Status of local soil contamination in Europe: Revision of the indicator “Progress in the management contaminated sites in Europe”

On this report the findings of the questionnaire commissioned by the European Commission Joint Research Centre for the revision of the Indicator "Progress in the management of contaminated site in Europe" in 2016 are presented. It has been produced with the contribution of data provided by the National Reference Centres (NRCs) in member states and cooperating countries within EIONET and funded by the country to work with the EEA and relevant European Topic Centres (ETCs) in specific thematic areas related to the EEA work programme. The NRCs Soil are nationally funded experts, or groups of experts, in organisations which are regular collectors or suppliers of soil data at the national level and/or possess relevant knowledge of specific environmental issues, monitoring or modelling. NRC Soil plays a role in the technical coordination of these topics and work with the EEA, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the ETC on Urban, land and soil systems (ETC/ULS). An analysis of the information extracted from the Soil Wiki platform, which contains an overview of European and national soil-related policy instruments is also presented. The Land and Soil Indicator LSI003 aims to answer the following policy-relevant questions: What is the estimated extent of soil contamination? How much progress has been achieved in the management and control of local soil contamination? Which sectors contribute most to soil contamination? What are the main contaminants affecting soil and groundwater in and around Contaminated Sites? How much is spent on cleaning up soil contamination? And how much of the public budget is used? An overall improvement in the management of contaminated sites in Europe has been observed. For the total of the 39 surveyed countries, 2.5 million sites have been estimated where polluting activities have taken place considering the artificial surface. Nowadays, there are more than 650 000 registered sites where polluting activities took/are taking place in national and regional inventories of replying countries; more than 65 500 sites have been remediated. Efforts are mainly focused on investigation and remediation of sites where polluting activities took/are taking place due to many countries already have an accurate inventory. Overall, the production sectors contribute more to local soil 'pollution' than the service sectors (60 % compared to 32 %). The most frequent contaminants are mineral oils and heavy metals. The most commonly used remediation procedure seems to be the ex-situ technique “dig-and-dump”, which implicates the excavation and off-site disposal of contaminated soil. With the available data provided by replying countries, the average overall expenditures to assess soil 'pollution' account for €4.3 billion where on average more than 32 % of total expenses comes from public budget.JRC.D.3-Land Resource

Informing the conservation and restoration of a keystone species : the larval behaviour of the European oyster Ostrea edulis

The European oyster Ostrea edulis is a keystone species that is internationally recognised as ‘threatened and declining’ in the North-East Atlantic and several nations have adopted strategies for its conservation and restoration. The overall goal of the present work was to inform conservation and restoration efforts. The purpose of this thesis, therefore, was to study the larval behaviour and ecology of O. edulis in as much as is relevant to the dispersal of this species. Specifically, the larvae’s vertical distribution, swimming speeds, settlement preferences and pelagic duration were studied in laboratory experiments. Most larvae concentrated at the bottom of the aquarium, independently of the developmental stage, light, food or temperature. In addition, larvae behaved actively in ~50% of all bottom observations, indicating a behavioural function other than resting. Advection close to the seabed is known to be slower than in any other part of the water column. The observed demersal behaviour would therefore most likely reduce dispersal from natal populations and enhance self-recruitment. At the surface, larvae frequently formed aggregations. In the water column, larvae swam with high vertical directionality and their distribution was homogenous. Swimming speeds ranged from 0.001 mm/s to 9.07 mm/s. O. edulis larvae settled preferentially among conspecifics (100% in < 24h), and if conspecifics were absent, larvae also settled in response to habitat-associated biofilms (81% of settlement after a 45h delay). Sterile shells and terrestrial stones did not induce more settlement than control treatments (0-14% settlement). Pelagic duration was strongly dependent on temperature, food and a suitable settlement cue. In the absence of an appropriate settlement cue, 80% of larvae delayed metamorphosis for up to 14 days, when the experiment was terminated. In contrast, 95-100% of larvae delaying their metamorphosis settled when presented with a conspecific. Such a delay in metamorphosis enhances the risk of predation and, ultimately, of losing most larvae to mortality if target habitats are absent. The results of this thesis provide strong evidence that O. edulis larvae are targeting their own beds, and that the behaviour of larvae plays a crucial role in their dispersal and successful recruitment. Restoring European oyster beds at a scale that is large and dense enough to promote the retention of larvae may be crucial to the success of restoration efforts

