Happy 2008

The seedling Christmas card sent by Dr Costas Thanos form the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Happy new year 2008!! Our blog's best wishes for all the SEMCLIMEDists and collaborators. Please find here the Christmas card received from the MAICh and UNKA teams. Please find for a few days the animated cards of the Botanical Garden of Valencia and the CIEF (dancing elfs are Drs. R. Curras, E. Laguna & A. Marzo - if needing please reload 2 or more times the webpage to accelerate the downloading process).

Christmas card sent from the MAICh team, including a image of the Cretan endemic Biarum davisii

The blogger has selected a image of the Butcher's Broom (Ruscus aculeatus L.), wearing the typical colours of Christmas eves -green and red- like the Holly (Ilex aquifolium L.). Don't forget that our blog will be 1 year old by 16th January 2008, so all your news are wellcomed. We need to work hard to finish the current project by April 2008, and maybe to cross a bit our fingers in order to go on with new projects, including the consolidation of GENMEDA network.

Ruscus aculeatus L. © Emilio Laguna, 2007

SEMCLIMED meeting in Barcelona, Spain

Research building of the Institut Botànic de Barcelona, where the meeting was held. © Emilio Laguna, 13.12.2007

As foreseen -see former blog post-, the IJBB (Institut i Jardí Botànic de Barcelona / Botanic Gardens and Institute of Barcelona) held the extraordinary meeting of Semclimed, focused in two points: 1) the future of the network established as a result of the projects GENMEDOC and SEMCLIMED, and 2) the possibilities to ask for new projects. All the attendants like to aknowledge the excellent organisation and facilities provided by the IJBB, and particularly by Dr. Josep M. Montserrat and his enthusiastic team.

Attendants from the CIEF, IJBB, CBB (Cagliari), CBNP (Porquerolles), JBS (Sóller) and ISR (Rabat, Morocco) joined the meeting and discussed for two days (13th and 14th December 2007) on the above indicated topics, yielding some preliminary conclusions that will be transmetted to the remainder partners during the next days. They will be asked on the possibility to call for a Interreg IV-MED focused on the work of seedbanks, and/or Interreg IVC project to reinforce the network during the next weeks. To see the possibilities of both ways, the partners are invited to visit and review the groundlines of both programmes at:

http://www.programmemed.eu/

http://www.interreg4c.net/

A moment of the Barcelona meeting, 13.12.2007 © Emilio Laguna

SEMCLIMED extraordinary meeting in Barcelona, 13th-15th December 2007

By 13th-15th December 2007, the IJBB (Institut i Jardi Botànic de Barcelona) is going to host an extraordinary meeting of SEMCLIMED partners, in order to study and planify future joint actions in the framework of the EU's Interreg-IV programme. All the partners are called to participate , contacting before the IJBB team, leaded by Dr. Josep M. Montserrat. In order to prepare the meeting, the partners are invited to carefully read the available documents from official Interreg websites. Information on Interreg IVC (call for proposals open till mid January 2008) can be accessed and downloaded from www.interreg4c.net ; please pay attention to the periodical renewal of useful (clicking on 'News' on the upper bar of the Interreg webpage).

The 13th UNFCCC goes on in Bali

Image of the conference opening, accessed 03.12.2007 from the UNFCCC website, http://unfccc.int/2860.php

The 13th United Nations' Framework Conference on Climate Change (UNFCCC, 192 Parties represented) and the 3rd joint Meeting of the 176 parties of the Kyoto Protocol will rule for 2 weeks (3rd-14th December 2007) in Bali, joining several thousands of representatives from governmental bodies, NGOs and research institutions. Both events will consider the reports and conclusions recently drafted by the IPCC and agreed in Valencia the 17th November 2007. Coinciding with this event, some countries like Australia have announced its will to sign the Kyoto Protocol -just when the UNFCCC is thinking of the post-Kyoto strategy!.

