Juan Pedro Ferrio

ARAID Research and Development · Unidad de Recursos Forestales - CITA

In the Mediterranean, mixed forests of Aleppo pine and holm oak are widespread. Generally considered a transition stage in the succession towards climax oak communities, niche segregation may also contribute to the prevalence of these communities. So far, there is increasing evidence of hydrological niche segregation, with the two species showing c...

Background and aims: Gypsum drylands are widespread worldwide. In these arid ecosystems, different species ability to access different water sources during drought is a key determining factor of the composition of plant communities. Gypsum crystallization water could be a relevant source of water for shallow rooted plants, but the segregation in t...

We compiled hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope compositions (δ2H and δ18O) of leaf water from multiple biomes to examine variations with environmental drivers. Leaf water δ2H was more closely correlated with δ2H of xylem water or atmospheric vapour, whereas leaf water δ18O was more closely correlated with air relative humidity. This resulted from t...

Q. ilex is a circum-Mediterranean species which must deal with two stressful periods throughout the year: summer and winter. However, the intensity of these abiotic stresses is very variable depending on the specific area of its distribution range. Besides, two subspecies are usually distinguished, even sometimes recognised as two different true sp...

High rates of vapor pressure deficit (VPD) can severely decrease plant productivity by reducing stomatal conductance, which might be exacerbated during Mediterranean summers due to soil water deficit. In this study, we monitored the response of holm oak, the archetype of Mediterranean trees, to changes in VPD during a summer drought period to evalu...

Leaf hydraulic conductance (KLeaf) is a measure of the efficiency of water transport through the leaf, which determines physiological parameters such as stomatal conductance, photosynthesis and transpiration rates. One key anatomical structure that supports KLeaf is leaf venation, which could be subject to evolutionary pressure in dry environments....

Background and aims: The existence of sclerophyllous plants has been considered an adaptive strategy against different environmental stresses. As it literally means "hard-leaved", it is essential to quantify the leaf mechanical properties to understand sclerophylly. However, the relative importance of each leaf trait on mechanical properties is no...

Background and aims: To date, studies on terrestrial plant ecology and evolution have primarily focused on the trade-off patterns in the allocation of metabolic production to roots and shoots in individual plants and the scaling of whole-plant respiration. However, few empirical studies have investigated the root:shoot ratio by considering scaling...

The existence of sclerophyllous plants has been considered an adaptive strategy against different environmental stresses. As it literally means “hard-leaved”, it is essential to quantify the leaf mechanical properties to understand sclerophylly. However, the relative importance of each leaf trait on mechanical properties is not yet well established...

La sequía es un factor clave que modela los ecosistemas forestales mediterráneos y que influye en las características funcionales de sus especies. A pesar de la importancia del sistema radical para proporcionar un adecuado estado hídrico a árboles y arbustos, la variabilidad inter e intraespecífica en la morfología de raíces se encuentra todavía mu...

The exposure to monoterpenes emitted by plants to the air might provide human health benefits during forest-based leisure activities. However, forests, especially Mediterranean ones, lack studies to relate forest production and the emission of monoterpenes, considering potential human forest exposure. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze the...

Leaves of Mediterranean evergreen tree species experience a reduction in net CO2 assimilation (AN) and mesophyll conductance to CO2 (gm) during aging and senescence, which would be influenced by changes in leaf anatomical traits at cell level. Anatomical modifications can be accompanied by the dismantling of photosynthetic apparatus associated to l...

The search for a universal explanation of the altitudinal limit determined by the alpine treeline has given rise to different hypotheses. In this study, we revisited Michaelis' hypothesis which proposed that an inadequate "ripening" of the cuticle caused a greater transpiration rate during winter in the treeline. However, few studies with different...

Stable carbon isotope ratios (δ ¹³ C) in organic matter convey important integrated and (if assessed in the tree ring archive) dateable information on plant physiology and related environmental drivers. While the generation of the δ ¹³ C signal in the primary assimilates in the leaves via photosynthetic carbon isotope fractionation is well understo...

Background and Aim Drought is the main abiotic stress affecting Mediterranean forests. Root systems are responsible for water uptake, but intraspecific variability in tree root morphology is poorly understood mainly owing to sampling difficulties. The aim of this study was to gain knowledge on the adaptive relevance of rooting traits for a widespre...

Both Moso bamboo ( Phyllostachys pubescens ) and tree forests have a large biomass; they are considered to play an important role in ecosystem carbon budgets. The scaling relationship between individual whole-shoot (i.e., aboveground parts) respiration and whole-shoot mass provides a clue for comparing the carbon budgets of Moso bamboo and tree for...

Aims Harsh edaphic environments harbor species with different soil affinities. Plant’s responses to specific edaphic constraints may be compromised against responses to prevalent stresses shared with other semi-arid environments. We expect that species with high edaphic affinity may show traits to overcome harsh soil properties, while species with...

Background and AimDrought is the main factor limiting Mediterranean forest ecosystem productivity. Root systems are responsible for water uptake but intraspecific variability in root morphology is poorly understood, mainly due to sampling complexity. The main aim of this study was to gain knowledge on the adaptive relevance of rooting traits for a...

• Increases in leaf mass per area (LMA) are commonly observed in response to environmental stresses and are achieved through increases in leaf thickness and/or leaf density. Here, we investigated how the two underlying components of LMA differ in relation to species native climates and phylogeny, across deciduous and evergreen species. • Using a ph...

Climate change models predict an increase in aridity, especially in the regions under Mediterranean-type climates such as the Mediterranean Basin. However, there is a lack of ecophysiological studies supporting the selection of the more drought-adapted ecotypes for reforestation programs. In this study, we analyzed the anatomical and functional ada...

Purpose of Review Defining the mechanisms behind and the leaf economic consequences of the development of sclerophylly in woody plants will allow us to understand its ecological implications, anticipate the potential for adaptation of different tree species to global change, and define new woody plant ideotypes for stress tolerance. Recent Finding...

About 500 My ago, the major challenge faced by the first terrestrial plant was the acquisition of water resources. Nowadays, water availability is still one of the main environmental factors shaping the evolution of terrestrial plants. Hence, the study of the ability of different plant species to extract water from the soil and deliver it to the ca...

Wheat roots are known to play an important role in the yield performance under water-limited (WL) conditions. Three consecutive year trials (2015, 2016, and 2017) were conducted in a glasshouse in 160 cm length tubes on a set of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes under contrasting water regimes (1) to assess genotypic variability in root...

As terrestrial plants are rooted in one place, their metabolism must be acclimatized to continuously changing environmental conditions. This process is influenced by different metabolic traits of plant organs during ontogeny. However, direct measurement of organ‐specific metabolic rates is particularly scarce, and little is known about their roles...

Plant functioning and survival in drylands are affected by the combination of high solar radiation, high temperatures, low relative humidity, and the scarcity of available water. Many ecophysiological studies have dealt with the adaptation of plants to cope with these stresses in hot deserts, which are the territories that have better evoked the id...

Nowadays, evergreen sclerophyllous and winter-deciduous malacophyllous oaks with different paleogeographical origins coexist under Mediterranean-type climates, such as the mixed forests of the evergreen Quercus ilex subsp. rotundifolia and the winter-deciduous Quercus faginea. Both Mediterranean oaks constitute two examples of contrasting leaf habi...

Gypsum-exclusive species (gypsophiles), are restricted to gypseous soils in natural environments. However, it is unclear why gypsophiles display greater affinity to gyspeous soils than other soils. These plants are edaphic endemics, growing in alkaline soils with high Ca and S. Gypsophiles tend to show higher foliar Ca and S, lower K and, sometimes...

Archaeological plant remains are a valuable source of information about the social and environmental conditions experienced by past societies. Full exploitation of the informative potential of plant remains involves the use of analytical techniques. In this context, carbon isotope composition of archaeobotanical remains may give clues on the enviro...

