- Hydrology and
biogeochemistry of terrestrial ecosystems (old times, no longer active)
- - I was primarily interested in the role of vegetation in shaping the water and nutrient balances of Mediterranean forests. One of the main results obtained was a better understanding of the role of potential evapotranspiration in the partition of rainfall between actual evapotranspiration and runoff in different climates. As the research progressed, I became more interested in understanding the vegetation and soil processes that determined the chemistry of streamwater, in particular in relation to the carbonic system. Most of the research was conducted at the experimental catchments of Prades and Montseny, in NE Spain. This work was done during my doctoral and early post-doctoral years.
- - The main collaborators during this period were Antoni Escarré (Univ. of Alacant), Anna Àvila and Ferran Rodà (CREAF-UAB) and Keith Beven (Lancaster Univ.).
- - Selected publications:
- - Piñol J. Lledó MJ & Escarré A. 1991. Hydrological balance of two mediterranean forested catchments. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 36: 95-107
- - Piñol J & Avila A. 1992. Streamwater pH, alkalinity, pCO2 and discharge relationships in some forested mediterranean catchments. Journal of Hydrology 131: 205-225 -- pdf
- - Piñol J. Avila A & Rodà F. 1992. The seasonal variation of streamwater chemistry in three forested Mediterranean catchments. Journal of Hydrology 140: 119-141 -- pdf
- - Avila A, Piñol J, Rodà F & Neal C. 1992. Storm solute behaviour in a montane Mediterranean forested catchment. Journal of Hydrology, 140 143-161 -- pdf
- - Neal C, Neal M, Warrington A, Avila A, Piñol J & Rodà F. 1992. Stable hydrogen and oxygen isotope studies of rainfall and stream waters for two contrasting holm oak areas of Catalonia, north-eastern Spain. Journal of Hydrology 140: 163-178 -- pdf
- - Rodà F, Bellot J, Escarré A, Avila A, Piñol J & Terradas J. 1993. Saharan dust and the atmospheric inputs of elements to Mediterranean Ecosystems. Water Air & Soil Pollution 66: 277-288
- - Avila A, Bonilla D, Rodà F, Piñol J & Neal C. 1995. Soilwater chemistry in a holm oak (Quercus ilex) forest: inferences on biogeochemichal processes for a montane-Mediterranean area. Journal of Hydrology 166: 15-35 -- pdf
- - Piñol J, Alcañiz JM, & Rodà F. 1995. Carbon dioxide efflux and pCO2 of three Quercus ilex montane forests. Biogeochemistry 30: 191-215
- - Piñol J, Beven K, & Freer J. 1997. Modelling the hydrological response of Mediterranean catchments, Prades, Catalonia - The use of distributed models as aids to hypothesis formulation. Hydrological Processes 11: 1287-1306 -- pdf
- Forest fires
- - I first became involved in research on forest fires after the devastating fire season that ocurred in Spain in 1994. My first studies focused on methodologies to estimate fire risk, in particular using meteorological indices and measurements (or estimations) of the moisture content of fine fuels. More recently, I directed my attention to the understanding of fire regimes in Mediterranean regions, and, in particular, to the role of fuel build-up in increasing the number and magnitude of very large fires.
- - Selected publications:
- - Piñol J, Terradas J, & Lloret F. 1998. Climate warming, wildfire hazard, and wildfire occurrence in coastal eastern Spain. Climatic Change 38: 345-357 -- pdf
- - Piñol J, Filella I, Ogaya R & Peñuelas J. 1998. Ground-based spectroradiometric estimation of fine live fuel moisture of Mediterranean plants. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 90: 173-186 -- pdf
- - Salvador R, Piñol J, Tarantola S & Pla E. 2001. Global sensitivity analysis and scale effects of a fire propagation model used over Mediterranean shrublands. Ecological Modelling 136:175-189 -- pdf
- - Viegas DX, Piñol J, Viegas MT & Ogaya R. 2001. Estimating live fine fuels moisture content using Meteorologically-based indices. International Journal of Wildland Fire 10:223-240 -- pdf
- - Piñol J, Beven K & Viegas DX. 2005. Modelling the effect of fire-exclusion and prescribed fire on wildfire size in Mediterranean ecosystems Ecological Modelling 183:397-409 -- pdf
- - Salvador R, Lloret F, Pons X & Piñol J. 2005. Does fire occurrence modify the probability of being burned again? A null hypothesis test from Mediterranean Ecosystems in NE Spain. Ecological Modelling 188:461-469 -- pdf
- - Piñol J, Castellnou M, & Beven K. 2007. Condicioning uncertainty in ecological models: assessing the impact of fire management strategies. Ecological Modelling 207:34-44 -- pdf
- - Lloret F, Pinol J, & Castellnou M. 2009. Wildfires. In: Woodward JC (ed.) The Physical Geography of the Mediterranean. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 541-558
- - Loepfe L, Martinez-Vilalta J, Oliveres J, Piñol J, Lloret F. 2010. Feedbacks between fuel reduction and landscape homogenization determine fire regimes in three Mediterranean areas. Forest Ecology and Management, 249:2366-2374
- Transport of
water in woody plants
- - The original question was to establish whether the species that were more resistant to xylem embolism were also more resistant to drought. Very soon we realized that things were not that simple and that plants have an array of possible adaptations to cope with water stress. Besides a first study in the Northern Rocky Mountains, most of this research was conducted at the experimental station of Prades (NE Spain). We also wrote a couple of papers devoted to practical labs on the hydraulics of water transport in woody plants. Recently, we have started to consider the xylem as a complex system, that is, consisting of many elements (vessels) interconnected by pores. We are currently studying, from a theoretical point of view, the role of the connectivity of the system on the hydraulic properties of the xylem and on its resistance to embolism.
