Assessing methane emissions and soil carbon stocks in the Camargue coastal wetlands: Management implications for climate change regulation.

Coastal wetlands are crucial in climate change regulation due to their capacity to act as either sinks or sources of carbon, resulting from the balance between greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, mainly methane (CH), and soil carbon sequestration. Despite the paramount role of wetlands in climate regulation few studies investigate both aspects. The Camargue is one of the largest wetlands in Europe, yet the ways in which environmental and anthropic factors drive carbon dynamics remain poorly studied.

Top ten priorities for global saltmarsh restoration, conservation and ecosystem service research.

Coastal saltmarshes provide globally important ecosystem services including 'blue carbon' sequestration, flood protection, pollutant remediation, habitat provision and cultural value. Large portions of marshes have been lost or fragmented as a result of land reclamation, embankment construction, and pollution. Sea level rise threatens marsh survival by blocking landward migration where coastlines have been developed.

Ecosystem-level effects of re-oligotrophication and N:P imbalances in rivers and estuaries on a global scale.

Trends and ecological consequences of phosphorus (P) decline and increasing nitrogen (N) to phosphorus (N:P) ratios in rivers and estuaries are reviewed and discussed. Results suggest that re-oligotrophication is a dominant trend in rivers and estuaries of high-income countries in the last two-three decades, while in low-income countries widespread eutrophication occurs. The decline in P is well documented in hundreds of rivers of United States and the European Union, but the biotic response of rivers and estuaries besides phytoplankton decline such as trends in phytoplankton composition, changes in primary production, ecosystem shifts, cascading effects, changes in ecosystem metabolism, etc.

Constraints on the adjustment of tidal marshes to accelerating sea level rise.

Much uncertainty exists about the vulnerability of valuable tidal marsh ecosystems to relative sea level rise. Previous assessments of resilience to sea level rise, to which marshes can adjust by sediment accretion and elevation gain, revealed contrasting results, depending on contemporary or Holocene geological data. By analyzing globally distributed contemporary data, we found that marsh sediment accretion increases in parity with sea level rise, seemingly confirming previously claimed marsh resilience.

Evaluating adaptation options to sea level rise and benefits to agriculture: The Ebro Delta showcase.

Sea level rise (SLR) is threatening low-lying coastal areas such as river deltas. The Ebro river Delta (Spain) is representative of coastal systems particularly vulnerable to SLR due to significant sediment retention behind upstream dams (up to 99%), thereby dramatically reducing the capacity for deltaic sediment accretion. Rice production is the main economic activity, covering 66% of the delta area, and is negatively affected by SLR because of flooding and soil salinization.

Carbon metabolic rates and GHG emissions in different wetland types of the Ebro Delta.

Deltaic wetlands are highly productive ecosystems, which characteristically can act as C-sinks. However, they are among the most threatened ecosystems, being very vulnerable to global change, and require special attention towards its conservation. Knowing their climate change mitigating potential, conservation measures should also be oriented with a climatic approach, to strengthen their regulatory services.

Pristine vs. human-altered Ebro Delta habitats display contrasting resilience to RSLR.

River deltas are ecologically and economically valuable coastal ecosystems but low elevations make them extremely sensitive to relative sea level rise (RSLR), i.e. the combined effects of sea level rise and subsidence.

Correction: Neglecting the fallow season can significantly underestimate annual methane emissions in Mediterranean rice fields.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Neglecting the fallow season can significantly underestimate annual methane emissions in Mediterranean rice fields.

Paddy rice fields are one of the most important sources of anthropogenic methane. Improving the accuracy in the CH4 budget is fundamental to identify strategies to mitigate climate change. Such improvement requires a mechanistic understanding of the complex interactions between environmental and agronomic factors determining CH4 emissions, and also the characterization of the annual temporal CH4 emissions pattern in the whole crop cycle.

The impact of two large floods (1993-1994) on sediment deposition in the Rhône delta: Implications for sustainable management.

In October 1993 and January 1994, two large floods with peak discharge of 9800 and 10,980m/s and total suspended solid transport of 10.7×10 and 9.7×10 tons, respectively, occurred on the Rhône River.

Effects of enhanced hydrological connectivity on Mediterranean salt marsh fish assemblages with emphasis on the endangered Spanish toothcarp ().

The hydrological connectivity between the salt marsh and the sea was partially restored in a Mediterranean wetland containing isolated ponds resulting from former salt extraction and aquaculture activities. A preliminary assessment provided evidence that ponds farther from the sea hosted very large numbers of the endangered Spanish toothcarp, , suggesting that individuals had been trapped and consequently reach unnaturally high densities. In order to achieve both habitat rehabilitation and toothcarp conservation, efforts were made to create a gradient of hydrologically connected areas, including isolated fish reservoirs, semi-isolated, and connected salt marsh-sea areas that could allow migratory movements of fish and provide some protection for .

Sea level rise impacts on rice production: The Ebro Delta as an example.

Climate change and sea level rise (SLR) are global impacts threatening the sustainability of coastal territories and valuable ecosystems such as deltas. The Ebro Delta is representative of the vulnerability of coastal areas to SLR. Rice cultivation is the main economic activity in the region.

Benthic macrofaunal dynamics and environmental stress across a salt wedge Mediterranean estuary.

The spatial distribution of benthic macroinvertebrate community in relation to environmental factors was studied along the Ebro Estuary (NE Iberian Peninsula), a salt wedge Mediterranean estuary. Both ordination methods and generalized additive models were performed to identify the different benthic assemblages and their relationship to abiotic factors. Our results showed a strong relationship between macrofaunal assemblages and the predominant environmental gradients (e.

Environmental filtering determines metacommunity structure in wetland microcrustaceans.

