Mariposas diurnas endémicas de la Región Paleártica occidental: patrones de distribución y su análisis mediante parsimonia (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea)

The geographic distributions of the butterflies endemic to the Western Palaearctic are used to classify operative area units based on an index of association, and on parsimony analyses, and these results are compared. It is shown that the PAE-PCE method proposed by García-Barros et al. (2002) does not warrant detection of all subsets of area units characterised by endemic elements with identic distributions. However, satisfactory results can be achieved if Wager parsimony is subtituted by a method of cladogram construction that proscibes homoplasy, such as compatibility. When used as a classification procedure, the results of parsimony analysis can be broadly consistent with those derived from other procedures of hyerarchical classification. A distinction should be made between two different usages of parsimony, both of which represent ‘static’ (sensu Rosen, 1988) interpretations of area cladograms: PAE in a strict sense, aimed at detecting putative areas of endemicity. These are potentially overlapping entities, and hence the method may imply potentially multiple solutions. And, cladistic procedures applied as an agglomerative method (ideally with a single, most parsimonious solution). As far as the butterfly faunas are concered, the highest concentration of endemisms occur across the western circum-mediterranean mountain chains, and in the largest Mediterranean islands. The Iberian Peninsula is featured not just by a high concentration of endemic butterflies, but also by the coexistence of several distinc areas of endemism. Broad patterns derived from the endemic fauna fit well to those based on the whole butterfly fauna.La distribución de las mariposas endémicas del oeste de la Región Paleártica se emplea para producir una clasificación de las unidades de área mediante un coeficiente de asociación y mediante un análisis de parsimonia, y se comparan los resultados. Se demuestra que el procedimiento PAE-PCE propuesto por García-Barros et al. (2002) no garantiza la detección de todas las áreas delimitadas por endemismos de distribución exactamente coincidente. Sin embargo, ese procedimiento es eficaz si se aplica asociado a un método de búsqueda de cladogramas que proscriba la homoplasia, como el principio de compatibilidad. Empleado como método de clasificación, el análisis de parsimonia puede producir resultados ampliamente coincidentes con los de otros procedimientos de jerarquización. Convendría distinguir dos acepciones distintas del análisis de parsimonia aplicado a este tipo de datos, que representan interpretaciones estáticas de los cladogramas de áreas (sensu Rosen, 1988): el PAE en un sentido estricto (para detectar áreas de endemicidad, potencialmente solapadas y por tanto con múltiples soluciones), y la metodología cladística aplicada como método de agrupación (idealmente con una única solución, la de mayor parsimonia). Sobre la base de la fauna de mariposas, las áreas montañosas de la periferia del mediterráneo occidental presentan la mayor concentración de elementos endémicos, junto con las islas mediterráneas de mayor tamaño. la Península Ibérica muestra además el mayor número de áreas de endemicidad netamente diferenciadas. Los patrones de distribución de la fauna endémica parecen ajustarse, en líneas generales, a los del conjunto de la fauna de papilionoideos

Adult thermoregulatory behaviour does not provide, by itself, an adaptive explanation for the reflectance–climate relationship (Bogert's pattern) in Iberian butterflies

The association of darker, less reflective insect wings with cooler environments (Bogert's rule) is thought to be related to adult thermoregulation, but the adaptive explanation and the implications for sensitivity to climate warming are yet to be tested. We re-evaluate the pattern for butterflies using finer resolution data than in previous approaches, both geographically and morphologically, and test its correlation with recent evidence of impacts of warming on butterflies. We compared reflectance–climate relationships at different grid sizes, selected the best subset of reflectance measurements and tested the contribution of the species basking mode, the phylogenetic structure of the data and the correlation between reflectance and published abundance or altitudinal shifts. We used standardised RGB (Red, Green, Blue) values from 222 species from the Iberian Peninsula, and regional mean temperature and precipitation data from the study area (10 and 50-km resolutions) and Europe (50-km resolution). Correlations between reflectance and temperature increased at finer geographical and morphological resolutions. However, the butterfly basking mode did not improve the statistical explanation of the pattern. Reflectance shows a strong phylogenetic structure, while variance partitioning indicated a poor pure contribution of the climate variables in the reflectance–climate correlation. Overall, mean temperature and precipitation were only modest predictors of butterfly reflectance. No correlation between reflectance and recent abundance or altitudinal shifts was found using the hypothesised best estimates of reflectance. Although significant correlations between butterfly shading and altitudinal shifts were found for two of the reflectance measurements, this is interpreted as weak, probably artifactual evidence on the predictive power of this relationship. The strong phylogenetic pattern of the reflectance and the low fraction of the reflectance measures analysed suggest that tests for alternative explanations are still needed to shed light on the meaning of the colour–environment relationships in butterflies, which probably are of a complex nature. From an adaptive point of view, unravelling the basis of Bogert's pattern in butterflies requires a closer, habitat-level approach and alternative variables to adult thermoregulatory behaviour to be testedParts of this study were supported by projects TED2021-130328B-I00 (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion, Spain) and PID2021-124187NB-I00 (Agencia Estatal de Investigacion, Spain

