RESTICFOR

The objective of RESTICFOR is to enhance the potential of natural-borne soil fungi to restore and preserve iconic forests in Spain.

This project addresses the issue of Conservation of critical ecosystems in Spain from the area of Sciences of the Natural Environment. In the past decades, Spanish forests have been facing a novel scenario where deforestation does not pose a major threat to their conservation anymore. Instead, profound socioeconomic changes have led to the expansion of forested areas into abandoned agricultural farms and livestock pastures. Yet, the history of land use and current climate change scenario compromise the long-term functionality of these expanding forests and their ability to mitigate climate change. Specifically, land use history has a dramatic impact on the diversity and physiochemical properties of the soil.

Given the key role of the soil for the maintenance of forest functionality and for carbon storage, we urgently need to implement measures that enhance the role of the soil in the recovery and expansion of these novel forests under future climate change. RESTICFOR addresses how legacy effects derived from historic land use changes have an imprint on the hidden soil biodiversity and on forest functioning of some of the most iconic forest formations in Spain, under contrasting climatic scenarios. The specific project objectives (PO) are:

• PO1. To assess the impact of land-use change on the diversity and functioning of the soil fungal community under contrasting climatic scenarios and forest types.
• PO2. To characterize communities of soil fungi that enhance soil carbon sequestration.
• PO3. To quantify the climate change mitigation potential of different forest soil types in relation to their physicochemical properties and soil fungal community.
• PO4. To identify priority areas for the joint conservation of forest soil biodiversity and the provisioning of ecosystem services.