Forest Sciences Centre of Catalonia

Forest Sciences Centre of Catalonia

Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya
Abbreviation	CTFC
Motto	Mediterranean research in action
Formation	1996
Headquarters	C. Sant Llorenç, Km2, E-25180 Solsona (Lleida), Spain
Location	Solsona, Girona, Lleida, Tarragona, & Barcelona
Region	Catalonia, Spain
Director General	Denis Boglio
Affiliations	University of Lleida, GEIE Forespir, European Forest Institute, IUFRO, European Micological Institute, GEIE Forespir
Budget (2015)	7.892.653
Revenue	90% public, 10% private, 75% competitive; 25% regional budget
Staff (2015)	92 (41 researchers)
Website	www.ctfc.cat

Logo CTFC english

Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC) ("Forest Sciences Centre of Catalonia") is a centre for forest research based in Solsona, Lleida,^[1] and is one of the few regional forestry applied research centres in Spain.^[2] It was founded in 1996^[3] as a consortium of five local and regional institutions (the Consell Comarcal del Solsonès, the University of Lleida, the Diputació de Lleida, the Catalan Foundation for Research and Innovation, and the Catalan Government). The institution has grown to employ around one hundred professionals (including scientists, technicians, fellows and administrative personnel) who work in collaboration with different administrations, institutions and companies, and its annual budget is around 6 million euros.^[2]

The activity of the CTFC is not restricted to competitive research, but also covers the transfer of technology and of knowledge and training, representing an important volume of its activity and adding value to its results. The transfer of technology in shape of conferences with the private sector and public administrations complements the organisation of seminars for the wider public and agents of different sectors (management, proprietary, technical, administration and scientific, etc.); nationally and internationally contributing to the transfer of this knowledge and to the generation of debate. In the field of training, the activity of the CTFC embraces basic training for workers and continuing training and skills development at postgraduate and masters level, including many visiting students from other countries.

CTFC is part of the CERCA network of excellence research centre^[4] of the Government of Catalonia, in the core of the research ecosystem. It has an external scientific advisory board which makes an independent evaluation every 4 years (2012, 2016), with an obligation to implement its recommendations, and an overarching supervision by the Parliament of Catalonia.

CTFC plays a visible role at regional level, as one of the 2 agrarian applied research centres of the Government of Catalonia (the other one being IRTA, focused on agricultural production and research). Nevertheless, the regional government only brings around 20% of its budget and as such, CTFC has developed its activity well beyond the sole local needs. Around 50% of its activity is done at international level (60-70% of which in EU-28 and the rest all over the world). It is the biggest of the 3 other regional forestry research centres in Spain (Extremadura-Cork, Galicia-Paper, Castlilla y León). CTFC plays also a role at national level, acting as the technical body of the Spanish Forest Technology Platform, and providing experts in several working groups of the Ministry of Agriculture (agroforestry, plagues, wood construction, forest fires, non-wood forest products). And at international level, it has been specially active in Latin America, Western Africa, and the Mediterranean, where it is an active party to the FAO Silva mediterranea network.

^[2]

Mission

The mission of CTFC is to “Contribute to the modernization and to the competitiveness of the forest sector, to the rural development and the sustainable management of the natural environment, through research, transfer of technology and knowledge to the society, and training.”

The main activities of CTFC have traditionally been guided by its mission. However, the complexity of the forest sector in Catalonia and, its relative weakness compared to other economic sectors, has led to a reinterpretation of the mission by the CTFC in a research context. In this line, the main motto of the institution has been expanded in order to focus on the exploration of the multifunctional nature of Mediterranean forests. Those have indeed a unique richness compared to other types of forests and beyond wood they include a large number of other marketed and non‐marketed products and services that deliver to societies, from biomass energy to mushrooms or water quality, biodiversity and fire risk reduction.

CTFC has been implicated in several policy initiatives at regional & Mediterranean level, where its research results have directly been used within the policy processes: Regional Wood Biomass Strategy, Natura 2000 ZECs, Overarching Forest Policy Plan (2012), FAO Tlemcen Declaration regarding Mediterranean forests (2013), Preventive Forest Management Strategy against Wild Fires (2015-2016), Wood Support Scheme (2015).

