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Doñana National Park is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, where water scarcity is recurrent, together with a high heterogeneity in species and ecosystems. Monitoring carbon assimilation is essential to improve knowledge of global change in natural vegetation cover. In this work, a light use efficiency (LUE) model was applied to estimate gross primary production (GPP) in two ecosystems of Doñana, xeric shrub (drought resistant) and seasonal marsh (with grasslands dependent on water hydroperiod) and validated with in situ data from eddy covariance (EC) towers installed in both ecosystems. The model was applied in two ways: (1) using the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FAPAR) from Sentinel-2 and meteorological data from reanalysis (ERA5), and (2) using Sentinel-2 FAPAR, reanalysis solar radiation (ERA5) and the Sentinel-2 land surface water index (LSWI). In both cases and for both ecosystems, the error values are acceptable (below 1 gC/m2) and in both ecosystems the model using the LSWI gave better results (R2 of 0.8 in marshes and 0.51 in xeric shrubs). The results also show a greater influence of the water status of the system than of the meteorological variables in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation, the Iberian Peninsula served as a faunal and human population refugium. Human foodways have always played a pivotal role in understanding social and cultural practices in prehistory. Nonetheless, the limited number of archaeological sites and human remains in this region hinders the complete understanding of these critical communities' diet. To increase our knowledge about human consumption patterns, we selected three Magdalenian levels from the site of El Pirulejo (Southern Iberia Peninsula, Spain). These levels are characterized by a high abundance of rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) remains (76-97% MNI), initially suggesting that rabbits were the primary source of protein for site inhabitants. Stable isotope analysis was conducted on two human teeth in tandem with stable isotope analysis of the rabbit teeth. Contrary to the expectations derived from the zooarchaeological analysis, rabbits were not a significant source of dietary protein. Carbon and nitrogen bulk isotopic values are the most enriched found in sampled human remains for this area and context. Our data supports aquatic food resource inclusion and increased resource diversity among Iberian hunter-gatherers during the Magdalenian. This study is consistent with previous studies that suggested a socio-economic network among human groups between inland and coastal regions in the terminal Pleistocene Southern Iberia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fossil gathering by humans has been rarely documented in the Iberian Peninsula. In the present paper, a multidisciplinary approach has been taken to analyze a straight-tusked elephant ( Elephas antiquus) molar retrieved in a Magdalenian deposit at the rock shelter of El Pirulejo in southern Spain. The taphonomical analyses revealed a multifarious use of a tooth that had not only been worked into an anvil-sort-of-tool but also used as a core and partly tainted with a composite pigment. The dating and geochemical analyses further evidenced that the molar derived from an animal that had lived in a rather arid landscape with a temperature range between 12.3 and 14.3 °C coincident with a cold episode within marine isotope stage (MIS) 6.6 and probably fed on herbaceous plants. These analyses evidence the potential fossils from archaeological sites bear for addressing a wide range of issues that include both the cultural and paleoenvironmental realms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The assessment of trace metal content in our fish diet is important due to the adverse effect on human health. Despite the increasing interest about the fish quality, little information is available for Southern Spain, a region characterized by high seafood intake. Nine species from the Bay of Cádiz with high commercial value were selected. Similar values were measured in the nine studied species for most of the elements, except for the macroelements Ca and S, and the microelements Fe, Mn and As, which showed significant differences among species. Metal Pollution Index (MPI) did not differ among species, and it was similar to those obtained for other Atlantic and Mediterranean locations. The values measured for the nine species were below the health limits provided by World, European and Spanish legislations, indicating that, in general terms, consumption of these species is safe in the study area. • Trace and major elements are measured in nine commercial fish species. • Similar values are obtained for most elements, except for Ca, S, Fe, Mn and As. • Metal Pollution Index does not differ among species. • Values are below the limits provided by World, European and Spanish legislations. • Consumption of these fish species is safe in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Net Primary Production as monitoring indicator of holm oak savanna management. • Adaptation of a LUE-model to estimate pasture production in a holm oak savanna ecosystem. • LUE-model at regional scale throughout 2013/2014 and 2014/2015. • LUE-model at field scale throughout 2015/2016 and 2016/2017. The