Sergio de Miguel

Universitat de Lleida | UDL · Department of Vegetal Production and Forestry Science

Global biodiversity and productivity The relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem productivity has been explored in detail in herbaceous vegetation, but patterns in forests are far less well understood. Liang et al. have amassed a global forest data set from >770,000 sample plots in 44 countries. A positive and consistent relationship can be...

A spatially explicit global map of tree symbioses with nitrogen-fixing bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi reveals that climate variables are the primary drivers of the distribution of different types of symbiosis.

Mediterranean forests play a key role in providing services and goods to society, and are currently threatened by global change. We assessed the future provision of ecosystem services by Mediterranean pine forests under a set of management and climate change scenarios, built by combining different regional policies and climate change assumptions. W...

Live woody vegetation is the largest reservoir of biomass carbon, with its restoration considered one of the most effective natural climate solutions. However, terrestrial carbon fluxes remain the largest uncertainty in the global carbon cycle. Here, we develop spatially explicit estimates of carbon stock changes of live woody biomass from 2000 to...

Significance Tree diversity is fundamental for forest ecosystem stability and services. However, because of limited available data, estimates of tree diversity at large geographic domains still rely heavily on published lists of species descriptions that are geographically uneven in coverage. These limitations have precluded efforts to generate a g...

Determining the drivers of non-native plant invasions is critical for managing native ecosystems and limiting the spread of invasive species1,2. Tree invasions in particular have been relatively overlooked, even though they have the potential to transform ecosystems and economies3,4. Here, leveraging global tree databases5-7, we explore how the phy...

Urban forests are becoming increasingly important for human well-being as they provide ecosystem services that contribute to improving well-being of city dwellers and to addressing climate change. However, despite their importance, there is an information gap in most of the world's urban forests due to the high cost and complexity of conducting sta...

Pinus uncinata is a species frequently growing in the tree line limit of southwestern European subalpine ecosystems , hosting fungal communities that provide relevant ecosystem services. Despite the high importance of these forests for conservation, limited prior research has analysed the sporocarp fruiting patterns. This study aims at filling this...

Background: Wildfire simulators estimate fire behaviour in complex environments, supporting planning and analysis of incidents in real-time. However, uncertainty derived from the quality of inputs and model’s inherent inaccuracies may undermine the utility of such predictions. Aims: We assessed the performance of fire spread models for initial at...

Protecting and enhancing forest carbon sinks is considered a natural solution for mitigating climate change. However, the increasing frequency, intensity, and duration of droughts due to climate change can threaten the stability and growth of existing forest carbon sinks. Extreme droughts weaken plant hydraulic systems, can lead to tree mortality e...

Biodiversity is an important component of natural ecosystems, with higher species richness often correlating with an increase in ecosystem productivity. Yet, this relationship varies substantially across environments, typically becoming less pronounced at high levels of species richness. However, species richness alone cannot reflect all important...

The impact of climate change-driven droughts on regenerating forests is poorly understood due to the complexities involved in regeneration processes and the difficulties in measuring the relevant parameters with sufficient spatial and temporal resolution in a timely manner. Drought increases tree mortality in both undisturbed and disturbed forests...

There is growing concern that changing climate and disturbance regimes are and will result in widespread forest regeneration failure, and thus, there is an increasing need for developing management and adaptation strategies to promote regeneration under climate change. Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster), an ecologically and economically relevant tree s...

Artificial intelligence (AI) and, in particular, generative AI based on large language models (LLM) represents a disruptive technology that holds great potential to revolutionize science production in general and, of course, forest science in particular, too (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00191-1). With the ability to analyze and inter...

The forest-based sector plays a significant role in supporting Europe on its pathway towards a more integrated and bio-based circular economy. Beyond the supply of timber, forest ecosystems offer a wide range of products and services beneficial to human wellbeing. Non-wood forest products (NWFPs) play an integral role in provisioning forest ecosyst...

In recent years fires of greater magnitude have been documented throughout northwest Europe. With several climate projections indicating future increases in fire activity in this temperate area, it is imperative to identify the status of fire in this region. This study unravels unknowns about the state of the fire regime in northwest Europe by char...

Climate teleconnections (CT) remotely influence weather conditions in many regions on Earth, entailing changes in primary drivers of fire activity such as vegetation biomass accumulation and moisture. We reveal significant relationships between the main global CTs and burned area that vary across and within continents and biomes according to both s...

Holm oak is one of the most abundant tree-forming species in the Mediterranean area, hosting a great number of fungal species that are fundamental for the functioning of these forest ecosystems. However, the information about the fungal communities growing in Quercus ilex stands and the environmental drivers shaping their fruiting patterns is still...

Understorey vegetation plays a key role in Mediterranean forest ecosystem functioning. However, we still lack a thorough understanding of the patterns and drivers of understorey composition and diversity. As a result, understoreys are often ignored during assessments of forest functioning under climate change. Here we studied the effect of silvicul...

Because forests provide a myriad of essential services to society, sustainable forest management that considers and promotes the multifunctional role of forests is of key importance. Understanding how forests have been and are being managed is essential to learn how current forest landscapes have been shaped and how management could be improved to...

The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is one of the most recognized global patterns of species richness exhibited across a wide range of taxa. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed in the past two centuries to explain LDG, but rigorous tests of the drivers of LDGs have been limited by a lack of high-quality global species richness data. Here we...

High-resolution forest mapping technology is a powerful data source to assess the production capacity of forests regarding wood and non-wood ecosystem services. The study shows how to evaluate the potential benefits from forest management treatments devoted to increase mushroom supply. The study was developed in Central Spain, over a forest with im...

El cambio climático es una realidad que está afectando a los ecosistemas naturales desde hace décadas y que se prevé que lo siga haciendo durante el próximo siglo. La fructificación de los hongos, debido a que está estrechamente relacionada con la meteorología anual, podría verse afectada por estos cambios en los ecosistemas. El importante papel qu...

El fuego ha modificado el paisaje a lo largo de la historia y es esencial para el mantenimiento de la biodiversidad y el funcionamiento de muchos ecosistemas. Si bien muchas especies son muy sensibles al fuego, algunas lo requieren para su regeneración y supervivencia. Sin embargo, cambios en el régimen de incendios pueden dificultar la respuesta a...

Los ecosistemas forestales han tenido una importancia crucial para la sociedad a lo largo de la historia, ya sea como medio de subsistencia, o actualmente, por la importancia que han cobrado los servicios ecosistémicos, especialmente los ligados a la mitigación y adaptación al cambio global. El análisis de la evolución de la gestión forestal es bás...

En el contexto de la creciente urbanización de las sociedades del planeta (más del 50% de la población mundial se concentra en ciudades), los bosques urbanos resultan de vital importancia para el bienestar humano. Una correcta caracterización del arbolado urbano es necesaria para una mejor gestión de la biodiversidad urbana y demás servicios ecosis...

La productividad de setas de los bosques mediterráneos es el resultado de complejos mecanismos ecológicos, donde los factores climáticos y biofísicos que la describen pueden presentar intrincadas interacciones y dependencias no lineales. Por ello, es importante identificar aquellas técnicas y herramientas que nos permitan lidiar con dichas dificult...

Las proyecciones de cambio climático sugieren un incremento de actividad de incendios forestales en el futuro, especialmente en los ecosistemas mediterráneos, como el sur de California. Esta región es un foco significativo de incendios forestales a nivel global. Los agentes de gestión de incendios están bajo una presión cada vez mayor ante la neces...

En las últimas décadas, los bosques mediterráneos han presentado un nivel decreciente de presión humana directa, así como una mayor exposición a factores de estrés (p.ej. incendios forestales o sequías). Sin embargo, el efecto de estos fenómenos en los servicios que los ecosistemas (SE) proporcionan a la sociedad permanece sin explorar. Hemos emple...

Las comunidades fúngicas son fundamentales para el funcionamiento de los ecosistemas forestales y la provisión de servicios ecosistémicos. Resulta, por tanto, crucial avanzar en el conocimiento sobre su diversidad y composición, sobre las variables ambientales que las determinan, así como sobre su conservación. Si bien los encinares (Quercus ilex L...

