Sergio Chozas Vinuesa
Post-Doc Researcher (ESFE Group)

Describing ecological communities as either dynamic or static entities is a dilemma that has accompanied ecology since the beginning of the last century. Current trends are toward the combination of both concepts, mainly integrating the effect of regional and local processes. According to this view, community composition would be the result of macroecological constraints acting on a species pool with analogous environmental requirements and filtered by dispersal and ecological assembly rules. Xerophytic shrub communities occurring on stabilized sand dunes are affected by severe environmental stresses and several biotic interactions are described for dune habitats, providing an appropriate system for studying the duality between assemblages and communities and factors determining communities’ composition and distribution.

My aim in this presentation is providing a broader understanding of the community dynamics of stabilized dune xerophytic shrubs by analysing the main drivers acting on these communities and identifying the key functional traits associated to their dynamics. I also evaluate whether local communities of xerophytic shrubs follow a consistent ecological succession-like gradient throughout a large geographical extent or are driven by the individualistic responses of the species present in the pool of each locality. Finally I analyse the effects of environmental factors on the distribution and diversification of the genus Stauracanthus in the Iberian Peninsula.