Biodiversity conservation in an anthropized landscape: Trees, not patch size drive, bird community composition in a low-input agroecosystem

ERIC MELLINK BIJTEL (2017, [Artículo])

One of the most typical agro-ecosystems in the Llanos de Ojuelos, a semi-arid region of central Mexico, is that of fruit-production orchards of nopales (prickly pear cacti). This perennial habitat with complex vertical structure provides refuge and food for at least 112 species of birds throughout the year. Nopal orchards vary in their internal structure, size and shrub/ tree composition, yet these factors have unknown effects on the animals that use them. To further understand the conservation potential of this agro-ecosystem, we evaluated the effects of patch-size and the presence of trees on bird community composition, as well as several habitat variables, through an information-theoretical modelling approach. Community composition was obtained through a year of census transects in 12 orchards. The presence of trees in the orchards was the major driver of bird communities followed by seasonality; bird communities are independent of patch size, except for small orchard patches that benefit black-chin sparrows, which are considered a sensitive species. At least 55 species of six trophic guilds (insectivores, granivores, carnivores, nectivores, omnivores, and frugivores) used the orchards. Orchards provide adequate habitat and food resources for several sensitive species of resident and migratory sparrows. The attributes that make orchards important for birds: trees, shrubs, herb seeds, and open patches can be managed to maintain native biodiversity in highly anthropized regions with an urgent need to find convergence between production and biological conservation. © 2017 Mellink et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

agroecosystem, carnivore, chin, conservation biology, driver, frugivore, granivore, habitat, human, insectivore, landscape, nonhuman, omnivore, orchard, resident, seasonal variation, shrub, sparrow, theoretical model, agriculture, animal, biodiversit CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA

Physiological and molecular aspects of seed longevity: exploring intra-species variation in eight Pisum sativum L. accessions

Maraeva Gianella Daniele Dondi Andreas Börner Anca Macovei Andrea Pagano Filippo Guzzon Alma Balestrazzi (2022, [Artículo])

Thermogravimetry CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CARBOHYDRATES PROLINE TOCOPHEROLS GENETICS PHYSIOLOGY PEAS SEEDS SUGARS DIFFERENTIAL SCANNING CALORIMETRY SEED LONGEVITY THERMOGRAVIMETRIC ANALYSIS

Applications of in vitro tissue culture technologies in breeding and genetic improvement of wheat

Akila Wijerathna-Yapa BHOJA BASNET (2022, [Artículo])

Wheat Biotechnology Genome Editing Cas9 CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CRISPR GENE EDITING TISSUE CULTURE WHEAT BIOTECHNOLOGY

Contrasting spatial patterns in active-fire and fire-suppressed mediterranean climate old-growth mixed conifer forests

Danny L. Fry  (2014, [Artículo])

In Mediterranean environments in western North America, historic fire regimes in frequent-fire conifer forests are highly variable both temporally and spatially. This complexity influenced forest structure and spatial patterns, but some of this diversity has been lost due to anthropogenic disruption of ecosystem processes, including fire. Information from reference forest sites can help management efforts to restore forests conditions that may be more resilient to future changes in disturbance regimes and climate. In this study, we characterize tree spatial patterns using four-ha stem maps from four old-growth, Jeffrey pine-mixed conifer forests, two with active-fire regimes in northwestern Mexico and two that experienced fire exclusion in the southern Sierra Nevada. Most of the trees were in patches, averaging six to 11 trees per patch at 0.007 to 0.014 ha-1, and occupied 27-46% of the study areas. Average canopy gap sizes (0.04 ha) covering 11-20% of the area were not significantly different among sites. The putative main effects of fire exclusion were higher densities of single trees in smaller size classes, larger proportion of trees (≥56%) in large patches (≥10 trees), and decreases in spatial complexity. While a homogenization of forest structure has been a typical result from fire exclusion, some similarities in patch, single tree, and gap attributes were maintained at these sites. These within-stand descriptions provide spatially relevant benchmarks from which to manage for structural heterogeneity in frequent-fire forest types.

article, climate, controlled study, ecosystem fire history, forest structure, geographic distribution, geographic mapping, land use, mathematical computing, mathematical model, Mexico, spatial analysis, taiga, United States, comparative study, conife CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA

Los seres alados y solares del arte maya en el Norte de Yucatán

Rubén Morante (2023, [Capítulo de libro])

