Companion biota associated with Leptospermum scoparium (mānuka; Myrtaceae) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Ecology at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand

Leptospermum scoparium (mānuka; Myrtaceae) is involved in three crucial ecological interactions that might affect nectar production, and the New Zealand honey industry. First, these plants can be affected by scale insect infestation which have the potential to affect plant health, second, they provide nectar for honey bees (mānuka honey), and third, they are hosts for, and may receive benefits from, dual mycorrhizal fungal associations (both ecto- and endo-). The understanding of these interactions is very important for the honey industry as well as for New Zealand ecosystems. However, there is limited knowledge about the influence of scale insects and mycorrhizal fungi on plant growth and nectar production, and the influence of honey bee visitation on the honey making-process. To better understand the significance of these interactions, a variety of methods, including behavioural observations, histological, molecular, and taxonomic techniques, were used in this thesis. Findings showed that the eriococcids Acanthococcus campbelli and Acanthococcus leptospermi are now the main species on L. scoparium, rather than Acanthococcus orariensis, which was the main causative agent of the mānuka blight in the 1940’s and 1960’s. Whereas the distribution of A. leptospermi was previously reported, the distribution of A. campbelli across New Zealand’s islands was illustrated for the first time in this thesis. Other scale insect species classified within the families Coelostomidiidae, Diaspididae, and Pseudococcidae were also found, but their incidence and abundance was typically lower in comparison to the family Eriococcidae. The number of eriococcids was reduced by the application of an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR) on six different cultivars in a split plot designed experiment, but cultivars differed in response to the insecticide treatment. Using the same common garden design, but just the unsprayed plants, honey bees showed a preference for the cultivar with the highest nectar sugar content and nectar DHA content. However, sugar, rather than DHA, was the best predictor of visitation pattern. The number of honey bee visits increased at midday as the day warmed up. The overall number of flowers estimated per plant was included in the model, but did not drive the visit number as, for example, it was found that the cultivar with the highest estimated number of flowers was less visited. Bioinformatics analysis revealed the association of L. scoparium with at least 25 fungal classes, including 16 ectomycorrhizal (EcM) fungal lineages and eight arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) families. The majority of mycorrhizal fungal lineages were shared among cultivated and wild plants at the three studied sites, which suggests that cultivated plants are naturally colonised by mycorrhizal fungi. The EcM fungal lineages /cortinarius, /laccaria, /tomentella-thelephora, and the AM families Glomeraceae and Claroideoglomeraceae were the most abundant. Among the EcM fungal species, Laccaria glabripes and the endemic EcM fungal species Clavulina subrugosa, Cortinarius waiporianus and Dermocybe indotata were revealed as the most abundant. The presence of the exotic EcM fungal species Amanita muscaria was limited and mainly found in cultivated plants, that had established on a site previously with Pinus radiata. The cosmopolitan AM fungal species Rhizophagus irregularis and Claroideoglomus lamellosum were the dominant species found in both cultivated and wild plants. Among cultivated and wild plants, wild plants appeared to be colonised by a more diverse mycorrhizal fungal community. For instance, the lineage /russula-lactarius was more abundant in wild plants than in cultivated plants. The presence of /russula-lactarius and other lineages and species could be improving host performance (seed establishment, drought tolerance, pathogen resistance, and plant growth) on wild plants. However, the absence of some of the mycorrhizal fungal species from cultivated plants, which could be present on wild plants, could limit the potential yield of L. scoparium plantation. Finding suitable combinations of mycorrhizal fungal inoculum could help optimise the development of L. scoparium, nectar production, and subsequently the New Zealand mānuka honey industry

The Itzykson-Zuber Integral for U(m|n)

We compute the Itzykson-Zuber (IZ) integral for the superunitary group U(m|n). As a consequence, we are able to find the non-zero correlations of superunitary matricesComment: Latex, 16 page

Fundamentos de la ordenación territorial en Andalucía

La aprobación de la Constitución Española de 1978, supuso la asignación de las competencias en materia de ordenación territorial a las Comunidades Autónomas, lo que propició entre los objetivos más inmediatos de las mismas, el establecimiento de un marco normativo que regulase tan difícil actividad. En Andalucía la ordenación territorial quedó regulada con la aprobación en 1994, de la ley de ordenación del territorio Andaluz, texto que procuraba el establecimiento de una conformación física del territorio acorde con las necesidades de la sociedad. No obstante no se definió un modelo territorial para la Comunidad hasta el año 2006, cuando se aprobó el Plan de Ordenación del Territorio Andaluz. Sin embargo, antes de la aprobación de la ley, y durante ese difícil periodo de transición surgido tras la aprobación de la Carta Magna, se llevaron a cabo una serie de experiencias de ámbito regional y subregional que influyeron decisivamente tanto en el texto legislativo aprobado, como en el proceso de planificación territorial desarrollado a posteriori, experiencias que constituyeron los fundamentos territoriales sobre los que se erigió el modelo. Esta investigación tiene como propósito acercarse al conocimiento de estos documentos para estudiar sus principales aportaciones y analizar el modo en que fueron asumidas por el Plan de Ordenación del Territorio Andaluz e integradas como parte fundamental de su modelo de ordenación, con el objeto de subrayarlos como los instrumentos sobre los que se fraguaron los fundamentos de la ordenación del territorio Andaluz.The approval of the Spanish Constitution of 1978, supposed the assignment of the competences in territorial planning to the Autonomous Communities, which led among the most immediate objectives of the same, the establishment of a regulatory framework that regulated such difficult activity. In Andalusia, the territorial ordinance was regulated with the approval in 1994 of the law for the ordination of the Andalusian territory, a text that sought the establishment of a physical conformation of the territory according to the needs of society. However, a territorial model for the Community was not defined until 2006, when the Andalusian Territory Ordinance Plan was approved. However, before the approval of the law, and during that difficult period of transition that arose after the approval of the Magna Carta, a series of regional and subregional experiences were carried out that decisively influenced both the approved legislative text, as in the territorial planning process developed a posteriori, experiences that constituted the territorial foundations on which the model was built. This research aims to get closer to the knowledge of these documents to study their main contributions and analyze how they were assumed by the Andalusian Territory Planning Plan and integrated as a fundamental part of their management model, with the aim of highlighting them as instruments on which the foundations of the management of the Andalusian territory were forged

The “Great Moderation” and the Monetary Transmission Mechanism in Chile

This paper analyzes the significant reduction in the volatility of output growth and inflation seen in the Chilean economy in the present decade. This reduced volatility, sometimes called the “great moderation,” coincides with several important changes to the Chilean macroeconomic framework, including the establishment of a full-fledged inflation targeting regime for monetary policy and a rule based on a target for the structural fiscal surplus. The paper examines the impact of these changes on the monetary transmission mechanism and explores how the “great moderation” has been affected by economic shocks and by the endogenous response of policy as reflected in the monetary transmission mechanism. The paper also reports results of a monetary vector autoregression model that finds important changes in the way shocks are transmitted to the Chilean economy.