Miquel Capó

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• PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at University of the Balearic Islands

• The food‐deceptive species Anacamptis robusta is threatened in the Balearic Islands, and its habitat has recently been transformed through human disturbance. This study investigated how human disturbance affects the reproductive output of A. robusta and how its fitness is affected by competition with rewarding relatives, fungal infections and hyb...

Mechanisms that allow plants to survive and reproduce after herbivory are considered to play a key role in plant evolution. In this study, we evaluated how tolerance varies in species with different historic exposure to herbivores considering ontogeny. We exposed the range-restricted species Medicago citrina and its closely related and widespread s...

Herbivory of insular plant communities by introduced animals has been widely studied for decades. Though their diet mainly includes palatable and highly nutritive species, goats will also eat plants that are toxic to other animals. Thus, severe affection of toxic species may indicate high herbivore pressure or a low quality of vegetative food. To e...

The introduction of mammalian herbivores negatively affects insular vegetation, especially plant species with narrow distributions that are vulnerable to herbivory or that evolved in the absence of native mammal herbivores. Eradication programs have been performed on many islands worldwide, though assessment of the responses of vegetation is crucia...

Land use changes occurring during the last decades have caused new challenges in forest management of Mediterranean ecosystems, such as overpopulation of wild ungulates. This is causing serious impacts on forest regeneration, particularly increased seedling mortality of dominant tree species. This study aims to unravel whether oak seedlings could b...

El Jardín Botánico Germà Macià se consolida como una de las colecciones de plantas vivas más relevantes que se encuentran en las Islas Baleares en la actualidad. Desde su creación en 1956 por parte del Germà Macià, inspirado por la figura del Padre Bonafé, el jardín ubicado en el Santuario de Lluc, en la Serra de Tramuntana, fue creciendo tanto en...

Ecological theory predicts that herbivory should be weaker on islands than on mainland based on the assumption that islands have lower herbivore abundance and diversity. However, empirical tests of this prediction are rare, especially for insect herbivores, and those few tests often fail to address the mechanisms behind island–mainland divergence i...

The conservation of threatened plant species needs precise monitoring studies to assess population trends and improve management strategies. Here, we investigated the viability of employing high-accuracy RTK-GPS technology for demographic evaluation of Euphorbia fontqueriana, a critically endangered species of the western Mediterranean Basin. Our s...

Cliff ecology has been studied for decades, providing information about its high biodiversity values and their vulnerability to climate change. Also, insular ecosystems present biodiversity hotspots with high endemicity, but they are also severely affected by anthropogenic effects. Together, insular cliff communities combine both biodiversity uniqu...

The study of cliff ecology has long revealed the rich biodiversity of these habitats and their susceptibility to climate change. Similarly, island ecosystems are recognized for their unique biodiversity and high rates of endemism, but are also significantly impacted by human activities. This research focuses on the intersection of these two areas:...

Changes in land use have led to an increase in ungulate populations in Mediterranean landscapes and, in some cases, negatively affecting plant communities. This issue is exacerbated on islands where native herbivores are extinct and the present are of domestic origin. Mallorca’s mountain ranges are home to feral goat populations (Capra hircus L.)....

A great number of cultivated plants in private, business and public gardens in the Meditarranean Basin are exotic species. Among them, many have a high invasive potential, being a major threat to native species and natural landscapes. To prevent this, the early detection of invasive species and the assessment of propagule pressure is essential. Des...

Natural habitat loss is a major threat to biodiversity worldwide. This is particularly pronounced in insular ecosystems, which are often biodiversity hotspots and home to a multitude of endemic species. However, few studies have analyzed how the complete reproductive cycle of plants, from flowering to seedling survival, is affected by habitat loss...

The deceptive strategies by which orchids are pollinated and how these are capable of attracting pollinators remain understudied with regard to their implications on plant fitness. Despite its ecological importance, limited investigations have been conducted on sexual deception and shelter mimicry in orchid species, making it a compelling avenue in...

Efecto del ramoneo por ciervo en la comunidad fúngica de las raíces en el monte mediterráneo Agradecimientos Este estudio ha sido financiado mediante el proyecto RTI2018-094202-A-C22, de la convocatoria << Retos Investigación, 2018>> adjudicado a R. Perea por parte del Ministerio de Ciencia, Investigación y Universidades. Miquel Capó fue financiado...

Biological invasions are a major cause of loss of biodiversity worldwide, particularly on islands. Introduced mammalian herbivores are among the most threatening of all invasive species, especially goats [Capra hircus (Linnaeus, 1758)], sheep [Ovis orientalis aries (Linnaeus, 1758)], mouflon (Ovis orientalis musimon [Pallas, 1762)], Barbary sheep [...

