Recently, my friend Paul Zedler raised a question between insidious and philosophical: our scientific procedure based on searching for processes and establishing causal relationships, has no significance unless it translates into actions. I had no other option than accept the premise, otherwise I would get exposed at the top of the infamous ivory tower.

A study involving three CREAF researchers has found that plants with low nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations in their leaves do not reproduce every year to enable them to reproduce on a huge scale in years in which conditions are right. Oaks, holm oaks and beeches are examples of trees that behave in such a way.

Iceland’s grasslands and living organisms react strongly to warming in an initial period of five to eight years, the ecosystem will have returned to a steady state closer to its original state when more than 50 years have elapsed.
This is what shows a recent research published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. This finding will help scientists work out how climate change is set to affect the planet’s different ecosystems. 

A work by CSIC and CREAF scientists highlights that wild plants are more fertile and more resistant to pests than traditional crop varieties because their roots release substances that help them to capture more nutrients and fight pathogenic bacteria and fungi in the soil. If these natural properties were transferred to conventional cultivated varieties, agricultural yield could be improved and the ecological impacts of pesticides and industrial fertilizers reduced.

CREAF, as Severo Ochoa center, is a host organization of INPhINIT Incoming and offers up to 9 research projects to be carried out in a multidisciplinary and international research team.

A study published in the journal Organisms Diversity & Evolution has shown that it is variation between populations and not, as previously thought, between sexes that determines whether Hermann’s tortoises have four or five digits on their front feet.

At this time of year, deciduous trees across Europe are losing the last of their leaves. When will they come into leaf again? A study just published in Nature Communications has shown that while year-to-year leafing date variations can be explained by heat accumulation, local climate is a key factor in geographical variations.

Published in the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences), a study to which the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and CREAF have contributed has revealed that the time for which forests retain carbon has fallen by between 0.2% and 0.3% every year in recent decades. Plant mortality is rising due to higher carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels and, in particular, warming and droughts.

The journals Environmental Research Letters and Scientific Reports have recently published two articles in which researchers from the Forest Science and Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) and CREAF call for new policies to be oriented to improving the conservation of endangered species.

CREAF is a firm believer in scientific cooperation and, accordingly, the international dimension of its activity is constantly growing. This year has taken Olga Roig and Josep Maria Espelta to the UK and Lebanon to attend meetings on the forestry sector and environmental policies.