Carlos Real

• Ph. D.
• Professor (Associate) at University of Santiago de Compostela

Marine pollution from potentially toxic elements (PTEs) threatens coastal ecosystems, making long-term assessments essential. This study analyzes trends in Al, Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Hg using 446 samples of Fucus ceranoides, F. spiralis, and F. vesiculosus collected between 1990 and 2021 at 173coastal sites in NW Spain. A consistent resamp...

Aquatic bryophytes are frequently used as bioindicators of water quality in rivers. Poor water quality increases physiological stress in moss, and stress levels can be estimated by measuring the concentrations of photosynthetic pigments and by calculating pigmentary indices. However, studies collecting many samples in a short time may need to store...

Aquatic bryophytes have been used as pollution biomonitors for decades. Despite this, sample collection and preparation methods have not been standardized, which makes it difficult to compare the results of different studies. Most times, the samples have to be stored before processing, for example, when many of them are collected in a short time, a...

Iberian populations of Arnica montana L. (Asteraceae) represent a valuable resource both for conservation and pharmaceutical industry. Previous genetic analyses pointed out the presence of different genetic groups, but a wide region is still genetically unexplored. In order to fill this scientific gap, the present study analysed a wider sampling ar...

Bryophytes are poikilohydric organisms that play a key role in ecosystems, while some of them are also resistant to drought and environmental disturbances but present a slow growth rate. Moss culture in the laboratory can be a very useful tool for ecological restoration or the development of urban green spaces (roof and wall) in the Mediterranean r...

Aquatic macrophytes capture trace elements from water and store them in their tissues, which make them good biomonitors for these substances. But they also capture suspended particulate matter that could bias the concentration measurements in the moss tissues. To avoid this problem, many biomonitoring studies using mosses include a washing step in...

Bryophytes, including Fontinalis antipyretica Hedw., are widely used for biomonitoring aquatic environments. However, some methodological aspects, such as the fraction of shoot analysed, have not yet been standardized. The main objective of this study was to establish the length of segments of F. antipyretica shoots that should be used for trace el...

The phytocenotic variability of the cork oak forests present in the northwesternmost Iberian Peninsula was studied through the analysis of a data set of 145 new and 39 previously published relevés. The results allowed the recognition of four associations: 1) Arenario montanae-Quercetum suberis ass. nova: thermo-temperate xerophytic forests of the N...

Tufa-forming hard water springs are classified as a priority natural habitat of community interest and described in Annex I of Community Directive 92/43/EEC as “ (Natura, 2000 habitat type 7220* Petrifying springs with tufa formation [Cratoneurion])”. This type of habitat is scarce along the European Atlantic coast. In this study, petrifying spring...

Arnica montana (Asteraceae) is a herbaceous species with high interest for pharmaceutical industry due its anti-inflammatory properties. However, commercial collection in wild, habitat loss, abandonment of land, reforestation and the ongoing climate change threaten the conservation of the species throughout its natural distribution. Galicia (north-...

The aim of the present study was to optimize the protocol for sampling marine macroalgae to be used to biomonitor heavy metal contamination in marine ecosystems. For this purpose, we collected 50 subsamples of the brown seaweed Fucus vesiculosus at random in each of three sampling sites (SS) and determined the concentrations of Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr,...

Se realiza un estudio preliminar de la capacidad de germinación y el tiempo de emergencia de las semillas de Arnica montana procedentes de 11 poblaciones situadas en las provincias de Lugo y Ourense (Galicia). Además, se han comparado dos métodos para estimular la germinación de las semillas: humectación con nitrato potásico y con agua. Los resulta...

This invention describes the use of clonal Sphagnum peat moss, grown in a bioreactor, as passive contaminant sensor for the assessment of air quality.

We studied the downy birch forests that grow in the headwaters of rivers in the mountains in NW Iberian Peninsula and their differences from other previously described birch forests. To do this, an ordination analysis was done on a database of 342 relevés (144 unpublished). As a result, four riparian forest associations were recognized in the terri...

The passive contaminant sensor device is useful for sensing of air pollutants comprising polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons or heavy metals or their compounds (all claimed).

