The Government of Catalonia established the Ramon Margalef Prize for Ecology in 2004 to recognize individuals worldwide who have made exceptional contributions to the field of ecology. The award honors the memory of Professor Ramon Margalef (Barcelona, 1919-2004), a professor at the University of Barcelona, who carried out groundbreaking scientific and intellectual work in the field of modern ecology. The 21st edition of the prize was awarded in 2025 to ecologist Yadvinder Malhi.
Malhi is Professor of Ecosystem Science at the Environmental Change Institute, School of Geography and Environment, University of Oxford (UK). He coordinates a large and growing research program on tropical forests and savannas in Asia, Africa, and the Amazon and Andean regions , and has developed an international research network across the tropics that collects data on ecosystem function and its links to biodiversity. He is awarded the Ramon Margalef Prize for his outstanding contributions to integrating ecosystem ecology into Earth system sciences, particularly as it relates to tropical forests, in the context of environmental change and biodiversity loss, and for being a leading advocate for inclusion and equity in science.
The Ramon Margalef Prize is one of only two major international awards given by the Government of Catalonia, along with the Catalonia International Prize. This alone underscores its importance. The list of recipients includes many of the leading figures in international ecology from recent decades, making it a significant honor for any researcher.
Since its inception, researchers from CREAF have been part of the jury for this award, and in this 21st edition, Jordi Catalan, a CSIC researcher at CREAF, served as president of the jury. He emphasizes that, “the Ramon Margalef Prize is one of only two major international awards given by the Government of Catalonia, along with the Catalonia International Prize. It recognizes leading figures in international ecology over the last few decades, so it is a great honor for any researcher.”
Guided tour of Poblet
During the award ceremony, the recipient also learned about various initiatives for forest fire prevention, climate change adaptation of the holm oak forest, and nature-based forest management practices being implemented in the Poblet Natural Area of National Interest (PNIN). The tour was led by Santi Sabaté, professor at the University of Barcelona, researcher affiliated with CREAF, and representative of the Research Centers and Universities on the Poblet PNIN Governing Board; Ester Trullols, Director of the Poblet PNIN; CREAF-CSIC researchers Romano Ogaya and Josep Peñuelas; and the Secretary of Ecological Transition, Jordi Sargatal. Also present were Jordi Catalan and researcher Imma Oliveras, a scientist at the University of Oxford and researcher at the Environmental Change Institute.
Award-winning Yadvinder Malhi during his visit to the Poblet Natural Area of National Interest, where he learned about various forest management actions, adaptation to climate change and fire prevention.
The complexity of ecology with a close look
During his acceptance speech, Jordi Catalan highlighted that ecology, as an area of academic knowledge, has had some difficulty defining itself, somewhere between being nothing and being everything. Dr. Margalef had several definitions that he would use depending on the occasion and the need to be more precise or more witty. When he really wanted to emphasize the essence of ecology, he referred to it as the scientific discipline that studies ecosystems, understood as the spatial projection of the interaction of many individuals of many species in a given physical environment. He emphasized the adjective "many" to indicate a complex system from which unique properties emerge as a result of the interactions of its parts. Hence his insistence that the development of ecology should consider a vision more closely linked to physics , both methodologically and conceptually.
Jordi Catalan also emphasized that tropical forests are one of the paradigms of this ecological complexity. Professor Malhi, initially trained as a physicist, has addressed this complexity by skillfully combining different methods and progressively integrating the functional and biodiversity perspectives that coexist in ecology. His ability to establish long-term research areas and networks worldwide is exceptional, providing fundamental data for understanding the dynamics of tropical forests and other ecosystems under human pressure and challenging established viewpoints. "He has also demonstrated that working closely and respectfully with local researchers brings benefits to everyone. He has observed the greater capacity of local voices to influence regional governance and sustainability, ultimately leading to the successful addressing of global challenges," Catalan concluded.
Yadvinder, besides being a scientific authority, is a very approachable person. Both in his lecture and in the meetings with young researchers and high school students, he has been a great source of inspiration for everyone.
The jury for the Ramon Margalef Ecology Prize of this 21st edition was made up of Steve Carpenter (University of Wisconsin, Madison), Christina Kaiser (University of Vienna), Anne Magurran (University of St. Andrews), Celia Marrasé (Institute of Marine Sciences, Barcelona), William Sher Valladares (National Museum of Natural Sciences, Madrid) and Jordi Catalan, researcher at the CISC in the CREAF.
