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Microwave Irradiation Pre-Treatment as a Sustainable Method to Obtain Bioactive Hydrolysates from Chicken Feathers
No full textChicken feathers constitute a major by-product from the poultry industry, with a potential environmental impact and significant difficulties in their management. This study aimed to develop a sustainable method to hydrolyse chicken feathers and evaluate the effects of microwave (MW) irradiation pre-treatment in the generation of bioactive hydrolysates by simple or sequential hydrolysis with Alcalase. The hydrolysate with MW irradiation pre-treatment and Alcalase (2%, 2 h) (MWA) showed the highest overall antioxidant activity and neprilysin-inhibitory activity (55%), whereas samples without MW irradiation pre-treatment exerted the highest inhibitory activity of dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP IV) and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE-I), with values close to 50 and 70%, respectively. Mass spectrometry in tandem of bioactive hydrolysates was performed, and an in silico approach was used to characterise the obtained sequences. These results confirmed that MW irradiation pre-treatment improved Alcalase hydrolysis, leading to the generation of bioactive peptides with potential multifunctional properties, including antioxidant, antidiabetic, and antihypertensive activities. Moreover, this study highlights the potential of combining MW irradiation and enzymatic hydrolysis as a sustainable strategy for the revalorisation of chicken feathers.Grant PID2023-153058OB-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and FEDER a way of making Europe, and grant PRE2022-105147 to A. Torices-Hernández funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and European Social Fund Plus, and the accreditation as Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa CEX2021-001189-S, also funded by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033, are fully acknowledged.With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2021-001189-S)Peer reviewe
Datos suplementarios de la tesis "Realización de escala de medida de la función de distribución de reflectancia bidireccional (BRDF) en el rango espectral del infrarrojo cercano"
No full textEn este repositorio se encuentran los resultados correspondientes a la BRDF (Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function) y la BRDF relativa, como datos complementarios a la tesis "Realización de escala de medida de la función de distribución de reflectancia bidireccional (BRDF) en el rango espectral del infrarrojo cercano"Peer reviewe
Impacto inmediato del laboreo sobre la calidad del suelo en un viñedo en la D.O.P. Somontano (Huesca, Aragón) manejado con cubierta espontánea.
No full text[EN] Immediate impact of tillage on soil health in a D.O.P. Somontano (Huesca, Aragón) vineyard previously managed with spontaneous vegetation. In vineyards, soil management using plant covers might cause a competition for water and nutrients, which could lead to reductions in yield. In the medium to long term,
establishing a vegetal ground cover in the vineyard may enhance soil properties, but this impact strongly depends on the edaphoclimatic conditions of each plot. Consequently, this work aims at determining the effect of a surface tillage on several soil health indicators and the wa ter status in a vineyard located in Somontano
(Huesca) that has been managed with spontaneous vegetation during the previous five years. Soil physical and chemical properties were not altered by tillage; however, biological properties (microbial biomass, diversity of arthropods) were considerably reduced. Moreover, spontaneous vegetation did not affect grapevine water status. This suggests that establishing a plant cover is a sustainable alternative to tillage under the conditions of this study.[ES] En viñedos, el manejo del suelo con cubiertas vegetales puede generar una competencia por
agua y nutrientes, lo que podría disminuir el rendimiento. A medio–largo plazo, la implantación de una cubierta vegetal en el viñedo puede mejorar las propiedades del suelo, pero dicho impacto es muy dependiente de las
condiciones edafoclimáticas de cada parcela. Por ello, este trabajo tiene como objetivo determinar el efecto de un laboreo superficial sobre diversos indicadores de salud del suelo y el estado hídrico en un viñedo del Somontano (Huesca) gestionado con una cubierta espontánea durante los cinco años previos. Las propiedades físico–químicas del suelo apenas se alteraron con el laboreo, mientras que las biológicas (actividad microbiana y diversidad de artrópodos) se redujeron drásticamente. Además, la cubierta vegetal no tuvo un impacto negativo sobre el estado hídrico de la vid. Esto sugiere que la cubierta vegetal puede ser una alternativa sostenible frente al laboreo en la zona de estudio.Este estudio forma parte del programa AGROALNEXT y ha sido financiado por MCIN con
fondos de la Unión Europea NextGenerationEU (PRTR–C17.I1).Peer reviewe
Re-weighing the 5% tagging recommendation: assessing the potential impacts of tags on the behaviour and body condition of bats
