EMF Newsletter June 2026

2026-06-19

EMF Newsletter June 2026

Activity conducted at EMF between 16/12/2025 and 15/06/2026

Basic support activity

  • Programming support: Joan Rabassa
  • Data management support: Eduard Caballol
  • Statistical support: Annika Frühbeißer, Margaux Didion-Gency, Abiel Teixidó Bonfill
  • Modelling support: M. Didion-Gency (MSCA, Ecophys), Laura Ciot, Eirini Trypidaki, Xavier Domene, Anaïs Jolivet
  • EMF Data and apps support:

Participation in research projects

  • WILDE (EU - Researchers: J.M. Espelta, L. Brotons): Mentoring post-doc hired for the project (R. Balaguer).
  • IMPROMED (Spain - IPs: M. De Cáceres / J.M. Espelta): Improving process-based models in their capability to forecast responses to drought.
  • DRASTIC (Spain - IP: M. Mencuccini): Tree water use and Drought responses: the roles of allometry, water storage and transport under climate change
  • C4N (EU - IP: A. Broekman): Transfer knowledge and best practices, as well as harmonising policies, to tackle the challenges related to biodiversity protection and climate change.
  • TOFU (Catalunya - IP: J. Oliva (UdL)): Healthier forests for a sustainable future. Assisting the development of vulnerability models for the impact of pests and pathogens.
  • CARDIMED (EU - CREAF coordinator: P. Andrés): Climate Adaptation and Resilience Demonstrated In the MEDiterranean region
  • RESFIRE (Spain - IPs: L. Brotons, S. Fraixedas): Assessing the potential of REStoring ecological FIRe regimes as Nature-based Solution to extreme wildfires in Mediterranean ecosystems.
  • STOIKOS (EU - IP: M. Fernández Martínez) Elemental ecology: towards an element-based functional ecology.
  • BLAUCAT (Catalunya - IP CREAF: Annelies Broekman): Estat actual i pla d’acció del carboni blau a Catalunya.

Participation in transfer projects

  • Contract with Centre de la Propietat Forestal (A. Tovar, J. Vayreda, M. De Cáceres, R. Molowny): Evaluation of the effects of changes in silvicultural practices on carbon sequestration and forest function using modelling approaches.
  • Grup de treball de Carboni al Sòl (R. Molowny, Inés Delsman, several CREAF researchers and other 7 Research Centers in Catalonia): Soil carbon modelling for Catalonia (Generalitat).
  • Contract with IMIDRA (R. Molowny): Predicciones de áreas potenciales de especies arbustivas y leñosas de interés apícola de la Comunidad de Madrid en distintos escenarios de cambio climático

Network building

  • M. De Cáceres participated in an international workshop related to project DIV4DROUGHT, lead by Joannès Guillemot & Charlotte Grossiord (Montpellier; 13-17 Apr. 2026).

Training & mentoring

Courses taught:

  • Introduction to Ecological Trajectory Analysis (ETA) (M. De Caceres & Javi de la Casa, 8h, Watering Talents/CREAF).
  • Introductory R course (V. Granda & R. Molowny, 20h, Watering Talents/CREAF)

Mentoring:

  • Ph.D level (co-supervision J.M. Espelta): A. Tovar
  • Ph.D level (co-supervision R. Molowny): F. Andrade (CREAF)
  • Post-doc level: R. Balaguer-Romano (WildE and IMPROMED projects), Susana Silvestre (JdC fellow)

Software & model development

Design and implementation:

  • Internal restructuration to avoid Rcpp structures in package medfate (v. 5.0.0) leading to substantial decrease in computation time.
  • SDMapisost R package for Species Distribution Modeling within the IMIDRA contract.

Model verification/evaluation:

  • Verification exercise comparing the implementation of DAYCENT in package medfate (v. 5.0.0) with the original CENTURY model (v. 4.7).

New software & update releases

  • New version of package meteoland (v.2.2.7) released on CRAN
  • New version of package medfate (v. 5.0.0) released on CRAN
  • New version of package medfateland (v. 3.0.0) released on CRAN
  • New version of package meteospain (v. 0.3.1) released on CRAN
  • Update of the Laboratori Forestal Català (LFC) apps:
    • Maintenance of all apps to keep up to date library dependencies and web tools

New datasets in the EMF catalog

External datasets:

  • GWDD2: The Global Wood Density Database v.2 (GWDD v.2) is a collection of 109,626 taxonomically standardized wood density records and 15,093 additional bark density records.

CREAF datasets:

  • KPLANT: The KPLANT database is a global compilation of whole-plant hydraulic conductance (kplant) measurements, providing harmonised data on plant water transport capacity along the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum.

Publications developing/using EMF tools

  • Balaguer-Romano R, Sañé A, Martin-StPaul N, Ruffault J, Gabriel E, Castro FX, Pimont F, Liu X, Druel A, Delzon S, De Cáceres M (2026) Key sources of uncertainty in process-based modeling of live fuel moisture content. New Phytologist (https://doi.org/10.1111/nph.71286).

  • Spennati E, Mencuccini M, De Cáceres M, Vitale M (2026) Disentanging morphological and environmental drivers of hydraulic dysfunction in tree saplings: a modelling approach. Forest Ecology and Management 615: 123838 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2026.123838).

  • D’Adamo F, De Cáceres M, Espelta JM, Roces-Díaz JV, Descals A, Lloret F, Martínez-Vilalta J (2026) Assessing ecosystem services resilience to drought and its drivers in Mediterranean forests using a conterfactual, process-based modelling approach. Ecosystem Services 79: 101858 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoser.2026.101858).

  • Collado E, De Cáceres M, de-Dios-García J, Rubio-Gutiérrez R, Roženbergar D, Piqué M (2026) Forest management and drought interaction on tree growth in black pine forest across the Mediterranean Basin. Dendrochronologia 96: 126497 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dendro.2026.126497).

  • Sánchez-Dávila J, De Cáceres M, Vayreda J, Retana J (2026). Recent water cycle changes in Spanish forests are driven by stand structure more than climatic changes. Journal of Environmental Management 402: 129070 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2026.129070).

  • Jia Q, Quan X, Resco de Dios V, Yebra M, He B, Li X, Liao Z, Balaguer-Romano R, De Cáceres M (2026) Enhancing two-week live fuel moisture content forecasts through biophysical modelling and remote sensing data assimilation. Remote Sensing of Environment 335: 115267 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2026.115267).

  • Veuillen L, Simioni G, De Cáceres M, Badel E, Carrière SD, Cochard H, Courbet F, Doussan C, Druel A, Ladier J, Prevosto B, Raynal K, MartinSt-Paul N (2026) Thinning does not improve growth resistance to drought, but reduces hydraulic failure risk of Atlas cedar trees on the long term despite vegetation regrowth. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 378: 111019 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111019).

  • Djeghri N, Sturbois A, Hélaouët P, Geissmann Q, Rimmelin-Maury P, Boyé A, Gauthier O, De Cáceres M (2026) Going round in cycles but going somewhere: Deciphering cyclical dynamics using Ecological Trajectory Analysis. Ecological Monographs 96: e70058 (https://doi.org/10.1002/ecm.70058).

  • Djeghri N, Gauthier O, Sturbois A, Meiners SJ, Allen R, De Cáceres M (2026) Uncovering the relative movements of ecological trajectories. Peer Community Journal 6: e54 (https://doi.org/10.24072/pcjournal.736). Rodriguez Morata, C., Lloberas-Milan, G., Molowny-Horas, R., David, P., Tuset, J., Balasch, C., Barriendos, J., Ummenhofer, C., Barriendos, M., and Andreu-Hayles, L.: A long-term perspective of floods in the Spanish Mediterranean Basins from historical archives (1035–2020 CE), EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-22308, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-22308, 2026.

Publications from other collaborations

  • Grünig M, Rammer W, Baumann M, Albrich K, André F, Augustynczik ADL, Bohn FJ, Bouwman M, Bugmann H, Collalti A, Cristal I, Dalmonech D, De Caceres M, De Coligny D, Dobor L, Dollinger C, Forrester DI, Garcia-Gonzalo J, González-Olabarria JR, Hiltner U, Hlásny T, Honkaniemi J, Huber N, Huth A, Jonard M, Jönsson AM, Lagergren F, Mina M, Mohren F, Moos C, Morin X, Muys B, Nieberg M, Peltoniemi M, Reyer CPO, Storms I, Thom D, Toïgo M, Seidl R (2026) Loss of competitive strength in European conifer species under climate change. Communications Earth & Environment 7: 401 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-026-03582-0).

  • Alvarez A, Lecina-Díaz J, De Cáceres M, Vayreda J, Retana J (2026) Effects of fuel types and fire severity on atmospheric pollutant emissions in an extreme wind-driven wildfire. Journal of Forestry Research 37: 86 (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11676-026-01988-2).

Communication

EMF Online impact 16/12/2025 - 15/06/2025

  • EMF Web:
    • Stats: 4910 visits (1130 returning) / 1:48 mins average visit duration / 8312 page views
    • Pages most visited: External data (2277 page views) / External models (935 visits) / Training 581 visits)
  • Laboratori Forestal:
    • ForestDroughtApp: 1202 visits (394 returning) / 5:08 mins average
    • NFI App: 457 visits (200 returning) / 15:07 mins average
    • Meteoland App: 361 visits (93 returning) / 4:39 mins average
    • AllometrApp: 301 visits (125 returning) / 4:18 mins average
    • DEBOSCAT App: 239 visits (94 returning) / 5:07 mins average
    • LiDAR App: 161 visits (24 returning) / 5:06 mins average
    • FES App: 110 visits (18 returning) / 3:17 mins average
Ecosystem Modelling Facility
Ecosystem Modelling Facility

WHAT WE DO
  • Research in process based modelling of terrestrial ecosystems
  • Provide training and technical support for modelling activities to research groups at CREAF.
  • Develop and promote the use of process-based and empirical models aimed at predicting the response of terrestrial ecosystems to global change at multiple scales from the forest stand to the region.
  • Facilitate discovery of data sets or models relevant for ecosystem modelling activities.
  • Develop tools aimed at facilitating the interoperability between data sources and models, and between different models.
  • Develop and maintain interactive web applications for ecosystem data exploration and visualization.
CONTACT

Campus de Bellaterra (UAB) Edifici C

08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès

EcosystemModellingFacility@creaf.uab.cat

@ecosystemmodelf.bsky.social

This action is part of the Severo Ochoa "ULandscape" funded in 2019 by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation to support Research Centres of Excellence.

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