Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale

La reforma del consejo general del poder judicial en España: Noticia de otra reforma fallida

The General Council of the Judiciary has failed in its constitutional purpose. It has been little or no efficient defending judges against external (mainly political) pressures. The election of its members, by quotas in proportion to the parliamentary group�s forces; and the way the said members later choose the main judicial posts, also by quotas, fuels the �unjust� impression that the generality of judges and tribunals are politicised. However, the 2003 reform will not make it more efficient: it uses its inanity to justify transferring some of his powers, mainly to the Justice ministry. But the new Council is less plural, so intensely presidential that it is no longer collegial and allows its majority an absolute predominance. The constitutionality of its new regulation is questionable.El CGPJ ha fracasado en su misión constitucional. Ha resultado poco o nada eficaz al defender a los jueces frente a presiones (especialmente políticas) externas. La elección de sus miembros, por cuotas en función de la fuerza de los grupos parlamentarios; y el modo en que aquellos nombran luego, igualmente por cuotas, a los principales cargos judiciales, alimentan la impresión �injusta� de que el conjunto de los jueces y tribunales está politizado. Sin embargo, la reforma de 2013 no lo hará más eficaz: utiliza su inanidad para justificar una transferencia de sus poderes, sobre todo en favor del ministerio de Justicia. Pero el nuevo Consejo es menos plural, tan intensamente presidencialista que cabe dudar que siga siendo un órgano colegiado y permite un predominio absoluto de la mayoría. La nueva regulación es dudosamente constitucional

Hacia una "Asociación Económica Transtlántica"

La canciller alemana, Angela Merkel, propuso en enero de 2007 que la Unión Europea intensifique sus relaciones económicas con los Estados Unidos para avanzar hacia una "asociación económica trasatlántica". En este documento se analizan las posibilidades de dicha asociación

Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale