Fire regimes shape diversity and traits of vegetation under different climatic conditions.

Changes in climate and land use are altering fire regimes in many regions across the globe. This work aims to study the influence of wildfire recurrence and burn severity on woody community structure and plant functional traits under different environmental conditions. We selected three study sites along a Mediterranean-Oceanic climatic gradient, where we studied the fire history and burn severity of the last wildfire.

Fire-induced pine woodland to shrubland transitions in Southern Europe may promote shifts in soil fertility.

Since the mid of the last century, fire recurrence has increased in the Iberian Peninsula and in the overall Mediterranean basin due to changes in land use and climate. The warmer and drier climate projected for this region will further increase the risk of wildfire occurrence and recurrence. Although the impact of wildfires on soil nutrient content in this region has been extensively studied, still few works have assessed this impact on the basis of fire recurrence.

Daily, seasonal and monthly variations in ozone levels recorded at the Turia river basin in Valencia (Eastern Spain).

Introduction: The Turia river basin, located in the east of the Iberian Peninsula, drains into the Mediterranean Sea near the city of Valencia (population, 814,208). The predominance of sea-breeze fluxes favours the inland transport of pollutants from the city up the basin where ozone concentrations exceeding the threshold for protection of human health are systematically recorded during the summer months.

Methods: This work analyses the variability in ozone levels by examining their spatial and temporal distribution in a Mediterranean river basin downwind from a city within the period 2005-2008.