RUBIO CASAL , Alfredo Emilio

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: Galapagos is a natural laboratory offering a great opportunity to study plants functional traits. This study characterises morphological and ecophysiological responses of Croton scouleri, an endemic tree that habits from humid and upper elevations to semiarid lowlands, throughout an altitudinal gradient and in a manipulative experiment....

Efforts to understand why some species become successful invaders and why some habitats are more at risk from invasive species is an important research focus in invasion ecology. With current global climate change, evaluation of the effects of shade and drought on cohabiting native and invasive species from extreme ecosystems is especially...

Invasion by the South American cordgrass Spartina densiflora Brongn. in European salt marshes is causing concern about potential impacts to native plant communities., S. densiflora colonization of mid-marsh habitats may be slowed by native Atriplex portulacoides L., but the mechanism behind this negative interaction is not known. The aim of...

Hybridization is a frequent process that leads to relevant evolutionary consequences, but there is a lack of studies regarding the relationships of the variability of the response of parental plant species to environmental gradients and the responses of their hybrids at a phenotypic level. We designed an experiment in which we exposed two...

Wetland loss in many estuaries around the world, has been attributed mainly to undermining and collapse of channel banks. This study aims to quantify bank erosion and vertical erosion/accretion rates on intertidal sediments in the Odiel tidal marshes (SW Spain). Bi-monthly erosion/accretion measurements were taken on eight channels over a four...

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Low and high temperatures are known as most important factors influencing plant performance and distribution. Plants of Lantana camara L. coming from two distinct geographical populations (Iberian Peninsula and Galápagos Islands) were cultivated in a common garden experiment, and their leaves were subjected to thermal treatments (from +20.0 to...

Plant invasions may be limited by low radiation levels in ecosystems such as forests. Lantana camara has been classified among the world's 10 worst weeds since it is invading many different habitats all around the planet. Morphological and physiological responses to different light fluxes were analyzed. L. camara was able to acclimate to...

Germination and emergence of halophytes may decrease significantly by seed burial in dead plant material, or wrack, which is common and abundant in tidal marshes. The effects of plant debris (wrack) burial on seed germination and seedling establishment of Spartina densiflora, an invasive cordgrass, were studied under greenhouse conditions and...

Experimental studies to determine the nature of ecological interactions between invasive and native species are necessary for conserving and restoring native species in impacted habitats. Theory predicts that species boundaries along environmental gradients are determined by physical factors in stressful environments and by competitive ability...

Many tree species from Mediterranean regions have started to show increased rates of crown defoliation, reduced growth, and dieback associated with the increase in temperatures and changes in the frequency and intensity of drought events experienced during the last decades. In this regard, Quercus ilex L. subsp. ballota [Desf.] (Holm oak),...

In recent years, the area dedicated to modern irrigated almond plantations has increased significantly in Spain. However, the legal irrigation allocations are lower than the maximum water requirements of the crop in most cases. Therefore, almond growers are forced to implement regulated deficit irrigation strategies on their farms, applying...

Almond (Prunnus dulcis Mill.) has been traditionally associated to marginal land cultivation and rain-fed agriculture in South Spain. However, in the last years, this crop is being progressively introduced in more productive agricultural areas within the Guadalquivir river basin, where the available water resources are not enough to satisfy the...

This work was conducted over three-year monitoring seasons of three almond cultivars (Guara, Marta, and Lauranne) subjected to deficit irrigation in combination with cover crops in a Mediterranean semiarid area (SW, Spain). Four water–soil treatments were evaluated based on the conjunction of two irrigation strategies: fully irrigated (FI),...

This work was made with mature 'Manzanilla' olive trees in an orchard of a semi-arid area in southern Spain. Three water treatments were considered: Rainfed, in which the trees had rainfall as the only source of water supply; FAO, in which the trees were under localized irrigation to replace the crop water demand, with some roots left in drying...

Chloride (Cl-), traditionally considered harmful for agriculture, has recently been defined as a beneficial macronutrient with specific roles that result in more efficient use of water (WUE), nitrogen (NUE), and CO2 in well-watered plants. When supplied in a beneficial range of 1-5 mM, Cl- increases leaf cell size, improves leaf osmoregulation,...

Chloride (Cl−), traditionally considered harmful for agriculture, has recently been defined as a beneficial macronutrient with specific roles that result in more efficient use of water (WUE), nitrogen (NUE), and CO2 in well-watered plants. When supplied in a beneficial range of 1–5 mM, Cl− increases leaf cell size, improves leaf osmoregulation,...

The need to improve agroecosystem sustainability to secure yields, minimize environmental impacts and improve soil health is widely recognized. Organic production systems are one of the strategies that may be used to alleviate the negative environmental repercussions of conventional agriculture. In the present study, we compared the impact of...

The need to improve agroecosystem sustainability to secure yields, minimize environmental impacts and improve soil health is widely recognized. Organic production systems are one of the strategies that may be used to alleviate the negative environmental repercussions of conventional agriculture. In the present study, we compared the impact of...

Over the last years modeling plant transpiration has been pointed out as a powerful tool to optimize the management of irrigation in fruit trees. In this study we tested the hydromechanical model of stomata functioning proposed by Buckley et al. (2003), a model with a strong physiological basis. The great contribution of this model is that its...

We applied two process-based models in a hedgerow olive orchard with the aim of understanding the limitations and mechanisms behind the control of transpiration in olive trees under drip irrigation. One model is based on the biophysics of water flow through the porous media of soil and xylem. The other is a hydromechanical model based on the...