management of large areas such as the dehesa (a multifunctional agrosilvopastoral system) , with approximately 3 million ha in the Iberian Peninsula, requires effective tools to help decision-making on different scales. This work focuses on the monitoring of pasture production using remote sensors. An adaptation of a Light Use Efficiency (LUE) model has been applied using meteorological data and satellite images on two scales: Regional scale – the dehesa area of Andalusia (Southern Spain) with data of the MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS, MOD09Q1 product) during the hydrological years 2013/2104 and 2014/2015; on a field scale – after pasture improvements, using the earth observation satellites SENTINEL-2 during the hydrological years 2015–2016 and 2016–2017. The adaptation of the model proposed in this work pays special attention to: the spatial and temporal interpolation of meteorological variables; the presence of a tree layer as part of the ecosystem that influences spectral data and needs to be taken into account and subtracted accordingly; the estimation of the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation absorbed by the pasture (fPAR); and the empirical estimation of the light use efficiency for natural grasslands, using biomass field measurements. The results obtained presented an error of around 13%, considered adequate for the applications addressed in this study, suggesting that this approach can be useful as an indicator for monitoring the net primary production in this ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely argued that low-cost carriers (LCCs) lead to an increase in tourism demand. However, there is no conclusive evidence when the airport is located in a region with large diaspora and outbound tourism. To gain insight into the relationship between LCCs and international tourism demand, we analyse whether a causal relationship exists between the number of international LCC passengers at the Porto airport and international tourism demand in the Galicia-North Portugal Euroregion using a vector autoregressive model. We evaluate the dynamics of the impacts of the LCC international passengers on international inbound tourism demand in a tourism demand model framework. The main findings are that the number of LCC international passengers has a positive influence on the number of nights spent by international guests in hotels and similar establishments and that the calculated monthly average injection of money into the economy is between 3 and 4.1 million € for North Portugal and between 1.4 and 2 million € for Galicia (Spain). • Quantification of effects of low cost airlines on international inbound tourism demand. • Cointegration analysis and tourism demand model framework. • Elasticities and their confidence interval are estimated for explanatory factors. • Injections into the circular flow of income. • Neighbouring regions with large diaspora and non international tourist destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of marinas as infrastructures for recreational boating is increasing substantially. However, information on their soft-bottom benthic communities, a key tool for managing programmes, is still scarce. We combined environment features with macro- and meiofaunal soft-bottom community information for assessing the ecological status of marinas with an integrative approach. To address this issue, we focused on eight marinas of the Southern Iberian Peninsula. Macro- and meiofauna data revealed high benthic heterogeneity at a spatial scale. The environmental variables which correlated best with macrofauna were mainly phosphorus, granulometry, and total organic carbon, and secondarily important variables were faecal coliforms, the biocide Irgarol, and heavy metals; total hydrocarbon concentration was also significant for meiofauna. Annelida was the dominant phylum in terms of number of species (37%) and abundance (66%) and were better descriptors of the environmental conditions than Arthropoda and Mollusca. Although identification to the species level is desirable and mandatory for assessing biological pollution, significant differences among marinas and correlations between fauna and abiotic variables were already detected at the level of family and order. This implies that biota assessment at higher levels may still be useful in monitoring programmes limited by time and budget constraints. The major novelty of this study lies in the development of an integrative assessment method based on the following selected ecological indicators: Marinas Environmental Pollution Index (MEPI), Biocontamination Index (BCI), macrofaunal biotic indices (AMBI, M-AMBI, BENTIX, MEDOCC and BENFES), macrofaunal taxa richness and Shannon-Wiener's diversity, and nematode:copepod index. This approach was able to discriminate marinas of the Southern Iberian Peninsula based on their ecological status, which ranged from poor to good. The method can be useful to design standards for assigning "sustainable quality seals" to those marinas with better values of ecological indicators. [Display omitted] • An integrative method for quality assessment is developed and proposed for marinas. • Correlations between fauna and abiotic data are detected at family and order level. • Soft-bottom benthic communities are key tools for managing programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]