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Background and Aims Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi enhance the uptake of water and minerals by the plant hosts, alleviating plant stress. Therefore, AM fungal–plant interactions are particularly important in drylands and other stressful ecosystems. We aimed to determine the combined and independent effects of above- and below-ground plant community attributes (i.e. diversity and composition), soil heterogeneity and spatial covariates on the spatial structure of the AM fungal communities in a semiarid Mediterranean scrubland. Furthermore, we evaluated how the phylogenetic relatedness of both plants and AM fungi shapes these symbiotic relationships. Methods We characterized the composition and diversity of AM fungal and plant communities in a dry Mediterranean scrubland taxonomically and phylogenetically, using DNA metabarcoding and a spatially explicit sampling design at the plant neighbourhood scale. Key Results The above- and below-ground plant community attributes, soil physicochemical properties and spatial variables explained unique fractions of AM fungal diversity and composition. Mainly, variations in plant composition affected the AM fungal composition and diversity. Our results also showed that particular AM fungal taxa tended to be associated with closely related plant species, suggesting the existence of a phylogenetic signal. Although soil texture, fertility and pH affected AM fungal community assembly, spatial factors had a greater influence on AM fungal community composition and diversity than soil physicochemical properties. Conclusions Our results highlight that the more easily accessible above-ground vegetation is a reliable indicator of the linkages between plant roots and AM fungi. We also emphasize the importance of soil physicochemical properties in addition to below-ground plant information, while accounting for the phylogenetic relationships of both plants and fungi, because these factors improve our ability to predict the relationships betw, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO), Comunidad de Madrid, Depto. de Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución, Depto. de Farmacología, Farmacognosia y Botánica, Fac. de Ciencias Biológicas, Fac. de Farmacia, TRUE, pub

Significance: This paper introduces gypsum ecosystem research to southern Africa. It is the result of current joint efforts to compare African gypsum ecosystems with those in other parts of the world. We highlight the expansion of an international network through joint projects and training of young scientists. We propose a research agenda to sensitise the ecological community in Africa to the significance of life on gypsum and to demystify the existence of gypsum soil and associated ecosystems in southern Africa.

[EN] The development of devices relying on spin phenomena requires of an ideal spin polarized electron source. This can be achieved by taking advantage of half-metallic full Heusler alloy thin films. However, their implementation requires a controlled growth of stoichiometric films with large activation volumes. In this work, we report on the growth of epitaxial Fe3Si ultra-thin films by pulsed laser deposition on SrTiO3(001) substrates, analyzing the effect of deposition temperature in the structural, morphological and magnetic properties of the deposited films. We conclude that optimal compromise between phase purity and interface quality is obtained at 200 ºC, obtaining the best magnetic response under this condition.

In this paper, labor efficiency in the rural hotel industry is analyzed while considering the characteristics regarding labor and infrastructure of the various Spanish provinces. The methodological procedure consisted of the analysis of 52 Spanish provinces. As analysis, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Multivariate Analysis have been used. Although rural tourism is consolidated in the Spanish holiday culture, the effect of labor efficiency on Spanish provinces is uneven. Performance depends on the geographical area; thus, labor efficiency is only achieved in Asturias and Balearic Islands, where rural tourism has a strong and positive impact on employment. The variable length of stay of the holiday period carries important weight for labor efficiency to be reached in said provinces. It can be observed that hotels located in places with charm and with special environmental protection contribute directly to the labor efficiency of the area due to the direct relationship between the area of protected land and the labor efficiency of the province. Several provincial groups are established with a variety of different characteristics, which confirms that the level of labor efficiency in the sector has yet to be maximized.

El presente artículo es producto de una investigación con enfoque cualitativo y de tipo descriptivo, realizada en la UNAD, cuyo objetivo fue promover la ampliación de la estrategia b-learning, a través de una ruta de cursos obligatorios y electivos, que conlleven a mejorar las competencias en lectura y escritura de los estudiantes de las licenciaturas, en el que se demuestra la pertinencia e impacto de la estrategia. En el documento se presentan metodología empleada y resultados del estudio.

