PhD thesis

Fieldwork for my PhD thesis (2007–2010)

on the effects of habitat fragmentation on multiple demographic and genetic processes of plant populations, using the Mediterranean myrtle (Myrtus communis) in the Guadalquivir Valley as study system.

Forest fragment in agricultural landscape (south Spain)
Forest fragment in agricultural landscape (south Spain)
Forest edge
Forest understory
Flowering myrtle (Myrtus communis) in the understory
Flowering myrtles (Myrtus communis) in the understory
Honeybee (Apis mellifera) visiting myrtle flowers
Wild bee (Megachile pilidens) visiting myrtle flowers
Myrtle flowers marked for pollination experiments
Myrtle fruits produced from pollination experiments
Fully ripe myrtle fruits
Fallen fruit predated by rodents (gnawed and seedless)
Myrtle seeds dispersed in a bird scat
Greenfinch (Chloris chloris) preying upon myrtle seeds
Myrtle fruits predated (seedless) by granivorous birds
Myrtle fruits predated (seedless) by granivorous birds
Experiment: post-dispersal seed predation by rodents
Sowing experiment: seedling emergence and survival
Plot for sampling myrtle seedlings and saplings
Plot for sampling myrtle seedlings and saplings
Naturally recruited myrtle seedlings and saplings
Greenhouse experiment: progeny performance
Greenhouse experiment: progeny performance

The photos illustrate the fieldwork behind the following publications:

  • González-Varo JP, Aparicio A, Lavergne S, Arroyo J & Albaladejo RG (2012) Contrasting heterozygosity-fitness correlations between populations of a self-compatible shrub in a fragmented landscape. GENETICA 140:31–38 pdf
  • González-Varo JP, Nora S & Aparicio A (2012) Bottlenecks for plant recruitment in woodland remnants: an ornithochorous shrub in a Mediterranean ‘relictual’ landscape. PERSPECTIVES IN PLANT ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION, AND SYSTEMATICS 14:111–122 pdf
  • González-Varo JP, Albaladejo RG, Aparicio A & Arroyo J (2010) Linking genetic diversity, mating patterns and progeny performance in fragmented populations of a Mediterranean shrub. JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECOLOGY 47:1242–1252 pdf
  • González-Varo JP (2010) Fragmentation, habitat composition and the dispersal/predation balance of interactions between the Mediterranean myrtle and avian frugivores. ECOGRAPHY 33:185–197 pdf
  • González-Varo JP, Arroyo J & Aparicio A (2009) Effects of fragmentation on pollinator assemblage, pollen limitation and seed production of Mediterranean myrtle (Myrtus communis). BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION 142:1058–1065 pdf
  • González-Varo JP, Albaladejo RG & Aparicio A (2009) Mating patterns and spatial distribution of conspecific neighbours in the Mediterranean shrub Myrtus communis (Myrtaceae). PLANT ECOLOGY 203: 207–215 pdf