Preface : Assessment of physical habitat characteristics in rivers, implications for river ecology and management

Physical habitat characteristics are an extremely important factors determining the structure and composition of fluvial biological communities and fluvial ecosystem functioning. Existing methods for characterising the physical realm of river habitats are increasingly important, not only for monitoring river ecosystem health and the success of river restoration projects but also for increasing the understanding of river ecosystem functioning and improving the efficiency of management actions. However, there is no scientific consensus on which methods to use for long-term monitoring and which river features to monitor because many fundamental questions relating hydrological, geomorphological and biological characteristics remain unanswered and because river habitats are monitored to cover a wide variety of objectives. Several initiatives worldwide have demonstrated the importance of analysing and discussing the application of different methods to assess river habitat characteristics for different objectives. It would be interesting to achieve a common approach for river habitat characterization for different objectives, especially for mid- to long- term monitoring programs and different river management issues (e.g., monitoring river restoration projects).More elusive but no less important is the contribution of these methods to understanding the interactions between river habitat architecture and river functioning. In this regard, the Physical Habitat Assessment Methods in Rivers (PHAM) seminar was organised in Santander, northern Spain, in November 2009 to review current practices on river habitat assessment. The contributions presented in that seminar and some later contributions form the basis of this special volume. These papers identify the main factors creating and maintaining river habitats, review physical habitat assessment methods and propose improvements and adaptations, apply different methods in distinctive geographical areas and characterise river habitats for estimating habitat availability of different fish species.Las características físicas del hábitat son un factor extremadamente importante que determina la estructura y composición de las comunidades biológicas fluviales y también juegan un papel importante en la determinación del funcionamiento del ecosistema fluvial. Los métodos actuales que caracterizan la realidad física de los hábitats fluviales son cada vez más importantes, no sólo para monitorear la salud del ecosistema fluvial y el éxito de los proyectos de restauración, sino también para aumentar la comprensión del funcionamiento del ecosistema fluvial y la mejora en la eficiencia de las acciones de gestión. Sin embargo, el consenso científico sobre qué métodos utilizar y que características del río monitorizar a medio y largo plazo est'a lejos de ser alcanzado, debido a que muchas cuestiones fundamentales que relacionan las características hidrológicas, geomorfológicas y biológicas siguen sin respuesta y porque los hábitats fluviales se monitorean para cubrir una amplia variedad de objetivos. Diferentes iniciativas en todo el mundo han mostrado la importancia de analizar y discutir la aplicación de diferentes m'etodos para evaluar las características del hábitat del río para diferentes objetivos. A este respecto, sería interesante poder lograr un enfoque común para la caracterización del hábitat del río con relación a diferentes objetivos,especialmente en lo referente a programas de vigilancia a medio y largo plazo y a diferentes problemas de gestión fluvial (por ejemplo, monitorización de proyectos de restauración fluvial). Más difícil de alcanzar, pero no menos importante es la necesidad de comprender las interacciones entre la arquitectura y el funcionamiento del hábitat fluvial del río. En este sentido, el seminario Physical Habitat Assessment Methods in Rivers (PHAM) fue organizado en Santander, norte de España, en noviembre de 2009, para examinar las prácticas actuales en la evaluación del hábitat fluvial. Las contribuciones presentadas en el seminario y algunos trabajos posteriores forman la base de este volumen especial. Los trabajos incluidos aquí, identifican los principales factores en la creación y mantenimiento de los hábitats fluviales, revisan los métodos de evaluación del hábitat físico y proponen mejoras y adaptaciones, presentan aplicaciones en diferentes áreas geográficas y comparan los resultados y caracterizan el hábitat fluvial para estimar la disponibilidad de hábitat de diferentes especies de peces

Downstream changes in spring-fed stream invertebrate communities: The effect of increased temperature range?

