Do Species and Functional Diversity Indices Reflect Changes in Grazing Regimes and Climatic Conditions in Northeastern Spain?

Understanding the mechanisms that maintain biodiversity in various ecosystems enables the development of management practices that prevent degradation (Canals & Sebastia, 2000). Each diversity index reflects some compositional properties and could be influenced differently by stress and disturbance factors (Magurran, 2004). In this study, we aim to reveal 1) which management practices and environmental factors affect biodiversity in rangelands of northeastern Spain and 2) the relationship between species diversity and functional diversity (SD and FD)

Plant Functional Diversity, Climate and Grazer Type Regulate Soil Activity in Natural Grasslands

Global change modifies vegetation composition in grasslands with shifts in plant functional types (PFT). Although changes in plant community composition imply changes in soil function, this relationship is not well understood. We investigated the relative importance of environmental (climatic, management and soil) variables and plant functional diversity (PFT composition and interactions) on soil activity and fertility along a climatic gradient. We collected samples of soil and PFT biomass (grasses, legumes, and non-legume forbs) in six extensively managed grasslands along a climatic gradient in the Northern Iberian Peninsula. Variation Partitioning Analysis showed that abiotic and management variables explained most of the global variability (96.5%) in soil activity and fertility; soil moisture and grazer type being the best predictors. PFT diversity accounted for 27% of the total variability, mostly in interaction with environmental factors. Diversity-Interaction models applied on each response variable revealed that PFT-evenness and pairwise interactions affected particularly the nitrogen cycle, enhancing microbial biomass nitrogen, dissolved organic nitrogen, total nitrogen, urease, phosphatase, and nitrification potential. Thus, soil activity and fertility were not only regulated by environmental variables, but also enhanced by PFT diversity. We underline that climate change-induced shifts in vegetation composition can alter greenhouse gas—related soil processes and eventually the feedback of the soil to the atmosphere.This work was funded by the Spanish Science Foundation (FECYT) through the projects CAPAS (CGL2010-22378-C03-01), BIOGEI (CGL2013-49142-C2-1-R) and IMAGINE (CGL2017-85490-R). H. Debouk was supported by a FPI fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BES-2011-047009). L. San Emeterio was funded by a Talent Recruitment grant from Obra Social La Caixa—Fundación CAN

Conservation of soil organic carbon, biodiversity and the provision of other ecosystem services along climatic gradients in West Africa

Terrestrial carbon resources are major drivers of development in West Africa. The distribution of these resources co-varies with ecosystem type and rainfall along a strong Northeast-Southwest climatic gradient. Soil organic carbon, a strong indicator of soil quality, has been severely depleted in some areas by human activities, which leads to issues of soil erosion and desertification, but this trend can be altered with appropriate management. There is significant potential to enhance existing soil carbon stores in West Africa, with benefits at the global and local scale, for atmospheric CO2 mitigation as well as supporting and provisioning ecosystem services. Three key factors impacting carbon stocks are addressed in this review: climate, biotic factors, and human activities. Climate risks must be considered in a framework of global change, especially in West Africa, where landscape managers have few resources available to adapt to climatic perturbations. Among biotic factors, biodiversity conservation paired with carbon conservation may provide a pathway to sustainable development, and biodiversity conservation is also a global priority with local benefits for ecosystem resilience, biomass productivity, and provisioning services such as foodstuffs. Finally, human management has largely been responsible for reduced carbon stocks, but this trend can be reversed through the implementation of appropriate carbon conservation strategies in the agricultural sector, as shown by multiple studies. Owing to the strong regional climatic gradient, country-level initiatives will need to consider carbon sequestration approaches for multiple ecosystem types. Given the diversity of environments, global policies must be adapted and strategies developed at the national or sub-national levels to improve carbon storage above and belowground. Initiatives of this sort must act locally at farmer scale, and focus on ecosystem services rather than on carbon sequestration solely

The effect of vibration therapy on neck myofascial trigger points: A randomized controlled pilot study

