The last representatives of the Superfamily Wellerelloidea (Brachiopoda, Rhynchonellida) in the westernmost Tethys (Iberian paleomargins) prior to their demise in the early Toarcian Mass Extinction Event

The last clade-level extinction episode affecting the Phylum Brachiopoda has been long-established in the Early Toarcian Mass Extinction Event (ETMEE) around the Pliensbachian-Toarcian transition, when several rhynchonellide groups became extinct and others underwent a notable renewal in the western Tethys. Among them, Wellerelloidea is a long-ranging superfamily severely affected by this environmental crisis, embodying the subfamily Cirpinae as the last wellerelloids worldwide, prior to their global extinction in the Pb-To transition. The profuse record of Lower Jurassic cirpines in the peri-Iberian paleomargins provides an opportunity to clarify the taxonomy of wellerelloid species in the pre-extinction interval. A new species (Cirpa lucentina) is erected and the revision of the Cirpinae taxa around the ETMEE is carried out. Morphometric analysis and the study of internal structures of the shells support separation of the genera Cirpa and Salgirella, adding new supplementary diagnostic criteria. The biogeographic distribution of this clade in the western Tethys and its evolutionary history in the Early Jurassic reveal a pervasive colonization pattern of both epicontinental and epioceanic habitats. The Mediterranean origin of the last representatives of this group is ascertained, but while diversification of Salgirella took place in epioceanic habitats, speciation of Cirpa is unrelated to biochorema boundaries, even colonizing epicontinental seas until their extinction prior to the hyperwarming event that occurred in the basal Serpentinum Zone. A rhynchonellide morphogroup epitomized by cirpines was resilient to this event in the epicontinental seas. This morphogroup is also recorded after the extinction interval by means of the genus Pseudogibbirhynchia, thus postulating potential pre- and post-extinction phyletic relationships.This research is a contribution to the IGCP-710 Western Tethys meets Eastern Tethys, and to the Research Groups VIGROB-167 (University of Alicante) and PBM-910431 (Complutense University of Madrid)

New deep-water brachiopod resilient assemblage from the South-Iberian Palaeomargin (Western Tethys) and its significance for the brachiopod adaptive strategies around the Early Toarcian Mass Extinction Event

The Pliensbachian-Toarcian transition was a period of changes in long-term environmental conditions leading up to the Early Toarcian Mass Extinction Event (ETMEE), which resulted in a noticeable extinction and turnover in the marine biota. The westernmost Tethyan basins, especially the peri-Iberian platforms, provide an exceptional brachiopod record to better understand the adaptive strategies and the severe ecological effects of these faunas within the marine ecosystems. This event marks a critical interval in the evolutionary history of the Phylum Brachiopoda as two orders, the Athyridida and Spiriferinida, became extinct. Evolutionary patterns displayed by several taxa from these groups and some rhynchonellids typifying deep-water habitats are analyzed across this biotic crisis spanning several Mediterranean and NW-European basins. New work performed in La Cerradura section, a deep pelagic trough from the South-Iberian palaeomargin, reveals two new taxa (Koninckodonta sumuntanensis and Atychorhynchia falsiorigo) herein described. This newly documented fauna supports pre-extinction dwarfing and resilience in deep refugia linked to the ETMEE, and an episode of speciation which is interpreted in terms of a pre-extinction radiation. In the ETMEE repopulation phase an opportunistic strategy occurs typified by Soaresirhynchia bouchardi, and a case of homoplasy involving post-extinction pioneers (Elvis taxon) is detected. Similar adaptive strategies occurred associated with other mass extinctions such as the Permian/Triassic and the Cretaceous/Paleocene events, supporting a possible standard pattern in the response of the brachiopod fauna to such biotic crises and shedding light on the ecological effects of the mass extinction events.This research is a contribution to the IGCP-655 Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event: Impact on marine carbon cycle and ecosystems and was also supported by projects RYC-2009-04316 (Ramón y Cajal Program), P11-RNM-7408 (Junta de Andalucía), CGL2015-66604-R (MINECO, Government of Spain), and the Research Group VIGROB-167 (University of Alicante)

