Mercedes Uscola

• PhD
• Profesor ayudante doctor at Rey Juan Carlos University

Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) strategies differ across species, and they change in response to environmental stress. There is scarce information about resource storage and remobilization within the same species, especially after stress cessation. We examined the growth of diploid and triploid Populus tomentosa plants during their first year under amb...

Mycorrhizal associations play a crucial role in afforestation efforts, as they enhance the acquisition of nutrients and water, thereby supporting seedling establishment. However, the influence of nitrogen (N) forms in the soil, particularly the organic N, on the formation of mycorrhizal associations and their subsequent effects on seedling morpho-p...

Climate change constitutes a major threat to global biodiversity and to the success of natural and assisted tree regeneration. Oaks are among the most emblematic tree species in the Northern Hemisphere, so it is crucial to understand the impact of changing climate on seedling recruitment and early development. In this study, we investigated the eff...

Climate change is increasing average temperatures and intensity and frequency of extreme events such as heat waves. Productivity declines and plant damage due to those changes are already described for several majority varieties, especially in the Mediterranean basin. Less explored minority varieties can arise as alternatives due high heat toleranc...

Background and Aims Polyploidization can improve plant mass yield for bioenergy support, yet few studies have investigated ozone (O3) sensitivity linked to internal regulatory mechanism at different ploidy levels. Methods Diploid and triploid Populus tomentosa Carr. plants were exposed to ambient and ambient plus 60 ppb [O3]. We explored their dif...

The sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) could potentially be used as a host for the Périgord truffle (Tuber melanosporum) in multi-cropping plantations to promote rural or marginalized economies by providing farmers with a valuable source of income from both the truffle and the chestnut. Black truffles are known to associate to sweet chestnut trees in...

Shoot dieback is an important survival strategy in juvenile Quercus spp. However, it is unknown how nursery practices can influence the regulatory mechanisms of shoot dieback after planting. Furthermore, there is scarce information about the interactive effects between container depth and nursery fertilization on field seedling performance, and in...

Soil fertility and resorption of leaf compounds in the fall can influence resource buildup in plants. However, whether intraspecific differences in seedling size can affect nutrient reserve buildup is unknown. This study examined the effects of seedling size and fall fertilization on the uptake and resorption of nitrogen (N), as well as the allocat...

La urraca (Pica pica) es un dispersor efectivo de bellotas de encina (Quercus ilex) en espacios agroforestales abiertos. Prefiere ciertos hábitats en el paisaje y sitios concretos dentro de los hábitats para almacenar bellotas. Sin embargo, se desconoce si esos hábitats y sitios seleccionados son los más adecuados para el establecimiento de las enc...

Freezing stress is a critical environmental factor affecting survival, distribution, and evolution of plants. Although there is evidence that nitrogen (N) affects frost tolerance of juvenile conifers, the magnitude and direction of such effect can diverge among species. The influence of the N source on frost tolerance has been barely studied. Parti...

Plants ability to acquire soil N sources is plastic in response to abiotic and biotic factors. However, information about how plants N form preference changes in response to internal plant N demand, as through growth phases or to environmental stress as ozone (O3), is scarce. Diploid and triploid Chinese white poplar were used to investigate N form...

Abstract Plants ability to acquire soil N sources is plastic in response to abiotic and biotic factors. However, information about how plants N form preference changes in response to internal plant N demand, as through growth phases or to environmental stress as ozone (O 3), is scarce. Diploid and triploid Chinese white poplar were used to investig...

Aims Soil fertility and resorption of leaf compounds in the fall can influence resource buildup in plants. However, whether intraspecific differences in seedling size can affect nutrient reserve buildup is unknown. This study examined the effects of seedling size and fall fertilization on the uptake and resorption of nitrogen (N), as well as the al...

• Key message Hybrids had overall intermediate cold and heat tolerances compared to their progenitors, Juglans cinerea and Juglans ailantifolia . Differences in hybrids were small compared to J. cinerea though, indicating that when considering extreme temperature tolerances, hybrids might be usesd in some restoration circumstances. However, hybrids...

