Genetic diversity of Contracaecum rudolphii sp. A (Nematoda: Anisakidae) parasitizing the European Shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis desmarestii from the Spanish Mediterranean coast

Sibling species of the Contracaecum rudolphii (s.l.) complex are habitual endoparasites of cormorants of the Phalacrocoracidae family, worldwide. In Europe, the two species, C. rudolphii sp. A and C. rudolphii sp. B, have been identified. However, information regarding the occurrence and distribution of these anisakids in cormorants from Spain is scarce. In the present study, 20 specimens of the European Shag, Ph. aristotelis desmarestii, from the western Mediterranean Spanish marine coast were parasitologically analyzed for the presence of nematodes. All hosts were found parasitized with Contracaecum specimens (n D 1,517). A representative subsample was genetically identified as C. rudolphii sp. A by sequence analysis of the mtDNA cox2 gene and the ITS1 and ITS2 regions of the rDNA. This represents the first report of C. rudolphii sp. A from the Spanish Mediterranean waters. Population genetic analysis was performed including other C. rudolphii sp. A specimens from the west Sardinian and the Tyrrhenian Sea. At the intraspecific level, a significant genetic dierentiation (Fst 0.08, p < 0.00001) between the metapopulation from the Spanish Mediterranean coast and that from the Sardinian waters was observed; whereas, no dierentiation was found between metapopulations of the parasite from the Spanish and the Tyrrhenian Italian coast. The findings highly support the hypothesis of the adaptation of the life cycle of C. rudolphii sp. A in brackish and marine ecosystems. Furthermore, the results on the population genetics of C. rudolphii sp. A suggest the possible role of the migration routes of wintering populations of cormorants in the Mediterranean Sea in influencing the parasite genetic structure

Cicada-MET: an efficient ecological monitoring protocol of cicada populations

Cicadas are a fascinating group of insects that play an essential role in terrestrial ecosystems. Their long-lasting association with plant roots encourages their use as indicators of vegetation and soil integrity. Cicada-MET is a novel, standardized method for monitoring cicada populations by counting cicada exuviae (i.e., the skin of emerged nymphs), providing an effective and efficient means to study their distribution, abundance, and ecology. The method involves annual exuviae counts along transects and fixed plots sampled throughout the emergence season. We validated Cicada-MET using a database of 466 counts from 64 transects over 10 years and the sampling of 60 plots for one season. Methodological aspects tested included sampling speed, exuviae detectability in successive counts, exuviae loss due to weather, and cicada species detection performance using exuviae counts compared to auditory methods. Transects captured approximately 10% of the total number of emerged nymphs across one season, demonstrating the protocol’s reliability in estimating emerging cicada population numbers. However, caution is needed when inferring densities for larger areas, separated from paths where transects are located. The standardized nature of Cicada-MET reduces spatial and temporal biases, allowing for interspecific comparisons and monitoring interannual variations in abundances and emergence timing. This method is well-suited for studying the impact of natural and anthropogenic disturbances. The high-resolution data obtained can be easily combined with environmental variables, enhancing the value of cicada data as bioindicators. In summary, Cicada-MET offers a versatile and efficient tool for monitoring cicada populations, with applications in ecological indication, conservation, and management. The adaptability of Cicada-MET to various research questions, spatial scales, and long-term approaches, along with its quantitative accuracy and ease of use, make it a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners working with cicadas and their associated ecosystems

Diversity, distribution and phenology of cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae) in Catalonia (NE Iberian Peninsula)

