Núria Aquilué Junyent

Postdoctoral researcher
Canada Research Chair in Forest Resilience to Global Changes
Directeur: Christian Messier

Université du Québec à Montréal
Department of Biological Science
141, Av. du Président-Kennedy, H2X 3Y7 Montréal, Québec, Canada

Associate researcher
Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC )
Biodiversity and Landscape Ecology lab (ECOLAND )

FORMATION

• Ph.D in Environmental Sciences - Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), 2013 - 2018
• M.Sc. in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems - Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and Centre for Ecological and Forestry Applications Research (CREAF), 2010
• Postgraduate course in Quantitative Techniques for Financial Products - Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), 2008
• B.Sc. in Mathematics - Faculty of Mathematics and Statistics • Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), 2005

RESEARCH PROJECT

Resilience of fragmented forest landscapes in temperate Quebec

Fragmented forest landscapes of southern Quebec face multiple drivers of global change. Native and exotic insect outbreaks, prolonged drought events and pressure from current harvesting practices put at risk ecosystem functioning and the services and goods such forests provide to society. Landscape-scale, forest management plans taking into account climate change, shifts in natural disturbance regimes and variations in timber supply are indeed envisaged.

Forêt Montmorency, Québec

This project aims at evaluating forest managment options for a fragmented landscape in temperate Quebec in a context of global change. We will model forest landscape and disturbance dynamics with LANDIS-II model and test alternative forest management policies that increase forest resilience to natural disturbances. Within this modelling framework, we will explicitly deal with climate influence on ecological processes (e.g. growth, mortality, recruitment) and impact of natural disturbances (e.g. drought and insect outbreaks) on forest communities. We then will use a new coined apporach to characterise forest landscape resilience based on tree species functional traits and topological properties of the forest network.

Main outcomes of the project will be an understanding of forest dynamics under a changing climate and shifting natural regimes and a set of recommendations for managers and planners to increase forest resistance and resilience to face a changing and uncertain future.

PUBLICATIONS

Publications in SCI-journals

1. Driscoll, D., Armenteras, D., Bennett, A., Brotons, L., Clarke, M., Doherty, T., Haslem, A., Kelly, L., Sato, C., Sitters, H., Aquilué, N., Bell, K., Chadid, M., Duane, A., Elizalde, M., Giljohann, K., González, T., Jambhekar, R., Lazzari, J., Morán-Ordóñez, A., Wevill, T. (2021). "How fire interacts with habitat loss and fragmentation." Biological Reviews.
2. Aquilué, N., Messier, C., Martins, K. T., Dumais-Lalonde, V., Mina, M. (2021). "A simple-to-use management approach to boost adaptive capacity of forest to global uncertainty." Forest Ecology and Management, 481, 118692. (Forest Ecology and Management )
3. Kelly, L. T., Giljohann, K. M., Duane, A., Aquilué, N., et al. (2020). "Fire and biodiversity in the Anthropocene". Science, 370(6519). (Science )
4. Mina, M., Messier, C., Duveneck, M., Fortin, M.-J., Aquilué, N. (2020). "Network analysis can guide resilience-based management in forest landscapes under global change." Ecological Applications, 31(1), e2221. (Ecological Applications )
5. Aquilué, N., Filotas, É., Craven, D., Fortin, M.-J., Brotons, L., Messier, C. (2020). "Evaluating forest resilience to global threats using functional response traits and network properties." Ecological Applications, 30(15), e02095. (Ecological Applications )
6. Morán-Ordóñez, A., Duane, A., Gil-Tena, A., De Cáceres, M., Aquilué, N., Guerra, C. A., Geijzendorffer, I. R., Fortin, M.‐J., Brotons, L. (2020). Future impact of climate extremes in the Mediterranean: soil erosion projections when fire and extreme rainfall meet. Land Degradation & Development, 31(8), 3040-3054. (Land Degradation & Development )
7. Campos, J. C., Bernhardt, J., Aquilué, N., Brotons, L., Domínguez, F., Lomba, Â., Marcos, B., Martínez-Freiría, F., Moreira, F., Pais, S., Honrado, J. P., Regos, A. (2020). "Using fire to enhance rewilding when agricultural policies fail." Science of the Total Environment, 755, 142897. (Science of the Total Environment )
8. Pais, S., Aquilué, N., Campos, J.; Sil, Â., Marcos, B., Martínez-Freiría, F., Domínguez, J., Brotons, L., Honrado, J.P., Regos, A. (2020). "Mountain farmland protection and fire-smart management jointly reduce fire hazard and enhance biodiversity and carbon sequestration." Ecosystem Services. 44, pp.101143. (Ecosystem Services )
9. Aquilué, N., Fortin, M.-J., Messier, C., Brotons, L. (2020). "The potential of agricultural conversion to shape forest fire regimes in Mediterranean landscapes." Ecosystems, 23(1), 34-51. (Ecosystems )
10. Duane, A., Aquilué, N., Canelles, Q.; Morán-Ordoñez, A., De Cáceres, M., Brotons, L. (2019). "Adapting prescribed burns to future climate change in Mediterranean landscapes." Science of the Total Environment. 677, pp.68-83. (Science of the Total Environment )
11. Canelles, Q., Aquilué, N., Duane, A.; Brotons, L. (2019). "From stand to landscapes: modelling post-fire regeneration and species growth." Ecological Modelling. 404, pp.103-111. (Ecological Modelling )
12. Bouchard, M., Aquilué, N., Périé, C., Lambert, M.-C. (2019). Tree species persistence under warming conditions: A key driver of forest response to climate change. Forest Ecology and Management. 442, pp.96-104. (Forest Ecology and Management )
13. Messier, C., Bauhus, J., Doyon, F., Maure, F., Sousa-Silva, R., Nolet, P., Mina, M., Aquilué, N., Fortin, M.-J., Puettmann, K. (2019). The functional complex network approach to foster forest resilience to global changes. Forest Ecosystems. pp.6-21. (Forest Ecosystems )
14. Aquilué N., De Cáceres M., Fortin, M.-J., Fall, A., Brotons L. (2017). A spatial allocation procedure to model land-use/land-cover changes: accounting for occurrence and spread processes. Ecological Modelling 344:73-86. (Ecological Modelling )
15. Duane A., Aquilué N., Gil-Tena A., Brotons L. (2016). Integrating fire spread patterns in fire modelling at landscape scale. Environmental Modelling and Software 86:219-231. (Environmental Modelling and Software )
16. Gil-Tena A., Aquilué N., Duane A., De Cáceres M., Brotons L. (2016). Mediterranean fire regime effects on pine-oak forest landscape mosaics under global change in NE Spain. European Journal of Forest Research 135(2):403-416. (European Journal of Forest Research )
17. Regos, A., Aquilué, N., López, I., Codina, M., Retana J., Brotons, L. (2016). Synergies between forest biomass extraction for bioenergy and fire suppression in Mediterranean ecosystems: insights from a storyline-and-simulation approach. Ecosystems 19:786–802. (Ecosystems )
18. Wallace, J., Aquilué, N., Archambault, C., Carpentier, S., Francoeur, X., Greffard, M., Laforest, I., Galicia, L., Messier. C. (2015). Present forest management structures and policies in temperate forests of Mexico : Challenges and prospects for unique tree species assemblages. The Forestry Chronicle 91(3):306-317. (The Forestry Chronicle )
19. Cardador, L., De Cáceres, M., Giralt, D., Bota, G., Aquilué N., Arroyo, B., Mougeot, F., Cantero-Martínez, C., Viladomiu, L., Rosell, J., Casas, F., Estrada, A., Álvaro-Fuentes, J., Brotons, L. (2015). Tools for exploring habitat suitability for steppe birds under land use change scenarios. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 200:119-125. (Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment )
20. Regos, A., Aquilué, N., Retana J., De Cáceres, M., Brotons, L. (2014). Using Unplanned Fires to Help Suppressing Future Large Fires in Mediterranean Forests. PLoS ONE 9(4):e94906. (PLoS ONE )
21. Brotons, L., Aquilué, N., de Cáceres, M., Fortin, M.-J., Fall, A. (2013). How Fire History, Fire Suppression Practices and Climate Change Affect Wildfire Regimes in Mediterranean Landscapes. PLoS ONE 8:1-12. (PLoS ONE )
22. De Cáceres, M., Brotons, L., Aquilué, N., Fortin, M.-J. (2013). The combined effects of land-use legacies and novel fire regimes on bird distributions in the Mediterranean. Journal of Biogeography 40:1535-1547. (Journal of Biogeography )

Other publications

1. Messier, C., Maure, F., Aquilué, N. (2018). Une nouvelle approche pour immuniser nos forêts contre l’incertitude (essai). Schweiz Z Forstwes 169(4):199-202. (Schweizerische Zeitschrift fur Forstwesen )

PhD Thesis

MSc Thesis

Presentations

(selection)

1. Aquilué, N. Modelling forest landscape dynamics under global changes: Lessons learned. Modelización forestal en la era de la información. Sociedad Española de Ciencias Forestales. Solsona, Spain. 6 - 7 November 019.
2. Aquilué, N., Filotas, É., Craven, D., Fortin, M.-J., Messier, C. Tree species functional traits and forest network topology to characterize landscape resilience to natural disturbances. 10th IALE World Congress. University of Milano-Bicocca. Milan, Italy. 1 - 5 July 2019.
3. Aquilué, N., Moran-Ordónez, A., Brotons, L. (2018). How global bioeconomy policies and local fire managemetn drive Mediterranean forest landscapes and their associated fire regimes. European Congress of Conservation Biology, Jyväskylá, Finland, 12 - 5 June 2018.
4. Aquilué, N., Fortin, M.-J., Messier, C., Brotons, L. (2017). Using land-use changes to influence the fire regime in fire-prone landscapes. World Conference on Natural Resource Modeling, Barcelona, Spain, 5 - 9 June 2017
5. Aquilué, N., Duane, A., Gil-Tena, A., Fortin, M.J., Messier, C., Brotons, L. (2016). Evaluating forest and fire management effects on landscape dynamics: a modeling approach in Mediterranean ecosystems. The International Society for Ecological Modelling Global Conference, Towson University, MD, USA, 8-12 May 2016.
6. Aquilué, N., Gil-Tena, A., Fortin, M.-J., Brotons, L. (2016). Reversing rural abandonment trends to mitigate large fire impacts on Mediterranean forest ecosystems. 10e Colloque annuel du CEF, UQAM, Montréal, Canada, 2-3 May 2016.
7. Aquilué, N., Fortin, M.J, Messier, C., Brotons, L. (2015). Transforming a EU Mediterranean landscape matrix: reversing rural abandonment to reinforce large scale resistance to wildfires. 9th International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE) World Congress, Portland, Oregon, USA, 5-10 July 2015.

WORK EXPERIENCE

• Research assistant at the Biodiversity and Landscape Ecology Lab (Forest Sciences Center of Catalonia, Catalonia, Spain. Jul 2010 – Aug 2013)

• GIS programmer with the GRUMETS (Methods and Applications in Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems) research group (UAB, Catalonia, Spain. Oct 2009 – Jun 2010)

• Programmer and Database manager at SegurCaixa Holding, S.A. (Barcelona, Spain. May 2006 – Set 2009)

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Master student’s thesis supervised:

• Morell, J. (2021) Evaluación de la diversidad funcional en bosques nuevos y preexistentes de la Península Ibérica y su potencial efecto en la resiliencia a fenómenos climáticos extremos. Master's Thesis, UAB - CREAF.
• Solà, O. (2020) Integrating a forest stand-level and a landscape-level model: A novel modeling framework to simulate Mediterranean forest dynamics. Master's Thesis, CRM.
• García, C. (2012) Modelització del Creixement de les espècies Pinus nigra i Quercus ilex a Catalunya. Master's Thesis, UAB - CREAF.

SCHOLARSHIPS & AWARDS

• Scholarship for finishing graduate students by the Forest Complexity Modelling program (2016-2017, NSERC)
• Excellence scholarship for graduate students of the Faculty of Sciences (2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017, Fondation de l'UQAM)
• Ph.D. fellowship by the Forest Complexity Modelling program (2013-2016, NSERC)
• Supplemental tuition fee exemption scholarship (2013-2016, AGAUR, Generalitat de Catalunya)
• Grant to the highest global grade on the M.Sc. in Remote Sensing and GIS (2010, UAB and CREAF).
• European mobility scholarship for one academic semester at Universidade do Porto, Portugal (2004, UPC)
• ERASMUS fellowship for one academic course at Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”, Italy (2003, European Community and UPC)

SKILLS

• Programming languages: C, R - Rtools - Rmarkdown, MATLAB, and Visual Basic
• Landscape dynamics modeling: SELES
• Geographic Information Systems: ArcGis, MiraMon, and ENVI
• Database: Access, SQL, and SQL Server
• Web map service: MapServer, GeoServer, and MiraMon Map Server
• Version control system: Git and GitHub