Condiciones ambientales y bienestar. La ventilación

En este breve primer capítulo de la primera monografía sobre conservación de forrajes se quiere poner de manifiesto la gran importancia que en la actualidad tienen los forrajes conservados desde el punto de vista económico, así como desde el punto de vista del manejo de la alimentación del ganado. Asimismo, los forrajes juegan un importante papel en el mantenimiento del suelo agrícola, permitiendo una gran diversidad de rotaciones de cultivo. De alguna forma, el cul- tivo de forrajes contribuye notablemente a lo que se ha venido en denominar “agricultura sostenible”, al permitir conservar una buena estructura del suelo, mejorar la infiltración del agua, evitar la erosión y controlar las plagas de forma natural. No cabe duda que, al igual que todos los alimentos fibrosos que no pueden ser aprovechados directamente por el hombre, gracias a los forrajes cultivados transformamos una enorme cantidad de recursos vegetales en alimentos de origen animal, lo que evidencia la importancia de estos cultivos en la alimentación humana

Factors related to attitudes toward organ donation after death in the immigrant population in Spain

The version posted must contain the text: This is the accepted version of the following article: [full citation], which has been published in final form at [Link to final article]Considering the relevance of the migratory processes in Western societies, the attitudes toward organ donation after death are analyzed bymeans of a survey applied to a representative random sample of the resident immigrant population in Spain, comprising 1202 subjects (estimated marginof error of ±2.88%, p = q, p < 0.05). Considered variables were disposition toward own organ donation, disposition toward deceased relatives donation in different situations, arguments against donation, socio-demographic indicators, religious beliefs, social integration, and information about organ donation and transplantation. Predisposition to donate varies strongly across geographical origin and religious beliefs and also shows relationships with additional socio-demographic, social integration, and informative variables. In turn, the relationship between religious beliefs and attitude toward donation varies as a function of the degreeof social integration. In Spain, the immigrant population is a heterogeneous collective that requires differential strategies to promote donation. Such strategies should be aimed at reinforcing the existing positive attitudes ofcitizens from West Europe and Latin America, and at familiarizing and informing about donation in citizens from the East, and at making specific efforts to break down the cultural and religious barriers toward donation in African citizens, with special emphasis on people of the Muslim faith

p38γ is essential for cell cycle progression and liver tumorigenesis

The cell cycle is a tightly regulated process that is controlled by the conserved cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)–cyclin protein complex1. However, control of the G0-to-G1 transition is not completely understood. Here we demonstrate that p38 MAPK gamma (p38γ) acts as a CDK-like kinase and thus cooperates with CDKs, regulating entry into the cell cycle. p38γ shares high sequence homology, inhibition sensitivity and substrate specificity with CDK family members. In mouse hepatocytes, p38γ induces proliferation after partial hepatectomy by promoting the phosphorylation of retinoblastoma tumour suppressor protein at known CDK target residues. Lack of p38γ or treatment with the p38γ inhibitor pirfenidone protects against the chemically induced formation of liver tumours. Furthermore, biopsies of human hepatocellular carcinoma show high expression of p38γ, suggesting that p38γ could be a therapeutic target in the treatment of this disease

The GenTree Platform: growth traits and tree-level environmental data in 12 European forest tree species

Background: Progress in the field of evolutionary forest ecology has been hampered by the huge challenge of phenotyping trees across their ranges in their natural environments, and the limitation in high-resolution environmental information. Findings: The GenTree Platform contains phenotypic and environmental data from 4,959 trees from 12 ecologically and economically important European forest tree species: Abies alba Mill. (silver fir), Betula pendula Roth. (silver birch), Fagus sylvatica L. (European beech), Picea abies (L.) H. Karst (Norway spruce), Pinus cembra L. (Swiss stone pine), Pinus halepensis Mill. (Aleppo pine), Pinus nigra Arnold (European black pine), Pinus pinaster Aiton (maritime pine), Pinus sylvestris L. (Scots pine), Populus nigra L. (European black poplar), Taxus baccata L. (English yew), and Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl. (sessile oak). Phenotypic (height, diameter at breast height, crown size, bark thickness, biomass, straightness, forking, branch angle, fructification), regeneration, environmental in situ measurements (soil depth, vegetation cover, competition indices), and environmental modeling data extracted by using bilinear interpolation accounting for surrounding conditions of each tree (precipitation, temperature, insolation, drought indices) were obtained from trees in 194 sites covering the species’ geographic ranges and reflecting local environmental gradients. Conclusion: The GenTree Platform is a new resource for investigating ecological and evolutionary processes in forest trees. The coherent phenotyping and environmental characterization across 12 species in their European ranges allow for a wide range of analyses from forest ecologists, conservationists, and macro-ecologists. Also, the data here presented can be linked to the GenTree Dendroecological collection, the GenTree Leaf Trait collection, and the GenTree Genomic collection presented elsewhere, which together build the largest evolutionary forest ecology data collection available

Between but not within species variation in the distribution of fitness effects

New mutations provide the raw material for evolution and adaptation. The distribution of fitness effects (DFE) describes the spectrum of effects of new mutations that can occur along a genome, and is therefore of vital interest in evolutionary biology. Recent work has uncovered striking similarities in the DFE between closely related species, prompting us to ask whether there is variation in the DFE among populations of the same species, or among species with different degrees of divergence, i.e., whether there is variation in the DFE at different levels of evolution. Using exome capture data from six tree species sampled across Europe we characterised the DFE for multiple species, and for each species, multiple populations, and investigated the factors potentially influencing the DFE, such as demography, population divergence and genetic background. We find statistical support for there being variation in the DFE at the species level, even among relatively closely related species. However, we find very little difference at the population level, suggesting that differences in the DFE are primarily driven by deep features of species biology, and that evolutionarily recent events, such as demographic changes and local adaptation, have little impact

In situ intestinal digestibility of dry matter and crude protein of cereal grains and rapeseed in sheep

The ruminal degradation and intestinal digestibility (ID) of dry matter (DM) and crude protein (CP) of different feed samples were measured in two trials by using nylon bag and rumen outflow rate techniques in three wethers cannulated in the rumen and in the duodenum. In trial 1, three samples of grains of wheat, barley, and corn treated by cooking (TW, TB, and TC, respectively) were studied together with a sample of untreated corn grains (CG) of different origin. In trial 2, these studies were carried out on a sample of rapeseed (RS) and on a mix of this same sample and rapeseed meal (in proportions 70: 30) treated by cooking (TR). In both trials, the animals were fed at the same intake level (40 g DM$\cdot$kg$^{-1}$ LW$^{0.75}$) with 2:1 (DM basis) forage to concentrate diets. Rumen degradation rates of DM were high in the treated cereals (between 11.0 and 14.2%$\cdot$h$^{-1}$) and low in the CG (6.35%$\cdot$h$^{-1}$), whereas for CP these rates were low in all cereals. For DM, in all cereals, ID decreased linearly as the ruminal incubation time increased. The values of intestinal effective digestibility (IED), calculated from these functions and from the rumen outflow, were respectively: 86.4, 62.1, 51.5, and 67.9%. For CP, ID was unaffected by the ruminal incubation time in corn samples, whereas in TW and TB a reduction of these values was only observed for the time of 48 h. The values of IED of CP for CG, TW, TB and TC were: 82.6, 88.9, 82.5, and 91.6%, respectively. Rumen degradation rates of the RS and TR samples were 8.35 and 8.23%$\cdot$h$^{-1}$ for DM and 12.0 and 9.59%$\cdot$h$^{-1}$ for CP. In RS, the ID of DM and CP showed a downward trend with an increase of the ruminal incubation time, as modelled according to an exponential function. This same trend was observed for TR after a lag period estimated at 7.53 and 6.51 h for DM and CP, respectively. The values of IED of RS and TR were respectively 56.5 and 50.8% for DM and 71.9 and 80.1% for CP. These same results were also determined by a simplified method using a sample pooled to be representative of the rumen outflow of undegraded feed. The respective values for RS and TR were 54.8 and 51.6 for DM and 65.8 and 78.9% for CP. This method seems to be a promising technique to estimate IED, although more studies are needed to improve its accuracy

