Publicacions de projectes finançats per la Unió Europea
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Publicacions resultants de les investigacions finançades pel 7è Programa Marc, pel Programa H2020 i l’European Research Council de la Unió Europea, recollides en el Projecte OpenAIRE (Open Access Infraestructure for Research in Europe) que promou l’accés obert a Europa.
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- ItemOpen AccessThe wildland – urban interface in Europe: Spatial patterns and associations with socioeconomic and demographic variables(Elsevier B.V., 2023) Bar-Massada, Avi; Alcasena Urdíroz, Fermín J.; Schug, Franz; Radeloff, Volker C.The wildland – urban interface (WUI) is the zone where human settlements are in or near areas of fire-prone wildland vegetation. The WUI is widespread and expanding, with detrimental consequences to human lives, property, and neighboring ecosystems. While the WUI has been mapped in many regions, Europe does not have a high resolution WUI map to date. Moreover, while most WUI research has been focused on quantifying spatial and temporal patterns, little is known about the relationship between the WUI and the socioeconomic conditions that drive its formation. Here, we present the first high-resolution map of the European WUI and provide the first macro-scale analysis of the relationship between the WUI and some of its potential drivers. We found that the WUI covers about 7.4 % of Europe, but its extent varies considerably both across and within countries, with sub-national WUI cover varying from nearly zero to almost 90 %. WUI cover is significantly related to socioeconomic variables such as GDP per capita, the proportion of the population above 65 years old, population density, road density, and the proportion of protected areas, but these effects are complex and interactive. This suggests that WUI drivers are likely to differ across and within countries, and hints about the importance of both top-down and local socioeconomic processes in driving the WUI. Our new WUI map can facilitate local as well as regional-scale wildfire risk and ecological assessments that inform policy and management decisions aimed at reducing the detrimental outcomes of the WUI in Europe.
- ItemOpen AccessAssessing Relativeness in the Provision of Urban Ecosystem Services: Better Comparison Methods for Improved Well-Being(MDPI, 2023) Krsnik, Goran; Reyes-Paecke, Sonia; Reynolds, Keith M.; Garcia Gonzalo, Jordi; González-Olabarria, José RamónIn this study, we evaluated alternative methods for comparing the provision of ecosystem services among urban areas, stressing how the choice of comparison method affects the ability to compare the ecosystem service outcomes, in order to improve the management actions in urban green areas, reduce environmental inequality, and ensure satisfactory levels of human well-being. For the analysis, ten spatial indicators were quantified to assess the provision of urban ecosystem services in Barcelona, Spain, and Santiago, Chile. Two comparison methods were applied in both cities to evaluate the differences in their provision scores. The analysis was performed using the Ecosystem Management Decision Support (EMDS) system, a spatially enabled decision support framework for environmental management. The results depicted changes in the values of the provision of ecosystem services depending on the methodological approach applied. When the data were analysed separately for each city, both cities registered a wide range of provision values across the city districts, varying from very low to very high values. However, when the analysis was based on the data for both cities, the provision scores in Santiago decreased, while they increased in Barcelona, showing relativeness and a discrepancy in their provisions, hindering an appropriate planning definition. Our results emphasise the importance of the choice of comparison approach in the analyses of urban ecosystem services and the need for further studies on these comparison methods.
- ItemOpen AccessApplication of deep learning techniques to minimize the cost of operation of a hybrid solar-biomass system in a multi-family building(Elsevier, 2023) Zsembinszki, Gabriel; Fernàndez Camon, César; Borri, Emiliano; Cabeza, Luisa F.Concerns related to climate change put renewable energy at the centre of most of the policies aimed at achieving a deep decarbonisation of the building sector. The combined use of two or more renewable energy sources in the same energy system can lead to an increase in the total share of renewable energy and in the flexibility of the system. In this direction, the SolBio-Rev project aims to develop an innovative system that uses solar thermal collectors and a biomass boiler to meet energy demand in buildings in different climatic regions. An advanced control that used deep reinforcement learning techniques was considered in this paper to find an optimal control strategy for a specific SolBio-Rev system installed in a standard multi-family residential building located in Madrid. The advanced control was developed to minimize the total cost of operation of the system. The results indicated that the advanced control strategy achieved a cost reduction of 35% in winter, compared to a standard rule-based control strategy. However, the improved control was not able to produce a significant cost reduction in summer.
- ItemOpen AccessEvolution and Development of Amygdala Subdivisions: Pallial, Subpallial, and Beyond(Karger Publishers, 2023-01) Medina Hernández, Loreta Mª; Abellán Ródenas, Antonio; Morales, Lorena; Pross, Alessandra; Metwalli, Alek H.; González Alonso, Alba; Freixes, Júlia; Desfilis, EsterThe amygdala is a central node in functional networks regulating emotions, social behavior, and social cognition. It develops in the telencephalon and includes pallial and subpallial parts, but these are extremely complex with multiple subdivisions, cell types, and connections. The homology of the amygdala in nonmammals is highly controversial, especially for the pallial part, and we are still far from understanding general principles on its organization that are common to different groups. Here, we review data on the adult functional architecture and developmental genoarchitecture of the amygdala in different amniotes (mammals and sauropsids), which are helping to disentangle and to better understand this complex structure. The use of an evolutionary developmental biology (evo-devo) approach has helped distinguish three major divisions in the amygdala, derived from the pallium, the subpallium, and from a newly identified division called telencephalon-opto-hypothalamic domain (TOH). This approach has also helped identify homologous cell populations with identical embryonic origins and molecular profiles in the amygdala of different amniotes. While subpallial cells produce different subtypes of GABAergic neurons, the pallium and TOH are major sources of glutamatergic cells. Available data point to a development-based molecular code that contributes to shape distinct functional subsystems in the amygdala, and comparative genoarchitecture is helping to delineate the cells involved in same subsystems in non-mammals. Thus, the evodevo approach can provide crucial information to understand common organizing principles of the amygdala cells and networks that control behavior, emotions, and cognition in amniotes.
- ItemOpen AccessFirst report of glyphosate resistance in an Amaranthus palmeri population from Europe(WILEY, 2023) Manicardi, Alfredo; Milani, Andrea; Scarabel, Laura; Mora, Germán; Recasens i Guinjuan, Jordi; Llenes; José María Montull; Joel TorraThe invasive weed Amaranthus palmeri is spreading throughout Spain, with Catalonia being one of the most affected regions. For this species, acetolactate synthase-inhibiting herbicide-resistant populations have been reported, and now glyphosate resistance is also suspected. Glyphosate targets and inhibits the enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS), but A. palmeri has evolved different resistant mechanisms leading to plant survival. One of the most effective is the EPSPS overexpression due to copy number variation (CNV). Gene copies accumulate within the EPSPS cassette that is an extrachromosomal circular DNA displaying unique structural polymorphisms. This study aims to determine the response to glyphosate of a suspected resistant population collected from a roadside and investigate the resistance mechanism involved. The herbicide bioassay confirmed that 40% of the plants survived glyphosate applied at 540 g a.i. ha 1 . No known mutations endowing glyphosate resistance were found at EPSPS amongst confirmed resistant plants, while in most of them (70%) specific molecular markers revealed the presence of the EPSPS cassette. All these results indicate that this population is glyphosate resistant and it is very likely that the EPSPS gene CNV is the main resistance mechanism. This is the first case of glyphosate resistance in A. palmeri in Europe whose introduction is likely due to importation of contaminated seed with glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth from the Americas. This introduction poses a significant danger to summer crops in our continent.