About 90% of the plastic garbage remains in terrestrial ecosystems, and increasing evidence highlights the exposure of crops to plastic particles. However, the potential bioaccumulation of microplastics by plants and their effects on plants' physiology remains unexplored. Here, we evaluated the adsorption, potential uptake, and physiological effect...

conditions. Although water status during growth dramatically affects yield and , a specific environmental The effect of environment on the relationship between grain carbon variable responsible for the positive relationship usually isotope discrimination () and yield was studied for durum wheat found between and yield across growing conditions (Tri...

Terrestrial plants are rooted in one place, and therefore their metabolism must be flexible to adapt to continuously changing environments. This flexibility is probably influenced by the divergent metabolic traits of plant organs. However, direct measurements on organ-specific metabolic rates are particularly scarce and little is known about their...

Water and carbon fluxes in forests are largely related to leaf gas exchange physiology varying across spatiotemporal scales and modulated by plant responses to environmental cues. We quantified the relevance of genetic and phenotypic variation of intrinsic water-use efficiency (WUEi, ratio of net photosynthesis to stomatal conductance of water) in...

Although extensive studies have focused on carbon and water balance from aboveground measurements, the link between the belowground and aboveground processes deserves greater attention. In this context, the aim of this work was to assess the bi-directional feedback between whole-plant respiration and transpiration. The study was performed on 25 sap...

The March 2011 Mega-Tsunami in eastern Japan damaged at different degrees the black pine (Pinus thunbergii) forests along the coast. In order to evaluate the recovery of black pine four years later, tree-ring samples from 9 trees for the period 2002– 2014 were analyzed for ring growth and stable isotopes (δ13C, δ15N and δ18O). The results showed th...

Carolight® is a transgenic maize variety that accumulates extraordinary levels of carotenoids, including those with vitamin A activity. The development of Carolight® maize involved the technical implementation of a novel combinatorial transformation method, followed by rigorous testing for transgene expression and the accumulation of different caro...

Submediterranean forests are considered an ecotone between Mediterranean and Eurosiberian ecosystems, and are very sensitive to global change. A decline of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and a related expansion of oak species (Quercus spp.) have been reported in the Spanish Pre-Pyrenees. Although this has been associated with increasing drought s...

Plant communities growing along gypsum hills in NE Spain show a distinct zonation that may depend on water table depth, salt and nutrient availability gradients between hill tops and saline depressions. We analyzed the main sources of water used by woody species in these communities. Specifically, we assessed whether hydrological niche segregation...

Optimal stomatal theory is an evolutionary model proposing that leaves trade-off Carbon (C) for water to maximise C assimilation ( A ) and minimise transpiration ( E ), thereby generating a marginal water cost of carbon gain (λ) that remains constant over short temporal scales. The circadian clock is a molecular timer of metabolism that controls A...

Studies on the dependence of the rates of ecosystem gas exchange on environmental parameters often rely on the up-scaling of leaf-level response curves (‘bottom-up’ approach), and/or the down-scaling of ecosystem fluxes (‘top-down’ approach), where one takes advantage of the natural diurnal covariation between the parameter of interest and photosyn...

In ecohydrology, it is generally assumed that xylem water reflects the water source used by plants. Several studies have reported isotopic enrichment within woody tissues, particularly during dormancy periods or after long periods of inactivity. However, little is known about the short‐term dynamics of this process. Here we assessed the magnitude a...

Climate warming increases vulnerability to drought in Mediterranean water-limited forests. However, we still lack knowledge of the long-term physiological responses of coexisting pine species in these forests regarding their ability to cope with warming-induced drought stress. We investigated spatiotemporal patterns of tree performance for five iso...

Although the frequency of pastoral activities involving vertical sheep mobility has decreased over the last century, this is a herding strategy still used in the Ebro basin, where animals move from overwintering valley locations up to the Pyrenees from late spring to early autumn. Such practice allows herders to avoid the worst climatic conditions,...

Abstract The potential of the vegetation to sequester C is determined by the balance between assimilation and respiration. Respiration is under environmental and substrate-driven control, but the circadian clock might also contribute. To assess circadian control on night-time dark respiration (RD) and on light enhanced dark respiration (LEDR) − the...