La realización de claras conlleva cambios en la biomasa miceliar y en la producción de setas, aunque apenas se conoce si el efecto de las claras es igual en el micelio y que en las setas. En este estudio, analizamos los cambios en la biomasa fúngica del micelio y de los esporocarpos de Lactarius vinosus tras las claras realizadas con distintas inte...

Los ecosistemas forestales están sometidos a perturbaciones naturales y antropogénicas que afectan tanto a las componentes vegetales (cubierta vegetal, composición del sotobosque) como a las interacciones planta-suelo (hongos del suelo). Sin embargo, a pesar de la importancia de ambos factores en el funcionamiento del ecosistema, el efecto de las p...

Els fongs són components fonamentals de la biodiversitat, productivitat i funcionament dels ecosistemes forestals. A més, els bolets constitueixen el principal recurs d’una important activitat socioeconòmica basada en la seva recol·lecció tant amb finalitats recreatives com comercials. Brinden també importants serveis ecosistèmics tant culturals, c...

Los hongos son componentes fundamentales de la biodiversidad, productividad y funcionamiento de los ecosistemas forestales. Además, las setas constituyen el principal recurso de una importante actividad socioeconómica basada en su recolección tanto con fines recreativos como comerciales, brindando importantes servicios ecosistémicos tanto culturale...

Los hongos, cuyo número de especies se estima entre 2,2 a 3,8 millones, de las que solo entre el 3 y el 8 % tienen nombre, son el reino más diverso de la Tierra. A su papel como elemento clave en el funcionamiento de los ecosistemas, se les suma otros servicios ecosistémicos proporcionados por estos organismos y que son cada vez más apreciados por...

Fungi are responsible for many of the processes that occur in natural ecosystems and largely determine forest ecosystem dynamics, such as the ability of trees to access limiting nutrients and sequester carbon. Understanding and predicting climate change impacts on fungal dynamics over large scales is key in order to gain further insights into the e...

Urban forests provide ecosystem services to the increasingly urban society, contributing to human wellbeing in cities. While individual-tree characterization and identification are crucial for an efficient and accurate evaluation of urban biodiversity and ecosystem services, the available information on urban trees is rather limited worldwide. Curr...

Soil fungi are vital for regulating ecosystem carbon balance and productivity, by driving processes related to soil carbon and nutrient cycling. The rate and capacity of fungi-mediated processes are linked to fungal biomass dynamics and identifying the drivers of fungal biomass is important for predicting ecosystem responses to environmental change...

One of the most fundamental questions in ecology is how many species inhabit the Earth. However, due to massive logistical and financial challenges and taxonomic difficulties connected to the species concept definition, the global numbers of species, including those of important and well-studied life forms such as trees, still remain largely unknow...

In recent years fires of greater magnitude have been documented throughout northwest Europe, and with several climate projections indicating future increases in fire activity in this temperate area, it is imperative to identify the status of fire in this region. This study unravels important unknowns about the state of the fire regime in northwest...

NASAs Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) is collecting space-borne full waveform lidar data with a primary science goal of producing accurate estimates of forest aboveground biomass density (AGBD). This paper presents the development of the models used to create GEDIs footprint-level (~25 m) AGBD (GEDI04_A) product, including a descript...

O período entre 2018 e 2022 mostrou-nos que o problema dos incêndios à escala global não está a diminuir, antes pelo contrário. Parece que as consequências das alterações climáticas já estão a afectar a ocorrência de incêndios florestais em várias partes do Mundo, de uma forma que só esperaríamos que acontecesse vários anos mais tarde. Em muitos pa...

Urban trees and forests provide multiple ecosystem services (ES), including temperature regulation, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity. Interest in ES has increased amongst policymakers, scientists, and citizens given the extent and growth of urbanized areas globally. However, the methods and techniques used to properly assess biodiversity and...

Fungal communities are especially relevant in Mediterranean regions, a ‘hotspot’ of fungal diversity, and where the value of edible commercial sporocarps may be much higher than the income from timber products. Assessing the effects of forest management practices together with the modulating role of climate on sporocarp community composition and di...

