Publicacions de projectes de recerca del Plan Nacional

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Publicacions resultants de projectes de recerca del Plan Nacional.

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    Open Access
    Spatial and temporal variations of overstory and understory fuels in Mediterranean landscapes
    (Elsevier, 2021) Sánchez Pinillos, Martina; De Cáceres, Miquel; Casals, Pere; Álvarez, Albert; Beltrán, Mario; Pausas, Juli G. (Juli Garcia); Vayreda, Jordi; Coll Mir, Lluís
    Mediterranean forests are prone to fire and highly diverse in environmental conditions, species composition, and forest structure. While much is known about fire hazard and forest responses to fire in Mediterranean climate regions, our understanding of the spatial distribution of fuel characteristics and their dynamics remains incomplete. We hypothesized that fire hazard in heterogeneous Mediterranean regions is primarily explained by the variation in fuel loading and flammability characteristics of the understory layer across the landscape and over time. We used the Spanish National Forest Inventory data to estimate overstory and understory fuel characteristics, compare their spatial and temporal variations across Catalonia (NE Spain) over the last 25 years, and assess the role of climate conditions in explaining spatial distribution and dynamics of fuel characteristics. Our results showed that fuel characteristics strongly depend on the species composition of the overstory and understory layers. Fuel characteristics of both vegetation layers were significantly different and poorly correlated with each other. Although both strata showed significantly different rates of change in most fuel characteristics, the average changes were, in general, very small for the time window considered. Forests in the warmest and driest environments showed the highest flammability characteristics in both overstory and understory layers in contrast to mountain communities. We did not find, however, a remarkable effect of climatic conditions on the rates of change of fuel characteristics during the study period. Altogether, these findings confirm the importance of considering the spatial variation of fuel characteristics of different vegetation strata separately and provide critical information on forest vulnerability to develop appropriate fire mitigation policies in Mediterranean ecosystems.
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    Open Access
    Study of the corporate social responsibility in the leather tanning sector
    (Sage, 2023-05-06) Pons, Adrià; Rius Torrentó, Josep Maria; Vintró Sánchez, Carla; López Sorribes, Sergi
    Reasons to adopt Corporate Social Responsibility reporting by leather tanning companies must primarily be sought in the specific nature of the industry, where leather is a material from renewable sources, however part of its manufacture process might pose one of the gravest environmental hazards in the world. The tanning industry appears, therefore, as a sector compiling CSR reports expected to confirm its environment-friendly actions. The purpose of this research is to examine and understand CSR roles and diffusion in the small and medium enterprises of the leather tanning industry in Catalonia (Spain), especially in relation with the adoption of other management systems. It identifies the most distinguished CSR practices, procedures and metrics and the profiles of companies more prone to adopt them. We used a qualitative approach to fulfill this aim. Results show that leather companies are familiar with CSR practices, but there is further scope for improvement in terms of formalization of CSR procedures and measurement systems. Results show that the majority of socially responsible practices are related to environmental issues and consequently there is a relation between CSR and the application of environmental management systems. The analysis reveals that the management of CSR activities improves with the diffusion of knowledge on CSR practices.
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    Open Access
    Disease in regenerating pine forests linked to temperature and pathogen spillover from the canopy
    (Wiley, 2022) Caballol, Maria; Méndez-Cartín Ana Lucía; Serradó, Francesc; De Cáceres, Miquel; Coll Mir, Lluís; Oliva Palau, Jonàs
    1. Previous investigations of the role of pathogens as drivers of community dynamics in forests have mostly focused on interspecific interactions between canopy trees and seedlings via soil feedbacks. However, feedbacks can also occur directly between canopy trees and seedlings when spores of foliar and stem pathogens fall onto seedlings regenerating underneath the canopy. 2. We studied pathogen spillover between canopy trees and conspecific and heterospecific regeneration in the Pinus nigra-Diplodia sapinea pathosystem. We sampled 70 pine stands distributed across a temperature gradient of 9.5-13.7°C (mean annual temperature). In each stand, we linked spore load and spore survival in the canopy with pathogen biomass and disease severity in regenerating seedlings. The density of regenerating seedlings and the health status of conspecific and heterospecific seedlings were also measured. The strength of canopy-understorey interactions was correlated with both climatic and stand variables. 3. The most severe symptoms of disease in regenerating seedlings were found in the warmest stands. Structural equation models suggested that disease severity in seedlings was mediated by an increased spore spillover from the canopy. Temperature also increased the pathogen survival rate within seedlings, further contributing to disease severity. Interestingly, disease severity in the canopy did not correlate with spore load in the canopy, suggesting that adult trees were spilling pathogens onto the understorey regardless of their health status. Pathogen spillover increased in more open stands. Greater disease severity in seedlings correlated with stands with a higher density of oak seedlings. Synthesis. 4. These results suggest an understudied mechanism of the Janzen-Connell theory, according to which, canopy-understorey negative feedbacks could be driven by canopy pathogens. Our data also suggest that temperature shapes canopy-understorey interactions, which implies that under a warming climate scenario, an acceleration of conspecific negative feedbacks could be expected, with implications for forest regeneration dynamics.
