Identificación y estudio preliminar de los sitios críticos para anidación, forrajeo y descanso de las tortugas marinas en la costa centro y norte del Ecuador

Continental Ecuador hosts four of the seven species of sea turtles worldwide, of which two are critically endangered (Eretmochelys imbricata and Dermochelys coriacea) and the other two are endangered (Chelonia mydas and Lepidochelys olivacea) (IUCN 2009). This study established the importance of Machalilla National Park (PNM) as a nesting and feeding ground for both E. imbricata and C. mydas. Confirmation of E. imbricata nesting on two beaches of PNM (province of Manabí) and the nesting of Lepidochelys olivacea at Portete (province of Esmeraldas) are new contributions to the knowledge of the geographic and breeding distributions for these species.La costa continental ecuatoriana alberga a cuatro de las siete especies de tortugas marinas que habitan en el mundo, dos de estas se catalogan como en peligro crítico de extinción (Eretmochelys imbricata y Dermochelys coriácea) y dos en peligro de extinción (Chelonia mydas y Lepidochelys olivacea) (IUCN 2009). En este estudio se establece la importancia del Parque Nacional Machalilla (PNM) para la reproducción y alimentación de dos especies de tortugas marinas, E. imbricata y C. mydas. La confirmación de la anidación en dos playas del PNM (provincia de Manabí) y la anidación de Lepidochelys olivacea en Portete (provincia de Esmeraldas); son nuevas contribuciones al conocimiento de la distribución geográfica de la reproducción de estas especies

A return to the "Rules of Thumb" in Maritime Engineering for digital native students

Engineering and technical degrees are difficult to teach and, consequently, have always been characterized by a large number of academic failures. That is the reason why different methodologies have been applied to classes of similar content in different countries [1]. Among these methodologies, it is noteworthy to mention audio/visual resources as a useful tool to improve the teaching of coastal engineering [2], which means more students that pass the coastal engineering courses [3]. Moreover, use of GPS and Google Earth have also shown to be useful tools to improve the learning process [4]. Nevertheless, the authors have not found anything about the use of “rules of thumb” as a better way for students to improve their comprehension of the basic knowledge of an engineering subject. This paper shows the teaching experience on Maritime Engineering for undergraduate students of Civil Engineering in the School of Engineering at the University of Seville (Spain). The application of new information technologies in classrooms and advanced training in the use of finite element software tools and programming languages gives our students extremely powerful tools for solving very complex engineering problems with excellent results. However, the enormous effort invested by the students in acquiring this advanced knowledge and to be up to date in using and commanding on these technologies leads them to focus their main efforts, attention and skills just toward the numerical resolution of the problem, the efficiency of the implemented algorithm, and the programming language difficulties. This puts aside the essential and the critical sense of the accuracy of the results obtained by the algorithm. The students do not get the physical ‘feeling’ of what’s happening in the algorithm. We have included a teaching sequence in our lesson programs that always starts with an historical review of the different approaches used by engineers in their times in order to solve engineering problems from the seventeenth through the nineteenth century to today. This method makes the students to appreciate the importance and wits required by those men in the past in facing a difficult task when they didn’t have a PC or powerful software. The “rules of thumb” in engineering become a powerful tool for the digital native students which helps them make sense and enjoy the study and programming when they finally find out that their algorithm responds with reasonable accuracy and orders of magnitude to the result expected beforehand. Simply applying "rules of thumb" and well-known approximations of the past, perhaps obsolete from a technical point of view, will help the student learn the process. Some examples will be given in this paper in order to show the use of these “rules of thumb” or simplified models in class for teaching Maritime Engineering subject. Among them: the dimensionless stability number of Vicente Negro [5] for the design of the armour layer blocks in breakwaters, the Iribarren’s wave drawings [6], the US Army Corps of Engineers Shore Protection Manual Graphs and plates, etc

Memorias del 2do Simposio de Investigación & Conservación en Galápagos GSC– DPNG

Memorias del 2do Simposio de Investigación & Conservación en Galápagos GSC– DPN

Memorias del 1er Simposio de Investigación & Conservación Galápagos GSC-DPNG / 1st Galapagos Conservation & Research Symposium GSC-DPNG

Memorias del 1er Simposio de Investigación & Conservación Galápagos GSC-DPNG / 1st Galapagos Conservation & Research Symposium GSC-DPN

Memorias del 3er Simposio de Investigación & Conservación en Galápagos GSC– DPNG

Memorias del 3er Simposio de Investigación & Conservación en Galápagos GSC– DPN

Lupinus mariae-josephii (Leguminosae) en la comarca de Camp de Turia (Valencia)

Se aporta para la comarca valenciana de Camp de Túria una nueva población de Lupinus mariae-josephae (Leguminosae), especie endémica de la Comunidad Valenciana (España), catalogada como Vulnerable en el Catálogo Valenciano de Especies de Flora Amenazadas. La población se localiza en el término municipal de Riba-roja de Túria y representa hasta el momento la más septentrional de su área de distribución.A new population of Lupinus mariae-josephae (Leguminosae) from Camp de Túria region is provided. This species is an endemic plant of Valencian Community (Spain) and it is listed as Vulnerable in the Valencian Catalog of Threatened Plant Species. This population is located in Riba-roja de Túria and constitutes the most northern of this species

Consideraciones para una metodología única en la estimación del alcance de un temporal, aplicación para la delimitación de la zona marítimo- terrestre

