Mapping poverty at the local level in Europe: A consistent spatial disaggregation of the AROPE indicator for France, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom

In the EU, territorial inequalities in terms of income and poverty have been broadly analysed at the national and regional levels. However, mainly due to the lack of reliable data, very little attention has been paid to territorial inequalities within European regions, namely, at a more local level, such as in metropolitan areas, cities or neighbourhoods. This paper proposes a methodology to disaggregate official regional poverty figures into poverty indicators for smaller spatial units, mainly local administrative units. For each country, poverty figures at the regional level from household surveys are combined with microcensus data that contain details on the local entities of residence to disaggregate the regional poverty indicator. In contrast to previous methodologies, our proposed technique guarantees consistency between the local poverty estimates and the regional poverty figures through a second step that adjusts the initial estimates based on generalized cross entropy. The procedure is applied for four European countries: France, Spain, the United Kingdom and Portugal. The resulting local estimates provide an intraregional map of poverty and some insights into the particular behaviour of the capital regions and the disparities between city centres and their surrounding areas.En la UE, las desigualdades territoriales en cuanto a ingresos y pobreza se han analizado ampliamente a nivel nacional y regional. Sin embargo, debido principalmente a la falta de datos fiables, se ha prestado muy poca atención a las desigualdades territoriales dentro de las regiones europeas a un nivel más local, como pueden ser las zonas metropolitanas, las ciudades o los barrios. En el presente artículo se propone una metodología para desglosar las cifras regionales oficiales de pobreza en indicadores de pobreza para unidades espaciales más pequeñas, principalmente unidades administrativas locales. Para cada país, se combinan las cifras de pobreza a nivel regional procedentes de las encuestas de hogares con datos de microcensos que contienen detalles sobre las entidades locales de residencia para desglosar el indicador de pobreza regional. A diferencia de las metodologías anteriores, la técnica que se propone aquí garantiza la coherencia entre las estimaciones de pobreza locales y las cifras de pobreza regionales mediante un segundo paso que ajusta las estimaciones iniciales basadas en la entropía cruzada generalizada. El procedimiento se aplica en cuatro países europeos: Francia, España, el Reino Unido y Portugal. Las estimaciones locales resultantes proporcionan un mapa intrarregional de la pobreza y algunas percepciones del comportamiento particular de las regiones que albergan la capital y las disparidades entre los centros de las ciudades y sus zonas circundantes

Aging Uncouples Heritability and Expression-QTL in Caenorhabditis elegans

The number and distribution of gene expression QTL (eQTL) represent the genetic architecture of many complex traits, including common human diseases. We previously reported that the heritable eQTL patterns are highly dynamic with age in an N2 × CB4856 recombinant inbred population of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. In particular, we showed that the number of eQTL decreased with age. Here, we investigated the reason for this decrease by combining gene expression profiles at three ages in the wild types N2 and CB4856 with the reported expression profiles of the RIL population. We determined heritability and transgression (when gene expression levels in the RILs are more extreme than the parents) and investigated their relation with eQTL changes with age. Transgressive segregation was widespread but depended on physiological age. The percentage of genes with an eQTL increased with a higher heritability in young worms. However, for old worms this percentage hardly increased. Using a single marker approach, we found that almost 20% of genes with heritability >0.9 had an eQTL in developing worms. Surprisingly, only 10% was found in old worms. Using a multimarker approach, this percentage increased to almost 30% for both age groups. Comparison of the single marker to a multiple marker eQTL mapping indicated that heritable regulation of gene expression becomes more polygenic in aging worms due to multiple loci and possible epistatic interactions. We conclude that linkage studies should account for the relation between increased polygenic regulation and diminished effects at older ages