Phenotypes of Pinus sylvestris are more coordinated under local harsher conditions across Europe

1. Plant species that grow across environmental gradients show a range of trait expression, but traits do not vary independently. In fact, phenotypes are integrated expressions of multiple traits that covary due to trade-offs among functions and processes. Understanding trait covariation structures will ultimately help with predicting species' responses to change and developing management actions. 2. We measured variation and covariation (a proxy of phenotypic integration) among functional traits of Pinus sylvestris from paired populations across its European distribution. Populations within a pair were close enough to be in gene flow contact but located in contrasting environmental conditions across a local gradient. Measured traits represented three axes of variation (groups of traits) related to a tree's competitive ability and the trade-off between resource acquisition and conservation, namely plant size measures and stem and foliar traits. 3. Results revealed important intra- and inter-population trait variability. In particular, at the population level, trait means shifted across the climatic gradient mainly described by mean annual temperature. Moreover, we found a higher degree of trait covariation in populations under harsher environments (i.e. lower environmental suitability for the species). This pattern was consistent within population pairs, suggesting that higher trait covariation may be adaptive, being more coordinated in sites with harsher conditions. At larger spatial scales, we found a less conclusive pattern with a trend of increasing covariation at the northern edge of the species distribution. This result suggests that at larger scales different processes may be involved in the trade-off between the adaptive value of phenotypic covariation versus its constraints on trait combinations that may limit plant's response capability. 4. Synthesis. Trait covariation varies at different spatial scales, increasing under harsher conditions, and the robustness and repeatability of this pattern suggests its adaptive role for the species' responses to different environments

Early positive biodiversity effects on total biomass in experimental tree seedling assemblages with and without water limitation

[Questions]: While positive effects of tree diversity on tree community biomass have often been reported in mature stands, the debate on whether diversity effects may be detectable at the seedling level persists, with opposing outcomes found so far. We still lack a comprehensive evaluation of the biodiversity effects (so- called ‘comple-mentarity’ and ‘selection’ effects), as well as the phenotypic drivers at play, underly-ing early-community biomass. Even less is known about whether such biodiversity effects may change under water- limited conditions.[Location]: Seeds from four tree species coexisting in a Mediterranean forest (Spain).[Methods]: We built experimental tree seedling assemblages with three diversity lev-els — monocultures, two- species and four- species mixtures — and under two soil moisture conditions. We quantified the extent to which species richness, species identity, community-weighted mean (CWM) and functional dissimilarity (FD) influ-ence complementarity and selection effects. We computed CWM and FD for seven functional traits related to water and light acquisition; and we calculated the comple-mentarity and selection effects from above- and below- ground biomass measures at the community level.[Results]: Our results showed that complementarity drove the greater biomass in more diverse assemblages at the seedling stage. This pattern was largely favored by a par-ticular species, Quercus faginea, with distinct phenotypic traits (great height, lateral ramification and root biomass with high dry matter content), which induced a positive effect of CWM on community biomass. Moreover, our study showed that the water deficit limited the production of above- ground biomass without interacting with the community’s species richness.[Conclusion]: Our study provides evidence that positive biodiversity effects on com-munity biomass occur early, at the seedling stage, and it highlights the essential role that certain tree species play from their initial development stages by favoring spatresource partitioning. Our work motivates future studies to apply integrated ap-proaches in assessing both the community-wide and species-specific effects to understand the biodiversity–biomass relationship.This work was supported by the Spanish-funded project REMEDINAL-3CM (S2013/MAE-2719). CCB is supported by a postdoctoral fellowship of the Ramón Areces Foundation. BC thanks Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Níıvel Superior - CAPES [DOC- PLENO - Programa de Doutorado Pleno no Exterior (grant Agreement No 99999.001266/2015-02) for a research scholarship. CV was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant Project ‘Ecophysiological and Biophysical Constraints on Domestication in Crop Plants’ (grant ERC- StG -2014- 639706-CONSTRAINTS).Peer reviewe