How new generation techniques are shaping the future of environmental sciences

This perspective highlights the role of new-generation analytical techniques in future applications in environmental sciences since the shift to the One Health research paradigm. It reviews the interactions between the compartments of One Health and indicates the current challenges in traditional environmental research. The term One Health was first used at the beginning of the 20th century, yet much is still needed for the cross-disciplinary research collaboration required in this approach

The Influence of Urban Environments on Oxidative Stress Balance: A Case Study on the House Sparrow in the Iberian Peninsula

The House Sparrow is a globally distributed species and is closely associated with anthropised environments. They are well-adapted to urban life; therefore the decline of their populations in Europe represents an unexpected event that demands an investigation into its causes. Causes that have promoted this decline are not well-known, but one of the highlighted hypotheses is an increase of oxidative stress linked to the toxicity of pollution in urban areas. From an ecophysiological perspective, oxidative damage, antioxidant defense, and oxidative balance are considered reliable indicators of environmental stressors such as pollutants. To carry out this study, blood samples were collected from House Sparrows in three different habitats that varied in terms of urbanization degree: urban, suburban, and rural; during the winter and breeding season. According to our results, urban sparrows showed higher levels of oxidative damage and higher activity of antioxidant enzymes, but lower antioxidant capacity in comparison with the rural birds; and these differences especially increase during the breeding season. The maintenance of oxidative balance increases in an urban environment in comparison to a rural one; we suggest that the high level of pollution and the poor quality diet linked to urban environments. The breeding season is expected to be particularly challenging for the oxidative balance of urban birds, when the reallocation of resources between self-maintenance and reproduction may be critical due to the scarcity of antioxidants found in urban areas. This study may contribute to determining the causes of the population decrease of House Sparrows in cities

Nasotracheal Microbiota of Nestlings of Parent White storks with Different Foraging Habits in Spain

Migratory storks could be vectors of transmission of bacteria of public health concern mediated by the colonization, persistence and excretion of such bacteria. This study aims to determine genera/species diversity, prevalence, and co-colonization indices of bacteria obtained from tracheal (T) and nasal (N) samples from storks in relation to exposure to point sources through foraging. One-hundred and thirty-six samples from 87 nestlings of colonies of parent white storks with different foraging habits (natural habitat and landfills) were obtained (84 T-samples and 52 N-samples) and processed. Morphologically distinct colonies (up to 12/sample) were randomly selected and identified by MALDI-TOF-MS. About 87.2% of the total 806 isolates recovered were identified: 398 from T-samples (56.6%) and 305 from N-samples (43.4%). Among identified isolates, 17 genera and 46 species of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria were detected, Staphylococcus (58.0%) and Enterococcus (20.5%) being the most prevalent genera. S. sciuri was the most prevalent species from T (36.7%) and N (34.4%) cavities of total isolates, followed by E. faecalis (11.1% each from T and N), and S. aureus [T (6.5%), N (13.4%)]. Of N-samples, E. faecium was significantly associated with nestlings of parent storks foraging in landfills (p = 0.018). S. sciuri (p = 0.0034) and M. caseolyticus (p = 0.032) from T-samples were significantly higher among nestlings of parent storks foraging in natural habitats. More than 80% of bacterial species in the T and N cavities showed 1–10% co-colonization indices with one another, but few had ≥ 40% indices. S. sciuri and E. faecalis were the most frequent species identified in the stork nestlings. Moreover, they were highly colonized by other diverse and potentially pathogenic bacteria. Thus, storks could be sentinels of point sources and vehicles of bacterial transmission across the “One Health” ecosystems.This work was supported by the project PID2019-106158RB-I00 of the MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 of Spain and project SBPLY/19/180501/000325 of the regional government of Castilla—La Mancha co-financed by the European Union’s funds for regional development (Feder). Also, it received funding from the European Union’s H2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agrrement No. 801586. J.P.-P. was supported by a postdoctoral grant Margarita Salas from the European Union – Next GenerationEU through the Complutense University of Madrid.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature.Peer reviewe