Metacommunity approaches are becoming popular when analyzing factors driving species distribution at the regional scale. However, until the popularization of the variation partitioning technique it was difficult to assess the main drivers of the observed patterns (spatial or environmental). Here we propose a new framework linking the emergence of different metacommunity structures (e.

Low intramuscular fat (but high in PUFA) content in cooked cured pork ham decreased Maillard reaction volatiles and pleasing aroma attributes.

The influence of intramuscular fat content (high - HI versus low - LI) and fatty acid composition on pork cooked cured ham flavour was analysed by gas chromatography-olfactometry using nasal impact frequency (GC-O/NIF) and quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA). Potential relationships were studied by principal component analysis (PCA). Sixteen and fourteen odourants were identified by GC-O/NIF in LI and HI cooked hams, respectively.

Benthic foraminifera as indicators of habitat change in anthropogenically impacted coastal wetlands of the Ebro Delta (NE Iberian Peninsula).

Present-day habitats of the Ebro Delta, NE Iberian Peninsula, have been ecologically altered as a consequence of intensive human impacts in the last two centuries (especially rice farming). Benthic foraminiferal palaeoassemblages and sediment characteristics of five short cores were used to reconstruct past wetland habitats, through application of multivariate DCA and CONISS techniques, and dissimilarity coefficients (SCD). The timing of environmental changes was compared to known natural and anthropogenic events in order to identify their possible relationships.

Genetic and Physiological Diversity in the Diatom Nitzschia inconspicua.

Nitzschia inconspicua is an ecologically important diatom species, which is believed to have a widespread distribution and to be tolerant to salinity and to organic or nutrient pollution. However, its identification is not straightforward and there is no information on genetic and ecophysiological diversity within the species. We used morphological, molecular (rbcL and LSU D1-D3), ecophysiological and reproductive data to investigate whether N.

Optimisation of stir-bar sorptive extraction (SBSE), targeting medium and long-chain free fatty acids in cooked ham exudates.

The purpose of our research was to optimise the extraction conditions of the stir-bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) targeting the identification of lipid compounds particularly medium and long-chain free fatty acids in cooked cured pork ham exudates. The analytical conditions of extraction (including sample volume, extraction time, stirring speed, pH and dilution of the sample) were checked using the Simplex method approach. As a result of the SBSE optimisation, improved detection limits and linear ranges for hexanoic, heptanoic, octanoic, nonanoic, decanoic, dodecanoic and tetradecanoic fatty acids were obtained.

Fluvial response to climate variations and anthropogenic perturbations for the Ebro River, Spain in the last 4,000 years.

Fluvial sediment discharge can vary in response to climate changes and human activities, which in return influences human settlements and ecosystems through coastline progradation and retreat. To understand the mechanisms controlling the variations of fluvial water and sediment discharge for the Ebro drainage basin, Spain, we apply a hydrological model HydroTrend. Comparison of model results with a 47-year observational record (AD 1953-1999) suggests that the model adequately captures annual average water discharge (simulated 408 m(3)s(-1) versus observed 425 m(3)s(-1)) and sediment load (simulated 0.

Monitoring the effects of floods on submerged macrophytes in a large river.

The lower Ebro River (Catalonia, Spain) has recently undergone a regime shift from a phytoplankton to a macrophyte-dominated system. Macrophytes started to spread at the end of the 1990s and since 2002 artificial floods (flushing flows) of short duration (1-2 days) are released from the Riba-roja dam once or twice a year in order to reduce macrophyte density. The aim of this study was to analyse the spatiotemporal trends of the submerged macrophytes in two stretches of the lower Ebro River using high-resolution hydroacoustic methods, in order to elucidate the effects of artificial floods and natural floods on its distribution and abundance.

Regime shift from phytoplankton to macrophyte dominance in a large river: Top-down versus bottom-up effects.

The lower Ebro River (Catalonia, Spain) has recently undergone a regime shift from a phytoplankton-dominated to a macrophyte-dominated system. This shift is well known in shallow lakes but apparently it has never been documented in rivers. Two initial hypotheses to explain the collapse of the phytoplankton were considered: a) the diminution of nutrients (bottom-up); b) the filtering effect due to the colonization of the zebra mussel (top-down).

Bioaccumulation of pollutants in the zebra mussel from hazardous industrial waste and evaluation of spatial distribution using GAMs.

In the Flix Reservoir (Ebro River, Spain), ca. 300,000tons of industrial waste were dumped because of the activity of a factory plant in Flix. Within the recovery program implemented, this exceptional situation provides a unique opportunity to test the value of zebra mussel as sentinel organism.

Ecotoxicological effects of rice field waters on selected planktonic species: comparison between conventional and organic farming.

The aim of this study was to assess the ecotoxicological effects of water coming from untreated organic and conventional rice field production areas in the Ebro Delta (Catalonia, Spain) treated with the herbicides oxadiazon, benzofenap, clomazone and bensulfuron-methyl and the fungicides carbendazim, tricyclazole and flusilazole. Irrigation and drainage channels of the study locations were also included to account for potential toxic effects of water coming in and out of the studied rice fields. Toxicity tests included four species (Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata, Desmodesmus subcapitatus, Chlorella vulgaris and Daphnia magna), three endpoints (microalgae growth, D.

Patterns of metal bioaccumulation in two filter-feeding macroinvertebrates: exposure distribution, inter-species differences and variability across developmental stages.

This study focused on the metal bioaccumulation of two aquatic insects (Ephoron virgo and Hydropsyche spp.) in order to evaluate the spatial distribution of metals, the interspecific differences between both filter-feeders and the bioaccumulation dynamics during E. virgo development stages.