Changes in organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus and cations in soil as a result of fire and water erosion in a Mediterranean landscape

10 páginas, 7 figuras, 9 tablas.Fire affects large parts of the dry Mediterranean shrubland, resulting in erosion and losses of plant nutrients. We have attempted to measure these effects experimentally on a calcareous hillside representative of such shrubland. Experimental fires were made on plots (4 m x 20 m) in which the fuel was controlled to obtain two different fire intensities giving means of soil surface temperature of 439 degrees C and 232 degrees C with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees C lasting for 36 min and 17 min. The immediate and subsequent changes induced by fire on the soil's organic matter content and other soil chemical properties were evaluated, together with the impact of water erosion. Seven erosive rain events, which occurred after the experimental fires (from August 1995 to December 1996), were selected, and on them runoff and sediment produced from each plot were measured. The sediments collected were weighed and analysed. Taking into account the variations induced by fire on the soil properties and their losses by water erosion, estimates of the net inputs and outputs of the soil system were made. Results show that the greatest losses of both soil and nutrients took place in the 4 months immediately after the fire. Plots affected by the most intense fire showed greater losses of soil (4077 kg ha(-1)) than those with moderate fire intensity (3280 kg ha(-1)). The unburned plots produced the least sediment (72.8 kg ha(-1)). Organic matter and nutrient losses by water erosion were related to the degree of fire intensity. However, the largest losses of N-NH4+ and N-NO3- by water erosion corresponded to the moderate fire (8.1 and 7.5 mg N m(-2), respectively).Peer reviewe

Aggregation of under canopy and bare soils in a Mediterranean environment affected by different fire intensities

7 páginas, 4 figuras, 3 tablas.Soil macroaggregation in relation to soil organic matter (SOM) and calcium carbonate(CaCO3) content was studied, before and after experimental fires of different intensities, in two environments (under canopy and on bare soil). In 1995, two experimental fire treatments, based on the addition of different biomass amounts, were applied on a set of nine plots at the Permanent Field Station of La Concordia (Valencia, Spain). Three plots were burned with high intensity fire (T1), three with moderate intensity (T2) and three plots were left unburned to be used as control treatment (T3). Soils under canopy were characterized by higher macroaggregate stability (SMS), SOM content and mean weight diameter of aggregates (MWD) than bare soils, which presented higher CaCO3 contents. After the fires, tendencies to increase were observed in the SOM and SMS of all burned soils, probably because of the incorporation of partially burned plant material. The trends of SMS and SOM in T1 burned soils were towards to decrease with the occurrence of the first erosive rainfalls. These trends continued until the end of the study. MWD of under canopy soils on T1 and of soils on T2 showed a decreasing trend immediately after fire treatments. Not significant differences between sampling periods were found for CaCO3 content, with the exception of under canopy soils on T1 which tended to increase, and showed higher values at the end of the studied period. The differences observed initially between under canopy and bare soil disappeared after one year of fire in T1, which suggests a major degradation of soils affected by this treatment. Significant changes of the studied properties were not observed in unburned soils during one year of research. In these soils, organic matter showed significant correlations with macroaggregate stability and mean weight diameter. However, significant statistical relationships were not observed between the Studied properties in burned soils, showing that fire impact probably affected other soil characteristics related to soil aggregation.We thank the financial support from the Agreement Generalitat Valenciana — CSIC (2005020112) “Impacto de los incendios forestalesrepetidos sobre los procesos de erosión hídrica del suelo y la recuperación de la cubierta vegetal. Seguimiento y evaluación en una estación permanente de campo”, and the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia of the Spanish Government project “Procesos y balances hidrológicos y de sedimentos a diferentes escalas espaciales en ambientes mediterráneos: Efectos de la variabilidad climática y los cambios de uso del suelo” (PROBASE CGL2006-11619).Peer reviewe

Hydrological properties of a Mediterranean soil burned with different fire intensities

8 páginas, 5 figuras, 3 tablas.The influence of vegetation cover on soil hydrological properties and its response to the impact of different fire intensities, in a Mediterranean forest environment, has been evaluated. The study was carried out in the Permanent Experimental Field Station of La Concordia (Lliria-Valencia, Spain), on a set of nine erosion plots (4 x 20 m(2)). The Station is located on a calcareous hillside S-SE oriented, with soils of Rendzic Leptosol type and supporting Mediterranean shrubland vegetation. All runoff generated and sediment produced in every rain event was collected from each plot. The set up includes a system of sensors for the continuous monitoring of climatic parameters (air temperature and humidity, rain volume, intensity, etc.). In June 1995, a set of experimental fires was carried out to the Station. Three of the plots were burned with high intensity fire, three with moderate intensity and the remaining were left unaltered. Soil water content and water retention capacity (WRC) were measured in the different plots and in two different vegetation covers: under canopy (UC) and in bare soil (BS). The pF curves were also obtained for each fire treatment. A year after the fires (June 1995-June 1996), great differences, reaching 77.15%, in runoff generation between fire treatments and the control plots were observed. No significant differences were detected on water retention capacity between soils UC and BS in the burned plots. However, these differences appeared in the control plots, giving UC and BS values of 13% and 18%, respectively. Plots corresponding to the high intensity fire treatment showed values of WRC significantly higher than those of the moderate intensity and of the control treatments. The pF curves show that the values of water volume, at the different pressure points studied, were slightly greater on UC soil. Values obtained for BS samples are higher in the fire treatments, showing significant differences in respect to the control plots at pF 1 and 2. These differences were also observed for UC soil, but in this case at pF 2, 2.5 and 4.2.This work has been supported by the European Union (QLRT-2000-00289), the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (CICYT) REN2001-1716 and Convenio (Agreement) Generalitat Valenciana – CSIC (02020024).Peer reviewe

Drug-eluting wound dressings having sustained release of antimicrobial compounds

Wound healing is a complex and costly public health problem that should be timely addressed to achieve a rapid and adequate tissue repair avoiding or even eliminating potential pathogenic infection. Chronic infected non-healing wounds represent a serious concern for health care systems. Efficient wound dressings with tailored therapy having the best response and highest safety margin for the management of chronic non-healing wounds are still needed. The use of novel wound dressing materials has emerged as a promising tool to fulfil these requirements. In this work, asymmetric electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL)-based nanofibers (NFs) were decorated with electrosprayed poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) microparticles (PLGA MPs) containing the natural antibacterial compound thymol (THY) in order to obtain drug eluting antimicrobial dressings having sustained release. The synthesized dressings successfully inhibited the in vitro growth of Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, showing also at the same doses cytocompatibility on human dermal fibroblasts and keratinocyte cultures after treatment for 24 h, which was not observed when using free thymol. An in vivo murine excisional wound splinting model, followed by the experimental infection of the wounds with S. aureus and their treatment with the synthesized dressings, pointed to the reduction of the bacterial load in wounds after 7 days, though the total elimination of the infection was not reached. The findings indicated the relevance of the direct contact between the dressings and the bacteria, highlighting the need to tune their design considering the wound surface and the nature of the antimicrobial cargo contained

Automatic Bluefin Tuna (Thunnus thynnus) Biomass Estimation during Transfers Using Acoustic and Computer Vision Techniques

In this work, acoustic and computer vision techniques are combined to develop an automatic procedure for biomass estimation of tuna during transfers. A side scan sonar working at 200 kHz and a stereo camera, posi- tioned facing towards the surface to record the ventral aspect of fish, are set as acquisition equipment. Moreover, a floating structure has been devised to place the sensors between cages in transfers, creating a transfer canal that allows data acquisition while fish swim from donor to receiving cage. Biomass assessment is computed by counting transferred tuna and sizing a representative sample of the stock. The number of transferred tuna is automatically deduced from acoustic echograms by means of image processing techniques, whereas tuna size is computed from the stereo videos using our automatic computer vision procedure based on a deformable model of the fish ventral silhouette. The results show that the system achieves automatic tuna counting with error below 10%, achieving around 1% error in the best configuration, and automatic tuna sizing of more than 20% of the stock, with highly accurate Snout Fork Length estimation when compared to true data from harvests. These results fulfil the requirements imposed by International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas for compliant transfer operations.Versión del editor1,42

Multiwavelength excitation Raman scattering analysis of bulk and 2 dimensional MoS2: vibrational properties of atomically thin MoS2 layers

In order to deepen the knowledge of the vibrational properties of two-dimensional (2D) MoS2 atomic layers, a complete and systematic Raman scattering analysis has been performed using both bulk single-crystal MoS2 samples and atomically thin MoS2 layers. Raman spectra have been measured under non-resonant and resonant conditions using seven different excitation wavelengths from near-infrared (NIR) to ultraviolet (UV). These measurements have allowed us to observe and identify 41 peaks, among which 22 have not been previously experimentally observed for this compound, and characterize the existence of different resonant excitation conditions for the different excitation wavelengths. This has also included the first analysis of resonant Raman spectra that are achieved using UV excitation conditions. In addition, the analysis of atomically thin MoS2 layers has corroborated the higher potential of UV resonant Raman scattering measurements for the non-destructive assessment of 2D MoS2 samples. Analysis of the relative integral intensity of the additional first- and second-order peaks measured under UV resonant excitation conditions is proposed for the non-destructive characterization of the thickness of the layers, complementing previous studies based on the changes of the peak frequencies

Bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) biomass estimation during transfers using acoustic and optic techniques

Our results show that the use of an acoustic transducer in transfers offers the possibility of performing an automatic counting with error below 10%, which is decreased to 1.2% after improving structure and algorithms. Moreover, the proposed procedure for automatic sizing using stereoscopic system achieved an accurate estimation of SFL distribution compared to true data from harvests, automatically measuring 20% of the fis

Scalable heating-up synthesis of monodisperse Cu2ZnSnS4 nanocrystals

Monodisperse Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) nanocrystals (NCs), with quasi-spherical shape, were prepared by a facile, high-yield, scalable, and high-concentration heat-up procedure. The key parameters to minimize the NC size distribution were efficient mixing and heat transfer in the reaction mixture through intensive argon bubbling and improved control of the heating ramp stability. Optimized synthetic conditions allowed the production of several grams of highly monodisperse CZTS NCs per batch, with up to 5 wt % concentration in a crude solution and a yield above 90%

Revista de Vertebrados de la Estación Biológica de Doñaña

Comportamiento reproductor del camaleón común (Chamaeleo chamaeleon L.) en el sur de EspañaDistribución de los reptiles en la provincia de Granada (SE. Península Ibérica)Datos sobre la reproducción y el crecimientode Psammodromus hispanicus Fitzinger, 1826 en un medio adehesado de la España CentralVariación en la colocación y orientación del nido del Alzacola (Cercotrichas galactotes) en dos especies de árbolesOrganización de la comunidad de aves reproductora en las landas montanas del País Vasco AtlánticoEcología de una población ibérica de lobos (Canis Lupus)Etude biométrique des Crosidures (Soricidae, Insectivora) de la región de Massa (Souss, Maroe).Variación geográfica del género Eliomys en la Península IbéricaTendencias gregarias del Ciervo (Cervus elaphus) en Doñana.Data on the autumn diet of the red deer (Cervus elaphus L. 1758) in the Montes de Toledo (Central Spain)Nota sobre la coexistencia de Hyla arborea (L. 1758E Hyla meridionalis (Boettger 1874) rn rl Valle del TiétarCalendario reproductivo y tamaño de las puesta en el galápago leproso, Mauremys leprosa (Shweigger, 1812), en Doñana, HuelvaPelícola (Felicola) inaqualis Piager, 1880 (MALLOPHAGA:TRICHODECTIDAE) parásito deE Herpestes ichneumon L (CARNIVORA: HERPESTIDAE)Abundancia y amplitud de los desplazamientos de Apodemus sylvaticus en cuatro biotopos de Doñana que difieren en cobertura vegetalPeer reviewe

ESAR-Net: a collaborative effort to expand the application of wastewater epidemiology in Spain

Resumen del trabajo presentado en el SETAC Europe 30th Annual Meeting, celebrado en modalidad virtual del 3 al 7 de mayo de 2020.Data obtained from wastewater analysis can provide rapid and complementary insights in illict drug consumption at community level. Drug use has been assessed through wastewater analysis at national level in, for example, Australia, Belgium, Finland and South Korea and has also provided annually a one week snapshot of illicit drug volumes consumed in European cities (http://www.emcdda.europa.eu/topics/ pods/waste-water-analysis). However, a wastewater monitoring program did not exist in Spain, but leading experts have formed a network (https://www.esarnet.es/) to promote wastewater-based epidemiology at national level and communicate their findings to authorities and policymakers. Within Europe, Spain is an important country of transit of both cocaine and cannabis, due to its cultural, linguistic and colonial ties to Latin America and its proximity to Morocco. The quantity of seized cocaine and cannabis and prevalence of use, locates Spain at the top of Europe. In this work, a national wastewater campaign has been performed to get more insight on the consumption of illicit drugs and NPS within Spain for the first time. Wastewater results from 14 Spanish cities were compared with previously reported data and other national indicators. The cities, located in 7 of the 17 autonomous communities, cover approximately 6 million inhabitants (12.8 of the Spanish population). Untreated wastewater samples were analyzed for urinary biomarkers of amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA, cocaine and cannabis. In addition to these conventional drugs, weekend samples were monitored for several new psychoactive substances (NPS) (i.e. phenethylamines and cathinones). The selected NPS are known as possible replacement of these conventional drugs or among those previously reported. Finally, enantiomeric profiling of amphetamine was performed for one city in order to assure the results were due to consumption and not illegal dumping of production residues. This demonstrates another application of wastewater-based epidemiology, which allows to identify the originof drugs in wastewater.This work has been supported by the Spanish State Research Agency (Agencia Estatal de Investigación, AEI) through the “Redes de Excelencia” programme, ESAR-Net, ref. CTM2016-81935-RED