Sergio de Miguel

Verified

Sergio de verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

Learn more

Verified

Sergio de verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

Learn more

• PhD (Agriculture and Forestry)
• Professor (Full) at University of Lleida

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.

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...

Forests are a substantial terrestrial carbon sink, but anthropogenic changes in land use and climate have considerably reduced the scale of this system¹. Remote-sensing estimates to quantify carbon losses from global forests2–5 are characterized by considerable uncertainty and we lack a comprehensive ground-sourced evaluation to benchmark these est...

Unraveling the mechanisms underlying the maintenance of species diversity is a central pursuit in ecology. It has been hypothesized that ectomycorrhizal (EcM) in contrast to arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can reduce tree species diversity in local communities, which remains to be tested at the global scale. To address this gap, we analyzed global for...

Mangrove forests are vulnerable coastal ecosystems that provide multiple ecosystem services and act as blue carbon sinks. Mangroves in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries of the Arabian peninsula (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE) have faced pressure from numerous anthropogenic factors including population growth, dre...

Wild macrofungal species are important non-wood forest products in Mediterranean forests, where their ability to release and disperse spores is crucial for completing their life cycle. However, the ecological drivers behind fruitbody production and fungal spore dispersal and deposition remain poorly understood. Here, we assessed the effect of silvi...

Species’ traits and environmental conditions determine the abundance of tree species across the globe. The extent to which traits of dominant and rare tree species differ remains untested across a broad environmental range, limiting our understanding of how species traits and the environment shape forest functional composition. We use a global data...

Background and aim Soil fungal communities can vary in their abundance and diversity between host tree species, but also between genotypes within the same host tree species. However, there are conflicting results on the role of host tree genetics in shaping soil fungal communities and how silvicultural treatments can influence their dynamics. Meth...

Novel fire regimes are emerging worldwide and pose substantial challenges to biodiversity conservation. Addressing these challenges and mitigating their impacts on biodiversity will require developing a wide range of fire management practices. In this paper, we leverage research across taxa, ecosystems and continents to highlight strategies for app...

Scaling up ecosystem restoration is essential to halt and reverse land degradation and biodiversity loss and ensure future functionality and resilience. However, the implementation of concrete restoration initiatives will present many challenges, such as setting appropriate and realistic goals, selecting or developing the most effective and efficie...

Altered fire regimes are a global challenge, increasingly exacerbated by climate change, which modifies fire weather and prolongs fire seasons. These changing conditions heighten the vulnerability of ecosystems and human populations to the impacts of wildfires on the environment, society, and the economy. The rapid pace of these changes exposes sig...

Pine forests represent globally distributed conifers growing in a wide range of habitats within the Mediterranean basin. One example are the high-altitude mountain pine (Pinus uncinata) forests in the Pyrenees, which stand out for their high fungal sporocarps richness. Nevertheless, studies on the effects of forest management on sporocarps diversit...

Purpose of review We are amid a historical momentum encouraging forest restoration, yet the translation of ambitious targets into reality is hindered by poor documentation and understanding of the success and failure of past restoration efforts. This review aims to evaluate the ecological, social, political and economic characteristics of forest re...

Large-scale forest restoration is vital for delivering a broad array of ecosystem services benefits to society. However, it is often perceived as an economically noncompetitive land use choice. Integrating economic opportunities into restoration aligns socioeconomic and environmental goals, reducing conflicts between forest production and conservat...

The density of wood is a key indicator of the carbon investment strategies of trees, impacting productivity and carbon storage. Despite its importance, the global variation in wood density and its environmental controls remain poorly understood, preventing accurate predictions of global forest carbon stocks. Here we analyse information from 1.1 mil...

Restoration involves the recovery and repair of environments because environmental damage is not always irreversible, and communities are not infinitely resilient to such harm. When restoration projects are applied to nature, either directly or indirectly these may take the form of ecological, forestry or hydrological restoration, for example. In t...

Mangrove forests are found across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region despite challenging environmental extremes, including highly variable temperatures and hypersalinity. Understanding the biophysical and anthropogenic factors that influence mangrove forest growth is key to locate suitable areas for regeneration and afforestation activities....

Aim: Ecological and anthropogenic factors shift the abundances of dominant and rare tree species within local forest communities, thus affecting species composition and ecosystem functioning. To inform forest and conservation management it is important to understand the drivers of dominance and rarity in local tree communities. We answer the follow...