No full textConsiderable advances and breakthroughs in wildlife tracking technology have occurred in recent years, allowing researchers to gain insights into the movements and behaviours of a broad range of animals. Considering the accessibility and increase in use of tracking devices in wildlife studies, it is important to better understand the effects on these on animals. Our endeavour revisits a guideline established in 1988, which proposes that bats may encounter body condition or health problems and alter their behaviour when carrying tags weighing more than 5% of their body mass. Through a systematic literature review, we conducted a meta-analysis to identify the impacts of tags on bats, including 367 papers from 1976 to 2023 that discussed, mentioned, employed, or quantified tagging of bats. We noted that the proportion of studies exceeding the 5% rule has not changed in recent years. However, the impact of tags was quantified in few studies for behaviour (n = 7) and body condition (n = 10) of bats. We were unable to assess whether tags weighing less or more than 5% of the bat's body mass impacted bats, but our meta-analysis did identify that tags, irrespective of mass, affect the behaviour and body condition of bats. Although the overall magnitude of measured effects of tags on bats was small, progress has been made to advance our understanding of tag mass on bats. Naturally, there is a bias in reporting of significant results, illustrating the need of reporting results when there is no apparent effect of tags on bats. Our findings highlight the need for rigorous reporting of behaviour and body condition data associated with tagging of animals and illustrate the importance for studies comparing how tracking devices of different dimensions and masses may impact bat species to ensure research meets rigorous ethical standards.MBM and TML were supported by the Academy of Finland (no. 339265 and 331515) and MBM by Kone Foundation (no. 202007611). ET was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation project through the European Regional Development Fund (SUMHAL, LIFEWATCH-2019-09-CSIC-4, POPE 2014-2020) and the ULTIMATE project (TED2021-131835B-I00). TJW was funded by USDA Forest Service annual research appropriations. LS was funded by a research grant (no. 41386) from VILLUM FONDEN.Peer reviewe
Commercially relevant species in the Mediterranean Sea: A perspective from Late Pleistocene to the Industrial Revolution
No full text11 pages, 8 figues, 4 tables, supplementary data https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2025.106242.-- Data availability: All data produced for this work are available in the main manuscript and the supplementary material. The data provided by Leal et al. (2025) regarding the database and timetable is available through the following link: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14726420The Mediterranean Sea is the world's second-largest biodiversity hotspot and has been impacted by several environmental changes and human activities since pre-historic times. We present the results of a systematic review of the published literature on the nature and extent of these impacts on the ancient-historic Mediterranean marine ecosystems. We aim to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge and identify research gaps about climate and human-activity impacts on commercially relevant species of marine mammals, fishes, and molluscs in the Mediterranean Sea over the last 130 thousand years until the Industrial Revolution (the year 1850). In most of the reviewed publications, species were used as indicators of past climatic conditions or human subsistence strategies. A research gap remains, however, in quantifying their effects on marine ecosystems. Based on our results, we identify data trends in time and space and by functional group. Data are available primarily from the Holocene rather than the Late Pleistocene, reflecting a heterogeneous availability of records. The Adriatic Sea is underrepresented among subregions, which may indicate variability of accessible data between subregions rather than an actual lack of information. Marine mammals were less studied than fishes and molluscs in the three subregions. Despite the lack of standardised guidelines to conduct studies and the subsequent variability in information, this work can provide novel insights into the importance of studying the evolution of research focused on past environmental and anthropogenic impacts in the Mediterranean Sea. Research efforts need to be balanced to examine both economically and ecologically valuable species in the marine ecosystem. We also reinforce the need for uniforming approaches to gather data in a useable format for posterior researchThis work was supported by the Erasmus+ Program Grant no. 2022-1-PT01-KA131-HED-000061155. The author acknowledges the institutional support of the Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S). This research contributes to the objectives of Q-MARE (a PAGES working group). This research is part of the Integrated Marine Ecosystem Assessments (iMARES) research group funded by Agència de Gestió d'Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca (Generalitat de Catalunya) Grant no. 2021 SGR 00435Peer reviewe
Aplicaciones del análisis de redes ecológicas al estudio de especies clave: Aproximaciones mono y multicapa.
