Torrent del Bosc Negre (aut. Clemens Schmillen)
Project / Initiative
Fellowship Marie Curie
Inactive

PHLOEMAP

Hydraulic functional traits as determinants of forest function and drought responses. Putting xylem and phloem attributes into the functional trait map

#FenoDato seeks citizens to help monitor how climate change is altering nature’s rhythm

Climate experts, botanists, geographers and ecologists from CREAF and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) will train citizens to monitor seasonal changes which can be observed in nature. This way citizens will be able to help the scientists study the effects of climate change on animals and plants. Flower emergence, the dropping of leaves, or the arrival of certain birds will be some of the changes to be studied. Once trained, citizens will be able to contribute to European and Spanish phenology observation networks.

#fenodato @en Citizen science Climate change El niño @en Global change Joan masó @en Miquel ninyerola @en Phenology

CO2 absorption in European ecosystems depends on two major climatic phenomena

The worst scenario occurs when NAO and EA are in opposite phases. This ocurred in the first few years of the previous decade and during this period, the CO2 uptake was below average. Recently, NAO and EA were in the same phase and ecosystems have been able to remove more carbon from the atmosphere.

Absorption Carbon Climate Co2 @en Co2 uptake Ea @en Ecosystems Geu @en Josep peñuelas @en Nao @en Nature @en

Wood and leaf densities explain how forests function across the globe

Understanding ecosystem dynamics can lead to greater benefits in forest management, species conservation, and carbon sequestration. A new study puts forward results which can be generalized for the whole globe and to 53,000 tree species thanks to the large quantity of data gathered and analyzed.

Biodiversity @ca @en Competence Density Functional traits Geu @en Josep peñuelas @en Nature @en

Nothing can be understood without evolution…

This phrase is often repeated among biologists, but it is time for non-biologists to recognize the truth of this statement. In the opening session of this year's course at the Institute of Catalan Studies, Jordi Casanova explained that in the light of modern knowledge, we humans are animals, considering not only in our biology (an obvious fact) but also our behavior. Many studies, mostly on apes, have shown the existence of feelings such as jealousy, envy, a sense of for injustice, rebellion; to these I would add empathy, defense of hierarchy, and a wish power.

Agriculture Culture @en Emotions @en Global change Human behaviour @en Human evolution @en Jaume terradas @en Society