Eastern Spain Research Articles

Critical nitrogen dilution curve and dry matter production parameters for several Mediterranean vegetables

• Twelve typical Mediterranean vegetables were studied. • The average and critical nitrogen dilution curve coefficients were obtained. • The dry/fresh matter ratios and harvest indexes were also obtained. • There were no differences between the average and critical dilution curves. • Differences of dry matter yield did not affect any of the parameters. Inadequate nitrogen fertilizing practices lead to low nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUE), which increases water NO 3 − pollution, as well as N 2 O emissions to the atmosphere. In order to increase the NUE and decrease the N losses as NO 3 − and N 2 O from the soil-plant system, accurate data about optimum crop N concentrations and dry matter production throughout the growing season are still needed for many vegetables typically grown under Mediterranean climate. For this reason, several N fertilization trials were set up for globe artichoke, carrot, cauliflower, chard, chinese cabbage, early potato, leek, lettuce, onion, red cabbage, romanesco, and spinach, under the semiarid Mediterranean conditions of the Valencian Community (Eastern Spain) during several years. The fresh and dry matter weight ( W ), as well as the nitrogen concentration in the dry matter (% N ) in both the marketable and non-marketable crop parts, was measured between 3 and 7 times throughout their respective growing seasons. The a and b coefficients of the average N dilution curve (% N = a W − b ), for which all % N and W data were used, and the critical N dilution curve (% N c = a W c − b ), for which only the minimun % N for maximum W data were used if available, in addition to the dry/fresh yield matter ratio ( DM ) and the harvest index ( HI ), were calculated for all these crops. No significant differences were observed between the average and critical N dilution curve coefficients in this work. Interestingly, the coefficients of both N dilution curves differed from the ones found in the literature with the exception of those obtained for similar cultivars, e.g., early potatoes, and under similar climatic conditions, i.e., Mediterranean. Besides, there were neither differences of DM and HI among the several N fertilization treatments. Therefore, due to the absence of changes in the N dilution curve and dry matter production coefficients for the different N supplies, all these parameters were estimated on the basis of the whole dataset, i.e., regardless of the N input. The use of the critical nitrogen dilution curve coefficients and dry matter production parameters presented in this work should contribute to better fit the N fertilizer additions to N demands of these vegetables under Mediterranean conditions, mainly, by their use through simulation models. Therefore, the NUE in horticulture should increase and the N losses as NO 3 − to inland and sea waters in these environments, and as N 2 O to the atmosphere should decrease.

Variability of hydraulic conductivity and water repellency of soils with fire severity in pine forests and reforested areas under Mediterranean conditions

AbstractThe effects of fire on soil hydraulic conductivity (K) and soil water repellency (SWR) have been mainly studied by field experiments in forest areas burned by wildfires with a given severity, while the variability of K and SWR with the fire severities has been less investigated. To fill this gap, the changes in the K and SWR with fire severity and soil depth (1 and 5 cm below the ground surface) have been evaluated in two forest ecosystems (natural stand of pine and reforested areas) of Central Eastern Spain. A significant influence of the fire severity on the infiltration rates was found, and this influence was different between the natural stand of pine and the reforested areas. Compared to the unburned soils, the highest reduction of the K (80% to 90%) and SWR levels were found for the fires with low and intermediate severities at the soil surface. At the lower soil depth, the reduction of K and the SWR level due to fire were proportional to its severity. Moreover, the K of the soil surface layer was often higher compared to the water infiltration in the deeper layer. In the reforested areas, also low fire severities can noticeably reduce the surface K, despite the limited SWR, while the natural forests are less exposed to hydrophobicity in their surface soil layer. This study indicates the need to reduce the risk of flooding and erosion linked to a reduction in water infiltration and increase of soil repellency.

