UAB and CREAF Scientists have demonstrate that the changes involved in the forest structure after a wildfire also imply changes in the animals that lived before. In order to validate its hypothesis, the investigators have studied ones of the most sensible communities to the changes in plant cover: the ant communities.
Islands are specially vulnerable spaces to the invasions of exotic plants. UAB researchers have validated this hypothesis in the case of the Oxalis pes-caprae plant species. They have studied its presence in the Balearic Islands. The results show that Oxalis reproduces much more in the islands than in other Spanish continental zones.
Guerrero has taken part in various scientific projects and is known in Spain as the first person to introduce the theory of microbial ecology. "Without microbes, life on our planet would be impossible", says Guerrero. "From the moment we are born we need bacteria to live".
In nature we can see many examples of adaptable evolution. On of these mechanisms may be seen in the co-evolution of herbivorous insects and the plants they feed on: while prey develop biological defences, the predators react to make themselves insensitive to attack....
A study carried out by the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, undertaken by Alistair Jump, a postdoctoral researcher, and Josep Peñuelas, research professor at the CREAF...
UAB scientists have participated in a international cooperation project in order to study the phenomenon of the El Niño and its impact on surrounding vegetation. Investigators studied the relationship between the development of two species (pallida Prosopis and Prosopis chilensis) and the cycles of the El Niño (who has a very variable intensity)....
Researchers of the UAB are collaborating in an international project aimed to reconstruct the climatic history of our planet. Their laboratory: Los Andes, at more than 4.000 m altitude; their files: the lake sediments from these high altitudes. The study of past climatic records will help us to predict the possible effects of future climate...
