Person:
López-Pintor Alcón, Antonio

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First Name
Antonio
Last Name
López-Pintor Alcón
Affiliation
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Faculty / Institute
Ciencias Biológicas
Department
Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución
Area
Ecología
Identifiers
UCM identifierORCIDScopus Author IDWeb of Science ResearcherIDDialnet ID

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7
  • Publication
    Simplifying data acquisition in plant canopies- Measurements of leaf angles with a cell phone
    (Wiley, 2014-02) Escribano-Rocafort, Adrián G.; Ventre-Lespiaucq, Agustina B.; Granado Yela, Carlos; López-Pintor Alcón, Antonio; Delgado Sáez, Juan Antonio; Muñoz, Vicente; Dorado, Gabriel A.; Balaguer Núñez, Luis
    1.Canopies are complex multilayered structures comprising individual plant crowns exposing a multifaceted surface area to sunlight. Foliage arrangement and properties are the main mediators of canopy functions. Theleaves act as light traps whose exposure to sunlight varies with time of the day, date and latitude in a trade-off between photosynthetic light harvesting and excessive or photoinhibitory light avoidance. To date, ecological research based upon leaf sampling has been limited by the available technology, with which data acquisition becomes labour intensive and time-consuming, given the overwhelming number of leaves involved. 2. In the present study, our goal involved developing a tool capable of measuring a sufficient number of leaves to enable analysis of leaf populations, tree crowns and canopies. We specifically tested whether a cell phone working as a 3D pointer could yield reliable, repeatable and valid leaf angle measurements with a simple gesture. We eval-uated the accuracy of this method under controlled conditions, using a 3D digitizer, and we compared perfor-mance in the field with the methods commonly used. We presented an equation to estimate the potential proportion of the leaf exposed to direct sunlight (SAL) at any given time and compared the results with those obtained by means of a graphical method. 3.We found a strong and highly significant correlation between the graphical methods and the equation presented. The calibration process showed a strong correlation between the results derived from the two methods with a mean relative difference below 10%. The mean relative difference in calculation of instantaneous exposure was below 5%. Our device performed equally well in diverse locations, in which we characterized over 700 leaves in a single day. 4.The new method, involving the use of a cell phone, is much more effective than the traditional methods or digitizers when the goal is to scale up from leaf position to performance of leaf populations, tree crowns or canopies. Our methodology constitutes an affordable and valuable tool within which to frame a wide range of ecological hypotheses and to support canopy modelling approaches.
  • Publication
    European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) engineering effects promote plant heterogeneity in Mediterranean dehesa pastures
    (Elsevier, 2011-09) Gálvez-Bravo, L.; López-Pintor Alcón, Antonio; Rebollo, S.; Gómez-Sal, Antonio
    Mammalian herbivores can have dramatic etfects on the vegetation through different mechanisms, and may therefore modify resource distribution or create habitat for other species. Organisms that cause such changes are classified as ecosystem engineers. The European rabbit ( Orycto/agus cunicu/us) is a semifossorial mammal native to the lberian Peninsula and a keystone species in Mediterranean foodwebs. Rabbits are central-place foragers, but few studies have analysed their ecosystem engineering effects in the vicinity ofwarrens. Here, we explored the role of rabbits as ecosystem engineers in Mediterranean pastures in central Spain. We studied the spatial patterns and internal heterogeneity in the vegetation community of different spatial subunits created by rabbits (warrens, the warren influence area, and latrines). Within the different subunits, rabbit activities gave rise to patches and gradients with different plant species richness, diversity and height. and a high internal heterogeneity (dissimilarity) in floristic composition. Through different mechanisms, they have a significant effect on species coexistence and competitive interactions, and increase the number of available ni ches for plants which otherwise would not be able to establish. In conclusion, rabbits can act as allogenic ecosystem engineers in Mediterranean pastures, increasing heterogeneity and contributing to the high biodiversity of Mediterranean annual pastures.
  • Publication
    Estudio de comunidades de matorral mediterráneo I
    (2019) López-Pintor Alcón, Antonio; Barandica Fernández, Jesús; Acosta Gallo, Belén; Casado González, Miguel Ángel; Delgado Sáez, Juan Antonio; García Avilés, Javier; de las Heras Puñal, Paloma; Herrero de Jáuregui, Cristina; Jiménez Escobar, María Dolores; López de Pablo, Carlos Tomás; Martín de Agar Valverde, Pilar; Martín Zorrilla, Juan Vicente; Morcillo Alonso, Felipe; Ortega Quero, Marta; Rovira Sanroque, José Vicente; Serrano Talavera, José Manuel
    Conjunto de guiones de prácticas de Ecología, correspondientes al bloque temático sobre el estudio de comunidades, y material complementario (estadillo y plantilla para la matriz de datos).
  • Publication
    Estudio de comunidades de matorral mediterráneo II
    (2019-06) López-Pintor Alcón, Antonio; Barandica Fernández, Jesús; Morcillo Alonso, Felipe
    Conjunto de guiones de prácticas de Ecología, correspondientes al bloque temático sobre el estudio de comunidades, centrado en el análisis de la diversidad de las comunidades presentes en el territorio objeto de estudio, y su respuesta a la perturbación. Acompañan dos archivos Excel de ejemplo, y el simulador de distribuciones de datos de vegetación.
  • Publication
    Guía Rápida de SPSS v.25 (Prácticas de Ecología)
    (2019-06) López-Pintor Alcón, Antonio; Barandica Fernández, Jesús; Acosta Gallo, Belén; Casado González, Miguel Ángel; Delgado Sáez, Juan Antonio; García Avilés, Javier; de las Heras Puñal, Paloma; Herrero de Jáuregui, Cristina; Jiménez Escobar, María Dolores; López de Pablo, Carlos Tomás; Martín de Agar Valverde, Pilar; Martín Zorrilla, Juan Vicente; Morcillo Alonso, Felipe; Ortega Quero, Marta; Rovira Sanroque, José Vicente; Serrano Talavera, José Manuel
    Guía rápida de SPSS v.25 para usar en las Prácticas de Ecología (Grado en Biología, 3er curso)
  • Publication
    Assessment of agri-environmental externalities in spanish socio-ecological landscapes of olive groves
    (MDPI, 2018-07-27) López-Pintor Alcón, Antonio; Sanz-Cañada, Javier; Salas, Ernesto; Rescia Perazzo, Alejandro Javier
    Traditional agricultural systems and their spatial context constitute socio-ecological landscapes for their long co-evolutionary history. However, these systems not only generate positive but also negative agri-environmental externalities, such as soil erosion, diffuse pollution and potential wild biodiversity degradation. In this paper, we present a methodological approach for developing and testing indicators to estimate the effects of these externalities, especially designed to be used to help guide land-use policy changes. Our results show that the indicators proposed can recognize the different environmental situations posed by the three selected study areas, in terms of potential erosion and diffuse pollution, as well as in the actual agri-environmental externalities assessment. As expected, they also respond to the changes in land use and management introduced by two scenarios, ecological and productive. Although the erosion and diffuse pollution indicators showed a linear response, the diversity indicator showed a non-linear response, which highlights the importance of the spatial structure of landscape in agri-environmental assessment. In fact, several ecological processes can be affected by landscape spatial structure, potentially giving unexpected results both in terms of indicators and of real impact of agri-environmental externalities. Therefore, some landscape structure assessment should accompany that of externalities when considering land-use policy objectives.
  • Publication
    Enseñar Ecología hoy: abandonando la tarima para jugar con el mundo real
    (2020-02-04) López-Pintor Alcón, Antonio; Barandica Fernández, Jesús María; Calatayud Estrada, María Luisa; Heras Puñal, María Paloma de las; Morcillo Alonso, Felipe; Serrano Talavera, José Manuel; Bourqqia, Marwane