<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xml><records><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Wild boars (Sus scrofa) affect the recruitment rate and spatial distribution of holm oak (Quercus ilex)</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Forest Ecology and Management</style></secondary-title></titles><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2008</style></year></dates><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">256</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">1384-1389</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">The role of herbivores in controlling plant population abundance and distribution is unclear. We experimentally determine the effect of damage by wild boars (Sus scrofa) in recruitment rate and spatial pattern of a Mediterranean tree, the holm oak (Quercus ilex). We monitored oak establishment in the Sierra Nevada of southeastern Spain during 4 years (1999–2002) in four plots, two fenced and two unfenced that were used as controls. In addition, we planted 1-year-old seedlings in all microhabitats, both in fenced and control plots, to experimentally determine the effect of wild boar on their microhabitat-dependent survival. Despite seedling abundance being similar inside and outside the fences, sapling abundance diminished up to 50% in unfenced plots compared to fenced plots. Wild boars also seemed to modify the spatial distribution of seedlings and saplings. Whereas seedlings were most abundant under pines both in fenced and control plots, sapling abundance was highest under pine trees in fenced plots, but similarly abundant under pines or shrubs in control plots. This change in spatial pattern was due to the effect of wild boars killing seedlings when looking for food under pines. The effects of the different mortality factors were not additive. Where ungulates are absent, recruitment is high and occurs under oaks and especially under pines. Where wild boars are present, recruitment diminishes and occurs mostly under shrubs and pines. Wild boars arrest population growth and modify the spatial pattern of recruitment.</style></abstract></record><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Leaf fluctuating asymmetry of Holm oak in response to drought under contrasting climatic conditions</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Journal of Arid Environments</style></secondary-title></titles><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2002</style></year></dates><volume><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">52</style></volume><pages><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">233-243</style></pages><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) can be defined as small, random deviations from bilateral symmetry in structures that, typically, are bilaterally symmetrical. In plants, FA has been used as a tool for monitoring levels of ecological stress. In this work, I analyse the FA response to drought in the Holm oak (Quercus ilex) in SE Spain, to test whether FA increases or diminishes when climatic conditions are more stressful. Leaves from three different cohorts, corresponding to one drought year (1995) and two wet years (1996 and 1997) were collected at five sites contrasting in rainfall conditions, from very low to rather high rainfall. In two of the zones, two different morphs of leaves were collected. Furthermore, one of the sites was chosen close to a river, to examine the effect of water enhancement in the trees during drought and post-drought conditions. The results revealed no differences in response to drought in terms of FA between leaf morphs. However, while plants from rainy sites showed a decline in leaf FA from drought to wet years, the water-enhanced site and the dry sites showed scant or negligible differences between years. There was a significant decrease in FA from rainy sites to dry sites. These results suggest that (1) plants living in the more stressful sites are more symmetrical, (2) the more symmetrical plants respond less to yearly variations in drought stress, and (3) the response to yearly variations in drought depend on the climatic conditions in which a tree is living</style></abstract></record></records></xml>