Oribatid mites and springtails from a coffee plantation in Sierra Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico

The objective of this work was to compare the oribatid mite and springtail communities in three plots with different soil use - Coffee (CP), secondary vegetation or fallow fields (acahual, A) and a cloud mountain forest (CMF) - within a coffee plantation located in Santa Maria Huatulco, Oaxaca State, Mexico. In each plot 20 samples (10 of soil, 10 of litter) were taken and processed in Berlese funnels. The extracted fauna was preserved in 70% ethanol. A total of 3,031 oribatid mites belonging to 33 species, and 1,177 specimens of springtails belonging to 43 species, were collected. The number of species recorded was: 27 at CP (14 oribatids; 13 springtails), 44 at A (19 oribatids; 25 springtails) and 62 at CMF (32 for each group). A total of 26 oribatid and 27 springtail species was found in the soil, and 25 oribatid and 32 springtail species were found in the litter. The most abundant species were the oribatids Rostroztes foveolatus (Haplozetidae), Tectocepheus sp. (Tecocepheidae), Karenella sp. (Oppidae), Atropacarus (Hoplophorella) cf. fonseciai (Phthiracaridae), Epilohmannia pallida americana (Epilohmannidae), and the springtails Ceratophysella cf. gibbosa (Hypogastruridae), Mesaphorura sp. (Tullbergidae) and Proisotoma cf. minuta (Isotomidae). Fourteen families and 18 species of Oribatida species and 5 families and 34 species of Collembola were recorded for the first time for the State.

06034-016 Lake Colchester/Middle Creek Watershed Final Report

In-lake management can be a critical need for water quality improvement for impaired recreation lakes. Biomanipulation practices to achieve the proper balance of predatory fish, zooplankton grazing of algae, and native aquatic vegetation can sometimes restore water clarity of turbid, nutrient enriched lakes. Lakewood leaders have a renovation plan for Lake Colchester, involving several common and three innovative practices. Lakewood is prepared to pay for proven practices, but seeks WIRB grant support to test innovations in collaboration with Iowa DNR biologists, and ISU limnologists, serving as advisors and monitors for the entire project.

Covariation between eumelanic pigmentation and body mass only under specific conditions.

Identifying the factors that mediate covariation between an ornament and other phenotypic attributes is important to determine the signaling function of ornaments. Sign and magnitude of a covariation may vary across environments if the expression of the ornament or of its linked genes regulating correlated phenotypes is condition-dependent. I investigated in the barn owl Tyto alba whether sign and magnitude of covariation between body mass and two heritable melanin-based plumage ornaments change with food supply, along the reproductive cycle and from the morning to the evening. Using a dataset of 1,848 measurements of body mass in 336 breeding females, I found that females displaying large black spots were heavier than conspecifics with smaller spots in the afternoon (i.e., a long time after the last feeding) but not in the morning (i.e., a short time after the last feeding). This is consistent with the recently proposed hypothesis that eumelanin-based ornaments are associated with the ability to maintain energy balance between food intake and energy expenditure. Thus, covariation between melanin-based coloration and body mass can be detected only under specific conditions potentially explaining why it has been reported in only ten out of 28 vertebrate species. The proposition that ornamented individuals achieve a higher fitness than drab conspecifics only in specific environments should be tested for other ornaments.

Poesia de Josep Carner a Bèlgica: creació, revisió, selecció, traducció

Capítol 4 del llibre 'Josep Carner: l'exili del mite (1945-1970)', sobre la poesia publicada per Carner durant la seva llarga estada a Bèlgica.

Un Carner invisible: els 'Proverbis d'ací i d'allà' (1974)

Capítol 12 de 'Josep Carner: l'exili del mite (1945-1970)', sobre el llibre pòstum de refranys i aforismes 'Proverbis d'ací i d'allà' (1974).

Screening of papaya accessions resistant to Papaya lethal yellowing virus and capacity of Tetranychus urticae to transmit the virus

The objective of this work was to produce a polyclonal antiserum against the coat protein (CP) of Papaya lethal yellowing virus (PLYV) and to determine its specificity and sensibility in the diagnosis of the virus, as well as to evaluate the genetic resistance to PLYV in papaya (Carica papaya) accessions and to investigate the capacity of the two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae to acquire and transmit PLYV to the plants. Sixty-five papaya accessions were evaluated. For each accession, ten plants were mechanically inoculated using PLYV-infected plant extracts, and three plants were mock inoculated with phosphate buffer alone and used as negative controls. Ninety days after inoculation, newly-emerging systemic leaves were collected from the inoculated plants, and viral infection was diagnosed by indirect Elisa, using polyclonal antiserum sensible to the in vitro-expressed PLYV CP. Viral transmission by T. urticae was evaluated in greenhouse. The experiments were repeated twice. Polyclonal antiserum recognized the recombinant PLYV CP specifically and discriminated PLYV infection from infections caused by other plant viruses. Out of the 65 papaya accessions evaluated, 15 were considered resistant, 18 moderately resistant, and 32 susceptible. The two-spotted spider mite T. urticae was capable of acquiring PLYV, but not of transmitting it to papaya.

