GINYS-CREAF-020

EMF – Ecosystem modeling installation

This infrastructure is specialized in the analysis and management of databases, and in the development and leadership of large-scale modeling projects on the dynamics of ecosystems in response to global change. It consists of a research and technical team of 3 people. EMF intends to become a meeting point for people (from CREAF and more closely) interested in developing or applying models to predict the response of terrestrial ecosystems to the engines of global change, both for research purposes and knowledge transfer.

GINYS-CREAF-019

Cores of mediterranean trees

Reference collections. As a result of the participation in the Forest Ecological Inventory of Catalonia (IEFC; 1988-1998), the Forestry and Fire Dynamics Group preserves more than 7,500 cores of typical trees of the Mediterranean area. The collection comprises two core types: partial, where only a small part of the trunk has been extracted to estimate the growth in recent years, and entire cores, those with the whole series of time (up to the centre of the trunk). In total, representatives trees, one of each diameter class, were extracted -from the 5 cm thickness of the trunk- in some 2,000 plots and of all type of species from Catalonia, except holm oak (Quercus ilex) and cork oak (Quercus suber) due to the nature of the wood of these species, since they do not have a typical growth ring. This material has already been used in different scientific articles, to assess forest production, forest age, average growth, etc. and can be found in Can Balasc.

GINYS-CREAF-018

Forest and pasture soil collection

Reference Collections. Since the 1970s, a thousand samples of soil from forests and pastures in Catalonia have been preserved, characterized in terms of physical, chemical and biological properties. The soil research group associated with CREAF and the Autonomous University of Barcelona has a descriptive field profile and a soil analysis for each study it has carried out since the 1970s. This has become Edafoteca , a collection of soil horizons from all over Spain, which includes samples from all over Galicia to Cantabria, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. The collection has grown to include about a thousand items today. It has been used to compare soils of a given place in different years, to study the earth in restored quarries, and for isotope analysis.

GINYS-CREAF-017

Pollinators collection

Reference collections. Since 2006, 30,000 pollinating insect specimens have been reached. Currently made up of tens of thousands of specimens of 750 different species of pollinating insects, this collection dates back to 2006, when the related line of research of CREAF began, under the direction of Jordi Bosch and Anselm Rodrigo. The collection has grown as a result of both sporadic catches and systematic and standardized sampling, carried out mainly through entomological networks, colored traps and nesting tubes for solitary bees and wasps. It includes samples from different parts of the Iberian Peninsula, such as Catalonia (Garraf, Montseny, Lleida, Olot), Sierra Nevada, Cuenca and Burgos. It is complemented by a correlation database containing information on the abundance of certain species, their functional traits (e.g., body size, length of mouthparts), and any observed interactions (plants from which they collect pollen). len, types of parasites present in their nests, behavioral traits, etc.). The collection has been used to perform molecular analyzes and meta-analyzes with various associated centers.

GINYS-CREAF-016

Dendrology laboratory

Study of the anatomy of wood and the growth rings of trees and shrubs.

GINYS-CREAF-015

Teaching practices laboratory

Teaching practices of the Ecology Unit-UAB.Processing of large samples of soil, fauna and plants (handling, separation, fine powder milling).

GINYS-CREAF-014

Wildlife drying, incubation and extraction laboratory

GINYS-CREAF-013

Soil laboratory

Installation of soil ecology for physical, chemical and biological analyzes of the soil, carried out, for example, to determine the concentration of certain nutrients, microbiology or communities present in the soil. In recent years, the laboratory has also been used for ecotoxicological studies of contaminated and decontaminated soils, some of them based on the different bioindicators of the installation, such as Col·lèmbola ( Folsomia candida ), Oligochaete ( Enchytraeus crypticus ) and Isopoda ( Porcellionides sexfasciatus ). The laboratory is equipped with a calcination furnace to dry carbonates, organic matter, etc .; a drying oven; a multiplate absorbance reader, which is very useful for measuring enzymatic activity; and several centrifuges. It is complemented by a smaller laboratory with Berlese funnels and a temperature-controlled incubation room (in addition to the incubators available in both laboratories).

GINYS-CREAF-012

Screening, crushing and polishing laboratory

GINYS-CREAF-011

Large sample processing laboratory

Processing large samples of fauna and plants (handling, separation, fine powder milling).

GINYS-CREAF-010

Plant physiology laboratory

GINYS-CREAF-009

Animal experimentation and optics laboratory

Observation, separation and identification of insect and plant samples under the stereoscopic.

GINYS-CREAF-008

Microscope, optics and precision balance laboratories

The installation is equipped with two precision scales for maximum precision in weight; a double oil immersion optical microscope equipped with a camera; and an inverted microscope, which, for example, the paleobiology research group is using to analyze phytoplankton and zooplankton in sediment nuclei extracted from clear water. Observation, separation and identification of aquatic organisms phytoplankton, diatoms, chrysophytes and soil organisms.

GINYS-CREAF-007

Chemistry laboratory

Freeze-drying of plant and soil samples. Chemical extractions of plant material and soils Spectrophotometry. Storage of chemical reagents.

GINYS-CREAF-006

Acid digestion laboratory

Useful community laboratory for all researchers at one time or another in their research. It is isolated to ensure safety in carrying out reactions that produce steam. The facility is equipped with two smoke hoods; a conventional distiller; a Kjeldahl distiller, which is very useful in determining the nitrogen content of soil, water, and food; and cabinets containing the major acids used in digestion procedures.

GINYS-CREAF-005

Liquid chromatography laboratory

Analysis of soluble organic compounds from plant and soil extracts.

GINYS-CREAF-004

PTR-Gas laboratory

Laboratory for the analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of plants and soil in high resolution in real time.

GINYS-CREAF-003

Gas chromatography laboratory

Laboratory for the analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with ecophysiological applications (plant emissions, soil exchange; in liquid extracts and concentrated air volumes).

GINYS-CREAF-002

Molecular ecology laboratory

Laboratory with the basic infrastructure for the application of molecular tools for the understanding of ecological and / or evolutionary matters

GINYS-CREAF-001

Water laboratory

Laboratory for analyses of rainwater and water from watercourses, and for the analysis of nitrate and nitrite concentrations in leachates from soil samples.