The soil seed bank role in mountainous heathland ecosystems after fire and inorganic nitrogen fertilization

Artículo incluido en el número especial: The Soil Seed Bank and Its Importance in Burnt Zones Recuperation Strategies[EN] Calluna vulgaris-dominated heathlands are a priority habitat type in Annex I of the Habitats Directive (92/43/ECC, habitat code 4060). In the Iberian Peninsula, the landscape of the Cantabrian Mountain range has great heterogeneity due to human management during the last 10,000 years. Another factor that can affect these communities is the increase in human-induced atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition. During the last century, there has been a dramatic increase in N deposition rates. For all these reasons, it is important to know the regeneration dynamics of the heathlands in the context of the disturbances that these communities currently face (i.e., N deposition, fire, and decrease in sheep grazing) in the Cantabrian Mountain range. In this study, we characterized the plant species composition and soil seed bank after prescribed burning in three heathlands on their southern distribution limit in Spain, to gain insights into regenerative capacity and conservation of these communities. The results obtained suggest that the post-burn soil seed bank could restore Calluna-dominated vegetation in these habitats, indicating that the restoration potential from the soil seed bank after wildfires of these habitats is high. Our results also suggest that, in the short term after burning, the main characteristic species such as Calluna and Erica are recovered, which is fundamental to maintain the heathland community structure.S

NAUTILUS-DTU10 MW Floating Offshore Wind Turbine at Gulf of Maine: Public numerical models of an actively ballasted semisubmersible

This study presents two numerical multiphysics models of the NAUTILUS-10 floating support structure mounting the DTU10 MW Reference Wind Turbine at Gulf of Maine site, and analyses its dynamics. With the site conditions and the FAST model of the onshore turbine as the starting point, the floating support structure: tower, floating substructure with its corresponding active ballast system and station keeping system, was designed by NAUTILUS. The numerical models were developed and the onshore DTU wind energy controller was tuned to avoid the resonance of the operating FOWT by TECNALIA, in the framework of H2020 LIFES50+ project. This concept and its subsystems are fully characterised throughout this paper and implemented in opensource code, FAST v8.16. Here, the mooring dynamics are solved using MoorDyn, and the hydrodynamic properties are computed using HydroDyn. Viscous effects, not captured by radiation-diffraction theory, are modelled using two different approaches: (1) through linear and quadratic additional hydrodynamic damping matrices and (2) by means of Morison elements. A set of simulations (such as, decay, wind only and broadband irregular waves tests) were carried out with system identification purposes and to analyse the differences between the two models presented. Then, a set of simulations in stochastic wind and waves were carried out to characterise the global response of the FOWT.European Union Horizon2020 programme under the agreement H2020-LCE-2014-1-640741, LIFES50+ projec

Quadratic Time-dependent Quantum Harmonic Oscillator

We present a Lie algebraic approach to a Hamiltonian class covering driven, parametric quantum harmonic oscillators where the parameter set -- mass, frequency, driving strength, and parametric pumping -- is time-dependent. Our unitary-transformation-based approach provides a solution to the general quadratic time-dependent quantum harmonic model. As an example, we show an analytic solution to the periodically driven quantum harmonic oscillator without the rotating wave approximation; it works for any given detuning and coupling strength regime. For the sake of completeness, we provide an analytic solution to the historical Caldirola--Kanai quantum harmonic oscillator that, in a suitable reference frame, is just a time-independent parametric quantum harmonic oscillator.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figure

Unveiling a cluster of protostellar disks around the massive protostar GGD 27 MM1

Context. Most stars form in clusters and thus it is important to characterize the protostellar disk population in dense environments to assess whether the environment plays a role in the subsequent evolution. Specifically, it is critical to evaluate whether planet formation is altered with respect to more isolated stars formed in dark clouds. Aims. We seek to investigate the properties of the protostellar disks in the GGD 27 cluster and compare these with those obtained from disks formed in nearby regions. Methods. We used ALMA to observe the star-forming region GGD 27 at 1.14 mm with an unprecedented angular resolution, 40 mas (∼56 au), and sensitivity (∼0.002 M·). Results. We detected a cluster of 25 continuum sources, most of which likely trace disks around Class 0/I protostars. Excluding the two most massive objects, disks masses are in the range 0.003-0.05 M·. The analysis of the cluster properties indicates that GGD 27 displays moderate subclustering. This result, combined with the dynamical timescale of the radio jet (∼104 years), suggests the youthfulness of the cluster. The lack of disk mass segregation signatures may support this as well. We found a clear paucity of disks with Rdisk > 100 au. The median value of the radius is 34 au; this value is smaller than the median of 92 au for Taurus but comparable to the value found in Ophiuchus and in the Orion Nebula Cluster. In GGD 27 there is no evidence of a distance-dependent disk mass distribution (i.e., disk mass depletion due to external photoevaporation), most likely due to the cluster youth. There is a clear deficit of disks for distances 0.04 pc. This suggests that dynamical interactions far from the cluster center are weaker, although the small disks found could be the result of disk truncation. This work demonstrates the potential to characterize disks from low-mass young stellar objects in distant and massive (still deeply embedded) clustered environments.Fil: Busquet, G.. Instituto de Estudios Espaciales de Cataluña; España. Instituto de Ciencias del Espacio (ice); EspañaFil: Girart, J. M.. Instituto de Estudios Espaciales de Cataluña; España. Instituto de Ciencias del Espacio (ice); EspañaFil: Estalella, R.. Universidad de Barcelona; EspañaFil: Fernandez Lopez, Manuel. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comisión de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía; ArgentinaFil: Galván Madrid, R.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Anglada, G.. Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía; EspañaFil: Carrasco González, C.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Añez López, N.. Instituto de Ciencias del Espacio (ice); EspañaFil: Curiel, S.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Osorio, M.. Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía; EspañaFil: Rodríguez, L. F.. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; MéxicoFil: Torrelles, J. M.. Instituto de Estudios Espaciales de Cataluña; España. Instituto de Ciencias del Espacio (ice); Españ

Radio monitoring of the periodically variable IR source LRLL 54361: No direct correlation between the radio and IR emissions

J. Forbrich, “Radio monitoring of the periodically variable IR source LRLL 54361: No direct correlation between the radio and IR emissions”, The Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 814(1), November 2015. © 2015. The American Astronomical Society.LRLL 54361 is an infrared source located in the star forming region IC 348 SW. Remarkably, its infrared luminosity increases by a factor of 10 during roughly one week every 25.34 days. To understand the origin of these remarkable periodic variations, we obtained sensitive 3.3 cm JVLA radio continuum observations of LRLL 54361 and its surroundings in six different epochs: three of them during the IR-on state and three during the IR-off state. The radio source associated with LRLL 54361 remained steady and did not show a correlation with the IR variations. We suggest that the IR is tracing the results of fast (with a timescale of days) pulsed accretion from an unseen binary companion, while the radio traces an ionized outflow with an extent of $\sim$100 AU that smooths out the variability over a period of order a year. The average flux density measured in these 2014 observations, 27$\pm$5 $\mu$Jy, is about a factor of two less than that measured about 1.5 years before, $53\pm$11 $\mu$Jy, suggesting that variability in the radio is present, but over larger timescales than in the IR. We discuss other sources in the field, in particular two infrared/X-ray stars that show rapidly varying gyrosynchrotron emission.Peer reviewe

