Ecosistemas de alta montaña, las atalayas de la troposfera

La troposfera es el fluido en el que vivimos los organismos terrestres. La dinámica de este fluido hace posible el funcionamiento de los ecosistemas terrestres y acuáticos continentales tal como los conocemos. Factores locales como las precipitaciones atmosféricas (secas y húmedas) o la calidad de la radiación solar que llega al suelo, muy afectada por el contenido de aerosoles en la troposfera, dependen de fenómenos que pueden ocurrir a miles de kilómetros. Los ecosistemas de alta montaña, como la Sierra Nevada del sur ibérico, son los sensores más finos que poseemos para el estudio de los efectos de esos factores y para detectar pronto sus tendencias y cambios

Use of statistical design of experiments in the optimization of Ar–O2 low-pressure plasma treatment conditions of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) for increasing polarity and adhesion, and inhibiting hydrophobic recovery

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film was treated with RF low-pressure plasmas (LPPs) made of mixtures of oxygen and argon for increasing surface polarity, minimizing hydrophobic recovery (i.e. retard ageing) and increasing adhesion to acrylic adhesive tape for medical use. Statistical design of experiments has been used for determining the most influencing experimental parameters of the LPP treatment of PDMS. Water contact angle values (measured 24 h after treatment) and the O/C ratio obtained from XPS experiments were used as response variables. Working pressure was the most influencing parameter in LPP treatment of PDMS, and the duration of the treatment, the power and the oxygen–argon mixture composition determined noticeably its effectiveness. The optimal surface properties in PDMS and inhibited hydrophobic recovery were achieved by treatment with 93 vol% oxygen + 7 vol% argon LLP at low working pressure (300 mTorr), low power (25 W) and long duration of treatment (120 s).This study was carried out in the framework of COST MP1101project

A new genus and species of Eucoilinae (Hymenoptera, Cynipoidea, Figitidae) parasitoid of Euxesta eluta Loew (Diptera, Otitidae) attacked Bt sweet corn in Argentina

Euxestophaga Gallardo, a new genus of Eucoilinae (Hymenoptera, Cynipoidea, Figitidae) and Euxestophaga argentinensis Gallardo, sp. n. from Argentina, are described and illustrated. This new genus belongs to the Ganaspini and morphologically resembles Epicoela Borgmeier and Striatovertex Schick, Forshage and Nordlander. A key to differentiate these genera is given. Specimens were reared from pupae of Euxesta eluta Loew (Diptera: Otitidae), attacked Bt sweet corn in Santa Fe province and other in Tucumán province (Argentina)

A new genus and species of Eucoilinae (Hymenoptera, Cynipoidea, Figitidae) parasitoid of Euxesta eluta Loew (Diptera, Otitidae) attacked Bt sweet corn in Argentina

Fil: Gallardo, Fabiana Edith. División Entomología. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Reche, Vanina Anadina. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Esperanza; ArgentinaFil: Bertolaccini, Isabel. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Esperanza; ArgentinaFil: Zárate, Brenda. División Entomología. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Universidad Nacional de La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Curis, María Cecilia. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Esperanza; Argentin

“Thinking through Your Neighborhood “ a participation process to recover public space. Northern Seville city center

Urban renewal processes are essential for a better life in the city. Streets, squares and, ultimately, public spaces are where human interaction,, creativity, diversity and participation occur. Therefore, public spaces are where urban life unfolds, where contacts and connections are made and where the collaborative activities take place. The current urban model has pushed social interaction from public to private areas. This is mainly due to the presence of new elements which have gradually taken more and more space, such as cars, and also to the lack of equipment to empower public areas. Thus, La Revuelta Neighbourhood Association is promoting a participatory process to design our mobility and accessibility system. The main aim of this process is to joint- ly and democratically define and transform our neighbourhood regarding the use of our streets and public spaces. We believe that the role of public spaces should be recovered as a cornerstone in the revitalization of the city and its neigbourhoods, to encourage social interaction and to increase urban sociability and social cohe- sion.Los procesos de renovación urbana son esenciales para el desarrollo de la vida en la ciudad. La calle, la plaza, el espacio público en definitiva, representan lugares de encuentro, diversidad y participación, entendiendo el espacio público como el lugar donde se desarrolla la vida urbana, el espacio de relación en el que se producen contactos y conexiones entre los habitantes y posibilita la realización de actividades colectivas. La ciudad actual ha relegado los espacios de relación de ámbitos públicos a privados, fundamentalmente provocado por la presencia de nuevos elementos que paulatinamente han adquirido más presencia, como es el coche, o la inexistencia de equipamientos que cuali- fiquen el espacio público. Es por ello por lo que desde la asociación vecinal La Revuelta se impulsa un proceso para diseñar de manera participada el sistema de mo- vilidad de nuestro barrio, cuyo objetivo principal es el de definir de manera colectiva y plural cómo es el barrio que queremos respecto al uso de las calles y del espacio público Entendemos que es necesario recuperar el papel que los espacios públicos juegan en nuestra ciudad como pieza fundamental en la revitalización como lugares cargados de encuentros y sentimientos, que dan cabida a numerosos encuentros fortuitos, entendiéndolos como el lugar de encuentro y sociabilidad urbana

