SiCLIMA: High-resolution hydroclimate and temperature dataset for Aragón (northeast Spain).

A new high-resolution climatic gridded dataset was built for Aragón (northeast Spain) using a large collection of daily precipitation and temperature observations from more than 3000 weather stations. The grid covers, at the unprecedented spatial resolution of 0.25 km, daily maximum and minimum temperatures and precipitation in the 1950-2020 period.

Unforeseen plant phenotypic diversity in a dry and grazed world.

Earth harbours an extraordinary plant phenotypic diversity that is at risk from ongoing global changes. However, it remains unknown how increasing aridity and livestock grazing pressure-two major drivers of global change-shape the trait covariation that underlies plant phenotypic diversity. Here we assessed how covariation among 20 chemical and morphological traits responds to aridity and grazing pressure within global drylands.

Ancient genomes reveal over two thousand years of dingo population structure.

Dingoes are culturally and ecologically important free-living canids whose ancestors arrived in Australia over 3,000 B.P., likely transported by seafaring people.

Ancient Plasmodium genomes shed light on the history of human malaria.

Malaria-causing protozoa of the genus Plasmodium have exerted one of the strongest selective pressures on the human genome, and resistance alleles provide biomolecular footprints that outline the historical reach of these species. Nevertheless, debate persists over when and how malaria parasites emerged as human pathogens and spread around the globe. To address these questions, we generated high-coverage ancient mitochondrial and nuclear genome-wide data from P.

The effect of fluvial avulsion on the Holocene chronostratigraphic record and the agricultural signal of the world's largest coastal lagoonal system.

This study identified the occurrence of Holocene chronology hiatuses in the sedimentary record of the Patos-Mirim system caused by river avulsion processes, as well as evidence of sharp anthropogenic changes in the surrounding region of the lagoon water bodies. The presence of chronology hiatuses demonstrates the importance of considering the disturbance effect of paleo-drainage processes on the paleoenvironmental resolution and expression of the sedimentary record of such coastal plains. Anthropogenic activities especially those related to agriculture and forestry have increased significantly during the great acceleration, resulting in modifications of both the landscape and the environmental conditions of the lagoon bodies.

Proximate analysis and GC-MS phytochemical profiling of aqueous extracts of , a plant used by the Mbya-Guaraní as a contraceptive.

(Presl) Fée, a traditional contraceptive in Mbya culture, lacks scientific scrutiny regarding its chemical composition and contraceptive efficacy. Employing X-ray fluorescence, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermal analysis, we explored the plant's organs. Multielemental analysis excluded toxic elements.

Hotspots of biogeochemical activity linked to aridity and plant traits across global drylands.

Perennial plants create productive and biodiverse hotspots, known as fertile islands, beneath their canopies. These hotspots largely determine the structure and functioning of drylands worldwide. Despite their ubiquity, the factors controlling fertile islands under conditions of contrasting grazing by livestock, the most prevalent land use in drylands, remain virtually unknown.

Fast-slow traits predict competition network structure and its response to resources and enemies.

Plants interact in complex networks but how network structure depends on resources, natural enemies and species resource-use strategy remains poorly understood. Here, we quantified competition networks among 18 plants varying in fast-slow strategy, by testing how increased nutrient availability and reduced foliar pathogens affected intra- and inter-specific interactions. Our results show that nitrogen and pathogens altered several aspects of network structure, often in unexpected ways due to fast and slow growing species responding differently.

The Microcystis-microbiome interactions: origins of the colonial lifestyle.

Species of the Microcystis genus are the most common bloom-forming toxic cyanobacteria worldwide. They belong to a clade of unicellular cyanobacteria whose ability to reach high biomasses during blooms is linked to the formation of colonies. Colonial lifestyle provides several advantages under stressing conditions of light intensity, ultraviolet light, toxic substances and grazing.

Current status of the cryopreservation of embryogenic material of woody species.

Cryopreservation, or the storage at liquid nitrogen temperatures (-196°C), of embryogenic cells or somatic embryos allows their long-term conservation without loss of their embryogenic capacity. During the last decade, protocols for cryopreservation of embryogenic material of woody species have been increasing in number and importance. However, despite the large experimental evidence proved in thousands of embryogenic lines, the application for the large-scale conservation of embryogenic material in cryobanks is still limited.

Deep-sea Ordovician lingulide brachiopods and their associated burrows suggest an early colonization of proximal turbidite systems.

Trace fossils from Ordovician deep-marine environments are typically produced by a shallow endobenthos adapted to live under conditions of food scarcity by means of specialized grazing, farming, and trapping strategies, preserved in low-energy intermediate to distal zones of turbidite systems. High-energy proximal zones have been considered essentially barren in the early Paleozoic. We report here the first trace and body fossils of lingulide brachiopods in deep-marine environments from an Upper Ordovician turbidite channel-overbank complex in Asturias, Spain.

