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[ES] El despliegue de la energía solar fotovoltaica es fundamental para la descarbonización de nuestra economía y para la transición ecológica. Tal despliegue ha de enmarcarse en el Reglamento (UE) 2020/852 (Reglamento de Taxonomía), una pieza clave en el Plan de Finanzas Sostenibles de la Unión Europea. Dicho Reglamento establece que una actividad económica será medioambientalmente sostenible cuando contribuya sustancialmente a uno o varios de los objetivos medioambientales establecidos en el artículo 9, entre los que se encuentran: a) mitigación del cambio climático b) adaptación al cambio climático. Por lo tanto, la energía solar fotovoltaica cumple con los requisitos para ser considerara como una actividad económica sostenible. Sin embargo, si esta tecnología se implanta sin una adecuada planificación territorial, puede tener efectos adversos que cuestionen su sostenibilidad ambiental. Específicamente, el Reglamento de Taxonomía establece que una actividad económica no será medioambientalmente sostenible si causa perjuicio significativo a alguno de los objetivos establecidos en el artículo 9, entre los que se cita: f) protección y recuperación de la biodiversidad y los ecosistemas. En consecuencia, la hipótesis de partida de este proyecto es que la consideración de las plantas fotovoltaicas como actividad económica ambientalmente sostenible depende del equilibrio entre los beneficios que aporta a la mitigación del cambio climático y adaptación al mismo y los perjuicios que su despliegue puede causar a la biodiversidad, a los ecosistemas, al paisaje y al tejido socioeconómico del mundo rural. Este proyecto pretende contribuir a la resolución de tal conflicto abordando 2 objetivos principales: 1. Estudiar cómo se está produciendo el despliegue de las plantas de energía fotovoltaica en una zona de especial interés para las mismas, para evaluar si esta actividad económica puede considerarse medioambientalmente sostenible en base al Reglamento 2020/852. 2. Realizar u, [EN] The deployment of solar photovoltaic energy is essential for the decarbonization of our economy and for the ecological transition. Such deployment has to be framed within the framework of Regulation (EU) 2020/852 (Taxonomy Regulation), a key part of the European Union's Sustainable Finance Plan. Such Regulation establishes that an economic activity will be environmentally sustainable when it substantially contributes to one or more of the environmental objectives set out in Article 9, including: a) climate change mitigation. b) adaptation to climate change. Therefore, solar photovoltaic energy meets the requirements to be considered as a sustainable economic activity. However, if this technology is implemented without adequate land management and planning, it may have adverse effects that call into question its environmental sustainability. Specifically, the Taxonomy Regulation establishes that an economic activity will not be environmentally sustainable if it causes significant detriment to any of the objectives established in Article 9, among which are: f) protection and recovery of biodiversity and ecosystems. Consequently, the starting hypothesis of this project is that the consideration of photovoltaic plants as an environmentally sustainable economic activity depends, to a large extent, on the balance between the benefits they bring to climate change mitigation and adaptation and the damage that their deployment may cause to biodiversity, ecosystems, landscape and the socioeconomic fabric of the rural world. This project aims to contribute to the resolution of such a conflict by addressing two main objectives: 1. To study how the deployment of photovoltaic power plants is taking place in an area of special interest for them, in order to assess whether this economic activity can be considered environmentally sustainable based on Regulation 2020/852. 2. To make a land-use planning proposal that specifies minimum criteria and requirements to be met by photov

