Raquel Juan-Ovejero

• PhD
• PostDoc Position at University of Vigo

Wildfires represent the foremost disruption in shrublands across the region of Galicia (NW Spain) and their severity is predicted to increase in the context of climate change. To alleviate their impact, soil stabilization techniques are commonly implemented. Nevertheless, there is a noticeable lack of information about the long-term consequences of...

Eucalypt monoculture plantations can adversely impact soil properties. However, a thorough assessment of their effects on soil invertebrate communities is lacking, impeding our ability to acquire a deeper understanding about the potential impacts of these intensively managed plantations on soil functioning. To quantify the effects of eucalypt plant...

Deadwood decomposition modulates habitat structure and enhances resource availability within forest ecosystems. Deadwood decomposition is influenced by a combination of abiotic and biotic factors, wherein climatic variables, tree species, and wood characteristics play fundamental roles. However, the scarcity of studies conducted in dry and semiarid...

Key message Crown area, sapling height, and biovolume extracted from UAV-acquired RGB images provided accurate estimates of aboveground biomass and carbon stocks in a 5-year-old holm oak ( Quercus ilex L.) plantation. Our models regressing UAV-derived sapling variables against ground-based measurements exhibited high R ² values (0.78–0.89), thereby...

Abandoned metal(loid) mine tailings show inhospitable conditions for the establishment of above- and below-ground communities (e.g., high metal(loid) levels, organic matter and nutrient deficiency). This worsens in semiarid areas due to the harsh climate conditions. Fertility islands (vegetation patches formed by plants that spontaneously colonize...

Predicted hotter and drier climatic conditions in the Mediterranean Basin will probably hamper current afforestations and reforestations by negatively influencing tree performance. Understanding how saplings can adjust their physiology to shortages in water availability is essential to predict early-stage success of forest ecological restoration. P...

Climate change is triggering rapid shifts in plant communities and alterations in soil abiotic conditions in peatlands, with cascading effects on belowground decomposers and ecosystem C turnover. However, elucidating the dominant causal relationships between plant communities, soil biota and C fluxes in these vulnerable ecosystems requires a better...

Wildfires and post-fire burnt-wood management treatments disturb the soils of forest ecosystems. However, little attention has been paid to the impact of these compound disturbances from a medium- to long-term perspective. In this study, we compared the decadal effect on soil carbon and nutrient concentrations (i.e. C, N, K and P) of two post-fire...

Climate change projections indicate increases in CO2 emissions and DOC release from peatlands, thereby potentially transforming them from sinks to carbon sources. The individual effects of abiotic and biotic factors on peatland carbon exports and the interactions among all these factors are still poorly understood. Therefore, we conducted a field s...

Peatlands are major carbon sinks globally, but it is still unclear what drives their shift from functioning as carbon sink to a source. Fungi rely on soil carbon inputs and play an active role in carbon mobilization and stabilization. Future climate change scenarios predict increases in temperature and lower water tables, which may lead to function...

Peatlands are the largest natural carbon store as a result of environmental conditions that limit decomposition rates. However, climate change is predicted to threaten peatland C sink function through rising temperatures, lowered water tables and the expansion of vascular plants. Here, by selecting four peatland habitats difering in their dominant...