FOREST MANAGEMENT OF MEDITERRANEAN FORES: Building Alternatives for the Coming Future (Environmental Science, Engineering and Technology)

Mediterranean forests provide a diversity of products such as wood, non-wood forest products including cork, fodder for livestock and aromatic plants and game, all of which are important for socio-economic or cultural development and contribute to food security and poverty alleviation in rural areas. But Mediterranean forests also are facing a mix of threats such as climatic change, agricultural expansion, tourism, urban development and other land use practices that are contributing to forest area losses. Mediterranean forests will be one of the most affected forest ecosystems in the near future as temperatures will increase and rain will decrease. This book aims to provide scientific knowledge for researchers, students, local managers and policy makers. The book is divided into eleven chapters covering not only ecological, but also economic and social perspectives on climate change and Mediterranean forest management. The authors provide information about different research projects and examples related to climate change and forest natural regeneration, genetic aspects of forest ecosystems, forest fires, environmental services, traditional markets and social perspectives on adaptation in forest management. About the Author Since 2005, I have been working on different research projects and teaching activities at Castilla La Mancha University. I developed my doctoral thesis in Cuenca Mountains working on Spanish black pine (Pinus nigra Arn. ssp salzmannii) natural regeneration and sustainable forest management. I have also spent some years in different European and national universities and research centers as for example Edinburgh University, Instituto Superior de Agronomia de Lisboa, Tras-Os-Montes e Alto Douro University and Centro de Biología Aplicada del Segura. Now, I am currently involved on many different research and teaching activities at the Higher Technical School of Agricultural and Forestry Engineering. (Castilla La Mancha University), the Research Institute for Renewable Energy of Albacete (www. http://ier.uclm.es) and the National Open University (U.N.E.D.). My research and teaching interest are related to: 1. - Forest ecosystem management under the sustainability and multifunctionality forestry principles on the new context of climate change. Natural regeneration of forest species. Dendrocronology; 2.- Assessing hydrological behaviour and sediment connectivity in contrasting Mediterranean catchments. Impacts of Global Change.