Assessing vulnerability of functional diversity to species loss: a case study in Mediterranean agricultural systems

"This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Functional Ecology 31.2 (2017): 427-435, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12709. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions"Increasing land-use intensification is leading to biodiversity losses world-wide, which can reduce the functioning of ecosystems. However, it is increasingly clear that not all species are equally important for ecosystem processes: whereas the loss of a functionally unique species may reduce the capacity of the community to perform some functions, losing a functionally redundant species should have a much smaller impact. Assessing the vulnerability of functional diversity (FD) to species extinctions can help to predict the impacts of land-use intensification. This approach consists in ranking species according to their risk of extinction and then estimating the trajectory followed by FD as species are lost from local communities. However, the most widely used FD indices are not independent of species richness, being much more sensitive to the loss of species in species-poor than in species-rich sites. This may result in misleading interpretations, affecting our ability to rank communities according to the vulnerability of their FD to species loss, by confounding it with the initial level of species richness. Here, we propose comparing the trajectory of FD under the most plausible order of species loss with that followed under random species losses as an effective way to remove the trivial effect of species richness in the assessments of vulnerability to species loss. After decoupling vulnerability from species richness, we used it to analyse the effect of agricultural intensification on the vulnerability of arable plant communities in Mediterranean agricultural fields. Our results show that management strategies aiming to increase the functionality of these systems should focus on intermediately intensified fields, where small reductions in the level of intensification are likely to benefit arable plant diversity, increasing the number of species and FD and decreasing the vulnerability of FD to species losses. Removing the effect of species richness is essential to attain unbiased estimations of the vulnerability of communities to species loss, especially when species-poor communities are considered. Combining vulnerability with information on taxonomic and functional diversity appears as a promising tool to inform decision-making processes, anticipating the effects of local extinction

A complex scenario of glacial survival in Mediterranean and continental refugia of a temperate continental vole species (Microtus arvalis) in Europe

Los autores de la UAM pertenecen al grupo Terrestrial Ecology Group (TEG)"This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research 58.1 (2020): 459-474, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/jzs.12323. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions"The role of glacial refugia in shaping contemporary species distribution is a long-standing question in phylogeography and evolutionary ecology. Recent studies are questioning previous paradigms on glacial refugia and postglacial recolonization pathways in Europe, and more flexible phylogeographic scenarios have been proposed. We used the widespread common vole Microtus arvalis as a model to investigate the origin, locations of glacial refugia, and dispersal pathways, in the group of “Continental” species in Europe. We used a Bayesian spatiotemporal diffusion analysis (relaxed random walk model) of cytochrome b sequences across the species range, including newly collected individuals from 10 Iberian localities and published sequences from 68 localities across 22 European countries. Our data suggest that the species originated in Central Europe, and we revealed the location of multiple refugia (in both southern peninsulas and continental regions) for this continental model species. Our results confirm the monophyly of Iberian voles and the pre-LGM divergence between Iberian and European voles. We found evidence of restricted postglacial dispersal from refugia in Mediterranean peninsulas. We inferred a complex evolutionary and demographic history of M. arvalis in Europe over the last 50,000 years that does not adequately fit previous glacial refugial scenarios. The phylogeography of M. arvalis provides a paradigm of ice-age survival of a temperate continental species in western and eastern Mediterranean peninsulas (sources of endemism) and multiple continental regions (sources of postglacial spread). Our findings also provide support for a major role of large European river systems in shaping geographic boundaries of M. arvalis in Europ

Agriculture intensification reduces plant taxonomic and functional diversity across European arable systems

