Patricia María Rodríguez-González

University of Lisbon | UL · Forest Research Center (CEF)

Social‐ecological contexts are key to the success of ecological restoration projects. The ecological quality of restoration efforts, however, may not be fully evident to stakeholders, particularly if the desired aesthetic experience is not delivered. Aesthetically pleasing landscapes are more highly appreciated and tend to be better protected than...

Ecological restoration is key to counteracting anthropogenic degradation of biodiversity and to reducing disaster risk. However, there is limited knowledge of barriers hindering the wider implementation of restoration practices, despite high level political priority to halt the loss of biodiversity. In Europe, progress on ecological restoration has...

Mediterranean riparian forests are among the most threatened ecosystems in Europe. These ecosystems are exposed to land-use changes threatening their reduced habitat and by global warming, which is already triggering aridification processes. To assess the impact of these major threats, we studied the radial-growth responses to climate and drought i...

River hydromorphology has long been subjected to huge anthropogenic pressures with severe negative impacts on related ecosystems’ functioning and water quality. Therefore, improving river hydromorphological conditions represents a priority task in sustainable river management and requires proper assessment tools. It is well known that riparian vege...

The degradation of riparian ecosystems occurring throughout the past decades has motivated efforts aimed at the restoration of these ecosystems. The success of active revegetation approaches to restoration requires appropriate selection of reproductive material, which in turn requires knowledge of seed traits and germination. A. glutinosa (L.) Gaer...

Mediterranean riparian forests have been altered by past use and are also negatively impacted by climate and hydrological droughts. However, we lack data on their historical changes in extent combined with multi-proxy, long-term assessments of tree growth and leaf gas exchange responses to climate, drought severity and river flow. These evaluations...

Ecological communities change because of both natural and human factors. Distinguishing between the two is critical to ecology and conservation science. One of the most common approaches for modelling species composition changes is calculating beta diversity indices and then relating index changes to environmental changes. The main difficulty with...

Tree species inhabiting riparian forests under Mediterranean climate have evolved to face summer water shortage but may fail to cope with future increases in drought severity. Thus, understanding tree growth phenological variations in response to environmental conditions is necessary to assess the impact of seasonal drought in riparian forests. In...

Riparian vegetation supports high biodiversity providing many services and is, therefore, an important landscape element. Riparian ecosystems are subject to numerous pressures leading to population decline and genetic erosion of riparian plants. This may have cascading effects at various ecosystem levels, including decreasing ecosystem services, so...

Robust demonstration case-studies are needed to evaluate whether improvements in ecosystem condition are translated into improvements in ecosystem services. This research is essential for effectively scaling-up nature-based solutions across Europe and providing the evidence to support transformation agendas in society and industries, and ultimately...

The Alnus glutinosa [L.] Gaertn. and the Alnus lusitanica (Vít, Douda & Mandák) are two tree species widely used in restoration projects of riparian corridors, that were considered as a single species until 2017. The scarce information available about the variation in functional traits and differences in genotypic diversity between A. glutinosa and...

Disease combined with drought poses an important threat to plant survival, often compromising success in the restoration of riparian forests. Thus, understanding how biotic and abiotic stressors may affect plant survival and growth performance can greatly increase the success of ecosystem management strategies. The purpose of this study was to unde...

Riparian zones are the paragon of transitional ecosystems, providing critical habitat and ecosystem services that are especially threatened by global change. Following consultation with experts, 10 key challenges were identified to be addressed for riparian vegetation science and management improvement: (1) Create a distinct scientific community by...

Riparian zones are the paragon of transitional ecosystems, providing critical habitat and ecosystem services that are especially threatened by global change. Following consultation with experts, 10 key challenges were identified to be addressed for riparian vegetation science and management improvement: (1) Create a distinct scientific community by...

1. Riparian vegetation supports high biodiversity providing many services and is, therefore, an important landscape element. Riparian ecosystems are subject to numerous pressures leading to population decline and genetic erosion of riparian plants. This may have cascading effects at various ecosystem levels, including decreasing ecosystem services,...

Widespread decline of alder forests induced by the pathogen Phytophthora ×alni compromises the health of riparian ecosystems in Europe. The geographical expansion of the disease within Southern European countries and the foreseen intensification of warmer temperature calls for more research with focus on combined biotic and abiotic stress. The main...