The press releases and news on the conference can be obtained on line from the UNFCCC official website, http://unfccc.int/

IPPC meeting in Valencia

Museum of Sciences 'Principe Felipe', Valencia © E. Laguna, 2004

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), cellebrated in Valencia (Spain) between 11th and 17th november 2007 its 27th session, attended by representatives of 131 countries, and closed by the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-moon . The conference has focused on the drafting of the 4th Assessment Report (4AR), which will base the post-Kyoto strategy in the next Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Bali. The information on the meeting (press release and 4SR summary presented as a Power Point document by the IPCC Chairman, Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, can be downloaded from the IPCC's website http://www.ipcc.ch/). There you will also find information on the Nobel Peace Prize awards 2007, winned by the IPCC and Mr Al Gore, recognising their efforts to aware and fight against the Climate Change effects.

Results of the Cretan meeting available on-line

Meeting sessions at the MAICh, Chania, Crete. Photo credits: Apostolis Kaltsis (UNKA), which acted as official photographer of the meeting

The SEMCLIMED's partners can access the presentations made during the last meeting in the MAICh (Crete, Greece, 25-29th September 2007) as well as other interesting documents facilitated by some of the expertises attending it. Amongst other, the meeting held communications made by cellebrated specialists in Climate Change and/or their effects on wild flora or its behaviour, like Dr. Michael Gottfried (University of Vienna), Dr. Miguel B. Araújo (CSIC, Spain), Dr David Corell (CEAM, Spain) and Drs. Helena Flocas and Costas Thanos (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens). To obtain more information on the webpage access, the partners' teams must contact project.cief@gva.es or gestio.cief@gva.es

The meeting attendants during the visit to the microreserve at Chrysoskalitissa. Photo credits: Apostolis Kaltsis (UNKA), official photographer of the meeting

Latest issues of National Geographic focused on Climate Change effects

The recent issues of the main edition of National Greographic Magazine, as well as most of the national editions in the latest issue (October 2007), are focused on the effects of Climate Change. Some recent issues can also be consulted in the abstracts edited on line. Here you are some examples:

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0706/feature1/

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0706/feature2/

http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0709/glacier-waterton/glacier-waterton.html

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-10/carbon-crisis/carbon-crisis.html

Planta Europa V and the climate change issue

The effect of Climate Change on wild plants in Europe has been incorporated as a cross-cutting issue in the whole text, objectives and targets of the 2nd European Strategy of Plant Conservation (2008-2013), to be drafted and refined during the next months by the Secretariat of Planta Europa (www.plantaeuropa.org), after the proposals made by the delegates who attended the 5th European Conference on the Conservation of Wild Plants recently cellebrated in Cluj-Napoca (Rumania). The importance of global warming, greenhouse effect and other evidences associated to climate change, where explained by Victoria Chester -see picture-, Chief Executive of Plantlife International (www.plantlife.org.uk), the most important European NGO devoted to the conservation of wild plants and fungi. A time drafted, re-circulated and consultated amongst the Planta Europa's member institutions, the new strategy will be endorsed to the Council of Europe in order to join more efforts and enhance the effectivity of the future actions for plant conservation in Europe.

Climate Change, star topic in the 3rd Spanish Congress of Plant Conservation

Climate change became one of the main topics of the Spain's 3rd National Congress on Conservation Biology of Wild Plants, cellebrated by 25-27th september 2007 in Puerto de la Cruz (Tenerife, Canary Islands), thanks to the intervention of meteorologist Dr Silvia Alonso, who explained the foreseen effects of global warming and other climate effects up to 2100 in Canary Islands. The Western Canary islands, and particularly Tenerife, crowned by the volcano Teide (the highest altitude to Spain, 3.718 m.o.s.l.), are influenced by the effect of subtropical winds -Alisio wind-; as a result of that, a semi-permanent layer of clouds, usually placed between 1.000 and 2.000 m in altitude, separate two strong weather regimes -below and over the cloud sea-, which could be severely affected during the next decades. As Dr Alonso shown, the temperatures over the cloud layer level, calculated for the Izaña observatory, could raise up to 7-8ºC during the period 2000-2100, causing the extinction of most part of the current wild plant species -all of them practically endemic to the archipelago- in the supra and oromediterranean belts; below the cloud sea, the temperature increase only will reach 2-3ºC by the coast and 4-5ºC at medium altitudes, due to the modulated effect of the Atlantic sea. Canary Islands are the most important hotspot for wild flora in Europe, holding more than 500 endemic species -more than 70% of its floristic composition-. Under this critical scenario, the work of seedbanks must go on quickly, in order to pick up and store seeds as fast as possible!.