[EN] Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of low-frequency self-administered vibration therapy into myofascial trigger points in the upper trapezius and levator scapulae on patients with chronic non-specific neck pain. Methods: Twenty-eight patients with chronic non-specific neck pain were randomly assigned into a vibration group, receiving 10 self-applied sessions of vibration therapy in the upper trapezius and levator scapulae trigger points; or a control group, receiving no intervention. Self-reported neck pain and disability (Neck Disability Index) and pressure pain threshold were assessed at baseline and after the first, fifth and 10th treatment sessions. Findings: Significant differences were found in the vibration group when compared to the control group after the treatment period: the vibration group reached lower Neck Disability Index scores (F = 4.74, P = .033, eta(2) = 0.07) and greater pressure pain threshold values (F = 7.56, P = .01, eta(2) = 0.10) than the control group. The vibration group reported a significant reduction in Neck Disability Index scores (chi(2) = 19,35, P = .00, Kendall's W = 0.28) and an increase in pressure pain threshold (chi(2) = 87,10, P = .00, Kendall's W = 0.73) between the assessment times over the course of the treatment. The mean increase in pressure pain threshold in the vibration group after the 10 sessions was 8.54 N/cm2, while the mean reduction in Neck Disability Index scores was 4.53 points. Interpretation: Vibration therapy may be an effective intervention for reducing self-reported neck pain and disability and pressure pain sensitivity in patients with chronic non-specific neck pain. This tool could be recommended for people with non-specific neck pain.Dueñas, L.; Zamora, T.; Lluch, E.; Artacho Ramírez, MÁ.; Mayoral, O.; Balasch Parisi, S.; Balasch-Bernat, M. (2020). The effect of vibration therapy on neck myofascial trigger points: A randomized controlled pilot study. Clinical Biomechanics. 78:1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2020.1050711978Andrade Ortega, J. A., Delgado Martínez, A. D., & Ruiz, R. A. (2010). Validation of the Spanish Version of the Neck Disability Index. Spine, 35(4), E114-E118. doi:10.1097/brs.0b013e3181afea5dArmstrong, W. J., Grinnell, D. C., & Warren, G. S. (2010). The Acute Effect of Whole-Body Vibration on the Vertical Jump Height. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 24(10), 2835-2839. doi:10.1519/jsc.0b013e3181e271ccBal, M. I., Sattoe, J. N. T., Roelofs, P. D. D. M., Bal, R., van Staa, A., & Miedema, H. S. (2016). Exploring effectiveness and effective components of self-management interventions for young people with chronic physical conditions: A systematic review. Patient Education and Counseling, 99(8), 1293-1309. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2016.02.012Bishop, M. D., Mintken, P., Bialosky, J. E., & Cleland, J. A. (2013). Patient Expectations of Benefit From Interventions for Neck Pain and Resulting Influence on Outcomes. Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy, 43(7), 457-465. doi:10.2519/jospt.2013.4492Cagnie, B., Dewitte, V., Barbe, T., Timmermans, F., Delrue, N., & Meeus, M. (2013). Physiologic Effects of Dry Needling. Current Pain and Headache Reports, 17(8). doi:10.1007/s11916-013-0348-5Cagnie, B., Castelein, B., Pollie, F., Steelant, L., Verhoeyen, H., & Cools, A. (2015). Evidence for the Use of Ischemic Compression and Dry Needling in the Management of Trigger Points of the Upper Trapezius in Patients with Neck Pain. 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Quality Assessment of Photogrammetric Methods—A Workflow for Reproducible UAS Orthomosaics

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are cost-effective, flexible and offer a wide range of applications. If equipped with optical sensors, orthophotos with very high spatial resolution can be retrieved using photogrammetric processing. The use of these images in multi-temporal analysis and the combination with spatial data imposes high demands on their spatial accuracy. This georeferencing accuracy of UAS orthomosaics is generally expressed as the checkpoint error. However, the checkpoint error alone gives no information about the reproducibility of the photogrammetrical compilation of orthomosaics. This study optimizes the geolocation of UAS orthomosaics time series and evaluates their reproducibility. A correlation analysis of repeatedly computed orthomosaics with identical parameters revealed a reproducibility of 99% in a grassland and 75% in a forest area. Between time steps, the corresponding positional errors of digitized objects lie between 0.07 m in the grassland and 0.3 m in the forest canopy. The novel methods were integrated into a processing workflow to enhance the traceability and increase the quality of UAS remote sensing.This research was funded by the Hessian State Ministry for Higher Education, Research and the Arts, Germany, as part of the LOEWE priority project Nature 4.0—Sensing Biodiversity. The grassland study was funded by the Spanish Science Foundation FECYT-MINECO through the BIOGEI (GL2013- 49142-C2-1-R) and IMAGINE (CGL2017-85490-R) projects, and by the University of Lleida; and supported by a FI Fellowship to C.M.R. (2019 FI_B 01167) by the Catalan Government

Higher Yield and Fewer Weeds in Four-Species Grass/Legume Mixtures Than in Monocultures: Results from the First Year at 20 Sites of Cost Action 852

Utilisation of grass/legume mixtures instead of grass monocultures is a sensible alternative for low input, efficient agricultural systems that reduce production costs, promote environmental policy and maintain a living countryside. Consequently, widely adapted forage legumes will become increasingly important. Instability of simple grass / legume mixtures with only one grass and one legume species is a major problem (Wachendorf et al., 2001). An experiment was established in 39 sites in Europe, Australia and Canada within COST Action 852 to: (1) assess the benefits of grass / legume mixtures in terms of forage production, (2) test whether the combination of fast and slow-growing species improves the stability of the mixtures and (3) assess response patterns over a large environmental gradient