ABSTRACT: Reduced thermal amplitude has been highlighted as a limiting factor for aquatic invertebrate diversity in springs. Moving downstream water temperature range increases and invertebrate richness is expected to change accordingly. In the present study temperature patterns were investigated in seven spring-fed streams, between April 2001 and November 2002, and compared to five run-off-fed streams to assess the degree of crenic temperature constancy. Temperature and physico-chemical characteristics of the water, and food resource levels were measured, and the invertebrate fauna collected at 4 distances (0, 100, 500 m and 1 km) from seven springs in the North and South Islands of New Zealand. Temperature variability was greater for run-off-fed streams than for springs, and increased in the spring-fed streams with distance from the source. Periphyton and physico-chemical characteristics of the water did not change markedly over the 1 km studied, with the exception of water velocity and organic matter biomass, which increased and decreased, respectively. The rate of increase in temperature amplitude differed greatly for the studied springs, probably being affected by flow, altitude, and the number and type of tributaries (i.e., spring- or run-off-fed) joining the spring-fed stream channel. Longitudinal changes in the number and evenness of invertebrate taxa were positively correlated to thermal amplitude (rs = 0.8). Moving downstream, invertebrate communities progressively incorporated taxa with higher mobility and taxa more common in nearby run-off-fed streams. Chironomids and non-insect taxa were denser at the sources. Chironomid larvae also numerically dominated communities 100 and 500 m downstream from the sources, together with Pycnocentria spp. and Zelolessica spp., while taxa such as Hydora sp. and Hydraenidae beetles, the mayflies Deleatidium spp. and Coloburiscus humeralis, and the Trichoptera Pycnocentrodes spp., all had greater abundances 1 km from the sources. In conclusion, water temperature range was highly correlated with number of taxa, although other factors, such as substratum composition, stability and invertebrate drift, may also play an important role in the determination of longitudinal changes in invertebrate community composition and structure along spring-fed streams.We are grateful to Kirsty Francis and the postgraduate students in the Ecology Department, Massey University, for assistance in the field and in the lab. We are also thankful to Pablo Barquín, Lucía Creste, and Kyrin Weaver for help with bug sorting, and to Fiona Death for editing the manuscript. We would also like to thank to two anonymous reviewers for comments that greatly improved the paper. This research was supported by a scholarship from the Department of Education, Universities and Research of the Basque Government

Entrevista con José María Martín Pereda: "La microelectrónica en España casi no existe"

Desde el pasado mes de diciembre, un catedrático de la Escuela Superior de Ingenieros de Telecomunicación tiene la responsabilidad de confeccionar, desde la Caicyt, el Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica y Desarrollo Tecnológico que prevé la Ley de la Ciencia, recientemente aprobada por el Congreso de los Diputados. Se trata de José Antonio Martín Pereda, que también es, junto a Fernando López, Subdirector General de Industrias Informáticas, representante español en el Programa Esprit. En la siguiente entrevista, Actualidad Electrónica ha hablado con Martín Pereda sobre la viabilidad del Plan, el futuro tecnológico de nuestro país y las oportunidades que se le presentan a España en la segunda fase del Esprit

A comparison of modeling techniques to predict hydrological indices in ungauged rivers

Predicting the natural flow regime in ungauged rivers is an important challenge in water resource management and ecological research. We developed models to predict 16 hydrological indices in a river network covering the northern third of the Iberian Peninsula. Multiple Linear Regression (MLR), Generalized Additive Models (GAMs), Random Forest (RF) and Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) were used and compared according to their prediction accuracy. The results showed that predictive performance varied greatly depending on the modeled hydrological attribute. The magnitude and frequency indices were predicted with excellent accuracy. In contrast, no technique was capable of developing precise models for hydrological indices of timing, duration and rate of change. This is mainly related to the lack of proper environmental databases on the scales on which these flow regime patterns are influenced. In addition, complex modeling techniques did not always outperform linear models and no single approach was optimal for all indices. ANFIS and GAMs provided the best results; however, other issues such as computational cost and the level of knowledge required to apply the method and interpret the results should be taken into account.This study was partly funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness as part of the HYDRA (Ref. BIA2015-71197) and RIVERLANDS (Ref. BIA2012-33572) projects

A review of river habitat characterisation methods: indices vs. characterisation protocols

RESUMEN. Una gran variedad de metodologías se han propuesto para la caracterización de los hábitats fluviales a fin de cumplir con diferentes objetivos medioambientales. Esta diversidad de métodos puede ser vista como una ventaja para hacer frente a diferentes objetivos ambientales. Sin embargo, el seguimiento a medio o largo plazo de las características físicas del hábitat fluvial carece de una metodología estandarizada, lo cual contrasta con otros métodos mucho mejor establecidos para el seguimiento de otros componentes del ecosistema fluvial. Se han hecho algunos intentos para estandarizar los métodos de caracterización de los hábitats fluviales, y estos incluyen el estándar europeo para la evaluación de las características hidromorfológicas de los ríos (CEN, 2002), y el desarrollo del módulo de evaluación fisicoquímica dentro del sistema australiano de evaluación fluvial (AusRivAS). Uno de los primeros pasos para avanzar en el desarrollo y uso de métodos para la caracterización de los hábitats fluviales en los programas de seguimiento a medio y largo plazo es revisar las prácticas actuales a fin de poder abordar las deficiencias e introducir mejoras. En el presente trabajo se revisan más de 50 métodos que se han utilizado para caracterizar los hábitats fluviales en todo el mundo, utilizando el estándar europeo como referencia para comparar los métodos. Los métodos de caracterización de los hábitats fluviales se diferencian principalmente por tres razones: (1) los objetivos para los que fueron diseñados, (2) el tiempo que demanda su aplicación y (3) unos miden mientras otros evalúan las características del hábitat. Las características del cauce y de la zona ribereña son consideradas por un mayor número de métodos que las características de la llanura de inundación. Además, entre todas las características del hábitat fluvial descritas, la estabilidad de las orillas, el sustrato del lecho, las estructuras artificiales, la estructura de la vegetación ribereña, las dimensiones del cauce, el tipo de flujo o el caudal, los usos del suelo adyacentes y las barras de sedimentos son las más comúnmente registradas. Se concluye que los métodos de medición de las características del hábitat fluvial que recogen información cuantitativa cubriendo diferentes escalas espaciales podrían ser los más eficaces, ya que proporcionan bases de datos más amplias que permiten utilizar la información para diversos objetivos. Por último, algunos tipos de ríos, como los ríos intermitentes, requieren un mayor estudio para poder identificar correctamente los atributos físicos y la metodología adecuada para realizar el seguimiento de las características del hábitat.ABSTRACT. A wide variety of methodologies have been proposed for characterising river habitats in order to meet different environmental objectives. However, mid- to long-term monitoring of the physical characteristics of river habitats lacks a standardised methodology. This contrasts with well-established methods for monitoring other river ecosystem components. Some attempts have been made to standardise the methods for characterising river habitats including the European Guidance Standard for Assessing the Hydromorphological Characteristics of Rivers (CEN, 2002) and the Physical and Chemical AssessmentModule within the Australian River Assessment System (AusRivAS). One of the first steps toward advancing the development and use of methods for characterising river habitats in mid- to long-term monitoring programs is to review current practices so that deficiencies can be identified and addressed. In the present work, we review more than 50 methods that have been used to characterise river habitats worldwide. This review uses the European standard as a reference benchmark for comparison with existing methods of river habitat characterisation. Methods of characterising river habitats differ mainly with respect to three features: (1) the objectives for which they were designed, (2) the time required for their application and (3) whether they measure characteristics or evaluate them. Channel and riparian zone characteristics are more extensively covered than floodplain characteristics. Moreover, of all the described river habitat characteristics, bank stability, channel substrate, artificial structures, riparian vegetation structure, channel dimensions, flow types or flow status, adjacent land uses and bars are the most commonly recorded.We conclude that assessment methods of river habitat characteristics that gather quantitative information at a range of spatial scales could be the most effective, as they provide relatively extensive data sets that can be used to analyse information for several purposes. Finally, some types of rivers, such as intermittent rivers, require further work in order to identify their physical habitat characteristics and the proper monitoring methodology

Anxiety levels in judokas participating in the 41th InterArmy Military Championship of Judo 2017 Abstract