In research on tourism and protected natural areas, two tendencies are evident: one shows tourism as an element that contributes to local welfare and socio–economic development, while the other links tourism in these areas to excessively restrictive regulations that hinder tourist activity and thus rural development. This work contributes to these investigations and sets out the objective of determining the relationship between protected natural areas, nature tourism and its impact as a backbone for rural development. To this end, the protected areas of the region of Andalusia (Spain) are analysed, applying statistical techniques of Multivariate Analysis for the study. Tourism, employment and socio–economic dynamism, tourism efficiency, the quality of natural resources, territorial promotion and investment activities and tourism resources are identified as factors that characterise the regional protected natural areas. These factors have a positive impact on 75% of the territory, which shows that these areas are real assets for rural and local development in the region. Tourism as an activity benefits from the resources and values of these areas, contributing to the territorial development of rural areas in need of revitalisation., En las investigaciones sobre turismo y espacios naturales protegidos, se manifiestan dos tendencias, en una el turismo se muestra como elemento que contribuye al bienestar local y al desarrollo socioeconómico, mientras que otra, vincula el turismo en dichos espacios, a una normativa excesivamente restrictiva que dificulta la actividad turística y con ello el desarrollo rural. Este trabajo, contribuye a estas investigaciones y plantea el objetivo de determinar la relación existente entre los espacios naturales protegidos, el turismo de naturaleza y su impacto como eje vertebrador para el desarrollo rural. Para ello, se analizan los espacios protegidos de la región de Andalucía (España), aplicándose para el estudio técnicas estadísticas de Análisis Multivariante. Se identifican el dinamismo turístico, laboral y socioeconómico, la eficacia turística, la calidad de los recursos naturales, las actividades de fomento e inversión territorial y los recursos turísticos como factores que caracterizan los espacios naturales protegidos regionales. Dichos factores tienen un impacto positivo en el 75% del territorio, lo que muestra que estos espacios son activos reales del desarrollo rural y local de la región. El turismo como actividad se beneficia de los recursos y valores de estas zonas, contribuyendo al desarrollo territorial de áreas rurales necesitadas de revitalización.

[ES] Las abejas son un grupo extremadamente diverso con más de 1000 especies descritas en la península ibérica. Además, son excelentes polinizadores y aportan numerosos servicios ecosistémicos fundamentales para la mayoría de ecosistemas terrestres. Debido a los diversos cambios ambientales inducidos por el ser humano, existen evidencias del declive de algunas de sus poblaciones para ciertas especies. Sin embargo, conocemos muy poco del estado de conservación de la mayoría de especies y de muchas de ellas ignoramos cuál es su distribución en la península ibérica. En este trabajo presentamos un esfuerzo colaborativo para crear una base de datos de ocurrencias de abejas que abarca la península ibérica e islas Baleares que permitirá resolver cuestiones como la distribución de las diferentes especies, preferencia de hábitat, fenología o tendencias históricas. En su versión actual, esta base de datos contiene un total de 87 684 registros de 923 especies recolectados entre 1830 y 2022, de los cuales un 87% presentan información georreferenciada. Para cada registro se incluye información relativa a la localidad de muestreo (89%), identificador y colector de la especie (64%), fecha de captura (54%) y planta donde se recolectó (20%). Creemos que esta base de datos es el punto de partida para conocer y conservar mejor la biodiversidad de abejas en la península ibérica e Islas Baleares, [EN] Bees are a diverse group with more than 1000 species known from the Iberian Peninsula. They have increasingly received special attention due to their important role as pollinators and providers of ecosystem services. In addition, various rapid human-induced environmental changes are leading to the decline of some of its populations. However, we know very little about the conservation status of most species and for many species, we hardly know their true distributions across the Iberian Peninsula. Here, we present a collaborative effort to collate and curate a database of Iberian bee occurrences to answer questions about their distribution, habitat preference, phenology, or historical trends. In total we have accumulated 87 684 records from the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands of 923 different species with 87% of georeferenced records collected between 1830 and 2022. In addition, each record has associated information such as the sampling location (89%), collector and person who identified the species (64%), date of the capture (54%) and plant species where the bees were captured (20%). We believe that this database is the starting point to better understand and conserve bee biodiversity in the Iberian Peninsula.

The analysis of plant elemental composition and the underlying factors affecting its variation are a current hot topic in ecology. Ecological adaptation to atypical soils may shift plant elemental composition. However, no previous studies have evaluated its relevance against other factors such as phylogeny, climate or individual soil conditions. We evaluated the effect of the phylogeny, environment (climate, soil), and affinity to gypsum soils on the elemental composition of 83 taxa typical of Iberian gypsum ecosystems. We used a new statistical procedure (multiple phylogenetic variance decomposition, MPVD) to decompose total explained variance by different factors across all nodes in the phylogenetic tree of target species (covering 120 million years of Angiosperm evolution). Our results highlight the relevance of phylogeny on the elemental composition of plants both at early (with the development of key preadaptive traits) and recent divergence times (diversification of the Iberian gypsum flora concurrent with Iberian gypsum deposit accumulation). Despite the predominant phylogenetic effect, plant adaptation to gypsum soils had a strong impact on the elemental composition of plants, particularly on sulphur concentrations, while climate and soil effects were smaller. Accordingly, we detected a convergent evolution of gypsum specialists from different lineages on increased sulphur and magnesium foliar concentrations.