Recent studies have found increases in the cardiovascular mortality rates during poor air quality events due to outbreaks of desert dust. In Tenerife, we collected (2014–2017) data in 829 patients admitted with a heart failure diagnosis in the Emergency Department of the University Hospital of the Canaries. In this region, concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 are usually low (~20 and 10 g/m3), but they increase to 360 and 115 g/m3, respectively, during Saharan dust events. By using statistical tools (including multivariable logistic regressions), we compared in-hospital mortality of patients with heart failure and exposure to PM10 and PM2.5 during dust and no-dust events. We found that 86% of in-hospital heart failure mortality cases occurred during Saharan dust episodes that resulted in PM10 > 50 g/m3 (interquartile range: 71–96 g/m3). A multivariate analysis showed that, after adjusting for other covariates, exposure to Saharan dust events associated with PM10 > 50 g/m3 was an independent predictor of heart failure in-hospital mortality (OR = 2.79, 95% CI (1.066–7.332), p = 0.03). In conclusion, this study demonstrates that exposure to high Saharan dust concentrations is independently associated with in-hospital mortality in patients with heart failure.

O património é hoje uma palavra na boca de todos. Foi criado por nações e instituições, estudado por intelectuais e cientistas, criticado pela sua capacidade de gerar conflitos em relação à identidade e à memória. Tem sido mercantilizado globalmente com base em critérios semelhantes, da Tailândia à Bolívia. Mas essas investigações partiram principalmente do pressuposto de que o património é algo dado, bom e valioso em si mesmo e que sempre existiu. Por isso, o conceito de património não tem sido questionado como categoria, ou seja, como forma de relação própria das sociedades fetichistas e, portanto, historicamente determinada e com raízes histórico-culturais intrinsecamente ligadas ao surgimento e expansão do capitalismo e à epistemologia do iluminismo, moderna e ocidental. Este livro propõe uma crítica à categoria «património» a partir de uma etnografia da região de Maragatería, Espanha. A etnografia analisa empiricamente as transformações e processos que levam, ou não, o património a existir entre os maragatos.

Montane cloud forests are areas of high endemism, and are one of the more vulnerable terrestrial ecosystems to climate change. Thus, understanding how they both contribute to the generation of biodiversity, and will respond to ongoing climate change, are important and related challenges. The widely accepted model for montane cloud forest dynamics involves upslope forcing of their range limits with global climate warming. However, limited climate data provides some support for an alternative model, where range limits are forced downslope with climate warming. Testing between these two models is challenging, due to the inherent limitations of climate and pollen records. We overcome this with an alternative source of historical information, testing between competing model predictions using genomic data and demographic analyses for a species of beetle tightly associated to an oceanic island cloud forest. Results unequivocally support the alternative model: populations that were isolated at higher elevation peaks during the Last Glacial Maximum are now in contact and hybridizing at lower elevations. Our results suggest that genomic data are a rich source of information to further understand how montane cloud forest biodiversity originates, and how it is likely to be impacted by ongoing climate change.

The fragmentation of anomeric alkoxyl radicals (ARF) and the subsequent cyclization promoted by hypervalent iodine provide an excellent method for the synthesis of guanidino-sugars. The methodology described herein is one of the few existing general methodologies for the formation of medium-sized exo- and endoguanidine-containing heterocycles presenting a high degree of oxygenation in their structure.

This paper explores Spanish pesticide policy with a focus on developments during the last decade. Spain is one of the greatest global consumers of conventional pesticides and leader in various related rankings among European Union countries. However, reviews of pesticide policies examining the key plans, facts, strategies and stakeholders are largely lacking. In providing an overview of Spanish responses to the European Directive 2009/128/EC on the Sustainable Use of Pesticides, this article contributes to filling this research gap. Spanish National Action Plans lack measurable quantitative objectives for reduction in the use of conventional pesticides and further implementation of Integrated Pest Management. Spanish National Action Plans also lack strategies for informing citizens about pesticide residues, and efficient means of keeping up to date with the authorisation of new active substances and delivery of pesticide use and sales data, in time and form. Moreover, there are no clear trends in conventional pesticide use reduction and sales, despite a significant reduction in the use of the more toxic active substances. Overall, this paper reveals various important shortcomings and incongruences in Spanish pesticide policy, which deserve further scholarly exploration and should be a matter of concern for public bodies.

Self-incompatibility (SI) to self-compatibility (SC) transition is one of the most frequent and prevalent evolutionary shifts in flowering plants. Prunus L. (Rosaceae) is a genus of over 200 species most of which exhibit a Gametophytic SI system. Peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch; 2n = 16] is one of the few exceptions in the genus known to be a fully selfcompatible species. However, the evolutionary process of the complete and irreversible loss of SI in peach is not well understood and, in order to fill that gap, in this study 24 peach accessions were analyzed. Pollen tube growth was controlled in self-pollinated flowers to verify their self-compatible phenotypes. The linkage disequilibrium association between alleles at the S-locus and linked markers at the end of the sixth linkage group was not significant (P > 0.05), except with the closest markers suggesting the absence of a signature of negative frequency dependent selection at the S-locus. Analysis of SFB1 and SFB2 protein sequences allowed identifying the absence of some variable and hypervariable domains and the presence of additional α-helices at the C-termini. Molecular and evolutionary analysis of SFB nucleotide sequences showed a signature of purifying selection in SFB2, while the SFB1 seemed to evolve neutrally. Thus, our results show that the SFB2 allele diversified after P. persica and P. dulcis (almond) divergence, a period which is characterized by an important bottleneck, while SFB1 diversified at a transition time between the bottleneck and population expansion.

A new species of intertidal oribatid mites from Tenerife is described and its full ontogenetic development is given in detail. Thalassozetes canariensis sp. nov. can easily be distinguished from its congeners by its characteristic notogastral cuticular pattern showing loosely distributed irregular elevations, and its rectangular median sternal cavity. Based on morphology, Thalassozetes canariensis sp. nov. is most closely related to the Mediterranean T. riparius; both species share a small transversal band-like notogastral light spot and the longitudinal orientation of lyrifissure iad. The juvenile morphology of T. canariensis sp. nov. conforms basically to those of known Thalassozetes juveniles but there are discrepancies in certain aspects that require further research into all known species. This report of T. canariensis sp. nov. from Tenerife is the first record of an intertidal mite for the Canaries, and also for the Eastern Atlantic area. Further records of this species within the area may be expected.

A main goal of ecological and evolutionary biology is understanding and predicting interactions between populations and both abiotic and biotic environments, the spatial and temporal variation of these interactions, and the effects on population dynamics and performance. Trait-based approaches can help to model these interactions and generate a comprehensive understanding of ecosystem functioning. A central tool is the collation of databases that include species trait information. Such centralized databases have been set up for a number of organismal groups but is lacking for one of the most important groups of predators in terrestrial ecosystems – spiders. Here we promote the collation of an open spider traits database, integrated into the global Open Traits Network. We explore the current collation of spider data and cover the logistics of setting up a global database, including which traits to include, the source of data, how to input data, database governance, geographic cover, accessibility, quality control and how to make the database sustainable long-term. Finally, we explore the scope of research questions that could be investigated using a global spider traits database.

A significant number of bryophyte species are thought to have transcontinental geographic ranges, often with multiple disjunct distribution areas. One of these cases is Epipterygium tozeri (Mniaceae), with a Holarctic distribution and disjunct ranges in western North America, the Mediterranean, Japan and central Asia. Collections from different geographic regions were lumped into E. tozeri based on morphology, but a molecular confirmation was lacking so far. Here, we tested species concepts in the genus Epipterygium, with a special focus on the E. tozeri species complex, combining morphological and DNA sequence data for the nuclear ribosomal ITS region and two plastid loci (trnG intron, trnT‐psbD spacer). In a second step, we reconstructed the historical biogeography of the genus. We found that Epipterygium most likely originated in Asia or North/Central America and that the alleged single widespread species E. tozeri with disjunct ranges is in fact a group of genetically and morphologically distinct taxa, including four overlooked species, for which we provide descriptions: E. atlanticum sp. nov., E. biauritum sp. nov., E. oreophilum sp. nov., and E. yunnanense sp. nov. The biogeographical history of these species is best explained by a step‐wise parallel colonization of the Eurasian and American continents followed by in‐situ speciation.