27 research outputs found

    Increased Vegetation in Mountainous Headwaters Amplifies Water Stress During Dry Periods

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    The dynamics of blue and green water partitioning under vegetation and climate change, as well as their different interactions during wet and dry periods, are poorly understood in the literature. We analyzed the impact of vegetation changes on blue water generation in a central Spanish Pyrenees basin undergoing intense afforestation. We found that vegetation change is a key driver of large decreases in blue water availability. The effect of vegetation increase is amplified during dry years, and mainly during the dry season, with streamflow reductions of more than 50%. This pattern can be attributed primarily to increased plant water consumption. Our findings highlight the importance of vegetation changes in reinforcing the decrease in water resource availability. With aridity expected to rise in southern Europe over the next few decades, interactions between climate and land management practices appear to be amplifying future hydrological drought risk in the region.This work was supported by projects CGL2017-82216-R, PCI2019-103631, and PID2019-108589RA-I00 financed by the Spanish Commission of Science and Technology and FEDER; CROSSDRO project financed by AXIS (Assess-ment of Cross(X)-sectoral climate Impacts and pathways for Sustainable transformation), JPI-Climate co-funded call of the European Commission and INDECIS which is part of ERA4CS, an ERA-NET initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by FORMAS (SE), DLR (DE), BMWFW (AT), IFD (DK), MINECO (ES), ANR (FR) with co-funding by the European Union (Grant 690462). Dhais Peña-Angulo received a “Juan de la Cierva” postdoctoral contract (FJCI-2017-33652 Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, MEC). Miquel Tomas-Burguera received a “Juan de la Cierva” postdoctoral contract (FJCI-2019-039261-I Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation). C. Azorin-Molina and S. Grainger. acknowledge funding from the Irish Environmental Protection Agency grant 2019-CCRP-MS.60. C. Juez acknowl-edges funding from the H2020-MSCA-IF-2018 programme (Marie Sklodows-ka-Curie Actions) of the European Union under REA grant agreement, number 834329-SEDILAND

    Decision support system for selecting the rootstock, irrigation regime and nitrogen fertilization in winemaking vineyards: WANUGRAPE4.0

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    We aim to develop and transfer to the wine sector a decision support system (DSS) in the frame of WANEGRAPE4.0 project that, integrated into a geographic information system, helps wine growers in i) selecting the most suitable rootstock given some agroecological conditions and oenological objectives; and ii) managing irrigation and nitrogen fertilization in the most suitable way for the selected rootstock and agroecological conditions. The following goals have been achieved. First, the modular structure and information flow of the DSS has been defined. Second, the main algorithms of the water balance module (DSS core part) have been formulated and the module coded in a spreadsheet. Third, this water balance module has been tested with data from field experiments in several regions of Spain. Fourth, the relationships between grapevine water status and production and harvest quality variables have been established, revealing an always-significant effects of the decrease in water stress on vegetative development, yield, and grape composition. Fifth, the nitrogen fertilizer effects on vine performance has been assessed. Sixth, the effects rootstocks have on 5 parameters of vine production and grape quality for winemaking have been established too by doing another meta-analysis of rootstock trials. Seventh, a rootstock selection module has been defined. The WANUGRAPE4.0 project goes on with the integration of all its modules, their coding in a World Wide Web language and their publication on an Internet portal.Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Spai

    Neuroimaging in infants with congenital cytomegalovirus infection and its correlation with outcome: emphasis on white matter abnormalities

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    Objective: To evaluate the association between neuroimaging and outcome in infants with congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV), focusing on qualitative MRI and quantitative diffusion-weighted imaging of white matter abnormalities (WMAs). Methods: Multicentre retrospective cohort study of 160 infants with cCMV (103 symptomatic). A four-grade neuroimaging scoring system was applied to cranial ultrasonography and MRI acquired at ≀3 months. WMAs were categorised as multifocal or diffuse. Temporal-pole WMAs (TPWMAs) consisted of swollen or cystic appearance. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values were obtained from frontal, parieto-occipital and temporal white matter regions. Available follow-up MRI at ≄6 months (N=14) was additionally reviewed. Neurodevelopmental assessment included motor function, cognition, behaviour, hearing, vision and epilepsy. Adverse outcome was defined as death or moderate/severe disability. Results: Neuroimaging scoring was associated with outcome (p<0.001, area under the curve 0.89±0.03). Isolated WMAs (IWMAs) were present in 61 infants, and WMAs associated with other lesions in 30. Although TPWMAs and diffuse pattern often coexisted in infants with IWMAs (p<0.001), only TPWMAs were associated with adverse outcomes (OR 7.8; 95% CI 1.4 to 42.8), including severe hearing loss in 20% and hearing loss combined with other moderate/severe disabilities in 15%. Increased ADC values were associated with higher neuroimaging scores, WMAs based on visual assessment and IWMAs with TPWMAs. ADC values were not associated with outcome in infants with IWMAs. Findings suggestive of progression of WMAs on follow-up MRI included gliosis and malacia. Conclusions: Categorisation of neuroimaging severity correlates with outcome in cCMV. In infants with IWMAs, TPWMAs provide a guide to prognosis

    CIBERER : Spanish national network for research on rare diseases: A highly productive collaborative initiative

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    Altres ajuts: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII); Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación.CIBER (Center for Biomedical Network Research; Centro de Investigación Biomédica En Red) is a public national consortium created in 2006 under the umbrella of the Spanish National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII). This innovative research structure comprises 11 different specific areas dedicated to the main public health priorities in the National Health System. CIBERER, the thematic area of CIBER focused on rare diseases (RDs) currently consists of 75 research groups belonging to universities, research centers, and hospitals of the entire country. CIBERER's mission is to be a center prioritizing and favoring collaboration and cooperation between biomedical and clinical research groups, with special emphasis on the aspects of genetic, molecular, biochemical, and cellular research of RDs. This research is the basis for providing new tools for the diagnosis and therapy of low-prevalence diseases, in line with the International Rare Diseases Research Consortium (IRDiRC) objectives, thus favoring translational research between the scientific environment of the laboratory and the clinical setting of health centers. In this article, we intend to review CIBERER's 15-year journey and summarize the main results obtained in terms of internationalization, scientific production, contributions toward the discovery of new therapies and novel genes associated to diseases, cooperation with patients' associations and many other topics related to RD research

    Climate trends and variability in Ecuador (1966–2011)

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    This study detects climate trends and variability from precipitation and temperature observations in Ecuador and assesses their links to the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) for the period 1966–2011, using the El Niño 1+2 and El Niño 3.4 indices. Excluding the Amazonian region (for which there is a lack of data), two main regions were distinguishable in terms of variability and trends among climate variables, especially for precipitation. In general, there was no trend in precipitation for the coastal region, and a very close relationship between the magnitude and seasonal distribution of precipitation and the El Niño 1+2 variability was found. In contrast, for the mountainous region (the Andes), there was an increase of precipitation during the study period, and a signal of El Niño 3.4 influence was detected. Temperatures were spatially homogeneous and showed an intense warming trend, except for maximum temperatures in the coastal region. The El Niño 1+2 influence on temperature was large from January to July. The results provide evidence of the close control exerted by the ENSO, especially in the coast of Ecuador, as well as for the occurrence of significant warming across the country independent of the ENSO phenomeno

    Reference evapotranspiration variability and trends in Spain, 1961-2011

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    In this study we analyzed the spatial distribution, temporal variability and trends in reference evapotranspiration (ET0) in Spain from 1961 to 2011. Twelve methods were analyzed to quantify ET0 from quality controlled and homogeneous series of various meteorological variables measured at 46 meteorological stations. Some of the models used are temperature based (e.g., Thornthwaite, Hargreaves, Linacre), whereas others are more complex and require more meteorological variables for calculation (e.g., Priestley-Taylor, Papadakis, FAO-Blaney-Criddle). The Penman-Monteith equation was used as a reference to quantify ET0, and for comparison among the other methods applied in the study. No major differences in the spatial distribution of the average ET0 were evident among the various methods. At annual and seasonal scales some of the ET0 methods requiring only temperature data for calculation provided better results than more complex methods requiring more variables. Among them the Hargreaves (HG) equation provided the best results, at both the annual and seasonal scales. The analysis of the temporal variability and trends in the magnitude of ET0 indicated that all methods show a marked increase in ET0 at the seasonal and annual time scales. Nevertheless, results obtained suggested substantial uncertainties among the methods assessed to determine ET0 changes, due to differences in temporal variability of the resulting time series, but mainly for the differences in the magnitude of change of ET0 and its spatial distribution. This suggests that ET0 trends obtained by means of methods that only require temperature data for ET0 calculations should be evaluated carefully under the current global warming scenario. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.The authors wish to acknowledge the two anonymous reviewers for their detailed and helpful comments to the original manuscript. We would also like to thank the Spanish State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) for providing the database used in this study. This work has been supported by the research projects CGL2011-27574-C02-01, CGL2011-27574-CO2-02, CGL2011-27536 and CGL2010-18546 financed by the Spanish Commission of Science and Technology and FEDER, “Demonstration and validation of innovative methodology for regional climate change adaptation in the Mediterranean area (LIFE MEDACC)” financed by the LIFE programme of the European Commission, CTTP1/12 financed by the Comunidad de Trabajo de los Pirineos and Consolidated Research groups: >Clima, Agua, Cambio Global y Sistemas Naturales> and >GeomorfologĂ­a y Cambio Global> financed by the Gobierno Regional de AragĂłn DGA-FSE. The second author was granted by the postdoctoral JAE-DOC043 (CSIC) and JCI-2011-10263 (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation) grants. The third author was supported by the >Secretaria per a Universitats i Recerca del Departament d'Economia i Coneixement, de la Generalitat de Catalunya i del programa Cofund de les Accions Marie Curie del 7e Programa marc d'R+D de la Unio Europea> (2011 BP-B 00078) and the postdoctoral fellowship JCI-2012-12508. The fourth author was supported by the predoctoral FPU program 2010 (Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports).Peer Reviewe

    Recent changes in monthly surface air temperature over Peru, 1964–2014

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    This study assessed changes in the maximum and minimum surface air temperatures across Peru during the period 1964–2014. For this purpose, we employed the most complete records of air temperature series that were also subjected to a rigorous quality control and homogenization protocol. Based on the homogenized series, we created a monthly gridded data set of maximum and minimum air temperatures at a 5 × 5 km grid spacing. The results suggest a general warming trend in surface air temperature across Peru, albeit with clear spatial and seasonal variation. Our results also reveal some differences in the detectable trends between maximum and minimum air temperatures. Maximum air temperature trends mainly increased during the austral summer (DJF), but cold season minimum air temperature trends showed an opposite pattern, with the strongest warming being recorded in the austral winter (JJA). In addition, maximum air temperature trends exhibited a clear elevation-warming dependency, with the strongest warming recorded at highly elevated sites. On the contrary, this dependency is weakened for minimum air temperature trends, as lower magnitudes of change and even a cooling trend were observed at high elevations during most months of the year. For mean air temperature trends, there are no clear spatial and temporal seasonal differences across Peru
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