Cliff ecology has been studied for decades, providing good information about its high biodiversity values and their vulnerability to climate change. At the same time, literature shows how insular ecosystems are evolutionarily enhanced to present biodiversity hotspots with high endemicity rates, but they are also severely affected by anthropogenic e...

Efecto de los ungulados en Ulmus minor y Agrostis stolonifera a través del suelo y la herbivoría. Contexto y objetivo Características físico-químicas del suelo Diseño experimental Herbivoría sobre Agrostis stolonifera Conclusiones Las poblaciones de ungulados silvestres en la Península Ibérica han crecido exponencialmente en las últimas décadas. Es...

Efecto de los ungulados en Ulmus minor y Agrostis stolonifera a través del suelo y la herbivoría Las poblaciones de ungulados silvestres en la península ibérica han crecido exponencialmente en las últimas décadas. Estas especies actúan como ingenieras de ecosistemas sobre los que ejercen una gran influencia, incluyendo las comunidades vegetales y e...

Pollen plays a key role in plant reproductive biology. Despite the long history of research on pollen and pollination, recent advances in pollen-tracking methods and statistical approaches to linking plant phenotype, pollination performance, and reproductive fitness yield a steady flow of exciting new insights. In this introduction to the Special I...

Premise: Deceptive pollination, a fascinating mechanism that independently originated in several plant families for benefiting from pollinators without providing any reward, is particularly widespread among orchids. Pollination efficiency is crucial in orchids due to the aggregated pollen in a pollinarium, which facilitates pollen transfer and pro...

Aim: Introduced mammal herbivores are predicted to negatively affect insular flora. However, disentangling which particular traits (1) developed from exaptations and (2) are functional to avoid herbivory remains mainly unknown. This study aims to assess if the flora of continental islands with historic native herbivores are exapted to the introduct...

1) INTRODUCTION - Theory predicts lower herbivory on islands than on mainland as a result of lower herbivore abundance and diversity. However, systematic mainland-island comparisons in herbivory by insects remain rare (only 3 studies) and have often dismissed some key underlying mechanisms, such us top-down (from predators to herbivores) and bottom...

Cistus heterophyllus subsp. carthaginensis is considered one of the most endangered plants of Spain and has been object to many conservation programs and research projects. Until now, only two small spots were located in Europe: a population of one self-incompatible specimen was found in Valencia and another small population in Cartagena, disturbed...

El 31 de julio de 2022 se fundó la asociación Jóvenes por la Botánica Española (JxBE) con el objetivo de conectar a la juventud con el mundo de la botánica y la micología bajo una perspectiva transdisciplinar, interterritorial, reivindicativa e inclusiva: desde estudiantes de Grado, Formación Profesional o aficionados hasta pre- y postdoctorales y...

La polinización por engaño en orquídeas ha sido ampliamente estudiada para desentrañar cómo han evolucionado estos mecanismos. Evaluamos cómo el engaño influye en el éxito reproductivo utilizando dos especies de Serapias que coexisten con diferentes rasgos fenotípicos: Serapias lingua y S. parviflora. Tomamos muestras de 15 poblaciones (5 en las qu...

Oak forests are facing multiple threats due to global change, with the introduction and expansion of invasive pathogens as one of the most detrimental. Here, we evaluated the use of soil biological fertiliser Biohumin® to improve the response of Quercus ilex L. to the soil-borne pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi Rands by using one-year-old seedlings...

Pollination of deceptive orchids has enabled scientists to understand how these species avoid inbreeding depression by reducing the number of pollinator visits per inflorescence. In rewarding species, which receive a higher rate of visits per plant, geitonogamy is usually higher and therefore the risk of inbreeding increases. In this study, we asse...

The introduction of exotic herbivores to islands is one of the most harmful challenges to the conservation of insular biodiversity, causing the extinction or geographical reduction of many plant species worldwide and motivating conservation actions from environmental managers. Here, we evaluated the recovery of plant communities, specifically the e...

Con objeto de fomentar el interés por la botánica, surgió la idea de organizar el I Biomaratón de Flora Española: un evento de ciencia ciudadana en el que personas de todo el país salieron a fotografiar el mayor número posible de plantas. Se realizó utilizando la plataforma de ciencia ciudadana iNaturalist, y se vertebró por medio de coordinadores...

Recientemente se ha creado a través de Twitter una red de comunicación para que estudiantes, aficionados y jóvenes científicos dedicados a la botánica pudieran compartir información y opiniones, creando un espacio ajeno a la distancia geográfica. El contacto establecido en esta red social permitió que este colectivo juvenil apasionado por el mundo...

The expansion of agriculture is a major driver of biodiversity loss worldwide, through changes generated in the landscape. Despite this, very little is still known about the complex relationships between landscape composition and heterogeneity and plant taxonomical and functional diversity in Mediterranean ecosystems that have been extensively mana...

Climate change forecasts suggest temperature increases and lower rainfall rates, both of which challenge viticulture, particularly in semi-arid areas where water availability is critical. In this scenario, the use of the genetic variability in grapevine varieties reported around the world represents an important strategy for the selection of climat...

Deceptiveness has led orchids to be widely studied by evolutionary ecologists worldwide. The food deceptive species Anacamptis robusta, which occurs in the western Mediterranean basin, can only be found in the Balearic Islands and North Africa region. In the Balearic Islands, the species is threatened and its habitat has been recently affected by h...

The deceptive breeding system in the Orchidaceae family has been studied for decades to disentangle how pollination service can occur. Moreover, the interference of introduced herbivores on population development has been reported to affect the reproductive output in different plant species, including orchids. In this study, the breeding system of...

Figure 1. Map of the two conserved populations (in red) and the perturbated population (in green). Yellow line indicates the limit of the Natural Park. Red line indicate the perturbated area and green line indicate the protected area. TASK 1. Plant fitness in conserved vs. perturbated areas 1 2 3 Goal 1. To compare reproductive traits between conse...

Es Vedrà islet is considered a reservoir of endemic, singular and threatened flora of Balearic Islands (166 vegetal species, 12 of them are endemic and one exclusive). During the last decades of the 20th Century, the islet owners introduced goats after many time without its presence. Once the islet was declared Natural Reserve (Decret 24/2002), the...

En este trabajo se compara el éxito reproductivo y los mecanismos de polinización en tres orquídeas de Mallorca, dos especies que engañan (una por engaño alimentario y otro sexual) y una nectarífera. Los resultados indican que la especie nectarífera presenta los valores más altos de cuajado de fruto, mientras que la especie con engaño sexual tiene...

Deception is one of the most enigmatic strategies in the plant pollinator interaction. Following the natural selection theory, deception could not exist due to the selection of species which offers reward to its pollinator. Different deceptive strategies have been studied from that postulation and nowadays the research has not come to the end. The...

Translocations are a tool to restore populations of threatened plant species that are being widely used. However, these techniques are not without risks and require rigorous protocols to carry them out and for their subsequent monitoring. In translocation projects, hybridization with other species is one of the most important risks and may threaten...

The small islands of the Mediterranean Basin are places with a high biodiversity value because they usually have very high rates of endemicity (Cruz et al. 2009). Although many of them have had intense human pressure in the past, they still maintain their role as a refuge for narrow endemic species (Médail, 2017). Es Vedrà, located in the south-wes...

El carácter invasivo de Carpobrotus edulis (L.) N. E. Br. ha sido documentado en diversas ocasiones por todas las Islas Baleares. Su capacidad invasiva ha implicado, en reiteradas ocasiones, la pérdida de poblaciones de flora litoral mediterránea de modo que la intervención de gestores de la Conselleria de Medi Ambient ha sido necesaria. En éste há...

La Victoria es un área natural que forma una pequeña península entre la bahía de Alcudia y la bahía de Pollença en el noreste de la isla de Mallorca. El paisaje del espacio natural está formado por una serie de vegetación de Cneoro-Ceratonietum variante con Euphorbia dendroides, típico de suelos rocosos y secos propios de la zona. Una parte importa...

Ecological systems many times generate unsuspected relationships of mutualism, predation, parasitism, etc. Species that apparently have no relation to each other may in fact be indirectly connected. In these relationships some species play a key role and their presence greatly determine the whole system. From a study on orchid reproductive biology...

CAT La família Orchidaceae presenta una biologia reproductiva molt interessant basada en enganyar al seu pol·linitzadors per a que realitzin la transferència de pol·len sense cap benefici a canvi. Concretament l’engany alimentari és un dels mes emprats i objectiu d’estudi de molts experts en biologia reproductiva. En aquest treball s’han observat l...

Helosciadium × clandestinum a new hybrid found in Minorca (Balearic Islands). The new hybrid Helosciadium × clandestinum Rita, Capó & Cursach nothosp. nova (H. bermejoi × H. nodiflorum) is described. It was found in the wild in a locality where H. bermejoi´s population was originated with a translocation (Mongofre Vell, Menorca, Balearic Islands)....

Apium bermejoi Ll. Llorens (Apiaceae) es un endemismo exclusivo de la isla de Menorca del que se conoce una sola localidad natural. Especie está catalogada en Peligro de Extinción, es prioritaria en la Directiva Hábitats, y desde 2008 cuenta con un Plan de Recuperación. En 2008 se realizó una introducción benigna en dos localidades y hasta 2010 se...