Spatiotemporal Characteristics of the Largest HIV-1 CRF02_AG Outbreak in Spain: Evidence for Onward Transmissions

Background and Aim: The circulating recombinant form 02_AG (CRF02_AG) is the predominant clade among the human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV-1) non-Bs with a prevalence of 5.97% (95% Confidence Interval-CI: 5.41–6.57%) across Spain. Our aim was to estimate the levels of regional clustering for CRF02_AG and the spatiotemporal characteristics of the largest CRF02_AG subepidemic in Spain.Methods: We studied 396 CRF02_AG sequences obtained from HIV-1 diagnosed patients during 2000–2014 from 10 autonomous communities of Spain. Phylogenetic analysis was performed on the 391 CRF02_AG sequences along with all globally sampled CRF02_AG sequences (N = 3,302) as references. Phylodynamic and phylogeographic analysis was performed to the largest CRF02_AG monophyletic cluster by a Bayesian method in BEAST v1.8.0 and by reconstructing ancestral states using the criterion of parsimony in Mesquite v3.4, respectively.Results: The HIV-1 CRF02_AG prevalence differed across Spanish autonomous communities we sampled from (p < 0.001). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that 52.7% of the CRF02_AG sequences formed 56 monophyletic clusters, with a range of 2–79 sequences. The CRF02_AG regional dispersal differed across Spain (p = 0.003), as suggested by monophyletic clustering. For the largest monophyletic cluster (subepidemic) (N = 79), 49.4% of the clustered sequences originated from Madrid, while most sequences (51.9%) had been obtained from men having sex with men (MSM). Molecular clock analysis suggested that the origin (tMRCA) of the CRF02_AG subepidemic was in 2002 (median estimate; 95% Highest Posterior Density-HPD interval: 1999–2004). Additionally, we found significant clustering within the CRF02_AG subepidemic according to the ethnic origin.Conclusion: CRF02_AG has been introduced as a result of multiple introductions in Spain, following regional dispersal in several cases. We showed that CRF02_AG transmissions were mostly due to regional dispersal in Spain. The hot-spot for the largest CRF02_AG regional subepidemic in Spain was in Madrid associated with MSM transmission risk group. The existence of subepidemics suggest that several spillovers occurred from Madrid to other areas. CRF02_AG sequences from Hispanics were clustered in a separate subclade suggesting no linkage between the local and Hispanic subepidemics

Comer en la basura: consecuencias fisiológicas y microbiológicas de usar los vertederos como fuente de alimento en la cigüeña blanca (Ciconia ciconia)