Dr Silvia Alonso, from the Spain's National Institute of Meteorology, during her presentation to the 3rd National Congress on Biology of Plant Conservation© E. Laguna

The Blog Action Day devoted to Climate Change

A Day, One Question, Thousands of Voices!!! The last 15th October, www.blogger.com cellebrated the Blog Action Day, whose main topic was the climate change and its effects on the environment (so, on the humankind, of course). During a few days, each national version of www.blogger.com will maintain links and some posts related with this topic.

Intermediate report IMPLIT available on-line

Intermediate report of the project IMPLIT, on the impact of extreme events (storms) linked to clkimatic change on the coastal hydro-systems in Mediterranean France, is already downloadable from the Tour du Valat's website. You can directly download from http://www.tourduvalat.org/content/download/221/1174/version/2/file/GICC_IMPLIT_intermediaire2_vm.pdf

However, we recommend to visit all the website to know more on the projects of this Biological Station (www.tourduvalat.org) The download area also encloses other very interest issues on ecosystems conservation and management, at http://www.tourduvalat.org/documentation/telechargements We remind you that most available e-books and reports are only edited in French

Ensconews nr 2 is already issued

2nd annual bulletin of ENSCONET, inlcuding interesting articles on seed conservation, has been recently edited. It is available on line at
http://www.ensconet.eu/PDF/ENSCONET_2nd_Annual_Bulletin.pdf
This issue has been edited thanks to the effort of the editorial board, including main editors from the Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia (Drs E. Estrelles and A.M. Ibars, as well as A. Amblar and D. Lazaro) and associated editors from abroad (S. Linintong, D. Aplin and J. Müller). Representatives and researchers of some member institutions of GENMEDOC -Elena Estrelles, Christina Fournaraki and Emilio Laguna- have collaborated in this issue.

Natura 2000 Newsletter and the climatic change

The vol. 22 of the EC's Natura 2000 Newsletter, issued in july 2007, is focused on the relationships between Biodiversity and Climatic Change, as well as the role of the Natura 2000 network to fight against the negative impacts of this change. You also will find an article on strategies and projects tomitigate those effects. Please click on the link to access and download the issue:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/nature_conservation/useful_info/newsletter_natura/pdf/nat22_en.pdf

Short notice on SEMCLIMED in Planta Europa Newsletter

The 8th issue of Planta Europa News (July 2007), includes a short notice on the project SEMCLIMED, drafted months ago by Ch. Zreik, P. Ferrer and E. Laguna. Unfortunately the edition of this issue, expected by April, has been too delayed. Anyway, this notice will provide enough basic information to the attendants to the next Planta Europa conference (Cluj-Napoca, 5-9 Sept 2007), where a more extended presentation will be made. The full issue of the Planta Europa newsletter is downloadable from the webpage http://www.plantaeuropa.org/oldwebsite/documents/PENewsletterJuly2007.pdf . In addition, information on Planta Europa can be found at the website www.plantaeuropa.org

Odissea Semina nr 1 is already available

The first issue of the newsletter ‘Odissea Semina’ is already available. Odissea Semina is edited in the framework of the project SEMCLIMED, and it will try to report the activities of all the GENMEDOC network.

The issue has been drafted in French, and provides an excellent overlook on the goals, actions and results of the project SEMCLIMED. Odissea Semina is edited by the Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia (BGUV, Spain), and the editorial committee id compound by Drs Elena Estrelles and Ana M. Ibars (BGUV), François Boillot (CBNP, Porquerolles, France), Antoni Marzo, Christophe Zreik and Pablo Ferrer (CIEF, Valencia, Spain). As well as the main traits of the project, Odissea Semina nr 1 has reported the last activities developed by the SEMCLIMED partners: the seminar on Biotechnology and Plant Conservation (Murcia, Spain, September 2006), the first campaign to harvest plant seeds in Morocco (October 2006), the workshop on in situ conservation organized by the Argotti Herbarium and Botanic Gardens (Malta, March 2007), the seminar on rock gardens and exhibitions on the natural heritage carried out by the Botanical Garden of Soller (Mallorca, Spain, March 2007), and the second joint meeting of SEMCLIMED partners (Rabat, May 2007) organized by the ISR. To get this issue, please freely download from the CCB website http://www.ccb-sardegna.it/download/genmedoc/01Odissea%20Semina.pdf or from the GENMEDOC website, at the GENMENews area, http://www.genmedoc.org/altrenews.aspx?=1&lang=fr . It also will be soon downloadable from the SEMCLIMED project website www.semclimed.org (under construction)