The Power of Virtual Exchange as an Overarching Tool to Unify Language, Culture, and Communication

During the COVID-19 pandemic, most classes in higher education were offered online, and student and staff mobility came to a sudden halt. With its focus on online interaction and collaboration between students from different cultural backgrounds, Virtual Exchange (VE) has presented itself as an excellent opportunity to students and educators to combine the benefits of both digitalization and internationalization. This paper looks at the role of a series of factors in the interdisciplinary VE called 'The new normality,' which took place between BA Social Psychology students at a large public research institution in Eastern Spain and students from different BAs enrolled in Spanish proficiency courses at large public research university in the North of the Netherlands. This project had two main goals: 1) to create an environment for students to share their pandemic experiences across cultures and disciplines; 2) to determine to what extent this exchange of ideas contributed to the development of students’ intercultural awareness and competence and communicative competence.

First record of Xyleborus bispinatus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae) and evidence of stable populations in the Iberian Peninsula.

We present the first record of the tropical ambrosia beetle Xyleborus bispinatus in the Iberian Peninsula, collected in traps located in Murcia, Alicante and Valencia provinces (Spain). Insects have been captured in baited traps of long-time trapping networks (ESFP, MUFFET, RAT and SAMFIX) installed in Eastern Spain. Several individuals (410) of X. bispinatus have been collected in seven locations, first in 2009 in Murcia Region, and from 2018 to 2021 in Valencia Region. No attacks by X. bispinatus have been detected on plants thus far, and therefore the host plant in Spain remains unknown. Stable X. bispinatus populations have been detected in a wide area of central Valencian province. We may consider this as an alarming scenario that should be kept under surveillance by maintaining the current trapping network and intensifying the search for the host plants.

Artificial grass in parks as a potential new threat for urban bird communities

Summary Green areas are key habitats for urban avifauna. Urban parks stand out from other anthropic habitats especially in providing trophic resources for many bird species. Consequently, modifications of these green zones can imply major changes in urban biodiversity. Potential pernicious urban remodelling is taking place in parks of eastern Spain because natural grass is being replaced with artificial grass to save water and to avoid management. This study aimed to determine whether remodelled parks with artificial grass harbour lower avian diversity (alpha, beta and gamma diversity) than traditional parks with natural grass. We surveyed 21 parks with artificial grass and 24 parks with natural grass in 18 towns of the Valencia Region in autumn 2020. In each park, we carried out 5-minute and 25-m radius point counts for determining bird species and their abundance. The effects of park area and grass type on alpha diversity (species richness, Shannon diversity index, Pielou’s Evenness and total abundance) were tested by means of GLMs. Differences in beta diversity and its components (nestedness and turnover) were also analyzed with the Bray-Curtis dissimilarity index. Gamma diversity was assessed by means of species accumulation curves. Finally, differences in community composition were tested by PERMANOVA and SIMPER tests. The parks with natural grass always harboured higher gamma diversity, species richness and abundance. Turnover was higher in parks with natural grass, whereas nestedness was higher in artificial grass parks. Differences in community composition were due mainly to abundance differences in common ground-feeding birds. We highlight that the trend of replacing natural by artificial grass in urban parks has harmful effects on urban bird communities and is a threat to bird conservation. Although artificial grass might save water, the effects on urban biodiversity should be carefully evaluated.

Dynamic paramyxovirus type 1 seroprevalence maps in broilers in the Valencian Community (eastern Spain) during a five-year period (2008-2012)

Newcastle disease is a devasting disease in poultry production worldwide, thus it is important to implement control measures to avoid entrance of the disease and its spread in the field. In this context, the aim of this study was to design and implement a seroprevalence map based on business intelligence for avian paramyxovirus type 1 (APMV-1) in broilers in the Valencia Community (eastern Spain). This tool consists in software mapping based on data collection, data analysis and data representation. In order to obtain the serological data, 12 495 sera from 131 broiler farms over 5 years were analysed (2008–2012). The data were represented on a map of the Valencian Community including geographical information of flock locations to facilitate disease monitoring. No clinical signs of APMV-1 were reported in the studied flocks. The data from this study showed no evidence contact with APMV-1 in broiler flocks and the novel software mapping tool as a valuable method for easily monitoring the serological response to avian paramyxovirus type 1 (APMV-1) including geographical information.

