Shilula, K. N., Saiz, H., Guirado, E., Gross, N., Le Bagousse-Pinguet, Y., Biancari, L., Pueyo, Y., Moreira, X., Eldridge, D. J., Ochoa, V., Gozalo, B., Asensio, S., Mendoza, B. J., Valencia, E., García-Gómez, M., Gaitán, J. J., Plaza, C., Martínez-Valderrama, J., & Maestre, F. T. (2025). Drivers of plant phenolic concentration across global drylands. Journal of Ecology, 00: e70222. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70222.

Smit IC, le Roux PC, Soliveres S, et al. (2025). Plant Trait Matching Occurs in Facilitative Interactions Across Global Drylands. Global Ecology and Biogeography. 34 (11): e70158. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.70158.

Martínez-Valderrama J, Martí-Talavera J, Olcina J, Guirado E, Cintas J, Maestre FT (2025). Wasting water, wasting food: Structural inefficiencies in Spain’s irrigated agribusiness model. Water. 17(21): 3159. https://doi.org/10.3390/w17213159

Maestre FT, Guirado E, Armenteras D, Beck HE, AlShalan MbS, Al-Saud NbT, Chami R,  Fu B, Gichenje H, Huber-Sannwald E, Speranza CH, Martínez-Valderrama J, McCabe MF, Orr BJ, Tang T, Metternicht G, Miess M, Reynolds JF, Stringer LC, Wada Y, & Duarte C (2025) Bending the curve of land degradation to achieve global environmental goals. Nature. 644: 347–355. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44185-025-00097-3 

Zhao, Y., S. Kéfi, E. Guirado, et al. (2025). The Relationship Between Grazing Pressure and Environmental Factors Drives Vegetation Fragmentation Across Global Drylands. Global Ecology and Biogeography. 34(8): e70098. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.70098

Benoît Pichon,  Sonia Kéfi,  Isabelle Gounand,  Nicolas Gross,  Yoann Le Bagousse-Pinguet,  Josquin Guerber,  David Eldridge,  Enrique Valencia,  César Plaza,  Jaime Martínez-Valderrama,  Hugo Saiz,  Victoria Ochoa,  Beatriz Gozalo,  Emilio Guirado,  Miguel García-Gómez,  Juan J. Gaitán,  Sergio Asensio,  Betty Josefina Mendoza,  Sophie Donnet,  Fernando T. Maestre (2025) Grazing Modulates the Multiscale Spatial Structure of Dryland Vegetation. Global Change Biology. 31(7): e70345. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70345

Martínez-Valderrama J, Parra Valencia JA, Awad T, Álvarez AJ, Oliva RM, Cintas J, and Castillo V (2025) Toward Resilient Implementation of Land Degradation Neutrality via Systemic Approaches. Systems. 13(6), 408. https://doi.org/10.3390/systems13060408

Álvarez AJ, Oliva RM, Martínez-Valderrama J (2025) Efficacy of Protective Nets against Drosophila suzukii: Abiotic Factors and Influence of Temperature on Body Size. Insects. 16(3), 253. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects16030253

Zhang X, Liu Q, Gui D, Zhao J, Chen Y, Liu Y and Martínez-Valderrama J (2025) Enhanced River Connectivity Assessment across Larger Areas through Deep Learning with Dam Detection. Hydrological Processes. 39: e70063. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.70063

Gil-Sánchez, J.M., Herrera-Sánchez, F.J., Rodríguez-Siles, J. et al. (2024) Body size rules habitat selection and population declines after drought periods in a carnivore community of the Sahara Desert. Mammalian Biology. 105: 69-81 https://doi.org/10.1007/s42991-024-00461-z

Biancari et al. (2024) Drivers of woody dominance across global drylands. Science Advances 10: eadn6007. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adn6007

Gui D. Liu Q, Martínez-Valderrama J, Abd-Elmabod SK, Ahmed Z, Xu Z and Lei, J (2024) Desertification Baseline: A bottleneck for combating desertification and achieving land degradation neutrality. Earth-Science Reviews.  257: 104892 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2024.104892

Gross et al. (2024) The spectrum of plant form and function in a dry and grazed world. Nature. 632: 808–814 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07731-3