Peatlands are considered the most efficient ecosystem for long-term storage of atmospheric carbon (C). However, reasons for variations in C accumulation within peatlands remain largely unexplained. Using a comprehensive multi-level approach combining soil-atmosphere C exchanges, microbial extracellular enzyme activities, and genome-resolved cellular and viral metagenomics, we endeavored to decipher the microbial determinants and their role in C dynamics in the bog and fen of a European peatland. Overall, the bog exhibited a higher C content and dissolved organic carbon concentration. Despite contrasting geochemical conditions, these differences were not explained by environmental parameters nor the vegetation. Metagenomic analyses revealed varying microbial community composition, the bog being less diverse and dominated by Acidobacteriota and the fen comprising five predominant phyla (Crenarcheota, Chloroflexota, Proteobacteria, Desulfobacterota and Acidobacteriota). Both bog and fen microbial communities were stable between spring and summer. Yet, similar CO2 emissions were recorded in both bog and fen, along with similar organic matter (OM) decomposition microbial activities and potential. Ultimately, the bog harbored significantly more viruses than the fen. Most intriguingly, these viruses were predicted to target Acidobacteriota, the phyla displaying the highest OM-degrading capacity in the bog. By impairing the activity of the dominant players in OM degradation, viruses might have a significant role in C dynamics in the bog over time. In addition, we propose that low microbial diversity limited cross-feeding opportunities in the bog, further limiting C degradation. Taken together, this study deciphers the role of microbial communities driving C accumulation in peatlands and, consequently, peatland ecosystem functioning

Microsatellite data, DNA sequences and their corresponding GenBank Accession nos. are deposited in the CSIC institutional repository (http://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/85523). Geographical coordinates of the locations used to model the ecological niche of the trumpeter finch from its current range are provided in Table S4 (Supporting Information) and the R-script for running the ecological niche models are available in GitHub (https://github.com/SaraVarela/Bucanetes)., Phylogeographical studies are common in boreal and temperate species from the Palaearctic, but scarce in arid-adapted species. We used nuclear and mitochondrial markers to investigate phylogeography and to estimate chronology of colonization events of the trumpeter finch Bucanetes githagineus, an arid-adapted bird. We used 271 samples from 16 populations, most of which were fresh samples but including some museum specimens. Microsatellite data showed no clear grouping according to the sampling locations. Microsatellite and mitochondrial data showed the clearest differentiation between Maghreb and Canary Islands and between Maghreb and Western Sahara. Mitochondrial data suggest differentiation between different Maghreb populations and among Maghreb and Near East populations, between Iberian Peninsula and Canary Islands, as well as between Western Sahara and Maghreb. Our coalescence analyses indicate that the trumpeter finch colonized North Africa during the humid Marine Isotope Stage 5 (MIS5) period of the Sahara region 125 000 years ago. We constructed an ecological niche model (ENM) to estimate the geographical distribution of climatically suitable habitats for the trumpeter finch. We tested whether changes in the species range in relation to glacial–interglacial cycles could be responsible for observed patterns of genetic diversity and structure. Modelling results matched with those from genetic data as the species' potential range increases in interglacial scenarios (in the present climatic scenario and during MIS5) and decreases in glacial climates (during the last glacial maximum, LGM, 21 000 years ago). Our results suggest that the trumpeter finch responded to Pleistocene climatic changes by expanding and contracting its range., Depto. de Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución, Fac. de Ciencias Biológicas, TRUE, pub

The Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) is an endangered bird species identified in Annex I of the Birds Directive (79/409/EEC) as requiring special protection measures. It is scarce in Almería, where breeding nuclei were restricted to the plains of Los Vélez (on the northern provincial boundary with Granada) and the plains of Fernán-Pérez (in the Cabo de Gata Natural Park) in 2019 census. Here we present for the first time its reproduction in Campo de Tabernas, a semiarid area in Almería province, which means an increase of the range of the species in that province. During the spring-summer of 2022, four pairs of Lesser Kestrel in were found in this area, two of them breeding with apparent success. Campo de Tabernas could be a suitable area for the Lesser Kestrel if a management program of nesting sites specifically designed for the species were run. We suggest such program should be based on the appropriate management of bridges and other human infrastructures (e.g. buildings in the villages of the area) and be supported by the Administration.

Our aim was to characterize the species composition of ground herb covers present in the olive groves and their semi-natural adjacent habitats of the southern Iberian Peninsula (Andalucia, Spain), according to herb cover management and landscape complexity of each grove. We selected 40 paired olive farms from 20 localities across Andalucía.