Multiscaled Archaeological Survey in Eastern Iberia: Ancient Settlement Dynamics, Agrarian Practices, and Rural Landscapes

ABSTRACT This paper presents the ancient settlement pattern and rural landscape recognized in the archaeological survey of the Upper Vinalopó Valley (Alicante Province, eastern Spain). The archaeological fieldwork was assisted by geospatial techniques such as GIS, lidar, GPS, and GPR that allowed analyzing the obtained results along multiple scales. Through this data, we analyze the occupation dynamics and ancient land use during ancient times (2nd century b.c.–3rd century a.d.), attending especially to the intensification process linked to agrarian practices such as manuring. In this sense, the historical dynamics of the region are recognized and compared within a regional framework. In addition, we propose a socio-economic organization of agricultural work that contributes to the global discussion of intensification processes and agrarian strategies worldwide.

The oldest evidence of Testudo graeca (Testudinidae) in the Iberian Peninsula.

The Testudo graeca (i.e., Greek Tortoise or Spur-thighed Tortoise) origin in Western Europe is a subject of debate within the scientific community. The species is a part of the current Spanish biodiversity, with three isolated populations, located in the south-eastern (Almeria and Murcia) and south-western (Doñana National Park, Andalusia) areas of the Iberian Peninsula, and in the Mallorca Island (Balearic Islands). Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, putative references to the presence of Testudo graeca in the Iberian paleontological and archaeozoological records were relatively common. However, many of them were refuted in subsequent papers and, those that were not, are currently considered as doubtful. The aim of this work is to present and describe the oldest indisputable remains of Testudo graeca in the Iberian Peninsula. They correspond to several individuals, hitherto unpublished, recovered as grave goods in two tombs at the Plaza Marqués de Busianos 5 site (Valencia, eastern Spain), dated between the first and second centuries AD.

Flock structure and phenology of migration of the Common Linnet Linaria cannabina through eastern Spain

ABSTRACT The main goal of this study was to describe in detail the structure and phenology of flocks of the Common Linnet (Linaria cannabina) passing through eastern Spain. Data were compiled during the spring and autumn migrations of 2019 to 2021 (excluding spring 2020), by counting and by capture for ringing. We counted 6151 flocks, comprising 17 732 birds, of which 7638 individuals were captured. The size of flocks ranged from 1 to 30 Linnets (mean ± 95% CI, 2.8 ± 0.1), with a higher proportion of solitary migrants in spring (46.8%) than in autumn (33.8%). Passage in spring peaked during the third hour after dawn, whilst in autumn this peak was just after dawn. There were more females than males (56%), probably as an indicator of latitudinal differential migration. Juveniles were significantly more abundant (c. 80%) than adults. The phenological pattern of the passage was more variable in spring than in autumn, and such variation could be useful to explore potential impacts of climate change on the migration ecology of the species.