Mengtao C, Liu Q, Liu Y, Jin Q, Martinez-Valderrama J, and Zhao J (2024) Multi-model assessment of potential natural vegetation to support ecological restoration. Journal of Environmental Management. 367: 121934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.121934

Díaz-Plaza P, Maestre F.T. … & Plaza, C (2024) Vulnerability of mineral-associated soil organic carbon to climate across global drylands. 2024. Nature Climate Change. 14: 976–982 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-024-02087-y 

Eldridge DJ, Ding J, Dorrough J, et al. (2024) Hotspots of biogeochemical activity linked to aridity and plant traits across global drylands. Nature Plants. 10: 760–770. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-024-01670-7 

Martínez-Valderrama J, Gartzia R, Olcina J, Guirado E, Ibáñez J, Maestre FT (2023) Uberizing agriculture in drylands: A few enriched, everyone endangered. Water Resources Management. 38: 193-214. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s11269-023-03663-1

Guirado E, Delgado-Baquerizo M, Benito BM, Molina-Pardo JL, Berdugo M, Martínez-Valderrama J, Maestre FT (2023) The global biogeography and environmental drivers of fairy circles. PNAS. 140(20). e2304032120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2304032120

Martínez-Valderrama J, Olcina J, Delacámara G, Guirado E, Maestre FT (2023) Complex Policy Mixes are Needed to Cope with Agricultural Water Demands Under Climate Change. Water Resources Management. 37: 2805–2834 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-023-03481-5

Martínez-Valderrama J, Ibáñez J (2023) Implementing climate change projections in System Dynamics models. MethodsX. 10: 102044. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2023.102044

Herrera-Sánchez FJ, López O. Rodríguez-Siles J, Díaz-Portero MA, Arredondo A, Sáez JM, Álvarez B, Cancio I, De Lucas J, Pérez J,  Valenzuela J, Martínez-Valderrama J, Sánchez-Cerdá M, Qninba A, Virgós E, Calleja JA, Bartolomé Filella J, Albanell E, Serrano E, Abáigar T, Gil Sánchez JM (2023) Feeding Ecology of the Cuvier’s Gazelle (Gazella cuvieri) in the Sahara Desert. Animals. 13(4), 567; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13040567

Gil-Sánchez JM, Herrera-Sánchez FJ, Rodríguez-Siles J, Díaz-Portero MÁ, Arredondo Á, Sáez JM, Álvarez B, Cancio I, Lucas J de, McCain E, Pérez J, Valenzuela G, Martínez-Valderrama J, Sánchez-Cerdá M, Lahlafi T, Martín JM, Burgo T, Jiménez J, Qninba A, and Virgós E (2023) Applications of non-intrusive methods to study the sand cat: a field study in the Sahara Desert. European Journal of Wildlife Research, 69: 20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-023-01645-7

Martínez-Valderrama J, Ibáñez J (2023) System Dynamics tools to study Mediterranean rangeland's sustainability. Land. 12(1): 206. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12010206

Maestre FT et al. (2022) Grazing and ecosystem service delivery in global drylands. Science, 378(6622): 315-320. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abq4062

Ibáñez J, Gartzia R, Alcalá FJ, Martínez-Valderrama J (2022) The importance of prevention in tackling desertification: an approach to anticipate risks of degradation in coastal aquifers. Land, 11: 1626. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11101626

Guirado E, Delgado-Baquerizo M, Martínez-Valderrama J, Tabik S, Alcaraz-Segura D, Maestre FT (2022) Climate legacies drive the distribution and future restoration potential of dryland forests. Nature Plants, 8: 879-886. doi: 10.1038/s41477-022-01198-8

Sanjuán ME, Martínez-Valderrama J, Ruiz A, del Barrio G (2022) Land use intensification affects the relative importance of climate variation and active land degradation: convergence of six regions around the world. Land Degradation & Development, 33(14): 2487-2499 https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.4326

Martínez-Valderrama J, Guirado E, Maestre FT (2022) Life adapted to precariousness: The ecology of drylands. Metode Science Studies Journal, 112 (1): 59-65. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.13.22006

Martínez-Valderrama J, Guirado E, Maestre FT (2022) Drylands: Opportunities, challenges and threats. Metode Science Studies Journal, 112 (1): 57. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.13.24248