[ES]: El objetivo de esta tesis era establecer si el uso de vertederos como fuente de alimento por las cigüeñas blancas, el cual a priori es beneficioso, tal y como demuestra el aumento en la población, podría tener efectos en la salud de los pollos. Con este propósito, evaluamos el estado de individuos alimentados con distintas proporciones de comida proveniente de vertederos, utilizando una aproximación múltiple basada en la evaluación del estado nutricional, de la funcionalidad hepática y renal, del balance del estrés oxidativo y de la presencia de patógenos. Así, pudimos identificar que, según aumentaba la proporción de comida proveniente de vertederos, mejor era el estado nutricional de los pollos, lo que indicaba una mayor ingesta de comida. Además, no encontramos efectos negativos en el organismo, al no verse afectada ni la función hepática ni la renal. El balance del estrés oxidativo, mucho más sensible al daño por los posibles contaminantes de los vertederos, muestra los primeros pasos de una respuesta hormética; aumento de las defensas por un daño, pero sin comprometer al organismo. Finalmente, la presencia de E. coli resistente a antibióticos es mayor en individuos que utilizan vertederos, lo cual puede ser un problema no solo para su propia salud, sino también por la transmisión a otros los animales de vida libre, al ganado y a humanos. Tras obtener una visión amplia de los efectos de este uso, tratamos de confirmar los resultados previos a mayor escala, aumentando el número de colonias de estudio, y verificando si los efectos se mantienen independientemente del año. En el segundo capítulo confirmamos que los beneficios en el estado nutricional en los pollos que se alimentan en vertedero son constantes entre años, así como la falta de afectación hepática o renal. Sin embargo, la respuesta del balance del estrés oxidativo varia, debido a la importancia de los antioxidantes en la dieta y la necesidad de comida natural durante los primeros días de. Sin embargo, el uso de este tipo de alimento nunca produce alteraciones en el balance del estrés oxidativo, lo que indica que, sin importar el año, el daño potencial está siendo contrarrestado. Para facilitar el seguimiento de estas colonias en el futuro es necesario encontrar alguna medida externa que varíe en relación con el uso de vertederos, reduciendo la manipulación y el coste. Encontramos que tanto la condición corporal como el color rojo de las patas se han visto afectadas por el uso de vertederos, pero en sentido opuesto, ya que la condición corporal aumenta con el uso, debido a la mayor cantidad de comida, pero el color rojo de las patas disminuye, debido a la menor cantidad de carotenoides. Los resultados previos revelaron el beneficio a corto plazo del uso de los vertederos. Sin embargo, desconocemos los posibles efectos a largo plazo, ya que las condiciones durante el desarrollo pueden influir en rasgos que aparecen más tarde en la vida. Como el control de estos individuos durante toda su vida es prácticamente imposible, como aproximación a este efecto hemos elegido el estudio de los telómeros. A los telómeros se les señala como responsables de unir las condiciones durante la juventud y la esperanza de vida potencial, y cuya tasa de acortamiento puede verse alterada por factores externos que actúan a través del balance del estrés oxidativo. Nuestros resultados muestran que la administración de antioxidantes en individuos de vida libre hace que mantengan sus telómeros más largos, sugiriendo la posibilidad de que estos individuos padezcan una falta de antioxidantes en su dieta, lo que podría afectar a su esperanza de vida. El uso de aproximaciones multidisciplinares al estudio del estado de determinadas especies, como es el caso de la cigüeña blanca, se está haciendo cada vez más necesario, debido principalmente a la progresiva globalización, lo que conllevará un mayor número de interacciones entre distintas especies y el ser humano.[EN]: This PhD thesis aimed to establish if the use of landfills as a food resource by white storks, which a priori, judged by the increasing population appears positive, could have any effects on the health status of nestlings. For this purpose, initially, we evaluated the status of individuals which were fed different proportions of food from landfills, using a multidisciplinary approach based on the evaluation of nutritional status, liver and renal function, oxidative stress balance and the presence of pathogens. This way we identified that, in fact, the higher the proportion of food from landfills the better the nutritional status, indicating higher food intake. Hepatic and/or renal function were not affected. Also, oxidative stress balance, which is more sensitive to damage by the potentially present pollutants in the landfill, is suggestive of a hormetic response; i. e. an increase in defences that allows to cope with limited damage without compromising the organism. Landfill foraging storks also have a higher prevalence of antibiotic resistant E.coli, which could be a problem not only for the health of the storks, also for the transmission of these microorganisms to other wildlife, livestock and humans. After obtaining a broad overview of the effect of this use, we tried to confirm previous results at a much larger scale, increasing the number of colonies of study, and more importantly, to verify if the benefits hold, regardless of the year of study. In the second chapter, we confirmed that the benefits on nutritional status of nestlings which were fed with food from landfills are constant between years, as well as the apparent lack of affectation on hepatic and/or renal systems. However, the response of the oxidative stress balance was not always the same, because of dietary antioxidants and the necessity of natural food during the first period of life. Even so, the use of landfill oraged food never produced a disbalance in the oxidative stress balance, which indicates that, despite the year, the potential damage could be perfectly counteracted by the organisms of the nestlings. To make the monitoring of these colonies in the future easier it is necessary to find some external measures which could be related to the use of landfills, making the collection of data less invasive and less challenging in terms of cost and time. We found that both body condition and the redness of legs are affected by the use of landfills but with an opposite trend, as body condition increases with the use, due to the higher amount of food, redness of legs decreases, by the lower amount of carotenoids, responsible of the redness. These results could be useful to continue the monitoring of the studied colonies with less expenditure of resources, time, and money. These results revealed at least the short-term benefits of the use of landfills as a food resource. However, we did not know if this behaviour would have carry-over effects, as early-development conditions can influence different life-history traits later in life. As the monitoring of these individuals during their entire life is practically impossible, as a proxy to this effect we chose to measure telomeres, as their length has been suggested to be responsible for the link between early-life conditions and potential lifespan, and because their rate of attrition could be altered by external factors which act through oxidative stress balance. We approached this question experimentally, and our results, showed that the administration of antioxidants in free-living individuals maintains telomeres longer, suggesting that possibly these individuals suffer a lack of dietary antioxidants, which in turn could affect their potential lifespan. The use of these multidisciplinary approaches to the study of the status of certain species, such as the white stork, is becoming increasingly necessary. This is mainly due to progressive globalization, which will lead to a greater number of interactions between different species and humans.Javier Pineda Pampliega ha sido beneficiario de un contrato predoctoral dentro del programa “Formación de personal investigador. Contratos predoctorales Complutense. Convocatoria 2015. CT45/15-CT46/15”.Peer reviewe

White storks and "junk food"

Resumen del póster presentado a la 10th Conference of the European Ornithologist's Union, celebrada en Badajoz (España) del 24 al 28 de agosto de 2015.In the mid-twentieth century, White storks (Ciconia ciconia) suffered a marked decline along entire Europe due to the destruction of their natural habitat by human activities. Since several decades ago, its populations have been recovered impressively due to the occurrence of a new food source, rubbish dumps. It is well established that the use of these sites as food resource facilitates chick raising, thus making it easier to raise high numbers of chicks. However the quality of these resources is very questionable. Food availability at rubbish dumps is unlimited throughout the year, but consists of mostly manufactured products mixed with a wide variety of rubbish that may contain dangerous substances as shown in different studies. In order to study adaptation of storks the use of this food resource we sampled chicks of four colonies with confirmed different food sources exploited by their parents during 3 consecutive years. We compared blood chemistry and oxidant/antioxidant balance between colonies with chicks fed natural or completely rubbish dump based diets and between years. The results suggest and adaptive physiological upregulation of antioxidant systems in storks exploiting junk food as food source.Peer Reviewe

Adaptation to anthropized environments: the case of White Stork Ciconia ciconia

Resumen del trabajo presentado al 1st International White Stork Conference celebrado en Zielona Góra (Poland) del 4 al 6 de septiembre de 2014.The Spanish populations of the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) suffered a marked decline in Spain until de 1980s of the last century due to the alteration of their feeding areas. However, in the last decades those populations have recovered mainly due to new food resources: rubbish dumps. An unlimited supply of food all year round also means exposure to several human-generated pollutants. Individual storks feeding there must develop different mechanisms of adaptation to allow use of this resource without a detrimental health status. We sampled chicks from four colonies along a feeding gradient, i.e. individuals being fed completely natural food to those exclusively with food items from rubbish dumps. Blood samples allowed the evaluation of nutritional and general health status and oxidant/antioxidant balance. Regarding nutritional status, chicks fed with natural food showed lower concentrations of albumin, glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides, indicative of lower ingestion rates. The AST, ALT and alkaline phosphatase, as indicators of hepatic alterations, and creatinine and creatine kinase, as indicators of renal function, showed no differences between populations, indicating no differences regarding health status. Deregulation of oxidant / antioxidant balance is a main mechanism of damage of many pollutants. We found significant differences in the oxidative damage indicative parameters, with lower values of LDH, plasmatic MDA and ROMs in individuals which fed in rubbish dumps. These results agree with higher values of two non-enzymatic endogenous antioxidants, i.e. glutathione and uric acid, in these individuals. The use of rubbish dumps as areas to obtain food have allowed White Storks to increase their population numbers. They show a better nutritional status due to the high presence of food, without alteration of their health status or their oxidant / antioxidant balance.Peer Reviewe

Adaptación de una especie a la antropización del entorno: el caso de la cigüeña blanca (Ciconia ciconia)

Póster presentado al XXII Congreso Español de Ornitología: "Aves y ser humano: una relación variable", celebrado en Madrid del 6 al 9 de diciembre del 2014.Tras el declive sufrido hasta los años 80 del pasado siglo, la población de cigüeña blanca (Ciconia ciconia) se ha recuperado en gran medida gracias a una nueva fuente de alimento: los vertederos de residuos sólidos urbanos. Estos lugares suponen una fuente de alimento ilimitado durante todo el año, con la contrapartida de verse expuestos a distintos contaminantes generados por el ser humano. Los individuos que se alimentan en estas áreas deberán presentar distintos mecanismos de adaptación que les permitan explotar esta fuente de alimento sin que su estado de salud se vea afectado. Se muestrearon 4 poblaciones de esta especie que explotan distintos recursos tróficos: desde alimentación totalmente natural hasta exclusivamente procedente de vertederos. Se tomaron muestras de sangre de los pollos en el nido para el análisis del estado de salud, nutricional y el balance oxidante/antioxidante. En lo referente al estado nutricional, los individuos de la población con alimentación natural presentaban valores que indicaban una menor ingesta de alimento. La falta de alteraciones en marcadores de función hepática, así como en marcadores de alteración renal indica que no hay diferencias en el estado de salud general. La desregulación del balance oxidante/antioxidante es el mecanismo de acción de muchos contaminantes. Se encontraron diferencias significativas en los indicadores de daño oxidativo, con valores menores en los individuos con alimentación procedente del vertedero. Estos resultados concuerdan con la mayor presencia de antioxidantes endógenos en estos mismos individuos. El uso de los vertederos de residuos orgánicos como fuente de alimento ha permitido a esta especie recuperar sus poblaciones tras el declive sufrido. Estos individuos presentan un mejor estado nutricional gracias a la mayor cantidad de alimento que obtienen, sin verse afectado ni su estado de salud ni su balance oxidante/antioxidante.MMH se beneficia de una beca Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship (PIEF-GA-2011-299747) del Séptimo Programa Marco (FP7 2007-2013) de la Comisión Europea.Peer reviewe

Valores bioquímicos en pollos de buitre negro (Aegypius monachus) del Parque Nacional de Sierra de Guadarrama

Póster presentado al XXII Congreso Español de Ornitología: "Aves y ser humano: una relación variable", celebrado en Madrid del 6 al 9 de diciembre del 2014.El buitre negro (Aegypius monachus) es una especie amenazada y emblemática en Europa. De las 2.500 parejas estimadas en Europa, la mayor parte se encuentran en territorio español, de ahí la importancia del conocimiento y conservación de la población española. En este aspecto, la incorporación del análisis de parámetros bioquímicos en los planes de seguimiento y control de las poblaciones resulta de gran utilidad, aportando información no sólo de las posibles patologías sino también sobre el estado general de los individuos según las condiciones del medio. Además, el establecimiento de valores de referencia de estos parámetros en poblaciones silvestres en buen estado permite crear una base de conocimiento adecuada para evaluar el estado de salud de otras poblaciones silvestres. En este trabajo se han analizado muestras de 42 pollos de buitre negro nacidos en el año 2013, en la colonia de la ZEPA Alto Lozoya, en el Parque Nacional de Guadarrama (Rascafría, Madrid). Se analizaron 17 parámetros bioquímicos, relacionados con el estado nutricional, la funcionalidad hepática y renal y el balance oxidante/antioxidante. Se establecieron los valores medios, la desviación estándar y el rango, tanto en la suma total de individuos, como tras su separación según el sexo. Como era de esperar los datos muestran una distribución normal, no encontrándose en ninguno de los casos diferencias debidas al sexo. El presente trabajo permite establecer una base de rangos de referencia de pollos de buitre negro, lo cual puede resultar una herramienta útil a considerar para su incorporación rutinaria en los planes de seguimiento y control de la especie, permitiendo una mayor eficacia en su conservación.Peer reviewe