2. Ecology and management of isolated ecosystems and fragmented landscapes (islands, wetlands and forest fragments)

Populations inhabiting naturally isolated ecosystems, such as islands and wetlands, are particularly sensitive to demographic and genetic effects – and, for that reasons, dependent on colonization events that rely on long-distance dispersal. Though operating at largely different time scales, the structure and functioning of such ecosystems largely depends on the interplay between local colonization and extinction rates, and the effect of demographic and evolutionary responses thereupon.

A comparable case can be found in ecosystems that become increasingly fragmented due to human action – the most common example being forest ecosystems. In such systems, the increase reliance on long-distance dispersal for fragment recolonization, necessary to compensate for the increase in local extinctions, is generally accompanied by a loss of efficient dispersers

Our research focus on quantifying the factors modulating the occurrence of long-distance dispersal events, and their effects on the colonization and population dynamics of the species occurring in such ecosystems. We pay particular attention to the effect of priority effects and indirect effects, mediated by habitat modification by keystone species. Examples of our study systems include:

- Local and long-distance dispersal of plants at island communities (Sa Dragonera Islet and Cabrera Archipelago, Mallorca, NE Spain).

- Dispersal, colonization and extinction in aquatic plant communities, at natural and restored wetlands of the Doñana marshes (Huelva, SW Spain).

- The effect of forest fragmentation on animal-mediated dispersal and pollination, at Chiloé (Chile) - in cooperation with the Senda Darwin Foundation.