Farming styles and cooperatives disputes of swine farmers under economic pressure in southern France

In Southern France, the regression of swine farms and swine is ongoing. It involves reorientation of socio-professional networks, especially the farmers’ cooperatives. For understanding the various ways of maintaining swine production under the regressive circumstances, we focus on the farmers’ initiatives and motivations for cooperative action. This article is build upon an inquiry of the diversity in swine farming strategies and styles in a production basin in regression: the departments Lot, Aveyron and Tarn in Midi Pyrenees, Southern France. We studied the motivations for the modes of farm management and the search for support from cooperatives, including the ambitions for product diversification. The survey consisted of 30 semistructured interviews, followed by 90 structured questionnaires. The diversity in farming styles is explained by local opportunities and contrasts in socio-professional integration in farmers’ cooperatives

Thinning of the Monte Perdido Glacier in the Spanish Pyrenees since 1981

Producción CientíficaThis paper analyzes the evolution of the Monte Perdido Glacier, the third largest glacier in the Pyrenees, from 1981 to the present. We assessed the evolution of the glacier's surface area by analysis of aerial photographs from 1981, 1999, and 2006, and changes in ice volume by geodetic methods with digital elevation models (DEMs) generated from topographic maps (1981 and 1999), airborne lidar (2010) and terrestrial laser scanning (TLS, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014) data. We interpreted the changes in the glacier based on climate data from nearby meteorological stations. The results indicate that the degradation of this glacier accelerated after 1999. The rate of ice surface loss was almost three times greater during 1999–2006 than during earlier periods. Moreover, the rate of glacier thinning was 1.85 times faster during 1999–2010 (rate of surface elevation change  = −8.98 ± 1.80 m, glacier-wide mass balance  = −0.73 ± 0.14 m w.e. yr−1) than during 1981–1999 (rate of surface elevation change  = −8.35 ± 2.12 m, glacier-wide mass balance  = −0.42 ± 0.10 m w.e. yr−1). From 2011 to 2014, ice thinning continued at a slower rate (rate of surface elevation change  = −1.93 ± 0.4 m yr−1, glacier-wide mass balance  = −0.58 ± 0.36 m w.e. yr−1). This deceleration in ice thinning compared to the previous 17 years can be attributed, at least in part, to two consecutive anomalously wet winters and cool summers (2012–2013 and 2013–2014), counteracted to some degree by the intense thinning that occurred during the dry and warm 2011–2012 period. However, local climatic changes observed during the study period do not seem sufficient to explain the acceleration of ice thinning of this glacier, because precipitation and air temperature did not exhibit statistically significant trends during the study period. Rather, the accelerated degradation of this glacier in recent years can be explained by a strong disequilibrium between the glacier and the current climate, and likely by other factors affecting the energy balance (e.g., increased albedo in spring) and feedback mechanisms (e.g., heat emitted from recently exposed bedrock and debris covered areas).Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad - IBERNIEVE (project CGL2014-52599-P)Ministerio de Agricultura y Pesca, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente (project 844/2013

Syntaxonomic conspectus of the vegetation of Catalonia and Andorra. I: Hygrophilous herbaceous communities.

The first part of a general survey of the vegetation of Catalonia and Andorra, this paper reports all the phytocoenological associations and subassociations recorded in this area. For each community, we provide the correct name and usual synonyms, its typification (where appropriate), all the references including relevés, and the most outstanding features of its structure, species composition, ecology, distribution and diversity. Moreover, associations and subassociations are ordered appropriately in a syntaxonomic scheme. Syntaxonomic ranks are considered in a fairly broad, conservative sense. This classification established 101 associations, which correspond to the classes Lemnetea, Zosteretea, Potametea, Littorelletea, Montio-Cardaminetea, Phragmiti-Magnocaricetea, Scheuchzerio-Caricetea, Isoeto-Nanojuncetea and Molinio-Arrhenatheretea

Spatial and temporal phylogeny of border disease virus in pyrenean chamois (Rupicapra p. Pyrenaica)

Border disease virus (BDV) affects a wide range of ruminants worldwide, mainly domestic sheep and goat. Since 2001 several outbreaks of disease associated to BDV infection have been described in Pyrenean chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica pyrenaica) in Spain, France and Andorra. In order to reconstruct the most probable places of origin and pathways of dispersion of BDV among Pyrenean chamois, a phylogenetic analysis of 95 BDV 5'untranslated sequences has been performed on chamois and domestic ungulates, including novel sequences and retrieved from public databases, using a Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. Discrete and continuous space phylogeography have been applied on chamois sequences dataset, using centroid positions and latitude and longitude coordinates of the animals, respectively. The estimated mean evolutionary rate of BDV sequences was 2.9x10(-3) subs/site/year (95% HPD: 1.5-4.6x10(-3)). All the Pyrenean chamois isolates clustered in a unique highly significant clade, that originated from BDV-4a ovine clade. The introduction from sheep (dated back to the early 90s) generated a founder effect on the chamois population and the most probable place of origin of Pyrenean chamois BDV was estimated at coordinates 42.42 N and 1.9 E. The pathways of virus dispersion showed two main routes: the first started on the early 90s of the past century with a westward direction and the second arise in Central Pyrenees. The virus spread westward for more than 125 km and southward for about 50km and the estimated epidemic diffusion rate was about 13.1 km/year (95% HPD 5.2-21.4 km/year). The strong spatial structure, with strains from a single locality segregating together in homogeneous groups, and the significant pathways of viral dispersion among the areas, allowed to reconstruct both events of infection in a single area and of migrations, occurring between neighboring areas