Incidencia del mosaico de la higuera en dos zonas del este de España

Durante el periodo 2001-2003 se evaluó la importancia patológica del mosaico de la higuera en el cultivo de la higuera (Ficus carica L.) en la zona este de España. Para ello se muestrearon aleatoriamente un total de 70 campos distribuidos en dos zonas: Lleida y Alicante. Se evaluó la cantidad de enfermedad en varias colecciones de variedades y se siguió el desarrollo de la enfermedad durante este tiempo en varios campos. Los resultados mostraron que el mosaico de la higuera es una enfermedad ampliamente extendida aunque con una progresión limitada. La incidencia media fue del 95% y la severidad media del 13%. La máxima expresión de la enfermedad se observó en primavera reduciéndose considerablemente la severidad en verano. Asimismo se observó una gran variabilidad en la cantidad de síntomas según el genotipo de la planta. Las variedades más extendidas en Lleida 'Cuello de dama negro' y en Alicante 'Colar' presentaron un severidad alta y mediana, respectivamente. El ácaro transmisor de la enfermedad Aceria ficus Cotte se identificó en todas las muestras con síntomas analizadas.

El mito de Don Juan

Los griegos crearon su religión con tanta riqueza imaginativa que los mitos que la forman se han convertido en uno de los pilares fundamentales de nuestra cultura; se han recreado en todas las artes y seguirá haciéndose...

Nutrient enrichment and water depth modify consumer control in rocky shore macroalgal communities

The objective of my thesis is to assess mechanisms of ecological community control in macroalgal communities in the Baltic Sea. In the top-down model, predatory fish feed on invertebrate mesograzers, releasing algae partly from grazing pressure. Such a reciprocal relationship is called trophic cascade. In the bottom-up model, nutrients increase biomass in the food chain. The nutrients are first assimilated by algae and, via food chain, increase also abundance of grazers and predators. Previous studies on oceanic shores have described these two regulative mechanisms in the grazer - alga link, but how they interact in the trophic cascades from fish to algae is still inadequately known. Because the top-down and bottom-up mechanisms are predicted to depend on environmental disturbances, such as wave stress and light, I have studied these models at two distinct water depths. There are five factorial field experiments behind the thesis, which were all conducted in the Finnish Archipelago Sea. In all the experiments, I studied macroalgal colonization - either density, filament length or biomass - on submerged colonization substrates. By excluding predatory fish and mesograzers from the algal communities, the studies compared the strength of the top-down control to natural algal communities. A part of the experimental units were, in addition, exposed to enriched nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, which enabled testing of bottom-up control. These two models of community control were further investigated in shallow (<1 m) and deep (ca. 3 m) water. Moreover, the control mechanisms were also expected to depend on grazer species. Therefore different grazer species were enclosed into experimental units and their impacts on macroalgal communities were followed specifically. The community control in the Baltic rocky shores was found to follow theoretical predictions, which have not been confirmed by field studies before. Predatory fish limited grazing impact, which was seen as denser algal communities and longer algal filaments. Nutrient enrichment increased density and filament length of annual algae and, thus, changed the species composition of the algal community. The perennial alga Fucus vesiculosusA and the red alga Ceramium tenuicorne suffered from the increased nutrient availabilities. The enriched nutrient conditions led to denser grazer fauna, thereby causing strong top-down control over both the annual and perennial macroalgae. The strength of the top-down control seemed to depend on the density and diversity of grazers and predators as well as on the species composition of macroalgal assemblages. The nutrient enrichment led to, however, weaker limiting impact of predatory fish on grazer fauna, because fish stocks did not respond as quickly to enhanced resources in the environment as the invertebrate fauna. According to environmental stress model, environmental disturbances weaken the top-down control. For example, on a wave-exposed shore, wave stress causes more stress to animals close to the surface than deeper on the shore. Mesograzers were efficient consumers at both the depths, while predation by fish was weaker in shallow water. Thus, the results supported the environmental stress model, which predicts that environmental disturbance affects stronger the higher a species is in the food chain. This thesis assessed the mechanisms of community control in three-level food chains and did not take into account higher predators. Such predators in the Baltic Sea are, for example, cormorant, seals, white-tailed sea eagle, cod and salmon. All these predatory species were recently or are currently under intensive fishing, hunting and persecution, and their stocks have only recently increased in the region. Therefore, it is possible that future densities of top predators may yet alter the strengths of the controlling mechanisms in the Baltic littoral zone.