Les cigales o cicàdids són insectes amb fase juvenil endogea, cicle vital llarg i cants audibles, importants a les xarxes tròfiques d’ecosistemes terrestres. Malgrat l’interès que han despertat arreu, la informació històrica a la península ibèrica, i en particular a Catalunya, és escassa. El catàleg d’hemípters de Martorell y Peña (1879) hi cita set espècies. Després d’aquesta data, les cigales van rebre molt poca atenció fins al segle XXI. La informació acumulada els darrers anys permet estudiar la diversitat, distribució i fenologia del grup. A tal efecte, es va realitzar una cerca bibliogràfica mitjançant cercadors acadèmics, i es van analitzar les dades del portal ornitho.cat pel període 2006-2020 (N=3468 registres). Es presenta el catàleg de cicàdids de Catalunya que conté 12 espècies, un nombre comparable al d’altres territoris europeus: les cigales grossa, del pi, de l’olivera i negra, respectivament Lyristes plebejus Scopoli, 1763, Cicada orni Linné, 1758, C. barbara Stal, 1866 (al·lòctona introduïda) i Cicadatra atra Olivier, 1790; les brunzidores ala-roja, sigil·lada, de garriga i cotonosa, respectivament Tibicina haematodes Scopoli, 1763, T. quadrisignata Hagen, 1855, T. garricola Boulard, 1983 i T. tomentosa Olivier, 1790; i les cigalelles europea occidental, vespera, culprima i argentada, respectivament Cicadetta petryi Schumacher, 1924, Hilaphura varipes Waltl, 1837, Euryphara dubia Rambur, 1840 i Tettigettalna argentata Olivier, 1790. Es mostren mapes de riquesa i distribució d’espècies en quadrícules UTM de 5 × 5 km, diagrames de distribució altitudinal i fenologia per les espècies més comunes, així com il·lustracions originals de suport a la identificació. Aquest treball il·lustra el potencial de la ciència ciutadana per ampliar el coneixement de grups d’insectes poc estudiats i estableix un escenari de referència sobre el que fonamentar futurs estudis de la distribució i ecologia dels cicàdids.True cicadas (Cicadidae) are insects with a juvenile phase spent belowground, a long life cycle and audible songs, that are important in the trophic networks of terrestrial ecosystems. Despite the interest they arouse, historical information in the Iberian Peninsula, and more specifically in Catalonia, is scarce. The catalogue of Hemipteran by Martorell y Peña (1879) cited seven species. After that date, cicadas received very little attention until the 21st century. The information accumulated in recent years allowed us to study the diversity, distribution and phenology of the group. To this end, a bibliographic search was carried out using the academic search engines, and the data hosted at ornitho.cat website was analysed for the period 2006-2020 (N= 3468 records). The catalogue of cicadas of Catalonia presented here contains 12 species, a number comparable to that of other European territories: Cicadinae Lyristes plebejus Scopoli, 1763, Cicada orni Linné, 1758, C. barbara Stal, 1866 (introduced non-native) and Cicadatra atra Olivier, 1790; Tibicininae Tibicina haematodes Scopoli, 1763, T. quadrisignata Hagen, 1855, T. garricola Boulard, 1983 and T. tomentosa Olivier, 1790; and Cicadettinae Cicadetta petryi Schumacher, 1924, Hilaphura varipes Waltl, 1837, Euryphara dubia Rambur, 1840 and Tettigettalna argentata Olivier, 1790. We provide species richness and distribution maps in 5 × 5 km UTM grids, altitudinal distribution and phenology diagrams for the most common species, as well as original illustrations to support identification. This work shows the potential of citizen science to expand the knowledge of a scarcely studied group of insects and establishes a baseline scenario on which to base future studies of the distribution and ecology of cicadas

Organización y gestión educativa : revista del Forum Europeo de Administradores de la Educación

Se destaca la importancia de dotar a los centros escolares de equipos directivos profesionales estables y que sean capaces de liderar cambios imprescindibles que respondan con garantía de éxito a las necesidades del alumnado. Para ello se destaca el papel fundamental de las administraciones y de la legislación autonómica a la hora de incluir cambios sustanciales. Por otra parte se critica que las tareas directivas se hayan asignado a maestros sin especialización en la gestión de centros y sin capacidad de decisión ni autoridad reconocida. Es de este hecho de donde surgen problemas tan graves como el fracaso escolar. Finalmente, se concluye que para resolver las principales deficiencias educativas es fundamental la transformación de los centros educativos en organizaciones centradas en la mejora de los resultados de sus alumnos.MadridBiblioteca de Educación del Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte; Calle San Agustín, 5 - 3 Planta; 28014 Madrid; Tel. +34917748000; [email protected]