A small step or a giant leap : accounting for settlement delay and dispersal in restoration planning

Funding: The project was funded by the Nesbit Cleland Trust (St Abbs Marine Station), Royal Haskoning DHV, Nature Scotland and the MASTS pooling initiative (the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland). MASTS is funded by the Scottish Funding Council (grant reference HR09011).Understanding larval duration and hence dispersal potential of the European oyster Ostrea edulis is crucial to inform restoration strategies. Laval duration has an obligatory period of maturity to pediveliger (when larvae are ready to settle), but also an unknown period until metamorphosis is triggered by a settlement cue. The extent to which larvae can prolong the pediveliger period and delay metamorphosis has not been studied. Here we show that O. edulis larvae can delay metamorphosis for a period of 11 days, while retaining the capability to settle in high proportions when presented with a suitable settlement cue. O. edulis larvae are likely to be able to delay metamorphosis even further, since 80% of larvae in the control treatment were still alive when the experiment was terminated at day 14. The results indicate the ability of O. edulis larvae to more than double pelagic duration and probably further delay metamorphosis. We discuss these findings in the context of larval mortality, and the importance of O. edulis' larval settlement requirements for dispersal potential, recruitment success and connectivity of restoration sites.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Las compañías de bajo coste y sus usuarios. El caso de España

El objeto de este estudio es analizar el perfil sociodemográfico de los turistas desplazados a España en Compañías Aéreas de Bajo Coste durante el año 2006, y a su vez compararlo con el de los turistas que viajaron en las Compañías Aéreas Tradicionales. Los resultados muestran una asociación entre el uso de los dos tipos de compañías aéreas y una serie de variables analizadas = The main of this study is to analyze the tourists sociodemographic profile which have been move in Low Cost Carriers to Spain in 2006, and at the same time, to make a comparative with Traditional Carriers tourists. The results show an association between the use of these two types of carriers and some analyzed variable

Estudio De La Imagen De Marca De Las Entidades Financieras

Esta investigación realiza un estudio de la imagen de marca de distintas entidades financieras que operan en España. Para llevar a cabo esta investigación se utiliza una técnica de marketing denominada Evaluación Periódica de la Imagen (EPI), que proporciona una combinación de las ventajas de las técnicas cuantitativas y cualitativas. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que las dos entidades financieras percibidas más iguales entre sí son La Caixa y Caja Madrid; por el contrario, las dos entidades percibidas más diferentes son el Santander y Caja Madrid. Finalmente, el estudio muestra la imagen relativa, imagen individual y un mapa de posicionamiento de las entidades analizadas

The Thymus in Chagas Disease: Molecular Interactions Involved in Abnormal T-Cell Migration and Differentiation

Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan parasite T. cruzi, is a prevalent parasitic disease in Latin America. Presently, it is spreading around the world by human migration, thus representing a new global health issue. Chronically infected individuals reveal a dissimilar disease progression: while nearly 60% remain without apparent disease for life, 30% develop life-threatening pathologies, such as chronic chagasic cardiomyopathy (CCC) or megaviscerae. Inflammation driven by parasite persistence seems to be involved in the pathophysiology of the disease. However, there is also evidence of the occurrence of autoimmune events, mainly caused by molecular mimicry and bystander activation. In experimental models of disease, is well-established that T. cruzi infects the thymus and causes locally profound structural and functional alterations. The hallmark is a massive loss of CD4+CD8+ double positive (DP) thymocytes, mainly triggered by increased levels of glucocorticoids, although other mechanisms seem to act simultaneously. Thymic epithelial cells (TEC) exhibited an increase in extracellular matrix deposition, which are related to thymocyte migratory alterations. Moreover, medullary TEC showed a decreased expression of AIRE and altered expression of microRNAs, which might be linked to a disrupted negative selection of the T-cell repertoire. Also, almost all stages of thymocyte development are altered, including an abnormal output of CD4−CD8− double negative (DN) and DP immature and mature cells, many of them carrying prohibited TCR-Vβ segments. Evidence has shown that DN and DP cells with an activated phenotype can be tracked in the blood of humans with chronic Chagas disease and also in the secondary lymphoid organs and heart of infected mice, raising new questions about the relevance of these populations in the pathogenesis of Chagas disease and their possible link with thymic alterations and an immunoendocrine imbalance. Here, we discuss diverse molecular mechanisms underlying thymic abnormalities occurring during T. cruzi infection and their link with CCC, which may contribute to the design of innovative strategies to control Chagas disease pathology.Fil: Perez, Ana Rosa. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Inmunología Clinica y Experimental de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. Instituto de Inmunología Clinica y Experimental de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: de Meis, Juliana. Fundación Oswaldo Cruz; BrasilFil: Rodriguez Galan, Maria Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunología; ArgentinaFil: Savino, Wilson. Fundación Oswaldo Cruz; Brasi