Aim Ecological and anthropogenic factors shift the abundances of dominant and rare tree species within local forest communities, thus affecting species composition and ecosystem functioning. To inform forest and conservation management it is important to understand the drivers of dominance and rarity in local tree communities. We answer the followi...

Freshwater ecosystems host disproportionately high biodiversity and provide unique ecosystem services, yet they are being degraded at an alarming rate. Fires, which are becoming increasingly frequent and intense due to global change, can affect these ecosystems in many ways, but this relationship is not fully understood. We conducted a systematic r...

The scarcity of long-term observational data has limited the use of statistical or machine-learning techniques for predicting intraannual ecological variation. However, time-stamped citizen-science observation records, supported by media data such as photographs, are increasingly available. In the present article, we present a novel framework based...

The emergence of alternative stable states in forest systems has significant implications for the functioning and structure of the terrestrial biosphere, yet empirical evidence remains scarce. Here, we combine global forest biodiversity observations and simulations to test for alternative stable states in the presence of evergreen and deciduous for...

Accurate measuring, mapping, and monitoring of mangrove forests support the sustainable management of mangrove blue carbon in the Asia-Pacific. Remote sensing coupled with modeling can efficiently and accurately estimate mangrove blue carbon stocks at larger spatiotemporal extents. This study aimed to identify trends in remote sensing/modeling empl...

Introduction Mounting evidence suggests that geographic ranges of tree species worldwide are shifting under global environmental changes. Little is known, however, about if and how these species’ range shifts may trigger the range shifts of various types of forests. Markowitz’s portfolio theory of investment and its broad application in ecology sug...

The positive impact of urban forests and trees on the well-being of urban residents worldwide is well known. Resistance to pests, diseases, and extreme weather events are among the most critical characteristics of resilient cities, closely related to species richness and, consequently, to the diversity of street trees. However, urban forest invento...

The density of wood is a key indicator of trees’ carbon investment strategies, impacting productivity and carbon storage. Despite its importance, the global variation in wood density and its environmental controls remain poorly understood, preventing accurate predictions of global forest carbon stocks. Here, we analyze information from 1.1 million...

Tropical rainforests of Latin America (LATAM) are one of the world's largest carbon sinks, with substantial future carbon sequestration potential and contributing a major proportion of the global supply of forest carbon credits. LATAM is poised to contribute predominantly towards high-quality forest carbon offset projects designed to reduce emissio...

Aim To determine the relationships between the functional trait composition of forest communities and environmental gradients across scales and biomes and the role of species relative abundances in these relationships. Location Global. Time period Recent. Major taxa studied Trees. Methods We integrated species abundance records from worldwide f...

Mangrove forests in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are facing multiple threats from natural and anthropogenic-driven land use change stressors, contributing to altered ecosystem conditions. Remote sensing tools can be used to monitor mangroves, measure mangrove forest-and-tree-level attributes and vegetation indices at different spati...

Understanding what controls global leaf type variation in trees is crucial for comprehending their role in terrestrial ecosystems, including carbon, water and nutrient dynamics. Yet our understanding of the factors influencing forest leaf types remains incomplete, leaving us uncertain about the global proportions of needle-leaved, broadleaved, ever...

Litter decomposition is a key step in global biogeochemical cycling. In forest ecosystems, litter from different tree spec1ies often decompose together. Although species diversity is widely acknowledged to accelerate decomposition through the regulation of nutrient transfer between litter and decomposer communities, the underlying mechanism remains...

Urban forests provide direct and indirect benefits to human well-being that are increasingly captured in residential property values. Remote Sensing (RS) can be used to measure a wide range of forest and vegetation parameters that allows for a more detailed and better understanding of their specific influences on housing prices. Herein, through a s...

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...

Background Wildfire simulators allow estimating fire spread and behaviour in complex environments, supporting planning and analysis of incidents in real time. However, uncertainty derived from input data quality and model inherent inaccuracies may undermine the utility of such predictions. Aims We assessed the performance of fire spread models for...

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...

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...

Spatial predictions of intra-annual ecological variation enhance ecological understanding and inform decision-making. Unfortunately, it is often challenging to use statistical or machine learning techniques to make such predictions, due to the scarcity of systematic, long-term observational data. Conversely, opportunistic time-stamped observation r...

1. 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 importa...

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...