https://hdl.handle.net/10481/46695 Fri, 17 Apr 2026 06:51:51 GMT 2026-04-17T06:51:51Z https://hdl.handle.net/10481/110296 Altitudinal Patterns and Changes in the Composition of High Mountain Plant Communities Lorite Moreno, Juan; Lamprecht, Andrea; Peñas De Giles, Julio; Rondinel Mendoza, Katy Virginia; Fernández-Calzado, Rosa; Benito, Blas; Cañadas Sánchez, Eva María Sierra Nevada, comprising 2348 vascular flora taxa (including 95 endemic taxa) is considered one of the most important plant hotspots within the Mediterranean region. Sierra Nevada presents 362 taxa inhabiting the alpine area (ca. 242 km2), 75 endemic species (62 endemic plus 13 sub-endemic) among them, constituting ca. 79% of the endemism of the entire area. This high-mountain has preserved many species, allowing the current presence of many artic-alpine species, including twelve cold-adapted species with their southernmost limit here. There are 23 nano-hotspots, most of them occurring at the highest altitude, at the coldest parts. Altogether, they host 30% of the Baetic endemic flora in just 0.07% of the area. Plant communities are also original, and they are composed of a mixture of Alpine and Mediterranean species. Climate change is strongly impacting alpine biota leading to an adaptation to the new conditions. When this adaptation capacity is overcome species are forced to migrate to avoid extinction. Some responses are already noticeable in alpine areas, such as: phenological changes, altitudinal movements, increasing competition and hybridization, and changes in plant assemblages. Direct impact related to human activities such as livestock grazing, use of fire to manage alpine pasturelands, mountain agriculture, outdoor activities, and infrastructure construction have additive effects to climate change, and altogether they can exacerbate negative changes. Monitoring, evaluating, and understanding the effect of global change in the Mediterranean mountains is a top priority. We offer guidelines to orient the conservation agenda at Sierra Nevada: To (i) establish an early warning indicators system, (ii) preserve plant species and habitats, (iii) preserve threatened plant species ex situ, (iv) promote adaptive management measures, (v) evaluate outdoor recreation activities, and (vi) control and regulate activities. To all the researchers and naturalists that have been studied the Sierra Nevada during the last 150 years. Project B1-RNM-163-UGR18-Programa Operativo FEDER, 2018 partially funded this research. The Direction and the staff of National Park of Sierra Nevada provided permissions and greatly assisted the fieldwork. Staff of the Agencia de Medio Ambiente y Agua de Andalucía collaborated in some ongoing and past projectsthat supported this chapter. GLORIA coordination team at University of Vienna established the permanent plots to follow the changes in plant communities, and it still supports and gives technical advice. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/110296 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/107861 Leaf traits linked to herbivory in lineages with Mediterranean-Macaronesian distributions: does an island syndrome in plant defence exist? García-Verdugo, Carlos; Moreira, Xoaquín; Caujapé-Castells, Juli; Flexas, Jaume Island-mainland comparisons offer an excellent framework to improve our understanding about phenotypic evolution, including particular plant traits associated with defence against herbivores. In this chapter, we provide an overview of leaf phenotypic traits putatively related to plant defence on islands, with a focus on lineages spanning mainland Mediterranean and Macaronesian island distributions. The information available to date shows that Macaronesian plants inhabiting lowland island habitats typically display large leaves, high concentrations of phenolic compounds in leaves and low photosynthetic rates as compared to their mainland counterparts. Such phenotypic convergence provides strong evidence of an island syndrome, but does not support the prediction that, due to the evolutionary absence of large herbivores, Macaronesian plant endemics have systematically lost or lowered their defences as compared to mainland closely-related species. We argue that biogeographical and climatic factors should also be considered to achieve a more complete understanding of insularity effects on the evolution of defence-related traits in plants. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/107861 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/104192 Evidencias paleobotánicas de la presencia de Tetraclinis en la Península Ibérica y su carácter natural. CL Fernández Jiménez, Santiago El origen de las poblaciones europeas de Tetraclinis ha sido materia de controversia durante muchísimo tiempo, fundamentalmente porque el registro fósil de plantas se basa casi siempre en evidencias polínicas. En microscopía óptica los granos de polen de Tetraclinis no se diferencian del resto de las cupresáceas, por lo que en este capítulo de libro se circunscribe la evidencia de este taxon a los macrorrestros fósiles.; The origin of European populations of Tetraclinis has long been a matter of controversy, primarily because the plant fossil record is almost always based on pollen evidence. Under optical microscopy, the pollen grains of Tetraclinis are indistinguishable from those of other Cupressaceae, so in this book chapter, the evidence for this taxon is limited to macrofossil remains. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/104192 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/89104 Advances in the Knowledge of Medicinal Plants in Eastern Andalusia, Spain Benítez Cruz, Guillermo; Molero Mesa, Joaquín; González-Tejero García, María Reyes https://hdl.handle.net/10481/89104