Forecasts of butterfly future richness change in the southwest Mediterranean. The role of sampling effort and non-climatic variables

We estimated the potential impact of Global Warming on the species richness of Iberian butterflies. First, we determined the grid size that maximized the balance between geographic resolution, area coverage and environmental representativeness. Contemporary richness was modelled in several alternative ways that differed in how sampling effort was controlled for, and in whether the non-climatic variables (physiography, lithology, position) were incorporated. The results were extrapolated to four WorldClim scenarios. Richness loss is to be expected for at least 70% of the area, with forecasts from the combined models being only slightly more optimistic than those from the purely climatic ones. Overall, the most intense losses are predicted for areas of highest contemporary species richness, while the potential slightly positive or nearly neutral changes would most often concentrate in cells of low to moderate present richness. The environmental determinants of richness might not be uniform across the geographical range of sampling effort, suggesting the need of additional data from the least intensively surveyed areas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Metapopulation Patterns of Iberian Butterflies Revealed by Fuzzy Logic

Metapopulation theory considers that the populations of many species are fragmented into patches connected by the migration of individuals through an interterritorial matrix. We applied fuzzy set theory and environmental favorability (F) functions to reveal the metapopulational structure of the 222 butterfly species in the Iberian Peninsula. We used the sets of contiguous grid cells with high favorability (F ≥ 0.8), to identify the favorable patches for each species. We superimposed the known occurrence data to reveal the occupied and empty favorable patches, as unoccupied patches are functional in a metapopulation dynamics analysis. We analyzed the connectivity between patches of each metapopulation by focusing on the territory of intermediate and low favorability for the species (F < 0.8). The friction that each cell opposes to the passage of individuals was computed as 1‐F. We used the r.cost function of QGIS to calculate the cost of reaching each cell from a favorable patch. The inverse of the cost was computed as connectivity. Only 126 species can be considered to have a metapopulation structure. These metapopulation structures are part of the dark biodiversity of butterflies because their identification is not evident from the observation of the occurrence data but was revealed using favorability functionsFunding for open access charge: Universidad de Málaga / CBU

Patrones de distribución de las mariposas diurnas en Portugal (Lepidoptera, Papilionoidea, Hesperiidae, Zygaenidae)

An extensive faunistic database has been set up gathering bibliographic information, data from scientific collections and other relevant unpublished data from the 143 species of continental Portuguese butterflies and burnets (Superfamily Papilionoidea, Families Hesperiidae and Zygaenidae). This database was used to define distribution patterns through the application of factorial correspondence analysis (FCA) to the matrices of frequency and presence-absence data in a 50 x 50 km UTM grid. The identification of faunistic elements and regions was obtained through an automatic application of the classification analysis to the FCA results. In a second instance, we used the same methodology to establish the relationship between previously obtained patterns and a set of environmental variables, in order to determine the factors related to the observed classes. The annual average temperature proved to be the best factor to explain the observed latitudinal gradient in the butterfly distribution. The results show a well-defined northern interior region of high average altitudes and limited in the South by the Serra da Estrela. This area has the largest species richness and hosts the Montesinho Natural Park, which is the most diverse in the country. In the southern half of Portugal, the Algarve deserves a special mention for its group of species with typical Mediterranean requirements.La información corológica (datos de bibliografía, colecciones e inéditos) sobre las 143 especies de mariposas (Superfamilia Papilionoidea, y Familias Hesperiidae y Zygaenidae) de Portugal continental se ha reunido en una base de datos. Ésta se emplea para definir patrones de distribución, aplicando el análisis factorial de correspondencias (AFC) a las matrices de frecuencias y de presencia-ausencia, basadas en una rejilla UTM de 50 x 50 km. En primer lugar, se identifican los elementos y regiones faunísticas mediante la aplicación automática del análisis de clasificación a los resultados del AFC. En una segunda fase, se establece la relación entre los patrones obtenidos y un conjunto de variables ambientales, para determinar los posibles factores asociados a las regularidades detectadas. La temperatura media anual es el principal factor explicativo del gradiente latitudinal observado. Queda bien definida una región norte interior, de altitudes medias elevadas, y limitada hacia el sur por la Serra da Estrela. Esta área presenta mayor riqueza de especies que el resto del territorio, e incluye el Parque Natural de Montesinho, donde se localiza la máxima diversidad de mariposas del país. En la mitad meridional del país, destaca la región del Algarve, con un conjunto de especies de requisitos biológicos típicamente mediterráneos

Planeación, programación y control de la producción en la empresa Colec Investment

Hace mucho tiempo atrás, las empresas pertenecientes a los diferentes sectores productivos, debido a la poca competencia que existía, no tenían preocupaciones sobre la planeación de sus procesos productivos, ya que todos los productos que realizaban eran adquiridos por los clientes en el mercado debido a la poca variedad de productos a escoger. Actualmente, debido al fenómeno de la globalización de la economía, las empresas están cada vez mas preocupadas por el mejoramiento de sus productos y de sus procesos productivos y administrativos, introduciendo la cultura de la productividad y el mejoramiento continuo. Dentro de esta cultura de productividad y mejoramiento continuo se conjugan muchos elementos que hacen posible que esta meta se logre día a díaIncluye bibliografí

