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2025
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Ecology and Evolution
Spain
2026

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Best Scientists

D-Index
179
Citations
134344
World Ranking
627
National Ranking
4

Ecology and Evolution

D-Index
188
Citations
155715
World Ranking
4
National Ranking
1

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Ecology and Evolution in Spain Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Best Scientists Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Ecology and Evolution in Spain Leader Award
  • 2022 - Research.com Ecology and Evolution in Spain Leader Award
  • 2020 - Fellow of American Geophysical Union (AGU)
  • 2018 - Marsh Award for Climate Change Research, British Ecological Society
  • 2016 - Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology, Generalitat de Catalunya

Overview

Josep Peñuelas is affiliated with the Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), CSIC in Spain. Their research activity spans multiple interconnected domains within environmental science and agricultural and biological sciences.

Their work has contributed extensively to the understanding of global and planetary change, ecology, soil science, plant science, and nature and landscape conservation. These subfields form the framework for their investigations into ecosystem dynamics and climate-related environmental processes.

Peñuelas's main topics of study include:

  • Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics
  • Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
  • Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
  • Remote Sensing in Agriculture
  • Soil and Water Nutrient Dynamics
  • Plant and animal studies
  • Species Distribution and Climate Change

Frequent publication venues where they have contributed include:

  • Global Change Biology
  • The Science of The Total Environment
  • Nature Communications
  • CATENA
  • Plant and Soil

Collaborations have often involved co-authors such as Jordi Sardans, Ivan A. Janssens, Philippe Ciais, Akash Tariq, and Shilong Piao, reflecting diverse multidisciplinary teamwork.

Selected recent papers authored or co-authored by Josep Peñuelas include:

  • Assessment of global health risk of antibiotic resistance genes, 2022, Nature Communications
  • Recent global decline of CO 2 fertilization effects on vegetation photosynthesis, 2020, Science
  • Integrating the evidence for a terrestrial carbon sink caused by increasing atmospheric CO 2, 2020, New Phytologist
  • A systematic global stocktake of evidence on human adaptation to climate change, 2021, Nature Climate Change
  • Forest management in southern China generates short term extensive carbon sequestration, 2020, Nature Communications

Throughout their career, Peñuelas has received recognition including the Fellow of American Geophysical Union (AGU) in 2020, the Marsh Award for Climate Change Research from the British Ecological Society in 2018, and the Ramon Margalef Prize in Ecology from Generalitat de Catalunya in 2016.

Best Publications

  • European phenological response to climate change matches the warming pattern

    Annette Menzel;Tim H. Sparks;Nicole Estrella;Elisabeth Koch

  • Temperature increase reduces global yields of major crops in four independent estimates

    Chuang Zhao;Bing Liu;Shilong Piao;Xuhui Wang

  • TRY - a global database of plant traits

    J. Kattge;S. Díaz;S. Lavorel;I. C. Prentice

  • A narrow-waveband spectral index that tracks diurnal changes in photosynthetic efficiency

    J.A. Gamon;J. Peñuelas;C.B. Field

  • Greening of the Earth and its drivers

    Zaichun Zhu;Zaichun Zhu;Shilong Piao;Shilong Piao;Ranga B. Myneni;Mengtian Huang

  • TRY plant trait database : Enhanced coverage and open access

    Jens Kattge;Gerhard Bönisch;Sandra Díaz;Sandra Lavorel

  • Running to stand still: adaptation and the response of plants to rapid climate change.

    Alistair S. Jump;Josep Peñuelas

  • Responses of terrestrial ecosystems to temperature and precipitation change: a meta-analysis of experimental manipulation.

    Zhuoting Wu;Paul Dijkstra;George W. Koch;Josep Peñuelas

  • Human-induced nitrogen–phosphorus imbalances alter natural and managed ecosystems across the globe

    Josep Peñuelas;Benjamin Poulter;Jordi Sardans;Philippe Ciais

  • Climate change and interconnected risks to sustainable development in the Mediterranean

    Wolfgang Cramer;Joël Guiot;Marianela Fader;Joaquim Garrabou;Joaquim Garrabou

  • The reflectance at the 950-970 nm region as an indicator of plant water status

    J. Peñuelas;I. Filella;C. Biel;L. Serrano

  • Relationships Between NDVI, Canopy Structure, and Photosynthesis in Three Californian Vegetation Types

    John A. Gamon;Christopher B. Field;Michael L. Goulden;Kevin L. Griffin

  • Reflectance indices associated with physiological changes in nitrogen- and water-limited sunflower leaves☆

    J. Peñuelas;J.A. Gamon;A.L. Fredeen;J. Merino

  • Quantifying global soil carbon losses in response to warming

    Thomas W. Crowther;Katherine E.O. Todd-Brown;Clara W. Rowe;William R. Wieder

  • Visible and near-infrared reflectance techniques for diagnosing plant physiological status

    Josep Peñuelas;Iolanda Filella

  • Estimation of plant water concentration by the reflectance Water Index WI (R900/R970)

    J. Penuelas;J. Pinol;R. Ogaya;I. Filella

  • The red edge position and shape as indicators of plant chlorophyll content, biomass and hydric status.

    I. Filella;J. Penuelas

  • Responses to a Warming World

    Josep Peñuelas;Iolanda Filella

  • The Application of ecological stoichiometry to plant-microbial-soil organic matter transformations

    Sophie Zechmeister-Boltenstern;Katharina Maria Keiblinger;Maria Mooshammer;Josep Peñuelas

  • Global patterns of foliar nitrogen isotopes and their relationships with climate, mycorrhizal fungi, foliar nutrient concentrations, and nitrogen availability

    Joseph M. Craine;Andrew J. Elmore;Marcos P. M. Aidar;Mercedes Bustamante

  • Assessment of global health risk of antibiotic resistance genes

    Unknown

  • Plant functional traits have globally consistent effects on competition

    Georges Kunstler;Georges Kunstler;Daniel Falster;David A. Coomes;Francis Hui

Frequent Co-Authors

Jordi Sardans
Jordi Sardans Spanish National Research Council
Iolanda Filella
Iolanda Filella Autonomous University of Barcelona
Joan Llusià
Joan Llusià Autonomous University of Barcelona
Ivan A. Janssens
Ivan A. Janssens University of Antwerp
Marc Estiarte
Marc Estiarte Spanish National Research Council
Romà Ogaya
Romà Ogaya Centre for Research on Ecology and Forestry Applications
Shilong Piao
Shilong Piao Peking University
Peter B. Reich
Peter B. Reich University of Minnesota
Ülo Niinemets
Ülo Niinemets Estonian University of Life Sciences
Sara Vicca
Sara Vicca University of Antwerp

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