Assisted Migration of Forests as a climate change economic mitigation strategy: Marie Curie Actions Final Report

The main purpose of this proposal was to provide the necessary tools to address a particular case ofadaptation and mitigation of forests to climate change in Western Europe: the translocation of treepopulation to compensate for climate change (Assisted Migration; AM).Tree populations have been moved with different purposes before, and we started analyzing theseparticular cases in Europe. In particular, we analyzed a well-document failed case of populationtranslocation of Pinus pinaster Ait from the Iberian peninsula to southern France, which entailed anenormous economic loss that led to the only case where the use of foreign tree populations wasprohibited by the European Union, which otherwise promotes the free exchange of seeds betweenecologically matched sites (EU Council Directive 1999/105/EC of 22 December 1999). An opinionpaper (Restoration Ecology 2013) and a reply letter (Bioscience 2013) are related to theseexperiences analyzing translocations in the past.A second step was devoted to propose new scenarios for translocations in the future based on climatedata and the fitness (measured as the volume/year as recorded in NFI). To do that, we producedscenarios (theoretical representation) of assisted migration actions for two important candidates forAM in Europe: Pinus pinaster and Pinus halepensis. We harmonized the Spanish and FrenchNational Forest Inventories for standing volume and mortality, which allowed us to run modelscovering Western Europe. Target zones were selected from provenances with high sensitivity andseed zones from provenances with low sensitivity to climate change; the latter can be considered“seed refugia” as the climate changes. Three plausible scenarios for translocation to the target zonewere developed on the basis of volume simulations calibrated with different planting Abies albastrategies: 1) seeds only from foreign provenances; 2) foreign provenances plus local seeds; and 3)only local seeds. Our results suggested that volume and mortality trends were not always correlatedwith seed sources and targets, that projected provenances mortality do not follow always asouthern-northern pattern and that seed refugia, if any, may be useful for compensating for the effectsof climate change only in a subset of provenances (this approximation has been published in thejournal New Forests 2015).To evaluate which native forests are likely candidates for AM we estimated the vulnerability of thenative species in Western Europe including the sensitivity, the exposure and the adaptive capacity ofthe major tree species in ecological models for creating scenarios for current climatic conditions andfuture ones. The results of these simulations are considering for publication in the journal EcologicalApplications. Our results suggest that management programs should be different for mountainconifers populations occurring at their rear-edge of their distribution that need to be sampled moreintensively to preserve their genetic resources compared to lowland widespread temperate specieswhere vulnerabilities seem lower and populations more homogeneous. Likewise, for rear-edgepopulations, ex-situ programs considering some compensation for climate change (assistedProject No.: 327778Period number: 1stRef: 327778_AMECO_Final_Report11_20151222_165135_CET.pdfPage - 3 of 11migration) may be essential to preserve the populations for which conditions become too harsh butthat may have a better chance in higher latitudes and altitudes.The adaptation of socio-ecological systems to climate change depends not only on the evolutionarypotential of natural populations but on the decisions taken by social actors that mediate naturalprocesses. To succeed in moving trees to compensate for climate change the development of adecision framework based on variations in tree fitness in relation with climate is a priority. In trees,provenance trials provide new insights to understand the future of populations under climate change.We use data from an European network of 33 provenance tests of Abies alba planted in 5 sites inFrance to predict spatial variation in tree height at 9 years old in the present and in the near future.We integrated the outputs of the height tree model in combination with the ones of habitat suitabilityfor each of the climate scenarios in a decision framework to guide assisted colonization tocompensate for climate change. We apply three decision rules to cope with the uncertain states of theworld represented by four climate change scenarios showing that there is no unique ‘best decision’and that the general recommendation of mixtures of populations, although probably not the mostproductive, can reduce uncertainty in the long term by allowing natural forests to evolve