Clinical and Laboratory Development of Echinocandin Resistance in Candida glabrata: Molecular Characterization

The pathogenic yeast Candida glabrata has become a public health issue due to the increasing number of echinocandin resistant clinical strains reported. In this study, acquisition and development of resistance to this antifungal class were studied in serial C. glabrata isolates from five patients admitted in two Spanish hospitals with a resistant profile against echinocandins associated with different mutations in hot-spot 1 of FKS2 gene. For two of these patients susceptible FKS wild-type isolates obtained prior to resistant ones were also investigated. Isolates were genotyped using multilocus sequence typing and microsatellite length polymorphism techniques, which yielded comparable results. Susceptible and resistant isolates from the same patient had the same genotype, being sequence type (ST) 3 the most prevalent among them. Isolates with different FKS mutations but the same ST were present in the same patient. MSH2 gene alterations were also studied to investigate their correlation with antifungal resistance acquisition but no association was found with antifungal resistance nor with specific genotypes. In vitro exposure to increasing concentrations of micafungin to susceptible isolates developed colonies carrying FKS mutations in agar plates containing a minimum concentration of 0.06 mg/L of micafungin after less than 48 h of exposure. We investigated the correlation between development of resistance and genotype in a set of susceptible strains after being in vitro exposed to micafungin and anidulafungin but no correlation was found. Mutant prevention concentration values and spontaneous growth frequencies after selection with both echinocandins were statistically similar, although FKS mutant colonies were more abundant after micafungin exposure (p < 0.001). Mutation S663P and F659 deletion were the most common ones found after selection with both echinocandins.This work was supported by the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (Grant FI14CIII/00025 to OR-M and research projects PI13/02145 and PI16CIII/00035 to AA-I), and also supported by the Plan Nacional de I+D+i 2013–2016 and Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Subdirección General de Redes y Centros de Investigación Cooperativa, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases (REIPI RD16CIII/0004/0003) – co-financed by the European Development Regional Fund “A way to achieve Europe,” Operative Program Intelligent Growth 2014–2020.S

Using ecosystem models to inform ecosystem-based fisheries management in Europe: a review of the policy landscape and related stakeholder needs

The need to implement an ecosystem-based fisheries management (EBFM) is enshrined in numerous regulations and strategies, at both global and European level. In practice, it is challenging to implement EBFM because it requires a complex evaluation of interlinked management effects and environmental and climate forcing on multi-species interactions, habitat status and human activities. Ecosystem models are one of the most critical research tools to inform EBFM, because they can integrate a wide variety of data, examine multiple and complex ecosystem interactions, and can make forecasts based on specific management scenarios. However, despite clear progress in marine ecosystem modelling, many models do not address policy goals and targets, which hinders uptake in policy. In this paper, we review the global and European policies and implementing bodies which directly or indirectly have a repercussion on the implementation of EBFM. Moreover, we highlight specific stakeholder needs related to the implementation of EBFM in European waters, which ecosystem models could help address. We review the policy commitments that drive these needs and the concerns raised by stakeholders during a survey and dedicated workshop. Key topics of concern were effects of climate change; bycatch; protected areas/fisheries restricted areas; and reducing the impacts of trawling. Stakeholders also provided specific questions related to these topics which ecosystem models could help address. Scenario and data results visualizations, as well as specific barriers in using the results of ecosystem models for decision-making are also discussed. A close involvement of stakeholders in scenario development and in designing graphical outputs is important, and can help overcome some of the main barriers that can hinder uptake of models and scenarios, including a lack of understanding of the benefits and limits of ecosystem models; insufficient involvement and interaction with stakeholders; and inadequate characterization of uncertainties.publishedVersio