- - Jordi Martinez-Vilalta is the person leading this research line at the moment.
- - Selected publications:
- - Piñol J & Sala A. 2000. Ecological implications of xylem cavitation for several Pinaceae in the Pacific Northern USA. Functional Ecology 14:538-545 -- pdf
- - Martínez-Vilalta J & Piñol J. 2002. Drought-induced mortality and hydraulic architecture in pine populations of the NE Iberian Peninsula Forest Ecology and Management 161:247-256 -- pdf
- - Martínez-Vilalta J, Piñol J & Beven K. 2002. A hydraulic model to predict drought-induced mortality in woody plants: an application to climate change in the Mediterranean Ecological Modelling 155:127-147 -- pdf
- - Martínez-Vilalta J, Prat E, Oliveras I & Piñol J. 2002. Xylem hydraulic properties of roots and stems of nine Mediterranean woody species Oecologia 133:19-29 -- pdf
- - Martínez-Vilalta J, Mangirón M, Ogaya R, Sauret M, Serrano L, Peñuelas J, & Piñol J. 2003. Sap flow of three co-occurring Mediterranean woody species under varying atmospheric and soil water conditions. Tree Physiology 23:747-758 -- pdf
- - Oliveras I, Martínez-Vilalta J, Jiménez-Ortiz T, Lledó MJ, Escarré A & Piñol J. 2003. Hydraulic properties of Pinus halepensis, Pinus pinea and Tetraclinis articulata in a dune ecosystem of Eastern Spain Plant Ecology 169:131-141 -- pdf
- - Martínez-Vilalta J, Sauret M, Duró A & Piñol J. 2003. Make your own transpiring tree. Journal of Biological Education 38:32-35 -- pdf
- - Martínez-Vilalta J & Piñol J. 2004. A plumber's-eye view of xylem water transport in woody plants. Journal of Biological Education 38:137-141 -- pdf
- - Martínez-Vilalta J, Sala A & Piñol J. 2004. The hydraulic architecture of Pinaceae. Plant Ecology 171:3-13 -- pdf
- - Loepfe L, Martinez-Vilalta J, Piñol J, & Mencuccini M. 2007. The relevance of xylem network structure for plant hydraulic efficiency and safety. Journal of Theoretical Biology 247:788-803 -- pdf
- - Poyatos R, Villagarcía L, Domingo F, Piñol J & Llorens P. 2007. Modelling evapotranspiration in a Scots pine stand under Mediterranean mountain climate using the GLUE methodology. Agriculture and Forest Meteorology, 46: 13-28 -- pdf
- - Mencuccini M, Martinez-Vilalta J, Piñol J, Loepfe L Burnat M, Alvarez X, Camacho J, Gil D. 2010. A quantitative and robust method for the determination of xylem conduit spatial distribution. American Journal of Botany. 97:1247-1259
- Dynamics and
structure of arthropod communities (most active now)
- - I started in 2002 a study of the arthropods community in an organic citrus grove in Tarragona (NE Spain). This study was conceived as a long-term research with two main objectives: (1) to understand the species interactions and the food web of a simple community; (2) to find pest control techniques compatible with organic practices for citrus. The methodology consists of periodic samplings of individuals of the tree canopies and in the ground, in experiments at community level, and in modelling. Experiments conducted so far have been the exclusion of ants from the canopies (9 years) and the exclusion of birds from the trees (3 years).
- - Selected publications:
- - Ribes J, Piñol J, Cañellas N, Espadaler X. 2004. Heterópteros de un cultivo ecológico de cítricos de Tarragona (NE España) (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) Orsis 19:21-35 -- pdf
- - Cañellas N, Piñol J, Espadaler X. 2005. Las tijeretas (Dermaptera, Forficulidae) en el control del pulgón en cítricos. Boletín de Sanidad Vegetal - Plagas 31: 161-169 -- pdf (quite large, 7.6 Mb! -- it has many photographs of the stomatal content of earwigs)
- - Piñol J, Espadaler X, Cañellas N, Barrientos JA, Muñoz J, Pérez N, Ribes E, Ribes E. 2008. Artrópodos de un campo ecológico de mandarinos. Ses. Entom. ICHN-SCL, 13-14: 57-72 -- pdf
- - Piñol J, Espadaler X, Cañellas N, & Perez N. 2009. Effects of the concurrent exclusion of ants and earwigs on aphid abundance in an organic citrus grove. Biocontrol, 54:515-527 -- pdf
- - Piñol J, Espadaler X, Pérez N & Beven KJ. 2009. Testing a new model of aphid abundance with sedentary and non-sedentary predators. Ecological Modelling, 220:2469-2480 -- pdf
- - Piñol J, Espadaler X, Cañellas N, Martínez-Vilalta J, Barrientos JA & Sol D. 2010. Ant vs. bird exclusion effects on the arthropod assemblage of an organic citrus grove. Ecological Entomology, 35:367-376
- - Romeu-Dalmau C, Expadaler X, Piñol J. 2010. A simple method to differentially exclude ants from tree canopies based on ant body size. Methods in Ecology and Evolution, 1:188-191