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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- ItemOpen AccessBarrel: an R package for reproducible and tidy ordination plotting in ecology(Wiley, 2026) Barranco-Elena, Diego; Baraibar Padró, BàrbaraAimOrdination methods are widely used in vegetation science to summarize multivariate patterns in species composition and environmental gradients. Although statistical tools for fitting ordination models are well developed in R, tools for producing tidy, reproducible, and extensible way remain fragmented. We present barrel, an R package that provides a modular grammar for ecological ordination plotting based on the ggplot2 ecosystem.Methodsbarrel implements a consistent interface for adding ordination elements such as confidence ellipses, group centroids, and environmental vectors to ordination diagrams. The package supports both unconstrained and constrained ordination methods and includes automatic axis labeling, significance-based filtering, and multiple geometric representations. The package also supports both classical and robust estimation of group ellipses for graphical summaries in the presence of ecological outliers.Resultsbarrel enables the rapid construction of reproducible ordination graphics through two complementary interfaces: autoplot() for automated figure generation and stat_barrel_*() layers for advanced customization within ggplot2. The package facilitates exploratory analysis, teaching, and the production of publication-quality ordination figures across a wide range of ecological applications.Conclusionsbarrel provides a reproducible and extensible framework for ordination plotting in R that unifies common ecological visualization workflows within a tidy and customizable grammar-of-graphics approach.
- ItemOpen AccessEffects of undernutrition and hydroxytyrosol supplementation in late pregnancy on growth and metabolic and endocrine profiles of male beef offspring during the fattening phase(MDPI, 2026) Akesolo-Atutxa, Olaia; López de Armentia, Leire; Noya Clavé, AgustíMaternal undernutrition in late gestation can compromise fetal development and postnatal productivity in beef cattle. This study evaluated whether maternal supplementation with hydroxytyrosol (HT)—a potent antioxidant from olive by-products—during late gestation could alleviate the effects of undernutrition on growth, concentrate conversion ratio, and metabolic and endocrine adaptation of male offspring during the fattening phase. Forty-six multiparous pregnant cows were assigned to four dietary treatments combining nutritional level (T100% vs. T60% of nutritional requirements) and HT supplementation (CONTROL vs. HT at 180 mg/kg of diet) exclusively during the last third of pregnancy. Maternal undernutrition reduced calf morphometric development at the beginning of fattening (4 months), although compensatory growth enabled recovery by slaughter (12 months). For live weight (LW), the feeding level and HT interaction showed a tendency (p = 0.084), but pairwise comparisons within the restricted groups suggested that calves from HT-supplemented dams were 31 kg heavier at slaughter than calves from non-supplemented dams (p = 0.023). HT supplementation was also associated with higher plasma urea concentrations at 12 months in restricted calves, suggesting potential adaptations in nitrogen metabolism without changes in glucose or IGF-1 profiles. In summary, these findings might support our hypothesis suggesting potential benefits in the development of male offspring from HT-supplemented cows during the last third.
- ItemOpen AccessEvaluating urban landscape and remotely sensed vegetation indices to explain wild boar presence in Barcelona(MDPI, 2026) Escobar-González, María; Ibáñez-Álvarez, Miguel; Torres-Blas, Irene; Tampach, Stefania; Clavero, Aser; Lavín González, Santiago; Mentaberre García, Gregorio; López Olvera, Jorge R.; Serrano, EmmanuelUrbanisation is reshaping ecosystems and increasing human–wildlife interactions. Wild boar (Sus scrofa), a highly adaptable species, is increasingly common in European cities, where it exploits natural and anthropogenic resources, often leading to conflict. Predicting when and where wild boars enter urban areas remains challenging, particularly using scalable tools such as remote sensing. Here, we show that temporal and spatial drivers of urban presence are decoupled in Barcelona over a 14-year period. Seasonal vegetation dynamics influenced the timing of urban incursions, with peaks in spring and late summer associated with changes in vegetation moisture and likely reinforced by increased energetic demands during reproduction and early lactation. However, remotely sensed vegetation indices captured these dynamics only partially, limiting their predictive power when used alone. Spatial variation in urban green area use was primarily explained by landscape structure, with proximity to streams and habitat fragmentation contributing similarly. Green areas near natural corridors were concentrated higher and had more variable presence, while heterogeneous landscapes likely facilitated repeated use by increasing access to foraging and refuge. Integrating remote sensing with landscape metrics can improve the anticipation and management of human–wildlife conflicts.
- ItemOpen AccessOleogels as β-carotene delivery systems: influence of structure on absorption, retinol conversion and tissue biodistribution in rats(Elsevier, 2026) Ramezani, Mohsen; Teixé-Roig, Júlia; Martín Belloso, Olga; Salvia Trujillo, Laura; Oms Oliu, GemmaThis study investigated whether oleogel microstructure and hardness influence the biological performance of β-carotene (βC). We compared a soft lecithin oleogel (βC-OLEC), a hard hydrogenated-lecithin oleogel (βC-OHLEC), and a standard oleogel (βC-OGS) against a corn oil control. Results showed that oleogels, particularly βC-OLEC and βC-OGS, significantly enhanced jejunal βC accumulation compared to liquid oil indicating enhanced protection, solubilization and intestinal uptake. βC-OLEC exhibited the highest plasma βC levels, likely due to lecithin-facilitated micelle formation and lymphatic absorption. Hepatic data confirmed efficient uptake and conversion to retinol for these formulations. While peripheral storage was similar across groups, βC-OLEC matched the control in providing systemic active vitamin A and maintained higher retinol concentrations in the distal intestine. These findings demonstrate that delivery system structure and composition are critical for bioavailability, highlighting lecithin-based oleogels as effective vehicles for improving βC absorption.
- ItemOpen AccessRhizomatic Communities: Myths of Belonging in the Indian Ocean World(Ateneo de Manila University, 2023) Pujolràs-Noguer, Esther; Hand, FelicityThis special issue, “Rhizomatic Communities: Myths of Belonging in the Indian Ocean World,” seeks to dismantle the myth of belonging which intrudes in identity constructions and, simultaneously, enhances the in-betweenness that defines a rhizomatic understanding of historical, socio-cultural and national affiliations in the Indian Ocean. The texts we explore here express the need to belong but they also highlight the fact that there is no unilateral sense of belonging. This special issue is formulated upon the theoretical paradigm of the aesthetics of remembering, a theoretical tool that studies postcolonial expressions of selfhood through three axes: empathy, identification and mourning. The recognition of a deep-seated communal self is a key factor in the functionality of our aesthetics of remembering which brings to the fore the rhizomatic nature of Indian Ocean culture. As an alternative to the tree-like construction of knowledge that has defined Western philosophy, the rhizome, as presented by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in A Thousand Plateaus, advocates for a planar, horizontal, non-hierarchical model of thinking in continuous expansion. We have proposed an innovative study of contemporary Indian Ocean literature in English that combines former critical appreciations of the area as a porous, flexible and permeable space with our more recent aesthetics of remembering which envisions the space as a rhizomatic community expanding its roots in a trans-oceanic manner. Therefore, we claim that the authors discussed in this volume —2021 Nobel prize winner, Abdulrazak Gurnah, M. G. Vassanji, Nayomi Munaweera, Ronnie Govender, Imraan Coovadia, Lindsey Collen, Amitav Ghosh and Tishani Doshi construct rhizomatic narrations that connect worlds spatially and temporally through acts of empathy and mourning performances.