Risk assessment of coastal flood in a site of special scientific interest

The Canary Islands have a long coastline with varying levels of exposure to severe sea conditions. Frequent states of alert and emergency in some parts of their coastline are commonly related to the occurrence of extreme wave conditions. Among the phenomena directly driven by the waves when reaching the shore are the wave run-up and overtopping. Both the study of the flood level, including its variability, and the associated risks are key tools in the planning and management of coastal zones. The aim of this research is to examine the probability of occurrence of run-up events capable of exceeding different topographical levels, for estimating the risk level associated with flooding of the different areas in which the Boca Barranco Beach can be divided, in terms of their nature and use. This beach is located on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, and is part of the site of scientific interest of Jinámar. A large wave dataset is used as input to a high-resolution numerical model for propagating offshore wave conditions to shallow waters in the study area. Furthermore, the morphology of the study area is reproduced by combining different bathymetric databases. Finally, the probability of occurrence of different levels of run-up and the corresponding levels of consequences are assigned, to assess the flood risk in the different areas of the beach, which are presented in a risk map of flooding in the study area.     

Soil mineralization of two-phase olive mill wastes: effect of the lignocellulosic composition on soil C dynamics

The low degradation rate of two-phase olive mill wastes (TPOMW) during composting and after soil application is a characteristic feature of these materials. The aim of this work was to evaluate the relationship between the lignocellulosic fraction of TPOMW and the organic matter (OM) degradation rate in three agricultural soils amended with four TPOMW composting mixtures at different degree of stabilisation and prepared with different bulking agents and N sources. The mineralisation kinetics of TPOMW composting mixtures in soil reflected a large amount of slowly mineralisable C even in the starting mixtures (I and T1) where this fraction represented up to 85% of the total potentially mineralisable C pool. The effect of rich lignocellulosic composition was confirmed by the study of the DTS (50% dry TPOMW + 50% sheep manure) mixtures prepared with dry TPOMW, which had undergone partial degradation in a storage pond for one year before composting. These DTS samples showed a more similar kinetic behaviour in soil than the more transformed composting mixtures as reflected in the principal component analysis (PCA) diagram, where they were grouped in the same quadrant dominated by the lignin/holocellulose ratio. Soils amended with mature composts evolved very low amounts of C (between 2 and 6% of the added C) after two months of incubation, which highlights the suitability of these materials as a suitable C source for the soil to promote long term soil C stabilisation.     

Colour change in a structural ornament is related to individual quality,parasites and mating patterns in the blue tit

Carry-over effects refer to processes that occur in one season and influence fitness in the following. In birds, two costly activities, namely reproduction and moult, are restricted to a small time window, and sometimes overlap. Thus, colour in newly moulted feathers is likely to be affected by the costs of reproduction. Using models of bird vision we investigated male colour change in a free-living population of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) in three sampling occasions: spring 1, winter and spring 2. We related crown, tail, breast and cheek feather colouration after the moult (winter) to the intensity of infections by blood parasites during reproduction (spring 1). In the following spring (spring 2), we explored mating patterns with respect to changes in feather colour (springs 1 vs. 2). Males that were less intensely infected by the malaria parasite Plasmodium while breeding showed purer white cheek feathers in winter, which may indicate higher feather quality. Increased brightness in the white cheek was associated with better body condition during reproduction. In the following season, males with brighter cheeks paired with females that had noticeably brighter cheek patches compared to the male’s previous mate. These results suggest that the conditions experienced during reproduction are likely to affect moult and thus feather colouration, at least in the white patch. High quality individuals may allocate resources efficiently during reproduction increasing future reproductive success through variation in mating patterns. Carry-over effects from reproduction might extend not only to the non-breeding phase, but also to the following breeding season.     

Cycling Skill Inventory: Assessment of motor–tactical skills and safety motives

Abstract

Objective: It is well established within the traffic psychology literature that a distinction can be made between driving skill and driving style. The majority of self-report questionnaires have been developed for car drivers, whereas only limited knowledge exists on the riding skill and style of cyclists. Individual differences in cycling skills need to be understood in order to apply targeted interventions.

Methods: This study reports on a psychometric analysis of the Cycling Skill Inventory (CSI), a self-report questionnaire that asks cyclists to rate themselves from definitely weak to definitely strong on 17 items. Herein, we administered the CSI using an online crowdsourcing method, complemented with respondents who answered the questionnaire using paper and pencil (n?=?1,138 in total). Our analysis focuses on understanding the major sources of variance of the CSI and its correlates with gender, age, exposure, and self-reported accident involvement as a cyclist.

Results: The results showed that 2 components underlie the item data: Motor–tactical skills and safety motives. Correlational analyses indicated that participants with a higher safety motives score were involved in fewer self-reported cycling accidents in the past 3 years. The analysis also confirmed well-established gender differences, with male cyclists having lower safety motives but higher motor–tactical skills than female cyclists.

Conclusions: The nomological network of the CSI for cyclists is similar to that of the Driving Skill Inventory for car drivers. Safety motives are a predictor of self-reported accident involvement among cyclists.     

Rareness and specialization in plant-pollinator networks

Most rare species appear to be specialists in plant-pollinator networks. This observation could result either from real ecological processes or from sampling artifacts. Several methods have been proposed to overcome these artifacts, but they have the limitation of being based on visitation data, causing interactions involving rare visitor species to remain undersampled. We propose the analysis of food composition in bee trap nests to assess the reliability of network specialization estimates. We compared data from a plant-pollinator network in the Monte Desert of Villavicencio Nature Reserve, Argentina, sampled by visit observation, and data from trap nests sampled at the same time and location. Our study shows that trap nest sampling was good for estimating rare species degree. The rare species in the networks appear to be more specialized than they really are, and the bias in the estimation of the species degree increases with the rareness. The low species degree of these rare species in the visitation networks results from insufficient sampling of the rare interactions, which could have important consequences for network structure.     

The removal of microorganisms and organic micropollutants from wastewater during infiltration to aquifers after irrigation of farmland in the Tula Valley, Mexico

The Tula Valley receives untreated wastewater from Mexico City for agricultural irrigation, half of which infiltrates to aquifers from where drinking water is extracted. Samples of wastewater and infiltrated water from three areas of the valley were analyzed for microorganisms, organic micropollutants, and some basic parameters. Concentrations of microorganisms in the infiltrated water were generally very low but the incidence of fecal coliforms (present in 68% of samples), somatic bacteriophages (36%), Giardia spp. (14%), and helminth eggs (8%) suggested a health risk. Organic micropollutants, often present at high concentrations in the wastewater, were generally absent from the infiltrated water except carbamazepine which was in 55% of samples (up to 193 ng/L). There was no correlation between carbamazepine concentrations and the presence of microorganisms but highest concentrations of carbamazepine and boron coincided. A treatment such as nanofiltration would be necessary for the infiltrated water to be a safe potable supply.     

Anthropometric, socioeconomic, and maternal health determinants of placental transfer of organochlorine compounds

The aim of this study was to relate placental transfer, quantified by the cord to maternal serum concentration ratio (C/M), of five organochlorine pesticides (OCP) hexachlorobenzene (HCB), β-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH), γ-hexachlorocyclohexane (γ-HCH) , p,p'-DDT, p,p'-DDE and 15 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners (28, 52, 101, 105, 114, 118, 123⁺¹⁴⁹, 138⁺¹⁶³, 153, 156⁺¹⁷¹, 157, 167, 170, 180, and 189) to anthropometric, socioeconomic, and maternal health characteristics. We included into the study 1,134 births during the period 2002–2004 from two districts in eastern Slovakia with high organochlorine concentrations relative to other areas of the world. Only concentrations >LOD were taken into account. Variables as age, weight and height of mothers, parity, ethnicity, alcohol consumption, illness during pregnancy, smoking during pregnancy, hypertension, respiratory diseases, rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes mellitus, and birth weight were related to C/M. Results of regression analyses showed that C/M was predicted by several factors studied. Positive associations were observed for gestational alcohol consumption, fewer illnesses during pregnancy, maternal age, and maternal weight. Caucasians had a greater C/M compared to Romani for wet weight data of congeners 170 and 180 and in contrast C/M for HCB was greater in Romani. Our results show that drinking mothers compared to abstaining expose their fetuses not only to alcohol but to an increased level of several PCB congeners. A straightforward explanation of associations between C/M shifts and factors studied is very difficult, however, with regard to the high lipophilicity of OCPs and PCBs, changes in their kinetics probably reflect lipid kinetics.     

Optimizing the APC residue washing process to minimize the release of chloride and heavy metals

An optimization of the air pollution control (APC) residue washing process was carried out to minimize the release of chloride and heavy metals. Taking into account economic parameters such as the consumption of water and reaction time, the best relation found was a S/L ratio of 1/3 during 1 h. At a laboratory scale and according to the values obtained for chloride and heavy metals, the APC residue is classified as non-special according to Catalonian Regulations (Spain). Moreover, the pH of the solution, when MgSO(4) is added during the washing process, may be controlled by the formation of gypsum. In these conditions, the concentration of heavy metals will decrease as a consequence of the formation of their respective insoluble hydroxides. Therefore, the counter-current batch washing process with the addition of small amounts of MgSO(4) is revealed as an economically feasible treatment of the APC residue. This washed residue is ready to be used as secondary material or to be landfilled safely.