Ecosystem management actions based on how plants respond to the combination of biotic and abiotic stresses can improve ecosystems resilience. The objective of this study was to understand how two co-existing riparian woody plants, with different ecological preferences, respond to drought conditions when infected by two Phytophthora spp. A drought r...

Conservation science usually devotes little attention to common species, which are crucial in determining ecosystem structure and function. Dominant species are a particular type of common species that affect ecosystem functions proportional to their abundance or cover. In this study, we examined how human disturbance affects the cover of the domin...

The number of alien plant species is growing steadily across all world regions. These numbers tend to be exceptionally high in riparian ecosystems, often with substantial negative consequences for native species communities and ecosystem services provision. Here, we map the richness of invasive alien plant species in riparian ecosystems of continen...

Riparian vegetation is a key component of the landscape as it supports high biodiversity and provides numerous ecosystem services. On the other hand, riparian ecosystems suffer from numerous anthropogenic pressures. Successful protection and restoration of riparian ecosystems require substantial knowledge of their functioning at all levels of biodi...

The knowledge of intra- and inter-specific variation of functional traits in riparian species is essential to assess riparian forests diversity, to predict its demographic distribution and to establish functional targets for the conservation and management of riparian corridors. This is particularly important for the Alnus spp. survival at the lowe...

The Riparian Ecological Infrastructure is a network of natural and/or semi-natural riparian patches, vital to support biodiversity and Ecosystems Services (ES) in human-dominated landscapes. In this study, we evaluated the habitat quality of REI patches and their potential for the provision of ES. Fieldwork was carried out in the riparian and flood...

1. Riparian zones are vital areas of interaction between land and rivers and are often degraded by several pressures such as urbanisation, intensive agriculture and river engineering works. 2. This policy brief provides five key policy messages and recommendations to be considered by policy-makers, scientists, managers, and stakeholders to enhance...

This paper comprises an overview of the riverine, swamp, floodplain forests and scrub throughout the continent. The team of researchers from various European countries has considered most of the forest habitats from the Canary Islands to European Russia. It was a difficult task to gather all the knowledge about this type of vegetation across the...

The distance decay of community similarity (DDCS) is a pattern that is widely observed in terrestrial and aquatic environments. Niche-based theories argue that species are sorted in space according to their ability to adapt to new environmental conditions. The ecological neutral theory argues that community similarity decays due to ecological drift...

Riparian Ecological Infrastructures are networks of natural and semi-natural riparian areas located in human-dominated landscapes, crucial in supporting processes that directly or indirectly benefit humans or enhance social welfare. In this study, we developed a novel multimetric index, termed Habitat Ecological Infrastructure’s Diversity Index (HE...

Resumo No âmbito da Cartografia de Habitats Naturais e Seminaturais e de Flora em 31 Sítios Classificados formou-se uma equipa capaz de responder adequadamente ao caderno de encargos lançado em Concurso Público em julho de 2018. A metodologia definida seguiu diferentes fases de implementação: preparação de campo; trabalho de campo; execução de cart...

Background Black alder ( Alnus glutinosa ) forests are in severe decline across their area of distribution due to a disease caused by the soil-borne pathogenic Phytophthora alni species complex (class Oomycetes), “alder Phytopththora”. Mapping of the different types of damages caused by the disease is challenging in high density ecosystems in which...

Riparian ash forests subjected to seasonal drought are among the most endangered ecosystems in Europe. They are threatened by climate warming causing aridification and by land-use changes modifying river flow. To assess the impacts of these two stress factors on riparian forests, we studied radial growth and xylem anatomical traits in five narrow-l...

Atlantic and Mediterranean climatic conditions shape vegetation traits in riparian ecosystems. By studying the variation in morphological and physiological traits along the climatic conditions we can gain insight into the populations local adaptation strategies. This insight is particularly valuable when inferring riparian vegetation responses to p...

The relevance of riparian areas to improve nature condition and human well-being is widely acknowledged. These are also important in intensive agricultural landscapes to mitigate effects caused by farming intensification, negatively affecting nature and “nature´s contributions to people” (NCP). However, current EU agricultural policies (eg, CAP) ne...

