Antonio Rodríguez Olmo

My research topics cover the restoration of biodiversity on multiple spatial scales, the conservation of ecological interactions, and the assessment of anthropogenic and natural disturbance on community composition and on species' traits related to their response to perturbation. I am particularly interested in the effect that forest disturbance exerts on functional groups of arthropods important for regulating ecosystem services, such as decomposers, pollinators, parasitoids or generalist predators.  

At present, my research is focused on assessing the response of Boreal forest ground-dwelling arthropod communities (mainly composed of ground and rove beetles, spiders and ants), to forest restoration efforts. Responses of epigaeic arthropod assemblages to forest disturbances are mediated by species identity, which allows the use of a predictive trait-mediated framework in assessing the success of restoration initiatives.

By analyzing the joint effects of fire severity (prescribed vs. wild fire) and succession (old-growth vs. young forests) on a forest management gradient, we are able to evaluate if current restoration practices like prescribed fires emulate the positive effects of natural disturbance on Boreal forest biodiversity. Furthermore, we can predict which species will be more favored by restoration, depending on the specific local and forest landscape conditions.   

I work in my research in North Sweden and Finland, in collaboration with the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Luke).

Rodriguez, A., Pohjoismäki, JLO, & Kouki, J. (2019) Diversity of forest management promotes parasitoid functional diversity in boreal forests. Biological Conservation, 238, 108205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108205

Granath, G., Kouki, J., Johnson, S., Heikkala, O., Rodríguez, A., Strengbom, J. (2018) Trade-offs in berry production and biodiversity under prescribed burning and different retention regimes in Boreal forests . Journal of Applied Ecology, 55, 1658–1667. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13098

Rodríguez, A. & Kouki, J. (2017) Disturbance-mediated heterogeneity drives pollinator diversity in boreal managed forest ecosystems. Ecological Applications, 27, 589–602. http://doi.org/10.1002/eap.1468

Rodríguez, A. & Kouki, J. (2015) Emulating natural disturbance in forest management enhances pollination services for dominant Vaccinium shrubs in boreal pine-dominated forests. Forest Ecology and Management, 350, 1–12. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2015.04.029