Martínez-Valderrama J, del Barrio G, Sanjuán ME, Guirado E, Maestre FT (2022) Desertification in Spain: A sound diagnosis without solutions and new scenarios. Land, 11(2): 1020272 doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/land11020272

del Barrio G, Sanjuán E, Martínez-Valderrama J, Ruiz A, Puigdefábregas J (2021) Land degradation means loss of management options. Journal of Arid Environment. 189: 104502. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2021.104502

Alcalá FJ, Martínez-Valderrama J, Gomáriz-Castillo F, Hernández CG, Cecilia JM (2021) Scientific Programming Tools for Water Management. Scientific Programming. 2021. 9828596. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/9828596

Guirado E, Blanco-Sacristán J, Rodriguez-Caballero E, Tabik S, Alcaraz-Segura D, Martínez-Valderrama J, Cabello J. (2021) Mask R-CNN and OBIA Fusion Improves the Segmentation of Scattered Vegetation in Very High-resolution Optical Sensors. Sensors. 21 (1): 320. https://doi.org/10.3390/s21010320

Martínez-Valderrama J, Sanjuán ME, del Barrio G, Guirado E, Ruiz A, Maestre FT (2021) Mediterranean landscape re-greening at the expense of South American agricultural expansion. Land. 10(2): 204. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10020204

del Barrio G, Sainz H, Sanjuán ME, Sánchez de Dios R, Martínez-Valderrama J, Ruiz A (2021) Abrupt fragmentation thresholds of eight zonal forest types in mainland Spain. Forest Ecology and Management. 482: 118788. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2020.118788

Martínez-Valderrama J, Ibáñez J, Alcalá FJ, Sanjuán ME, Ruiz A, del Barrio G (2021) Assessing the sensitivity of a Mediterranean commercial rangeland to droughts under climate change scenarios by means of a multidisciplinary integrated model. Agricultural Systems, 187: 103021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2020.103021

Sánchez de Dios R, Sanjuán ME, Sainz H, Ruiz A, Martínez-Valderrama J, del Barrio G (2021) A dataset with complete geographic distributions of eight zonal monospecific forest types in mainland Spain. Data in Brief, 34: 106681. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2020.106681

Martínez-Valderrama J, Guirado E, Maestre FT (2020) Discarded food and resource depletion. Nature Food 1, 660–662. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-00186-5

Martínez-Valderrama J, Guirado E, Maestre FT (2020) Unraveling Misunderstandings about Desertification: The Paradoxical Case of the Tabernas-Sorbas Basin in Southeast Spain. Land. 9(8): 269. https://doi.org/10.3390/land9080269

Martínez-Valderrama J, Guirado E, Maestre FT (2020) Desertifying deserts. Nature Sustainability, 3: 572-575. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-0561-2

Martínez-Valderrama J, Ibáñez J, Alcalá FJ, Martínez S (2020) SAT, a software for assessing the risk of desertification in Spain. Scientific Programming, 2020(1). https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/7563928

Martínez-Valderrama J, Ibáñez J, Alcalá FJ (2020) AQUACOAST: A simulation tool to explore coastal groundwater and irrigation farming interactions. Scientific Programming. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/9092829

Gil-Sánchez JM, Herrera-Sánchez FJ, Rodríguez-Siles J, Manuel J, Díaz-Portero MÁ, Arredondo Á, et al. (2020) Feeding Specialization of Honey Badgers in the Sahara Desert: A Trial of Life in a Hard Environment. Diversity, 12(59):1–11. https://doi.org/10.3390/d12020059

Ibáñez J, Martínez-Valderrama J, Lavado Contador, JF, Pulido Fernández M (2020) Exploring the economic, social and environmental prospects for commercial natural annual grasslands by performing a sensitivity analysis on a multidisciplinary integrated model. Science of the Total Environment. 705: 135860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135860

Ibáñez J, Martínez-Valderrama J (2018) Global effectiveness of a range of group decision-making strategies in coping with forage and price variabilities in commercial rangelands - A modelling assessment. Journal of Environmental Management, 217: 531 - 541. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.03.127

