1 Climate change is promoting alterations of a very diverse nature in the life cycle of an array of insect species, including changes in phenology and voltinism. In Spain, there is observational ...evidence that the moth Lobesia botrana Den. & Schiff. (Lep.: Tortricidae), a key vine pest that is usually trivoltine in Mediterranean latitudes, tends to advance spring emergence, displaying a partial fourth additional flight, a fact that is potentially attributable to global warming. 2 To verify this hypothesis, local temperatures were correlated with L. botrana phenology in six vine-growing areas of southwestern Spain during the last two decades (1984-2006) by exploiting the database of flight curves obtained with sexual pheromone traps. The dates of second and third flight peaks of the moth were calculated for each area and year and then correlated with both time (years) and local temperatures. 3 The results obtained demonstrated a noteworthy trend towards local warming (as a result of global warming) in the last two decades, with mean increases in annual and spring temperatures of 0.9 and 3.0°C, respectively. Therefore, L. botrana phenology has significantly advanced by more than 12 days. Moreover, the phenological advance contributed to increased moth voltinism in 2006 by promoting a complete fourth additional flight, a fact that has never been reported previously to our knowledge in the Iberian Peninsula. 4 The potential impact of an earlier phenology and increased voltinism in L. botrana is discussed from an agro-ecological perspective.
The longhorn beetle, Cerambyx welensii Küster (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), is an emerging pest involved in oak decline episodes in dehesa open woodlands. Larvae are xylophagous and cause considerable ...physiological, mechanical, and structural damages to trees. Chemical and biological control are currently unsatisfactory. Recent research has shown that mass trapping with a high density of baited traps (40 traps ha−1) could be useful to manage C. welensii populations, although such a trap density was too high to be cost‐effective. In this 2‐year study (2010–2011) we investigated with mark–recapture methods in a large plot (1) the flight dispersal behaviour, (2) the adult population density, and (3) the efficiency of mass trapping at two low trap densities (one or four traps ha−1). Results indicated that many adults were sedentary (60%) but flying adults displayed a strong propensity to move, both sexes dispersing on average more than 200 m and one male and one female flying at least 540 and 349 m, respectively. Recapture rates were high (0.26–0.35) and population density was estimated to be 6–22 adults ha−1 with maximum likelihood models. Trapping efficiency ranged 48–61% with no significant effect of trap density or year. We conclude that results were not satisfactory enough to recommend mass trapping with low trap densities as control method for C. welensii and that more research is still required on the technical, ecological, and behavioural factors affecting control efficiency.
This paper studies the ratification by Spain, in 1955, of the 1950 Convention for the Protection of Birds. This international agreement established a general protocol for the protection of all wild ...birds, although it included some exceptions for the capture of certain species that could be harmful to agriculture or hunting, through requesting individual authorisations. I have analysed the possible reasons why the Spanish Government accepted the 1950 Convention at the same time as it passed a law that supported the indiscriminate elimination of different animals that were considered harmful. This latter law, which included most diurnal raptors, had severe consequences for the avifauna. Bibliographic research allows me to suggest that perhaps these seemingly contradictory actions were not casually made. Both originated from the same people and official government departments, whose new utilitarian orientation lacked scientific expertise and usually depended on forestry and hunting management, and the sociopolitical circumstances of the time. Furthermore, the 1950 Convention's own limitations could have had a negative influence, mainly due to the difficulties of implementation and the absence of institutional infrastructure to lobby States into greater involvement.
A severe oak decline is taking place across the Mediterranean region since the 1980s. Among the climatic and biological factors involved in this complex syndrome, the longhorn
C. welensii
is ...currently considered a major element. Furthermore, larval damage to young or healthy trees is being increasingly important and thereby also the need to manage this emerging pest species. This paper deals with quantifying the adult populations in the field in order to evaluate the potential performance of mass trapping as control method against
C. welensii
. We used a mark-recapture protocol using feeding traps, which was complemented with some nocturnal observations and additional laboratory studies. Research was conducted in the Cornalvo Natural Park (southwestern Spain) during two consecutive years (2008–2009). Data were analysed with classic closed population (CP) methods and Maximum Likelihood Spatially Explicit Capture-Recapture (ML SECR) detection models. The results strongly supported the potential success of mass trapping as control method for
C. welensii
, including a high trapping efficiency (70–81%), relatively low adult population density for a pest species (316 and 265 adults/ha in 2008 and 2009), movement pattern of flying adults and highly aggregated distribution of adults in trees with traps. We also found experimental evidence that most adults come to the traps close to emergence as showed body appearance
,
longevity estimates and female reproductive age at trapping time. We discuss the practical achievement of mass trapping as control method integrating behavioural and ecological perspectives and, though a large-scale field validation is still lacking, we conclude that mass trapping may be a potential tool to manage
C. welensii
populations in
dehesa
open woodlands.
