Seasonal rhythm in a Mediterranean coastal fish community as monitored by a cabled observatory

To adequately describe seasonal rhythms in habitat utilization by fish communities, observations are needed that occur at a relatively high frequency and over large temporal windows. For the first time, images collected from a cabled video-observatory (the western Mediterranean expandable SEAfloor OBservatory; OBSEA) were utilized to examine habitat utilization by coastal fishes. Over the course of a year, hourly digital images of the water column and an artificial reef were obtained during daylight hours. For each image, the total number of species, an estimate of the abundance of individuals, and the Shannon Diversity Index were quantified. A total of 22 fish species commonly associated with nearshore western Mediterranean habitats were identified, and significant spatial (water column vs. artificial reef), seasonal (spring, summer, autumn, and winter), and daily (morning, midday, and sunset) differences in habitat utilization occurred. Four species (Diplodus vulgaris, Diplodus cervinus, Diplodus sargus, and Scorpaena porcus) were associated with the artificial reef, while one species (Pagrus pagrus) chiefly occurred in the water column. Chromis chromis and Diplodus annularis occurred at the site more frequently in the winter and autumn, respectively, while 14 other species utilized the site more frequently in either the spring (8 spp) or summer (6 spp). In addition, Dentex dentex and Spicara maena occurred more frequently at sunset, while D. cervinus displayed a crepuscular rhythm (occurring more frequently in the morning and at sunset). Species diversity was highest in the summer and lowest in the winter. If not taken into account when planning in situ sampling, such seasonal and/or diel differences may lead to spurious estimates of population sizes and biodiversity. We suggest that cabled video-observatories offer a non-invasive and reliable technology for faunistic sampling and population assessment in coastal water of the Mediterranean and likely elsewhere.     

An analysis of the implementation of an environmental management system in a local public administration

The Environmental Management System (EMS) is commonly implemented in private firms. However, on the basis of a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis, our work analyzes the consequences of implementing an EMS within the context of local public administrations, particularly regarding the City Council of Ohanes in Almería (Spain). This is the first European corporation to implement an EMS according to the ISO 14001 Standard, certified by the Spanish Association of Normalization and Certification. Its analysis would be equivalent to the Shumpeterian "market innovator study", so that public administration "followers" can take advantage of the derived benefits and of minimizing the negative effects of such an experience. On the other hand, we show that the economic and environmental advantages derived from the EMS go beyond the activities that the City Council is in charge of. They have spillover effects that extend them to all economic activities in the municipality and these effects are expected to be increased in the medium and long-term perspective. In this paper, we compare the costs and benefits that the municipality obtains in two cases: the City Council implements the EMS or it does not implement it. The main objective of this article is to show the economic and environmental advantages obtained by a municipality when it is only the City Council who is implementing an EMS. It is logical to suppose that this case study can stimulate other municipalities to use this instrument, even if the economic and environmental characteristics of the municipality are different.     

Genetic Structure of a Mimosoid Tree Deprived of Its Seed Disperser, the Spider Monkey

Abstract: To assess the genetic consequences for a Neotropical tree of the loss of its main seed disperser, we compared the genetic structure of Inga ingoides in a site where the spider monkey (Ateles paniscus) was abundant and a site where it had been eliminated by subsistence hunting. Gene flow should be reduced in the site where the spider monkey is absent, and there should be a corresponding subpopulation differentiation of seedlings within the spatial range of the movements of these primates in the absence of between-site differences in allelic frequencies. At the microhabitat (  family) scale, seedlings growing under parent plants should be genetically more related in the absence of the spider monkey than in its presence. Subpopulation differentiation was smaller where the spider monkey was present (  four loci, F_ST = 0.011) than where it was absent (  four loci, F_ST = 0.053) for the first year of study, but not for the second year (three loci, F_ST = 0.005 vs. 0.003). The number of alleles in common among seedlings growing under parent plants was smaller in the presence of the spider monkey than in its absence, showing family genetic structure in the first generation for both years of study ( Mann-Whitney, z = −2.17, p = 0.03 and z = −2.72, p = 0.006 for 1996 and 1997, respectively). This family genetic structure in the first generation should accelerate the development of population genetic structure. Development of genetic structure might result in demographic changes, one of which would be a fitness reduction if the species were self-incompatible, as suggested for Inga by available evidence. Large birds and mammals are the main targets of subsistence hunting in the Neotropics. Extinction of seed-dispersing frugivores may result in pronounced changes in the demographic and genetic structure of tree species in Neotropical forests.     

