Sílvia Poblador

University of Barcelona | UB · Department of Evolutionary Biology Ecology and Environmental Sciences

Global warming is altering the intra-annual variability of precipitation patterns in the mid-latitudes, including a shift towards longer dry and wet spells compared to historic averages. Such fluctuations will likely alter soil water and nutrient dynamics of managed ecosystems which could negatively influence their functioning (e.g., productivity a...

Catchment urbanisation results in urban streams being exposed to a multitude of stressors. Notably, stressors originating from diffuse sources have received less attention than stressors originating from point sources. Here, advances related to diffuse urban stressors and their consequences for stream benthic communities are summarised by reviewing...

Enhanced weathering (EW) of silicate rocks can remove CO2 from the atmosphere, while potentially delivering co-benefits for agriculture (e.g., reduced nitrogen losses, increased yields). However, quantification of inorganic carbon sequestration through EW and potential risks in terms of heavy metal contamination have rarely been assessed. Here, we...

Conferences are ideal platforms for studying gender gaps in science because they are important cultural events that reflect barriers to women in academia. Here, we explored women’s participation in ecology conferences by analyzing female representation, behavior, and personal experience at the 1st Meeting of the Iberian Society of Ecology (SIBECOL)...

A number of negative emission technologies (NETs) have been proposed to actively remove CO 2 from the atmosphere, with enhanced silicate weathering (ESW) as a relatively new NET with considerable climate change mitigation potential. Models calibrated to ESW rates in lab experiments estimate the global potential for inorganic carbon sequestration by...

The ‘Dominant Source Layer’ (DSL) is defined as the riparian zone (RZ) depth stratum that contributes the most to water and solute fluxes to streams. The concept can be used to explain timing and amount of matter transferred from RZs to streams in forest headwaters. Here, we investigated the potential impact of future climate changes on the long-te...

Coordinated distributed experiments (CDEs) enable the study of large-scale ecological patterns in geographically dispersed areas, while simultaneously providing broad academic and personal benefits for the participants. However, the effective involvement of early-career researchers (ECRs) presents major challenges. Here, we analyze the benefits and...

The aim of this work was to assess the biogeochemical role of riparian soils in the High Arctic to determine to what extent these soils may act as sources or sinks of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N). To do so, we compared two riparian areas that varied in riparian vegetation coverage and soil physical perturbation (i.e., thermo‐erosion gully) in NE Gre...

Robinia pseudoacacia L. occupies large areas of Mediterranean riparian zones of the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. This study investigates the influence of the invasive alien nitrogen-fixing R. pseudoacacia on leaf litter nitrogen (N) inputs and soil N availability in a mixed riparian forest in NE Spain. We measured annual leaf litter N inputs...

Coordinated distributed experiments (CDEs) allow the study of large-scale ecological patterns in geographically dispersed areas, providing at the same time broad benefits for the participants. However, the effective involvement of early-stage career researchers (ECRs) confronts major challenges. Here, we analyze the benefits and challenges of the f...

The capacity of headwater streams to transform and retain organic matter and nutrients during base flow conditions has been largely demonstrated in the literature. Yet, most solute exporting occurs during storms, and thus, it becomes essential to understand the role of in-stream processes in regulating solute concentrations and exports during storm...

Large variability in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) uptake rates has been reported for headwater streams, but the causes of this variability are still not well understood. Here we assessed acetate uptake rates across 11 European streams comprising different ecoregions by using whole-reach pulse acetate additions. We evaluated the main climatic and...

Vegetation plays a key role in riparian area functioning by controlling water and nitrate (N‐NO3‐) transfers to streams. We investigated how spatial heterogeneity modifies the influence of vegetation transpiration on soil water and N‐NO3‐ balances in the vadose soil of a Mediterranean riparian forest. Based on field data, we simulated water flow an...

Riparian zones play a fundamental role in regulating the amount of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) that is exported from catchments. However, C and N removal via soil gaseous pathways can influence local budgets of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and contribute to climate change. Over a year, we quantified soil effluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitro...

La falsa acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) es una especie invasora originaria de los montes Apalaches. Se introdujo en Europa durante el siglo XVIII y desde entonces, se ha expandido a lo largo de las regiones húmedas del continente Europeo, incluyendo hábitats de especial interés ecológico protegidos en el marco de la red Natura 2000. Su gran capac...

Streams play a key role in the global biogeochemical cycles, processing material from adjacent terrestrial systems and transporting it downstream. However, the drivers of stream metabolism, especially those acting at broad spatial scales, are still not well understood. Moreover, stream metabolism can be affected by hydrological changes associated w...

Mediterranean riparian zones act as vegetation shelters for several deciduous tree species at the edge of their bioclimatic distribution, e.g. alder (Alnus glutinosa), black poplar (Populus nigra) or ash (Fraxinus excelsior). Current global warming and human induced disturbances may worsen their growing conditions. Under such circumstances, black l...

Riparian zones play a fundamental role in regulating the amount of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) that is exported from catchments. However, C and N removal via soil gaseous pathways can influence local budgets of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and contribute to climate change. Over a year, we quantified soil effluxes of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nit...

Riparian evapotranspiration (ET) can influence stream hydrology at catchment scale by promoting the net loss of water from the stream towards the riparian zone (i.e., stream hydrological retention). However, the consequences of stream hydrological retention on nitrogen dynamics are not well understood. To fill this gap of knowledge, we investigated...

Riparian evapotranspiration (ET) can influence stream hydrology at catchment scale by promoting the net loss of water from the stream towards the riparian zone (i.e., stream hydrological retention). However, the consequences of stream hydrological retention on nitrogen dynamics are not well understood. To fill this gap of knowledge, we investigated...

Soil respiration (SR) is a major component of ecosystem’s carbon cycle and represents the second largest CO2 flux of the terrestrial biosphere. Soil temperature is considered to be the primary control on SR whereas soil moisture as the secondary control factor. However, 5 soil moisture can become the dominant control on SR in very wet or dry condit...

Soil respiration (SR) is a major component of ecosystems' carbon cycles and represents the second largest CO2 flux in the terrestrial biosphere. Soil temperature is considered to be the primary abiotic control on SR, whereas soil moisture is the secondary control factor. However, soil moisture can become the dominant control on SR in very wet or dr...