Hacia una estrategia global de conservación de la naturaleza en la provincia de Cuenca

En este artículo se reflexiona sobre la conveniencia de plantear una estrategia global de conservación de la naturaleza que vaya más allá de la preservación de los espacios que ya gozan de una figura de protección. Se argumenta la necesidad de ampliar la actual red de áreas protegidas, incorporando zonas de amortiguación y corredores biológicos que funcionen como conectores de las áreas núcleo. También, se apunta la obligación de regular los usos del suelo para garantizar la sostenibilidad y la conservación de la diversidad biológica. Mediante técnicas SIG de análisis espacial y el empleo de imágenes de satélite, se han diseñado zonas de amortiguación, que protegen a los diez espacios de la Red Natura 2000 presentes en el NW de la provincia de Cuenca, y corredores biológicos de tipo fluvial. Esta red ecológica ampliada ocupa 337.298 ha, equivalente al 55% de la superficie total del área de estudio.Peer reviewe

Results of the implementation of the System for the Integrated Assessment of Protected Areas (SIAPA) to the protected areas of the Autonomous Region of Madrid (Spain)

The long-term conservation of biodiversity and related ecosystems goods and services of the Autonomous Region of Madrid is jeopardized by the intensive resource-consuming development model followed by the region in the past few decades. This paper presents the aggregated results of the first integrated assessment of the protected areas of the Autonomous Region of Madrid (Spain) with the System for the Integrated Assessment of Protected Areas (SIAPA). Detailed results are also provided for individual protected areas as supplementary data. The assessment was done during 2009–2010, on ten protected areas differing in their sizes (from 2.5 to 52,796 ha), protection categories (seven categories) and types of ecosystems present. Comparison of results from both assessment models of the SIAPA (the Complete Model and the Simplified Model) is also presented. The results from the Complete Model show that eight out of the ten protected areas of the Autonomous Region of Madrid are currently ineffective. The poorest partial indexes overall were: “State of Conservation” and “Social and Economic Context”. The only indexes significantly correlated with the effectiveness of a protected area were: the “State of Conservation” (r = 0.851**) and the “Social Perception and Valuation” (r = 0.786**). Although not as relevant as was thought, “Management” and the other non-significant factors are likely to influence the effectiveness of protected areas as well. The results for the Simplified Model are slightly better than those for the Complete Model, although this is probably a specific result of this assessment. The two models of the SIAPA were very significantly correlated, although their aggregated results should not be compared directly.Peer reviewe

Proposal of a system for the integrated and comparative assessment of protected areas

Appendix A: Supplementary data http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2012.05.009Protected areas’ overall goal is to achieve the long-term conservation of natural and associated cultural goods and services. However, effective long-term conservation of natural and associated cultural resources cannot always be guaranteed by a protection regime or even by effective management, as it is usually assumed. The ultimate goal of assessing protected areas is therefore concerned less with management effectiveness than with their overall long-term effectiveness. This paper describes the methodology underpinning the System for the Integrated Assessment of Protected Areas (SIAPA). The aim of SIAPA is to make the concept of ‘effectiveness’ operational when applied to protected areas. It is an innovative, horizontal site-level assessment system for evaluating integrally and comparably the effectiveness of terrestrial protected areas, as the assessment is based on the same parameters. Indicators are the basic assessment units. They were weighted by an expert panel and integrated into six categories (indexes) defining the effectiveness of protected areas: state of conservation, planning, management, social and economic context, social perception and valuation, and threats to conservation. These indexes were subsequently integrated into a single super-index: an effectiveness index for the protected area. Two alternative models of the SIAPA were developed: the complete model, containing 43 indicators, in order to maximize the amount of information on each protected area; and the simplified model, containing 28 indicators, in order to maximize the cost-effectiveness of the assessment.Peer reviewe

Protected Area Effectiveness in the Scientific Literature: A Decade-Long Bibliometric Analysis

Protected areas (PAs) aim to safeguard biodiversity and ecosystem services in the long term. Despite remarkable growth in the area covered by PAs in recent years, biodiversity trends still show worrisome outcomes. Here, we conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) of scientific articles focusing on the ecological effectiveness of PAs that were published in the 2010–2019 decade using Scopus in order to show the latest publication trends in that research field. After three consecutive screenings, we analyzed a final census sample of 76 articles that used semiexperimental research designs. We assessed 3 thematic variables (i.e., related to ecological effectiveness) and 13 bibliometric variables through descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation tests, and Kruskal–Wallis difference tests. Our results demonstrate the growing size of research teams working on this topic, broader international collaboration, and greater length of the articles published on this subject. During that decade, the number of normalized citations (+28%) and the mean field-weighted citation impact (FWCI) of the set of reviewed articles (33% higher than expected) increased. We also observed an increase in open access publications (+13%). However, this mode of publication did not ensure more citations. Finally, we observed a positive correlation between the number of normalized citations and the inclusion of Supplementary Data in the articles.Partial funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málag