Vision

The vision of the CTFC is to be recognised as a centre of reference at local, national and international levels in the fields of forest sciences, forestry, management of natural resources, and rural development.

Main lines of research

The R+D activity at CTFC is structured through six work programmes, which are connected to one another. Each one of those six work programmes is articulated in different action lines, not only in research but also in transfer of technology and training.

* Silviculture and forest management

-Dynamics and growth of forest species in relation to environmental conditions and forest management tools.
-Development of silvicultural models and forest management tools adapted to the context of global change within the Mediterranean basin (mixed forests, fire risk integration, non-wood forest products and biodiversity).
-Valuable broadleaves for high quality timber production, forest restoration and landscape diversification. Research on techniques and plantation design: mixed plantations, agroforestry systems and species adaptation.
-Fire integration (natural and prescribed) as a silvicultural practice and a tool for forest management.
-Study of the response of forest ecosystems to current changes, caused by forest abandonment, agricultural management and climate change.
-The role of silvopastoralism in fire prevention and biodiversity conservation.

* Forest production: wood and bioenergy

-Control, analysis and innovation of forest harvesting procedures.
-Forest biomass as energy source.
-Wood mobilization.
-Bio-based products.
-Wood products.
-Technological certification of forest products.
-Support tools for forest resources mobilization.

* Ecosystems functioning and biodiversity

-Study of biodiversity, structural patterns and functional processes in grasslands, forests and agricultural systems to develop ecological models and basis for sustainable management in the context of global change.
-Study of population biology and ecological processes affecting biodiversity.
-Improvement of territory management and planning in relation to biodiversity conservation.
-Understanding of forest ecosystems response to global change (forest and agricultural land abandonment and climate change).
-Study of sediment transport and geomorphological processes within river channels in catchments using in situ automatic water samplers and bedload traps.
-Study of structural patterns and functional relationships between the soil, plants and animals to contribute to a sustainable economy and the ecological management of agrosilvopastoral systems in a context of global change.

* Socioeconomic and forest politics

-Development of tools and methods for forest planning, management of protected areas and management of natural hazards.
-Supporting tools for forest policy, rural development and cost-efficient management of environmental policies.
-Social trends surveys, forest participation and communication.
-Analysis and assessment of public policies.

* Wildfires and other perturbations

-Development of silvicultural models and forest management tools adapted to the context of global change in Mediterranean areas (mixed forests, wildfire risk integration, non- wood forest products, biodiversity).
-Integration of fire (prescribed and natural) as a forest management tool and practice.
-Study of the role of fire in the resilience and resistance of Mediterranean ecosystems.
-Study of the role of silvopastoral management in wildfires prevention and biodiversity conservation.

* Non-wood forest products

-Estimation of the production and mycological diversity in Catalonia.
-Integration of the mycological production into forest planning and management (mycosilviculture).
-Socioeconomics and governance of mycological activities.
-Ecology and cultivation of the black truffle (Tuber melanosporum).
-Cultivation, processing and marketing of medicinal and aromatic plants.
-Prospection, chemical characterization and wild-harvesting assessment of native medicinal and aromatic plants.
-Other non-wood forest products: honey, pine cones, pine nuts and cork.

Furthermore, CTFC created in 2013 a research-only laboratory called CEMFOR: Centre for Mediterranean Research. It groups CTFC's main Principal Investigators working on Mediterranean forests ecosystems. It currently develops 3 research areas: understanding how historical processes have affected ecosystems and shape their current state, assessing the response of current ecosystems to the different drivers of change, and imagining the future by developing integrative forest ecosystem assessments under sound future socioeconomic and environmental scenarios.

Main Principal Investigators

* Dr Lluis Brotons, Head of the Landscape Ecology Department ^{[5] [6]}

* Dra Miriam Piqué, Head of the Sustainable Forest Management Area ^{[7] [8]}

* Dr Lluis Coll, Head of the Forest Dynamics Department ^{[9] [10]}

* Ing. Gerard Bota, Head of the Biological Conservation Department ^[11]

* Dr Pere Casals, Head of MAnagement of Silvopastoral Systems Department ^[12]

* Dr Pere Rovira, Soils Sciences ^[13]

* Dr Jose-Ramon Gonzalez, Forest Disturbances Modelling ^[14]