Isolation of Methane Enriched Bacterial Communities and Application as Wheat Biofertilizer under Drought Conditions: An Environmental Contribution

The search for methanotrophs as plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) presents an important contribution to mitigating the impact of global warming by restoring the natural soil potential for consuming methane while benefiting plants during droughts. Our in silico simulations suggest that water, produced as a byproduct of methane oxidation, can satisfy the cell growth requirement. In addition to water, methanotrophs can produce metabolites that stimulate plant growth. Considering this, we proposed that applying methanotrophs as PGPR can alleviate the effect of droughts on crops, while stimulating atmospheric methane consumption. In this work, we isolated a series of methanotrophic communities from the rhizospheres of different crops, including Italian sweet pepper and zucchini, using an atmosphere enriched with pure methane gas, to determine their potential for alleviating drought stress in wheat plants. Subsequently, 23 strains of nonmethanotrophic bacteria present in the methanotrophic communities were isolated and characterized. We then analyzed the contribution of the methane-consuming consortia to the improvement of plant growth under drought conditions, showing that some communities contributed to increases in the wheat plants’ lengths and weights, with statistically significant differences according to ANOVA models. Furthermore, we found that the presence of methane gas can further stimulate the plant–microbe interactions, resulting in larger plants and higher drought toleranceSpanish Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness within the context of the research project and the program Salvador de Madariaga grant number PID2021-127623OB-I00)Spanish Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness within the context of the research project and the program Salvador de Madariaga grant number PID2021-127623OB-I00)Junta de Andalucía (grant P18-RT-976)DOE DE-SC001918

Automatic detection of relevant information, predictions and forecasts in financial news through topic modelling with Latent Dirichlet Allocation

Financial news items are unstructured sources of information that can be mined to extract knowledge for market screening applications. They are typically written by market experts who describe stock market events within the context of social, economic and political change. Manual extraction of relevant information from the continuous stream of finance-related news is cumbersome and beyond the skills of many investors, who, at most, can follow a few sources and authors. Accordingly, we focus on the analysis of financial news to identify relevant text and, within that text, forecasts and predictions. We propose a novel Natural Language Processing (NLP) system to assist investors in the detection of relevant financial events in unstructured textual sources by considering both relevance and temporality at the discursive level. Firstly, we segment the text to group together closely related text. Secondly, we apply co-reference resolution to discover internal dependencies within segments. Finally, we perform relevant topic modelling with Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to separate relevant from less relevant text and then analyse the relevant text using a Machine Learning-oriented temporal approach to identify predictions and speculative statements. Our solution outperformed a rule-based baseline system. We created an experimental data set composed of 2,158 financial news items that were manually labelled by NLP researchers to evaluate our solution. Inter-agreement Alpha-reliability and accuracy values, and ROUGE-L results endorse its potential as a valuable tool for busy investors. The ROUGE-L values for the identification of relevant text and predictions/forecasts were 0.662 and 0.982, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the first work to jointly consider relevance and temporality at the discursive level. It contributes to the transfer of human associative discourse capabilities to expert systems through the combination of multi-paragraph topic segmentation and co-reference resolution to separate author expression patterns, topic modelling with LDA to detect relevant text, and discursive temporality analysis to identify forecasts and predictions within this text. Our solution may have compelling applications in the financial field, including the possibility of extracting relevant statements on investment strategies to analyse authors’ reputations.Universidade de Vigo/CISUGXunta de Galicia | Ref. ED481B-2021-118Xunta de Galicia | Ref. ED481B-2022-09

Butterfly biodiversity in the city is driven by the interaction of the urban landscape and species traits : a call for contextualised management

Altres ajuts: Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICContext: Urbanisation is an environmental filter for many species that leads to community homogenisation, with a few species inhabiting isolated patches (e.g. public and private gardens and parks) embedded within the urban landscape. Promoting biodiversity in urban areas requires understanding which species traits allow species to survive the urban landscape. Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess how species traits and landscape factors combine to allow species functional groups to live in the city. Methods: We used butterfly count data collected by volunteers in 24 gardens of Barcelona city, during 2018 and 2019. Species were clustered in functional groups according to their traits. We applied a multinomial choice model to test for the effect of the landscape on the different functional groups. Results: Three functional groups became prevalent in the city while a fourth, containing most sedentary specialist species, was filtered out. Although the observed groups had similar species richness, abundances varied depending on urban landscape characteristics. Specialist sedentary specialists and medium mobile species were all favoured by patch connectivity; while the presence of mobile generalist species was only enhanced by habitat quality. Our results indicate that butterfly communities are more diverse in highly connected gardens. Conclusions: Our study highlights the need of contextualised management with actions accounting for the species functional groups, rather than a management focused on general species richness. It demonstrates that urban landscape planning must focus on improving connectivity inside the city in order to diversify the community composition