Together with colleagues from the Forest Research Center of the School of Agriculture of the University of Lisbon in Portugal and the Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology – KIT, they have published their findings in the specialist journal “New Phytologist.”
The researchers set up a field study in the Park Tapada Real in the small Portuguese town of Vila Viçosa. The focus was on how cork oak (Quercus suber) handles two stressors: the first being extreme drought; and the other, the invasive plant species gum rockrose (Cistus ladanifer). The study has great relevance because both stress factors are currently clearly on the increase. At the same time, there was a gap in research on the issue. Researchers have up to now rarely looked at how different, interacting stress factors influence ecosystems.
