Arturo H. Ariño

Humus Forms in Mediterranean Scrublands with Aleppo Pine

Commonly reported effects of pine on topsoil include acidification, a decrease in biological activity, and an accumulation of surface organic matter. Such effects have not been documented for Mediterranean woodland and scrubland areas. This research evaluated humus profiles beneath pine and adjacent vegetation on the basis of previous knowledge on soil animal communities and vegetation. Two Mediterranean sites with aleppo pine (Pines halepensis P. Mill.) and scrubland vegetation were compared, one in Spain (Navarre), the other in Italy (Sicily). Humus profiles were sampled under main vegetation types, comprising aleppo pine, rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.), and bare ground in both sites, along transects with increasing pine influence. Quantitative morphological methods were used to analyze and compare humus profiles, and data were analyzed using correspondence analysis. In both sites the influence of aleppo pine on humus forms was well-defined but minor, increasing the appearance of an Oe horizon characterized by intense activity of litter-dwelling fauna and fungi. Under all vegetation types, and in both sites, the organomineral A horizon was of the mull type, although the composition of the soil-building fauna varied between Navarre and Sicily. There was more heterogeneity among vegetation types in Navarre, where aleppo pine was planted on derelict land, than in Sicily where aleppo pine was a component of natural vegetation (maquis). A decreasing influence of pine was perceptible in the inner edge of the pine plantation in Navarre, or under the crown of individual trees in Sicily.

Assessing the Primary Data Hosted by the Spanish Node of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

In order to effectively understand and cope with the current ‘biodiversity crisis’, having large-enough sets of qualified data is necessary. Information facilitators such as the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) are ensuring increasing availability of primary biodiversity records by linking data collections spread over several institutions that have agreed to publish their data in a common access schema. We have assessed the primary records that one such publisher, the Spanish node of GBIF (GBIF.ES), hosts on behalf of a number of institutions, considered to be a highly representative sample of the total mass of available data for a country in order to know the quantity and quality of the information made available. Our results may provide an indication of the overall fitness-for-use in these data. We have found a number of patterns in the availability and accrual of data that seem to arise naturally from the digitization processes. Knowing these patterns and features may help deciding when and how these data can be used. Broadly, the error level seems low. The available data may be of capital importance for the development of biodiversity research, both locally and globally. However, wide swaths of records lack data elements such as georeferencing or taxonomical levels. Although the remaining information is ample and fit for many uses, improving the completeness of the records would likely increase the usability span for these data.

Communication gaps in knowledge of freshwater fish biodiversity: implications for the management and conservation of Mexican biosphere reserves.

To detect differences in the information available on freshwater fish species found in Mexican biosphere reserves, the number of species considered in three sources of information: management programmes, Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and the scientific literature were compared. Additionally, management actions for the reserves were evaluated. More than 55% of freshwater fish species registered for the reserves were found only in one of the three sources of information, while just 12% was shared among all the three. Fifteen threatened species were registered in GBIF and the scientific literature that were not found in management programmes. Although all the management programmes described conservation actions, none of them gave details about how they would be implemented. Lack of communication among the sources studied, unawareness of the existence of threatened species and the absence of detailed management actions hinder the development of adequate conservation strategies.

BIDDSAT: visualizing the content of biodiversity data publishers in the Global Biodiversity Information Facility network

UNLABELLED In any data quality workflow, data publishers must become aware of issues in their data so these can be corrected. User feedback mechanisms provide one avenue, while global assessments of datasets provide another. To date, there is no publicly available tool to allow both biodiversity data institutions sharing their data through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility network and its potential users to assess datasets as a whole. Contributing to bridge this gap both for publishers and users, we introduce BIoDiversity DataSets Assessment Tool, an online tool that enables selected diagnostic visualizations on the content of data publishers and/or their individual collections. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION The online application is accessible at http://www.unav.es/unzyec/mzna/biddsat/ and is supported by all major browsers. The source code is licensed under the GNU GPLv3 license (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.txt) and is available at https://github.com/jotegui/BIDDSAT.

Diversity of soil nematodes across a Mediterranean ecotone

As an indicator of ecological maturity, we have analyzed the nematode community of an erosion-prone Mediterranean macchia and a pine stand within it. Species richness, abundance, diversity and maturity indexes have been measured from a number of standardized soil samples taken along parallel transects laid across the boundary between the pine stand and the macchia. Results of multifactor analysis on these data show three distinct nematode communities of different species composition. The intermediate nematode community (ecotone) is not a mixture of elements of adjacent communities (pine stand and macchia), thus suggesting the existence of an ecotone-specific community beyond the expected boundary effect.

Biometrics amongst Dippers Cinclus cinclus in the north of Spain

Biometric data were collected from Dippers Cinclus cinclus in Navarre (northern Spain) between 1992 and 1994. Male and female individuals of any age could be separated by using a discriminant function in the form y + 2x > 243 for male individuals, where y = weight in g and x = wing length in mm. All measurements (bill, wing, tarsus, weight) differed significantly between the sexes, but not between adults and first years within sexes. Average wing length in Navarre is the smallest so far published for Dippers in Europe. While broadly supporting Bergmanns rule about effect by latitude, local differences from other Spanish populations suggest that other features also influence body size in Dippers.