Predation on common tern eggs by the yellow-legged gull at the Ebro Delta

The Ebro Delta holds a large seabird community, including a common tern (Sterna hirundo) local population of 3,085 pairs in 2000 which breeds scattered in several colonies. At El Canalot colony, 1,178 (1999) and 1,156 pairs (2000) of this species bred distributed in 32 and 38 sub-colonies respectively. These sub-colonies varied in size from 1 to 223 pairs and were placed near the main breeding colonies of yellow-legged gulls (Larus cachinnans) and Audouin´s gulls (L. audouinii), which are potential egg-predators of terns. We studied egg predation during 1999 (6 sub-colonies) and 2000 (27 sub-colonies). Overall, we found that 10.6% of the nests in 1999 and 16.7% in 2000 suffered partial or total egg predation, being total in 81.1% of the predatory events. Predation was significantly higher in small sub-colonies (< 11 pairs): 49.4% in 1999 and 75.5% in 2000. Only attacks from yellow-legged gulls were observed, and defence behaviour of terns was significantly more frequent against this gull species (40.5 hours of observation), suggesting that in most cases the egg predation recorded was due to this species. Probability of egg predation was significantly and negatively correlated with distance to the nearest yellow-legged gull sub-colony, although this relationship was no more significant after adjustment for sub-colony size. On the other hand, distance to the nearest Audouin´s gull sub-colony did not show any effect. Our results suggest that the impact of large gulls (at least yellow-legged gulls) upon smaller seabirds breeding in the area might be important, especially when they are breeding in small sub-colonies. Further studies are needed to analyse the general impact of large gulls upon the breeding populations of other colonial bird species in the area.

El mito de la adolescencia en Aloma, de Mercé Rodoreda, y Nada, de Carmen Laforet

El mite de l'adolescència en obres com: 'Aloma' de Mercé Rodoreda i 'Nada' de Carmen Laforet

La "imatge" de la caverna i la temptació constant de corregir Plató: Benjamin Jowett com a exemple

[cat] Les traduccions dels primers capítols del llibre VII de la República de Plató on apareix la famosa imatge de la caverna, εἰκών, presenten una sorprenent i intrigant varietat interpretativa: “al·legoria”, “mite”, “faula”, “paràbola”, “símil”, “comparació”... Aquest article, prenent com a exemple la notable fidelitat al text del traductor victorià de Plató, B. Jowett, i mitjançant una anàlisi rigorosa dels termes que acompanyen la imatge, manté la necessitat de no interpretar ni corregir en aquest cas el gran filòsof idealista o “ideocèntric”, assenyalant alhora, si el capteniment filològic és un altre, les contradiccions resultants i l’ús d’algun terme aliè al lèxic platònic com ara “al·legoria”.

The Conformist by Bernardo Bertolucci: Alberto Moravia + Plato against fascism

Why Bernardo Bertolucci, when adapting as a film Alberto Moravia’s novel Il conformista, introduced into its homonymous The Conformist the Platonic image of the cave? The article is to give an answer to this question by analysing Moravia’s work in search of “cave images”, which would justify Bertolucci’s decision.

El conformista de Bernardo Bertolucci: Alberto Moravia + Platón contra el fascismo

[spa] ¿Por qué Bernardo Bertolucci, al adaptar cinematográficamente la novela de Alberto Moravia Il conformista, introdujo en The Conformist la imagen platónica de la caverna? Este artículo preende dar respuesta a esta pregunta mediante el análisis de una parte considerable de la obra de Moravia.

El conformista de Bernardo Bertolucci: Alberto Moravia + Plató contra el feixisme

[cat] Per què Bernardo Bertolucci, en fer l’adaptació cinematogràfica de la novel·la d’Alberto Moravia Il conformista, introduí a The Conformist la imatge platònica de la caverna? Hom pretén donar resposta a aquesta pregunta mitjançant l’anàlisi de bona part de l’obra de Moravia.