Analysis of digestive tract content of the larvae of Polybia scutellaris (White) (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

Polybia scutellaris (White, 1841) is a social wasp of biological interest for its role as pollinator and maybe as biological control agent of sanitary and agricultural pests. This study examines the digestive tract contents of the larvae of P. scutellaris from four nests in Magdalena (Buenos Aires province, Argentina). Contents included both animal (arthropod parts) and plant (pollen, leaf and fruit epidermis) parts. The pollen content analysis showed that the wasps visited 19 different taxa of plants during the last active period of the colony before the nests had been collected. The range of sources used by P. scutellaris allows us characterizing the species as a generalist flower visitor. Wasps visited both native and exotic plants located nearby the nest. Most of the epidermal plant remains found in the larval digestive tract belonged to Malvaceae, a family not exploited by the studied colonies as pollen source.

The policy relevance of wear emissions from road transport, now and in the future : an international workshop report and consensus statement

Road transport emissions are a major contributor to ambient particulate matter concentrations and have been associated with adverse health effects. Therefore, these emissions are targeted through increasingly stringent European emission standards. These policies succeed in reducing exhaust emissions, but do not address "nonexhaust" emissions from brake wear, tire wear, road wear, and suspension in air of road dust. Is this a problem? To what extent do nonexhaust emissions contribute to ambient concentrations of PM10 or PM2.5? In the near future, wear emissions may dominate the remaining traffic-related PM10 emissions in Europe, mostly due to the steep decrease in PM exhaust emissions. This underlines the need to determine the relevance of the wear emissions as a contribution to the existing ambient PM concentrations, and the need to assess the health risks related to wear particles, which has not yet received much attention. During a workshop in 2011, available knowledge was reported and evaluated so as to draw conclusions on the relevance of traffic-related wear emissions for air quality policy development. On the basis of available evidence, which is briefly presented in this paper, it was concluded that nonexhaust emissions and in particular suspension in air of road dust are major contributors to exceedances at street locations of the PM10 air quality standards in various European cities. Furthermore, wear-related PM emissions that contain high concentrations of metals may (despite their limited contribution to the mass of nonexhaust emissions) cause significant health risks for the population, especially those living near intensely trafficked locations. To quantify the existing health risks, targeted research is required on wear emissions, their dispersion in urban areas, population exposure, and its effects on health. Such information will be crucial for environmental policymakers as an input for discussions on the need to develop control strategies.

El ambiente marino costero de la Región La Libertad 2010

Entre el 26 abril y 10 mayo 2010, se efectuó la evaluación del ambiente costero de la región La Libertad, determinándose que Huanchaco, Salaverry y Magdalena de Cao tienen el más alto grado de contaminación marina. Salaverry y Magdalena de Cao presentan los valores más bajos de diversidad bentónica y de volumen de plancton. Las variables oceanográficas primarias se debieron a procesos de surgencia recientes. La concentración de sólidos suspendidos totales de Chérrepe cumplió con los Estándares Nacionales de Calidad Ambiental para Agua. La calidad acuática del río Moche presenta valores que sobrepasan la norma vigente.

Fitxa Qualitativa. Rambla Raval, Casc Antic [Barcelona]

Pòster

Fitxa Qualitativa. Diagonal Mar-Rambla Taulat-Front Maritim [Barcelona]

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Fitxa Qualitativa. Glòries - Clot [Barcelona]

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Fitxa Qualitativa. Gran Vía Carles III- Passeig de Zona Franca [Barcelona]

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Fitxa Qualitativa. Parc Central Roquetes [Barcelona]

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Característiques de l’habitatge actual

Presentació power-point

Relació amb la demanda d’habitatge

Presentació en power-point

Determination of sea surface salinity and wind speed by L-band microwave radiometry from a fixed platform

The European Space Agency Soil Moisture andOcean Salinity (SMOS) mission aims at obtaining global maps ofsoil moisture and sea surface salinity from space for large-scale andclimatic studies. It uses an L-band (1400–1427 MHz) MicrowaveInterferometric Radiometer by Aperture Synthesis to measurebrightness temperature of the earth’s surface at horizontal andvertical polarizations ( h and v). These two parameters will beused together to retrieve the geophysical parameters. The retrievalof salinity is a complex process that requires the knowledge ofother environmental information and an accurate processing ofthe radiometer measurements. Here, we present recent resultsobtained from several studies and field experiments that were partof the SMOS mission, and highlight the issues still to be solved.