Setting priorities for existing conservation needs of crayfish and mink

According to Clavero (2014), the conservation in Spain of the white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius italicus) and the European mink (Mustela lutreola) to the detriment of 3 North American species (red swamp crayfish [Procambarus clarkii], signal crayfish [Pacifastacus leniusculus], and feral American mink [Neovison vison]) represents a case of shifting baseline syndrome (Pauly 1995; Papworth et al. 2009). Clavero argues there is clear evidence that all these species are nonnative to the Iberian Peninsula and therefore preserving the white-clawed crayfish and the European mink responds to an a priori social assimilation of these species as native and, thus, to a shift of the baseline of Spanish natural freshwater ecosystems. We question Clavero’s evidence on the nonnative status of these 2 species in the Iberian Peninsula and disagree with the importance he attributes to species’ native or nonnative status when setting conservation priorities. Nonnative species occur outside their historical natural range following intentional or accidental human introduction (Heywood 1995). Contrary to Clavero’s claim, evidence suggests the white-clawed crayfish and the European mink are native to the Iberian Peninsula (see below). Moreover, the current known European distribution for both species makes natural dispersion a plausible biogeographic process because the Pyrenean range is permeable at its extremes (e.g., Mart́ınezRica & Monserrat-Recoder 1990) and, at least for mustelids, mountains are not a barrier to dispersal (e.g., Zuberogoitia & Zabala 2003).

Effects of Sample Size and Full Sibs on Genetic Diversity Characterization: A Case Study of Three Syntopic Iberian Pond-Breeding Amphibians

Accurate characterization of genetic diversity is essential for understanding population demography, predicting future trends and implementing efficient conservation policies. For that purpose, molecular markers are routinely developed for nonmodel species, but key questions regarding sampling design, such as calculation of minimum sample sizes or the effect of relatives in the sample, are often neglected. We used accumulation curves and sibship analyses to explore how these 2 factors affect marker performance in the characterization of genetic diversity. We illustrate this approach with the analysis of an empirical dataset including newly optimized microsatellite sets for 3 Iberian amphibian species: Hyla molleri, Epidalea calamita, and Pelophylax perezi. We studied 17-21 populations per species (total n = 547, 652, and 516 individuals, respectively), including a reference locality in which the effect of sample size was explored using larger samples (77-96 individuals). As expected, FIS and tests for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and linkage disequilibrium were affected by the presence of full sibs, and most initially inferred disequilibria were no longer statistically significant when full siblings were removed from the sample. We estimated that to obtain reliable estimates, the minimum sample size (potentially including full sibs) was close to 20 for expected heterozygosity, and between 50 and 80 for allelic richness. Our pilot study based on a reference population provided a rigorous assessment of marker properties and the effects of sample size and presence of full sibs in the sample. These examples illustrate the advantages of this approach to produce robust and reliable results for downstream analyses.

Biodiversity data obsolescence and land uses changes

Background Primary biodiversity records (PBR) are essential in many areas of scientific research as they document the biodiversity through time and space. However, concerns about PBR quality and fitness-for-use have grown, especially as derived from taxonomical, geographical and sampling effort biases. Nonetheless, the temporal bias stemming from data ageing has received less attention. We examine the effect of changes in land use in the information currentness, and therefore data obsolescence, in biodiversity databases. Methods We created maps of land use changes for three periods (1956–1985, 1985–2000 and 2000–2012) at 5-kilometres resolution. For each cell we calculated the percentage of land use change within each period. We then overlaid distribution data about small mammals, and classified each data as ‘non-obsolete or ‘obsolete,’ depending on both the amount of land use changes in the cell, and whether changes occurred at or after the data sampling’s date. Results A total of 14,528 records out of the initial 59,677 turned out to be non-obsolete after taking into account the changes in the land uses in Navarra. These obsolete data existed in 115 of the 156 cells analysed. Furthermore, more than one half of the remaining cells holding non-obsolete records had not been visited at least for the last fifteen years. Conclusion Land use changes challenge the actual information obtainable from biodiversity datasets and therefore its potential uses. With the passage of time, one can expect a steady increase in the availability and use of biological records—but not without them becoming older and likely to be obsolete by land uses changes. Therefore, it becomes necessary to assess records’ obsolescence, as it may jeopardize the knowledge and perception of biodiversity patterns.

Optimal Sampling for Complexity in Soil Ecosystems

Complexity in soil biology is a multi-level concept. Soil itself is the result of multiple interactions between physical structure, interface phenomena, soil biota activity, population dynamics, chemical composition, time, and environmental conditions. In turn, the resulting system (the soil) influences all those factors except time. Soil complexity can thus be observed at different physical levels (i.e., frequency distribution of aggregates’ sizes, order of strata, etc.), biological levels (i.e., taxocoenoses, oxidable organic matter availability, population distribution, etc.), interaction levels (i.e. mineral paths between compartments, food web, etc.), or evolutionary levels (short-term variations on water availability, long-term erosion, etc.).