Estudio del sedimento polínico de las mieles de la reserva biológica de Doñana (Huelva) España

Se ha realizado el anál isis pol ínico cuan ti tati vo y c uali tativo de seis muestras de mi eles procedentes de la Reserva Biológica de Doñana (Huel va ) . Resultaron ser naturales , no contaminadas y con una r iqueza pol ínica media. Las seis muestras son múl tiflorales . La presencia de pólenes de Myriophyllum al terniflorum DC . , Lythrum salicaria L. y Typha s p., caracterizan dichas mielesHoney s ampl es from six different locali ti es of t he Doñana Biological Reserve (Hue l va ) , ha ve been analysed by quali tative and quanti tative palynological methods. All samp l es preved to be na t ural and uncontaminated , wi th a medium rich pollen canten t . All s ix samples are mul ti f l oral honey . The · fol l owing taxa are characteri stic of the honey samples Myriophyllum al terniflorum OC. , Lythrum s alicaria L. and Typha s

Catch me if you can: diel activity patterns of mammalian prey and predators

The activity patterns exhibited by animals are shaped by evolution, but additionally fine-tuned by flexible responses to the environment. Predation risk and resource availability are environmental cues which influence the behavioural decisions that make both predators and prey engage in activity bursts, and depending on their local importance, can be strong enough to override the endogenous regulation of an animals' circadian clock. In Southern Europe, wherever the European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is abundant, it is the main prey of most mammalian mesopredators, and rodents are generally the alternative prey. We evaluated the bidirectional relation between the diel activity strategies of these mammalian mesopredators and prey coexisting in south-western Europe. Results revealed that even though predation risk enforced by mammalian mesocarnivores during night-time was approximately twice and five times higher than during twilight and daytime, respectively, murids consistently displayed unimodal nocturnal behaviour. Conversely, the European rabbits exhibited a bimodal pattern that peaked around sunrise and sunset. Despite the existence of some overlap between the diel rhythms of mesocarnivores and rabbits, their patterns were not synchronized. We suggest that the environmental stressors in our study areas are not severe enough to override the endogenous regulation of the circadian cycle in murids. European rabbits, however, are able to suppress their biological tendency for nocturnality by selecting a predominantly crepuscular pattern. In spite of the higher energetic input, mesocarnivores do not completely track rabbits' activity pattern. They rather track rodents' activity. We propose that these systems have probably evolved towards a situation where some degree of activity during high-risk periods benefits the overall prey population survival, while the accessibility to sufficient prey prevents predators to completely track them.This work was partially supported by a PhD grantfrom the Fundaçao para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) to PM (SFRH/BD/37795/2007) and two research projects, one from the Spanish National Plan (project ref: CGL2009-10741) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and EU-FEDER funds and one from the Spanish Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales (project ref: OAPN352/2011).Peer Reviewe

Plasticity in circadian activity patterns of mesocarnivores in Southwestern Europe: implications for species coexistence

Limiting similarity theory predicts that competing species must segregate along one or more dimensions of their ecological niche in order to coexist. In predator communities, interspecific interactions are influenced by a diversity of factors; therefore, the behavioural patterns of composing species will differ due to locally adapted interactions. We deployed 32-41 camera-traps in five study areas across the Iberian Peninsula to investigate the temporal relations between mesocarnivores in SW Europe. The selection for a period of the diel cycle and plasticity in activity patterns was evaluated using the Jacobs Selection Index (JSI) and the coefficient of activity overlap ({increment}1). Furthermore, we investigated whether temporal shifts can facilitate coexistence by reducing activity overlap. Seven species of mesocarnivores were detected and were assigned into one of three behaviourally distinct groups: Diurnal (JSIday ≥ 0.8), strictly nocturnal (JSInight ≥ 0.8) or facultative nocturnal species (0.4 ≥ JSInight > 0.8). Most species exhibited substantial flexibility, which allowed them to locally adapt their foraging strategies (intraspecific {increment}1 = 0.70-0.77). Mean Δ1 from all interspecific pairwise comparisons was negatively correlated with the number of carnivore species with ≥10 detections (r -0.76, p = 0.02). Our results suggest that temporal segregation is likely to play an important role in facilitating mesocarnivore coexistence, especially with increasing community complexity, where most species' activity peaks were asynchronous. These results contribute to understanding the dynamics and behavioural strategies of coexisting mesocarnivores, crucial for forecasting the possible outcomes of conservation or management actions.This work was partially supported by a PhD grant from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) to PM (SFRH/BD/37795/2007) and two research projects, one from the Spanish National Plan (project ref: CGL2009-10741) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and EU-FEDER funds, and another one from the Spanish Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales (project ref: OAPN 352/2011).Peer Reviewe

IMF and [Na/Fe] abundance ratios from optical and NIR Spectral Features in Early-type Galaxies

We present a joint analysis of the four most prominent sodium-sensitive features (NaD, NaI8190, NaI1.14, and NaI2.21), in the optical and Near-Infrared spectral range, of two nearby, massive (sigma~300km/s), early-type galaxies (named XSG1 and XSG2). Our analysis relies on deep VLT/X-Shooter long-slit spectra, along with newly developed stellar population models, allowing for [Na/Fe] variations, up to 1.2dex, over a wide range of age, total metallicity, and IMF slope. The new models show that the response of the Na-dependent spectral indices to [Na/Fe] is stronger when the IMF is bottom heavier. For the first time, we are able to match all four Na features in the central regions of massive early-type galaxies, finding an overabundance of [Na/Fe], in the range 0.5-0.7dex, and a bottom-heavy IMF. Therefore, individual abundance variations cannot be fully responsible for the trends of gravity-sensitive indices, strengthening the case towards a non-universal IMF. Given current limitations of theoretical atmosphere models, our [Na/Fe] estimates should be taken as upper limits. For XSG1, where line strengths are measured out to 0.8Re, the radial trend of [Na/Fe] is similar to [Mg/Fe] and [C/Fe], being constant out to 0.5Re, and decreasing by 0.2-0.3dex at 0.8Re, without any clear correlation with local metallicity. Such a result seems to be in contrast with the predicted increase of Na nucleosynthetic yields from AGB stars and TypeII SNe. For XSG1, the Na-inferred IMF radial profile is consistent, within the errors, with that derived from TiO features and the Wing-Ford band, presented in a recent paper.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figure, accepted for publication in MNRAS. The new Na-enhanced models will be available soon at http://miles.iac.es

Morphology and evolution of emission line galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field

We investigate the properties and evolution of a sample of galaxies selected to have prominent emission lines in low-resolution grism spectra of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF). These objects, eGRAPES, are late type blue galaxies, characterized by small proper sizes (R_50 < 2 kpc) in the 4350A rest-frame, low masses (5x10^9 M_sun), and a wide range of luminosities and surface brightnesses. The masses, sizes and volume densities of these objects appear to change very little up to a redshift of z=1.5. On the other hand, their surface brightness decreases significantly from z=1.5 to z=0 while their mass-to-light ratio increases two-folds. This could be a sign that most of low redshift eGRAPES have an older stellar population than high redshift eGRAPES and hence that most eGRAPES formed at higher redshifts. The average volume density of eGRAPES is (1.8 \pm 0.3)x10^{-3} Mpc^{-3} between 0.3 < z < 1.5. Many eGRAPES would formally have been classified as Luminous Compact Blue Galaxies (LCBGs) if these had been selected based on small physical size, blue intrinsic color, and high surface brightness, while the remainder of the sample discussed in this paper forms an extension of LCBGs towards fainter luminosities.Comment: Accepted, to appear in Ap

Displasia epifisaria hemimélica: Revisión de la literatura a propósito de un caso

La displasia epifisiaria hemimélica es una alteración infrecuente del crecimiento osteocartilaginoso a nivel de la mitad de una o varias epífisis, localizada generalmente en una extremidad inferior, existiendo diferentes formas clínicas. La edad de presentación suele ser precoz, apareciendo una tumoración indolora, idéntica a un osteocondroma, que debe ser extirpada para evitar complicaciones tales como dismetrías, angulaciones y artrosis secundaria. La recidiva es frecuente, por lo que es importante planificar la intervención y realizar una adecuada técnica quirúrgica.Dysplasia epiphysealis hemimelica is an uncommon alteration of bone and cartilage growth, located at the middle of one or more epiphysis, which usually affects the lower extremity in a variable fashion. It begins at a very early age, as a painless mass, just like an osteochondroma, and must be removed to avoid complications as leg length discrepancy, angular deformity and secondary osteoarthritis. It often recurs, and so is important to plan the most appropriate surgery for each case