Radiales time series: 25 years building monitoring and analytical capacities in the Iberian shelf

The RADIALES program has been monitoring shelf waters in Spain for the last 25 years. This is the oldest field program for multidisciplinary marine research addressing long term variability issues at ecosystem level. Core observations include ship-based hydrographic, biogeochemical and plankton observations at monthly frequency in several oceanographic sections along the Iberian shelf. These observations are complemented with buoy and satellite observations and all these data are used to validate hydrographic and ecological models of plankton at local and regional scales. From the first series initiated in the northwestern shelf other programs extended the observations to the Mediterranean and off shelf waters using the same approach. The success of RADIALES extends beyond pure scientific knowledge, as the expertise gathered with the program has been applied to solve multiple environmental issues, from fisheries and pollution to global change. The program is also instrumental for educational purposes, allowing the specialization of students and technicians. Thanks to a basal funding provided by the Instituto Español de Oceanografía, the program currently obtains more than 60% of its annual budget from competitive calls, as it offers an unique platform for coastal research. Among the results of this program are 400 publications, including peer-review papers, 24 Thesis and 54 scientific reports. The RADIALES data are freely distributed to national and international users as a contribution to the development of cost-effective ocean research and marine servicesIEO (RADIALES

Fermionic partner of Quintessence field as candidate for dark matter

Quintessence is a possible candidate for dark energy. In this paper we study the phenomenologies of the fermionic partner of Quintessence, the Quintessino. Our results show that, for suitable choices of the model parameters, the Quintessino is a good candidate for cold or warm dark matter. In our scenario, dark energy and dark matter of the Universe are connected in one chiral superfield.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, version to appear in PR

Search for the Proton Decay Mode proton to neutrino K+ in Soudan 2

We have searched for the proton decay mode proton to neutrino K+ using the one-kiloton Soudan 2 high resolution calorimeter. Contained events obtained from a 3.56 kiloton-year fiducial exposure through June 1997 are examined for occurrence of a visible K+ track which decays at rest into mu+ nu or pi+ pi0. We found one candidate event consistent with background, yielding a limit, tau/B > 4.3 10^{31} years at 90% CL with no background subtraction.Comment: 13 pages, Latex, 3 tables and 3 figures, Accepted by Physics Letters

Major role of nutrient supply in the control of picophytoplankton community structure.

abstractThe Margalef´s mandala (1978) is a simplified bottom-up control model that explains how mixing and nutrient concentration determine the composition of marine phytoplankton communities. Due to the difficulties of measuring turbulence in the field, previous attempts to verify this model have applied different proxies for nutrient supply, and very often used interchangeably the terms mixing and stratification. Moreover, because the mandala was conceived before the discovery of smaller phytoplankton groups (picoplankton <2 μm), it describes only the succession of vegetative phases of microplankton. In order to test the applicability of the classical mandala to picoplankton groups, we used a multidisciplinary approach including specifically designed field observations supported by remote sensing, database analyses, and modeling and laboratory chemostat experiments. Simultaneous estimates of nitrate diffusive fluxes, derived from microturbulence observations, and picoplankton abundance collected in more than 200 stations, spanning widely different hydrographic regimes, showed that the contribution of eukaryotes to picoautotrophic biomass increases with nutrient supply, whereas that of picocyanobacteria shows the opposite trend. These findings were supported by laboratory and modeling chemostat experiments that reproduced the competitive dynamics between picoeukaryote sand picocyanobacteria as a function of changing nutrient supply. Our results indicate that nutrient supply controls the distribution of picoplankton functional groups in the ocean, further supporting the model proposed by Margalef.RADIALES (IEO

Vertical variability of trophic positions of zooplankton in the deep Ocean

Zooplankton plays a key role in oceanic ecosystems. However, the trophic ecology of organisms in deep layers of the ocean is poorly known. In this study we analyze the variability of trophic positions of zooplankton collected across three ocean basins in the epi-, meso and bathypelagic domains. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes were used as indicators of the sources of nutrients and positions within the food web. The enrichment in heavy nitrogen isotopes with depth and the correlation between surface and deep samples revealed that deep zooplankton was supported by local epipelagic production, subsequently processed through the water column. In addition the nitrogen isotope enrichment of carnivores vs. omnivores was consistent across ocean biomes and water layers, suggesting a similar trophic structure of the pelagic food web in the deep ocean despite variations in the nitrogen sources. Siphonofora, Chaetognata and Myctophida were the top predators while Calanoid Copepoda and Mysidacea displayed the lowest trophic positions. In contrast, carbon isotopes did not show significant variations with depth or trophic groups implying low influence of coastal production in deep ocean food webs