This study assesses the importance of the Fraga de Sto Estevo do Hermo and its surroundings (Barreiros council, Lugo, NW Spain) as a botanical conservation site. A total of 219 taxa of vascular plants were identified, 19 of them (8,6%) being Pteridophytes. Six species (Ilex aquifolium, Ruscus aculeatus, Narcissus triandrus, and the ferns Dryopteris...

The threatened European species Arnica montana L. is a plant much appreciated in the pharmaceutical industry, Galicia (North-Western Spain) being one of the main supply regions. Two chemotypes based on the content of sesquiterpene lactones have been found in this area: a chemotype dominated by helenalins, common in Central Europe, and another domin...

Physicochemical characteristics of elements determine their uptake in moss. Factor analysis identifies groups depend on elements binding properties. Ionic and covalent nature of elements determines the radicals which they bind to. a b s t r a c t Bryophytes are commonly used as biomonitors to estimate the atmospheric deposition of heavy metals and...

We used a method of detecting small-scale pollution sources (DSSP) that involves measurement of the concentrations of elements in moss tissues, with the following aims: (i) to determine any common qualitative patterns of contaminant emissions for individual industrial sectors, (ii) to compare any such patterns with previously described patterns, an...

Eryngium viviparum is an endemic plant of the Atlantic regions of Europe. Surveys carried out in recent years in the wetlands of northwest Spain have led to the identification of several previously undetected subpopulations of this species in inland areas with markedly Mediterranean bioclimatic characteristics that constitute the southern limit of...

Eryngium viviparum is an endemic plant of the Atlantic regions of Europe. Surveys carried out in recent years in the wetlands of northwest Spain have led to the identification of several previously undetected subpopulations of this species in inland areas with markedly Mediterranean bioclimatic characteristics that constitute the southern limit of...

Se presenta un estudo detallado dos tipos de bosques existentes na Devesa da Rogueira (Folgoso do Courel, Lugo, España) elaborado a partir da información previamente publicada e da realización de novos traballos de inventariación en campo. En total, recoñécense 21 comunidades diferentes de bosques, para as que se describe a súa ecoloxía, caracteriz...

Se presenta un estudo detallado dos tipos de bosques existentes na Devesa da Rogueira (Folgoso do Courel, Lugo, España) elaborado a partir da información previamente publicada e da realización de novos traballos de inventariación en campo. En total, recoñécense 21 comunidades diferentes de bosques, para as que se describe a súa ecoloxía, caracteriz...

Multivariate analysis of environmental data sets requires the absence of missing values or their substitution by small values. However, if the data is transformed logarithmically prior to the analysis, this solution cannot be applied because the logarithm of a small value might become an outlier. Several methods for substituting the missing values...

The biometric criteria proposed so far to differentiate between the subspecies of Arnica montana L. were studied in 301 individuals collected in 37 populations located in NW Spain. None of the individuals fulfilled simultaneously all the criteria proposed, and the distribution of the biometric variables did not show discontinuities that could sugge...

This paper deals with a preliminary characterization of the ecology, floristic composition and threats that affect the yew-dominated woodlands that survive in the W of the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain). These scarce and fragmented woodlands have high importance for biodiversity conservation because they are included into DC 92/43/CEE Annex I unde...

The guidelines regarding sampling terrestrial mosses for biomonitoring the atmospheric contamination in a region specifically recommend that sampling close to focal points of contamination (i.e. roads, populated areas, etc.) should be avoided for satisfactory characterization of general patterns of contamination. However, these recommendations cann...

A synthesis of published information is presented and provided by unpublished data on environmental conditions and structural and botanical characteristics of some representations of Annex I priority habitat of DC 92/43/EEC ”9580* Mediterranean forests of Taxus baccata” existing in the mountains of Galicia limit with Asturias and Castilla-Leon. Als...

The aim of the present study was to determine the optimal size of the sampling area that should be used in the moss biomonitoring technique, in relation to the spatial variation in the concentrations of contaminants determined in samples collected within short distances (<30m). For this, the spatial structure in the concentrations of various metals...