* Dr Jordi Camprodon, Biological Conservation ^[15]

* Dr Jose-Antonio Bonet, Mushrooms production ^[16]

* Dr Miquel de Caceres, Vegetation Modelling ^{[17] [18]}

* Dr Virgilio Hermoso, Environmental Decision Support ^[19]

* Dr Jordi Garcia, Models Optimisation ^[20]

* Dra Irina Prokofieva, Forest Economics ^[21]

* Dra Maria-Teresa Sebastia, Head of the Functional Ecology Department ^{[22] [23]}

* Dr Damià Vericat, Hydrology ^[24]

* Dr Carlos Colinas, Forest Pathology ^[25]

Management

Its statuses, as a public research body, are published in the Official Journal of Catalonia, the latest version (2016) being approved by Governmental Decree GOV/94/2016,^[26] from June 28, 2016.

CTFC has an Internal Regulation,^[27] regulating its inner functioning, and for example its 4 external advisory committees: Scientific, Wood industry, Biomass sector, Forest owners.

Directors
1996-2006	Francisco Rovira
2006-2010	Jose-Antonio Bonet
2010-2012	Gloria Dominguez
2012-2017	Denis Boglio

SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD^[28]

• Dr Yves Birot, INRA, France (2011-2015)
• Dra Isabel Cañellas, INIA, Spain (2011) ^[29]
• Dr Christian Messier, CEF, Canada (2011) ^[30]
• Dr Marc Palahi, EFI, Finland (2011)
• Dra Margaret Shannon, Univ. New York, USA (2011-2015)
• Dra Jordina Belmonte, ICTA, Spain (2016)
• Dr Pedro Beja, CIBIO, Portugal (2016) ^[31]
• Dr Bart Muys, Univ. Leuven, Belgium (2011) ^[32]
• Dr Andreas Kleinschmidt, FCBA, France (2011)

CTFC has an "Equal Opportunities and Diversity Attention" plan from 2008. The recently approved EU-sponsored HRS4R^[33] required the elaboration of a new “Equality plan” in 2016. The 5 most representative actions implemented regarding recruitment, work climate, promotion of tenure and visibility are the following:

• GENDER BALANCE POLICIES: consolidate Equality on Opportunities regarding recruitment, work climate, promotion of tenure and visibility policies from CTFC.
• DISSEMINATION AND LANGUAGE: Inform the staff about the Equality on Opportunities Plan and its incidence to the CTFC. Promote a gender‐balanced language within the institution and be aware for neutrality when presenting the institution.
• DEVELOPMENT: guarantee neutrality on recruitment and promotion of tenure processes.
• PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL LIFE CONCILIATION: improve professional and personal life conciliation from members of the institution.
• WORKING CONDITIONS: promote gender balance point of view when assessing working conditions.

Alliances & networks

CTFC is one of the University of Lleida's 3 research centres, and has an association agreement for the University professors to develop their research activities at CTFC.

CTFC is a founding member of the EEIG FORESPIR, a public cluster grouping all major forestry actors from Pyrenean regions.

CTFC is a member of the European Forest Institute, having been the origin of its Mediterranean office; CTFC makes an annual financial contribution to this office (EFIMED), and shares offices in their Barcelona Sant Pau facilities.

CTFC has a Joint Research Unit with the Autonomous University of Barcelona's CREAF forest research centre, inForest, focused on forest-based ecosystem services.

CTFC is an active member of FAO Silva mediterranea's Collaborative Partnership for Mediterranean Forests (CPMF).

CTFC has strong partnerships with the Centre de l'Etude des Forêts (CEF) from Quebec, and with the national agronomic research institute (INIA) from Spain.

CTFC has created its own spin-off company: Forest Bioengineering Solutions.^[34] in order to support the market valorisation of the knowledge generated by its R&D teams.

Location

The headquarters is in Solsona, Lleida, a heavily wooded part of Catalonia.^[2] There are also permanent offices in Girona (Santa Coloma de Farners), Tarragona (Espluga de Francoli), Lleida (Parc cientific) and Barcelona (Recinte Sant Pau).

Within Solsona, it has two facilities: in the "Seminari", downtown Solsona, with activities related to the local community, and 2 km from the city in the "Can Mascaro" area, with the research activities.

Scientific production

Year	SCI Papers	Full-time Researchers	Papers/researcher
2015	70	49	1.43
2014	55	34	1.62
2013	48	33	1.45
2012	63	36	1.75

Reference publications 2012-2015:

• Ameztegui A, Coll L, Messier C (2015). Modelling the effect of climate induced changes in recruitment and juvenile growth on mixed forest dynamics: The case of montane subalpine Pyrenean ecotones. ECOLOGICAL MODELLING 313. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2015.06.029
• Bonet JA, De Miguel S, de Aragon JM, Pukkala T, Palahi M (2012). Immediate effect of thinning on the yield of Lactarius group deliciosus in Pinus pinaster forests in Northeastern Spain. FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT 265. DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2011.10.039
• Brotons L, Aquilue N, de Caceres M, Fortin MJ, Fall A (2013). How Fire History, Fire Suppression Practices and Climate Change Affect Wildfire Regimes in Mediterranean Landscapes. PLOS ONE 8(5) Number: e62392. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062392
• De Caceres M, Legendre P, Wiser SK, Brotons L (2012). Using species combinations in indicator value analyses. METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION 3(6). DOI:10.1111/j.2041210X.2012.00246.x
• De Caceres M, Martinez Vilalta J, Coll L, Llorens P, Casals P, Poyatos R, Pausas JG, Brotons L (2015). Coupling a water balance model with forest inventory data to predict drought stress: the role of forest structural changes vs. climate changes. AGRICULTURAL AND FOREST METEOROLOGY 213. DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2015.06.012
• Hermoso V, Januchowski Hartley SR, Linke S (2015). Systematic planning of disconnection to enhance conservation success in a modified world. SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 536. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.07.120
• Karhu K, Auffret MD, Dungait JAJ, Hopkins DW, Prosser JI, Singh BK, Subke JA, Wookey PA, Agren GI, Sebastia MT, Gouriveau F, Bergkvist G, Meir P, Nottingham AT, Salinas N, Hartley IP (2014). Temperature sensitivity of soil respiration rates enhanced by microbial community response. NATURE 513(7516). DOI: 10.1038/nature13604
• Rovira P, Sauras T, Salgado J, Merino A (2015). Towards sound comparisons of soil carbon stocks: A proposal based on the cumulative coordinates approach. CATENA 133. DOI:10.1016/j.catena.2015.05.020
• Valor T, Gonzalez Olabarria JR, Pique M (2015). Assessing the impact of prescribed burning on the growth of European pines. FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT 343. DOI:10.1016/j.foreco.2015.02.002
• Varela E, Jacobsen JB, Soliño M (2014). Understanding the heterogeneity of social preferences for fire prevention management. ECOLOGICAL ECONOMICS 106. DOI:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.07.014
• Titeux N, Henle K, Mihoub J, Regos A, Geijzendorffer I, Cramer W, Verburg P & Brotons L. (2016). Biodiversity scenarios neglect future land use changes. Global Change Biology. DOI:10.1111/gcb.13272)
• Stephens PA, Mason LR, Green RE, Gregory RD, Sauer JR, Alison J, Aunins A, Brotons L, Butchart, HM, Campedelli T, Chodkiewicz T, Chylarecki P, Crowe O, Elts J, Escandell V, Foppen RPB, Heldbjerg H, Herrando S, Husby M, Jiguet F, Lehikoinen A, Lindström A, Noble DG, Paquet JY, Reif J, Sattler T, Szép T, Teufelbauer N, Trautmann S, van Strien AJ, van Turnhout CAM, Vorisek P, Willis SG (2016). Consistent response of bird populations to climate change on two continents, Science 352(6281): 84‐87. DOI: 10.1126/science.aac4858

Most recent publications 2016:

• Hermoso V, Clavero M, Villero D, Brotons L. EU's conservation efforts need more strategic investment to meet continental conservation needs. Conservation Letters. DOI: 10.1111/conl.12248.
• Ameztegui A, Coll L, Brotons L, Ninot JM. Land-use legacies rather than climate change are driving the recent upward shift of the mountain tree line in the Pyrenees. Global Ecology and Biogeography. DOI: 10.1111/geb.12407.
• Annighöfer P, Ameztegui A, Ammer C, Balandier P, Bartsch N, Bolte A, Coll L, Collet C, Ewald J, Frischbier N, Gebereyesus T, Haase J, Hamm T, Hirschfelder B, Huth F, Kändler G, Kahl A, Kawaletz H, Kuehne C, Lacointe A, Lin N, Löf M, Malagoli P, Marquier A, Müller S, Promberger S, Provendier D, Röhle H, Sathornkich J, Schall P, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Schröder J, Seele C, Weidig J, Wirth C, Wolf H, Wollmerstädt J, Mund M. Species-specific and generic biomass equations for seedlings and saplings of European tree species. European Journal of Forest Research. DOI: 10.1007/s10342-016-0937-z.
• Benavides R, Escudero A, Coll L, Ferrandis P, Ogaya R, Gouriveau F, Peñuelas J, Valladares F. Recruitment patterns of four tree species along elevation gradients in Mediterranean mountains: Not only climate matters. Forest Ecology and Management.
• Buendia C, Batalla RJ, Sabater S, Palau A, Marce R. Runoff Trends Driven by Climate and Afforestation in a Pyrenean Basin. Land Degradation & Development. DOI: 10.1002/ldr.2384.
• Buendia C, Bussi G, Tuset J, Vericat D, Sabater S, Palau A, Batalla RJ. Effects of afforestation on runoff and sediment load in an upland Mediterranean catchment. Science of the Total Environment. DOI: 10.1016/jscitotenv.2015.07.005.
• Camps D, Villero D, Ruiz-Olmo J, Brotons L. Niche constraints to the northwards expansion of the common genet (Genetta genetta, Linnaeus 1758) in Europe. Mammalian Biology. DOI: 10.1016/j.mambio.2016.03.003.
• Casals P, Valor T, Besalú A, Molina-Terrén D. Understory fuel load and structure eight to nine years after prescribed burning in Mediterranean pine forests. Forest Ecology and Management. DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2015.11.050.
• Cattarinoa L, Hermoso V, Bradfordb LW, Carwardinee J, Wilsonf KA, Kennardb MJ, Linke S. Accounting for continuous species' responses to management effort enhances cost-effectiveness of conservation decisions. Biological conservation. DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2016.02.030.
• Davies GM, Domenech R, Gray A, Johnson PCD. Vegetation structure and fire weather influence variation in burn severity and fuel consumption during peatland wildfires. Biogeosciences. DOI: 10.5194/bg-13-389-2016.
• Decocq G, Andrieu E, Brunet J, Chabrerie O, De Frenne P, De Smedt P, Deconchat M, Diekmann M, Ehrmann S, Giffard B, Gorriz-Mifsud E, Hansen K, Hermy M, Kolb A, Lenoir J, Liira J, Moldan F, Prokofieva I, Rosenqvist L, Varela E, Valdés A, Verheyen K, Wulf M. Ecosystem Services from Small Forest Patches in Agricultural Landscapes. Current Forestry Reports. DOI: 10.1007/s40725-016-0028-x.
• Franklin SB, Hunter JT, De Cáceres M, Dengler J, Krestov P, Landucci F. Introducing the IAVS Vegetation Classification Working Group. Phytocoenologia. DOI: 10.1127/phyto/2016/0116.
• Gibbins CN, Vericat D, Batalla RJ, Buendia C. Which variables should be used to link invertebrate drift to river hydraulic conditions? Fundamental and Applied Limnology. DOI: 10.1127/fal/2015/0745.
• Gil-Tena A, Aquilue N, Duane A, Caceres M de, Brotons L. Mediterranean fire regime effects on pine-oak forest landscape mosaics under global change in NE Spain. European Journal of Forest Research. DOI: 10.1007/s10342-016-0943-1.
• Górriz-Mifsud E, Secco L, Pisani E. Exploring the interlinkages between governance and social capital: A dynamic model for forestry. Forest Policy and Economics. DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2016.01.006.
• Górriz-Mifsud E, Varela E, Piqué M, Prokofieva I. Demand and supply of ecosystem services in a Mediterranean forest: Computing payment boundaries. Ecosystem Services. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2015.11.006.

References

External links

• Official website
• Publications
• European Forest Institute's CTFC reference
• CTFC's reference on CERCA's webpage (network of excellence of research centres of Catalonia)