Alcalá FJ, Martín-Martín M, Guerrera F, Martínez-Valderrama J, Robles-Marín P (2018) A feasible methodology for groundwater resource modelling for sustainable use in sparse-data drylands: results from the Amtoudi Oasis in the northern Sahara. Science of the Total Environment, 630: 1246 - 1257. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.294

Martínez-Valderrama J, Ibáñez J, Del Barrio G, Alcalá FJ, Sanjuán ME, Ruiz A, Hirche A, Puigdefábregas J (2018) Doomed to collapse: Why Algerian steppe rangelands are overgrazed and some lessons to help land-use transitions. Science of the Total Environment, 613-614: 1489-1497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.07.058

Martínez-Valderrama J, Ibáñez J, del Barrio G, Sanjuán ME, Alcalá FJ, Martínez-Vicente S, Puigdefábregas J (2016) Present and future of desertification in Spain: Implementation of a surveillance system to prevent land degradation. Science of the Total Environment, 563: 169 – 178.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.04.065 

del Barrio G, Sanjuan ME, Hirche A, Puigdefabregas J, Yassin M, Ruiz A, Ouessar M, Martinez-Valderrama J, Essifi B (2016) Land degradation states and trends in north-western Maghreb drylands, 1998-2008. Remote Sensing. 8(7), 603. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8070603 

Gil-Sánchez JM, Herrera-Sánchez FJ, Álvarez B, Arredondo Á, Bautista J, Cancio I, Castillo S, Díaz-Portero MÁ, de Lucas J, McCain E, Pérez J, Rodríguez-Siles J, Sáez JM, Martínez-Valderrama J, Valenzuela G, Qninba A, and Virgós, E. (2016). Evaluating methods for surveying the Endangered Cuvier’s gazelle Gazella cuvieri in arid landscapes.  Oryx. Vol 51(4): 648-655. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605316000430

Ibáñez J, Lavado Contador JF, Schnabel S, Pulido Fernández M, Martínez-Valderrama J (2016) Evaluating the influence of physical, economic and managerial factors on sheet erosion in rangelands of SW Spain by performing a sensitivity analysis on an integrated dynamic model. Science of the Total Environment. 544: 439-449.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.11.128

Alcalá FJ, Martínez-Valderrama J, Robles-Marín P, Guerrera F, Martín-Martín M, Raffaelli G, Tejera de León J, Asebriy L (2015) Hydrological-economic model for the Amtoudi Oasis (southern Morocco, northern Sahara): a key case for sustainable groundwater use in sparse-data drylands. Science of the Total Environment. 537: 309-322. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.07.062

Ibáñez J, Martínez-Valderrama J, Taguas EV, Gómez JA (2014) Long-term implications of water erosion in olive-growing areas in southern Spain arising from a model-based integrated assessment at hillside scale. Agricultural Systems, 127: 70-80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2014.01.006

Ibáñez J, Lavado Contador JF, Schnabel S, Pulido Fernández M, Martínez Valderrama J (2014) A model-based integrated assessment of land degradation by water erosion in a valuable Spanish rangeland. Environmental Modelling & Software. 55, 201-213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2014.01.026

Ibáñez J, Martínez Valderrama J, Papanastasis V, Evangelou C, Puigdefábregas J (2014) A multidisciplinary model for assessing degradation in Mediterranean rangelands. Land Degradation and Development. 25(5), 468 – 482. https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.2165

Martínez Valderrama J, Ibáñez J, Alcalá FJ, Domínguez A, Yassin M, Puigdefábregas J (2011) The use of a hydrological-economic model to assess sustainability in groundwater-dependent agriculture in drylands. Journal of Hydrology. Vol 402: 80-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.03.003

Hirche A, Salamani M, Abdellaoui A, Benhouhou S, Martínez Valderrama J (2011) Landscape changes of desertification in arid areas: the case of south-west Algeria. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 179 (1-4), 403-420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-010-1744-5

Ibáñez J, Martínez Valderrama J, Puigdefábregas J (2008) Assessing overexploitation in Mediterranean aquifers using system stability condition analysis. Ecological Modelling. 218: 260 - 266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2008.07.004

Ibáñez J, Martínez Valderrama J, Puigdefábregas J (2008) Assessing desertification risk using system stability condition analysis. Ecological Modelling, 213 (2): 180 - 190. https://doi.org10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2007.11.017