Boscos

Close your eyes and think of the most solid living organism you know of. Did you think of a tree? Trees are solid, still, and impervious to the passing of time, right? Well, wrong actually. In reality, the trunk of a tree beats: it shrinks in the daytime due to water loss and swells at night as it rehydrates via the tree’s roots. That beat, according to a study published recently in Nature Communications, is weakened by heatwaves.

At CREAF we are moved by ecology, but also by art. PThat's why we took part in a day organised by the artists Agustín Ortiz Herrera and Carola Moujan, residents of our Can Balasc station, in collaboration with the creative factory La Escocesa. The day allowed us to reflect on the meaning and significance of the forest and its elements in the social, historical, symbolic and biological spheres.

A new international study demonstrates the crucial role of micro-organisms on tree leaves in removing nitrogenous compounds from the air. The study shows that trees are not only excellent at absorbing carbon dioxide, but also play a surprising role in retaining and transforming other pollutants such as nitrogenous compounds. 

On 7 November, the European Parliament was the venue for an unprecedented seminar entitled "The need for forest management. The case of Mediterranean forests", organised by Catalan MEP Jordi Solé, vice-president of the Greens/EFA parliamentary group. The seminar opened with a welcome address by Jordi Solé, who presented the critical context of forests in Catalonia. The event was attended by leading figures in the field from various research centres and institutions, including CREAF.

CREAF pre-doctoral researcher Gerard Codina has received the 'Impulsa Barraquer Grant' awarded by the Barraquer Ophthalmology Centre, which will co-finance part of his doctoral thesis and promote his research on the resilience of Mediterranean forests. This is the first grant for forestry research as part of the first call for grants from the Forests of the Future Fund, recently launc

The scientific community has already shown that forests growing in a climate unsuitable for them, such as a spruce in a dry climate, are easily more affected by forest diseases or pest attacks.

The recent study 'A systematic global stocktake of evidence on human adaptation to climate change' published in Nature Communications shows that the measures taken are fragmented, local and not transformative. CREAF calls for more integrated and coordinated measures capable of reducing the risk that climate change poses to people.

CREAF is taking part on an international project to plant a tree for every inhabitant of Europe following scientific methodologies and knowledge. The goal: to mitigate the effects of climate change and improve the planet's environmental health.