El plan global frente al riesgo de inundación en la ribera del Júcar

El Plan Global del Júcar frente al riesgo de inundación pretende minimizar los daños causados por las avenidas que periódicamente afectan a la Ribera del Júcar. En el presente artículo se describen y analizan las actuaciones de este Plan, la génesis del mismo, el proceso de elaboración y sus resultados. La problemática es compleja, ya que el riesgo de inundación abarca un territorio muy poblado, con un importante desarrollo industrial y agrícola. Además, la existencia de espacios naturales de elevado valor ambiental, hace que las intervenciones derivadas del Plan consideren al mismo nivel la defensa frente a avenidas y las demandas sociales y ambientales, tras el consenso alcanzado en un proceso de participación pública. El Plan incorpora aspectos innovadores en ingeniería hidráulica, cuyo resultado es una actuación integrada y sostenible, que compatibiliza la protección frente a avenidas con la recuperación y mejora del ámbito fluvial, y su función como corredor vertebrador del territorio.

Natural additives and agricultural wastes in biopolymer formulations for food packaging

The main directions in food packaging research are targeted toward improvements in food quality and food safety. For this purpose, food packaging providing longer product shelf-life, as well as the monitoring of safety and quality based upon international standards, is desirable. New active packaging strategies represent a key area of development in new multifunctional materials where the use of natural additives and/or agricultural wastes is getting increasing interest. The development of new materials, and particularly innovative biopolymer formulations, can help to address these requirements and also with other packaging functions such as: food protection and preservation, marketing and smart communication to consumers. The use of biocomposites for active food packaging is one of the most studied approaches in the last years on materials in contact with food. Applications of these innovative biocomposites could help to provide new food packaging materials with improved mechanical, barrier, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties. From the food industry standpoint, concerns such as the safety and risk associated with these new additives, migration properties and possible human ingestion and regulations need to be considered. The latest innovations in the use of these innovative formulations to obtain biocomposites are reported in this review. Legislative issues related to the use of natural additives and agricultural wastes in food packaging systems are also discussed.

Irrigation canals in a semi-arid agricultural landscape surrounded by wetlands: Their role as a habitat for birds during the breeding season

Traditional water supply systems in semi-arid agrarian ecosystems, mainly irrigation canals, contribute to the diversity of the landscape and influence the composition of species. To evaluate their effect on bird communities in the breeding season, we selected a rural area in southeastern Spain, where an intricate and extensive network of irrigation canals and cultivated areas is located between two wetlands declared as Natural Parks. Birds were counted at representative points distributed throughout the canal network at which we recorded several variables related to the physical features, the vertical and horizontal structure of associated vegetation, reed development (Phragmites australis) and land use in the neighboring areas. We detected 37 bird species, most of which were also breeding in the wetlands nearby. We used Hierarchical Partitioning analyses to identify the variables most strongly related to the probability of the presence of selected species and species richness. Vegetation cover and height close to the canals, together with reed development, were the most important types of variables explaining species presence and richness. We found that current management practices for reeds in canals are not well-suited for biodiversity conservation. We therefore propose alternatives that could be implemented in the area in cooperation with stakeholders.