Brachiopod faunal exchange through an epioceanic-epicontinental transitional area from the Early Jurassic South Iberian platform system

The La Mola region (eastern External Betic Zone) can be regarded as one of the easternmost complete Jurassic successions of the Betic Cordillera in the Iberian Peninsula, but the paleogeographical setting of their outcrops remains widely discussed. Analysis of brachiopod assemblages from the Lower Jurassic improves the accuracy of previous paleogeographical data, enabling identification of a mainly epioceanic transitional area in which influences of epicontinental habitats are also detected. Assemblage 1, mainly with a Mediterranean affinity but also sharing several constituents with the African and Northeastern Iberian basins, typifies the Sinemurian–Pliensbachian transition. Assemblage 2, as a whole, shows a transitional character between epioceanic and epicontinental habitats; it is subdivided into two successive and interrelated sub-assemblages: Ass. 2a (Demonense–Tenuicostatum Zones) reveals a free connection with the epioceanic Subbetic area, whereas Ass. 2b (Uppermost Pliensbachian–Lower Toarcian) shows a closer relationship with epicontinental environments. Assemblage 3 (Uppermost Spinatum–basal Serpentinum Zones) is commonly recorded in the peri-Iberian epicontinental platform system integrated within the NW-European bioprovince, but it can also be regarded as a marginal assemblage that is widespread in the westernmost Tethyan margin prior to the Early Toarcian extinction event. Assemblage 2 constitutes a suitable index for assessing the paleobiogeographical affinity of the La Mola region, as Ass. 2a is progressively replaced by Ass. 2b, thus triggering the arrival of epicontinental taxa to the more intra-epioceanic Subbetic environments, inferring a possible connection through the La Mola transitional slope. Consequently, this region enabled a faunal mixing and exchange between both environments, and La Mola likely remained as an area that would facilitate migration and an effective dispersal seaway or, at least, did not constitute an ecological filter-barrier for brachiopods. Biostratigraphical data from brachiopods and ammonites are correlated for the first time in La Mola, refining and calibrating biochronostratigraphical gaps in the pre-Domerian deposits where biochronological markers are usually scarce, and around the Pliensbachian–Toarcian boundary, a crucial timespan in which the Early Toarcian extinction event took place.This research is a contribution to projects CGL2015-66604-R (MINECO/FEDER) and to Research Group VIGROB-167 (University of Alicante)

Early Jurassic brachiopods from northern Spain in the Jiménez de Cisneros collection

Se actualizan sistemáticamente las especies de braquiópodos del Jurásico Inferior procedentes de varias localidades del N y NE de España alojados en la colección Jiménez de Cisneros, refiriéndolas a contextos actualmente contrastados, dotándolas así de un conveniente marco lito- y cronoestratigráfico. Se encuentran representados especímenes de la Rama Castellana y Aragonesa de la Cordillera Ibérica, Asturias, Pirineos y la Cordillera costera Catalana. La actualización ha permitido identificar 18 especies distintas desde el Sinemuriense al Aaleniense basal, contextualizándolas y comparándolas paleobiogeográficamente con el conjunto de plataformas que ocupaban los paleomárgenes de la Subplaca Ibérica durante el Jurásico Inferior.Early Jurassic brachiopods from several localities in North and Northeast Spain housed in the Jiménez de Cisneros historical collection have been updated.These specimens have been referred to nowadays widely recognized geological settings in the Iberian Peninsula, thus providing a lithological and cronostratigraphical context. As a results of this updating, eighteen species were identified derived from the Castilian and Aragonese branches of the Iberian Range as well as Asturias, Pyrenees and the Coastal Catalan Range. These species are dated in the Sinemurian-earliest Aalenian timespan and they have been paleobiogeographically settled and compared within the platforms system existing in the Early Jurassic Iberian paleomargins.Este trabajo se ha realizado bajo el marco del grupo de investigación VIGROB-167 (Universidad Alicante) y de los proyectos CGL2011-25894 y CGL2011-23947 del MICINN

