Josep Maria Espelta

I am a forest ecologist. My current research focuses on the interaction among land use changes, particularly forest expansion after rural abandonment, and climate change. My aim is to investigate the influence of land use legacies in forest dynamics and whether recently established forests are more or less resilient to climate change than long-existing ones. Under this uncertain ecological scenario, I am interested in the factors driving tree growth and their sensitivity to climate, the variability on seed production, the balance among positive and negative plant-animal interactions (seed predation or dispersal) and, finally, the determinants of tree recruitment . Ultimately, I would like my research contributed in designing more efficient and adaptive forestry practices