Not Only Toxic but Repellent: What Can Organisms’ Responses Tell Us about Contamination and What Are the Ecological Consequences When They Flee from an Environment?

The APC was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. C.V.M.A. received the Ramón y Cajal contract (RYC-2017-22324) from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. This study was performed within the framework of the projects: MultiCecotox project (i-COOP2019 program from CSIC: #COOPB20444) and BrEStress project (PID2019-105868RA-I00) and CaPETHaS project (Explora call: #CGL2017-92160-EXP)—both funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation).The ability of aquatic organisms to sense the surrounding environment chemically and interpret such signals correctly is crucial for their ecological niche and survival. Although it is an oversimplification of the ecological interactions, we could consider that a significant part of the decisions taken by organisms are, to some extent, chemically driven. Accordingly, chemical contamination might interfere in the way organisms behave and interact with the environment. Just as any environmental factor, contamination can make a habitat less attractive or even unsuitable to accommodate life, conditioning to some degree the decision of organisms to stay in, or move from, an ecosystem. If we consider that contamination is not always spatially homogeneous and that many organisms can avoid it, the ability of contaminants to repel organisms should also be of concern. Thus, in this critical review, we have discussed the dual role of contamination: toxicity (disruption of the physiological and behavioral homeostasis) vs. repellency (contamination-driven changes in spatial distribution/habitat selection). The discussion is centered on methodologies (forced exposure against non-forced multi-compartmented exposure systems) and conceptual improvements (individual stress due to the toxic effects caused by a continuous exposure against contamination-driven spatial distribution). Finally, we propose an approach in which Stress and Landscape Ecology could be integrated with each other to improve our understanding of the threat contaminants represent to aquatic ecosystems.Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (RYC-2017-22324), (PID2019-105868RA-I00), (#CGL2017-92160-EXP)CSIC: #COOPB2044

Real time phase-slopes calculations by correlations using FPGAs

J. Trujillo Sevilla ; M. R. Valido ; L. F. Rodríguez Ramos ; E. Boemo ; F. Rosa ; J. M. Rodríguez Ramos, “Real time phase-slopes calculations by correlations using FPGAs,” Proc. SPIE 7015, Adaptive Optics Systems, 70153B (July 11, 2008), Norbert Hubin; Claire E. Max; Peter L. Wizinowich , 7015 (Issue) 70153B, (2008). Copyright © 2008 SPIE Society of Photo‑Optical Instrumentation Engineers. One print or electronic copy may be made for personal use only. Systematic reproduction and distribution, duplication of any material in this paper for a fee or for commercial purposes, or modification of the content of the paper are prohibited.ELT laser guide star wavefront sensors are planned to handle an expected amount of data to be overwhelmingly large (1600x1600 pixels at 700 fps). According to the calculations involved, the solutions must consider to run on specialized hardware as Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) or Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), among others. In the case of a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor is finally selected, the wavefront slopes can be computed using centroid or correlation algorithms. Most of the developments are designed using centroid algorithms, but precision ought to be taken in account too, and then correlation algorithms are really competitive. This paper presents an FPGA-based wavefront slope implementation, capable of handling the sensor output stream in a massively parallel approach, using a correlation algorithm previously tested and compared to the centroid algorithm. Time processing results are shown, and they demonstrate the ability of the FPGA integer arithmetic in the resolution of AO problems. The selected architecture is based in today’s commercially available FPGAs which have a very limited amount of internal memory. This limits the dimensions used in our implementation, but this also means that there is a lot of margin to move real-time algorithms from the conventionalThis work has been partially supported by “Programa Nacional de Diseño y Producción Industrial" (Project DPI 2006- 07906) of the “Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia" of the Spanish Government, and by “European Regional Development Fund" (ERDF)

An instrumental puzzle: the modular integration of AOLI

The Adaptive Optics Lucky Imager, AOLI, is an instrument developed to deliver the highest spatial resolution ever obtained in the visible, 20 mas, from ground-based telescopes. In AOLI a new philosophy of instrumental prototyping has been applied, based on the modularization of the subsystems. This modular concept offers maximum flexibility regarding the instrument, telescope or the addition of future developments.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, Proc. SPIE 9908, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI, 99082Z (August 9, 2016