Extreme climate variability should be considered in forestry-assisted migration

International audienceRecently, Pedlar et al. (2012) stated that assisted migration in forestry (forestry AM) differs from species-rescue-assisted migration (species rescue AM) because the risks of invasiveness, hybridization with local species, and spread of diseases are minimized in managed forests. The rationale behind this assertion for forestry AM is that it involves the translocation of populations within the existing geographic range of the species, whereas species rescue AM involves the introduction of exotic species. However, while we agree that forestry AM is less risky than species rescue AM for the recipient ecosystem, forestry AM can not only fail but can also incur enormous financial costs. The failure of efforts that involved planting maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aït) trees in Southwest France (Aquitaine) with seeds from more southerly populations from Portugal for production purposes is a textbook case. The climate variability in Aquitaine includes periods of intense frost that are sufficiently rare (every 10 to 20 years) to be overlooked when establishing tree populations. The frost of the winter of 1985, the most intense frost event since records began with temperatures dropping as low as -22 °C (Boisseaux, 1986), affecting about 350 km2 of tree plantations in the region (Doré & Varoquaux, 2006). The highest mortality related to frost was observed in populations harvested from Leiria in Portugal, for which nearby records show that the absolute minimum temperature was only -7.8 °C in the last 60 years. Climate averages over the last 30 years differ only slightly between Leiria and Aquitaine, which would erroneously suggest that samples from Portugal would have survived in the Aquitaine region. Newly emerging climates (Williams et al. 2007) and the uncertainty related to climate change extreme events (Easterling, 2000) will make the search for southern locations with climatic conditions similar to those of northern populations of trees extremely difficult. Policies of forest adaptation to climate change should account for extreme cold events in the target populations even if climate change will likely decrease the number of extreme cold events (Easterling, 2000), that remain in our opinion, the hidden element behind the maladaptation of southern populations to northern locations

Greater capacity to exploit warming temperatures in northern populations of European beech is partly driven by delayed leaf senescence

One of the most widespread consequences of climate change is the disruption of trees’ phenological cycles. The extent to which tree phenology varies with local climate is largely genetically determined, and while a combination of temperature and photoperiodic cues are typically found to trigger bud burst (BB) in spring, it has proven harder to identify the main cues driving leaf senescence (LS) in autumn. We used 905 individual field observations of BB and LS from six Fagus sylvatica populations, covering the range of environmental conditions found across the species distribution, to: (i) estimate the dates of BB and LS of these populations; (ii) assess the main drivers of LS; and (iii) predict the likely variation in growing season length (GSL; defined as the period from BB to LS timing) across populations under current and future climate scenarios. To this end, we first calibrated linear mixed-effects models for LS as a function of temperature, insolation and BB date. Secondly, we calculated GSL for each population as the number of days between BB and LS. We found that: i) there were larger differences among populations in the date of BB than in the date of LS; ii) the temperature through September, October and November was the main determinant of LS, although covariation of temperature with daily insolation and precipitation-related variables suggests that all three variables may affect LS timing; and iii) GSL was predicted to increase in northern populations and to shrink in central and southern populations under climate change. Consequently, the large present-day differences in GSL across the range of beech are likely to decrease under future climates where rising temperatures will alter the relationship between BB and LS. Northern populations are likely to increase their productivity as warmer conditions will enable them to extend their growing season.Peer reviewe

The FlagT4G Vaccine Confers a Strong and Regulated Immunity and Early Virological Protection against Classical Swine Fever

Control of classical swine fever virus (CSFV) in endemic countries relies on vaccination, mostly using vaccines that do not allow for differentiation of vaccinated from infected animals (DIVA). FlagT4G vaccine is a novel candidate that confers robust immunity and shows DIVA capabilities. The present study assessed the immune response elicited by FlagT4G and its capacity to protect pigs for a short time after vaccination. Five days after a single dose of FlagT4G vaccine, animals were challenged with a highly virulent CSFV strain. A strong, but regulated, interferon-α response was found after vaccination. Vaccinated animals showed clinical and virological protection against the challenge, in the absence of antibody response at 5 days post-vaccination. Upon challenge, a rapid rise in the titers of CSFV neutralizing antibodies and an increase in the IFN-γ producing cells were noticed in all vaccinated-challenged pigs. Meanwhile, unvaccinated pigs showed severe clinical signs and high viral replication, being euthanized before the end of the trial. These animals were unable to generate neutralizing antibodies and IFN-γ responses after the CSFV challenge. The results from the present study assert the fast and efficient protection by FlagT4G, a highly promising tool for CSFV control worldwide.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Disminución de embarazos en adolescentes en el municipio de Pueblo Viejo

La presente propuesta pretende disminuir los índices de embarazos en adolescentes en el municipio de Pueblo Viejo, a través de programas de educación orientadas a comprender la importancia de la sexualidad en el marco del proyecto de vida personal. Lo anterior permitirá incidir de manera directa en los proyectos de vida de los adolescentes escolarizados del municipio de pueblo viejo. Este sentido se ha propuesto una metodología de carácter participativo que motive la vinculación de todos los actores pertinentes del proyecto y oriente a la disminución de embarazos en adolescentes. La lógica de intervención del proyecto está guiada por tres fases, a saber: socialización, Focalización e intervención. Sin embargo, esta dinámica estará comprendida en un proceso de evaluación continua

COVID-19 and Pregnancy: An Updated Review about Evidence-Based Therapeutic Strategies

