Seguimiento de los flujos de calor sensible y calor latente en vid mediante la aplicación del balance de energía METRIC

Revista oficial de la Asociación Española de Teledetección[EN] The monitoring of the energy fluxes over vineyard applying the one source energy balance model METRIC (Allen et al., 2007b) are shown in this work. This model is considered operaive because it uses an internalized calibration method derived from the selection of two extreme pixels in the scene, from the minimum ET values such as the bare soil to a maximum that corresponds to full cover active vegetation. The model provides the maps of net radiation (Rn), soil heat flux (G), sensible heat (H), latent heat (LE), evapotranspiration (ET) and crop coefficient (Kc). The flux values have been validated with a flux tower installed in the plot, providing a RMSE for instantaneous fluxes of 43 W m2, 33 W m2, 55 W m2 y 40 W m2 on Rn, G, H and LE. In relative terms are 8%, 29%, 21% and 20% respectively. The RMSE at daily scale for the ET is 0.58 mm day-1, with a value in the crop coefficient for the mid stage of 0.42±0.08. These results allow considering the model adequate for crop monitoring and irrigation purposes in vineyard. The values obtained have been compared to other studies over vineyard and with alternative energy balance models showing similar results. Guardar / Salir Siguiente >[ES] En este trabajo se presenta el seguimiento de los flujos de energía en un cultivo de vid bajo riego, obtenidos a partir del modelo de balance de energía METRIC (Allen et al., 2007b). Este modelo resulta operativo al utilizar un método de calibración interna definido a partir de la selección de píxeles con valores extremos dentro de la escena. De esta manera se obtuvieron mapas de radiación neta (Rn), flujo de calor en suelo (G), calor sensible (H), calor latente (LE), evapotranspiración (ET) y coeficiente de cultivo (Kc). Estos valores fueron validados con registros obtenidos en el sitio, utilizando una torre de flujos turbulentos (covarianza de torbellinos). El RMSE fue 43 W m-2, 33 W m-2, 55 W m-2 y 40 W m-2 en Rn, G, H y LE, los cuales en términos relativos representan un 8%, 29 %, 21% y 20% respectivamente. A escala diaria el RMSE para la ET fue de 0,58 mm día-1, con un valor de Kc máximo y estable de 0,42±0,08. Estos re-sultados permiten considerar que el método es adecuado y operativo para el seguimiento de la evapotranspiración y cálculo de las necesidades hídricas del viñedo evaluadoAl proyecto CERESS (Coupling land surface Energy and water balance from Remote sensing for mapping Evapotranspiration, water Stress and Soil moisture, ref: AGL2011-30498-C02-01) financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación español. El co-autor C. Balbontín N. agradece el financiamiento del Ministerio de Educación de Chile a través de su proyecto FONDECYT Iniciación Cod. 11140843.González-Piqueras, J.; Villodre, J.; Campos, I.; Calera, A.; Balbontín, C. (2015). Monitoring the latent and sensible heat fluxes in vineyard by applying the energy balance model METRIC. Revista de Teledetección. (43):43-54. https://doi.org/10.4995/raet.2015.2310SWORD435443Allen, R., Irmak, A., Trezza, R., Hendrickx, J. M. H., Bastiaanssen, W., & Kjaersgaard, J. (2011). Satellite-based ET estimation in agriculture using SEBAL and METRIC. Hydrological Processes, 25(26), 4011-4027. doi:10.1002/hyp.8408Allen, R. G., Pereira, L. S., Raes, D., Smith, M. 1998. Crop Evapotranspiration. Guidelines for computing crop water requirements. (Vol. 56), Food and Agriculture Organization.Balbontin-Nesvara, C., Calera-Belmonte, A., González-Piqueras, J., Campos-Rodríguez, I., López-González, M. L., Torres-Prieto, E. 2011. Vineyard Evapotranspiration Measurements in a Semiarid Environment: Eddy Covariance and Bowen Ratio Comparison. Agrociencia, 45, 87-103.González-Dugo, M. P., González-Piqueras, J., Campos, I., Balbontín, C., Calera, A. 2012b. Estimation of surface energy fluxes in vineyard using field measurements of canopy and soil temperature. In C. M. U. Neale & M. H. Cosh (Eds.), Remote Sensing and Hydrology (Vol. 352, pp. 59-62). Wallingford: Int Assoc Hydrological Sciences.INM. 2004. Guía resumida del clima de Espa-a 1971-2000. In I. N. d. Meteorología (Ed.). Madrid

Updating known distribution models for forecasting climate change impact on endangered species

To plan endangered species conservation and to design adequate management programmes, it is necessary to predict their distributional response to climate change, especially under the current situation of rapid change. However, these predictions are customarily done by relating de novo the distribution of the species with climatic conditions with no regard of previously available knowledge about the factors affecting the species distribution. We propose to take advantage of known species distribution models, but proceeding to update them with the variables yielded by climatic models before projecting them to the future. To exemplify our proposal, the availability of suitable habitat across Spain for the endangered Bonelli’s Eagle (Aquila fasciata) was modelled by updating a pre-existing model based on current climate and topography to a combination of different general circulation models and Special Report on Emissions Scenarios. Our results suggested that the main threat for this endangered species would not be climate change, since all forecasting models show that its distribution will be maintained and increased in mainland Spain for all the XXI century. We remark on the importance of linking conservation biology with distribution modelling by updating existing models, frequently available for endangered species, considering all the known factors conditioning the species’ distribution, instead of building new models that are based on climate change variables only.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and FEDER (project CGL2009-11316/BOS

From local monitoring to a broad‐scale viability assessment: a case study for the Bonelli's Eagle in western Europe

Population viability analysis (PVA) has become a basic tool of current conservation practice. However, if not accounted for properly, the uncertainties inherent to PVA predictions can decrease the reliability of this type of analysis. In the present study, we performed a PVA of the whole western European population (France, Portugal, and Spain) of the endangered Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata), in which we thoroughly explored the consequences of uncertainty in population processes and parameters on PVA predictions. First, we estimated key vital rates (survival, fertility, recruitment, and dispersal rates) using monitoring, ringing, and bibliographic data from the period 1990-2009 from 12 populations found throughout the studied geographic range. Second, we evaluated the uncertainty about model structure (i.e., the assumed processes that govern individual fates and population dynamics) by comparing the observed growth rates of the studied populations with model predictions for the same period. Third, using the model structures suggested in the previous step, we assessed the viability of both the local populations and the overall population. Finally, we analyzed the effects of model and parameter uncertainty on PVA predictions. Our results strongly support the idea that all local populations in western Europe belong to a single, spatially structured population operating as a source-sink system, whereby the populations in the south of the Iberian Peninsula act as sources and, thanks to dispersal, sustain all other local populations, which would otherwise decline. Predictions regarding population dynamics varied considerably, and models assuming more constrained dispersal predicted more pessimistic population trends than models assuming greater dispersal. Model predictions accounting for parameter uncertainty revealed a marked increase in the risk of population declines over the next 50 years. Sensitivity analyses indicated that adult and pre‐adult survival are the chief vital rates regulating these populations, and thus, the conservation efforts aimed at improving these survival rates should be strengthened in order to guarantee the long‐term viability of the European populations of this endangered species. Overall, the study provides a framework for the implementation of multi‐site PVAs and highlights the importance of dispersal processes in shaping the population dynamics of long‐lived birds distributed across heterogeneous landscapes

Predation and infanticide influence ideal free choice by a parrot occupying heterogeneous tropical habitats

The ideal free distribution (IFD) predicts that organisms will disperse to sites that maximize their fitness based on availability of resources. Habitat heterogeneity underlies resource variation and influences spatial variation in demography and the distribution of populations. We relate nest site productivity at multiple scales measured over a decade to habitat quality in a box-nesting population of Forpus passerinus (green-rumped parrotlets) in Venezuela to examine critical IFD assumptions. Variation in reproductive success at the local population and neighborhood scales had a much larger influence on productivity (fledglings per nest box per year) than nest site or female identity. Habitat features were reliable cues of nest site quality. Nest sites with less vegetative cover produced greater numbers of fledglings than sites with more cover. However, there was also a competitive cost to nesting in high-quality, low-vegetative cover nest boxes, as these sites experienced the most infanticide events. In the lowland local population, water depth and cover surrounding nest sites were related with F. passerinus productivity. Low vegetative cover and deeper water were associated with lower predation rates, suggesting that predation could be a primary factor driving habitat selection patterns. Parrotlets also demonstrated directional dispersal. Pairs that changed nest sites were more likely to disperse from poor-quality nest sites to high-quality nest sites rather than vice versa, and juveniles were more likely to disperse to, or remain in, the more productive of the two local populations. Parrotlets exhibited three characteristics fundamental to the IFD: habitat heterogeneity within and between local populations, reliable habitat cues to productivity, and active dispersal to sites of higher fitness

Age before beauty? Relationships between fertilization success and age-dependent ornaments in barn swallows

