Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications

The Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF) is a public research institution that was created in 1987. The members of the Governing Council of CREAF are the Generalitat of Catalonia, the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), University of Barcelona (UB), the Institute for Research and Technology (IRTA), the Institute of Catalan Studies (IEC) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). CREAF’s main objective is to generate knowledge and create new methodological tools in the field of terrestrial ecology, with special emphasis on forest ecology, in order to improve environmental planning and management in rural and urban areas. The CREAF has a long experience in the study of forest ecosystems, a field in which it has attained considerable prestige both at the national and at international levels. The activities conducted at CREAF include high-quality research on: i) the functioning, diversity and response to disturbance of natural systems; ii) environmental problems that can have severe impacts on the functioning of ecosystems, such as atmospheric, climate and land-use changes; and iii) the development of conceptual and methodological tools (databases, cartography, geographic information systems) to assist land managers in decision-making processes and facilitate sustainable forest management.

Researchers

Researcher	Main research topic		Researcher	Main research topic
	Enrique Doblas Email Arthropod ecology and coordination			Javier Retana Email Disturbance ecology
	Joan Pino Email Landscape ecology			Bernat Claramunt Email Ecological networks
	Josep Maria Espelta Email Forest dynamics and plant-insect interactions			Francisco Lloret Email Forest disturbances and dynamics
	Arnald Marcer Email Biodiversity distribution			Jordi Martinez Email Functional ecology
	Roberto Molowny Email Modelling			Jordi Vayreda Email Forest dynamics