Comparative Analysis of the Type III Secretion System Effector Repertoires of Pseudomonas savastanoi Pathovars Pathogenic on Woody Hosts

Comunicación de tipo pósterThe species Pseudomonas savastanoi, a member of the Pseudomonas syringae complex, includes four pathovars causing knots or excrescences in woody hosts: P. savastanoi pv. savastanoi (Psv), pv. fraxini (Psf), pv. nerii (Psn) and pv. retacarpa (Psr), comprising isolates from olive, ash, oleander and broom plants, respectively. Pathogenicity of P. savastanoi is dependent, among other factors, on the type III secretion system (T3SS) and its effector (T3E) repertoire. Furthermore, a putative role in the interaction with woody hosts has been suggested for several of these T3E. The recent availability of the genome sequences of several P. savastanoi strains isolated from different hosts has facilitated bioinformatics predictions of their T3SS genes and T3E pools, the study of their distribution in other strains of the P. syringae complex isolated from woody hosts and the functional analysis of several of these secreted proteins. As previously reported for Psv, Psn and Psf, here we show that pathogenicity of Psr ICMP16945, is also dependent on the T3SS. Psv strains NCPPB 3335, ICMP4352 and PseNe107 share a core set of at least 22 T3E, 18 of which are also encoded in Psn ICMP16943, Psf ICMP7711 and Psr ICMP16945. However, these three strains encode truncated versions of 1-2 of these 18 T3E and, Psr ICMP16945 contains three pathovarspecific T3E. Our results also show that several T3E, including HopAO1, are phylogenetically clustered across the P. syringae complex according to the woody/herbaceous nature of their host of isolation, suggesting host specialization of these effectors in this complex.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Mean field study of structural changes in Pt isotopes with the Gogny interaction

The evolution of the nuclear shapes along the triaxial landscape is studied in the Pt isotopic chain using the selfconsistent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov approximation based on the Gogny interaction. In addition to the parametrization D1S, the new incarnations D1N and D1M of this force are also included in our analysis to asses to which extent the predictions are independent of details of the effective interaction. The considered range of neutron numbers 88<N<26 includes prolate, triaxial, oblate and spherical ground state shapes and serves for a detailed comparison of the predictions obtained with the new sets D1N and D1M against the ones provided by the standard parametrization Gogny-D1S in a region of the nuclear landscape for which experimental and theoretical fingerprints of shape transitions have been found. Structural evolution along the Pt chain is discussed in terms of the deformation dependence of single particle energies.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

The Evolution of Collective Land Tenure Regimes in Pastoralist Societies: Lessons from Andean Countries

Much has been said about the importance of pastoralist livelihoods for the effective and sustainable use of drylands around the world. Yet, pastoralist societies are experiencing more pressures to their way of life than ever before. These pressures and changing trends are jeopardising pastoralist livelihoods as well as the sustainability of dryland resources. In the face of this challenging reality, this paper aims to analyse how land tenure regimes of pastoralist societies living in the Andean altiplano have transformed over the last 50 years. It also discusses the implications of these transformations for the sustainability of resource management in these areas, based on the premise that a better understanding of customary land tenure regimes can help to inform public policy and decision making.GRADEELLA projectPractical Actio

Dynamical influences of El Niño on maize yield in Spain

Climate variability and changes in the frequency of extremes events have a direct impact on crop damages and yield. In a former work of Capa et al. (2013) the crop yield variability has been studied using different reanalyses datasets with the aim of extending the time series of potential yield. The reliability of these time series have been checked using observational data. The influence of the sea surface temperature on the crop yield variability has been studied, finding a relation with El Niño phenomenon. The highest correlation between El Niño and yield was during 1960-1980. This study aims to analyse the dynamical mechanism of El Niño impacts on maize yield in Spain during 1960-1980 by comparison with atmospheric circulation patterns