A new international study relates brain size to the amount of stress hormone in birds. A larger brain increases cognitive ability, which allows them to face new challenges and, ultimately, a more relaxed lifestyle compared to those with a small brain.

Nightime temperatures on the planet have increased 1.4 times faster than daytime temperatures. This asymmetry alters carbon fluxes and plant growth in the northern hemisphere, according to a study in which the CREAF is participating.

This year, 2013, the CREAF celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary. During this quarter of a century, the center has grown and evolved step by step to become what it is now: a model terrestrial ecology research center that provides cutting-edge scientific knowledge on the greatest and most complex environmental challenges that society faces in the 21st century.

The DINACLIVE project aims to analyze how land cover and land uses have changed throughout the Iberian Peninsula. With the extracted information, they will be able to observe the impacts of climate change and other factors, such as the effects of the drought on vegetation.

According to experts at the CREAF, this capability assures success in the city and the possibility to become "urbanite" animals. A comprehensive review of published studies concludes that in urban environments, species often change their eating habits, lose their fear of humans and modify their way of communicating.

The IMPACTBOAR project is a collaboration project between the CREAF and MINUARTIA, which is responsible for the evaluation of the impact of the expansion of wild boar in Alpine and subalpine environments, specifically, the National Park of Aigüestortes and Estany de Sant Maurici.

This study, in which the CREAF participated, determined that relationships between species follow a few common patterns, and, therefore, with little data a lot of detail can be understood regarding the ecological networks of ecosystems and predict a species’ evolution in the face of perturbations.

The researcher Pilar Andrés will depart for two years to the USA, to Colorado to study the soil ecology of the Great Plains. Specifically, the project that she presented aims to improve the models that explain the decomposition of organic matter in the soil and contribute to the improvement of models of the carbon and nitrogen cycles.

The information captured by Landsat-8 will be published and will serve to advance the research, study and management of our planet, in particular, in the pursuance of agriculture, forest, water consumption or energy management.

A new model of landscape evolution, developed by a group of Catalan and Canadian researchers, identifies that the ability to extinguish fire is essential in the explanation of the fire patterns in Catalan territory. The model also shows that, if current climate trends continue, the burned area could increase by more than 60% in the next 20 years.