SEMCLIMED to be introduced in Planta Europa V and SEBCP congress

The Scientific Committee of the 5th European Conference on the Conservation of Wild Plants, Planta Europa V (Cluj-Napoca, Romania, 5-9th september 2007) has accepted an oral presentation on the main goals and actions of SEMCLIMED, to be exposed by Dr Emilio Laguna (CIEF, Valencia, Spain), advisor of the Planta Europa’s Steering Committee. The 5th Conference is devoted to enhance and promote the partnership for plant conservation, so SEMCLIMED is a perfect example to be introduced to other European conservationists.

In other hand, representatives of the CIEF will attend the 3rd Spanish Congress on Plant Conservation (Tenerife, Canary Islands, last week of september) organized by the SEBCP (Sociedad Española de Biologia de Conservacion de Plantas), where a poster on SEMCLIMED will be displayed and explained. This congress will coincide in time with the SEMCLIMED’s partners workshop to be held in Chania (Crete, Greece), also reported here in other blog post.

Next SEMCLIMED’s workshop, Chania (Crete), 25-28 September 2007

Logotype of the MAICh, displayed in its central building in Chania. ©E. Laguna, 2005

The Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICh), Crete (Greece), is organizing the next workshop of SEMCLIMED partners, to be held in Chania between 25th and 28th September 2007. It will deal with a 4-days workshop, mostly focused on the current knowledge on the climatic change and its consequences. The workshop title is ‘Climate Change Impacts on Mediterranean Plant Diversity’. Main conferences will ve given by Drs. Helena Flocas (National and Kapodistrian University, Athens, Greece), Maria J. Sanz (Center of Mediterranean Environmental Research, Valencia, Spain), Michael Gottfried (University of Vienna, Austria), Miguel Bastos (National Museum of Natural Sciences, Madrid, Spain), Dimitris Sarris (University of Patras, Greece), Costas Thanos (National and Kapodistrian University, Athens) and Christina Fournaraki (MAICh); in addition, partner contributions will be presented. As foreseen in the SEMCLIMED project, the MAICh will pay the stay and travel expenses for the North-African partners, as well as the stay of 1 representative for each European partner. The attendants will visit the germplasm bank, herbarium and botanical gardens of the MAICh. In the field excursion, they will visit the proposed plant micro-reserve Aspri Limni (Chryssokalitissa, SW Crete), holding the Westernmost population known of the Cretan Palm Tree (Phoenix theophrasti) –additional information on this site is available at the LIFE-CRETAPLANT webpage miantained by Dr. Costas Thanos, http://cretaplant.biol.uoa.gr-.

Coastal, karstic outcroops of Aspri Limni (Chryssokalitissa, Crete), housing isolated specimens of Phoenix theophrasti. ©E. Laguna, 2005

Plant production to restore a Valencian temporary pond goes on

New plants of Mentha cervina produced in the CIEF nurseries, are already flowering in the greenhouses, waiting to be transferred to the Plant Microreserve 'Lavajo de Arriba' (Sinarcas, Valencia). As this picture shows, the flowers are being actively pollinated, so the plants put in field will be carried with new seeds to enlarge the current population of this threatened species.

