Microhabitat heterogeneity promotes soil fertility and ground-dwelling arthropod diversity in Mediterranean wood-pastures

P. 192-201Mediterranean wood-pastures are extensive agroforestry systems that hold great ecological, social and cultural values, which consist of mixtures of grassland, scattered trees and shrubs, primarily used for livestock grazing. For centuries, low-intensity management in these landscapes has resulted in multiple microhabitats that favour biodiversity and are considered key elements for the long-term persistence of wood-pastures. However, the relative contribution of each microhabitat type to wood-pasture biodiversity and functioning remains poorly studied. We investigated the impact that different wood-pasture microhabitats have on soil chemical fertility and the decomposition food web. We analysed the two main microhabitats that make wood-pastures up – open grasslands and isolated trees – and three additional “litter-trapping” microhabitats – shrubs scattered in the grassland matrix, canopied shrubs and piles of pruning debris—in terms of soil chemical properties (organic matter content, total N, C:N ratio, available P, and exchangeable base cations), collembolan and dipteran (mostly detritivores) abundance, and carabid (seed-eaters and predators) and staphylinid (mostly predators) beetle abundance, body size, biomass, species richness and composition. Grasslands were the most different microhabitats, with the lowest soil nutrient content and particular carabid and staphylinid species composition. Trees had the highest soil fertility levels and abundance of Diptera and staphylinids, and held unique staphylinid assemblages. “Litter-trapping” microhabitats had medium to high soil nutrient values and shared a distinct staphylinid assemblage compared to grasslands and trees. Besides, scattered shrubs provided shelter for large-sized carabid and staphylinid predators, while canopied shrubs held the highest carabid abundance and biomass. “Litter-trapping” microhabitats retained tree leaves that would otherwise be lost to the wood-pasture, recovering nutrients to the system, and provided new habitat, shelter and food for detritivores and unique predator assemblages. “Litter-trapping” microhabitats thus enhanced soil fertility and the decomposition process, at the same time as increased the abundance and diversity of the communities of ground-dwelling detritivores and predators inhabiting wood-pastures. These findings confirmed that microhabitat heterogeneity resulting from low-intensity management is essential to maintain both the primary production and the biodiversity conservation value of wood-pastures.S

Technologies applied to characterise and improve the quality and traceability of table olives at harvest and post-harvest

La presente tesis doctoral aborda el estudio de las nuevas tecnologías para su aplicación a la mejora de la calidad y trazabilidad de la aceituna de mesa en la operación de cosecha y postcosecha. Se presenta un estudio donde se analizan medios de recolección y recepción habituales respecto de la caracterización del molestado que generan al fruto. Además, se expone una solución para el análisis del molestado del fruto en toda su superficie. Seguidamente se propone un monitor de rendimiento desarrollado mediante tecnología Time of Flight (ToF) para la estimación del peso del fruto cosechado y almacenado a partir del volumen ocupado por este. El monitor de rendimiento expuesto es comparado respecto de los sistemas de pesado actuales basados en células de carga. Otro tema tratado es la realización de lotes de fruto de una calidad determinada a pie de campo mediante un prototipo desarrollado basado en un remolque que integra funciones de limpieza y clasificación de fruto. En esta última operación se realiza la evaluación de parámetros de molestado, calibre y grado de madurez mediante análisis de imágenes. Estos lotes serán almacenados en líquido si tienen la calidad adecuada y enviados a la industria para mesa o, en seco, si son destinados a la extracción de aceite. En el trabajo se expone el desarrollo de este remolque y su evaluación en condiciones de campo. Por último, también se indica la metodología seguida para digitalizar todo el proceso de cosecha y postcosecha llevado a cabo, registrando en la nube lotes de fruto con la trazabilidad asociada, que contiene tanto las operaciones anteriores a la recolección como las posteriores hasta la entrega en la industria, así como la propuesta de estructura de la información en la nube para continuar dentro de esta hasta llegar al consumidor. Las tecnologías y gestión de la información necesarias son expuestas junto a los resultados de su puesta en funcionamiento. Se ha establecido un patrón característico de molestado atribuible a cada medio de recolección, así como la mejora de la calidad del fruto mediante medidas correctoras en cuanto a la recepción del fruto con superficies acolchadas obteniéndose que el sacudidor de ramas es el método de recolección más agresivo con recepción sobre fardo. Adicionalmente, se puede estimar el molestado real del fruto evaluando parcialmente el fruto y aplicando un factor de corrección. Por otro lado, se han desarrollado monitores de rendimiento basados en sensores ToF que pueden ser una alternativa a las células de carga ya que ofrecen una buena exactitud y son más estables para la evaluación en dinámico del peso de fruto transportado. Por el contrario, factores como la iluminación ambiental y los colores pueden afectar al cálculo del peso. Además, requieren de una configuración adaptada a la geometría del sistema de almacenamiento del fruto. Finalmente, es posible realizar una limpieza y clasificación del fruto en campo que permita realizar lotes de una calidad determinada para enviarlo directamente desde el campo a las industrias de procesamiento para mesa y extracción de aceite, según la calidad evaluada. Así mismo, toda la trazabilidad asociada a los lotes (anterior y posterior a la recolección) puede centralizarse en una plataforma cloud y gestionarse para digitalizar toda la fase productiva en campo. Para ello es necesaria la adopción de tecnologías como RFID, GNSS, IoT, cloud computing y técnicas de procesamiento de imágene

