Wintering grounds, population size and evolutionary history of a cryptic passerine species from isotopic and genetic data

Cryptic species pose a particular challenge to biologists in the context of life history investigations because of the difficulty in their field discrimination. Additionally, there is normally a lag in their widespread acceptance by the scientific community once they are formally recognised. These two factors might constrain our ability to properly assess the conservation status of the different species conforming a cryptic complex. In this study, we analysed isotopic and genetic data to shed light into the still unclear wintering grounds, population size and evolutionary history of the Iberian chiffchaff Phylloscopus ibericus, a species included within the common chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita until two decades ago due to their phenotypic similarity. We used molecular methods to identify spring-migrating Phylloscopus species captured in northern Iberia, and by comparing the Hydrogen isotopic ratios of their claw tips (δ2Hc; which would reflect the signatures of their wintering grounds), we detected that δ2Hc values of Iberian chiffchaffs were similar to willow warblers (Phylloscopus trochilus; a renowned trans-Saharan migrant), and higher than common chiffchaffs (mostly a pre-Saharan migrant). These results strongly support the idea that Iberian chiffchaffs winter in tropical Africa. We additionally reconstructed the phylogeny and evolutionary history of the Iberian chiffchaff's clade using mitochondrial and nuclear markers. Our results revealed relatively high values of nucleotide diversity (and, hence, high Ne) for the species that were greater than the values of the common/Iberian most recent common ancestor. This suggests that the Iberian chiffchaff did not experience strong bottlenecks after diverging from the common chiffchaff approximately one million years ago. Ultimately, our study provides another illustrative example of how isotopic and genetic analysis tools can help to enhance our understanding of avian ecology and evolution.Depto. de Biodiversidad, Ecología y EvoluciónFac. de Ciencias BiológicasTRUEpu

La diversidad cultural en la adopción de la educación abierta en las universidades de Oriente Medio: colectivismo y distancia del poder

In this paper, we examine how open education is adopted in the Middle East region in the context of a European-funded project for capacity building in Higher Education. Basing our study on Hofstede’s model, we examine how culture, in particularly collectivism and power distance influence the adoption of open education. In addition, we look at the relationship between internationalisation of tertiary education and open education. Based on indepth interviews, focus group, and participatory action research with experts in the fields from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine, our findings suggest that beyond the technical aspect and the development of content, adoption of open education in the Middle East region is influenced by cultural aspects, which needs to be taken into consideration. As an emerging sub-culture, open education has the potential to transform and change some cultural barriers related to both power distance and collectivist culturesEn este artículo mostramos cómo la adopción de recursos educativos abiertos en las universidades de Oriente Medio depende en parte de factores culturales, tales como el grado de individualismo/colectivismo y la distancia a la autoridad. Utilizando el modelo de Hofstede, describimos el caso de un proyecto Erasmus+ para el desarrollo de capacidades en Educación Superior en el que se promovieron prácticas abiertas en instituciones de educación superior en Egipto, Jordania, Líbano y Palestina. Los resultados muestran cómo el grado de internacionalización es un antecedente directo de la incorporación de prácticas educativas abiertas en el contexto universitari

Endangered subspecies of the reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus witherbyi and E. s. lusitanica) in Iberian Peninsula have different genetic structures