Significance of atmospheric deposition to freshwater ecosystems in the southern Iberian Peninsula

The Iberian Peninsula is close to the Saharan Desert, which is the biggest source of atmospheric aerosols of the World. Currently, it is recognized that atmospheric deposition of aerosols over ecosystems is a significant source not only of elements with gaseous phases but also of rock-derived ones. In the last years we have been quantifying the atmospheric flux of elements and substances of biogeochemical interest on the aquatic ecosystems of the South Iberian Peninsula, and their impact on their functioning and structure. The results we are obtaining indicate that atmospheric contribution of P and Ca are essential to explain the functioning of high mountain lakes, and that atmospheric input of organic matter partially supports the pelagic food web of these ecosystems. In this article we offer a summary of some of the results obtained to date.La Península Ibérica está próxima al Desierto del Sahara que es la mayor fuente de aerosoles atmosféricos del Planeta. Actualmente, se reconoce que la deposición de aerosoles sobre los ecosistemas es una entrada significativa no sólo de elementos con fases gaseosas sino, también, de elementos derivados de rocas. En los últimos años hemos estado cuantificado el flujo atmosférico de elementos y sustancias de interés biogeoquímico sobre los ecosistemas acuáticos del sur de la Península Ibérica y el impacto sobre su funcionamiento y estructura. Los resultados que estamos obteniendo indican que los aportes atmosféricos de P y Ca son esenciales para explicar el funcionamiento de los lagos de alta montaña y que las entradas atmosféricas de materia orgánica sostienen parcialmente las redes tróficas pelágicas de estos ecosistemas. En este artículo ofrecemos un resumen de algunos de los resultados obtenidos hasta ahora

Promoting individual and collective creativity in science students

Creativity is a scientific skill necessary to develop a successful research career. We expose the importance of a growth mindset, divergent, lateral, and associative thinking, serendipity, and being part of a nonhierarchical and diverse research team to improve both indi- vidual and collective creativity.Unidad de Excelencia Modeling Nature. Proyecto SOMM17/6109/UGR Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad, and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF

Turnover time of fluorescent dissolved organic matter in the dark global ocean

Research articleMarine dissolved organic matter (DOM) is one of the largest reservoirs of reduced carbon on Earth. In the dark ocean (4200 m), most of this carbon is refractory DOM. This refractory DOM, largely produced during microbial mineralization of organic matter, includes humic-like substances generated in situ and detectable by fluorescence spectroscopy. Here we show two ubiquitous humic-like fluorophores with turnover times of 435±41 and 610±55 years, which persist significantly longer than the B350 years that the dark global ocean takes to renew. In parallel, decay of a tyrosine-like fluorophore with a turnover time of 379±103 years is also detected. We propose the use of DOM fluorescence to study the cycling of resistant DOM that is preserved at centennial timescales and could represent a mechanism of carbon sequestration (humic-like fraction) and the decaying DOM injected into the dark global ocean, where it decreases at centennial timescales (tyrosine-like fraction).Versión del editor10,015

Patterns of microbial abundance and heterotrophic activity along nitrogen and salinity gradients in coastal wetlands

Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada/CBUA. This research was funded by the projects FLAMENCO (CGL2010-15812) and CRONOS (RTI2018-098849-B-I00) of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Modeling Nature Scientific Unit (UCE. PP2017.03), European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and a PhD fellowship FPI (Formacion del Personal Investigador: BES2011-043658) to GLB.Coastal wetlands are valuable aquatic ecosystems with high biological productivity, which provide services such as a reduction in nitrogen loading into coastal waters and storage of organic carbon acting as carbon dioxide sinks. The predicted rise of sea level or freshwater extractions, particularly in the arid Mediterranean biome, will salinize many coastal wetlands. However, there is considerable uncertainty about how salinization will affect microbial communities and biogeochemical processes. We determined the abundance of total prokaryotes, cyanobacteria, and viruses and quantified the heterotrophic production of prokaryotes sensitive- (predominantly Bacteria) and resistant- (predominantly Archaea) to erythromycin in 112 ponds from nine coastal wetlands. We explored the main drivers of prokaryotic abundance and heterotrophic production using generalized linear models (GLMs). The best GLM, including all the wetlands, indicated that the concentration of total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) positively affected the total abundance of prokaryotes and the heterotrophic erythromycin-resistant (ery-R) production. In contrast, heterotrophic erythromycin-sensitive (ery-S) production was negatively related to TDN. This negative relationship appeared to be mediated by salinity and virus abundance. Heterotrophic ery-S production declined as salinity and virus abundance increased. Consequently, we observed a switch from heterotrophic ery-S production towards ery-R production as salinity and virus abundance increased. Our results imply that microbial activity will change from heterotrophic bacterial-dominated processes to archaeal-dominated processes with anthropogenic nitrogen and salinization increases. However, more studies are required to link the mineralization rates of dissolved nitrogen and organic carbon with specific archaeal taxa to enable more accurate predictions on future scenarios in coastal wetlands.Universidad de Granada/CBUASpanish Government CGL2010-15812 RTI2018-098849-B-I00Modeling Nature Scientific Unit UCE. PP2017.03European CommissionPhD fellowship FPI (Formacion del Personal Investigador) BES2011-04365

Greenhouse gas fluxes from reservoirs determined by watershed lithology, morphometry, and anthropogenic pressure

EL-P was supported by a PhD fellowship FPU (Formación del Profesorado Universitario: 014/02917) from the Ministry of Education, Culture y Sports. This research was also funded by the Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), ref. SOMM17/6109/UGR. We specially thank to Jesús Forja, Teodora Ortega and Ana Sierra for helping with gas chromatography analysis and Eulogio Corral Arredondo for sampling support.Human population growth has increased the demand for water and clean energy, leading to the massive construction of reservoirs. Reservoirs can emit greenhouse gases (GHG) affecting the atmospheric radiative budget. The radiative forcing due to CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions and the relative contribution of each GHG in terms of CO2 equivalents to the total forcing is practically unknown. We determined simultaneously the CO2, CH4, and N2O fluxes in reservoirs from diverse watersheds and under variable human pressure to cover the vast idiosyncrasy of temperate Mediterranean reservoirs. We obtained that GHG fluxes ranged more than three orders of magnitude. The reservoirs were sources of CO2 and N2O when the watershed lithology was mostly calcareous, and the crops and the urban areas dominated the landscape. By contrast, reservoirs were sinks of CO2 and N2O when the watershed lithology was predominantly siliceous, and the landscape had more than 40% of forestal coverage. All reservoirs were sources of CH4, and emissions were determined mostly by reservoir mean depth and water temperature. The radiative forcing was substantially higher during the stratification than during the mixing. During the stratification the radiative forcings ranged from 125 mg CO2 equivalents m−2 d−1 to 31 884 mg CO2 equivalents m−2 d−1 and were dominated by the CH4 emissions; whereas during the mixing the radiative forcings ranged from 29 mg CO2 equivalents m−2 d−1 to 722 mg CO2 equivalents m−2 d−1 and were dominated by CO2 emissions. The N2O contribution to the radiative forcing was minor except in one reservoir with a landscape dominated by crops and urban areas. Future construction of reservoirs should consider that siliceous bedrocks, forestal landscapes, and deep canyons could minimize their radiative forcings.This research was funded by the project HERA (CGL2014-52362-R) and CRONOS (RTI2018-098849-B-I00) to IR and RM-B of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities, and the Modeling Nature Scientific Unit (UCE.PP2017.03) to IR co-financed with FEDER funds