How does the beach ecosystem change without tourists during COVID-19 lockdown?

Urban tourist beach ecosystems provide the essential service of recreation. These ecosystems also support critical ecological functions where biodiversity conservation is not usually a priority. The sudden lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic created a unique opportunity to evaluate the effects of human absence in these urban-coastal ecosystems. This study examined bioindicators from 29 urban tourist beaches in seven Latin-American countries and assesses their response to lockdown about some relevant anthropogenic stressors such as pollution, noise, human activities, and user density. The presence of animals and plants, as well as the intensity of stressors, were assessed through a standardized protocol during lockdown conditions. Additionally, the environmental conditions of the beaches before and during lockdown were qualitatively compared using multivariate non-parametric statistics. We found notable positive changes in biological components and a clear decrease in human stressors on almost all the beaches. Dune vegetation increased on most sites. Similarly, high burrow densities of ghost crabs were observed on beaches, except those where cleaning activity persisted. Because of the lockdown, there was an exceptionally low frequency of beach users, which in turn reduced litter, noise and unnatural odors. The observed patterns suggest that tourist beaches can be restored to natural settings relatively quickly. We propose several indicators to measure changes in beaches once lockdown is relaxed. Adequate conservation strategies will render the recreational service of tourist beaches more environmental-friendly

Integrated Coastal Management in Cuba: Progress and Challenges in the 2009-2019 Stage

Hace casi una década comenzaron esfuerzos regionales conjuntos por sintetizar la situación del Manejo Costero Integrado y las Políticas Públicas en Iberoamérica. Este capítulo pretende analizar, diez años después, cuánto se ha avanzado en Cuba en la implementación de la gestión costera integrada. En Cuba, un archipiélago del Caribe donde todo está estrechamente ligado a su carácter costero y marino, los asuntos de gestión integrada de zonas costeras, han ganado en atención y se encuentran hoy en una máxima prioridad en las políticas y marcos legales del país. El presente reporte pone en evidencia que en esta etapa transcurrida se ha perfeccionado el marco político-normativo, se ha elevado el número de instituciones que se concentran en evaluar temas de gestión costera, y ha crecido el número de proyectos relacionados con esta temática, así como la actividad de formación de postgrados y la educación comunitaria. Para el país han sido muy relevantes la adopción e implementación del Plan Nacional de Desarrollo Económico y Social hasta el 2030 (PNDES, 2030) y Plan de Estado para el Enfrentamiento al Cambio Climático (Tarea Vida). Ambos planes promueven el análisis de los problemas típicos de las zonas costeras, a la vez que se enfocan en la búsqueda de soluciones. Así mismo, este capítulo identifica los nuevos retos de la gestión de la zona costera en Cuba y esboza las posibles nuevas acciones a emprender y los asuntos que requieren análisis y tratamientos más profundos.Regional efforts jointly done for synthesizing the situation about Integrated Coastal Management and Public Politics in Iberoamerica started almost a decade ago. Ten years later, the present Chapter is aimed to analyze advances regarding implementation of integrated coastal management in Cuba. Due to its condition of being a Caribbean archipelago, everything in Cuba is strongly linked to its coastal and marine characteristics; issues about integrated coastal zone management have received greater attention, becoming, at present, an item of maximum priority among the political and legal frameworks of the country. Improvement to the political-normative framework regarding integrated coastal management, increase in the number of institutions devoted to assess themes related to that topic, as well as in the number of projects, activities for Postgraduate formation and communitarian education regarding the topic, are all widely shown in the present Chapter. Approval and implementation of the National Plan for Social and Economic Development up to 2030 (NPSED, 2030), and of the State Plan to face the Climate Change (“Life Task” in Sp. “Tarea Vida”) have been irrelevant for the country. Both Plans are aimed to analyze typical problems of the coastal zone, focusing on the search of solutions. New challenges for coastal zone management in Cuba are also described in the present Chapter, where possibilities of putting into practice new actions, as well as items, which require deeper analysis, are also given

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved