1,598 research outputs found
Estimating the tolerance of species to the effects of global environmental change
Global environmental change is affecting species distribution and their
interactions with other species. In particular, the main drivers of
environmental change strongly affect the strength of interspecific interactions
with considerable consequences to biodiversity. However, extrapolating the
effects observed on pair-wise interactions to entire ecological networks is
challenging. Here we propose a framework to estimate the tolerance to changes
in the strength of mutualistic interaction that species in mutualistic networks
can sustain before becoming extinct. We identify the scenarios where generalist
species can be the least tolerant. We show that the least tolerant species
across different scenarios do not appear to have uniquely common
characteristics. Species tolerance is extremely sensitive to the direction of
change in the strength of mutualistic interaction, as well as to the observed
mutualistic trade-offs between the number of partners and the strength of the
interactions.Comment: Nature Communications 4, Article number: 2350, (2013
Mutualistic networks
The mutually beneficial interactions between plants and their animal pollinators and seed dispersers form complex networks of species interdependence. Until very recently, the complexity of these networks precluded a community-wide approach to mutualism. However, recent studies using tools and concepts from physics and sociology have allowed the exploration of this complexity within a rational framework. Regardless of differ- ences across sites or species composition, networks of mutual benefit have a similar structure. Describing these network patterns is important for understanding both the generation of biodiversity and its responses to anthropogenic disturbances, such as habitat loss and species extinctions. This network approach is currently being applied to restoration ecology, biological invasions, and the conservation of endangered speciesPeer reviewe
How structurally stable are global socioeconomic systems?
The stability analysis of socioeconomic systems has been centered on
answering whether small perturbations when a system is in a given quantitative
state will push the system permanently to a different quantitative state.
However, typically the quantitative state of socioeconomic systems is subject
to constant change. Therefore, a key stability question that has been
under-investigated is how strong the conditions of a system itself can change
before the system moves to a qualitatively different behavior, i.e., how
structurally stable the systems is. Here, we introduce a framework to
investigate the structural stability of socioeconomic systems formed by the
network of interactions among agents competing for resources. We measure the
structural stability of the system as the range of conditions in the
distribution and availability of resources compatible with the qualitative
behavior in which all the constituent agents can be self-sustained across time.
To illustrate our framework, we study an empirical representation of the global
socioeconomic system formed by countries sharing and competing for
multinational companies used as proxy for resources. We demonstrate that the
structural stability of the system is inversely associated with the level of
competition and the level of heterogeneity in the distribution of resources.
Importantly, we show that the qualitative behavior of the observed global
socioeconomic system is highly sensitive to changes in the distribution of
resources. We believe this work provides a methodological basis to develop
sustainable strategies for socioeconomic systems subject to constantly changing
conditions
The role of asymmetric interactions on the effect of habitat destruction in mutualistic networks
Plant-pollinator mutualistic networks are asymmetric in their interactions:
specialist plants are pollinated by generalist animals, while generalist plants
are pollinated by a broad involving specialists and generalists. It has been
suggested that this asymmetric ---or disassortative--- assemblage could play an
important role in determining the equal susceptibility of specialist and
generalist plants under habitat destruction. At the core of the argument lies
the observation that specialist plants, otherwise candidates to extinction,
could cope with the disruption thanks to their interaction with generalist
pollinators. We present a theoretical framework that supports this thesis. We
analyze a dynamical model of a system of mutualistic plants and pollinators,
subject to the destruction of their habitat. We analyze and compare two
families of interaction topologies, ranging from highly assortative to highly
disassortative ones, as well as real pollination networks. We found that
several features observed in natural systems are predicted by the mathematical
model. First, there is a tendency to increase the asymmetry of the network as a
result of the extinctions. Second, an entropy measure of the differential
susceptibility to extinction of specialist and generalist species show that
they tend to balance when the network is disassortative. Finally, the
disappearance of links in the network, as a result of extinctions, shows that
specialist plants preserve more connections than the corresponding plants in an
assortative system, enabling them to resist the disruption.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure
Nestedness in mutualistic networks
James et al. (2012) presented simulations that apparently falsify the
analytical result by Bastolla et al. (2009), who showed that nested mutualistic
interactions decrease interspecific competition and increase biodiversity in
model ecosystems. This contradiction, however, mainly stems from the incorrect
application of formulas derived for fully connected networks to empirical,
sparse networks.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figur
Les papallones del camĂł d'Obiols. Un catĂ leg dels ropalòcers al municipi d'AviĂ
Aquest treball de recerca ha permés comptar les espècies diferents i elaborar un arxiu fotogrà fic de més de 3000 fotografie
Molecular mechanisms of antibiotic resistance in Helicobacter pylori
Treballs Finals de Grau de FarmĂ cia, Facultat de FarmĂ cia i Ciències de l'AlimentaciĂł, Universitat de Barcelona, 2023. Tutor/a:Helicobacter pylori Ă©s un patogen que s’ha adaptat per sobreviure a l’estĂłmac, un dels ambients mĂ©s hostils de l’organisme. És l’agent etiològic de diverses patologies del sistema gastrointestinal, com la Ăşlcera pèptica, la gastritis i dos tipus de cĂ ncer (adenocarcinoma gĂ stric i limfoma MALT), motiu pel qual es considera un carcinogen de classe I. Actualment, existeixen diferents combinacions terapèutiques per a tractar la infecciĂł, però, malauradament, en els darrers anys, l’efectivitat d’aquestes s’ha vist significativament reduĂŻda, fins al punt d’haver-se perdut totalment en alguns casos. La principal causa Ă©s la continua apariciĂł de resistències a aquests fĂ rmacs. No obstant, els mecanismes que expliquen com H. pylori adquireix aquestes resistències no es coneixen del tot. En aquest projecte, a part d’un estudi bibliogrĂ fic s’ha fet un estudi genètic de 52 soques procedents de l’Hospital Parc TaulĂ, de les quals s’han analitzat els principals gens relacionats amb les resistències als antibiòtics utilitzant les seqüències genòmiques obtingudes per la Unitat de Microbiologia de la Facultat de FarmĂ cia i Ciències de l’AlimentaciĂł de la Universitat de Barcelona. Els resultats van mostrar l’existència d’una gran varietat de mutacions en els diferents gens de resistència, algunes no descrites als estudis publicats fins ara, que podrien donar lloc a la resistència de les soques estudiades. Aquests resultats, juntament amb els obtinguts de la cerca bibliogrĂ fica van demostrar que el desenvolupament de les resistències als antibiòtics en H. pylori Ă©s un procĂ©s multifactorial en el que una gran varietat de mecanismes actuen conjuntament per atorgar multiresistència a H. pylori.
Paraules clau: Helicobacter pylori, mecanismes moleculars, resistència als antibiòtic
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