En nuestro trabajo de campo en el norte de Yucatán estudiamos la iconografía de sitios como Chichén Itzá, Ek Balam y Mayapán. En ellos observamos esculturas con gran calidad artística de seres humanos que portan alas y que, por ello, se presentan como seres celestes relacionados con deidades del panteón maya de los periodos Clásico tardío, Clásico terminal y Posclásico temprano. Para esta investigación partimos de un breve contexto etnohistórico, geográfico y arqueológico de otros sitios mayas, del centro y oriente de México, incluyendo imágenes de códices y pinturas que nos hablan del posible significado que las plumas, las alas y las aves tuvieron en Mesoamérica. Procedimos al análisis de las figuras aladas que se presentan en relación con importantes edificios de sitios del norte de Yucatán. La advocación solar que sugieren parece haber sido común y en esta zona, no sólo hablan de los grandes artistas que los esculpieron, sino de un sistema de creencias que pudo emanar de tradiciones mayas muy tempranas, que en el siglo IX d.C. se manifiesta de manera clara mediante un estilo depurado, una maestría técnica y una alta sensibilidad estética.

In our field work in northern Yucatán we studied the iconography of sites such as Chichén Itzá, Ek Balam, and Mayapán. There we saw great artistic quality sculptures of human beings that carry wings, and because of that we think that represented celestial beings related to deities of the Mayan pantheon of Late Classic, Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic periods. In our research we started with reviews of ethnohistorical, geographical and archaeological contexts in other Mayan sites, from central and eastern Mexico, including images from codices and paintings that tell us about the possible meaning of feathers, wings and birds in Mesoamerica. We proceeded analyze winged figures presented in relation to important buildings in northern Yucatán sites. Solar evocation suggested probably was common in this area and, sculptures not only speak about belief systems that could emanate from very early Mayan traditions, but also speak about great artists, that in 9th century AD. clearly manifested it through a refined style, technical mastery and high aesthetic sensitivity.

Arte maya, seres alados, Norte de Yucatán, Chchén Itzá, Ek Balam. Mayan art, feathers and birds, Northern Yucatán. Maya art--Themes, motives. Maya arts--Mexico--Yucatán (State) Maya sculpture--Themes, motives. Maya mythology. Arte maya. Mitología maya. F1435.3.A7 HUMANIDADES Y CIENCIAS DE LA CONDUCTA CIENCIAS DE LAS ARTES Y LAS LETRAS TEORÍA, ANÁLISIS Y CRÍTICA DE LAS BELLAS ARTES

Rapid effects of marine reserves via larval dispersal

Richard Cudney Bueno (2009, [Artículo])

Marine reserves have been advocated worldwide as conservation and fishery management tools. It is argued that they can protect ecosystems and also benefit fisheries via density-dependent spillover of adults and enhanced larval dispersal into fishing areas. However, while evidence has shown that marine reserves can meet conservation targets, their effects on fisheries are less understood. In particular, the basic question of if and over what temporal and spatial scales reserves can benefit fished populations via larval dispersal remains unanswered. We tested predictions of a larval transport model for a marine reserve network in the Gulf of California, Mexico, via field oceanography and repeated density counts of recently settled juvenile commercial mollusks before and after reserve establishment. We show that local retention of larvae within a reserve network can take place with enhanced, but spatially-explicit, recruitment to local fisheries. Enhancement occurred rapidly (2 yrs), with up to a three-fold increase in density of juveniles found in fished areas at the downstream edge of the reserve network, but other fishing areas within the network were unaffected. These findings were consistent with our model predictions. Our findings underscore the potential benefits of protecting larval sources and show that enhancement in recruitment can be manifested rapidly. However, benefits can be markedly variable within a local seascape. Hence, effects of marine reserve networks, positive or negative, may be overlooked when only focusing on overall responses and not considering finer spatially-explicit responses within a reserve network and its adjacent fishing grounds. Our results therefore call for future research on marine reserves that addresses this variability in order to help frame appropriate scenarios for the spatial management scales of interest. © 2009 Cudney-Bueno et al.

article, environmental monitoring, fishery, larva, marine environment, marine species, Mexico, mollusc, nonhuman, oceanography, prediction, animal, biology, environmental protection, food industry, geography, growth, development and aging, larva, met CIENCIAS FÍSICO MATEMÁTICAS Y CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA CIENCIAS DE LA TIERRA Y DEL ESPACIO OCEANOGRAFÍA OCEANOGRAFÍA

Re-establishment of the genus Pseudalbizzia (Leguminosae, Caesalpinioideae, mimosoid clade): the New World species formerly placed in Albizia

GABRIELA AVILES PERAZA Erik Koenen Ricarda Riina Colin Hughes Jens Ringelberg GERMAN CARNEVALI FERNANDEZ CONCHA Ivón Mercedes Ramírez Morillo Lilia Lorena Can Itza Iván Tamayo-Cen Jorge Humberto Ramírez Prado Xavier Cornejo Sawai Mattapha RODRIGO STEFANO DUNO (2022, [Artículo])

Following recent mimosoid phylogenetic and phylogenomic studies demonstrating the non-monophyly of the genus Albizia, we present a new molecular phylogeny focused on the neotropical species in the genus, with much denser taxon sampling than previous studies. Our aims were to test the monophyly of the neotropical section Arthrosamanea, resolve species relationships, and gain insights into the evolution of fruit morphology. We perform a Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of sequences of nuclear internal and external transcribed spacer regions and trace the evolution of fruit dehiscence and lomentiform pods. Our results find further support for the non-monophyly of the genus Albizia, and confirm the previously proposed segregation of

Hesperalbizia, Hydrochorea, Balizia and Pseudosamanea. All species that were sampled from section Arthrosamanea form a clade that is sister to a clade composed of Jupunba, Punjuba, Balizia and Hydrochorea. We find that lomentiform fruits are independently derived from indehiscent septate fruits in both Hydrochorea and section Arthrosamanea. Our results show that morphological adaptations to hydrochory, associated with shifts into seasonally flooded habitats, have occurred several times independently in different geographic areas and different lineages within the ingoid clade. This suggests that environmental conditions have likely played a key role in the evolution of fruit types in Albizia and related genera. We resurrect the name Pseudalbizzia to accommodate the species of section Arthrosamanea, except for two species that were not sampled here but have been shown in other studies to be more closely related to other ingoid genera and we restrict the name Albizia s.s. to the species from Africa, Madagascar, Asia, Australia, and the Pacific. Twenty-one new nomenclatural combinations in Pseudalbizzia are proposed, including 16 species and 5 infraspecific varietal names. In addition to the type species Pseudalbizzia berteroana, the genus has 17 species distributed across tropical regions of the Americas, including the Caribbean. Finally, a new infrageneric classification into five sections is proposed and a distribution map of the species of Pseudalbizzia is presented.

ARTHROSAMANEA HYDROCHORY MONOPHYLY NEOTROPICS PHYLOGENY TAXONOMY BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA VEGETAL (BOTÁNICA) TAXONOMÍA VEGETAL TAXONOMÍA VEGETAL

Fortalecimiento y puesta en marcha del observatorio de conflictos por el agua en México

Ricardo Víctor López Mera Rita Vázquez del Mercado Arribas Gemma Millán ROBERTO ROMERO PEREZ (2015, [Documento de trabajo])

El propósito del proyecto fue actualizar y mantener la base de datos del observatorio de conflictos por el agua, el cual muestra información sobre la problemática hídrica en el país. La información del observatorio está basada, principalmente, en fuentes hemerográficas de circulación nacional.

Conflictos por agua Sitios web Artículos periodísticos CIENCIAS SOCIALES

Using an incomplete block design to allocate lines to environments improves sparse genome-based prediction in plant breeding

Osval Antonio Montesinos-Lopez ABELARDO MONTESINOS LOPEZ RICARDO ACOSTA DIAZ Rajeev Varshney Jose Crossa ALISON BENTLEY (2022, [Artículo])

Genomic selection (GS) is a predictive methodology that trains statistical machine-learning models with a reference population that is used to perform genome-enabled predictions of new lines. In plant breeding, it has the potential to increase the speed and reduce the cost of selection. However, to optimize resources, sparse testing methods have been proposed. A common approach is to guarantee a proportion of nonoverlapping and overlapping lines allocated randomly in locations, that is, lines appearing in some locations but not in all. In this study we propose using incomplete block designs (IBD), principally, for the allocation of lines to locations in such a way that not all lines are observed in all locations. We compare this allocation with a random allocation of lines to locations guaranteeing that the lines are allocated to

the same number of locations as under the IBD design. We implemented this benchmarking on several crop data sets under the Bayesian genomic best linear unbiased predictor (GBLUP) model, finding that allocation under the principle of IBD outperformed random allocation by between 1.4% and 26.5% across locations, traits, and data sets in terms of mean square error. Although a wide range of performance improvements were observed, our results provide evidence that using IBD for the allocation of lines to locations can help improve predictive performance compared with random allocation. This has the potential to be applied to large-scale plant breeding programs.

CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA Bayes Theorem Genome Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Models, Genetic Plant Breeding

Multi-trait, multi-environment deep learning modeling for genomic-enabled prediction of plant traits

Osval Antonio Montesinos-Lopez Jose Crossa Francisco Javier Martin Vallejo (2018, [Artículo])

Deep Learning Genomic Prediction Bayesian Modeling Shared Data Resources CIENCIAS AGROPECUARIAS Y BIOTECNOLOGÍA BAYESIAN THEORY RESOURCES DATA BREEDING PROGRAMMES