Exotic invasive plant species (EIPS) may succeed in part because they release allelochemicals that are novel to native plants (Novel Weapons Hypothesis). Plant allelopathic effects may increase under abiotic and biotic stresses based on The Stress Hypothesis of Allelopathy (TSHA). Lonicera maackii is an aggressive EIPS in the Midwestern USA, able t...

Drought is a limiting factor to forest regeneration and restoration, which is likely to increase in intensity and duration under future climates. Nitrogen (N) nutrition is related to drought- resistance mechanisms in trees. However, the influence of chemical N form (inorganic and organic N) on physiological traits related to drought resistance has...

Las plantas pueden usar múltiples fuentes de nitrógeno (N), tanto inorgánicas como orgánicas (aminoácidos intactos o proteínas). El bajo coste metabólico del N orgánico podría redundar en un mayor crecimiento o en aumento de tolerancia a factores de estrés, lo que favorecería el éxito de las plantaciones. Sin embargo, su uso de N orgánico en fertil...

Background and aims Plants differ in their ability to use different nitrogen (N) chemical forms, these differences can be related to their ecology and drive community structure. The capacity to uptake intact organic N has been observed in plants of several ecosystems. However, soil organic N uptake by Mediterranean plants is unknown despite organic...

Background and aims Plants differ in their ability to use different nitrogen (N) chemical forms, these differences can be related to their ecology and drive community structure. The capacity to uptake intact organic N has been observed in plants of several ecosystems. However, soil organic N uptake by Mediterranean plants is unknown despite organic...

Field fertilization during reforestation often yields variable results, particularly on harsh restoration sites. An improved understanding of the recovery of applied nitrogen (N) under different fertilization practices should aid in developing more effective fertilizer prescriptions. We evaluated field establishment of white spruce (Picea glauca (M...

Photoperiod manipulation by artificial short-day treatment (blackout) is increasingly used as a tool to induce dormancy in nursery-grown seedlings. This article summarizes preliminary results from a project to evaluate optimum blackout protocols for Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirb.] Franco) seedlings. We subjected seedlings to three blacko...

Plants store compounds that supplement external resources to maintain primary functions. We reviewed the role of stored non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) and nitrogen (N) in juvenile woody species for spring growth and cold and drought stress tolerance,which are crucial processes for early performance of forest plantations. Plant functional types...

Nursery nitrogen (N) fertilization influences seedling N reserves, morphology, photosynthesis rate and stress tolerance and frequently enhances outplanting performance. Although mineral nutrition is a critical aspect of seedling quality, fertility targets of Mediterranean sclerophylous species have not been thoroughly quantified. We sought to defin...

Background and aims: The carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) needed for plant growth can come either from soil N and current photosynthesis or through remobilization of stored resources. The contribution of remobilization to new organ growth on a whole-plant basis is quite well known in deciduous woody plants and evergreen conifers, but this information i...

Most studies examining inorganic N form effects on growth and nutrition of forest trees have been conducted on single species from boreal or temperate environments, while comparative studies with species from other biomes are scarce. We evaluated the response of two Mediterranean trees of contrasting ecology,Quercus ilexL. and Pinus halepensisMill....

Along with root uptake, plants can also absorb N through leaves. There are few comparative studies on the foliar absorption of N from different chemical forms of N in forest tree species. We compared the foliar N absorption capacity in seedlings of two forest trees widespread in the Mediterranean, Quercus ilex and Pinus halepensis. Plants were spra...

Water and light are considered as the main resources that limit plant life in Mediterranean type-ecosystems. Mediterranean plants exhibit significant performance differences in response to these resources, which potentially allows for niche segregation and, consequently, species coexistence. Nitrogen (N) is a primary resource determining plant dist...

Reduction in size and tissue nutrient concentration is widely considered to increase seedling drought resistance in dry and oligotrophic plantation sites. However, much evidence indicates that increase in size and tissue nutrient concentration improves seedling survival in Mediterranean forest plantations. This suggests that the ecophysiological pr...