Comparative spatial behaviour and longevity in cicadas in unburnt vs. burnt forest areas with different management

Recently burnt habitats are a challenge for the persistence of animal populations. Insects that survive the fire, for example belowground, may sometimes show behavioural plasticity and manage to find adequate resources. But the disturbed habitat is usually not favourable to their survival and reproduction, because of increased predation and limiting resources. Whether insects survive, die or emigrate from burnt areas depends on species-specific traits. Cicadas live belowground as nymphs for several years, appearing aboveground as adults for just a few days. They often emerge in severely burnt forests that may have been logged afterwards, where the habitat structure and composition is totally different from the green forest where the eggs were laid. In order to quantify the movements and survival of cicadas in different disturbance contexts, we radio-tagged and followed, in July 2017, 63 males of Lyristes plebejus, a common European cicada species. We used a wildfire of 1235 ha that took place two years before the study, and its vicinity, to set up six study zones (of around 37 ha each) of Mediterranean-climate Aleppo pine forest, with two zones per disturbance treatment (unburnt forest, burnt-unlogged forest and burnt-logged forest, with 19, 21 and 23 radio-tracked cicadas, respectively). A detailed photo-cartography of the zones with the help of a drone was used to locate points of interest such as unburnt forest patches, standing dead trees across the landscape or general suitable habitat. Preliminary results show considerable dispersal distance, with a maximum of 890 m of accumulated movement for one individual. In burnt zones, the majority of long movements (&gt;200 m) ended up in vegetation patches with unburnt canopy. Although we found little dispersal differences between burnt-unlogged and burnt-logged zones, there were smaller Minimum Convex Polygons (MCP) of cicada locations in unburnt than in burnt-unlogged and burnt-logged zones (average of 1.1, 5.8 and 3.0 ha, respectively). Moreover there was higher mean individual longevity in unburnt (4.8 days) than in burnt zones (4.0 days in burnt-unlogged and 3.0 days in burnt-logged). In conclusion, burnt areas appear as a less suitable habitat for Lyristes plebejus because of lower canopy cover. Accordingly, individuals may be more exposed to predation and have lower resource availability. In burnt areas, individuals with good fitness can look for better habitat such as unburnt vegetation patches or external unburnt forest. These results emphasize the importance of unburnt patches, that should be excluded from salvage logging, for insects.peerReviewe

Helping society to mitigate logging impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem services of burned forests

Over the last decades, an average of 213,000 ha of European forest has been affected by fire every year, with 90% of this area corresponding to Mediterranean countries. The timber of the burned forests is harvested by clearcutting over large areas. Whole trees are then chipped to be used as bioenergy, so that very little coarse woody debris remains in the ecosystem. In recent years, scientific evidence has shown the strong impact that these practices of “salvage logging” have on the soil, the ecosystem regeneration and the conservation of biodiversity. Academic debate is therefore centered in the convenience of harvesting burnt forests based on the trade-off between environmental impacts and practical reasons of logging. However, forest owners and companies largely ignore this debate, and salvage logging decisions are usually taken for other reasons, including economic and emotional aspects, immediately after fire. Instead of demonizing postfire logging, our approach has been to look for best forestry practices to protect biodiversity and services provided by the regenerating ecosystem. Based on bibliographic review and feedback with practitioners, authorities and the forest sector, in 2016 we published a “Handbook of good management practices in burnt Mediterranean forests” (pdf available at http://anifog.wixsite.com/anifog/blank). The handbook contains the fundamentals of management (based on the measured effects of salvage logging), a decision-making tool to help management decisions, and the recommendations for sustainable forestry (depending on the managers’ objectives and on the environmental context). The next step is to experimentally test alternative management practices. Using 3-4 plots/treatment we are currently measuring the effects of non-intervention (NI), conventional (CL) and sustainable logging (SL) on ecosystem and biodiversity indicators in a mixed pine-oak forest burnt in 2016. Selected indicators will give us information about soil fertility and erosion, woody biomass, plant regeneration, invertebrate diversity (ants, beetles and spiders), vertebrate occupancy, seed removal and the economic yield of each treatment. NI and SL plots are being monitored since 2017, whereas CL plots will be studied from 2018. The total wood biomass was 88 and 98 m3/ha in NI and SL plots, respectively. Harvested wood biomass in SL plots was 69 m3/ha, while 28 m3/ha remained as coarse woody debris (piles of branches and scattered logs) and 11 m3/ha as burnt living trees. Provisional results for biodiversity found in the burnt forest include 29 spider, 13 ant and 123 beetle species (70% of them being saproxylic). At the end of the study in 2020 we expect to provide practitioners with quantitative evaluation of three main postfire management options taking into account biodiversity and the ecosystem resilience. We will also provide authorities with ecological assessment protocols to be used before and after the management of burnt forests.peerReviewe

