Jordi sardans @en

For millions of years, nature has basically been getting by with just a few elements from the periodic table. Carbon, calcium, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur, magnesium and potassium are the building blocks of almost all life on our planet (tree trunks, leaves, hairs, teeth, etc.). However, to build the world of humans — cities, healthcare products, railways, aeroplanes and their engines, computers, smartphones — we need many more chemical elements.

The journal Science publishes on Friday 21th a perspective article by CREAF researchers Josep Peñuelas and Jordi Sardans on the imbalance of nutrients on Earth, its effects on life and possible solutions.

A model based on machine learning techniques and satellite data can predict whether reducing economic activity reduces pandemic infections. The aim is to better fine-tune the timing and degree of containment measures.

From 1960s since today, the use of nitrogen to fertilize wheat crops has multiplied by 10 in the world, because it improves soil yield. This practice may be directly linked to the high prevalence of celiac disease, a human autoimmune condition.

The test underway will reveal how much atmospheric carbon dioxide soil absorbs with different types of cover crops. CREAF researcher Jordi Sardans is coordinating the study.

The need for inclusive science, ranking bias, brain loss, and the responsibility to train people are the focus of a debate with the 4 CREAF researchers included in the Clarivate index of The Web of Science’s Clarivate index 2020 .

A new study published in Science reveals that the fertilizing effect of excess CO2 on vegetation is decreasing worldwide. The lack of water and nutrients limit the greening observed in recent years and can cause CO2 levels in the atmosphere to rise rapidly, temperatures to increase and there to be increasingly severe changes in the climate.

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.

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.