Geomatic methods applied to the change study of the la Paúl Rock Glacier, Spanish Pyrenees

Producción CientíficaRock glaciers are one of the most important features of the mountain permafrost in the Pyrenees. La Paúl is an active rock glacier located in the north face of the Posets massif in the La Paúl glacier cirque (Spanish Pyrenees). This study presents the preliminary results of the La Paúl rock glacier monitoring works carried out through two geomatic technologies since 2013: Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers and Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) devices. Displacements measured on the rock glacier surface have demonstrated both the activity of the rock glacier and the utility of this equipment for the rock glaciers dynamic analysis. The glacier has exhibited the fastest displacements on its west side (over 35 cm yr-1), affected by the Little Ice Age, and frontal area (over 25 cm yr-1). As an indicator of permafrost in marginal environments and its peculiar morphology, La Paúl rock glacier encourages a more prolonged study and to the application of more geomatic techniques for its detailed analysis.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (project CGL2015-68144-R)Junta de Extremadura - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (project GR10071

First ground penetrating radar survey on Monte Perdido glacier (Pyrenees)

Producción CientíficaThe project “The Monte Perdido Glacier: Monitoring the glacial dynamic and the associated cryospheric processes as indicators of global change” (National Park´s 2013 Fund) aims to study the recent dynamic and degradation of this ice mass, using geomatic and geophysical techniques in order to estimate thickness and potential volumetric variations. We present the first ground penetrating radar survey, carried out on the northwest section of the lower Monte Perdido Glacier. The survey was conducted along a 270 m transect, using three antennas of different frequencies -500, 200 and 50 MHz- that enabled us to study the glacier´s structure at various maximum depths and spatial resolutions. The results show a first section composed by several seasonal snow layers (2015-2016 winter and spring), a clear snow/ice transition layer, an ice layer and a final basal zone characterised by typical sub-glacial till sediments.Ministerio de Agricultura y Pesca, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente (project 844/2013)Junta de Extremadura - Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (grant GR15107

Quaternary glacial evolution in the Central Cantabrian Mountains (Northern Spain)

Peer reviewedPostprin

Stand-level drivers of tree-species diversification in Mediterranean pine forests after abandonment of traditional practices

The progressive abandonment of traditional forest management over the last few decades has led to significant densification processes in most Mediterranean pine stands. In parallel, some of these stands have also shown tree-species diversification processes, the occurrence of which is considered essential for future adaptability and resilience to change. Here we aim to gain further understanding of the main factors driving these diversification processes via a case-study approach using the long-term-managed black pine (Pinus nigra Arn. ssp. salzmannii) forests of the Catalan Pre-Pyrenees (NE Spain). For this purpose, we sampled 155 plots distributed in 8 different stands and analyzed the role played by a number of microsite factors and stand attributes (including canopy openness and heterogeneity) on the abundance of seedlings (h 1.3 m; dbh < 7.5 cm) of the main tree-species in the area (i.e. black pine, evergreen oak and marcescent oaks). Results revealed ongoing black pine recruitment limitation processes mainly associated to the high canopy cover of the overstory and the increasing abundance of shrubs, which may compete with pines for light resources. In contrast, we found that current environmental and stand-level conditions favor the progressive advance of the recruitment of evergreen and marcescent oaks, which are able to establish successfully under the dominant pine canopy. However, in the absence of canopy openings, light levels may not allow the established oaks (in particular the evergreen Quercus ilex) to grow and progress to higher developmental stages. Our findings bring deeper insight into the role of stand-level factors regulating species diversification, and can be used by forest managers to adjust their practices (e.g. by modifying the spatial and temporal patterns of silvicultural treatments such as thinnings or selection cuttings) in order to favor this natural process and increase stand resilience.This research was primarily supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation via the RESILFOR project (AGL2012-40039-C02-01). It also was part of a cooperation agreement between the Forest Sciences Center of Catalonia and the Institut Cartogràfic i Geològic de Catalunya (ICGC) frameworking wider use of aerial remote-sensing data for forest characterization. The Catalan Agency for Management of University and Research Grants provided S.M.A. with support through a ‘pre-doctoral’ grant (FI-DGR) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation provided L.C. with support through post-doctoral ‘Ramon y Cajal’ contracts. This work benefited from a short-term scientific mission grant provided by the COST Action EuMIXFOR (FP1206) to SMA, and from the Erasmus Mundus Master Course Mediterranean Forestry and Natural Resources Management (MEDfOR) which provided support to SS