Ehlers- Danlos tipo IV

El Sd. Ehlers-Danlos tipo IV o vascular es un trastorno hereditario autosómico dominante causado por mutaciones en el gen COL3A1. Dicho gen codifica la proteína procolágeno III que forma parte del tejido conectivo. Esta alteración se manifiesta por la presencia de rasgos faciales característicos, piel translúcida, así como roturas arteriales, digestivas y uterinas por fragilidad de sus paredes. Las complicaciones pueden afectar a todas las áreas anatómicas, siendo habituales la disección de las arterias vertebrales y carótidas, perforaciones de útero durante el embarazo y perforación de colón de forma recurrente. El diagnóstico, ya que no existe ninguno específico para esta enfermedad, está basado en la clínica, en técnicas de imagen y en la identificación de mutaciones del gen COL3A1. La intervención médica está enfocada al tratamiento sintomático y a la profilaxis de las complicaciones debido a su alto índice de mortalidad tras su aparición. Se debe realizar diagnóstico diferencial principalmente con el Sd. De Marfan, Sd. De Loeys-Dietz y Sd. Ehlers-Danlos (en la edad adulta).Grado en Medicin

No evidence of biodiversity effects on stream ecosystem functioning across green and brown food web pathways

[EN] Biodiversity loss is known to affect the two fundamental and opposite processes controlling carbon and nutrient cycles globally, that is, primary production and decomposition, which are driven by green and brown food web compartments, respectively. However, biodiversity in these two food web compartments has been mostly studied independently, and potential reciprocal effects of biodiversity loss on ecosystem processes remain unclear. We conducted a 35-day stream mesocosm experiment with two levels of algal diversity (natural and diluted periphyton communities) and three levels of litter diversity (no litter, monocultures of poplar, maple, and oak, and the three-spp. mixture) to simulate changes in biodiversity in both the green and brown pathways of an aquatic food web. We then measured multiple ecosystem processes pertaining to carbon cycling. We predicted that algal diversity would enhance decomposition and sporulation of fungal decomposers, while litter diversity would enhance algal growth and net primary production, due to the more diverse algal exudates or litter nutrients being released from more diverse mixtures. In contrast to this hypothesis, we only found biodiversity effects on an ecosystem process within the green pathway: there was a relationship between algal diversity and biofilm carrying capacity. Nevertheless, we found that this relationship was affected by the presence or absence of litter (algal diversity increased the carrying capacity in presence of litter and decreased it in its absence), which also influenced the algal community structure. Our mesocosm experiment did not evidence relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem processes across different food web compartments, but further studies in more realistic conditions would be necessary to confirm this result. If supported, the lack of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships across compartments would facilitate the prediction of the impacts of biodiversity loss on ecosystems.Spanish Ministry for Science, Innovation and Universities and FEDER; U.S. National Science Foundation, Grant/Award Number: 133234

Extreme temperature events alter stream ecosystem functioning

Extreme temperature events have increased in intensity, duration and frequency in the last century, with potential consequences on organisms and ecosystems. In many streams, leaf litter of terrestrial origin is a key resource for microorganisms and some detritivores, and its decomposition has a main role on ecosystem functioning and is often used as an indicator of ecological integrity. As litter is often exposed to atmospheric conditions before entering the stream, extreme warming and freezing events may alter its physicochemical structure and affect decomposition and associated detritivores. We tested this prediction in a microcosm experiment by exposing litter of three tree species (in single-species treatments and the 3-species mixture) to different temperature pre-treatments: heating (40 degrees C), freezing ( - 20 degrees C) and both (heating followed by freezing). We then examined changes in litter traits due to leaching (72 h), litter decomposition in the absence and presence of detritivores, and detritivore growth (28 d), with focus on mass and nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) changes. Nutrient leaching was promoted mostly by the heating pre-treatment, which apparently produced lower-quality litter. However, microbial activity mostly resulted in litter mass and nutrient gain, which were reinforced by the heating pre-treatment, while freezing had the opposite effect. When detritivores were present, decomposition showed high variation among litter types but, again, the heating and freezing pre-treatments tended to reduce and enhance nutrient loss, respectively. The greatest and more consistent effects occurred for detritivore growth, which was reduced by temperature pre-treatments, particularly in the highest-quality litter type. In general, the sequential application of heating and freezing pre-treatments showed no synergistic effect, and the litter mixture showed similar responses to single-species treatments. Our results demonstrate that short-term extreme temperatures can modify litter quality in riparian soils and have subsequent effects on its decomposition within the stream and associated fauna, potentially altering stream food webs, ecosystem functioning and biogeochemical cycles.This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry for Science, Innovation and Universities and FEDER (project BioLoss, Ref. RTI2018-095023-B400), Basque Goverment funds (Ref. IT951-16) and Initiation Fondecyt Project (Ref. 11170390). I. Diaz and U. Apodaka-Etxebarria contributed to the sample processing