Coexistencia en ecosistemas sub-Mediterráneos y cambio climático

[ES] En la Península Ibérica se dan cambios graduales entre la vegetación Mediterránea y Eurosiberiana, encontrando áreas de ecotono donde conviven comunidades vegetales de ambas regiones, conocidas como zonas Sub-Mediterráneas. En general, estas zonas de ecotono se caracterizan por albergar una gran diversidad y representan áreas prioritarias desde el punto de vista de la conservación. Las predicciones del IPCC indican que el clima en la cuenca Mediterránea se volverá más cálido y seco, lo que implicará cambios sustanciales en la composición de especies de los ecosistemas forestales de estas zonas límite. Por lo tanto, se considera que son ecosistemas altamente vulnerables al cambio climático y un área de investigación prioritaria. En este artículo, abordamos cómo la ecología funcional, que focaliza sus estudios en los rasgos o características de la hoja, tallo y raíz, puede ayudar a explicar la coexistencia entre especies eurosiberianas, como el haya, y especies mediterráneas, como el roble melojo, en estos ecotonos o ecosistemas de transición. El Grupo de Ecología Aplicada y Teledetección (GEAT) de la Universidad de León desarrolla parte de su investigación en identificar y predecir cómo el cambio climático puede afectar a las comunidades vegetales de estos ecotonos

Sílice de las Algas Diatomeas (Clase Bacillariophyceae) como material complejo y su importancia nanotecnológica

The presence of mineral deposition is very common in microorganisms, plants, mushrooms and mammals. This organisms are an excellent natural model to study the relation between the principal parts involved in the process, the biopolymeric and mineral phases. The importance of this kind of studies is the relation with nanotechnology. Being a relatively new science, nanotechnology studies the chemical and physical phenomena is a scale under the 500 nanometers. When the system under study has a biological significance, with active biologic structures, the term bionanotechnology is used. This is the case of the study of the biomineralization in diatomeas seaweed. Due to the difficulty in the production of controlled micro and nanostructures containing silica (SiO2), this study is relevant. The possible technological applications of this kind of crystals are drug liberation structures, photovoltaic cells and high performance ceramic materials. Factors that affect the geometry, mechanical and physicochemical properties are poorly understood, whereby this kind of studies are important. Understanding the interactions and processes involved in the production of biological crystals could yield to a rational production of new and sophisticated nanostructured material with a broad application in nanotechnology (hybrid semiconductors), biology and biomedicime (biomaterials, drug liberation structures). In the work we establish a “bottom up” draft of the synthesis of “biosilica” by diatomeas emphasizing the impact in nanotechnology.La presencia de depósitos minerales es muy común en microorganismos, plantas, hongos y mamíferos. Estos organismos son, por lo tanto, un modelo natural excelente para estudiar la relación entre las principales partes que los componen, es decir la fase biopolímérica y la mineral. La importancia de este tipo de estudios se relaciona directamente con la nanotecnología, una rama científica relativamente reciente, encargada de estudiar los fenómenos químicos y físicos a escalas menores a los 500 nm. Cuando el sistema de estudio tiene importancia biológica, posee estructuras biológicamente activas o procede de un sistema biológico, se llama entonces bionanotecnología. Este es el caso del estudio de la biomineralización en las algas diatomeas. Esta línea de investigación tiene alta relevancia por la dificultad de producir micro y nanoestructuras altamente controladas de dióxido de silicio o sílice (SiO2), un tipo de vidrio que tiene potencialmente aplicaciones tecnológicas en liberación de drogas, celdas solares y materiales cerámicos de alto rendimiento. Los factores que afectan la geometría, las propiedades mecánicas y fisicoquímicas en estas estructuras son pobremente comprendidos, por lo que este tipo de estudios es de suma importancia. Si se logra entender las interacciones y los procesos de formación en estos sistemas que producen vidrio en entes biológicos, podremos acercarnos racionalmente a la síntesis de nuevos y sofisticados materiales nanoestructurados, con aplicaciones en una gran gama de áreas que van desde la nanotecnología (semiconductores híbridos) hasta la biología y biomedicina (biomateriales y estructuras liberadoras de drogas). En el presente trabajo se hace un esbozo “ascendente” (bottomup) de la síntesis de “biosilice” en diatomeas donde se enfatiza la importancia de este fenómeno en la nanotecnología

Dimensión Medioambiental en la protección de derechos humanos. Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos

Fil: Rey Caro, Ernesto J. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Derecho; Argentina.Fil: Salas, Graciela. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Derecho; Argentina.Fil: Drnas de Clément, Zlata. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Derecho; Argentina.Fil: Sommer, Christian G. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Derecho; Argentina.Fil: Rodríguez de Taborda, María Cristina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Derecho; Argentina.Fil: Galván, Susana Beatriz. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Derecho; Argentina.Fil: Sartori, Marta Susana. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Derecho; Argentina.Analizar la jurisprudencia del Tribunal Europeo de Derechos Humanos basada e n la problemática medioambiental no contemplada en su normativa, aplicando algunos artículos específicos del Convenio Europeo. Ello nos permite mostrar un medio de solución de controversias que mediante la aplicación de determinados artículos ha encontrado un mecanismo apto para la protección y defensa de los derechos fundamentales ante situaciones medioambientales no plasmadas en el citado convenio.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionFil: Rey Caro, Ernesto J. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Derecho; Argentina.Fil: Salas, Graciela. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Derecho; Argentina.Fil: Drnas de Clément, Zlata. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Derecho; Argentina.Fil: Sommer, Christian G. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Derecho; Argentina.Fil: Rodríguez de Taborda, María Cristina. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Derecho; Argentina.Fil: Galván, Susana Beatriz. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Derecho; Argentina.Fil: Sartori, Marta Susana. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Derecho; Argentina.Derech

Desarrollo de una gelatina hipocalórica, con fresa y rica en proteína.

Debido al grave problema de obesidad en México, la tendencia es a desarrollar productos con alto valor nutritivo, hipocalóricos y fáciles de consumir. El objetivo de este trabajo fue elaborar una gelatina hipocalórica y rica en proteínas, utilizando proteína de soya y fresas como fuente de antioxidantes. Se realizó la evaluación sensorial. Se le determinó la humedad y los lípidos (AOAC, 1990), se calculó la información nutrimental y el Puntaje Químico Corregido por la Digestibilidad verdadera (PDCAAS) de la proteína. Sensorialmente se logró una aceptación mayor al 75%. Por ración esta gelatina contiene 10.82 g de proteína con un PDCAAS de 94.25 %, y tan solo 121.88 kcal, adicionalmente contiene los antioxidantes de la fresa y no contiene azúcar. Se concluye que este es un producto con alto valor nutricio de fácil consumo, ideal para un desayuno o colación

Antioxidant Machinery Differs between Melanic and Light Nestlings of Two Polymorphic Raptors

Colour polymorphism results from the expression of multiallelic genes generating phenotypes with very distinctive colourations. Most colour polymorphisms are due to differences in the type or amount of melanins present in each morph, which also differ in several behavioural, morphometric and physiological attributes. Melanin-based colour morphs could also differ in the levels of glutathione (GSH), a key intracellular antioxidant, because of the role of this molecule in melanogenesis. As GSH inhibits the synthesis of eumelanin (i.e. the darkest melanin form), individuals of darker morphs are expected to have lower GSH levels than those of lighter morphs. We tested this prediction in nestlings of two polymorphic raptors, the booted eagle Hieraaetus pennatus and the Eleonora's falcon Falco eleonorae, both of which occur in two morphs differing in the extent of eumelanic plumage. As expected, melanic booted eagle nestlings had lower blood GSH levels than light morph eagle nestlings. In the Eleonora's falcon, however, melanic nestlings only had lower GSH levels after controlling for the levels of other antioxidants. We also found that melanic female eagle nestlings had higher levels of antioxidants other than GSH and were in better body condition than light female eagle nestlings. These findings suggest an adaptive response of melanic nestlings to compensate for reduced GSH levels. Nevertheless, these associations were not found in falcons, indicating species-specific particularities in antioxidant machinery. Our results are consistent with previous work revealing the importance of GSH on the expression of melanic characters that show continuous variation, and suggest that this pathway also applies to discrete colour morphs. We suggest that the need to maintain low GSH levels for eumelanogenesis in dark morph individuals may represent a physiological constraint that helps regulate the evolution and maintenance of polymorphisms