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Impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Analysis of institutional authors

Pelaez, MartaCorresponding AuthorPerea Garcia-Calvo, RamonAuthor

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June 9, 2019
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Nurse plant size and biotic stress determine quantity and quality of plant facilitation in oak savannas

Publicated to: FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT. 437 435-442 - 2019-04-01 437(), DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2019.02.010

Authors:

Pelaez, Marta; Dirzo, Rodolfo; Fernandes, Geraldo Wilson; Perea, Ramon
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Affiliations

Stanford Univ, Dept Biol, 371 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305 USA - Author
Univ Fed Minas Gerais, Dept Biol Geral, BR-30161 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Dept Sistemas & Recursos Nat, Ciudad Univ, ES-28040 Madrid, Spain - Author
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Abstract

The nurse plant phenomenon is an important form of facilitative interaction where a nurse-plant provides shelter from abiotic or biotic stress to a beneficiary plant. However, plant facilitation strongly depends on nurse-plant traits such as size or age. This effect has been mostly attributed to the amelioration of abiotic conditions under larger nurse-plants. However, the effect of nurse-plant size on the overall facilitative process (quantitative and qualitative components) remains largely unexplored, particularly for increasing levels of biotic stress. Here, we investigated the effect of nurse-plant size on the quantitative (recruitment density) and qualitative (recruit shape and growth) components of plant facilitation along two contrasting herbivore-stressed environments. We measured natural oak recruits located under and outside nurse-plants of different size and age. Results show that both components of plant facilitation increased with nurse-plant size but were more pronounced at high biotic stress. Quantitatively, at high biotic stress, facilitation occurred in nurse plants of approximately half the size of those subject to low biotic stress. Interestingly, the qualitative component revealed different results depending on the ontogenetic stage of recruits, with a significant effect of nurse-plant size on large recruits (saplings) but not on small recruits (seedlings). Additionally, at higher biotic stress, more beneficiaries were found further inside the nurse-plant. Similarly, oak recruits located further inside the nurse plant showed greater plant quality. Although nurse-plant age and size were highly correlated, the spatial distribution and quality gradient of recruits suggests that nurse-plant size rather than age enhances plant facilitation in herbivore-dominated environments. We conclude that nurse-plant size plays a crucial role in plant facilitation but its net facilitative effect is strongly mediated by the level of biotic stress and the ontogeny of beneficiaries. We highlight the importance of considering both components (quantity and quality) of plant facilitation to fully understand how plant-plant interactions change at increasing levels of stress.
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Keywords

CompetitionConservationGradient hypothesisHerbivoryInvasionLife on landMediterranean environmentsMicrohabitat ameliorationNurse-plant agePlant ontogenyPositive interactionsRecruitmentSemiarid environmentShrubStress gradient hypothesisTree saplingsWild ungulates

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal FOREST ECOLOGY AND MANAGEMENT due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2019, it was in position 5/68, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Forestry. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 2.29. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 13, 2025)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 2.12 (source consulted: FECYT Mar 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2026-04-25, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 33
  • Scopus: 38
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-25:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 63.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 63 (PlumX).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://oa.upm.es/88025/

As a result of the publication of the work in the institutional repository, statistical usage data has been obtained that reflects its impact. In terms of dissemination, we can state that, as of

  • Views: 128
  • Downloads: 34
Continuing with the social impact of the work, it is important to emphasize that, due to its content, it can be assigned to the area of interest of ODS 15 - Life on land, with a probability of 64% according to the mBERT algorithm developed by Aurora University.
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Brazil; United States of America.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (Pelaez Beato, Marta) and Last Author (PEREA GARCIA-CALVO, RAMON).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Pelaez Beato, Marta.

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Project objectives

Los objetivos perseguidos en esta aportación se centran en profundizar en el fenómeno de la facilitación vegetal mediado por plantas nodrizas. Se pretende analizar el efecto del tamaño de la planta nodriza sobre los componentes cuantitativos (densidad de reclutas) y cualitativos (forma y crecimiento de reclutas) de la facilitación vegetal. Evaluar cómo varían estos efectos bajo diferentes niveles de estrés biótico causados por herbívoros. Determinar la influencia del tamaño y edad de la planta nodriza en la distribución espacial y calidad de los reclutas de roble. Caracterizar las diferencias en la facilitación según la etapa ontogenética de los reclutas, distinguiendo entre plántulas y árboles jóvenes. Finalmente, destacar la importancia de considerar ambos componentes para comprender las interacciones planta-planta en ambientes con estrés biótico variable.
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Most relevant results

El estudio analiza el efecto del tamaño de plantas nodrizas en la facilitación de plantas en sabanas de encinas bajo diferentes niveles de estrés biótico. Los resultados principales son: (1) tanto la cantidad como la calidad de la facilitación aumentan con el tamaño de la planta nodriza, siendo más pronunciados bajo alto estrés biótico; (2) la facilitación cuantitativa se observa en plantas nodrizas de menor tamaño cuando el estrés biótico es alto; (3) la calidad de la facilitación afecta significativamente a reclutas grandes (plántulas) pero no a pequeñas (semilleros); (4) bajo alto estrés, los beneficiarios se encuentran más hacia el interior de la planta nodriza, donde presentan mayor calidad; (5) la facilitación está más influida por el tamaño que por la edad de la planta nodriza en ambientes dominados por herbívoros.
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Awards linked to the item

We thank Stephanie Bieler, Diana Lin, Indigo Johnson and Merete Lutz for their help with fieldwork. We are also grateful to all the staff from Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve and the Stanford Dish Area (Land Use and Environmental Planning Office) for logistical support. RP received support from the European Commission's Framework Programme 7 through the Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship (FP7-PEOPLE-2013-IOF-627450). MP acknowledges the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Education (FPU13/00567 and EST16/00095) during the stay at Stanford University.
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