Critical and typological analysis of the habitat in Spain after developmentalism

For the study at hand, it is necessary to analyse the constructive legacy of the last decades by identifying a model and a type of architecture that allows its study, as a specific example in time and place. With this in mind, we can justify a certain type of approach to the “new” architectural project, which may be somewhat appropriate to a given historical period. Today, cities are undergoing processes of certain obsolescence by presenting attributes that have become commonplace for urban reflection. (Guajardo, 2017). In Spain in particular, to speak of residential obsolescence refers mainly to social housing. These buildings were constructed in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and the issue of regeneration has become one of the major issues of concern to the public administration and therefore to the potential tenant or buyer in the field of residential housing. At present, where new construction is playing a secondary role (due to the excessive growth in construction prior to the 2008 crisis), the national housing stock is saturated and unaffordable. This situation prompts other strategies that respond to the criteria of taking advantage of existing housing, adapting them to the present day with more efficient and sustainable spatial needs. The recent pandemic has greatly restricted privacy in houses. It has raised concerns that the standard construction model we have had in Spain and Italy, (countries with very similar customs), responds to a rigidity that due to the partitions and dividing walls (among other elements) are not adaptable. As a result, it would be interesting to start thinking from the very genesis of the project about interchangeable, transformable, flexible spaces, which allow a better adaptation to current and future needs. In addition, this idea would also be useful for reconditioning the family nucleus as it changes over time. As a case study, we propose the analysis and study of the possibility to transform some prototypes of dwellings from the 1960s belonging to the so-called social housing in the district of Tres Forques in Valencia (eastern Spain), which can serve as an obvious example for the task in hand.

Critical and typological analysis of the habitat in Spain after developmentalism

For the study at hand, it is necessary to analyse the constructive legacy of the last decades by identifying a model and a type of architecture that allows its study, as a specific example in time and place. With this in mind, we can justify a certain type of approach to the “new” architectural project, which may be somewhat appropriate to a given historical period. Today, cities are undergoing processes of certain obsolescence by presenting attributes that have become commonplace for urban reflection. (Guajardo, 2017). In Spain in particular, to speak of residential obsolescence refers mainly to social housing. These buildings were constructed in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and the issue of regeneration has become one of the major issues of concern to the public administration and therefore to the potential tenant or buyer in the field of residential housing. At present, where new construction is playing a secondary role (due to the excessive growth in construction prior to the 2008 crisis), the national housing stock is saturated and unaffordable. This situation prompts other strategies that respond to the criteria of taking advantage of existing housing, adapting them to the present day with more efficient and sustainable spatial needs. The recent pandemic has greatly restricted privacy in houses. It has raised concerns that the standard construction model we have had in Spain and Italy, (countries with very similar customs), responds to a rigidity that due to the partitions and dividing walls (among other elements) are not adaptable. As a result, it would be interesting to start thinking from the very genesis of the project about interchangeable, transformable, flexible spaces, which allow a better adaptation to current and future needs. In addition, this idea would also be useful for reconditioning the family nucleus as it changes over time. As a case study, we propose the analysis and study of the possibility to transform some prototypes of dwellings from the 1960s belonging to the so-called social housing in the district of Tres Forques in Valencia (eastern Spain), which can serve as an obvious example for the task in hand.

Climatic reconstruction at the early Miocene La Rinconada mine (Ribesalbes-Alcora Basin, eastern Spain) based on Coexistence Approach, CLAMP and LMA analysis

The early Miocene La Rinconada mine from eastern Iberian Peninsula contains a rich megafloral assemblage with abundant leaf fossils from a single stratigraphic level of the sedimentary succession. This has provided a good opportunity to undertake detailed comparative quantitative palaeoclimate reconstruction using different approaches, namely the Coexistence Approach (CA), Climate Leaf Analysis Multivariate Programme (CLAMP) and Leaf Margin Analysis (LMA). Considering the results of all techniques used, the palaeoclimate estimates are the following: mean annual temperature (MAT) CA = 10–16.5 °C/CLAMP = 11.48 °C, warmest month mean temperature (WMMT) CA = 25–26.4 °C/CLAMP = 23.31 °C, coldest month mean temperature (CMMT) CA = 4.3–4.8 °C/CLAMP = 0.84 °C, mean annual precipitation (MAP) CA = 1217–1297 mm, mean precipitation of the wettest month (MPWet) CA = 116–164 mm and mean precipitation of the warmest month (MPWarm) CA = 118–131 mm. Temperature and precipitation values obtained through CLAMP, LMA and CA indicate the occurrence of a wet and warm climate the whole year around with marked seasonality for rainfall and temperature but without a summer-dry regime. The climatic values obtained in the La Rinconada mine are in well accordance with other Burdigalian and late Burdigalian–early Langhian sites from the Iberian Peninsula (e.g. S 141 Borehole) and Central-Southern Europe (e.g. Holedeč, Čermníky, Přívlaky, Bílina Delta, Manisa-Soma, Spanokhorion and the Evia Island), suggesting the absence of a clear latitudinal gradient in temperature and precipitation for this period in Europe. This climate is consistent with the plant communities described in the area from taxonomic studies and IPR analysis.