Here we present a simple, economic method of identifying sources of small scale contamination by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The method involves determining the concentrations of the contaminants in the terrestrial moss Pseudoscleropodium purum and consists of the following steps: i) testing for the existence of gradients of decreasing...

Compositional analysis consists of a group of techniques used to manipulate closed (=compositional) data, i.e. multivariate data summing to a fixed quantity (proportions, percentages). It is based on the analysis of the relations among variables and the use of logarithmic transformations. It has been claimed that this group of techniques should be...

Different European Framework Directives have established a series of objectives for conservation of the coast, and monitoring tools must be made available to test compliance with these aims. In the present study the use of macroalgae deposited in an Environmental Specimen Bank was evaluated as a possible environmental tool for monitoring the coasta...

The size of the area affected by contamination processes mainly depends on the type of contaminant and the way it is emitted. In regular sampling, the size of the sampling grid will therefore interact with the scale at which the contamination processes are produced, for each contaminant, so that the grid will only enable characterization of those p...

This paper deals with a revision of the phytosociological status of the beech forests of the western part of the Cantabrian Range (NW Iberian Peninsula) using multivariate methods. For this purpose we apply a NMDS analysis to a dataset containing floristic data derived from 47 inventory plots. The ordination obtained shows that floristic compositio...

The floristic composition of the main plant communities present in the active blanket bogs in the North of Galicia (NW Spain) were studied by means of Braun-Blanquet’s methodology. As a result, three new associations belonging to the Erico mackaianae-Sphagnion papillosi Alliance (Or. Erico tetralicis-Sphagnetalia papillosi, Cl. Oxycocco-Sphagnetea)...

Se realiza una revision de la sintaxonomia de los hayedos existentes en el extremo occidental de la Cordillera Cantabrica (NW Iberico) basada en la ordenacion obtenida al aplicar un analisis NMDS a un conjunto de 47 inventarios floristicos. Los principales factores ambientales que explican la ordenacion obtenida son el pH del horizonte edafico supe...

We present the results of the analysis of several datasets corresponding to the mercury contents of moss tissues. Some of the data were collected in regional surveys devised to study the atmospheric deposition of pollutants in Galicia (Spain). The surveys were carried out with low frequency (usually biennially) and the data obtained were compared w...

Beech forests located in the southwestern limit of Europe have been affected by severe deforestation and long-term fragmentation. Some of these forests have been subjected to partial cutting, whereas others have been maintained with little or no active management. It has previously been shown that past management has led to substantial changes in t...

The aim of the present study was to establish an aquatic biomonitoring network for the Galician Environmental Specimen Bank (BEAG) (NW Spain). For this, a sampling system was designed that comprised of 121 points distributed throughout Galician rivers, from which samples of water and of three species of bryophytes were collected. The results obtain...

Managed forests often differ substantially from undisturbed forests in terms of tree structure and diversity. By altering the forest structure, management may affect the C stored in biomass and soil. A survey of 58 natural stands located in the south-westernmost limit of European beech forests was carried out to assess how the C pools are affected...

In the present study we investigated possible contamination by trace elements due to the oil slick caused by the shipwreck of the Prestige oil tanker, in two species of brown macroalgae (Fucus vesiculosus and Fucus ceranoides) collected from the coastal area most severely affected by the spill (Galicia, NW Spain). The oil slick apparently did not c...

A new simple method is proposed for identifying sources of small scale pollution, by determining the tissue concentrations of pollutants in terrestrial mosses. The method is based on spatial characterization of the processes that generate accumulation of pollutants in these organisms. The steps involved in implementing and applying the method are:...

Plants are used as target organisms in most biomonitoring studies of atmospheric deposition of dioxins and furans (PCDD/F) because the most common route of entry of these pollutants into ecosystems is through soils and plants. However, comparison of the results of such studies is difficult because different plant species are used. In the present st...

In this paper we discuss some difficulties associated with the process of constructing maps of pollution from data obtained in surveys covering extensive areas. As we show here, these problems may be wide-ranging but are seldom recognized by investigators. The origin of the problems is the existence of multiple sources of pollution in the study are...

Isoetes velata A. Braun is an amphibious plant with Mediterranean and Ibero-Atlantic distribution, showing marked morphological variability. Within the same geographical area, closely related restricted-range taxa are also present, including I. velata ssp. asturicense (restricted to mountainous areas of the north-west Iberian Peninsula) and I. bory...

In this study, we investigated if the different sampling designs normally used in extensive bryomonitoring surveys of air pollution allow compliance with the objectives proposed in the 'Heavy Metals in European Moss' project. For this, we have used data on concentrations of As, Cu, Se and Zn from five moss sampling surveys carried out in Galicia (N...

En este trabajo se realiza una caracterización ambiental de los tipos de bosques presentes en el extremo occidental de la Cornisa Cantábrica (Subsector Galaico-Asturiano Septentrional) a partir de los datos de posición topográfica, inclinación, exposición, grado de continentalidad, termotipo, ombrotipo, tipología litológica y grado de evolución edá...

This study presents an ecological and floristic characterization of the beechwoods of the littoral and sublittoral part of the extreme northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (the Northern Galician-Asturian Subsector), and details differences with respect to Galician-Asturian oakwoods and other beechwoods of the Cantabrian zone, as assessed using non-me...

This paper describes an assessment of environmental exposure to fluorine in the surroundings of an aluminium smelter, carried out by measuring fluorine concentrations in the tissues of mosses growing in the area. Forty-two samples were collected from within a 3300 m of radius of the smelter on two different occasions. Samples of either Hypnum cupre...

Biomonitoring dissolved heavy metals within estuaries, particularly at their upper reaches, frequently has to rely on several biomonitors; rarely a single species thrives all along the salinity gradient. To properly do so, it must be established whether those biomonitors actually accumulate heavy metals alike. In this study, two brown seaweeds from...

Core samples have been used to describe the chronology of heavy metal inputs to aquatic systems. Metal concentration profiles have been investigated to detect pollution, to establish when the polluting event started, and to quantify its magnitude relative to [open quotes]precivilization[close quotes] background values. Less frequently, and mainly i...

Horizontal distributions of Fe, Mn, Co, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn were studied after a spatially intensive sampling campaign. Special attention was devoted to the head of the estuary where metal partitioning as well as the representative nature of the sediment data were examined. Sediments showed a clear seaward decrease in all elements and variables; the...

Using a modification of the procedure elaborated by Tessier et al. (1979) the conditions under which microwave heat was applied to perform sequential extractions of metals in estuarine sediments were evaluated. Necessary times were determined for the complete metal extractions and substantial reductions in time were obtained in comparison with the...

Concentrations of Fe, Al, Mn, Cu, Ni, Co, and Zn were measured in Fucus ceranoides and F. vesiculosus from Pontedeume, a small estuary on the northwest coast of Spain, affected by mining activities upstream and by sewage discharge to the estuary itself. Plants were collected from two intertidal levels at each of six locations, each sample eventuall...

We measured concentrations of total and extractable (HCl 1N) Fe, Al, Mn, Cr, Cu, Zn and Ni, and a series of related physico-chemical parameters, in sediments from the Ria de Arousa and the River Ulla estuary (Galicia, NW Spain). The results show that Ni, Cu and particularly Cr are being discharged, and allow identification of the sources of polluti...

Heavy metals analyses (Pb, Cd, Cr, Zn and Cu) of sediments were made for five ría systems (Ferrol, Burgo, Arousa, Pontevedra and Vigo). Contamination type groups were built up from metal concentration data in the < 0.05 mm fraction for the Burgo, Ferrol and Arousa systems. Background values were tryed using the own results from the analyses. Date w...

Neste traballo avalíase a importancia botánica para a conservación da contorna da Fraga de Sto. Estevo do Ermo, situada no concello de Barreiros (Lugo, NW España). Dentro das 331 ha que comprende este espazo, identificáronse un total de total de 219 taxons de plantas vasculares, das que 19 (8,6% do total) son Pteridófitas. Seis taxóns, entre eles o...