alejandro Miranda Alexandra D. Syphard Miguel Berdugo Jaime Carrasco Susana Gómez‐González

10.1038/s41477-023-01541-7

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Citations (16)

Heat shock and plant leachates regulate seed germination of the endangered carnivorous plant <i>Drosophyllum lusitanicum</i>

Web Ecology (2018)

Susana Gómez‐González Maria Paniw Kamila Antunes Fernando Ojeda

Abstract. In fire-prone ecosystems, many plant species have specialized mechanisms of seed dormancy that ensure a successful recruitment after fire. A well-documented mechanism is the germination stimulated by fire-related cues, such as heat shock and smoke. However, less is known about the role of inhibitory germination signals (e.g. allelopathy) in regulating post-fire recruitment. Plant leachates derived from the unburned vegetation can enforce dormancy by means of allelopathic compounds, acting as a signal of unfavourable (highly competitive) niche for germination in pyrophyte species. Here, we assessed the separate effects of heat shock and plant leachates on seed germination of Drosophyllum lusitanicum, an endangered carnivorous plant endemic to Mediterranean fire-prone heathlands. We performed a germination experiment in which seeds were subjected to three treatments: (1) 5 min at 100 ∘C, (2) watering with plant leachate, and (3) control. Germination rate and seed viability was determined after 63 days. Heat shock stimulated seed germination in D. lusitanicum while plant leachates had inhibitory germination effects without reducing seed viability. Thus, both positive and negative signals could be involved in its successful post-fire recruitment. Fire would break seed dormancy and stimulate seed germination of D. lusitanicum through high temperatures, but also by eliminating allelochemical compounds from the soil. These results help to understand the population dynamics patterns found for D. lusitanicum in natural populations, and highlight the role of fire in the ecology and conservation of this endangered species. Seed dormancy imposed by plant-derived leachates as an adaptive mechanism should be considered more in fire ecology theory.

10.5194/we-18-7-2018

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Citations (10)

Climate change amplifies extinction risk of a subshrub in anthropogenic landscapes

Eva Conquet Arpat Özgül Susana Gómez‐González Fernando Ojeda Maria Paniw

In most ecosystems, the increasingly strong effects of climate change on biodiversity co-occur with other anthropogenic pressures, most importantly land-use change. However, many long-term studies of population dynamics focus on populations monitored in protected areas, and our understanding of how climate change will affect population persistence under anthropogenic land use is still limited. To fill this knowledge gap, we assessed the consequences of co-occurring land-use and climate change on population dynamics of a fire-adapted Mediterranean carnivorous subshrub, the dewy pine (Drosophyllum lusitanicum). We used seven years of individual data on 4,753 plants monitored in three natural heathland sites that experience primarily fire as a main disturbance, and five anthropogenic sites, where fires have been replaced by persistent disturbances from browsing or mechanical vegetation removal as a consequence of land-use change. All sites are projected to experience increasingly hotter summers and drier falls and winters. We used generalised additive models to model non-linear responses of survival, growth, and reproduction to rainfall, temperature, size, density, and time since fire in anthropogenic and natural dewy-pine populations. We then projected population dynamics under climate-change scenarios using an individual-based model. Our findings reveal that vital rates respond differently to climate change in anthropogenic compared to natural habitats. While extinction risks do not change under climate change in natural habitats, future higher summer temperatures decrease survival and lead to population declines and higher extinction probabilities in anthropogenic habitats. Our results highlight the possible dramatic effects of climate change on populations largely confined to chronically disturbed, anthropogenic habitats and provide a foundation for devising relevant management strategies aiming towards the protection of species in human-disturbed habitats of the Mediterranean habitat. Overall, our findings emphasise the need for more long-term studies in managed landscapes.