The 2 Valencian partners of SEMCLIMED, CIEF and the Botanical Garden of Valencia (BGV), goes on well with the production of plant species to restore a part of the plant microreserve 'Lavajo de Arriba', a selected Mediterranean temporary pond holding lots of rare species not or scarcely shared by other Valencian sites. The 'Lavajos' are a couple of small microreserves -less than 1 ha each one- owned by the municipality of Sinarcas, and laying on the continental-climate side of the province of Valencia; It deals with the most important Mediterranean temporary ponds to Eastern Spain, where a higher concentration of Isoeto-Nanojuncetea species has been found. One of them (Lavajo de Arriba) was digged out by the local farmers some decades ago, to facilitate the water retention for transhumant livestock. The lagoon hole never recovered its primitive vegetation, remaining uncovered because of the strong slope. The restoration work will consist of refilling the water hole to recover its primitive aspect, and to plant a few characteristic species of Isoeto-Nanojuncetea vegetation, from seeds and other propagules taken in the same microreserve during the last months. The most significant perennial species involved in this project is Mentha cervina (=Preslia cervina) whose unique Valencian population live in the 2 'Lavajos' microreserves. The resotration work will join funds from 3 European programmes: 1) LIFE-Nature funds supports the civil work -to refill with sand and local soil the damaged hole- by means of the LIFE project on conservation of Valencian amphibians, herein represented by several threatened species like Pleurodeles waltl, 2) SEMCLIMED project, funded by Interreg, will pay most of the plant production -seed harvesting, germination, greenhouse and nursery works-, mostly for the BGV, and 3) EAGGF/FEOGA (European Agriculture Guarantee and Guidance Fund) will pay a part of the plant production as well as the plantation activities. At this moment most of the plant production is already developed, but sudden rains during the last days of June have refilled the lagoon hole, causing a delay to start the restoration activity. As a result of that the field work will be developed between July and September.

LIFE+ funds are already regulated

The Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) has recently published the Regulation (EC)614/2007 of the European Parliament and the Council, of 23 May 2007, concerning the Financial Instrument for the Environment (LIFE+) -OJEU vol. 50, L 149, published 09.06.2007-. To access the regulation content, please visit the following webpage:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:149:SOM:EN:HTML
(copy and paste in your web navigation bar if needed)
From there you can also access the same information in the remainder official languages of the European Union. If you prefer to read it in English, you can directly access the regulation at the web address
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2007/l_149/l_14920070609en00010016.pdf

Available documents for the SEMCLIMED partners

The teams working as SEMCLIMED project partners can already access the report on results of the meeting held in Rabat, 15th-18th May 2007. To get key information to download the procès-verbal please contact gestio.cief@gva.es

Prof. Jalal El Oualidi (Institut Scientifique de Rabat, ISR) receives the first seed accessions from the CIEF's seedbank, given at hand by the Semclimed coordinator, Mr Antoni Marzo (CIEF). This first delivery included seeds of Anarhinum fruticosum and Boerhavia repens, two North-Western African species whose unique relictic populations to Europe are found in the province of Alicante (Valencian Community, Spain).

After the development of the first Semclimed's campaign to harvest seeds in Morocco (October 2006), in order to initiate the creation of the ISR's seedbank, some of the project partners gone on with the cooperation actions proposed in the Semclimed's phase 4. During the recent meeting of the project in Rabat (15th-19th May), the main coordinator Antoni Marzo officially delivered to the ISR a first pack of seedbank equipments, as well as several seed accession, both coming from the first campaign (October 2006), and from Valencian populations of shared rare or threatened plant species.

The second campaign, developed in May under the coordination of Dr. Jalal El Oualidi (Institute Scientifique de Rabat) and Dr. Josep M. Montserrat (Institut Botànic de Barcelona) has yielded poor results, due to the extensive lack of seeds in the prospected Moroccan sites. Sudden warming registered by early May has quickly dried the flowering stems of most Maroccan endemic species, choosen in the former months as main targets to fill the future seedbank of the ISR.

Prof. Josep M. Montserrat, during the field excursion of the 2nd Semclimed's meeting at Lixus and the Bas Loukkos area(Larache)

Good development of the 2nd SEMCLIMED Meeting in Rabat

Prof. El Oualidi, organizator of the 2nd Semclimed meeting, attending a TV interview during the meeting development in the ISR, Rabat

The analysis of the 2nd SEMCLIMED general meeting (Rabat, 15th-19th May 2007) yields a good pack of results, going to be drafted in the report to be submitted in a feww days to the Interreg authorities. The success of the meeting has been a consequence of the excellent organisation provided by the ISR (Institut Scientifique de Rabat, Universite Mohammed V) under the coordination of Prof. Jalal El-Oualidi. Prof. Mohammed A. El-Agbani, from the Deaprtment of Zoology, also cooperated giving a lecture on the managing planning for the Bas Loukkos (Ramsar Site, to be proposed as National Park) and acting as field guide to know the site.