No full textMedel, Rodrigo; Traveset, Anna; Navarro, Luis (Editores)El concepto de especie clave se aplica a aquellas que pueden tener una influencia desproporcionada sobre la persistencia de muchas otras, sobre la estructura espacial y abundancia relativa de las especies que conforman una comunidad o sobre los procesos y funciones de un ecosistema. Para evaluar el papel clave de una especie, es necesario tener en cuenta su participación en más de un tipo de interacción (competidores, depredadores, mutualistas) o en más de una función ecosistémica. Por tanto, la aproximación al análisis de especies clave a través del estudio de redes ecológicas debe incorporar múltiples tipos de interacciones, en lo que se denomina una aproximación «multicapa». En este capítulo utilizamos como ejemplos principales tres tipos de redes: redes de reclutamiento entre plantas, redes planta-polinizadores y redes planta-hongo micorrícico. Estas redes permiten explorar distintas formas de identificar posibles especies clave, tanto dentro de una capa como entre capas. Comenzamos revisando los descriptores básicos de una red ecológica y cómo se pueden emplear en la identificación de especies clave en redes «monocapa» para, finalmente, plantear distintas posibilidades que permitan extender la identificación de especies clave al contexto de las redes «multicapa», un contexto que nos permitirá considerar de forma más explícita la naturaleza compleja de los ecosistemas.Las ideas plasmadas en este trabajo se han desarrollado gracias a la financiación de los Programas Estatales de I+D (MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033; proyectos CGL2015-69118-C2-2-P y PGC2018-100966-B-I00), del Programa Operativo FEDER Andalucía 2014-2020 (proyecto FEDER-UJA 2018/1261180) y del Programa Operativo Plurirregional de España (POPE) 2014-2020 (proyecto LifeWatch ERIC – SUMHAL, LIFEWATCH-2019-09-CSIC-13; WP05 y WP09), todos ellos cofinanciados por fondos FEDER «Una manera de hacer Europa».Peer reviewe
Growth of Donor (solid circles) and Recipients + Transconjugants (hollow circles) during the first hour of mating in conjugation experiments of R388 (black, right) and pKM101 (red, left) carrying cells at 1:10,000 D:R ratios as detailed in Fig 2A in the main text [Dataset]
No full textANOVA testing comparing the four populations at 0 and 60 minutes after mating began gave p > 0.05 in all but R388 Recipients’ growth. B) Growth curves for donor and recipients in matings using plasmid R388 (black circles, upper graph) and pKM101 (red circles, lower graph) fitting showed that doubling times were >60 minutes for all strains analyzed.Peer reviewe
Plasmids used in this work [Dataset]
No full textPlasmid conjugation is a major route for the dissemination of antibiotic resistances and adaptive genes among bacterial populations. Obtaining precise conjugation rates is thus key to understanding how antibiotic resistances spread. Plasmid conjugation is typically modeled as a density-dependent process, where the formation of new transconjugants depends on the rate of encounters between donor and receptor cells. By analyzing conjugation dynamics at different cell concentrations, here we show that this assumption only holds at very low bacterial densities. At higher cell concentrations, conjugation becomes limited by the engagement time, the interval required between two successful matings. Plasmid conjugation therefore follows a Holling´s Type II functional response, characterized by the encounter rate and the engagement time, which represent, respectively, the density and frequency-dependent limits of plasmid transmission. Our results demonstrate that these parameters are characteristic of the transfer machinery, rather than the entire plasmid genome, and that they are robust to environmental and transcriptional perturbation. Precise parameterization of plasmid conjugation will contribute to better understanding the propagation dynamics of antimicrobial resistances.Peer reviewe
Informe en relación con la solicitud de autorización de vertido al mar de las aguas residuales depuradas de la EDAR de Formentera, TM Formentera
No full textN
In Vouchers We (Hope to) Trust: Unveiling Hidden Errors in GenBank's Tetrapod Taxonomic Foundations
No full text8 pages, 1 figure, 1 tableGenetic repositories are invaluable resources foundational to various biological disciplines. While their data and metadata reliability are essential for robust research outcomes, numerous studies have highlighted data quality and consistency issues. Here, we detect and quantify errors at the most fundamental level by analysing the congruence of sequences derived from the same genetic marker and specimen voucher across tetrapods. Our analysis reveals that 32% of re-sequenced vouchers (with identical field or museum numbers) yield unequal sequences, ranging from a few mutations to significant divergences (0.06%–33.95%). These divergences may result from sample misidentification, labelling errors, fidelity disparities between sequencing methods, or contamination at various stages of the research process. Our findings demonstrate errors within GenBank at its most basal level and suggest that, although undetectable, a similar error rate likely exists in non-re-sequenced data. These previously overlooked errors are concerning because they arise from replicated experiments, which are uncommon, and raise serious questions about the reliability of non-re-sequenced specimens. Such errors can compromise the accuracy of biodiversity assessments (e.g., taxonomic assessment, eDNA and barcoding), phylogenetic analyses and conservation planning by artificially inflating the intraspecific divergence or misidentifying (to-be-described) species. Additionally, the accuracy of large-scale biological studies that rely on such data can be compromised. Our concerning results call for protocols ensuring sample traceability to the specimens or tissues during the whole process of data generation, analysis and deposition in a database. We propose a third-party annotation system for individual GenBank records that would allow flagging common errors and alert both the original submitter and all users to potential problems without modifying the original recordsThis work was supported by Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Agencia Estatal de Investigación 10.13039/501100011033.Peer reviewe