Los autores de la UAM pertenecen al Terrestrial Ecology Group (TEG)Agricultural intensification is one of the main drivers of species loss worldwide, but there is still a lack of information about its effect on functional diversity of arable weed communities. Using a large-scale pan European study including 786 fields within 261 farms from eight countries, we analysed differences in the taxonomic and functional diversity of arable weeds assemblages across different levels of agricultural intensification. We estimated weed species frequency in each field, and collected species' traits (vegetative height, SLA and seed mass) from the TRY plant trait database. With this information, we estimated taxonomic (species richness), functional composition (community weighted means) and functional diversity (functional richness, evenness, divergence and redundancy). We used indicators of agricultural management intensity at the individual field scale (e.g. yield, inputs of nitrogen fertilizer and herbicides, frequency of mechanical weed control practices) and at the landscape scale surrounding the field (i.e. number of crop types, mean field size and proportion of arable land cover within a radius of 500 m from the sampling points). The effects of agricultural intensification on species and functional richness at the field scale were stronger than those of intensification at the landscape scale, and we did not observe evidence of interacting effects between the two scales. Overall, assemblages in more intensified areas had fewer species, a higher prevalence of species with ruderal strategies (low stature, high leaf area, light seeds), and lower functional redundancy. Maintaining the diversity of Europe's arable weed communities requires some simple management interventions, for example, reducing the high intensity of field-level agricultural management across Europe, which could be complemented by interventions that increase landscape complexity. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this articl

Assessing vulnerability of functional diversity to species loss: a case study in Mediterranean agricultural systems

"This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Functional Ecology 31.2 (2017): 427-435, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12709. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions"Increasing land-use intensification is leading to biodiversity losses world-wide, which can reduce the functioning of ecosystems. However, it is increasingly clear that not all species are equally important for ecosystem processes: whereas the loss of a functionally unique species may reduce the capacity of the community to perform some functions, losing a functionally redundant species should have a much smaller impact. Assessing the vulnerability of functional diversity (FD) to species extinctions can help to predict the impacts of land-use intensification. This approach consists in ranking species according to their risk of extinction and then estimating the trajectory followed by FD as species are lost from local communities. However, the most widely used FD indices are not independent of species richness, being much more sensitive to the loss of species in species-poor than in species-rich sites. This may result in misleading interpretations, affecting our ability to rank communities according to the vulnerability of their FD to species loss, by confounding it with the initial level of species richness. Here, we propose comparing the trajectory of FD under the most plausible order of species loss with that followed under random species losses as an effective way to remove the trivial effect of species richness in the assessments of vulnerability to species loss. After decoupling vulnerability from species richness, we used it to analyse the effect of agricultural intensification on the vulnerability of arable plant communities in Mediterranean agricultural fields. Our results show that management strategies aiming to increase the functionality of these systems should focus on intermediately intensified fields, where small reductions in the level of intensification are likely to benefit arable plant diversity, increasing the number of species and FD and decreasing the vulnerability of FD to species losses. Removing the effect of species richness is essential to attain unbiased estimations of the vulnerability of communities to species loss, especially when species-poor communities are considered. Combining vulnerability with information on taxonomic and functional diversity appears as a promising tool to inform decision-making processes, anticipating the effects of local extinction

Portal interactivo de datos y sistemas electorales II. Proyecto de Innovación Docente 21-39: Curso 2021-2022

El principal objetivo del proyecto de innovación docente es la ampliación del “portal interactivo de datos y sistemas electorales” en su fase II. La ampliación de este portal interactivo incorpora cuatro aspectos fundamentales. En primer lugar, la creación de una base de datos digitalizada con los resultados de las elecciones al Congreso de los Diputados y de las elecciones autonómicas en las diferentes Comunidades Autónomas a nivel de circunscripción. En segundo lugar, la creación de una aplicación online para proceder a simulaciones en el reparto de los escaños con diferentes sistemas electorales, utilizando los resultados electorales en los dos tipos de consultas. Tercero, la creación/actualización de material docente digitalizado sobre análisis electoral, de carácter teórico y práctico, que puede ser utilizado en la docencia tanto presencial como no presencial. Finalmente, la creación de un directorio de las principales páginas web sobre resultados y sistemas electorales en España, en otros países europeos, así como en América Latina, América del Norte y Norte de Africa

Portal interactivo de análisis de datos y sistemas electorales. Proyecto de Innovación docente 20-34. Convocatoria 2020/22

El principal objetivo del proyecto de innovación docente es la creación de un “portal interactivo de análisis de datos y sistemas electorales” La creación de este portal interactivo comprende cuatro aspectos fundamentales: la ampliación de las voces del Diccionario bilingüe de Análisis Electoral, la creación de una base de datos con los resultados de las elecciones al Congreso a nivel de circunscripción que permita su consulta comparada, el cálculo de los principales indicadores de análisis de datos electorales y la creación de una aplicación para proceder a simulaciones de los resultados electorales. Así, entre los objetivos principales el proyecto se contemplaban: 1. Ampliación de las voces que componen el diccionario de análisis y sistemas electorales. 2. Recopilación de los resultados de las elecciones celebradas al Congreso de los Diputados, a nivel de distrito desde el año 1977. 3. Cálculo de los principales indicadores de datos electorales agregados en las elecciones celebradas al Congreso de los Diputados, desde el año 1977. 4. Creación de una aplicación para proceder a la simulación de los resultados electorales celebrados en las elecciones al Congreso de los Diputados, con la aplicación de diferentes sistemas electorales, cambiando la magnitud, número de circunscripciones, la fórmula electoral y la barrera legal

Memoria histórica de la Transición y la democracia valenciana

En este libro se recogen algunas de las intervenciones que se produjeron en el curso de libre opción que, en forma de jornadas, se celebró en la Facultat de Dret de la Universitat de València en mayo de 2006 y que versó sobre la transición política valenciana. Benito Sanz Díaz. Director del curso y editor del texto Francesc Romeu i Martí. Director del curso La Universidad de Valencia y la Fundación Jaime Vera firmaron, en 2005, un convenio marco con la finalidad de colaborar en todo tipo de proyectos de investigación científica y desarrollo tecnológico, planes de promoción lingüística, programas de gestión cultural y actividades de carácter cívico, lúdico o formativo, mediante el establecimiento de Convenios Específicos. Entre los objetivos concretos estaba el de organizar actividades y programas de formación, de solidaridad y de cooperación al desarrollo, o programas relacionados con la difusión social de los principios pacifistas, los valores democráticos, el respeto a los derechos humanos, el desarrollo sostenible o la convivencia multicultural. Los días 2, 3 y 4 de mayo 2006, bajo el marco de este convenio marco de colaboración, se celebró la primera edición del curso Memoria histórica de la Transición y la democracia valenciana, que organizaron la Universidad de Valencia y la Fundación Jaime Vera, contando con la colaboración de la Facultad de Derecho y el Departamento de Derecho Constitucional, Ciencia Política y de la Administración. Unos de los objetivos del convenio era el celebrar periódicamente cursos en la línea de recuperación de la memoria histórica de la Transición política valenciana, a lo largo del pasado siglo, y desde la instauración de la democracia española y valenciana en 1977, en la que se cuente con los protagonistas e investigadores de esta época. La presente publicación recoge solo a una parte de los investigadores, que nos facilitaron escrito de sus intervenciones. Introducción Benito Sanz Díaz / Francesc Romeu i Marti. Directores del curso De los despachos laboralistas a los servicios Jurídicos de los sindicatos Carlos Alfonso Mellado. Decano de la Facultad de Derecho Transformaciones sociales y políticas en la autonomía valenciana. 1983-2000 Joaquín Azagra Ros Perfiles de la clase política valenciana en la democracia Anselm Bodoque Del Tribunal de Orden Público (TOP) a la creación de la Audiencia Nacional (AN) Juan José del Águila Torres 1975-1976. Los años previos a la Transición democrática valenciana 108 Josep M. Felip i Sarda Claves institucionales de la transición valenciana Joaquín Martín Cubas Las estrategias para la transición: reforma, ruptura y ruptura pactada. ¿Vías hacia la democracia o modelos de democracia? Pablo Oñate Rubalcaba Los orígenes de sindicalismo en la Transición política valenciana Manuel Pico La unidad de los socialistas valencianos. 1974-1983 Benito Sanz Día