In the Iberian Peninsula, populations of two subspecies of the Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus have become increasingly fragmented during the last decades when suitable habitats have been lost and/or the populations have gone extinct. Presently, both subspecies are endangered. We estimated the amount of genetic variation and population structure in order to define conservation units and management practices for these populations. We found that the subspecies lusitanica has clearly reduced genetic variation in nuclear and mitochondrial markers, has a drastically small effective population size and no genetic differentiation between populations. In contrast, the subspecies witherbyi is significantly structured, but the populations still hold large amounts of variation even though the effective population sizes are smaller than in the non-endangered subspecies schoeniclus. We suggest several management units for the Iberian populations. One unit includes subspecies lusitanica as a whole; the other three units are based on genetically differentiated populations of witherbyi. The most important genetic conservation measure in the case of lusitanica is to preserve the remaining habitats in order to at least maintain the present levels of gene flow. In the case of the three management units within witherbyi, the most urgent conservation measure is to improve the habitat quality to increase the population sizes.This project would not have been possible without the help of many people, among them A. Rodriguez, D. Bigas, P. Vicens, J. Segura, M. Suarez, J. L. Martinez, V. Urios, M. Rebassa, C. Torralvo, J. L. Hernandez, M. Carregal, P. Alcazar, J. L. Canto, J. Ramirez,, D. Alonso, J. Arizaga, F. Arcos, H. Rguibi, Acciona-Trasnmediterranea, and many others who helped us with the difficult task of sampling Reed Buntings and who sent us their samples. We apologize if we have forgotten someone. "Arcea Xestion de Recursos Naturais S. L." was of inestimable value in obtaining most of the samples from Galicia in 2008, in getting funding from the "Xunta de Galicia", and in helping us with the discussion of the results. We would like to thank the authorities of Daimiel National Park, Marjal Pego-Oliva Natural Park, S'Albufera de Mallorca Natural Park, Delta de L'Ebre Natural Park, "Consejeria de Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo Rural de Castilla La Mancha", "Servicio de Conservacion de la Diversidad del Gobierno de Navarra", "Direccion Xeral de Conservacion da Natureza de la Xunta Galicia and "Servei de Conservacio de la Biodiversitat de la Generalitat Valenciana" for the facilities to work in protected areas and for the appropriate permits to obtain the samples. The people from these protected areas were always very nice and helped us with the fieldwork. This study was funded by projects CGL2005-02041/BOS of the "Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia" of Spain, and SC000207, Orden 14-12-2005 of the "Consejeria de Medio Ambiente y Desarrollo Rural de la Junta de Castilla La Mancha", Spain, through the "Ayudas para la realizacion de actuaciones de apoyo a la conservacion de las areas y recursos naturales protegidos, Orden 14-12-2005". The "Direccion Xeral de Conservacion da Natureza de la Xunta de Galicia", Spain, funded part of the fieldwork in NW Iberian Peninsula during the development of the Recovery plan for Emberiza schoeniclus lusitanica in Galicia. The experiments comply the current laws of the countries (Spain, Portugal and Finland) where they were done.Kvist, L.; Ponnikas, S.; Belda Perez, EJ.; Encabo, I.; Martinez, E.; Onrubia, A.; Hernandez, JM.... (2011). Endangered subspecies of the reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus witherbyi and E. s. lusitanica) in Iberian Peninsula have different genetic structures. 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Exploring the attitudes of students undertaking sports degrees towards online international learning

Abstract Aims: There is an increased focus on the internationalisation of the learning experiences of university students1. One way this can be achieved is through ‘virtual internationalisation’2, which can be promoted through the use of Online International Learning (OIL) programmes. This article on sport pedagogy investigates the attitudes of sport students to such a programme. Methods: This article uses quantitative and qualitative methods. 63 students completed a survey and wrote reflective reports. Data was collected from a survey of 16 targeted questions addressing the attitudes of students towards the programme. Students also wrote reflective reports on their experiences, allowing for qualitative responses to be analysed. Results: 62% of students surveyed found the internationalised module to have been a worthwhile experience in terms of learning new skills and working with a partner from an institution based in another continent. 65% suggested that they learned skills on the internationalised module they would use again in education and in future employment. Students from European Union countries gave high rates of positive feedback. 100% reported that the module was a worthwhile experience, compared to 60% of UK students and 38% of international students from outside the European Union. Conclusion: 62% of students surveyed stated that they learned new skills, and there was a perceived value to the programme in terms of enhancing employment prospects. Virtual mobilities projects offer a possible method for tutors to give students international experiences, which is important as sport is now a globalised industry

Desarrollo de proyectos hardware de visión y procesamiento de señal digital sobre FPGAs

En el presente trabajo se exponen una serie de herramientas y metodologías para la implementación en hardware de algoritmos relacionados con visión y procesamiento digital de la señal. Este tipo de prácticas resultan altamente motivadoras tanto en las asignaturas de visión y procesamiento de señal como en las relacionadas con el diseño de arquitecturas avanzadas, diseño VLSI o lenguajes de descripción hardware. Se proponen los dispositivos reconfigurables (FPGAs) como herramienta principal de implementación. Gracias a su gran versatilidad y facilidad de uso, esta tecnología está desplazando cada vez más a los tradicionales ASIC, tanto en la industria como en los temarios de las asignaturas relacionadas

Are white storks addicted to junk food? Impacts of landfill use on the movement and behaviour of resident white storks (Ciconia ciconia) from a partially migratory population