Marine megafauna niche coexistence and hotspot areas in a temperate ecosystem

Versión del editor2,08

Control of tHe structure of marine phytoplAnkton cOmmunities by turbulence and nutrient supply dynamicS (CHAOS)

extended abstract del posterIn order to investigate the role of turbulence mixing on structuring marine phytoplankton communities, the CHAOS project included a multidisciplinary approach involving specifically designed field observations supported by remote sensing, database analyses, and modeling and laboratory chemostat experiments. Field observations carried out in the outer part of Ría de Vigo in summer 2013 showed that, as a result of increased mixing levels, nitrate diffusive input into the euphotic layer was approximately 4-fold higher during spring tides. This nitrate supply could contribute to explain the continuous dominance of large-sized phytoplankton during the upwelling favorable season. Simultaneous estimates of nitrate diffusive fluxes, derived from microturbulence observations, and picoplankton abundance collected in more than 100 stations, spanning widely different hydrographic regimes, showed that the contribution of eukaryotes to picoautotrophic biomass increases with nutrient supply, whereas that of picocyanobacteria shows the opposite trend. These findings were supported by laboratory and modeling chemostat experiments that reproduced the competitive dynamics between picoeukaryote and picocyanobacteria as a function of changing nutrient supply. The results derived from this project confirm that turbulence and mixing control the availability of light and nutrients, which in turn determine the structure of marine phytoplankton communities.RADIALES-20 (IEO), CHAOS (CTM 2012-30680), Malaspina-2010(CSD2008-00077

Observing the First Stars and Black Holes

The high sensitivity of JWST will open a new window on the end of the cosmological dark ages. Small stellar clusters, with a stellar mass of several 10^6 M_sun, and low-mass black holes (BHs), with a mass of several 10^5 M_sun should be directly detectable out to redshift z=10, and individual supernovae (SNe) and gamma ray burst (GRB) afterglows are bright enough to be visible beyond this redshift. Dense primordial gas, in the process of collapsing from large scales to form protogalaxies, may also be possible to image through diffuse recombination line emission, possibly even before stars or BHs are formed. In this article, I discuss the key physical processes that are expected to have determined the sizes of the first star-clusters and black holes, and the prospect of studying these objects by direct detections with JWST and with other instruments. The direct light emitted by the very first stellar clusters and intermediate-mass black holes at z>10 will likely fall below JWST's detection threshold. However, JWST could reveal a decline at the faint-end of the high-redshift luminosity function, and thereby shed light on radiative and other feedback effects that operate at these early epochs. JWST will also have the sensitivity to detect individual SNe from beyond z=10. In a dedicated survey lasting for several weeks, thousands of SNe could be detected at z>6, with a redshift distribution extending to the formation of the very first stars at z>15. Using these SNe as tracers may be the only method to map out the earliest stages of the cosmic star-formation history. Finally, we point out that studying the earliest objects at high redshift will also offer a new window on the primordial power spectrum, on 100 times smaller scales than probed by current large-scale structure data.Comment: Invited contribution to "Astrophysics in the Next Decade: JWST and Concurrent Facilities", Astrophysics & Space Science Library, Eds. H. Thronson, A. Tielens, M. Stiavelli, Springer: Dordrecht (2008

Active Brownian Particles. From Individual to Collective Stochastic Dynamics

We review theoretical models of individual motility as well as collective dynamics and pattern formation of active particles. We focus on simple models of active dynamics with a particular emphasis on nonlinear and stochastic dynamics of such self-propelled entities in the framework of statistical mechanics. Examples of such active units in complex physico-chemical and biological systems are chemically powered nano-rods, localized patterns in reaction-diffusion system, motile cells or macroscopic animals. Based on the description of individual motion of point-like active particles by stochastic differential equations, we discuss different velocity-dependent friction functions, the impact of various types of fluctuations and calculate characteristic observables such as stationary velocity distributions or diffusion coefficients. Finally, we consider not only the free and confined individual active dynamics but also different types of interaction between active particles. The resulting collective dynamical behavior of large assemblies and aggregates of active units is discussed and an overview over some recent results on spatiotemporal pattern formation in such systems is given.Comment: 161 pages, Review, Eur Phys J Special-Topics, accepte

Modelización espacial de la distribución de cetáceos en el norte de la Península Ibérica: la importancia de incluir información de sus presas

Con el fin de identificar áreas ecológicamente significativas, necesitamos relacionar la distribución de especies con descriptores ecológicos que nos ayuden a comprender su distribución. En el medio marino, los modelos de distribución de especies (MDE) han sido tradicionalmente desarrollado en base a descriptores ecológicos indirectos (como clorofila y temperatura superficial del mar) recogidos a través de imágenes de satélite. Aunque las especies marinas pueden utilizar estas señales ambientales para localizar sus presas, el uso de información sobre la distribución de las mismas sería más informativo que el uso de estos descriptores indirectos. Gracias a las campañas oceanográficas multidisciplinares se puede recoger información simultánea de varios niveles tróficos, desde el plancton a los depredadores marinos, incluyendo sus principales presas pelágicas: los pequeños peces pelágicos. Por lo tanto, la inclusión de esta información en los MDE debería ser más relevante que las variables oceanográficas indirectas. Para testar esta hipótesis, desarrollamos MDE para las tres especies más abundantes de cetáceos que se registran en el norte de la Península Ibérica durante las campañas de primavera del Instituto Español de Oceanografía, PELACUS (2007-2013). Estas especies fueron el delfín común Delphinus delphis, el delfín mular Tursiops truncatus y el calderón común Globicephala melas. Dependiendo de las especies consideradas, se identificaron diferentes variables ambientales como importantes a la hora de explicar los patrones de distribución; pero las cifras globales ponen de manifiesto la principal contribución de la batimetría, seguido de la temperatura superficial del mar y la variabilidad espacial en la distribución de los pequeños peces pelágicos. Estos resultados tienen importantes implicaciones en reconocer la importancia de los estudios oceanográficos multidisciplinares para la obtención de descriptores ecológicos directos para mejorar los modelos de distribución de depredadores marinos