The COVID-19 pandemic posed a significant challenge for clinicians in managing pregnant women, who were at high risk of virus transmission and severe illness. While the WHO declared in May 2023 that COVID-19 is no longer a public health emergency, it emphasized that it remains a global health threat. Despite the success of vaccines, the possibility of new pandemic waves due to viral mutations should be considered. Ongoing assessment of the safety and effectiveness of pharmacological therapies is crucial in clinical practice. This narrative review summarizes the evidence-based therapeutic strategies for pregnant women with COVID-19, considering over three years of pandemic experience. The review discusses the safety and effectiveness of various drug regimens (antivirals, anticoagulants, corticosteroids, immunoglobulins, monoclonal antibodies, and therapeutic gases) and procedures (prone positioning and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation). Drugs with contraindications, inefficacy during pregnancy, or unknown adverse effects were excluded from our evaluation. The aim is to provide healthcare professionals with a comprehensive guide for managing pregnant women with COVID-19 based on lessons learned from the pandemic outbreak

Humane Orientation as a New Cultural Dimension of the GLOBE Project: A Validation Study of the GLOBE Scale and Out-Group Humane Orientation in 25 Countries

We validate, extend, and empirically and theoretically criticize the cultural dimension of humane orientation of the project GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research Program). Theoretically, humane orientation is not just a one-dimensionally positive concept about being caring, altruistic, and kind to others as discussed by Kabasakal and Bodur (2004), but there is also a certain ambivalence to this concept. We suggest differentiating humane orientation toward in-group members from humane orientation toward out-group members. A multicountry construct validation study used student samples from 25 countries that were either high or low in humane orientation (N = 876) and studied their relation to the traditional GLOBE scale and other cultural-level measures (agreeableness, religiosity, authoritarianism, and welfare state score). Findings revealed a strong correlation between humane orientation and agreeableness, welfare state score, and religiosity. Out-group humane orientation proved to be the more relevant subfacet of the original humane orientation construct, suggesting that future research on humane orientation should make use of this measure instead of the vague original scale. The ambivalent character of out-group humane orientation is displayed in its positive correlation to high authoritarianism. Patriotism was used as a control variable for noncritical acceptance of one’s society but did not change the correlations. Our findings are discussed as an example of how rigid expectations and a lack of tolerance for diversity may help explain the ambivalent nature of humane orientatio

An Automatic Palindrome Generator

In 1984 Dan Hoey, a US naval mathematician, wrote a computer which he used to create a 540-word expansion of Leigh Mercer\u27s Panama palindrome (PD). It began A man, a plan, a caret, a ban, a myriad, a sum, a lac... and ended ...a calmus, a diaryman, a bater, a canal Panama. (For the full PD, plus additional information, see http://www2.vo.lu/homepages/phahn/anagrams/panama/htm.

Clinical and Pathological Characterization of Lynch-Like Syndrome

Background & aims: Lynch syndrome is characterized by DNA mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency. Some patients with suspected Lynch syndrome have DNA MMR deficiencies but no detectable mutations in genes that encode MMR proteins-this is called Lynch-like syndrome (LLS). There is no consensus on management of patients with LLS. We collected data from a large series of patients with LLS to identify clinical and pathology features. Methods: We collected data from a nationwide-registry of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) in Spain. We identified patients whose colorectal tumors had loss of MSH2, MSH6, PMS2, or MLH1 (based on immunohistochemistry), without the mutation encoding V600E in BRAF (detected by real-time PCR), and/or no methylation at MLH1 (determined by methylation-specific multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification), and no pathogenic mutations in MMR genes, BRAF, or EPCAM (determined by DNA sequencing). These patients were considered to have LLS. We collected data on demographic, clinical, and pathology features and family history of neoplasms. The χ2 test was used to analyze the association between qualitative variables, followed by the Fisher exact test and the Student t test or the Mann-Whitney test for quantitative variables. Results: We identified 160 patients with LLS; their mean age at diagnosis of CRC was 55 years and 66 patients were female (41%). The Amsterdam I and II criteria for Lynch syndrome were fulfilled by 11% of cases and the revised Bethesda guideline criteria by 65% of cases. Of the patients with LLS, 24% were identified in universal screening. There were no proportional differences in sex, indication for colonoscopy, immunohistochemistry, pathology findings, or personal history of CRC or other Lynch syndrome-related tumors between patients who met the Amsterdam and/or Bethesda criteria for Lynch syndrome and patients identified in universal screening for Lynch syndrome, without a family history of CRC. Conclusions: Patients with LLS have homogeneous clinical, demographic, and pathology characteristics, regardless of family history of CRC