I Congreso Nacional de Entrenadores de Judo, Murcia (España), July 13‐15Los objetivos del estudio fueron: describir los niveles de ansiedad en judokas de competición participantes en el 41º Campeonato Militar de Judo Interjércitos del año 2017; establecer posibles diferencias en los niveles de ansiedad hallados en función del sexo y el peso; y establecer posibles relaciones entre los niveles de ansiedad hallados y el puesto ocupado en campeonato individual. La muestra final estuvo compuesta por 28 judokas (18 hombres y 10 mujeres) pertenecientes a dos equipos participantes en el Campeonato (Ejército de Tierra y Guardia Civil), siendo la edad media de la muestra de 34.29 años (DT=5.12). De forma previa a la competición se administró el cuestionario de ansiedad ISRA‐B versión Respuestas. Los resultados mostraron que los judokas evaluados presentaron menores niveles de ansiedad cognitiva (p<.05), ansiedad fisiológica (p<.001) y ansiedad motora (p<.001) al compararlos con otras muestras de deportistas. Asimismo, se hallaron diferencias significativas en los niveles ansiedad en función del sexo, obteniendo mayores niveles de ansiedad motora el grupo de mujeres (p<.05). En función del peso sólo se mostraron resultados significativos en judokas masculinos (p<.05), donde los más pesados presentaron mayores niveles de ansiedad cognitiva (p<.05). Sólo se hallaron correlaciones significativas entre los niveles de ansiedad motora y el puesto obtenido en competición en el grupo masculino (rho= diferenciales considerando las ‐.635; p<.05). Los resultados confirman la necesidad de realizar intervenciones psicológicas variables sexo y categoría de pesoThe aims of this study were: to describe the anxiety levels of competitive judokas who participated in the 41st Inter‐army Military Championship of Judo, year 2017; to detect differences in anxiety levels depending on sex and weight categories; to explore if there was a relation between the anxiety levels and the judokas’ final results at the tournament. The sample was composed of 28 judokas (18 men and 10 women) belonging to two teams (Army and Guardia Civil), having an average age of 34.29 years (SD = 5.12). Before competition, the ISRA‐B questionnaire, answers version, was administered. The results showed that judokas had lower levels of cognitive anxiety (p<.05), physiological anxiety (p<.001) and motor anxiety (p<.001) than other samples of athletes. Likewise, there were significant differences in anxiety levels according to sex, having women higher levels of motor anxiety in (p<.05). In terms of weight, only significant results were found in male judokas (p<.05), where the heavier judokas had higher levels of cognitive anxiety (p<.05). Only significant correlations were found between motor anxiety levels and the position obtained in competition in the male group (rho = ‐.635, p<.05)ventions considering the sex and weight . The results confirmed the necessity to perform differential psychological intercategory variable

Effect of humidity on CO2/N2 and CO2/CH4 separation using novel robust mixed matrix composite hollow fiber membranes: experimental and model evaluation

In this work, the performance of new robust mixed matrix composite hollow fiber (MMCHF) membranes with a different selective layer composition is evaluated in the absence and presence of water vapor in CO2/N2 and CO2/CH4 separation. The selective layer of these membranes is made of highly permeable hydrophobic poly(trimethyl-1-silylpropine) (PTMSP) and hydrophilic chitosan-ionic liquid (IL-CS) hybrid matrices, respectively, filled with hydrophilic zeolite 4A particles in the first case and HKUST-1 nanoparticles in the second, coated over compatible supports. The effect of water vapor in the feed or using a commercial hydrophobic PDMSXA-10 HF membrane has also been studied for comparison. Mixed gas separation experiments were performed at values of 0 and 50% relative humidity (RH) in the feed and varying CO2 concentration in N2 and CH4, respectively. The performance has been validated by a simple mathematical model considering the effect of temperature and relative humidity on membrane permeability.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (www.ciencia.gob.es) under project CTQ2016-76231-C2-1-R

Large-scale spatial patterns of riverine communities: niche versus geographical distance

Freshwater ecosystems are among the most threatened ecosystems on Earth. Effective conservation strategies are essential to reverse this trend and should be based on sound knowledge of biodiversity patterns and the main drivers structuring them. In this study, we investigated the role of environmental and dispersal-connectivity controls on freshwater diatom and fish communities? variability. We used 441 biological samples obtained from Spanish biomonitoring datasets, which cover a highly variable environmental gradient across the national river network. We compared the taxonomic and trait-based spatial dependency of the two biotic groups using distance-decay relationships and variation partitioning with spatially constrained randomisations. Our findings showed that most of the diatoms and fish biological variation was attributed to pure spatial and spatially structured environmental variation. Compared to diatoms, fish community composition presented a stronger spatial dependency, likely because of their weaker dispersal ability. In addition, broad-scale environmental characteristics showed a higher predictive capacity for fish assemblages? variation. Trait-based similarities presented lower spatial dependency than taxonomic datasets, indicating that they are less susceptible to dispersal-connectivity effects. These findings contribute to understand the mechanisms underlying river community assembly at large spatial scales (i.e., at and beyond the river network) and point out the importance of dispersal-connectivity processes, which are usually neglected in traditional niche-based biomonitoring programmes but can influence their outcomes (e.g., masking the detection of anthropogenic impacts). Therefore, the integration of the dispersal-connectivity component, as well as information on organisms? dispersal abilities, are crucial when establishing effective conservation objectives and designing biomonitoring strategies.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 765553 and from the project “WATERLANDS”, code PID2019-107085RB-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and by ERDF “A way of making Europ

Separation of CO2-N2 gas mixtures: Membrane combination and temperature influence

Novel mixed matrix membranes (MMM) with different characteristics are experimentally evaluated in a two-stage membranes-in-series bench-scale setup for the separation of CO2-N2 gas mixtures. For stage 1, a high permeability (higher than 1000 Barrer) and low selectivity (about 5–10) membrane is chosen: the [emim][Ac]-Chitosan (IL-CS) hybrid membrane developed in our laboratory and the Pervap 4060 (Sulzer) composite membrane. For stage 2, we chose our Zeolite A/PTMSP MMM, whose selectivity is higher than 20 even at up to 343 K, the CO2 permeability not lower than 5000 Barrer, which allows skipping the use of the intermediate compressor. The influence of membrane intrinsic properties (i.e. selective membrane material), number of modules in series, and feed concentration on separation performance is evaluated experimentally. In this system, a 10% CO2 feed is concentrated to 43%, 26 and 40% for the Zeolite A/PTMSP MMM – Zeolite A/PTMSP MMM, IL-CS – Zeolite A/PTMSP and Pervap 4060 – Zeolite A/PTMSP in stage 1 and stage 2, respectively. The agreement of the experimental results with a mathematical model at the low CO2 feed concentration of flue gas allows estimating the membrane area needed for each membrane material to achieve a given CO2 purity and removal efficiency. The very large membrane areas needed to reach the 90% CO2 purity and removal efficiency target are drastically reduced if the CO2 removal efficiency required is set to 70%, especially for the combinations with different membranes in each stage, which gives scope for attempting further development of novel membrane materials for CO2capture processes.This work is partially based on a concept from Eliot S. Gerber (U. S.A.), for which he is gratefully acknowledged. The authors are also grateful for the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) under project CTQ2012-31229. A.F.B. and C.C.C. also thank the MINECO for the Early Stage Researcher (BES2013-064266) and ‘‘Ramón y Cajal” (RYC2011-0855) contracts, respectively

Applying Optimization to Support Adaptive Water Management of Rivers

ABSTRACT: Adaptive water management is a promising management paradigm for rivers that addresses the uncertainty of decision consequences. However, its implementation into current practice is still a challenge. An optimization assessment can be framed within the adaptive management cycle allowing the definition of environmental flows (e-flows) in a suitable format for decision making. In this study, we demonstrate its suitability to mediate the incorporation of e-flows into diversion management planning, fostering the realization of an adaptive management approach. We used the case study of the Pas River, Northern Spain, as the setting for the optimization of surface water diversion. We considered e-flow requirements for three key river biological groups to reflect conditions that promote ecological conservation. By drawing from hydrological scenarios (i.e., dry, normal, and wet), our assessment showed that the overall target water demand can be met, whereas the daily volume of water available for diversion was not constant throughout the year. These results suggest that current the decision making needs to consider the seasonal time frame as the reference temporal scale for objectives adjustment and monitoring. The approach can be transferred to other study areas and can inform decision makers that aim to engage with all the stages of the adaptive water management cycle