Paleoenvironmental inferences on the Late Miocene hominoid-bearing site of Can Llobateres (NE Iberian Peninsula): An ecometric approach based on functional dental traits.

Hispanopithecus laietanus from the Late Miocene (9.8 Ma) of Can Llobateres 1 (CLL1; Vallès-Penedès Basin, NE Iberian Peninsula) represents one of the latest occurrences of fossil apes in Western mainland Europe, where they are last recorded at ∼9.5 Ma.

Understanding Sperm Quality for Improved Reproductive Performance.

The assessment of semen quality is used to identify factors that influence sperm performance and diagnose male infertility [...

Metagenomic Study of Fungal Microbial Communities in Two PDO Somontano Vineyards (Huesca, Spain): Effects of Age, Plant Genotype, and Initial Phytosanitary Status on the Priming and Selection of their Associated Microorganisms.

The study of microbial communities associated with different plants of agronomic interest has allowed, in recent years, to answer a number of questions related to the role and influence of certain microbes in key aspects of their autoecology, such as improving the adaptability of the plant host to different abiotic or biotic stresses. In this study, we present the results of the characterization, through both high-throughput sequencing and classical microbiological methods, of the fungal microbial communities associated with grapevine plants in two vineyards of different ages and plant genotypes located in the same biogeographical unit. The study is configured as an approximation to the empirical demonstration of the concept of "microbial priming" by analyzing the alpha- and beta-diversity present in plants from two plots subjected to the same bioclimatic regime to detect differences in the structure and taxonomic composition of the populations.

Improvement of the Seminal Characteristics in Rams Using Agri-Food By-Products Rich in Phytomelatonin.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a phytomelatonin-rich diet, including by-products from the food industry, on ram sperm quality and seminal plasma composition. Melatonin content in several by-products before and after in vitro ruminal and abomasal digestion was determined by HPLC-ESI-MS/MS. Finally, 20% of a mix of grape pulp with pomegranate and tomato pomaces was included in the rams' diet, constituting the phytomelatonin-rich diet.

Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers.

Modern humans have populated Europe for more than 45,000 years. Our knowledge of the genetic relatedness and structure of ancient hunter-gatherers is however limited, owing to the scarceness and poor molecular preservation of human remains from that period. Here we analyse 356 ancient hunter-gatherer genomes, including new genomic data for 116 individuals from 14 countries in western and central Eurasia, spanning between 35,000 and 5,000 years ago.

A 23,000-year-old southern Iberian individual links human groups that lived in Western Europe before and after the Last Glacial Maximum.

Human populations underwent range contractions during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) which had lasting and dramatic effects on their genetic variation. The genetic ancestry of individuals associated with the post-LGM Magdalenian technocomplex has been interpreted as being derived from groups associated with the pre-LGM Aurignacian. However, both these ancestries differ from that of central European individuals associated with the chronologically intermediate Gravettian.

Bioactive compounds, antioxidant activity, and mineral content of bróquil: A traditional crop of var. .

edible plants are rich in bioactive compounds and promote health benefits. However, there is less interest in expanding knowledge about the cultivars to date. In particular, underutilized species and local cultivars could constitute a source of agrodiversity in adapting to the territory with likely higher contents of nutraceutical compounds.

Phytochemical Profiling of L. Flower and Leaf Extracts and Their Antimicrobial Potential against Almond Tree Pathogens.

Despite extensive research on the chemical composition of elderberries and their numerous uses in pharmaceutical, beverage, and food production, there is still a lack of knowledge about leaves and flowers' antimicrobial activity against plant pathogens. In this study, the phytoconstituents of their aqueous ammonia extracts were first characterized by infrared spectroscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The major phytocompounds identified in the flower extract were octyl 2-methylpropanoate; 3,5-dihydroxy-6-methyl-2,3-dihydropyran-4-one; propyl malonic acid; adenine; and 1-methyl-2-piperidinemethanol.

Opportunities for Ivory Nut Residue Valorization as a Source of Nanocellulose Colloidal Suspensions.

Ivory nut seeds have been traditionally exploited in Central and South America for obtaining vegetable ivory. The residues from this industry are susceptible to valorization as a source of fatty acids (by organic extraction) and mannans (by alkaline dissolution and regeneration). Nonetheless, cellulose may also be recovered at the end of this fractionation process by acid hydrolysis and functionalization, with associated advantages over other lignocellulosic sources due to the absence of lignin in the endospermic tissue.