Leaf Traits Drive Plant Diversity Effects On Litter Decomposition And FPOM Production In Streams

Biodiversity loss in riparian forests has the potential to alter rates of leaf litter decomposition in stream ecosystems. However, studies have reported the full range of positive, negative and no effects of plant diversity loss on decomposition, and there is currently no explanation for such inconsistent results. Furthermore, it is uncertain whether plant diversity loss affects other ecological processes related to decomposition, such as fine particulate organic matter production or detritivore growth, which precludes a thorough understanding of how detrital stream food webs are impacted by plant diversity loss. We used a microcosm experiment to examine the effects of plant diversity loss on litter decomposition, fine particulate organic matter production, and growth of a dominant leaf-shredding detritivore, using litter mixtures varying in species composition. We hypothesized that plant diversity loss would decrease the rates of all studied processes, but such effects would depend on the leaf traits present in litter mixtures (both their average values and their variability). Our findings partly supported our hypotheses, showing that plant diversity loss had a consistently negative effect on litter decomposition and fine particulate organic matter production (but not on detritivore growth) across litter mixtures, which was mediated by detritivores. Importantly, the magnitude of the diversity effect and the relative importance of different mechanisms underlying this effect (i.e., complementarity vs. selection) varied depending on the species composition of litter mixtures, mainly because of differences in litter nutritional quality and trait variability. Complementarity was prevalent but varied in size, with positive selection effects also occurring in some mixtures. Our results support the notion that loss of riparian plant species is detrimental to key stream ecosystem processes that drive detrital food webs, but that the magnitude of such effects largely depends on the the order of species loss.This study was funded by the ‘BIOFUNCTION’ project (CGL2014-52779-P) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and FEDER to LB and JPo, Basque Government funds (IT302-16) to JPo, and Ikerbasque start-up funds to LB. NLR and AM were supported by a predoctoral fellowship from the Basque Government and a postdoctoral contract from the University of the Basque Country, respectively. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Lethal and Sublethal Effects on Tamarixia triozae (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), an Ectoparasitoid of <i>Bactericera cockerelli</i> (Hemiptera: Triozidae), of Three Insecticides Used on Solanaceous Crops

Lethal and sublethal effects of refined soybean oil, imidacloprid, and abamectin on Tamarixia triozae (Burks; Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) were assessed after exposure of the eggs, larvae, and pupae of this parasitoid to three concentrations of these active substances: the LC50 for fourth-instar Bactericera cockerelli (Sulc.; Hemiptera: Triozidae)and 50% and 100% of the minimum field-registered concentration (MiFRC). Soybean oil caused 26-61% mortality in T. triozae eggs and 6-19% in larvae; mortality in both eggs and larvae was ≤19% for imidacloprid and 4-100% for abamectin. All three compounds caused T. triozae pupae, with the exception of the abamectin 50% (47%) and 100% (72%) MiFRC. The mortality of larvae and pupae derived from treated eggs was ≤39% for all three insecticides, and that of pupae derived from treated larvae was ≤10%. In general, emergence of adults developed from treated eggs, larvae, and pupae was affected more by abamectin than by the other treatments. The proportion of females derived from all three development stages was not affected by treatment with the compounds, except when the parasitoid was treated as larvae with the soybean oil 100 and 50% MiFRC (66 and 68%, respectively) or when treated as pupae with the imidacloprid LC50 and 100% MiFRC (~60%). Female longevity was generally higher than that of males. The use of imidacloprid, soybean oil, and abamectin in combination with T. triozae for pest control may be effective when the parasitoid is in the pupal stage because this stage is less susceptible than other immature stages.Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectore

Lethal and Sublethal Effects on Tamarixia triozae (Hymenoptera: Eulophidae), an Ectoparasitoid of Bactericera cockerelli (Hemiptera: Triozidae), of Three Insecticides Used on Solanaceous Crops

Lethal and sublethal effects of refined soybean oil, imidacloprid, and abamectin on Tamarixia triozae (Burks;Hymenoptera: Eulophidae) were assessed after exposure of the eggs, larvae, and pupae of this parasitoid to three concentrations of these active substances: the LC50 for fourth-instar Bactericera cockerelli (Sulc.; Hemiptera: Triozidae)and 50% and 100% of the minimum field-registered concentration (MiFRC). Soybean oil caused 26?61% mortality in T. triozae eggs and 6?19% in larvae; mortality in both eggs and larvae was ≤19% for imidacloprid and 4?100% for abamectin. All three compounds caused <18% mortality of T. triozae pupae, with the exception of the abamectin 50% (47%) and 100% (72%) MiFRC. The mortality of larvae and pupae derived from treated eggs was ≤39% for all three insecticides, and that of pupae derived from treated larvae was ≤10%. In general, emergence of adults developed from treated eggs, larvae, and pupae was affected more by abamectin than by the other treatments. The proportion of females derived from all three development stages was not affected by treatment with the compounds, except when the parasitoid was treated as larvae with the soybean oil 100 and 50% MiFRC (66 and 68%, respectively) or when treated as pupae with the imidacloprid LC50 and 100% MiFRC (~60%). Female longevity was generally higher than that of males. The use of imidacloprid, soybean oil, and abamectin in combination with T. triozae for pest control may be effective when the parasitoid is in the pupal stage because this stage is less susceptible than other immature stages.Fil: Morales Sinue I. Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias y Forestale; MéxicoFil: Martinez, Ana Mabel. Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias y Forestale; MéxicoFil: Viñuela, Elisa. Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Agrónomos de Madrid; EspañaFil: Chavarrieta, Juan M. Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias y Forestale; MéxicoFil: Figueroa, Jorge Isaac. Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias y Forestales; MéxicoFil: Schneider, Marcela Inés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; ArgentinaFil: Tamayo, Fernando. Centro de Sanidad Vegetal de Guanajuato; MéxicoFil: Pineda, Samuel. Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias y Forestale; Méxic

Temperature Sensitivity of Microbial Litter Decomposition in Freshwaters: Role of Leaf Litter Quality and Environmental Characteristics

Ongoing global warming is expected to alter temperature-dependent processes. Nevertheless, how co-occurring local drivers will influence temperature sensitivity of plant litter decomposition in lotic ecosystems remains uncertain. Here, we examined the temperature sensitivity of microbial-mediated decomposition, microbial respiration, fungal biomass and leaf nutrients of two plant species varying in litter quality. We also assessed whether the type of microbial community and stream water characteristics influence such responses to temperature. We incubated alder (Alnus glutinosa) and eucalypt (Eucalyptus globulus) litter discs in three streams differing in autumn–winter water temperature (range 4.6–8.9 °C). Simultaneously, in laboratory microcosms, litter discs microbially conditioned in these streams were incubated at 5, 10 and 15 °C with water from the conditioning stream and with a water control from an additional stream. Both in the field and in the laboratory, higher temperatures enhanced litter decomposition rates, except for eucalypt in the field. Leaf quality modified the response of decomposition to temperature in the field, with eucalypt leaf litter showing a lower increase, whereas it did not in the laboratory. The origin of microbial community only affected the decomposition rates in the laboratory, but it did not modify the response to temperature. Water quality only defined the phosphorus content of the leaf litter or the fungal biomass, but it did not modify the response to temperature. Our results suggest that the acceleration in decomposition by global warming will be shaped by local factors, mainly by leaf litter quality, in headwater streams.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This research was financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Spanish Government (CGL2010-22129-C04-01). S. Monroy was supported by a predoctoral grant by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BES-2012–060743) and a postdoctoral grant from the University of the Basque Country (DOKBERRI 2018 I)