The mid-term review of the Semclimed project shows that most phases are enough developed, but some of them (mainly for phases 2 and 7, reporting practical experiences with phytotrons and communication schedule) must be accelerated and reinforced in the next months.

In the hills of the archeaological site of Lixus, which provides a panoramic view of the Bas Loukkos area, Prof. El Agbani explains to the SEMCLIMED meeting attendants the management project proposed for this site.

SEMCLIMED's meeting is going on

Professor Ahmed El Hassani -director of the ISR- opens the 2nd Semclimed general meeting, 15th May 2007. At the same picture, the CIEF's representatives Ms. Esther Tortosa, main officer of the Semclimed project , and Mr Antoni Marzo, project general coordinator

Today 15st May started the 2nd general meeting of the project SEMCLIMED, hosted by the Institute Scientifique de Rabat. Most of the partner teams have presented the result of the activities made from the former meeting (Murcia, Spain, September 2006), as in the case of the development of phase 6 (exposition on the nature and its conservation, throug setting up of rock gardens) thanks to the workshop held in the Botanical Garden of Soller by 27-30 March 2007. Amongst these results, a draft of the 1st issue of the SEMCLIMED's newsletter 'Odyssea Semina' has been presented and discussed.

Next meeting SEMCLIMED, Rabat (Morocco) 15-18 mai 2007

The Scientifical Institute of Rabat (Institute Scientifique de Rabat -ISR-, Morocco) is going to host the 2nd meeting of the SEMCLIMED project, by 15-18 may 2007. The meeting attendants, coming from all the Semclimed's project teams(16 institutions from 8 countries of Southern Europe and the North of Africa) will analize the current status of the project development. The hosting team, leaded by Dr. Jalal El Oualidi, have also organized a field excursion to know some of the most sensible vegetation wich can suffer the effects o global warming in Morocco: the cellebrated Mamora's forests, and one of the national sites of the Ramsar's wetlands list.

Effects of climatic change on the Danish habitats

Science Direct (www.sciencedirect.com) allows the free access to the recently published article: NORMAND, S., J.C. SVENNING & F.SKOV. 2007. National and European perspectives on climatic change sensitivity of the habitats directive characteristic plant species. Journal of Nature Conservation 15: 41-43.
This article evaluates the sensitivity of 84 plant species which characterize the habitats of the EU's Habitats Directive in Denmark, under 2 different climatic-change scenarios.
You can need to be registered (free as guest) in Science Direct to access the article. You also can request it to the corresponding author signe.normand@biology.au.dk

Elsevier launches a new journal reporting climatic change

Elsevier has launched a new journal on the control of greenhouse gases. The first issue of the 'International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control' is free available on-line through Science Direct, at http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/709061/description#description

If you have problems to open the webpage, you also can access through the Elsevier's journals portal http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journal_browse.cws_home

Christophe Zreik leaves the project SEMCLIMED

Christophe Zreik giving a presentation of the SEMCLIMED project for all the CIEF workers, by October 2006. Photo credits: E. Laguna

The agronomist Christophe Zreik (CIEF-Generalitat Valenciana), working as coordinator of the project SEMCLIMED, leaved the project a few days ago, to go on with several personnel projects during the next years. Christophe has acted as the SEMCLIMED's 'alma mater', being the main responsible of the project draft, and putting in common contact and continuous discussion all the research teams. Of course he also has supported all kind of bureucratic procedures and meetings, maintaining the fluent communication channels towards the European Commission's Interreg MedOcc office; this includes the drafting of all kind of results reports, both in French and English. Formerly, Christophe had similar functions in project GENMEDOC, demonstrating excellent skills for team coordinations, moderanting meetings, etc.

From the SEMCLIMED's coordination team we'd like to express our best wishes to Christophe, to go on with his new challenges, and of course we maintain for him a permanently open door for future collaborations. During the next weeks, the Chistophe's functions will be spreaded amongst all the CIEF team representatives.

