José Antonio García-Rodríguez

• University of Salamanca

Aims Unravelling the most prevalent causal direction between diversity and function in naturally recovered plant assemblages can greatly improve our understanding on the functional significance of diversity and its applications under the ongoing environmental changes. In this study, we apply a structural equation model framework to unravel the most...

Facilitation studies have previously focused on the effects of plant–plant interactions on species richness and, more recently, on functional traits or phylogenetic aspects. Little is known, however, about the simultaneous effects that facilitation have on overall biodiversity, jointly considering taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity. I...

Questions Can shrubs ( Cytisus multiflorus ) and large herbivore exclusion (fence) facilitate seedling survival and growth of marcescent and sclerophyllous oaks ( Quercus pyrenaica vs Q. ilex subsp. ballota ) under a bioclimatic limit in Mediterranean grazed areas? Location Open oak woodlands, central‐western Spain. Methods A 2‐yr field experimen...

Traditionally, the shrub was considered as a harmful element for the restoration of plant species, but recent studies showed the facilitating role of shrub in Mediterranean forest restoration. Nevertheless, the effects generated can vary depending on the environment and shrub species involved. In this study, we evaluated if shrubs (Cytisus multiflo...

Questions: (1) Does shrub encroachment affect the regeneration of two contrasting species of oak along an elevation gradient in the west-central Iberian Peninsula? (2) Do different nurse shrubs have any relevant species-specific effects along the gradient? (3) Does shrub encroachment affect the location of the bioclimatic limit between these two oa...

Question Could inter‐ and intra‐specific shrub variability override abiotic stress in driving shrub‐grass interactions along an altitudinal gradient? Location Eleven sites along an altitudinal gradient in the mediterranean‐temperate transition of the central western Iberian Peninsula ( S alamanca province, S pain). Methods Among study sites, diff...

In arid and semi-arid ecosystems, the presence of woody neighbours affects the existence of several herbaceous species by modifying critical aspects of the environment (e.g., soil humidity, nutrient content or light availability) beneath their canopies. Herbaceous species growing in the understory of Pinus pinaster may be distinct from those in ope...

Communities of plants determine nonrandom spatial patterns defined by the intervention of abiotic and biotic factors acting at different spatial scales. We consider the influence of shrubs as one of the most important factors (biotic) affecting these spatial patterns at microscale. The macroclimate could be considered one of the most important fact...

Se llevó a cabo el análisis del papel que juega el clima sobre los patrones espaciales de composición de especies y diversidad de comunidades leñosas, así como de sus implicaciones en la abundancia de plantones de regeneración espontánea de roble melojo (Quercus pyrenaica Willd.). El escenario escogido para el desarrollo del estudio fue la Sierra d...

Postfire regeneration in Cytisus oromediterraneus, a Mediterranean-basin mountain matorral species, shows a wide range of possibilities and variations in sexual and asexual regeneration. Its interpretation requires basic information on the below-ground structure of parent plants as well as on the origin and development of seedlings and various rame...