Mediterranean forest dynamics are tightly linked to belowground fungal communities since fungi are involved in key ecosystem processes such as organic matter and nutrient cycling, water regulation, soil preservation or mutualistic associations. The latter is particularly important for tree species such as pines that need to establish symbioses with...

Mounting evidence suggests that geographic ranges of tree species worldwide are shifting under global environmental change, but little is known about forest migration—the shift in the geographic ranges of forest types—and how it differs from individual tree species migration. Here, based on in situ records of more than 9 million trees from 596,282...

Replanting trees helps with avoiding desertification, reducing the chances of soil erosion and flooding, minimizing the risks of zoonotic disease outbreaks, and providing ecosystem services and livelihood to the indigenous people, in addition to sequestering carbon dioxide for mitigating climate change. Consequently, it is important to explore new...

p>Simulation frameworks are necessary to facilitate decision-making to many fire agencies. An accurate estimation of fire behavior is required to analyze potential impact and risk. Applied research and technology together have improved the implementation of fire modeling, and decision-making in operational environments.</p

Projections of future climate change impacts suggest an increase of wildfire activity in Mediterranean ecosystems, such as southern California. This region is a wildfire hotspot and fire managers are under increasingly high pressures to minimize socio-economic impacts. In this context, predictions of high-risk fire seasons are essential to achieve...

Background: The prediction of biogeographical patterns from a large number of driving factors with complex interactions, correlations and non-linear dependences require advanced analytical methods and modeling tools. This study compares different statistical and machine learning-based models for predicting fungal productivity biogeographical patter...

Background Robinia pseudoacacia is a widely planted pioneer tree species in reforestations on barren mountains in northern China. Because of its nitrogen-fixing ability, it can play a positive role in soil and forest restoration. After clear-cutting of planted stands, R. pseudoacacia stands become coppice plantations. The impacts of shifting from s...

Key Message Earlywood and latewood widths differently respond to the climate in boreal and Mediterranean Scots pine forests. The response is constrained by allometric relationships. Abstract Measurements of earlywood (EW) and latewood (LW) width can be used to assess how tree growth responds to the climate in different biomes. Through tree-ring an...

The Mediterranean Region constitutes a biodiversity hotspot and its forests have provided multiple ecosystem services (ES) to human societies for millennia. In the last decades, many Mediterranean forests have undergone a decreasing level of direct human pressure and a growing exposure to environmental stress factors (e.g. wildfires and droughts)....

Purpose of Review The increased popularity and commercial use of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) calls for the development of models for NTFPs to include their predicted yields in forest management planning and to evaluate the potential of multi-functional forest management. This study assesses and discusses the current state of the art and tren...

Tropical deforestation drivers are complex and can change rapidly in periods of profound societal transformation, such as those during a pandemic. Evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred illegal, opportunistic forest clearing in tropical countries, threatening forest ecosystems and their resident human communities. A total of 9,583...

In forests, ectomycorrhizal mycelium is pivotal for driving soil carbon and nutrient cycles, but how ectomycorrhizal mycelial dynamics vary in ecosystems with drought periods is unknown. We quantified the production and turnover of mycorrhizal mycelium in Mediterranean Pinus pinaster , Pinus sylvestris and Quercus ilex forests and related the estim...

Forest disturbances have a strong effect on soil fungal communities and associated ecosystem processes. However, little is known about the response of mycelial biomass to disturbances, and how fungi reallocate carbon into different fungal structures under environmental stressors. We investigated above- and below-ground fungal biomass shifts in resp...

The recent international policy developments fostering a European bio-economy is gradually increasing the forest owners awareness of the potential of non-wood goods. This potential is related to the multiplicity of resources available and a huge portfolio of potential industrial products that can be derived out of them .In addressing these question...

Late-spring frosts (LSFs) affect the performance of plants and animals across the world's temperate and boreal zones, but despite their ecological and economic impact on agriculture and forestry, the geographic distribution and evolutionary impact of these frost events are poorly understood. Here, we analyze LSFs between 1959 and 2017 and the resis...