There is increasing evidence that the circadian clock is a significant driver of photosynthesis that becomes apparent when environmental cues are experimentally held constant. We studied whether the composition of photosynthetic pigments is under circadian regulation, and whether pigment oscillations lead to rhythmic changes in photochemical effici...

Background Molecular clocks drive oscillations in leaf photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, and other cell and leaf-level processes over ~24 h under controlled laboratory conditions. The influence of such circadian regulation over whole-canopy fluxes remains uncertain; diurnal CO2 and H2O vapor flux dynamics in the field are currently interpreted...

Understanding inter- and intra-specific plant interactions and competition over water is challenging because of the lack of effective approaches for accessing and monitoring root distribution and activity. In this context, stable isotopes are excellent eco-hydrological tracers that allow characterizing the dynamics of water uptake patterns in trees...

The study of intra-specific variations in growth and plant physiological response to drought is crucial to understand the potential for plant adaptation to global change. Carbon isotope composition (d13C) in plant tissues offers an integrated measure of intrinsic water-use efficiency (WUEi). The intra-specific association between d13C and productiv...

Molecular clocks drive oscillations in leaf photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and other cell and leaf level processes over ~24 h under controlled laboratory conditions. The influence of such circadian regulation over whole canopy fluxes remains uncertain and diurnal CO 2 and H 2 O vapor flux dynamics in the field are currently interpreted as res...

University of Innsbruck, (5) Ecotron, CNRS Plants are sessile and poikilothermic organisms that need to respond and adjust promptly to an ever-changing environment. Over a single 24 h period, a plant may experience the same level of variation in radiation as in its entire lifetime and, in some climates, the oscillation in day-night temperature and...

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations are expected to increase throughout this century, potentially fostering tree growth. A wealth of studies have examined the variation in CO2 responses across tree species, but the extent of intraspecific variation in response to elevated CO2 (eCO2) has, so far, been examined in individual studies and s...

Main conclusion: This paper provides new insights into source-sink relationships and transpiration processes which will eventually help to interpret δ (18) O as a genotype selection and ecophysiological tool for maize adaptation to drought. Oxygen isotope composition (δ(18)O) has been proposed as a phenotyping tool to integrate leaf transpiration...

Induction of resistance by salicylic acid (SA) exogenous treatment is a complementary approach to control plant diseases. SA effect on Potato virus X (SPCP1 strain) - infected tomato plants was examined by analyzing their physiological parameters and proteomic profiling at initial infection. PVX-SPCP1 altered photosynthesis and carbohydrate synthes...

The relevance of interspecific variation in the use of plant water sources has been recognized in drought-prone environments. By contrast, the characterization of intraspecific differences in water uptake patterns remains elusive, although preferential access to particular soil layers may be an important adaptive response for species along aridity...

Evapotranspiration is a major component of the water cycle, yet only daytime transpiration is currently considered in Earth system and agricultural sciences. This contrasts with physiological studies where 25% or more of water losses have been reported to occur occurring overnight at leaf and plant scales. This gap probably arose from limitations i...

Aim of study: Understanding inter- and intra-specific competition for water is crucial in drought-prone environments. However, little is known about the spatial interdependencies for water uptake among individuals in mixed stands. The aim of this work was to compare water uptake patterns during a drought episode in two common Mediterranean tree spe...

Evapotranspiration is a major component of the water cycle, yet only daytime transpiration is currently considered in Earth system and agricultural sciences. This contrasts with physiological studies where 25% or more of water losses have been reported to occur occurring overnight at leaf and plant scales. This gap probably arose from limitations i...

Stable isotopes are extensively used as tracers for the study of plant-water sources. Isotope-ratio infrared spectroscopy (IRIS) offers a cheaper alternative to isotope-ratio mass spectroscopy (IRMS), but its use in studying plant and soil water is limited by the spectral interference caused by organic contaminants. Here, we examine two approaches...

Tree-ring studies have been used for over fifty years to date and quantify past flood events. Stable C and O isotopes in tree-rings have also been extensively applied to the reconstruction of past environmental conditions and their changes over time. However, the two approaches have not previously been combined. In this study we explore whether the...