Evolution of the last koninckinids (Athyridida, Koninckinidae), a precursor signal of the early Toarcian mass extinction event in the Western Tethys

Koninckinids are a suitable group to shed light on the biotic crisis suffered by brachiopod fauna in the Early Jurassic. Koninckinid fauna recorded in the late Pliensbachian–early Toarcian from the easternmost Subbetic basin is analyzed and identified as a precursor signal for one of the most conspicuous mass extinction events of the Phylum Brachiopoda, a multi-phased interval with episodes of changing environmental conditions, whose onset can be detected from the Elisa–Mirabile subzones up to the early Toarcian extinction boundary in the lowermost Serpentinum Zone (T-OAE). The koninckinid fauna had a previously well-established migration pattern from the intra-Tethyan to the NW-European basins but a first phase with a progressive warming episode in the Pliensbachian–Toarcian transition triggered a koninckinid fauna exodus from the eastern/central Tethys toward the westernmost Mediterranean margins. A second stage shows an adaptive response to more adverse conditions in the westernmost Tethyan margins and finally, an escape and extinction phase is detected in the Atlantic areas from the mid-Polymorphum Zone onwards up to their global extinction in the lowermost Serpentinum Zone. This migration pattern is independent of the paleogeographic bioprovinciality and is unrelated to a facies-controlled pattern. The anoxic/suboxic environmental conditions should only be considered as a minor factor of partial control since well-oxygenated habitats are noted in the intra-Tethyan basins and this factor is noticeable only in the second westward migratory stage (with dwarf taxa and oligotypical assemblages). The analysis of cold-seep proxies in the Subbetic deposits suggests a radiation that is independent of methane releases in the Subbetic basin.This research is a contribution to the projects CGL2011-25894 and CGL2011-23947 (Ministry of Science and Innovation, Government of Spain) and to the Research Group VIGROB-167 (University of Alicante)

The three-pion K -matrix at NLO in ChPT

The three-particle K-matrix, Kdf, 3, is a scheme-dependent quantity that parametrizes short-range three-particle interactions in the relativistic-field-theory three-particle finite-volume formalism. In this work, we compute its value for systems of three pions in all isospin channels through next-to-leading order in Chiral Perturbation Theory, generalizing previous work done at maximum isospin. We obtain analytic expressions through quadratic order (or cubic order, in the case of zero isospin) in the expansion about the three-pion threshold

Solidarity, territory and coercion. Explaining absence of conflict in the precarious agroindustrial workers, Region of Maule, Chile

En base a 53 entrevistas realizadas a trabajadores agroindustriales de cuatro empresas de la región del maule (chile), se busca comprender las razones del desdoblamiento entre los indicadores objetivos de precariedad laboral y los bajos niveles de conflictividad en el agro, a partir del análisis de la insatisfacción subjetiva de los asalariados con su empleo. Esto se explicaría por factores territoriales, por el tradicionalismo de las relaciones laborales y por el miedo a sanciones de las empresas ante los conflictos. Los resultados enfatizan la necesidad de seguir profundizando en la precariedad subjetiva desde marcos conceptuales y metodológicos que enfaticen la trayectoria biográfica y laboral de los trabajadores.Based on 53 interviews of agribusiness workers in four companies in the region of Maule (Chile), we try to understand the reasons for the "split " between the objective indicators of precarious work and low levels of conflict in agriculture, from the analysis of subjective dissatisfaction of salaried with their employment. This could be explained by territorial factors, traditionalism of labor relations and the fear of sanctions for companies to conflict. The results emphasize the need to further deepen the subjective precariousness from conceptual and methodological frameworks that emphasize biographical and professional life of workers.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació