TY - CHAP A1 - Marañón, Teodoro A1 - Pérez-Ramos, Ignacio Manuel A1 - Villar, Rafael A1 - Acácio, Vanda A1 - Aranda, Ismael A1 - Camarero, Jesús Julio A1 - Garcia de la Riva, Enrique A1 - Domínguez, María Teresa ED - Steffensen, Bent J. T1 - Iberian oaks coping with global change: Ecological processes and management strategies T2 - Quercus: Classification, Ecology and Uses N2 - Iberian oak forests and woodlands are vital providing a variety of ecosystem services. They provide raw materials like cork, wood and fuel, and fodder (acorns) for wild and domestic animals. Oak trees provide a climate regulating service by their capacity to sequester carbon and therefore to mitigate the effects of climatic change. There is an increasing demand for cultural services provided by oak woodlands, mainly for recreation and ecotourism. However, some global-change drivers are negatively affecting oak forests, therefore diminishing their ecosystem services and in consequence undermining human well-being. The main drivers affecting Iberian oaks are: land use changes, introduction of exotic pathogens, air and soil pollution deteriorating oak health, and climatic change, in particular the combined reduction of rainfall and the rise in temperature. In this chapter we focus on the ecology of Iberian oaks and how they are affected by global change. Firstly, we introduce a literature overview of the research conducted on Quercus, analysed by species, countries and topics. Secondly, we review the main biological processes related with the oak responses to global change: i) genetic diversity, climatic refuges and adaptation to climatic change; ii) ecophysiological responses to stress and disturbance, functional diversity, growth patterns, and scaling up from leaf to ecosystem; iii) demographic responses, causes of regeneration failures, spatial patterns of recruitment, drivers of decline and dieback. Thirdly, we review the management strategies in three case studies: the agro-silvo-pastoral systems (dehesas and montados), the cork oak woodlands, and the afforestation of a polluted-land for phytostabilization of contaminants. KW - climate change KW - Dehesas KW - Ecosystem services Y1 - 2020 SN - 978-1-53618-026-8 SP - 1 EP - 84 PB - New York CY - Nova Science Publishers ER -