On the genetic variability in Taxus baccata

A few days ago, prof. Dr. Josep A. Rosselló (see photo), one of the most cellebrated specialists in Mediterranean plant philogeography, gave a lecture about its results on the study of the genetic variability in Valencian populations of Taxus baccata L., one of the most threatened species because of the climate warming. The conference as presented in the CIEF, in the frame of inner training related with SEMCLIMED project activities.
After a 3-years study, financed by the Generalitat Valenciana (also co-financed in 2005 and 2006 by the European Commission through the LIFE-Nature on Valencian high-mountain habitats), Dr. Rosselló concluded that the populations show low levels of variability, but that those living in Iberian and Baetic mountain systems show significant differences and their genetic material (i.e. seeds for reafforestation) must not be mixed.

MacArthur Foundation grants 2007

The projects funded in the current call for grants of the MacArthur Foundation, on the relationships between climatic change, biodiversity and sustainable development, have been announced at the following webpage:
http://www.iucn.org/en/news/archive/2007/02/13_climate_change.pdf
Most of the projects will be developed by big/global NGOs like IUCN, WWF, Conservation International and Birdlife.

Plant production for Valencian restoration experiences goes on

The SEMCLIMED's phase IV consists of the development of pilot experiences to restore a few piority habitats (following the Habitats Directive criteria), whose preliminary works (seed harvesting, sedd germination and cultivation of new plantets in greenhouses) has started in Valencia. The CIEF goes on with both work projects, to restore 1) a Mediterranean temporary pond (Isoeto-Nanojuncetea vegetation) and 2) at least one site housing Spanish gypsic steppe (Gypsophiletalia).
The site choosed for the first project is the small vernal pool 'Lavajo de Arriba' (Sinarcas, Valencia), a protected Plant Microreserve managed by the Generalitat Valenciana; a few main and endangered species will be produced by the Botanic Garden of Valencia and the aquatiuc plant nursery of the Biodiversity Conservation Service of the Generalitat Valenciana (one of the two services funding the CIEF). The basic list includes Marsilea strigosa, Baldellia ranunculoides, Lythrum sp.pl., Mentha cervina, etc.
The site for the gypsic steppes is the protected Plant Microreserve 'Castillo de Jalance' (Jalance, Valencia), where three species will be planted following a experimental frame: Gypsophila struthium subsp. struthium, Limonium sucronicum and a local variety of Sedum album. G. struthium and L. sucronicum are Iberian endemic plants (L. sucronicum is a endemic species with a very restricted distribution). The plantets for this experience are being produced at the CIEF greenhouses in Quart de Poblet (Valencia).

The IPCC report 2007

A few days ago, Dr Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climatic Change) advanced the contents of the new report 'Climate Change 2007: The scientifical evidence'. It is thought that the mean temperature on the planet surface will increase ca. 1.8-4.0ºC during this century, as well as all kind of catastrophic events caused by meterological agents. News can be consulted amongst other at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6321351.stm, http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/,
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070125/137/6biat.html, etc...
You also will found interesting comments at the blogspot http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/02/climate_change_.html . For Spanish spokers additional short comments on the climatic change can be found at the blogspot http://cambioclimaticoglobal.blogspot.com/ and its related website http://www.cambioclimaticoglobal.com/
... and very important: the IPCC report can be already downloaded at the webpage http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/docs/WG1AR4_SPM_PlenaryApproved.pdf . Any comments?

Welcome / Bienvenu@ / Bienvenid@ / Benvinguts-des

During the next months we'll publish here opinions and news on the development of the Interreg project SEMCLIMED, from the CIEF (Centro para la Investigación y Experimentación Forestal). The notices can be posted in English, French, Valencian/Catalonian and Castilian/Spanish
This is not a forum, but a way to express your opinions in a more directed style, coming from the Valeancian team of the project - so, it cannot substitute the main webpage of the project. Basic information can be found at the website http://www.ccb-sardegna.it/html/semclimed.htm

Remind that SEMCLIMED is a project developed by the network GENMEDOC, whose information can be consulted at http://www.genmedoc.org/