Agricultural intensification erodes taxonomic and functional diversity in Mediterranean olive groves by filtering out rare species

Agri-Environmental Schemes (AES) have been proposed to mitigate the impact of agriculture on both taxonomic and functional biodiversity. However, a better knowledge of the mechanisms involved in the loss of agrobiodiversity is needed to implement efficient AES. An unbalanced effort on research towards arable lands compared to permanent crops, and on fauna relative to plants, is patent, which limits the generalization of AES effectiveness. We evaluated the effects of agricultural management and landscape simplification on taxonomic and functional diversity of the ground herb cover of 40 olive groves. We use a recently developed approach based on Hill numbers (rare, common and dominant species based) to analyse taxonomic and functional dissimilarity between farms with contrasting agricultural practices, and its potential attenuation by landscape complexity. We further explore the filtering effect of agricultural intensification on functional traits, and the relationship between functional and species richness across landscapes. We found that taxonomic and functional dissimilarity of herb assemblages between intensively and low-intensively managed fields was mainly due to rare species. Dissimilarity decreased as landscape complexity increased, evidencing that complex landscapes attenuate the impact of agriculture intensification on herb assemblage composition. Agricultural intensification favoured more functionally homogeneous assemblages and disfavoured the herbs pollinated by insects, while it did not seem to affect wind-pollinated species. Overall, functional richness increased exponentially with species richness across landscapes, but the latter was insufficient to drive any clear enhancement in functional richness in simple landscapes. In contrast, high species richness accelerated the enhancement in functional richness in intermediate and complex landscapes. These results highlight the functional filtering that intensive agriculture has generated for decades in homogeneous olive-dominated landscapes. Synthesis and applications. Herb cover is essential to support the fauna of permanent croplands and their sustainable production. Hence, Agri-Environmental Schemes (AES) in these croplands should promote management practices favouring the diversity and functionality of herb assemblages. Such AES should be particularly prioritized in homogeneous landscapes, where ground herb cover composition and function has long been homogenized to a great extent

Agricultural extensification enhances functional diversity but not phylogenetic diversity in Mediterranean olive groves: A case study with ant and bird communities

Agroforests are of well-known importance for biodiversity conservation, especially in the tropics, because they are structurally stable and may resemble natural forests. Previous studies have characterized jointly taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic diversity in these agro-ecosystems to comprehensively examine the mechanisms by which agriculture impacts on biodiversity. However, this approach has been barely applied to other woody crops of economic importance, such as olive grove, which is a remarkable overwintering habitat for frugivorous/insectivorous birds from central and northern Europe, and whose original distribution overlaps with the Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot. We examined the effects of landscape complexity and intensive management practices at a local scale (recurrent plowing and pesticides use) on the functional and phylogenetic diversity of animal communities inhabiting olive groves. Since the response of functional traits or clades may vary across different taxonomic groups, we conducted our study at two levels: ants, which are considered semi-sessile organisms, and birds, which exhibit a high dispersal capacity. In birds, neither management type nor landscape complexity had an effect on phylogenetic diversity (PD) indices. Extensively managed farms harbored bird communities with higher values of functional diversity (FD), but this effect only was evident when considering cultivated (productive) zones within the farm (i.e., infield diversity). Ant assemblages on intensively managed farms exhibited a lower level of phylogenetic clustering than those located in extensive farms, but this effect vanished when excluding non-cultivated zones. Ant functional diversity increased with landscape complexity. Our results indicate that PD and FD exhibit different responses to farming intensification in olive groves. Although intensive management does not erode PD due to the existence of phylogenetic redundancy, the loss of species associated to modern farming leads to a reduction in FD being this indicative of functional complementarity. This study provides evidence that land-use extensification (extensive farming and landscape diversification) promotes more functionally rich assemblages than modern intensive practices in olive groves. Our findings also show the need to set apart the effect of non-cultivated zones (e.g., hedgerows, margins) when evaluating the effectiveness of agri-environment schemes as the joint consideration of non-cultivated and cultivated areas may obscure the benefits of local extensification on infield biodiversity.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Encuesta sobre la formación PIR y MIR en salud mental en Andalucía.

Se presentan los resultados de una encuesta realizada a todo el personal en formación postgraduada en Salud Mental en Andalucía para evaluar la motivación y el grado de satisfacción sobre la formación recibida. Una alta gratificación personal del trabajo pero una escasa valoración del personal de staff hacia su supervisión teórica y práctica, hacia la investigación, tutorías y sesiones clínicas son algunos de los datos más interesantes obtenidos en la mism

Encuesta sobre la formación PIR y MIR en salud mental en Andalucía.

Se presentan los resultados de una encuesta realizada a todo el personal en formación postgraduada en Salud Mental en Andalucía para evaluar la motivación y el grado de satisfacción sobre la formación recibida. Una alta gratificación personal del trabajo pero una escasa valoración del personal de staff hacia su supervisión teórica y práctica, hacia la investigación, tutorías y sesiones clínicas son algunos de los datos más interesantes obtenidos en la mism

The Atypical Cannabinoid Abn-CBD Reduces Inflammation and Protects Liver, Pancreas, and Adipose Tissue in a Mouse Model of Prediabetes and Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Background and Aims: The synthetic atypical cannabinoid Abn-CBD, a cannabidiol (CBD) derivative, has been recently shown to modulate the immune system in different organs, but its impact in obesity-related meta-inflammation remains unstudied. We investigated the effects of Abn-CBD on metabolic and inflammatory parameters utilizing a diet-induced obese (DIO) mouse model of prediabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Materials and Methods: Ten-week-old C57Bl/6J mice were fed a high-fat diet for 15 weeks, following a 2-week treatment of daily intraperitoneal injections with Abn-CBD or vehicle. At week 15 mice were obese, prediabetic and developed NAFLD. Body weight and glucose homeostasis were monitored. Mice were euthanized and blood, liver, adipose tissue and pancreas were collected and processed for metabolic and inflammatory analysis. Results: Body weight and triglycerides profiles in blood and liver were comparable between vehicle- and Abn-CBD-treated DIO mice. However, treatment with Abn-CBD reduced hyperinsulinemia and markers of systemic low-grade inflammation in plasma and fat, also promoting white adipose tissue browning. Pancreatic islets from Abn-CBD-treated mice showed lower apoptosis, inflammation and oxidative stress than vehicle-treated DIO mice, and beta cell proliferation was induced. Furthermore, Abn-CBD lowered hepatic fibrosis, inflammation and macrophage infiltration in the liver when compared to vehicle-treated DIO mice. Importantly, the balance between hepatocyte proliferation and apoptosis was improved in Abn-CBD-treated compared to vehicle-treated DIO mice. Conclusions: These results suggest that Abn-CBD exerts beneficial immunomodulatory actions in the liver, pancreas and adipose tissue of DIO prediabetic mice with NAFLD, thus protecting tissues. Therefore, Abn-CBD and related compounds could represent novel pharmacological strategies for managing obesity-related metabolic disorders

Propuestas y perspectivas de investigación en el área de Didáctica de la Lengua y la Literatura: nuevos horizontes en la era de lo emocional y lo poscomunicativo

Innovation in Didactics of Language and Literature is the mail core of the present monographic edition

Safety and Revisit Related to Discharge the Sixty-one Spanish Emergency Department Medical Centers Without Hospitalization in Patients with COVID-19 Pneumonia. A Prospective Cohort Study UMC-Pneumonia COVID-19

Background: Information is needed on the safety and efficacy of direct discharge from the emergency department (ED) of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to study the variables associated with discharge from the ED in patients presenting with COVID-19 pneumonia, and study ED revisits related to COVID-19 at 30 days (EDR30d). Methods: Multicenter study of the SIESTA cohort including 1198 randomly selected COVID patients in 61 EDs of Spanish medical centers from March 1, 2020, to April 30, 2020. We collected baseline and related characteristics of the acute episode and calculated the adjusted odds ratios (aOR) for ED discharge. In addition, we analyzed the variables related to EDR30d in discharged patients. Results: We analyzed 859 patients presenting with COVID-19 pneumonia, 84 (9.8%) of whom were discharged from the ED. The variables independently associated with discharge were being a woman (aOR 1.890; 95%CI 1.176-3.037), age 1200/mm(3) (aOR 4.667; 95%CI 1.045-20.839). The EDR30d of the ED discharged group was 40.0%, being lower in women (aOR 0.368; 95%CI 0.142-0.953). A total of 130 hospitalized patients died (16.8%) as did two in the group discharged from the ED (2.4%) (OR 0.121; 95%CI 0.029-0.498). Conclusion: Discharge from the ED in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia was infrequent and was associated with few variables of the episode. The EDR30d was high, albeit with a low mortality