MountainGreen

Medicinal Plants as Ecological Stabilisers in Adaptive Landscapes

MountainGreen es un proyecto estratégico del CRAI, orientado a comprender y modelizar el funcionamiento profundo de los ecosistemas vegetales —especialmente aquellos que integran plantas medicinales— con el objetivo de estabilizar sus dinámicas naturales y fortalecer una resiliencia ecológica estructural y duradera. Se enmarca en la línea Environmental Resilience and Medicinal Plant Systems of the HPCN Pillar. del Pilar HPNC.

MountainGreen does not confine itself to reforestation or surface-level landscape restoration. Its primary aim is to identify the ecological principles that underpin the functional coherence of plant systems under climatic variability and environmental stress, and to translate this understanding into replicable frameworks for profound ecological regeneration.

Scientific Rationale

En el contexto actual de cambio climático, desertificación progresiva y pérdida de biodiversidad funcional —particularmente en regiones mediterráneas— los modelos convencionales de restauración ecológica suelen centrarse en la reintroducción de especies o en la simple recuperación de la cobertura vegetal, sin abordar las dinámicas regulatorias subyacentes que determinan la estabilidad ecológica a largo plazo. Sin embargo, los ecosistemas resilientes no dependen únicamente de la presencia de determinadas especies, sino de la configuración y coherencia de redes tróficas estables, interacciones micorrícicas funcionales, diversidad fitoquímica adaptativa, regulación hídrica y edáfica integrada, así como de retroalimentaciones ecológicas no lineales que permiten absorber perturbaciones sin colapsar estructuralmente.
MountainGreen parte de la hipótesis de que la resiliencia ecosistémica constituye una propiedad emergente de estas dinámicas regulatorias interdependientes, y que puede ser comprendida, modelizada y reforzada si se integran de forma coherente principios de ecología evolutiva, biología funcional vegetal, regulación ecológica, agroecología avanzada y fitoquímica sistémica. Desde esta perspectiva, las plantas medicinales no se consideran únicamente como recursos terapéuticos, sino como nodos funcionales dentro de redes ecológicas complejas, capaces de contribuir activamente a la estabilización y coherencia del sistema en su conjunto.

Analytical and Methodological Framework

MountainGreen integrates ecological, analytical, and computational approaches to examine the relationships between functional biodiversity, environmental variability, and systemic stability.
Functional Ecology and Ecosystem Regulation
Analysis of successional dynamics, plant–soil–microbiome interactions, and mycorrhizal associations, with particular attention to their contribution to hydrological and nutritional stability.
Ecological Phytochemistry
Investigation of phytochemical variability as an adaptive response, and analysis of secondary metabolites as indicators of ecological condition and systemic biological coherence.
Systems-Level Modelling
Identification of nonlinear regulatory patterns and development of models integrating biodiversity, climate, and functional stability, including predictive scenarios under conditions of climatic variability.
Evolutionary Perspective
Interpretation of resilience as the outcome of conserved adaptive processes, and analysis of plant strategies of tolerance and compensation in response to stress.
This approach guides restoration toward regenerative models grounded in internal ecological coherence.

Impacto científico y resultados
esperados

MountainGreen seeks to develop integrative models connecting functional biodiversity and ecosystem stability, and to identify plant–soil configurations capable of enhancing structural resilience. The project will advance conceptual frameworks that redefine ecological restoration as a regulatory process and will provide a scientific basis for climate-adaptive medicinal agroecological systems, while supporting strategies that strengthen local economies rooted in ecological coherence and long-term sustainability.

From both a scientific and societal perspective, MountainGreen will contribute to advancing the mechanistic understanding of ecosystem resilience and to the regeneration of degraded landscapes through evidence-based approaches. It will also promote productive models compatible with biodiversity and long-term stability, integrating environmental health, biological coherence, and territorial sustainability.

The project aspires to consolidate a paradigm in which resilience is no longer understood as a contingent outcome, but is instead conceived as a structural property cultivated through a deep understanding of ecological functioning.

Scientific Output

Publicaciones revisadas por pares
Phytochemical and Growth Patterns in Cistus albidus L.: Seasonal Impacts of inoculation and Fertilization

Journal of Plant Growth Regulation, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00344-026-12083-5
Estudio sobre los efectos de inoculación micorrícica y fertilización en crecimiento y perfiles fitoquímicos estacionales de Cistus albidus.

Enhancingpolyphenol profiles and production: a novel approach through synergistic nonsymbiotic fungi and organic fertilization.

Phytochemistry Letters, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phytol.2025.103490
Artículo sobre aspectos funcionales y biológicos de plantas, con evidencia experimental relevante para comprender variaciones fitoquímicas relacionadas con condiciones ambientales.

Enhancing polyphenol production in Cistus albidus L. through strategic mycorrhization and irrigation management: An off- season approach

Phytochemistry Letters, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phytol.2025.103720
Artículo sobre aspectos funcionales y fitoquímicos de plantas bajo condiciones ecológicas específicas en Cistus albidus L., aportando evidencia empírica para entender la modulación de perfiles bioactivos en sistemas vegetales.

Cistus albidus L.—Review of a Traditional Mediterranean Medicinal Plant with Pharmacological Potential

Plants, 2023. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12162988
Revisión detallada de las características botánicas, fitoquímicas y farmacológicas de Cistus albidus, resaltando su riqueza en metabolitos bioactivos tradicionales y su potencial terapéutico para futuras investigaciones farmacológicas.

Scientific Networks and Collaborations

MountainGreen is coordinated by the CRAI – Centro Rausenbach de Análisis e Investigación and operates as an open scientific network designed to integrate complementary capacities in plant ecology, soil microbiology, phytochemistry, ecological modelling, and agroecological systems. The project embraces an interdisciplinary framework that bridges fundamental and applied research to develop rigorous, transferable models for the functional stabilisation of plant ecosystems.

Within this framework, MountainGreen advances collaboration with academic institutions, environmental research centres, agrobiotechnology partners, and organisations dedicated to ecological restoration, fostering synergies focused on the systemic analysis of ecosystem resilience and the implementation of regenerative strategies based on sound scientific principles.

The project upholds a clear commitment to collaboration and dialogue with stakeholders engaged in the development of deep resilience models grounded in ecological regulation, biological coherence, and long-term functional stability, promoting the formation of scientific networks that bridge knowledge generation, innovation, and sustainable territorial development.

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