Extinction (optical mineralogy)

10.32942/x24g93

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Litter burning does not equally affect seedling emergence of native and alien species of the Mediterranean-type Chilean matorral

International Journal of Wildland Fire (2009)

Susana Gómez‐González Lohengrin A. Cavieres

Central Chile differs from other areas with Mediterranean-type climate by the scarcity of natural wildfires. The Chilean matorral is highly invaded by alien plant species from other Mediterranean zones of the world, where natural, recurrent wildfires have been one of their ecological features at least since the Pliocene. This suggests that anthropogenic fires in Chile might favour alien plant recruitment, increasing the invasive process. We assessed the effect of litter burning on the emergence of alien and native species from the soil seedbank of a matorral of central Chile. Soil samples were taken from three types of microhabitats: (i) closed matorral; (ii) beneath the canopy of shrubs and trees from an open matorral; (iii) grassland. Each sample was split in two subsamples. One subsample was exposed to fire by burning the litter taken from its corresponding microhabitat, and the other subsample was left unburned and used as a control. Fire intensity, determined by the fuel type, affected more markedly the native seedbank survival than the alien one. The low-intensity fire produced by grassland litter did not significantly affect the emergence of native herbs but increased alien species richness. The high-intensity and the very high-intensity fires produced by litter burning from beneath the canopy of the closed and the open matorral, respectively, negatively affected the seedling emergence of both native and alien species, but did so in a more pronounced manner to native species. Therefore, anthropogenic fires in central Chile may promote the invasion of alien plants with favourable traits (i.e. heat-shock resistance of seeds) that are not present in the native flora.

Litter

Fire regime

10.1071/wf07074

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Citations (36)

Biogeographical analysis of species of the tribe Cytiseae (Fabaceae) in the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands

Journal of Biogeography (2004)

Susana Gómez‐González Lohengrin A. Cavieres Ernesto Teneb Juan Arroyo

Abstract Aim To analyse quantitatively the biogeographical distribution pattern of species of the Cytiseae Bercht. & J. Presl (= Genisteae Benth.) tribe in the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands, and to identify environmental variables related to the distributional patterns. Location Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands, using the 61 administrative provinces as operational geographical units. Methods In order to identify chorotypes (groups of species with similar geographical distribution), we performed a upgma classification based on the similarity index of Baroni‐Urbani & Buser. The method of McCoy et al. [ Ecology 67 (1986), 749] enabled us to detect the significant groups and to differentiate them from those groupings that could be generated at random. Logistic regression analyses and environmental gradient analyses (DCA and CCA) were performed in order to find the relationships between the environmental variables and the observed distributional patterns. Results Sixteen chorotypes were obtained between the Cytiseae species of the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands. The thermal variables showed the greatest influence in species distribution. Specifically, temperatures (maximum, minimum and mean) of the coldest months were associated with the majority of the chorotypes. Main conclusions The species of the Cytiseae tribe were not randomly distributed in space, and can be classified in groups of species with common distributional patterns. The importance of cold tolerance in the distribution of these species, as well as their preference for acidic soils, was demonstrated. Certain general tendencies seem to exist with respect to the distribution of the biota in the Iberian Peninsula, and these seem to be independent of the taxonomic groups involved and to be determined by convergent macroclimatic factors.

Balearic islands

Peninsula

Biota

Tribe

Environmental gradient

Taxonomic rank

10.1111/j.1365-2699.2004.01091.x

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Citations (23)

Native woody species depend on the soil microbiome to establish on burned soils, while non‐native do not

Journal of Applied Ecology (2024)

Víctor M. Escobedo Ian S. Acuña‐Rodríguez Leidy Y. García Cristian Torres‐Díaz Cristian Átala