When males become more ornamented and reproduce more successfully as they grow older, phenotypic correlations between ornament exaggeration and reproductive success can be confounded with age effects in cross-sectional studies, and thus say relatively little about sexual selection on these traits. This is exemplified here in a correlative study of male fertilization success in a large colony of American barn swallows (Hirundo rustica erythrogaster). Previous studies of this species have indicated that two sexually dimorphic traits, tail length and ventral plumage coloration, are positively correlated with male fertilization success, and a mechanism of sexual selection by female choice has been invoked. However, these studies did not control for potential age-related variation in trait expression. Here, we show that male fertilization success was positively correlated with male tail length but not with plumage coloration. We also show that 1-year-old males had shorter tails and lower fertilization success than older males. This age effect accounted for much of the covariance between tail length and fertilization success. Still, there was a positive relationship between tail length and fertilization success among older males. But as this group consisted of males from different age classes, an age effect may be hidden in this relationship as well. Our data also revealed a longitudinal increase in both tail length and fertilization success for individual males. We argue that age-dependent ornament expression and reproductive performance in males complicate inferences about female preferences and sexual selection

Effects of interspecific coexistence on laying date and clutch size in two closely related species of hole-nesting birds

Coexistence between great tits Parus major and blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus, but also other hole‐nesting taxa, constitutes a classic example of species co‐occurrence resulting in potential interference and exploitation competition for food and for breeding and roosting sites. However, the spatial and temporal variations in coexistence and its consequences for competition remain poorly understood. We used an extensive database on reproduction in nest boxes by great and blue tits based on 87 study plots across Europe and Northern Africa during 1957–2012 for a total of 19,075 great tit and 16,729 blue tit clutches to assess correlative evidence for a relationship between laying date and clutch size, respectively, and density consistent with effects of intraspecific and interspecific competition.In an initial set of analyses, we statistically controlled for a suite of site‐specific variables. We found evidence for an effect of intraspecific competition on blue tit laying date (later laying at higher density) and clutch size (smaller clutch size at higher density), but no evidence of significant effects of intraspecific competition in great tits, nor effects of interspecific competition for either species.To further control for site‐specific variation caused by a range of potentially confounding variables, we compared means and variances in laying date and clutch size of great and blue tits among three categories of difference in density between the two species. We exploited the fact that means and variances are generally positively correlated. If interspecific competition occurs, we predicted a reduction in mean and an increase in variance in clutch size in great tit and blue tit when density of heterospecifics is higher than the density of conspecifics, and for intraspecific competition, this reduction would occur when density of conspecifics is higher than the density of heterospecifics. Such comparisons of temporal patterns of means and variances revealed evidence, for both species, consistent with intraspecific competition and to a smaller extent with interspecific competition.These findings suggest that competition associated with reproductive behaviour between blue and great tits is widespread, but also varies across large spatial and temporal scales.</div

Phenotypic Heterogeneity and the Evolution of Bacterial Life Cycles

Most bacteria live in colonies, where they often express different cell types. The ecological significance of these cell types and their evolutionary origin are often unknown. Here, we study the evolution of cell differentiation in the context of surface colonization. We particularly focus on the evolution of a ‘sticky’ cell type that is required for surface attachment, but is costly to express. The sticky cells not only facilitate their own attachment, but also that of non-sticky cells. Using individual-based simulations, we show that surface colonization rapidly evolves and in most cases leads to phenotypic heterogeneity, in which sticky and non-sticky cells occur side by side on the surface. In the presence of regulation, cell differentiation leads to a remarkable set of bacterial life cycles, in which cells alternate between living in the liquid and living on the surface. The dominant life stage is formed by the surface-attached colony that shows many complex features: colonies reproduce via fission and by producing migratory propagules; cells inside the colony divide labour; and colonies can produce filaments to facilitate expansion. Overall, our model illustrates how the evolution of an adhesive cell type goes hand in hand with the evolution of complex bacterial life cycles

Influence of land use on carbon sequestration and erosion in Mexico, a review

To reduce the impact of human activities on soil erosion and to increase C sequestration, a series of alternative systems have been tested in recent years on hillside agriculture in Mexico. Among other systems, conservation tillage and intercropping staple crops and fruit trees have been successful. Since accumulation of C occurs in those systems, it is concluded that the rate of C entrance to the soil-plant exceeds the rate of C exit. The identification and understanding of the structure of such a system, its components, and the role of each one of these components, is fundamental to intervening in order to enhance reduction of soil erosion and C sequestration. A summary of experiments on this subject collected in Mexico is presented in the present paper. The most striking findings are: hillside agricultural systems can store, and probably sequester, as much C as secondary native forestry systems, and soil erosion and C losses are small when proper management systems are applied