La actual legislación vigente en materia de Costas introdujo, entre otros cambios y modificaciones, el establecer unas nuevas consideraciones y definiciones más precisas para estudiar y delimitar conceptos como la zona marítimo terrestre o incluso los efectos del cambio climático. Es necesario para ello determinar la cota de inundación de una manera detallada y adecuada para determinar el alcance de un temporal. La importancia del estudio de estos conceptos ha cobrado mayor importancia en los últimos años. Existen otros factores que obligan a un estudio cada vez más detallado de estos conceptos además de la importancia legislativa que han adquirido recientemente. Uno de ellos es debido a la obligatoriedad de determinar las zonas de riesgo y peligrosidad del litoral español, por exigencias de normativas y circulares europeas. Otro factor es el hecho de continuar aun la aprobación definitiva de tramos de deslinde del Dominio Público Marítimo Terrestre, para lo cual es obligatorio definir de manera adecuada la zona marítimo terrestre. Esta se define como aquella que en 5 años es alcanzada por al menos 5 temporales (art. 4.a del RGC). Por tanto, es necesario catalogar los temporales incidentes en un tramo de costa durante un periodo de tiempo, y a partir de los datos obtenidos de oleaje estimar el quinto alcance, que no tiene que estar asociado al quinto temporal, error comúnmente cometido. Va a ser necesario tener un procedimiento de estudio consensuado para estimar los alcances en determinadas condiciones, o incluso ante un temporal ya acaecido

Aerial photographs:a tool for Coastal Engineering Students

Different methodologies have already been applied in different countries to teach Coastal Engineering (CE) trying to improve the learning process due to their inherent difficulty [1]. The large number of academic failures has been reduced [2] by the use of new and old technologies like audio/visual resources [3] or “rules of thumb” [4] respectively. CE has experienced a rapid growth in the last fifty years. And though it has a high mathematical and physical load, understanding the coastal processes through empirical observation is of great help for learning. The new Information Technology (IT) tools have allowed advancing both in the field of theoretical investigation as in the practical application of easily observable phenomena. Especially important is the possibility of using visors of aerial photographs, which allow not only to study a specific situation at a given date, but also the time evolution over the years. The use of Internet applications such as Google Earth opens up many possibilities of study in a very simple way [5]. Therefore, with a basic knowledge on maritime works, it is possible to obtain expressions or mathematical models through free available information, which serve to realize pre-designs of possible solutions or to analyze the certainty of a final solution. These easy-to-apply methodologies let also to evaluate the success or failure of maritime works already executed, and is useful in cases of inability to conduct complete studies of coastal dynamics. Application of these free tools is fundamental to carry out the monitoring of already built maritime works. A suitable treatment of this information allows the realization of new designs in an easier and intuitive way. Moreover, it facilitates the interpretation of coastal processes by engineering students who come for the first time to this topic. Prof. Iribarren, one of the foremost exponents of CE in Spain, based much of his findings on the observation of the sea with a high degree of intuition. For those who do not have that ability to intuit, the tools described previously may be a way to achieve an easier and better understanding of the Coastal Engineering subject

Propuesta y recomendaciones para la delimitación de la Zona Marítimo Terrestre de playas abiertas con baja carrera de marea según la legislación vigente.

En los últimos años, ha entrado en vigor la Ley 2/2013 de protección y uso sostenible del litoral y modificación de la Ley 22/1988 de Costas (BOE, 1988, 2013), junto con el Reglamento que la desarrolla (BOE, 2014) aprobado mediante el Real Decreto 876/2014 (RGC). Entre otras modificaciones y aportaciones de esta legislación, destaca el nuevo procedimiento de estimación de la Zona Marítimo Terrestre, qué se define como aquella que en 5 años es alcanzada por al menos 5 temporales (art. 4.a del RGC). Esta definición es más exacta que la anterior, heredada de legislaciones anteriores: “el límite hasta donde alcancen las olas en los mayores temporales conocidos…” (art. 3.a de la Ley de Costas del año 1988). Pero, por el contrario, supone el calcular un valor exacto sin especificar un procedimiento perfectamente definido y objetivo. Existen muchas variables indeterminadas. La primera y principal es la extensa posibilidad de consulta de datos en las diferentes redes de boyas y de mareógrafos en series temporales muy superiores a 5 años. Además, existen diversos y numerodos modelos y fórmulas de cálculo del alcance de un evento de temporal, con resultados muy variables entre ellos. Todo esto determina que el diferente criterio a la hora de tomar decisiones entre un técnico u otro, implica que se puedan obtener resultados muy dispares en el resultado de la cota final que delimita la Zona Marítimo Terrestre de un tramo de playa. Pero técnicamente, pueden ser todos ellos procedimientos a priori igualmente válidos. El objeto de esta ponencia es proponer una metodología única y establecer una serie de recomendaciones generales para eliminar la subjetividad de la persona que aborde este problema

A Design Parameter for Reef Beach Profiles—A Methodology Applied to Cadiz, Spain

The southwestern coast of Spain is in a tidal zone (mesotidal) which causes the equilibrium profile to be developed in two different sections: the breakage section and the swash section. These two sections give rise to the typical bi-parabolic profile existing in tidal seas. The existence of areas with reefs/rocks which interrupt the normal development of the typical bi-parabolic profile causes different types of beach profiles. The objective of this article is designing an easy methodology for determining new formulations for the design parameters of the equilibrium profile of beaches with reefs in tidal seas. These formulations are applied on 16 profiles to quantify the error between the real profile data and the modelling results. A comparative analysis is extended to the formulations proposed by other authors, from which it is found that better results are obtained with the new formulations