Ester González de Andrés

• PhD forest ecology
• PostDoc Position at Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología IPE-CSIC

In the southern Pyrenees, human population and therefore land uses have changed from forests to pastures, then crops, and back to pastures and secondary forests during the last two centuries. To understand what such rapid land use changes have meant for carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) stocks, we used data from two forest sites in the western Pyrenees,...

Key Message In the Pyrenees low temperature and scarce precipitation limit radial growth at treeline. The climatic drivers of treeline formation in mid-latitude mountains are temperature and also moisture variability. Abstract Alpine treelines are often induced by a threshold of minimum temperatures above which tree growth is generally not possi...

Mixedwoods are increasingly becoming one of the major focuses in ecological modelling studies, due to their higher productivity and resiliency compared to monocultures. In this chapter we provide a review on the state-of-the-art of models simulating mixedwood stands. After reviewing almost 400 peer-reviewed publications, it is clear that most model...

Understanding how regional and local climate variability drive radial growth in trees is necessary to assess the climate-warming mitigation potential of forests. However, tree species occurring in the same region differently respond to climate variability, including climate extremes such as droughts, depending on soil–moisture gradients (hydrologic...

Understanding species-specific drought responses is critical to predict forest resilience under climate change. We investigated how series of secondary growth, earlywood (EWD) and latewood (LWD) density of silver fir (Abies alba) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) responded to climate variability from 1952 to 2020. We sampled three sites across a cl...

Forest health monitoring is crucial for sustainable management, especially with the challenges posed by climate warming. Remote sensing data provide vegetation indices, such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), that are widely used in assessing forest health. However, studies considering the vali...

Mistletoes are xylem-tapping hemiparasites that rely on their hosts for water and nutrient uptake. Thus, they impair tree performance in the face of environmental stress via altering the carbon and water relations and nutritional status of trees. To improve our understanding of physiological responses to mistletoe and ongoing climate change, we inv...

Given the context of significant global warming and the intensification of extreme climate events in the last century, large‐scale reforestation and afforestation have been recognized as effective strategies to mitigate the climate crisis. Since the 1970s, China has launched several afforestation programs aimed at regional ecological protection, pl...

Forest dynamics are driven by micro‐disturbances leading to gap formation. Root rot pathogens can cause mortality to adult trees, which die forming gaps. However, little is known about the biotic and abiotic factors that govern gap creation and expansion such as tree infection or drought resilience, and what are the consequences for nutrient cyclin...

Mistletoes are hemiparasites that modify how trees cope with drought by impairing the relationships between water, carbon, and nutrients within the tree. Thus, mistletoes endanger the vitality and persistence of trees in drought-prone regions, such as the Mediterranean Basin. Here, we evaluated radial growth patterns and drought sensitivity of Alep...

Worldwide studies have related recent forest decline and mortality events to warmer temperatures and droughts, as well as pointing out a greater vulnerability to climate changes in larger trees. Previous research performed on silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) suggest an increasing decline and mortality, mainly related to rising water shortages. Here, w...

Ongoing climatic change is threatening the survival of drought-sensitive tree species, such as silver fir (Abies alba). Drought-induced dieback had been previously explored in this conifer, although the role played by tree-level genetic diversity and its relationship with growth patterns and soil microsite conditions remained elusive. We used doubl...

South rear-edge populations of widely distributed temperate and boreal tree species such as birches (Betula pubescens and Betula pendula) are considered particularly vulnerable to climate warming, and at the same time, they constitute genetic reservoirs of drought-adapted ecotypes. Here, we compared radial growth patterns and responses to climate,...

South rear-edge populations of widely distributed temperate and boreal tree species such as birches (Betula pubescens and B. pendula) are considered particularly vulnerable to climate warming, and at the same time they constitute genetic reservoirs of drought-adapted ecotypes. Here, we compared radial growth patterns and responses to climate, river...

Assessing tree growth patterns and deviations from expected climate baselines across wide environmental gradients is fundamental to determine forest vulnerability to drought. This need is particularly compelling for the southernmost limit of the tree species distribution where hot droughts often trigger forest dieback processes. This is the case of...

Recent drought-induced dieback alters forest dynamics, which are also shaped by past management. In western Pyrenean silver fir (Abies alba) stands, dieback concurs in space and time with the legacies of past management, but the impacts on forest growth, structure and composition are unknown. We aim to disentangle how dieback interacts with the leg...

Intensive livestock management impacts forest and trees in different ways. Pig manure is a major source of nitrogen (N) pollution of surface and ground waters in some European regions such as north-eastern Spain, but it is understudied how manure application impacts agroforestry systems. How pig manure affects tree radial growth and the N cycle was...

Wood formation during the growing season is shaped by the intra-annual variability of climatic conditions. In the Mediterranean, the cambial activity is seasonally constrained by winter low temperature and summer drought, resulting in bimodal growth patterns. Although bimodal growth is an ecologically important adaptation of woody species to season...

Local differentiation at distribution limits may influence species' adaptive capacity to environmental changes. However, drivers, such gene flow and local selection, are still poorly understood. We focus on the role played by range limits in mountain forests to test the hypothesis that relict tree populations are subjected to genetic differentiatio...

Pollarded woodlands are iconic components of European rural landscapes. Pollarding is a traditional management technique used to obtain timber and firewood. However, these woodlands are subjected to different stressors in rapidly depopulating rural regions under continental Mediterranean areas where riparian black poplar (Populus nigra) pollards ar...

El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the variation between anomalously cold (La Niña) and warm conditions (El Niño), is one of the most prominent large-scale climate patterns with worldwide effects. Elevated seed and leaf fall has been found at the positive phase of ENSO (El Niño) in tropical forests. However, how seed and leaf fall respond to ENSO...

Wood encodes environmental information that can be recovered through the study of tree-ring width and wood anatomical variables such as lumen area or cell-wall thickness. Anatomical variables often provide a stronger hydroclimate signal than tree-ring width, but they show a low tree-to-tree coherence. We investigate the sources of variation in tree...

Rear‐edge populations at the xeric distribution limit of tree species are particularly vulnerable to forest dieback triggered by drought. This is the case of silver fir (Abies alba) forests located in Southwestern Europe. While silver fir drought‐induced dieback patterns have been previously explored, information on the role played by nutritional i...

Alpine treelines are expected to shift upward due to climate warming, whereas warmer conditions can have negative impacts on forests located near the xeric, equatorward limit of the distribution of tree species (rear edge). We compare tree populations forming the distribution limits of mountain pine (Pinus uncinata) in north-eastern Spain: two cold...

Wildfires are the main disturbance of boreal ecosystems, one of the largest reservoirs of terrestrial carbon. Two-thirds of boreal forests are in Siberia, where peatlands commonly appear mixed with mineral soils. Siberian forests are currently facing a dual shift in environmental conditions regarding climate change and increased fire activity. Ther...

Forest dieback and mortality episodes triggered by droughts are receiving increasing attention due to the projected increases in these extreme climate events. However, the role played by nutrient impairment in dieback is understudied, despite interactions among carbon-water balances and nutrition. Here, we followed a comparative analysis of long-te...

Forest dieback because of drought is a global phenomenon threatening particular tree populations. Particularly vulnerable stands are usually located in climatically stressing locations such as xeric sites subjected to seasonal drought. These tree populations show a pronounced loss of vitality, growth decline, and high mortality in response to extre...

A higher frequency and intensity of droughts will impair forest productivity. Therefore, improving our understanding of which factors enhance tree growth resilience against drought has become a crucial issue, but we lack information at the intraspecific level. In this study, we investigate the role played by climatic conditions and tree characteris...

The influence of climate on seed or fruit production and tree growth is a central question in forest ecology, with a key role on forest dynamics. However, the mechanisms linking inter- and intra-annual climate variability, fruiting and growth remain poorly understood, although they seem to be largely species-specific. The resource-matching hypothes...

Recent research has shown that climate change is already altering tree species ranges, mortality and growth rates [...]

Recent studies have identified strong relationships between delayed recovery of tree growth after drought and tree mortality caused by subsequent droughts. These observations raise concerns about forest ecosystem services and post-drought growth recovery given the projected increase in drought frequency and extremes. For quantifying the impact of e...

The increased frequency and intensity of warming-induced droughts have triggered dieback episodes affecting many forest types and tree species worldwide. Tree plantations are not exempt as they can be more vulnerable to drought than natural forests because of their lower structural and genetic diversity. Therefore, disentangling the physiological m...

Climate change is having impacts on the biodiversity and structure of many ecosystems. In this chapter, we focus on its impacts on forests. We will focus on how the potential climate change impacts on forest biodiversity and structure will have a reflection on the ecosystem services provided by forests, and therefore on the capacity of these ecosyst...

Isolating the long-term fertilization effect of CO2 from other climate-and site-related effects on tree growth has been proven a challenging task. To isolate long-term effects of [CO2] on water use efficiency at ecosystem level, we used the FORECAST Climate forest model, calibrated for Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) forests in the southwestern Py...

Forest ecosystems are undergoing unprecedented changes in environmental conditions due to global change impacts. Modification of global biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nitrogen, and the subsequent climate change are affecting forest functions at different scales, from physiology and growth of individual trees to cycling of nutrients. This revie...

Litterfall dynamics (production, seasonality and nutrient composition) are key factors influencing nutrient cycling. Leaf litter characteristics are modified by species composition, site conditions and water availability. However, significant evidence on how large‐scale, global circulation patterns affect ecophysiological processes at tree and ecos...

Climate warming and biotic stressors are expected to reduce tree radial growth and performance at short and long time scales. However, the impacts of different biotic stressors on performance throughout a tree’s life are largely understudied. Here we assessed the effects of a past nun moth (Lymantria dispar) outbreak and related defoliation on Scot...

Lista de revisores de la revista ECOSISTEMAS durante el bienio Lista de revisores que han completado revisiones durante el bienio 2019-2020. La labor de los revisores es fundamental para que una publicación científica realice su actividad de manera adecuada y cumpla con sus objetivos de calidad. Todos estos investigadores contribuyeron generosament...

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...

La gestión de bosques mixtos se ha convertido en una estrategia de adaptación para reducir los riesgos relacionados con el cambio climático. A su vez, los modelos ecológicos pueden ser una herramienta útil para el estudio del crecimiento y la productividad de dichas masas. En este trabajo se presenta una evaluación de la capacidad del modelo híbrid...

1. Mixed conifer-hardwood forests can be more productive than pure forests and they are increasingly considered as ecosystems that could provide adaptation strategies in the face of global change. However, the combined effects of tree-to-tree competition, rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations and climate on such mixtures remain poorly characterized...

Human activities are causing high chronic atmospheric N deposition levels that may be disrupting N cycling in forests in the western Pyrenees. To test such hypothesis, we researched the effects of atmospheric N deposition on N cycling at two Scots pine / European beech mixed forests in Navarre. One forest is placed at 1350 m.a.s.l. and has a contin...

Management of mixedwoods is advocated as an effective adaptation strategy to increase ecosystem resiliency in the context of climate change. While mixedwoods have been shown to have greater resource use efficiency relative to pure stands, considerable uncertainty remains with respect to the underlying ecological processes. We explored species inter...

Management of mixedwoods is advocated as an effective adaptation strategy to increase ecosystem resiliency in the context of climate change. While mixedwoods have been shown to have greater resource use efficiency relative to pure stands, considerable uncertainty remains with respect to the underlying ecological processes. We explored species inter...

Nitrogen is traditionally assumed the main limiting factor of productivity in European temperate forests. However, anthropogenic activities have caused chronic high N deposition levels that may disrupt N cycling, although their impacts depend on these forests´ reliance on alternative N sources. To test such hypothesis, we designed a multidisciplina...

Mixedwoods are increasingly becoming one of the major focuses in ecological modelling studies, due to their higher productivity and resiliency compared to monocultures. In this chapter, we provide a review on the state-of-the-art of models simulating mixedwood stands. After reviewing almost 400 peer-reviewed publications, it is clear that most mode...

Scots pine and European beech are two of the most important forest species in Europe. However, scarce information is available about how water availability in such mixed forests may be impacted by climate change, and its effects on tree growth. To fill this information gap, the FORECAST-Climate model was calibrated to simulate water fluxes and t...

Deadwood plays a variety of roles in woodland systems through its influence on nutrient cycling, carbon storage and hydrological processes. It is increasingly recognized as an important component in the functioning of forest ecosystems and is considered an indicator of sustainable forest management. The aim of this study was to estimate the amount...

Scots pine and European beech are two of the most important forest species in Europe. However, how climate change can impact water availability and nutrient availability has only recently started to be researched. To explore this issue, we used the ecosystem-level FORECAST-Climate model to simulate water fluxes and tree growth over 100 years in two...

Scots pine and European beech are two of the most important forest species in Europe. However, how climate change can impact water availability and nutrient availability has only recently started to be researched. To explore this issue, we used the ecosystem-level FORECAST-Climate model to simulate water fluxes and tree growth over 100 years in two...

El aumento de la mortalidad y la pérdida de vitalidad de los bosques son procesos que afectan a diversas especies de árboles y biomas. Estos fenómenos de decaimiento forestal se han asociado a la interacción de múltiples factores relacionados con el cambio global, como el aumento de las sequías o la mayor incidencia de factores bióticos que generan...

European mountain areas have historically gone through substantial changes in land use. In the southern Pyrenees, by mid-19th century the industrial and agricultural revolutions arrived, allowing clearing more forests and planting new crops. Human population levels peaked by the late 19th century, forcing to expand cereal crops (and potato in the m...

In recent decades, forest management focus has changed from mono-specific plantations towards close-to-nature mixed forests that could better supply ecological, economical and socio-cultural goods and services. Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) are two of the most important forest species in Europe and Spain,...

Sabemos que las sequías severas contribuyen al decaimiento del bosque pero desconocemos los procesos involucrados en el declive de crecimiento y la pérdida de vigor del árbol que pueden conducir a su muerte. Para profundizar en estos procesos combinamos datos retrospectivos de crecimiento secundario, obtenidos mediante dendrocronología, y variables...

What drives the tree species’ vulnerability against extreme climatic events within the current context of global warming? We are aware that severe droughts contribute to forest die-off but we do not know the processes involved in the growth decline leading to a loss of tree vigour, which may ultimately cause tree death. To get a better understandin...