The draft International Convention for the Protection of Birds Useful to Agriculture has been analysed. This text was drafted at an international conference organised by France in 1895, with the ...participation and agreement of politicians, technicians and prestigious ornithologists and naturalists. The exact content of the draft has been confirmed from different documentary sources, and it has been found that it differed, in part, from the convention to which a dozen European States definitively subscribed in 1902. Also, some of the changes made to the draft were very significant, since they harmed many species and significantly lowered the conservationist pretensions of the convention. The present account suggests that such changes might have been due to pressures exerted in the interests of certain countries, which demurred from the broad consensus reached at the 1895 conference. It is emphasized here that the draft agreed that year was fully consistent with the knowledge and views of much of the scientific community of the time, following the path indicated by some of the bird protection laws that were adopted during the 19th century by several European nations.
Some bird species can cause crop damage but the historical variation in the incidence of such events is poorly documented. We analyse the spatio-temporal variation of damage attributed to sparrows ...(Passer domesticus, P. hispaniolensis and/or P. montanus) at a regional scale in Extremadura (western Spain) over four centuries (1501–1900). Textual data were extracted from historical documentary sources using over 12,000 Books of Accords (Libros de Acuerdos) belonging to 203 municipal archives. Sparrow agricultural damages were estimated from reported actions to control sparrow populations and two simple indices were constructed to analyse the spatial (PIM) and temporal (PIY) variation in sparrow plagues. We used these indices to fit geostatistical models and analyse time curves. We found 251 accords reporting sparrow plagues, distributed across 236 years and involving 47 municipalities. Most of these reports (97.2%) were mandatory impositions (repartimientos) on residents to deliver a certain number of dead sparrows within a fixed period, under penalty of a fine or imprisonment. Results show a significant spatio-temporal variation in sparrow plagues, which we tentatively relate to dynamic environmental and agroecological factors. The spatial index showed high values (PIM > 4) in certain cereal-producing areas, among which La Raya zone located in western Badajoz province was the best example. The temporal index reached maximum values (PIY = 7.3) in the mid 18ᵗʰ century (1741–1770), probably because this was a milder period (within the so-called Little Ice Age) coinciding with increased food availability for birds. In addition, we also examine some sociopolitical, economic and historical features that could have shaped the plague indices. We particularly discuss the normative and legislative developments (e.g. mandatory impositions), the municipal activity itself (affected by wars and other historical events) and the bird conservation interest (which flourished during the final quarter of the 19ᵗʰ century). We conclude that textual data-based indices provide a suitable historical perspective of the agricultural impact of sparrows in Extremadura and of human perceptions of them.
The objective of this study was to determine cut-off points that can be used to differentiate measures of empathy, which would then be classified as high, medium, or low. To do so, we used data from ...students from 7 medical schools in Colombia, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic, after determining the psychometric properties of the 3-dimensional model of empathy in the Jefferson Scale of Empathy, S-version (for medical students).
This non-experimental descriptive study had a sample that consisted of 6291 students. The structure and factor invariance were analyzed by country and sex. A hierarchical cluster analysis and a bifactorial analysis of variance were applied.
The measure of empathy was reliable on the global scale (α = .82; ω = .88). A confirmatory factor analysis showed that the original model was replicable and adjusted to the data (comparative fit index CFI = .90; goodness of fit index = .94), while the multigroup analysis allowed to assume an invariant factor structure by country and gender (ΔCFI < .01). Tables were constructed with cut off points for empathy and its dimensions.
Our study solves the problem of comparing the scores and the levels of empathy observed in the medical students at different schools of medicine, making said comparisons within and between countries and between genders. The instrument used has adequate psychometric properties and the cut-off values obtained allow the classifying of people with lower or higher levels of empathy.
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