Integración de contenidos mediasite en el portal multimedia de la Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

El uso de los sistemas de captura de clases es cada más frecuente en los centros docentes y de investigación. Los motivos que han provocado esta subida en la utilización de estos sistemas son el abaratamiento de los equipos necesarios, la alta velocidad de la red de internet o la necesidad de ofrecer al alumnado material adicional del impartido en la clase presencial. La Universidad Carlos III de Madrid realizó una importante inversión para dotar a varias aulas con un sistema de captura de clases, concretamente con Mediasite del distribuidor Sonic Foundry. Existe un desconocimiento por parte de la comunidad universitaria de este sistema, lo que provoca que su uso sea muy bajo. Uno de los motivos es que Mediasite es un sistema independiente y no está integrado en el Portal Multimedia de la Universidad Carlos III, ArcaMM. Por tanto la motivación principal para realizar este proyecto es la de ayudar a la publicación de contenido generado por Mediasite en ArcaMM y así centralizar todo el material audiovisual en un mismo lugar. El objetivo principal es la creación de una herramienta que formará parte de ArcaMM para catalogar los vídeos creados con Mediasite. Esta herramienta estará formada por un script de actualización, que extraerá todos los metadatos referentes a los vídeos, y una interfaz gráfica, que mostrará los videos que se pueden publicar y realizará la posterior publicación. Los objetivos secundarios son los de ofrecer al usuario otras funciones adicionales a través de la interfaz. La metodología de trabajo se ha basado en un desarrollo iterativo e incremental. Se ha elegido esta opción porque se adapta bien a la planificación adaptativa que hemos seguido. Se ha elegido un entorno de desarrollo basado en software libre, y se han utilizado lenguajes para el desarrollo del código como PHP, SOAP, HTML o JAVASCRIPT y MYSQL para la gestión de la base de datos. Como resultado final se ha obtenido una aplicación que formará parte de ArcaMM, que será accesible a través de web por medio de un nombre de usuario y una contraseña y que utilizará el personal del Área de Audiovisuales para publicar los contenidos generados con Mediasite en ArcaMM. Además el usuario podrá visualizar los vídeos programados para un futuro y realizar estadísticas de publicación. La herramienta está disponible desde Septiembre de 2012 en el área privada de ArcaMM.The use of lecture capture system is becoming more common in academic and research centers. The main causes for this rise are: the cheap equipment, a faster speed internet network or the need to provide different additional material to students. The Carlos III University has made a relevant investment to equip various classrooms with lecture capture system, in particular with Mediasite (owner by the enterprise Sonic Foundry). Nowadays, the use of these systems is very low in the university community, because there is a general ignorance of them. The main reason is that Mediasite is an independent system and is not integrated in the Multimedia Website of the Carlos III University (ArcaMM). Therefore, the main motivation to make this project is to help the publication of Mediasite generated content in ArcaMM and so centralize all audiovisual content in one place. The objective of this project is to provide a tool to ArcaMM in order to allow the users to publish the videos created with Mediasite. This tool is compound by an update script, which will extract the metadata from Mediasite videos, and a graphical user interface, which will show the videos that the user can publish and will provide additional features to the user. The working methodology has been based in an iterative and incremental development, because it was well suited to the adaptative planning used in this project. The chosen development environment was free software, using languages such as PHP, HTML, SOAP o JAVASCRIPT and MYSQL for databases management. As a result of this project, it has been developed an integrated application in ArcaMM, which will be accessible via web with personal authentication (username and password). This project provide to the personal a tool to publish Mediasite generated content in ArcaMM, see scheduled presentations and check or generate statistics. The tool is available from September 2012 in the ArcaMM restricted area.Ingeniería Técnica en Sonido e Image

Assessment of the Accuracy of a Multi-Beam LED Scanner Sensor for Measuring Olive Canopies

MDPI. CC BYCanopy characterization has become important when trying to optimize any kind of agricultural operation in high-growing crops, such as olive. Many sensors and techniques have reported satisfactory results in these approaches and in this work a 2D laser scanner was explored for measuring canopy trees in real-time conditions. The sensor was tested in both laboratory and field conditions to check its accuracy, its cone width, and its ability to characterize olive canopies in situ. The sensor was mounted on a mast and tested in laboratory conditions to check: (i) its accuracy at different measurement distances; (ii) its measurement cone width with different reflectivity targets; and (iii) the influence of the target’s density on its accuracy. The field tests involved both isolated and hedgerow orchards, in which the measurements were taken manually and with the sensor. The canopy volume was estimated with a methodology consisting of revolving or extruding the canopy contour. The sensor showed high accuracy in the laboratory test, except for the measurements performed at 1.0 m distance, with 60 mm error (6%). Otherwise, error remained below 20 mm (1% relative error). The cone width depended on the target reflectivity. The accuracy decreased with the target density

Effects of composition and furnace temperature on (Ni, Co) (Cr, Al)2O4 pigments synthesized by solution combustion route

The effects of composition and furnace temperature on Ni1-ΨCoΨCr2−2ΨAl2ΨO4 (0≤Ψ≤1) pigments prepared by Solution Combustion Synthesis were studied. As-synthesized samples showed spinel-like spongy structure, very easy to grind. However, important differences on crystallinity, crystal size, and microstructure were observed depending on composition and furnace temperature. All pigments developed intense tones, covering a wide color palette because of composition influence, although little effect was observed with furnace temperature. Stable crystalline structures, suitable grain size, and high resistance against synthesizing variables and ceramic glazes make SCS pigments perfect candidates to be used in the ceramic ink-jet decoration

Characteristics reproducibility of (Fe, Co)(Cr, Al)2O4 pigments obtained by solution combustion synthesis

Synthesis reproducibility of mixed spinels Fe1−ΨCoΨCr2−2ΨAl2ΨO4 (0≤Ψ≤1), obtained by Solution Combustion Synthesis using urea as fuel, has been studied. Pigments with spinel structure Fd-3m have been obtained for all the compositional range analysed. Characteristics such as crystallinity, cell parameter, crystal size and specific surface area show a noticeable dependence with Ψ, but some of them present a low reproducibility, indicating a pronounced dependency with process conditions in each batch. Colouring power of synthesized pigments is highly significant, so they can be directly integrated in ceramic glasses without introducing a second thermal treatment. However, the generated colour also suffers from a limited reproducibilityThe authors thank Universitat Jaume I for their support in the development of this research (Project Nr. P11B2015-04)

Solution combustion synthesis of (Co,Ni)Cr2O4 pigments: Influence of initial solution concentration

Initial solution concentration effect was studied on the synthesis of mixed spinels Co1-ΨNiΨCr2O4 (0≤Ψ≤1) obtained by Solution Combustion Synthesis. Fd-3m spinel structure was developed in all range of compositions analysed, regardless of the concentration. However, structural characteristics such as ion rearrangement and crystal size showed a noticeable dependence on the initial concentration, being the spinel network more ordered and with higher crystallite size as the concentration increased. Cell parameter, however, presented dependence on composition but not on initial solution concentration. All as-synthesized pigments showed a significant colouring power in ceramic glazes without any significant influence of initial solution concentration. Therefore, a second thermal treatment was not needed. The coloured glazes covered a broad range of tones in the green section of colour space, which evolved as a function of composition

Natural succession and clearcutting as drivers of environmental heterogeneity and beta diversity in North American boreal forests

<div><p>Clear-cutting alters natural ecosystem processes by reducing landscape heterogeneity. It is the dominant harvesting technique across the boreal zone, yet understanding of how environmental heterogeneity and beta diversity are structured in forest ecosystems and post-clear cut is lacking. We use ground-dwelling arthropods as models to determine how natural succession (progression from deciduous to mixed to coniferous cover types) and clear-cutting change boreal forests, exploring the role of environmental heterogeneity in shaping beta diversity across multiple spatial scales (<i>between-cover types</i> and <i>between-stands of the same cover type</i> (1600 to 8500 m), <i>between-plots</i> (100 to 400 m) and <i>within-plots</i> (20 to 40 m)). We characterise environmental heterogeneity as variability in combined structural, vegetational and soil parameters, and beta diversity, as variability in assemblage composition. Clear-cutting homogenised forest environments across all spatial scales, reducing total environmental heterogeneity by 35%. Arthropod beta diversity reflected these changes at larger scales suggesting that environmental heterogeneity is useful in explaining beta diversity both <i>between-cover types</i> and <i>between-stands</i> of the same cover type. However, at smaller scales, <i>within-</i> and <i>between-plots</i> spider beta diversity reflected the lower environmental heterogeneity in regenerating stands, whereas staphylinid and carabids assemblages were not homogenised 12 years post-harvest. Differences in environmental heterogeneity and staphylinid beta diversity between cover types were also important at small scales. In regenerating stands, we detected a subtle yet notable effect of pre-felling cover type on environmental heterogeneity and arthropods, where pre-felling cover type accounted for a significant amount of variance in beta diversity, indicating that biological legacies (e.g. soil pH reflecting pre-harvest conditions) may have a role in driving beta diversity even 12 years post-harvest. This study highlights the importance of understanding site history when predicting impacts of change in forest ecosystems. Further, to understand drivers of beta diversity we must identify biological legacies shaping community structure.</p></div