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    Open Access
    Polysaccharide-based structured lipid carriers for the delivery of curcumin: An in vitro digestion study
    (Elsevier, 2023) Velderrain Rodríguez, Gustavo R.; Fontes-Candia, Cynthia; López-Rubio, Amparo; Martínez-Sanz, Marta; Martín Belloso, Olga; Salvia Trujillo, Laura
    The present work aimed at studying the in vitro digestion fate of κ-carrageenan (KC) or agar (AG) emulsion gels (EG), and KC oil-filled aerogels (OAG) in terms of their structural changes, lipolysis kinetics and curcumin bioaccessibility. On the one hand, both EG and aerogels showed large (70–200 µm) and heterogeneous particles after gastric conditions, indicating the release of bulk oil and gelled material. Nonetheless, this material release in the stomach phase was lower in the case of EG-AG and OAG-KC compared to EG-KC. After small intestinal conditions, EG and oil-filled aerogels presented a wide range of particle sizes probably due to the presence of undigested lipid material, gelled structures, as well as lipid digestion products. For the most part, adding curcumin to the structures’ lipid phase did not cause of the structural modifications that occurred at the different in vitro digestion phases. On the other hand, the lipolysis kinetics was different depending on the type of structure. Amongst emulsion-gels, those formulated with κ-carrageenan presented a slower and lower lipolysis kinetics compared to those formulated with agar, which could be attributed to their higher initial hardness. Overall, the addition of curcumin in the lipid phase decreased the lipolysis in all the structures, which evidenced its interference in the lipid digestion process. The curcumin bioaccessibility reached high values (≈ 100 %) for all the studied structures, presenting a high solubility in intestinal fluids. This work unravels the implications of microstructural changes of emulsion-gels and oil-filled aerogels during digestion and their impact on their digestibility and subsequent functionality.
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    Open Access
    Un viaje de exploración interior: Emociones y estado de ánimo en la práctica motriz introyectiva
    (Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Murcia, 2014) Rovira Bahillo, Glòria; López Ros, Víctor; Lagardera Otero, Francisco; Lavega i Burgués, Pere; March Llanes, Jaume
    Esta contribución muestra los efectos que las prácticas motrices introyectivas (PMI) de cooperación tuvieron sobre la vivencia emocional y el estado de ánimo de un grupo de 91 estudiantes universitarios. Sus objetivos fueron: investigar si las PMI de cooperación afectan a la intensidad de las emociones positivas, negativas y ambiguas en hombres y mujeres; identificar si modifican la intensidad del estado de ánimo; y comprobar si poseer historial deportivo afectaba o no a la intensidad de la vivencia emocional y el estado de ánimo. Los instrumentos de recogida de datos fueron el cuestionario GES (Games and Emotion Scale) y el POMS (Profile of Moods States). El análisis de los datos se realizó mediante un modelo basado en ecuaciones de estimación generalizadas (GEE). Las PMI de cooperación provocaron valores intensos de emociones positivas, valores intermedios de emociones ambiguas y valores inferiores de emociones negativas. Después de las PMI disminuyó significativamente la intensidad del estado de ánimo en los factores de Tensión-Ansiedad; Rabia-Hostilidad y Vigor-Actividad. Se comprobó que los participantes con historial deportivo experimentaron con menor intensidad las emociones negativas y tenían estados de ánimo menos intensos en el factor Tensión-Ansiedad. Puede concluirse que las PMI cooperativas estimulan la vivencia de emociones positivas y tienen efectos positivos en el estado de ánimo de los participantes.