Line of action:

Knowledge generation and management

Status:

En ejecución

Spatial scale of work:

Andalusia (Almeria, Granada) and the Region of Murcia

Line of research:

Desertification, degradation and land restoration

Execution date:

2023

Duration:

01/04/2023 - 31/12/2025

Total budget:

€299,864.24

Amount of aid from the Biodiversity Foundation:

€284,871.03 (95%)

Coordinating entity:

University of Cordoba

The project aims to contribute to the generation of useful knowledge for the fight against desertification, studying the vulnerability and resilience of a representative sample of forest ecosystems in the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. Under constant climate stress, forest ecosystems are more vulnerable to various disturbances that modify the natural dynamics of the ecosystem and generate rupture points that can lead to stable but degraded situations. The study of the spatiotemporal dynamics of these forest ecosystems in relation to these drivers of change can help to identify these points, as well as the previous signals that precede them. The results obtained will be useful in the design of concrete management actions aimed at curbing desertification and minimizing its effects.

Some of the actions included in the project are:

• Study and characterization of forest decay in an aridity gradient.
• Spatiotemporal characterization of the expansion and impact of three invasive exotic plants in an aridity gradient.
• Characterization of recovery trajectories after fire in an aridity gradient.
• Simulation of the spatiotemporal expansion of invasive exotic plants.
• Simulation of vegetation dynamics after extreme disturbances.
• Design of mechanisms for translating the results obtained into land management procedures in the study areas.