Spatial, environmental and human influences on the distribution of otter (Lutra lutra) in the Spanish provinces

In a previous survey of otters ( Lutra lutra L. 1758) in Spain, different causes were invoked to explain the frequency of the species in each province. To find common causes of the distribution of the otter in Spain, we recorded a number of spatial, environmental and human variables in each Spanish province. We then performed a stepwise linear multiple regression of the proportion of positive sites of otter in the Spanish provinces separately on each of the three groups of variables. Geographic longitude, January air humidity, soil permeability and highway density were the variables selected. A linear regression of the proportion of otter presence on these variables explained 62.4% of the variance. We then used the selected variables in a partial regression analysis to specify which proportions of the variation are explained exclusively by spatial, environmental and human factors, and which proportions are attributable to interactions between these components. Pure environmental effects accounted for only 5.5% of the variation, while pure spatial and pure human effects explained 18% and 9.7%, respectively. Shared variation among the components totalled 29.2%, of which 10.9% was explained by the interaction between environmental and spatial factors. Human factors explained globally less variance than spatial and environmental ones, but the pure human influence was higher than the pure environmental one. We concluded that most of the variation in the proportion of occurrences of otter in Spanish provinces is spatially structured, and that environmental factors have more influence on otter presence than human ones; however, the human influence on otter distribution is less structured in space, and thus can be more disruptive. This effect of large infrastructures on wild populations must be taken into account when planning large-scale conservation policies

Social competence and emotional comprehension: How are they related in children?

The developmental progression of emotional competence in childhood provides a robust evidence for its relation to social competence and important adjustment outcomes. This study aimed to analyze how this association is established in middle childhood. For this purpose, we tested 182 Portuguese children aged between 8 and 11 years, of 3rd and 4th grades, in public schools. Firstly, for assessing social competence we used an instrument directed to children using critical social situations within the relationships with peers in the school context - Socially in Action-Peers (SAp) (Rocha, Candeias & Lopes da Silva, 2012); children were assessed by three sources: themselves, their peers and their teacher. Secondly, we assessed children’s emotional understanding, individually, with the Test of Emotion Comprehension (Pons & Harris, 2002; Pons, Harris & Rosnay, 2004). Relations between social competence levels (in a composite score and using self, peers and teachers’ scores) and emotional comprehension components (comprehension of the recognition of emotions, based on facial expressions; external emotional causes; contribute of desire to emotion; emotions based on belief; memory influence under emotional state evaluation; possibility of emotional regulation; possibility of hiding an emotional state; having mixed emotions; contribution of morality to emotion experience) were investigated by means of two SSA (Similarity Structure Analysis) - a Multidimensional Scaling procedure and the external variable as points technique. In the first structural analysis (SSA) we will consider self, peers and teachers’ scores on Social Competence as content variables and TEC as external variable; in the second SSA we will consider TEC components as content variables and Social Competence in their different levels as external variable. The implications of these MDS procedures in order to better understand how social competence and emotional comprehension are related in children is discussed, as well as the repercussions of these findings for social competence and emotional understanding assessment and intervention in childhood is examined.