Going beyond the rhetoric: system-wide changes in universities for sustainable societies

In October 2008, the 5th Environmental Management for Sustainable Universities (EMSU) international conference was held in Barcelona, Spain. It dealt with the need to rethink how our higher educational institutions are facing sustainability. This special issue has been primarily derived from contributions to that conference. This issue builds upon related academic international publications, which have analysed how to use the critical position of universities to accelerate their pace of working to help to make the transition to truly SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES!This issue focus is on the ‘softer’ issues, such as changes in values, attitudes, motivations, as well as in curricula, societal interactions and assessments of the impacts of research. Insights derived from the interplay of the ‘softer’ issues with the ‘harder’ issues are empowering academic leaders to effectively use leverage points to make changes in operations, courses, curricula, and research. Those changes are being designed to help their students and faculty build resilient and sustainable societies within the context of climate change, the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), and the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).The overall systems approach presented by Stephens and Graham provides a structured framework to systematize change for sustainability in higher education, by stressing on the one hand the need for “learning to learn” and on the other hand by integrating leadership and cultural aspects. The “niche” level they propose for innovative interactions between practitioners such as EMSU is exemplary developed by all of the other documents in this special issue. To highlight some of the key elements of the articles in this issue, there are proposals for new educational methods based in sustainability science, a set of inspirational criteria for SD research activities, new course ranking and assessment methods and results of psychological studies that provide evidence that participatory approaches are the most effective way to change values within university members in order to facilitate the development and sharing of new sustainability norms.     

Working conditions,psychological/physical symptoms and occupational accidents. Bayesian network models

Each day thousands of workers suffer occupational accidents of varying degrees of severity. Accidents at work render workers incapable of carrying out their day to day activities, either temporarily or permanently, and they also have detrimental effects on family life, the company, and the general public. In order to reduce the occupational accident rate, it is necessary to determine the causes of those accidents. Although there are many different types of accidents, they generally stem from poor working conditions. The purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of working conditions on occupational accidents from data gathered in the VI National Survey of Working Conditions (VI NSWCs) in 2007. This survey utilized a random sample of the active population of Spain. The sample comprised 11,054 people (5917 males and 5137 females). In order to carry out the study, a probabilistic model was built using Bayesian networks. The model included the following variables: hygiene conditions, ergonomic conditions, job demands, physical symptoms, psychological symptoms, and occupational accidents. The study demonstrated that there were strong relationships between hygiene conditions and occupational accidents; it has been shown that poor hygienic conditions duplicate the probability of accident. Physical symptoms increased almost 50% due to poor ergonomic conditions. And finally, high job demands almost duplicated the psychological symptoms. The investigation also showed a high degree of interdependence between physical and psychological symptomatologies and the relationship between these and occupational accidents.     

Application of the Red List Index for conservation assessment of Spanish vascular plants

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Index (RLI) is used to measure trends in extinction risk of species over time. The development of 2 red lists for Spanish vascular flora during the past decade allowed us to apply the IUCN RLI to vascular plants in an area belonging to a global biodiversity hotspot. We used the Spanish Red Lists from 2000 and 2010 to assess changes in level of threat at a national scale and at the subnational scales of Canary Islands, Balearic Islands, and peninsular Spain. We assigned retrospective IUCN categories of threat to 98 species included in the Spanish Red List of 2010 but absent in the Spanish Red List of 2000. In addition, we tested the effect of different random and taxonomic and spatial Spanish samples on the overall RLI value. From 2000 to 2010, the IUCN categories of 768 species changed (10% of Spanish flora), mainly due to improved knowledge (63%), modifications in IUCN criteria (14%), and changes in threat status (12%). All measured national and subnational RLI values decreased during this period, indicating a general decline in the conservation status of the Spanish vascular flora. The Canarian RLI value (0.84) was the lowest, although the fastest deterioration in conservation status occurred on peninsular Spain (from 0.93 in 2000 to 0.92 in 2010). The RLI values based on subsamples of the Spanish Red List were not representative of RLI values for the entire country, which would discourage the use of small areas or small taxonomic samples to assess general trends in the endangerment of national biotas. The role of the RLI in monitoring of changes in biodiversity at the global and regional scales needs further reassessment because additional areas and taxa are necessary to determine whether the index is sufficiently sensitive for use in assessing temporal changes in species’ risk of extinction.