DÍAZ ANTUNES-BARRADAS , María Cruz

En la naturaleza se pueden separar dos tipos de estructuras: Cristalinas y disipativas. Las primeras se mantienen indefinidamente (en ausencia de perturbación), las segundas, contrariamente, requieren para mantenerse un flujo continuo de energía (y a veces de materia) siendo sede de procesos disipativos permanentes (PRIGOGINE, 1983). Las...

Question(s): The aim of this work was to characterize the main water sources used by the woody plant community of a semi-arid coastal dune ecosystem. We ask: Do the seasonal water sources used by plants differ between functional types? Does the seasonal drought promote shifts towards deeper soil layers in all plants? Does greater use of deep...

In this study, we aimed to explore regeneration possibilities of Corema album (L.) D. Don by determining germination mechanisms and testing vegetative propagation methods. We analyzed seed viability under natural conditions, carried out germination treatments and a greenhouse experiment to study clonal propagation. We confirmed that C. album...

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Invasive plants can spread over climatically diverse areas. We explore the effects of drought on gas exchange and water relations on the invasive dune species Oenothera drummondii, using plants from four populations with different rainfall and temperatures regimes. Plant material was obtained germinating plants from one native and three...

Drought stress is one of the major abiotic stress factors shifting the physiology and metabolism of the plants. In semiarid areas, drought stress events are often recurrent, and plants have developed strategies to remember a first so-called priming stress to eventually respond more effectively to a second triggering stress. In this study, we...

Predicted droughts and anthropogenic water use will increase groundwater lowering rates and intensify groundwater limitation, particularly for Mediterranean semi-arid ecosystems. These hydrological changes may be expected to elicit differential functional responses of vegetation either belowground or aboveground. Yet, our ability to predict the...

Osyris lanceolata is a hemiparasitic dioecious shrub species growing on stabilised dunes. This study aimed to determine the spatial structure of O. lanceolata and its hosts, to understand the ecophysiological mechanisms involved in water and nutrient transfer, and quantify the physiological stress on its hosts. In the Asperillo stabilised dunes...

Oenothera drummondii is a native species from the coastal dunes of the Gulf of Mexico that has nowadays extended to coastal areas in temperate zones all over the world, its invasion becoming a significant problem locally. The species grows on back beach and incipient dunes, where it can suffer flooding by seawater, and sea spray. We were...

Background and Aims: Reproductive costs imply trade-offs in resource distribution at the physiological level, expressed as changes in future growth and/or reproduction. In dioecious species, females generally endure higher reproductive effort, although this is not necessarily expressed through higher somatic costs, as compensatory mechanisms...

Groundwater lowering can produce dramatic changes in the physiological performance and survival of plant species. The impact of decreasing water availability due to climate change and anthropogenic groundwater extraction on coastal dune ecosystems has become of increasing concern, with uncertainties about how vegetation will respond in both the...

The main objective of this paper was to look into the morphological differentiation patterns and phenotypic plasticity in four populations of Argania spinosa with environmentally contrasted conditions. Mean response, magnitude and pattern of morphological intra- and inter-population plasticity indexes were measured and analyzed in order to...

Photochemical efficiency, gas exchange, leaf water potential, pigment content and free proline content of Oenothera drummondii subsp. drummondii Hook (an invasive non-native species) and Achillea maritima (L.) Ehrend. & Y.P. Guo, (an ecologically similar native species) were explored to understand the success of invasive non-native species in...

Under natural conditions, light exposure for Mediterranean shrubs can be highly variable, especially during cloudy days or under a canopy, and can interfere with other environmental factors such as temperature and water availability. With the aim of decoupling the effect of radiation and temperature from water availability, we conducted an...

In dioecious species, traits may have evolved because of significantly different resource demands associated with male versus female sexual reproduction. It is generally assumed that females have higher reproductive costs, thereafter in long-lived species, males often exceed females in vigour and suffer lower physiological limitations under...

Argania spinosa is an example of an avoider tree growing under semi-arid conditions in Morocco. To assess what are the physiological strategies of this species, different variables were measured through an annual cycle in two populations located in the species' main distribution area. Results show the expected decrease of leaf water potential...

In South-western Morocco, water scarcity and high temperature are the main factors determining species survival. Argania spinosa (L.) Skeels is a tree species, endemic to Morocco, which is suffering from ongoing habitat shrinkage. Argan trees play essential local ecological and economic roles: protecting soils from erosion, shading different...