A Centennial Path Towards Sustainability in Spanish National Parks: Biodiversity Conservation and Socioeconomic Development (1918-2018)

National Parks (NPs) were the first protected areas (PAs) designated in Spain one century ago. NPs are PAs of exceptional natural and cultural value that are representative of the Spanish natural heritage. Currently, there are 15 NPs in Spain covering almost 400,000 ha, although new site designations are being considered. Spanish NPs’ main objectives are closely linked to the sustainability concept: conserving natural and cultural assets in the long term and promoting public use, environmental awareness, research and socioeconomic development. Here, the history of modern nature conservation in Spain is summarized, with special focus on NPs. Moreover, the main monitoring and assessment initiatives in Spanish National Parks are reviewed. Finally, the major results of two current research projects focusing on the sustainability of Spanish NPs, DISESGLOB and SOSTPARK, are provided

Drop tower setup to study the diffusion-driven growth of a foam ball in supersaturated liquids in microgravity conditions

The diffusion-driven growth of a foam ball is a phenomenon that appears in many manufacturing process as well as in a variety of geological phenomena. Usually these processes are greatly affected by gravity, as foam is much lighter than the surrounding liquid. However, the growth of the foam free of gravity effects is still very relevant, as it is connected to manufacturing in space and to the forma- tion of rocks in meteorites and other small celestial bodies. The aim of this research is to investigate experimentally the growth of a bubble cloud growing in a gas-supersaturated liquid in microgravity conditions. Here, we describe the ex- periments carried out in the drop tower of the Center of Ap- plied Space Technology and Microgravity (ZARM). In few words, a foam seed is formed with spark-induced cavitation in carbonated water, whose time evolution is recorded with two high-speed cameras. Our preliminary results shed some light on how the size of the foam ball scales with time, in particular at times much longer than what could be studied in normal conditions, i.e. on the surface of the Earth, where the dynamics of the foam is already dominated by gravity after several milliseconds

Assessing forest sustainability: Evidence from Spanish provinces

This article aims to assess the sustainability of forestry in Spain at provincial scale from two points of view: first, a multidimensional perspective considering the three classical dimensions of sustainability –environmental, economic and social– and, second, an integrative approach estimating a global index for forest sustainability. While the construction of such a global index is methodologically difficult and arguable, it could be very useful to land planners when drawing up and reviewing forestry and environmental policies. The global index of forest sustainability suggested in this study is calculated for the fifty Spanish provinces, based on a selection of twenty indicators. The majority of them (thirteen) relate to environmental dimension, four to economic dimension and three to social dimension. Numerous statistics and cartographic sources are used. A methodology is proposed based on grouping selected indicators according to three intermediate composite indicators and, subsequently, a global super-index. Cluster analysis establishes four different types of provinces according to their forest sustainability. According to the global sustainability index, part of the forests of the Mediterranean coast, those located near large inland cities and in southern Galicia appear to be less sustainable as a consequence of land artificialisation processes and forest fires. Conversely, Atlantic and Pyrenees forests, and those of the northern Plateau are more sustainable due to their relative success in keeping forest traditional uses and containing emerging threats.This research has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement KBBE-3-245233 “Sustainable Agri-Food Systems and Rural Development in the Mediterranean Partner Countries”, and from the Spanish National R&D project “DISESGLOB: Design of a Methodology for Monitoring and Assessing the Overall Sustainability of National Parks and the Influence of Expected Changes of Use” (CSO2013-42421-P)Peer reviewe

Understanding the impact of line-of-sight in the ergodic spectral efficiency of cellular networks

In this paper we investigate the impact of lineof-sight (LoS) condition in the ergodic spectral efficiency of cellular networks. To achieve this goal, we have considered the kappa-mu shadowed model, which is a general model that provides an excellent fit to a wide set of propagation conditions. To overcome the mathematical complexity of the analysis, we have split the analysis between large and small-scale effects. Building on the proposed framework, we study a number of scenarios that range from heavily-fluctuating LoS to deterministic-LoS. Finally, we shed light on the interplay between fading severity and spectral efficiency by means of the amount of fading.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech