Two visiting scientists

Written on July 2nd, 2015October 24th, 2016.

Two guest researchers are currently staying at our group:

Maiby Y. Pérez Darniz is an agronomist from the ‘Instituto de Ingeniería Agrícola, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad Central de Venezuela’, Maracay, Aragua. She is professor in the department of agricultural mechanization and machinery for the agricultural production of pre and postgraduate studies since 1996. Her research focuses on physical and mechanical properties of the soil, tillage systems, interaction soil – machine, and indicators of soil physical quality postharvest. She will stay at our group between May and August 2015.

Francisco Bautista Zúñiga, biologist (PhD in biology, ecology and environmental sciences), working at the CIGA (Centro de Investigaciones en Geografía Ambiental), de la UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), Morelia, Michoacán. He is professor since 1988, currently in Geo-pedology, formerly in environmental impact, soil science, ecology and environmental sciences. He performs research on evaluation of land and planning in rural and urban environments, the soil magnetic properties and their applications: pollution, classification, mapping and use of fire in agriculture. He will stay at our group from April 2015 until February 2016.

Free access to a new paper in Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Written on June 18th, 2015.

A new paper was published by our group on soil organic carbon dynamics following afforestation of semiarid shrublands.

Paper highlights:

Afforestation with Pinus halepensis promoted soil C sequestration.
Afforestation led to long-term changes in fungal but not in bacterial populations.
Changes in soil C pools and fungal taxa increased soil aggregation and C stocks.
Soil organic carbon was stabilized in microaggregates whithin macroaggregates.
Physical-chemical stabilization of OC is a key aspect to maintaining soil C stocks.

The paper will freely available for 50 days from here.

Summer school SOGLO

Written on June 11th, 2015.

From 6-10 July 2015, the SOGLO project organizes an interesting summer school that will provide young scientists with an overview of the novel techniques that contribute to the quantification of weathering rates and cycling of major elements such as C and Si in the soil system. Hands-on experience will allow young researchers to gain skills in these analytical techniques.

For more details on the program, instructors and presenters click here.

Deadline for registration is: 15th of June

KNAW colloquium

Written on April 17th, 2015May 26th, 2015.

The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences invited Nacho Querejeta to present a lecture during the Academy Colloquium: “Climate models revisited: the biogeochemical consequences of mycorrhizal dynamics”. The colloquium was held in Amsterdam, 8-10 April 2015, and was organized by Dr K Rebel (Utrecht University), Prof M van der Heijden (Agroscope, Switzerland) and Dr R Phillips (Indiana University). The venue for the colloquium was the seat of the Academy, the 17th century “Trippenhuis” in the centre of Amsterdam. Participation in the colloquium was by invitation only and was limited to 30 invited scholars, of which twelve were invited speakers. The title of Dr. Querejeta’s lecture was “Mycorrhizal mediation of plant responses to forecasted climate change in a Mediterranean semiarid shrubland”.

Free access to a new paper in Catena

Written on November 24th, 2014March 30th, 2015.

A new paper published by members of our group discusses the influence of catchment morphology, lithology and land use on soil organic carbon export in a Mediterranean mountain region.

Paper highlights:

Lithology and morphometric factors control total Carbon export through soil erosion.
Large forest cover leads to higher Carbon concentration in sediments but not to higher Carbon export.
Morphometric factors are associated with higher variability of Carbon concentration in sediments.

The paper will freely available for 50 days from here.

PhD defence Noelia García Franco

Written on October 30th, 2014March 30th, 2015.

We are happy to inform that the 15th of September our colleague Noelia García Franco successfully defended her PhD thesis (Cum Laude) entitled ‘Carbon Sequestration Mechanisms in Semiarid Soils according to Land Use and Management Practices’.

The full text of her thesis is available from here.

PhD awards Cristina Moreno-Gutiérrez

Written on October 30th, 2014March 30th, 2015.

We are proud to inform that Cristina Moreno-Gutiérrez was awarded two prestigious prices for her PhD thesis in 2014:

Premio Extraordinario de Doctorado de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid
VIII Premio Ibérico a la mejor tesis doctoral en investigación sobre Relaciones Hídricas de las Plantas, otorgado conjuntamente por las Sociedades Española y Portuguesa de Fisiología Vegetal

Her thesis entitled ‘Plant water use strategies in natural and afforested pine woodlands of the semiarid Iberian SE (Estrategias de utilización del agua por las plantas en pinares naturales y de repoblación del sureste ibérico)’ can be downloaded from here.

Congratulations Cristina!

Una 'inyección' de vida a los suelos murcianos

Newspaper article explaining our research

Written on September 9th, 2014March 30th, 2015.

Today a newspaper article was published in a regional newspaper from Murcia (‘la Verdad’) explaining our groups work on the assessment and evaluation of aspects of desertification, climate change and possibilities of adaptation and mitigation through sustainable land use and management strategies in semiarid environments of SE Spain.

For the full article click here or see la Verdad (spanish).

PhD defence Joris Eekhout

Written on May 26th, 2014March 30th, 2015.

On Friday 9th May our colleague Joris Eekhout successfully defended his PhD thesis at Wageningen University (The Netherlands).

His PhD thesis is entitled: “Morphological Processes in Lowland Streams – Implications for Stream Restoration”.

The full text of the thesis is freely available by clicking here.

Follow Joris Eekhout on Twitter for recent research updates and visit his homepage for his research background and publications.

New paper in open Discussion (HESS)

Written on May 26th, 2014March 30th, 2015.

A new study by our group is now under open discussion in open access Journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences:

Boix-Fayos et al., Coupling sediment flow-paths with organic carbon dynamics across a Mediterranean catchment. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions. Open discussion until 10th of July 2014.

You are very welcome to participate in the discussions!

Soil and Water Conservation Research Group

Spanish National Research Council, CEBAS-CSIC