Alders are frequently used in riparian corridors for restoration due to their supporting role in aquatic ecosystems health and as pioneer trees in ecological succession. Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn. and Alnus lusitanica Vít, Douda & Mandák are distributed throughout European freshwater ecoregions, encompassing a wide range of environmental conditio...

The distance decay of community similarity (DDCS) is a pattern that is widely observed in both terrestrial and aquatic environments. There are three major perspectives for explaining the DDCS. Niche-based theories argue that as environmental conditions change, species are sorted according to their ability to adapt to new environmental conditions an...

The connectivity of riparian forests can be used as a proxy for the capacity of riparian zones to provide ecological functions, goods and services. In this study, we aim to test the potential of the freely available Copernicus “Riparian Zones” dataset to characterize the connectivity of riparian forests located in two European bioclimatic regions—t...

A participatory monitoring programme of an exceptional modification of urban soundscapes during Covid-19 containment.

Lista vermelha da flora vascular de Portugal Continental. Os autores apresentados foram os autores das fichas que deram origem ao livro

The beaches and dune habitats that occur there, are particularly fragile and vulnerable environments as a result of the dual threat posed by coastal erosion and human impact, both evidently ongoing phenomena. This makes them particularly worthy of attention and protection for their specific ecosystem functions. An example of great interest is repre...

Given the vast amount of literature on the essential influence of riparian vegetation on observed river adjustments and trajectories, and the relative lack of consideration of riparian vegetation in the most frequently used hydromorphological protocols that consider riparian zones, we have two main objectives : - to review the hydromorphological co...

Fluvial riparian vegetation (RV) links fluvial and terrestrial ecosystems. It is under significant pressure from anthropogenic activities, and, therefore, the management and restoration of RV are increasingly important worldwide. RV has been investigated from different perspectives, so knowledge on its structure and function is widely distributed....

Fluvial riparian vegetation (RV) links fluvial and terrestrial ecosystems. It is under significant pressure from anthropogenic activities, and, therefore, the management and restoration of RV are increasingly important worldwide. RV has been investigated from different perspectives, so knowledge on its structure and function is widely distributed....

This book is the story of a successful project, product of an international collective action driven by academics and environmental service providers in southern Europe concerned about the future of the earth or what we can call the emergency facing planet Earth. The lessons learned here should be repeated throughout the world. The document in your...

Let’s face it. There is no way to restore an ecosystem, not to mention an entire landscape. The amazing diversity of organisms contained in an ecosystem, even the tiniest one, and the variety of the interactions needed to generate so many functions should be regarded as a unique wonder. As ecological restoration progresses, we are increasingly conv...

Material docente sobre el que basar los cursos y jornadas de capacitación técnica sobre corredores fluviales para personal técnico administraciones, agentes protección naturaleza y ONG. Comentando además las actuaciones del proyecto LIFE Fluvial de mejora y gestión sostenible de corredores fluviales de la Región Atlántica Ibérica.

Decline of Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn caused by Phytophthora xalni is an emerging threat to riparian ecosystems, from northern to southern Europe. Reported intraspecific variation within this tree species suggests a variation in resistance in response to the pathogen. This work aimed at investigate the different response of A. glutinosa population...

Agricultural intensification is currently considered as a major driver of worldwide biodiversity loss. EU-agro-environment policies were introduced to reduce biodiversity loss by subsidizing farmers that promote agricultural practices that are beneficial for climate and environment, by committing a percentage of productive farmland to Ecological Fo...

Riparian vegetation is a major element of the landscape, structuring and modulating ecological functions yet widespread river degradation across Europe is compromising role as a key ecosystem services provider. CONVERGES COST Action intends to identify research and management needs, including how riparian vegetation has been managed, and to transla...

River corridors are fundamental elements for the protection of biodiversity. They are ecological connectors, water regulators and are related to several ecosystem services. LIFE Fluvial project aims to improve the grade of conservation of the river corridors in Natura 2000 network of several Atlantic basins of the NW of the Iberian Peninsula. Vario...

Quantifying the genetic diversity of riparian trees is essential to understand their chances to survive hydroclimatic alterations and to maintain their role as foundation species modulating fluvial ecosystem processes. However, the application of suitable models that account for the specific dendritic structure of hydrographic networks is still inc...