Background: The migratory patterns of animals are changing in response to global environmental change with many species forming resident populations in areas where they were once migratory. The white stork (Ciconia ciconia) was wholly migratory in Europe but recently guaranteed, year-round food from landfill sites has facilitated the establishment of resident populations in Iberia. In this study 17 resident white storks were fitted with GPS/GSM data loggers (including accelerometer) and tracked for 9.1 ± 3.7 months to quantify the extent and consistency of landfill attendance by individuals during the non-breeding and breeding seasons and to assess the influence of landfill use on daily distances travelled, percentage of GPS fixes spent foraging and non-landfill foraging ranges. Results: Resident white storks used landfill more during non-breeding (20.1 % ± 2.3 of foraging GPS fixes) than during breeding (14.9 % ± 2.2). Landfill attendance declined with increasing distance between nest and landfill in both seasons. During non-breeding a large percentage of GPS fixes occurred on the nest throughout the day (27 % ± 3.0 of fixes) in the majority of tagged storks. This study provides first confirmation of year-round nest use by resident white storks. The percentage of GPS fixes on the nest was not influenced by the distance between nest and the landfill site. Storks travelled up to 48.2 km to visit landfills during non-breeding and a maximum of 28.1 km during breeding, notably further than previous estimates. Storks nesting close to landfill sites used landfill more and had smaller foraging ranges in non-landfill habitat indicating higher reliance on landfill. The majority of non-landfill foraging occurred around the nest and long distance trips were made specifically to visit landfill. Conclusions: The continuous availability of food resources on landfill has facilitated year-round nest use in white storks and is influencing their home ranges and movement behaviour. White storks rely on landfill sites for foraging especially during the non-breeding season when other food resources are scarcer and this artificial food supplementation probably facilitated the establishment of resident populations. The closure of landfills, as required by EU Landfill Directives, will likely cause dramatic impacts on white stork populations

SMOS instrument performance after more than 11 years in orbit

ESA's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission [1] has been in orbit for over 11 years, and its Microwave Imaging Radiometer with Aperture Synthesis (MIRAS) in two dimensions keeps being fully operational. This II-year long lifetime of SMOS, so far, has enabled the calibration and Level-1 processor team to improve the calibration procedures and the image reconstruction resulting in a new version of the Level-1 data processor, v724. To present the main performance features of this new version and the improvement in the calibration procedures constitute the main objective and content of this presentation.Peer ReviewedArticle signat per 32 autors/es: Manuel Martín-Neira(1), Roger Oliva(2) , Raúl Onrubia(2) , Ignasi Corbella(3), Nuria Duffo(3), Roselena Rubino(3), Juha Kainulainen(4), Josep Closa(5), Albert Zurita(5), Javier del Castillo(5), François Cabot(6), Ali Khazaal(6), Eric Anterrieu(6), Jose Barbosa(7), Gonçalo Lopes(8), Daniel Barros(8), Joe Tenerelli(9), Raúl Díez-García(10), Verena Rodríguez(10) , Jorge Fauste(14) , José María Castro Cerón(15) , Antonio Turiel(11), Verónica González-Gambau(11), Raffaele Crapolicchio(12), Lorenzo Di Ciolo(16) , Giovanni Macelloni(13), Marco Brogioni(13), Francesco Montomoli(13), Pierre Vogel(1), Berta Hoyos Ortega(1), Elena Checa Cortés(1), Martin Suess(1) // (1) European Space Agency, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands; (2)Zenithal Blue Technologies, Barcelona, Spain; (3) Remote Sensing Laboratory, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain; (4) Harp Technologies Ltd., Espoo, Finland; (5) Airbus Defence and Space, Madrid, Spain; (6) CESBIO, Toulouse, France; (7) RDA, Zürich, Switzerland; (8) DEIMOS, Lisbon, Portugal; (9) OceanDataLab, Brest, France; (10) Telespazio UK Ltd, ESAC, Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain; (11) SMOS Barcelona Expert Centre, Barcelona, Spain; (12) European Space Agency, ESRIN, Frascati, Italy; (13) Institute of Applied Physics, Florence, Italy; (14) European Space Agency, ESAC, Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain; (15) ISDEFE, ESAC, Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain; (16) Serco Italia S.p.A., Frascati, Italy.Postprint (author's final draft

A pre-correlation RFI mitigation algorithm for L-band interferometric radiometers

Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) is a major concern for both real and synthetic aperture radiometers. After the lessons learnt from SMOS, ESA is preparing the next generation of L-band interferometric radiometers with RFI mitigation integrated into the cross-correlators. This work presents a preliminary design and results of a pre-correlation RFI mitigation algorithm tailored for interferometric radiometers. The results show that the correlation error introduced by the RFI is reduced on average to the half, with peaks of 20 dB of mitigation.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft