Environmental preferences of adolescents within a low ecological footprint country

As Cuba achieves one of the lowest per capita ecological footprints in the world, the country’s overshoot day was on 1 December 2019, while some European countries already reach this limit in February (e.g., Luxembourg), monitoring the environmental preferences of the Cuban younger generation may offer valuable behavioral or pedagogical insights into such a society. As accepted standardized measures exist in the scales of 2-Major Environmental Values (2-MEV) and the General Ecological Behavior (GEB), both measures are following the necessary psychometric requirement, as they have the unique advantage of repeated independent confirmation (and thus provide an external validity). These captured 40 items of reported behavior originating in six subscales that total in a single main cover score. The first one (2-MEV) monitors individual biocentric and anthropocentric preferences with a 20 item-set by relying upon these two higher-order factors of “Preservation” (PRE) and “Utilization” (UTL). Although many language versions already exist (33 in the case of the 2-MEV) for verifying validities and reliabilities of both scales, a country such as Cuba may affirm that this is due to expected cultural differences as well as their exceptionally low global footprint. Additionally, neither the individual connectedness with nature nor the diurnal preferences within the linear structural model showed a substantial relationship to PRE or UTL. Nevertheless, all the regression scores follow the expected positive or negative directions, albeit not all the fit scores turned out as satisfactorily. Apparently, the applied measures secure a good basis for measuring the attitudinal and behavioral framework, but will need further fine tuning to completely monitor the environmental preferences of Cuban adolescents

Stratigraphy and sedimentology of distal-alluvial and lacustrine deposits of the western-central Ebro Basin (NE Iberia) reflecting the onset of the middle Miocene Climatic Optimum

Stratigraphic and sedimentological study of distal alluvial and lacustrine deposits in the Plana de la Negra-Sancho Abarca area (western-central Ebro Basin, NE Iberia) within the early and middle Miocene allows five main lithofacies to be characterized and mapped within two tectosedimentary units, construction of a sedimentary facies model and discussion on allogenic controls on sedimentation. In this area, the boundary between tectosedimentary units T5 and T6 appears to be conformable and is marked by the change from dominant clastics to carbonates. Correlation of the studied outcrops with nearby sections that already had magnetostratigraphic and biostratigraphic data allows the studied succession to be dated from C5Dr to C5Cn (Burdigalian-Langhian), placing the boundary T5/T6 at ca. 16.1-16.05Ma. Seven vertical facies sequences document deposition of distal alluvial clastics and palustrine and lacustrine carbonates. Sandstones and mudstones represent low-sinuosity channels and lateral and terminal splays by unconfined flows runnig across the alluvial plain, associated to the Pyrenean-derived Luna fluvial system. The carbonates contain charophytes, ostracods, bivalves and gastropods, indicating deposition in 2-4m deep lakes. Laminated carbonate facies record reworking of shore carbonates and the influx fine-siliciclastic sediment offshore. Abundant bioturbation and desiccation features indicate episodic submergence and subaerial exposure. Four main episodes of alluvial and associated palustrine/lacustrine facies belt shifts are identified. Alluvial deposition in the studied T5 unit is related to low lake level conditions, rather than to a Pyrenean uplift. The maximum extent of the freshwater carbonates occur at the base of unit T6. This is consistent with conditions of increasing humidity of the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum

First bird footprints from the lower Miocene Lerín Formation, Ebro Basin, Spain

A new tracksite with bird footprints, found in the Bardenas Reales de Navarra Natural Park (Navarre, Spain), is presented in this study. The footprints are preserved in four sandstone blocks of the Lerín Formation from the northwest sector of the Ebro Basin. According to the magnetostratigraphic data, the age of these blocks is 20.4 Ma (Agenian, lower Miocene). The footprints are more than 100 mm in length, mesaxonic, and tridactyl, and have a prominent central pad impression with the digit impressions not jointed proximally. These features allow classifying them as Uvaichnites riojana. Some of the studied footprints are better preserved than the type series of Uvaichnites, which were found also in the northwest sector of the Ebro Basin. Therefore, the original diagnosis has been emended. Available chronostratigraphic data for these localities as well as for other footprints from China indicate a latest Oligocene-earliest Miocene age (from about 23 to 20 Ma) for Uvaichnites-like footprints. Sedimentological data also indicate similar continental environments, namely perilacustrine deltaic systems and distal alluvial systems. The information about early Miocene avian remains (bones, eggs and footprints) in the Iberian Peninsula is scarce. The skeletal and oological record of this age has been included within the families Phoenicopteridae, Phaisanidae and Cathartidae (or incertae sedis), while the ichnological record was related with trackmakers belonging to Charadriiformes, Ardeidae and Gruidae taxa. For this scenario, in which there are few avian remains, the ichnological diversity shown in this paper complements and improves the knowledge about the Iberian avian diversity in the early Miocene

The 2012 Nucleic Acids Research Database Issue and the online Molecular Biology Database Collection

The 19th annual Database Issue of Nucleic Acids Research features descriptions of 92 new online databases covering various areas of molecular biology and 100 papers describing recent updates to the databases previously described in NAR and other journals. The highlights of this issue include, among others, a description of neXtProt, a knowledgebase on human proteins; a detailed explanation of the principles behind the NCBI Taxonomy Database; NCBI and EBI papers on the recently launched BioSample databases that store sample information for a variety of database resources; descriptions of the recent developments in the Gene Ontology and UniProt Gene Ontology Annotation projects; updates on Pfam, SMART and InterPro domain databases; update papers on KEGG and TAIR, two universally acclaimed databases that face an uncertain future; and a separate section with 10 wiki-based databases, introduced in an accompanying editorial. The NAR online Molecular Biology Database Collection, available at http://www.oxfordjournals.org/nar/database/a/, has been updated and now lists 1380 databases. Brief machine-readable descriptions of the databases featured in this issue, according to the BioDBcore standards, will be provided at the http://biosharing.org/biodbcore web site. The full content of the Database Issue is freely available online on the Nucleic Acids Research web site (http://nar.oxfordjournals.org/)

Las asociaciones de ostrácodos en secuencias aluviales como indicadores de cambios ambientales holocenos (Bardenas Reales de Navarra, Cuenca del Ebro, NE Península Ibérica)

En este trabajo se estudian las asociaciones de ostrácodos identificadas en tres unidades aluviales preservadas en Bardenas Reales de Navarra (Cuenca del Ebro, NE Península Ibérica), para reconstruir la evolución paleoambiental de esta área durante el Holoceno final. Las especies de ostrácodos más comunes en las muestras estudiadas son Ilyocypris bradyi Sars y Paralimnocythere aff. psammophila (Flössner), acompañadas por Pseudocandona albicans (Brady). Las variaciones en su abundancia relativa a lo largo de dichas unidades aluviales permiten caracterizar cambios internos en el ambiente de depósito. Así, la unidad depositada entre 4763±87 y 2848±55 años cal. BP presenta como especie más abundante a I. bradyi, lo que indica la existencia de pequeños arroyos o riachuelos con agua corriente que se desarrollaron probablemente en llanuras de inundación fluviales. Sin embargo, de 2848±55 a 836±65 años cal. BP Paralimnocythere aff. psammophila es la especie dominante, representando el establecimiento de un medio acuático efímero y de aguas estancadas, posiblemente relacionado con condiciones climáticas más áridas (Anomalía Climática Medieval). Finalmente, la asociación de ostrácodos identificada en el Reciente (191±97 a 127±82 años cal. BP) está constituida principalmente por I. bradyi, que indicaría la presencia de nuevo de aguas corrientes. Esta última asociación parece estar vinculada a la influencia de condiciones climáticas húmedas y frías (Pequeña Edad del Hielo) durante el Reciente en esta área. Por lo tanto, la evolución paleoambiental para el Holoceno final de Bardenas Reales de Navarra, identificada a partir de las asociaciones de ostrácodos, muestra una buena correlación con los cambios climáticos rápidos holocenos deducidos en otros registros continentales del NE de la Península Ibérica. In this paper, the ostracod assemblages identified in three alluvial units preserved in Bardenas Reales de Navarra (Ebro Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula) have been studied, with the aim of reconstructing the palaeoenvironmental evolution of this area during the late Holocene. The most common ostracod species in the studied samples are Ilyocypris bradyi Sars and Paralimnocythere aff. psammophila (Flössner), accompanied by Pseudocandona albicans (Brady). Variations in their relative abundance along these alluvial units allow us to characterize internal changes in the depositional environment. Thus, the unit deposited between 4763±87 and 2848±55 years cal. BP is dominated by I. bradyi, indicating the presence of small streams with running water developed probably in fluvial flood plains. Nevertheless, from 2848±55 to 836±65 years cal. BP Paralimnocythere aff. psammophila is the dominant species, representing the establishment of an ephemeral and stagnant aquatic environment, mainly related with more arid climatic conditions (Medieval Warm Period). Finally, the ostracod assemblage identified in Recent times (191±97 to 127±82 years cal. BP) is mainly dominated by I. bradyi, which indicates the presence of running waters. This later assemblage probably defines the influence of cold and wet climatic phase (Little Ice Age) during Recent times in this area. The palaeoenvironmental evolution identified from the late Holocene according to ostracod assemblages in Bardenas Reales de Navarra shows good correlation with rapid climatic changes deduced from other continental records of the NE Iberian Peninsula