Assessing the impact of post-fire forest management using beetles and ants as bioindicators

Fire is one of the most frequent disturbances in forests ecosystems. Burnt forests in southern Europe are usually harvested with heavy machinery leaving very little woody biomass on-site. This second disturbance can alter the forests physical structure, ecological key processes, and the species dynamics and interactions. However, postfire logging practices using light machinery and leaving coarse woody debris on-site, would be a more sustainable alternative. This work analyzes the impact of forest fire and salvage logging in a Mediterranean pine-oak forest burnt in July 2016. Four plots of around 1 ha were logged in April 2017 (sustainable logging; SL) with light machinery, leaving the canopies on-site as piles of branches and preserving standing living trees. Three plots of similar size were unlogged (non-intervention, NI). The impact of the two treatments (NI and SL) on beetle and ant communities, has been studied in spring-summer 2017, soon after the logging. Ants and beetles have important ecological roles and are considered good bioindicators of forest disturbances. To capture flying beetles, 14 flight traps were placed at 3-4 meters from the ground in NI and SI treatments (7 per treatment) for 6 weeks. We then analyzed their abundance, species richness, diversity and feeding guild (DE defoliator, D detritivore, S sap feeding, G granivore, F fungal feeding, P predator, PD predator-detritivore, V vegetation feeding and X xylophagous). We captured 4533 individuals belonging to 123 beetle species from 23 families. There were no significant differences in species richness between the two treatments, although abundance and diversity were significantly higher in SL. A FAMD (Factor Analysis of Mixed Data) separates a group of non-saproxylic (G, DE, D, P and V) from a group of saproxylic (F, X, PD) species, more abundant at SL. On the other hand, 125 pitfall traps were set up in 5 microhabitats (25 traps/microhabitat): open ground and below sprouted shrubs in the NI treatment; and ground, below sprouted shrubs and under branch piles at SL. We captured 687 individuals belonging to 13 species of ants. There were no significant differences in species richness between treatments (NI vs. SL) and between microhabitats. However, ant abundance was highest below shrubs and under branch piles and diversity was highest in the open ground of SL. The higher temperature of this microhabitat likely favours the activity of different species. These provisional results will be completed with new plots managed by conventional salvage logging, with longer sampling until 2020 and with the parallel monitoring of vegetation, spiders, birds and mammals. Together, we hope to provide diversity indicators to be used in decisions regarding the management of burnt forests.peerReviewe

Estudi d'ordenació d'un sector urbanitzable al comú d'Encamp (Andorra)

Recull de tretze propostes per a l'ordenació d'habitatges plurifamiliars i adossades al Comú d'Encamp

Estudi d'ordenació d'un sector urbanitzable al comú d'Encamp (Andorra)

Recull de tretze propostes per a l'ordenació d'habitatges plurifamiliars i adossades al Comú d'Encamp.Preprin

Estudi d'ordenació d'un sector urbanitzable al comú d'Encamp (Andorra)

Recull de tretze propostes per a l'ordenació d'habitatges plurifamiliars i adossades al Comú d'Encamp