Release of Juniperus thurifera woodlands from herbivore-mediated arrested succession in Spain

Question: Do abiotic constraints maintain monospecific woodlands of Juniperus thurifera? What is the role of biotic (livestock) versus abiotic (climate) drivers in the recruitment and growth of the different tree species? Location: Cabrejas range, Soria, north-central Spain, 1200m altitude. Methods: Stand history was reconstructed using dendroecology and spatial pattern analysis, combined with historical data of livestock abundances and climatic records. Results: J. thurifera establishment occurred in two distinct pulses, with a tree component establishing in the late 1800s to early 1900s. Quercus ilex and Pinus sylvestris establishment was evident only from the late 1970s onward. Recruitment events were related to reductions in livestock browsing. J. thurifera spatial structure was clumped and Q. ilex showed a short-scale aggregation to J. thurifera trees and saplings. Radial growth trends of J. thurifera saplings, Q. ilex and P. sylvestris were negatively related to livestock density. Summer drought limited the radial growth of all the study species, and P. sylvestris and Q. ilex grew faster than J. thurifera even after considering an age effect. Conclusions: The differences in radial growth patterns and recruitment pulses between species indicate that livestock browsing and not abiotic factors is the main factor controlling plant succession and structural development. In this process, J. thurifera acts as a nurse plant, facilitating the establishment of other tree species. Under the current low pressure from herbivores, formerly pure J. thurifera woodlands will change towards dense stands of mixed species composition

Método específico para la evaluación medioambiental de los lagos de origen glaciar pirenaicos y su aplicación al lago de Sabocos

This study proposes a new method to asses the environmental state of the Pyrenean glacial lakes, based on the Water Framework Directive, the concept of ecological state and inspired by widely tested and used methodologies. Starting from a good ecological state as a reference term, a series of matrices are used to identify and characterize all anthropic impacts and pressures. Information regarding the most significant ones is then compared with the criteria of a panel of experts and finally the results are summarised in ICPA matrices of Impacts, Consequences, Proposals of Corrective Measures, and Applicability. This method has been tested in the glacial lake of Sabocos, finding that its ecological quality is lower than expected, based on the identification of some severe impacts. In order to subdue them, it has been proposed a plan of correcting measures and valued its applicability.En este trabajo se propone un nuevo método para la evaluación medioambiental de los lagos pirenaicos de origen glaciar a partir de la Directiva Marco del Agua, fundamentado en el concepto de estado ecológico e inspirado en metodologías ampliamente contrastadas. Partiendo de un estado ecológico de referencia se identifican y caracterizan todas las presiones e impactos antropogénicos mediante el empleo de una serie de matrices adaptadas. Los impactos más significativos son contrastados por un panel de expertos. Finalmente, los resultados se expresan mediante matrices ICPA de Impactos, Consecuencias, Propuestas de medidas correctoras y Aplicabilidad. Este método de evaluación medioambiental se ha aplicado al lago de Sabocos. Los resultados obtenidos muestran una calidad ecológica inferior a la esperada y que algunos de los impactos identificados son severos. Con el objetivo de mitigar tales afecciones, se han propuesto una serie de medidas correctoras y evaluado su aplicabilidad

Comparison of the vascular exotic flora in continental islands: Sardinia (Italy) and Balearic Islands (Spain)

[EN] This paper provides a comparison of the vascular exotic flora of Sardinia and that of the Balearic Islands, both territories belonging to the Western Mediterranean biogeographic subregion. The study has recorded 531 exotic taxa in Sardinia (18.8% of the total flora) while 360(19%) in the Balearic Islands; 10 are new to Sardinia (3 of which for Italy) and 29 to the Balearic Islands. The alien flora of Sardinia is included in 99 families; Fabaceae is the richest (49 taxa), followed by Poaceae (33) and Asteraceae (31) while in the Balearic Islands in 90 families, with a predominance of Fabaceae (32), Asteraceae (31) and Poaceae (27). The comparison of the biological spectra reveals that in Sardinia phanerophytes are the most represented in Sardinia and therophytes in the Balearic Islands. A detailed analysis shows that most of the exotic taxa (246) are shared by both territories with a clear dominance of neophytes rather than archaeophytes. A study of the geographical origin shows supremacy of the American element over the Mediterranean. The majority of introduced exotic taxa are a result of intentional human introductions (76% SA, 77% BL), mainly for ornamental use (43% SA, 45% BL). The most occupied habitats are the semi-natural, agricultural and synanthropic for both territories, but attending to invasive plants, coastal habitats in Sardinia and wetlands in the Balearic Islands are the most sensitive. A part of the work deals with the causes of fragility and low resilience of the different habitats.[ES] Se presenta un estudio comparativo de la flora vascular exótica de Cerdeña y de las Baleares, dos sistemas insulares pertenecientes a la subregión biogeográfica Mediterránea Occidental. En Cerdeña se han contabilizado 531 táxones exóticos (18,8% del total de su flora), mientras que en las Baleares 360 (19%), siendo 10 citas nuevas para Cerdeña (3 de las cuales para Italia) y 29 para Baleares. La flora exótica de Cerdeña está incluida en 99 familias, y Fabaceae es la más rica (49 táxones), seguida por Poaceae (33) y Asteraceae (31), frente a 90 familias para las Baleares, con predominio de Fabaceae (32), Asteraceae (31) y Poaceae (27). Se han encontrado diferencias respecto a los tipos biológicos, con un predominio de los fanerófitos en Cerdeña y de los terófitos en las Baleares. Un análisis detallado muestra que buena parte de estos táxones (246) son compartidos por ambos territorios, así como una dominancia de los neófitos frente a los arqueófitos. Respecto al origen geográfico, ambos territorios presentan una preeminencia del elemento americano sobre el mediterráneo. En referencia a las vías de introducción, la mayor parte de los táxones ha sido introducida por parte del hombre de forma intencionada (76% SA, 77% BL) en particular para uso ornamental (43% SA, 45% BL). Los hábitats más afectados son los seminaturales, agrícolas y sinantrópicos en ambos territorios, aunque atendiendo a la flora invasora, son los litorales los más sensibles en Cerdeña y los humedales en Baleares. Una parte del trabajo aborda las causas de la fragilidad y baja resiliencia de los diferentes hábitats.Podda, L.; Fraga Arguimbau, P.; Mayoral García-Berlanga, O.; Mascia, F.; Bacchetta, G. (2010). Comparación de la flora exótica vascular en sistemas de islas continentales: Cerdeña (Italia) y Baleares (España). Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid. 67(2):157-176. doi:10.3989/ajbm.2251S157176672Mack, R. N., Simberloff, D., Mark Lonsdale, W., Evans, H., Clout, M., & Bazzaz, F. A. (2000). BIOTIC INVASIONS: CAUSES, EPIDEMIOLOGY, GLOBAL CONSEQUENCES, AND CONTROL. Ecological Applications, 10(3), 689-710. doi:10.1890/1051-0761(2000)010[0689:bicegc]2.0.co;2Madon*, O., & Médail, F. (1997). Plant Ecology, 129(2), 189-199. doi:10.1023/a:1009759730000Mansion, G., Rosenbaum, G., Schoenenberger, N., Bacchetta, G., Rosselló, J. A., & Conti, E. (2008). Phylogenetic Analysis Informed by Geological History Supports Multiple, Sequential Invasions of the Mediterranean Basin by the Angiosperm Family Araceae. Systematic Biology, 57(2), 269-285. doi:10.1080/10635150802044029MILBAU, A., & STOUT, J. C. (2008). Factors Associated with Alien Plants Transitioning from Casual, to Naturalized, to Invasive. Conservation Biology, 22(2), 308-317. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2007.00877.xO’Dowd, D. J., Green, P. T., & Lake, P. S. (2003). Invasional «meltdown» on an oceanic island. Ecology Letters, 6(9), 812-817. doi:10.1046/j.1461-0248.2003.00512.xOlesen, J. M., Eskildsen, L. I., & Venkatasamy, S. (2002). Invasion of pollination networks on oceanic islands: importance of invader complexes and endemic super generalists. Diversity Distributions, 8(3), 181-192. doi:10.1046/j.1472-4642.2002.00148.xPauchard, A., Cavieres, L. A., & Bustamante, R. O. (2004). Comparing alien plant invasions among regions with similar climates: where to from here? Diversity and Distributions, 10(5-6), 371-375. doi:10.1111/j.1366-9516.2004.00116.xPyšek, P., Richardson, D. M., Rejmánek, M., Webster, G. L., Williamson, M., & Kirschner, J. (2004). Alien plants in checklists and floras: towards better communication between taxonomists and ecologists. TAXON, 53(1), 131-143. doi:10.2307/4135498Randall, J. M., Morse, L. E., Benton, N., Hiebert, R., Lu, S., & Killeffer, T. (2008). The Invasive Species Assessment Protocol: A Tool for Creating Regional and National Lists of Invasive Nonnative Plants that Negatively Impact Biodiversity. Invasive Plant Science and Management, 1(1), 36-49. doi:10.1614/ipsm-07-020.1REASER, J. K., MEYERSON, L. A., CRONK, Q., DE POORTER, M., ELDREGE, L. G., GREEN, E., … VAIUTU, L. (2007). Ecological and socioeconomic impacts of invasive alien species in island ecosystems. Environmental Conservation, 34(2), 98-111. doi:10.1017/s0376892907003815REICHARD, S. H., & WHITE, P. (2001). Horticulture as a Pathway of Invasive Plant Introductions in the United States. BioScience, 51(2), 103. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0103:haapoi]2.0.co;2Richardson, D. M., & Pyšek, P. (2006). Plant invasions: merging the concepts of species invasiveness and community invasibility. Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment, 30(3), 409-431. doi:10.1191/0309133306pp490prRichardson, D. M., Pysek, P., Rejmanek, M., Barbour, M. G., Panetta, F. D., & West, C. J. (2000). Naturalization and invasion of alien plants: concepts and definitions. Diversity Distributions, 6(2), 93-107. doi:10.1046/j.1472-4642.2000.00083.xRosenbaum, G., Lister, G. S., & Duboz, C. (2002). Reconstruction of the tectonic evolution of the western Mediterranean since the Oligocene. Journal of the Virtual Explorer, 08. doi:10.3809/jvirtex.2002.00053Sanz-Elorza, M., Mateo, R. G., & Bernardo, F. G. (2008). The historical role of agriculture and gardening in the introduction of alien plants in the western Mediterranean. Plant Ecology, 202(2), 247-256. doi:10.1007/s11258-008-9474-2Schippers, P., van Groenendael, J. M., Vleeshouwers, L. M., & Hunt, R. (2001). Herbaceous plant strategies in disturbed habitats. Oikos, 95(2), 198-210. doi:10.1034/j.1600-0706.2001.950202.xSchnitzler, A., Hale, B. W., & Alsum, E. M. (2007). Examining native and exotic species diversity in European riparian forests. Biological Conservation, 138(1-2), 146-156. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2007.04.010Speranza, F., Villa, I. M., Sagnotti, L., Florindo, F., Cosentino, D., Cipollari, P., & Mattei, M. (2002). Age of the Corsica–Sardinia rotation and Liguro–Provençal Basin spreading: new paleomagnetic and Ar/Ar evidence. Tectonophysics, 347(4), 231-251. doi:10.1016/s0040-1951(02)00031-8Suehs, C. M., Affre, L., & Médail, F. (2003). Invasion dynamics of two alien Carpobrotus (Aizoaceae) taxa on a Mediterranean island: I. Genetic diversity and introgression. Heredity, 92(1), 31-40. doi:10.1038/sj.hdy.6800374Towns, D. R., & Ballantine, W. J. (1993). Conservation and restoration of New Zealand Island ecosystems. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 8(12), 452-457. doi:10.1016/0169-5347(93)90009-eVila, M., Tessier, M., Suehs, C. M., Brundu, G., Carta, L., Galanidis, A., … Hulme, P. E. (2006). Local and regional assessments of the impacts of plant invaders on vegetation structure and soil properties of Mediterranean islands. Journal of Biogeography, 33(5), 853-861. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2699.2005.01430.xVITOUSEK, P. M., WALKER, L. R., WHITEAKER, L. D., MUELLER-DOMBOIS, D., & MATSON, P. A. (1987). Biological Invasion by Myrica faya Alters Ecosystem Development in Hawaii. Science, 238(4828), 802-804. doi:10.1126/science.238.4828.802Wittenberg, R., & Cock, M. J. W. (Eds.). (2001). Invasive alien species: a toolkit of best prevention and management practices. doi:10.1079/9780851995694.000

Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol

High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries1,2. However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world3 and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health4,5. However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterol�which is a marker of cardiovascular risk�changed from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95 credible interval 3.7 million�4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world. © 2020, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited

Rising rural body-mass index is the main driver of the global obesity epidemic in adults

Body-mass index (BMI) has increased steadily in most countries in parallel with a rise in the proportion of the population who live in cities 1,2 . This has led to a widely reported view that urbanization is one of the most important drivers of the global rise in obesity 3�6 . Here we use 2,009 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in more than 112 million adults, to report national, regional and global trends in mean BMI segregated by place of residence (a rural or urban area) from 1985 to 2017. We show that, contrary to the dominant paradigm, more than 55 of the global rise in mean BMI from 1985 to 2017�and more than 80 in some low- and middle-income regions�was due to increases in BMI in rural areas. This large contribution stems from the fact that, with the exception of women in sub-Saharan Africa, BMI is increasing at the same rate or faster in rural areas than in cities in low- and middle-income regions. These trends have in turn resulted in a closing�and in some countries reversal�of the gap in BMI between urban and rural areas in low- and middle-income countries, especially for women. In high-income and industrialized countries, we noted a persistently higher rural BMI, especially for women. There is an urgent need for an integrated approach to rural nutrition that enhances financial and physical access to healthy foods, to avoid replacing the rural undernutrition disadvantage in poor countries with a more general malnutrition disadvantage that entails excessive consumption of low-quality calories. © 2019, The Author(s)

On the role of relative prices and capital flows in balance-of-payments-constrained growth: the experiences of Portugal and Spain in the euro area

Broadly speaking, the balance-of-payments constraint hypothesis as developed by Thirlwall has been empirically supported. Yet it shows some shortcomings highlighted in the literature. In our opinion, two of them must be analyzed. First, temporary disequilibria and capital flows must be incorporated into the balance-of-payments-constrained growth models. Second, the role of relative prices must be made explicit, since it can be relevant even in an external constraint framework. This study is aimed at developing a model that incorporates both possibilities: temporary external disequilibria and the impact of relative prices. This model is subsequently used to analyze the evolution of the Spanish and Portuguese economies in past decades, and, in particular, the different paths shown by both countries since their accession to the euro zone.exchange rate, external constraint, growth,