Salvador Rivas-Martínez
Spanish botanist and geobotanist (1935–2020)

Salvador Rivas-Martínez
In the Spanish Pyrenees in 2007
Born(1935-07-16)July 16, 1935
Madrid, Spain
DiedAugust 27, 2020(2020-08-27) (aged 85)
Rivas-Vaciamadrid, Spain
Known forVegetation series and dynamic concepts of vegetation; bioclimatology and biogeography of vegetation; conservation-centred approach to biodiversity and ecosystem function
Scientific career
Fieldsbotany, geobotany, phytosociology
InstitutionsComplutense University of Madrid
Author abbrev. (botany)Rivas Mart.[1]

Salvador Rivas-Martínez (16 July 1935 – 27 August 2020) was a Spanish botanist and geobotanist, long associated with the Complutense University of Madrid. He was a leading figure in Iberian and Mediterranean vegetation science, known for work on vegetation series, bioclimatology, and biogeography, and for promoting conservation-oriented interpretations of plant communities.

Biography

Rivas-Martínez came from a family of botanists: his father, Salvador Rivas Goday [es], and his grandfather, Marcelo Rivas Mateos [es], were professors of botany at the Complutense University. As a child he accompanied his father on field trips around Spain during the 1940s and 1950s, building an intimate knowledge of the Iberian flora that underpinned his later career.[2] Rivas-Martínez earned a doctorate in pharmacy in 1961 (after a 1958 licentiate) and a later licentiate in Biological Sciences in 1967; he won the botany chair at the University of Barcelona at age 29 and later moved to the Complutense University of Madrid, where he headed botany and served as vice-rector for research (1980–1983). He also sat on the Council of Europe expert groups dealing with vegetation mapping and conservation.[3][4] He held senior posts in Spain's scientific institutions, including directing the Real Jardín Botánico (CSIC) from 1974 to 1978, in parallel with field-led programmes that trained a generation of Spanish geobotanists.[5][6]

He fostered a collaborative network among Spanish and European botanists, helping to establish the Spanish Association of Phytosociology (Asociación Española de Fitosociología), its annual phytosociology conference, and field excursions such as Itinera Geobotanica. A frequent traveller, he studied vegetation across Spain, Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Americas, as well as parts of East Asia, always with an emphasis on comparable community patterns under environmental controls.[2]

Work and editorial activity

Rivas-Martínez articulated a dynamic view of vegetation organised into series and published a national vegetation series map of Spain that became a reference for terrestrial ecosystems. He integrated bioclimatology with vegetation classification and produced widely used bioclimatic and biogeographic maps for multiple regions. From early in his career he argued for conservation as a scientific priority, linking biodiversity patterns to ecosystem function. Although centred on vascular plant vegetation, he supported cryptogamic disciplines including bryology, mycology, lichenology and phycology. [2] His national "Memoria del mapa de series de vegetación de España" (1:400,000) synthesised vegetation series across Spain (synthesised in 1981 and revised in 1987) and remains a reference framework used by governmental mapping programmes.[5] Together with Paloma Cantó, Rivas-Martínez edited and distributed the exsiccata work Exsiccata Rivasgodayana (1991).[7]

He founded or co-founded several periodicals, beginning with Lazaroa (renamed Mediterranean Botany),[8] where he served for years as editor-in-chief alongside editorial secretary Eva Barreno. Other titles included Itinera Geobotanica, Global Geobotany and the International Journal of Geobotanical Research (with Ángel Penas). His output exceeded 400 publications with close to 20,000 citations. [2]

Honours and legacy

Rivas-Martínez was elected to Spain's Royal Academy of Pharmacy and the Royal Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences, and received honorary doctorates from the University of the Basque Country (1995), the University of Granada (1996), the University of León (2005), the Technical University of Lisbon (2001), Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona (2002).[9][10][6] His teaching and publications shaped modern phytosociology and geobotany in Spain and influenced work across Portugal, Italy and the wider Mediterranean. [2]

Selected publications

  • Rivas-Martínez, Salvador (1987). Memoria del mapa de series de vegetación de España (escala 1:400 000) [Memoir of the map of vegetation series of Spain (scale 1:400,000)] (PDF) (in Spanish).
  • Rivas-Martínez, Salvador; Fernández-González, F.; Loidi, J.; Lousã, M.; Penas, Á. (2001). "Syntaxonomical checklist of vascular plant communities of Spain and Portugal to association level". Itinera Geobotanica. 14: 5–341.
  • Rivas-Martínez, Salvador; Penas, Ángel; Díaz-González, Tomás E. (2004). Biogeographic map of Europe (Map). León: Cartographic Service, University of León.
  • Rivas-Martínez, Salvador; Rivas-Sáenz, Salvador; Penas, Ángel (2011). "Worldwide bioclimatic classification system". Global Geobotany. 1: 1–634.
  • Rivas-Martínez, Salvador; Navarro, G.; Penas, Á.; Costa, M. (2011). "Biogeographic map of South America. A preliminary survey". International Journal of Geobotanical Research. 1: 21–40.
  • Rivas-Martínez, Salvador; Penas, Á.; Díaz-González, T. E.; Del Río, S.; Cantó, P.; Herrero, L.; Pinto Gomes, C.; Costa, J. C. (2014). "Biogeography of Spain and Portugal: preliminary typological synopsis". International Journal of Geobotanical Research. 4: 1–64.

References

  1. ^ "Rivas Martínez, Salvador (1935–2020)". International Plant Names Index. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e Loidi, Javier (2020). "In memoriam Salvador Rivas-Martínez (July 16, 1935, Madrid − August 27, 2020, Madrid)". Mediterranean Botany. 41 (2): 127–128. doi:10.5209/mbot.71308.
  3. ^ "Obituario. Salvador Rivas Martínez" [Obituary: Salvador Rivas Martínez]. Real Academia Nacional de Farmacia (in Spanish). 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  4. ^ "Excelentísimo Señor Don Salvador Rivas Martínez" [Member profile: Salvador Rivas Martínez]. Real Academia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales (in Spanish). Real Academia de Ciencias. 2025. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Nos dejó Salvador Rivas Martínez" [We lost Salvador Rivas Martínez]. REDIAM (in Spanish). Junta de Andalucía. 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  6. ^ a b "La ULE lamenta la muerte de su Doctor Honoris Causa Salvador Rivas Martínez" [The ULE mourns the death of its Doctor Honoris Causa Salvador Rivas Martínez]. Universidad de León (in Spanish). 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  7. ^ "Exsiccata Rivasgodayana: IndExs ExsiccataID=1344201215". IndExs - Index of Exsiccatae. Botanische Staatssammlung München. Retrieved 29 November 2025.
  8. ^ "Mediterranean Botany (formerly Lazaroa)". Revistas Científicas Complutenses. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  9. ^ "Doctores Honoris Causa UPV/EHU – por años" [UPV/EHU honorary doctorates – by year]. Universidad del País Vasco (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 October 2025.
  10. ^ Discursos pronunciados en el acto de investidura de doctor "Honoris Causa" del Excmo. Sr. D. Salvador Rivas-Martínez [Speeches at the investiture of Dr Salvador Rivas-Martínez as Doctor Honoris Causa] (in Spanish). Universidad de Granada. 1996. Retrieved 31 October 2025.
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