Abstract Wildfires are important natural disturbances with profound ecological impacts. However, our understanding of how to restore plant–soil microbiome interactions following wildfires remains limited, revealing a key knowledge gap in post‐wildfire ecosystem restoration. To assess the restoration of plant‐microbiome interactions in fire‐affected ecosystems, we conducted greenhouse experiments simulating wildfire effects on soil collected from Maulino Coastal Forest of central Chile, a biodiversity hotspot. We measured the plant height and photosynthesis over 90 days, and two‐year survival probability, of three common native ( Aristotelia chilensis , Nothofagus glauca and N. alessandrii ) and three non‐native species ( Eucalyptus globulus , Pinus radiata and Genista monspessulana ) planted in three soils (unburned, burned and burned soil inoculated with the native microbiome). Available nutrient concentrations (N, P and K) and activities of microbial enzymes (dehydrogenase, β‐glucosidase and urease) were also measured over 360 days. Available nutrient concentrations were consistently higher in burned and burned‐inoculated soils than in unburned soils. Enzyme activities in unburned and burned‐inoculated soils remained higher than in burned soil, indicating that the native microbiome restored microbial enzyme activities. The increase in height over 90 days was lower in burned soils compared with unburned soils for native species. However, inoculation with the native microbiome mitigated this negative effect, resulting in height increases similar to those in unburned soils. For non‐native species, burning and inoculation had negligible effects on the height increases. Similar patterns were observed for the increase in photosynthetic rate, with native species showing a reduced rate in burned soils, which was offset by microbiome inoculation, while non‐native species were unaffected by both treatments. Survival probability of native species declined in burned soil, but was the same in burned‐inoculated soil as in unburned soil. That of non‐native species was unaffected by burning or by inoculation with the native microbiome. Synthesis and applications . Native microbiomes are evidently promising tools to safeguard ecosystem functionality and mitigate species extinction risks arising from climate change and human‐induced wildfires. We advocate integrating microbiomes into future active restoration strategies for fire‐affected ecosystems.

Native plant

10.1111/1365-2664.14809

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Citations (2)

Tree-ring distinctness, dating potential and climatic sensitivity of laurel forest tree species in Tenerife Island

Dendrochronologia (2022)

María A. García‐López Vicente Rozas José Miguel Olano Gabriel Sangüesa‐Barreda Miguel García‐Hidalgo

Laurus nobilis

10.1016/j.dendro.2022.126011

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Citations (6)

Pine afforestation of treeless Mediterranean heathlands reduces productivity of neighbouring cork oak woodlands

Forest Ecology and Management (2024)

Irene Repeto‐Deudero Susana Gómez‐González Ana I. García‐Cervigón Gabriel Navarro Fernando Ojeda

Afforestation programs as a strategy to address the climate crisis are on the rise worldwide. Although concerns exist about the effects of afforesting treeless habitats on their biodiversity and ecosystem services, potential impacts on areas beyond afforestation boundaries have been largely overlooked. Cork oak (Quercus suber) woodlands in southern Spain are regarded as a successful example of sustainability. However, the afforestation of their neighbouring treeless habitats may compromise their productivity through indirect effects that are not fully understood. Using a multi-method approach, we studied the effects of the afforestation of Mediterranean heathland (herriza) areas with pine tree species on the productivity of neighbouring cork oak woodlands downslope over a 37-year period. The differences in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Basal Area Increment (BAI) between cork oak woodlands below open herriza and below afforested herriza became apparent approximately ten years after pine afforestation. Specifically, NDVI was significantly reduced in cork oak stands below afforested herriza areas for the remaining years, while a substantial decrease in BAI of cork oak trees was also associated with afforested herriza areas upslope. Moreover, the NDVI and BAI trends of cork oak stands below afforested herriza reached the minimum levels of the time series following an extreme drought event. Our results reveal that the ecological impacts of afforestation of naturally treeless habitats can expand beyond the plantation area. We propose that the restoration of treeless habitats, such as the herriza, in areas where pine plantations are no longer productive, may enhance their ecological services, particularly in the context of climate change. Therefore, afforestation programs worldwide should carefully consider the trade-offs between carbon mitigation and other ecosystem services at the landscape scale.

Afforestation

Quercus suber

Aleppo Pine

10.1016/j.foreco.2024.122155

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Citations (1)

Congenital syphilis or mercury treatment: dental alterations in a twelfth- or thirteenth-century child from Medinaceli, Soria, Spain

HOMO (2020)

Susana Gómez‐González Consuelo Roca de Togores Muñoz Laura González-Garrido

Congenital syphilis

Mercury

10.1127/homo/2020/1173