Monginaia, a new genus of endemic bivalve from the lower Barremian of Teruel, eastern Spain, and the distribution of unionid bivalves in Spanish Cretaceous

The present study focuses on a new record of freshwater bivalves from the lower Barremian Camarillas Formation of the Lower Cretaceous of Teruel, eastern Spain. A new genus Monginaia is described and included in a new family Monginaiidae (Unionida). This taxon is compared and contrasted with other European, Asiatic and North American species. This discovery provides new palaeogeographic data on the distribution and origin of the Unionida in Europe. Moreover, this taxon is an effective tool for the environmental reconstruction of the Spanish Cretaceous ecosystem where it coexisted with dinosaurs and crocodiles and other vertebrates.

A flexible Bayesian hierarchical modeling framework for spatially dependent peaks-over-threshold data

In this work, we develop a constructive modeling framework for extreme threshold exceedances in repeated observations of spatial fields, based on general product mixtures of random fields possessing light or heavy-tailed margins and various spatial dependence characteristics, which are suitably designed to provide high flexibility in the tail and at sub-asymptotic levels. Our proposed model is akin to a recently proposed Gamma–Gamma model using a ratio of processes with Gamma marginal distributions, but it possesses a higher degree of flexibility in its joint tail structure, capturing strong dependence more easily. We focus on constructions with the following three product factors, whose different roles ensure their statistical identifiability: a heavy-tailed spatially-dependent field, a lighter-tailed spatially-constant field, and another lighter-tailed spatially-independent field. Thanks to the model’s hierarchical formulation, inference may be conveniently performed based on Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. We leverage the Metropolis adjusted Langevin algorithm (MALA) with random block proposals for latent variables, as well as the stochastic gradient Langevin dynamics (SGLD) algorithm for hyperparameters, in order to fit our proposed model very efficiently in relatively high spatio-temporal dimensions, while simultaneously censoring non-exceedances of the threshold and performing spatial prediction at multiple sites. The censoring mechanism is applied to the spatially independent component, such that only univariate cumulative distribution functions have to be evaluated. We explore the theoretical properties of our model, and illustrate the proposed methodology by simulation and application to daily precipitation data from North–Eastern Spain measured at nearly 100 stations over the period 2011–2020.

Prevalence of Toxocara Eggs in Public Parks in the City of Valencia (Eastern Spain).

Toxocara spp. is one of the most common zoonotic geohelminths in the world. Its infections are associated with the accidental ingestion of contaminated soil and affecting, especially children. In this study, feces, and soil samples from 14 public parks in the city of Valencia were analyzed. The Telemann method and a modified version of a sieving technique were used to process feces and soil, respectively. None of the fecal samples and 10.9% of soil samples from five parks (35.7%) tested positive for the presence of Toxocara eggs. The most contaminated areas were the canine sanitary parks (30.8% of the samples), followed by socialization areas for dogs (9.7%); no positive samples were found at children’s playgrounds. Our results suggest that most pets in Valencia are periodically dewormed, although additional preventive measures should be applied, since the risk of infection exists probably due to the presence of stray dogs and feral cats.

Growth history of pollarded black poplars in a continental Mediterranean region: A paradigm of vanishing landscapes

Pollarded woodlands are iconic components of European rural landscapes. Pollarding is a traditional management technique used to obtain timber and firewood. However, these woodlands are subjected to different stressors in rapidly depopulating rural regions under continental Mediterranean areas where riparian black poplar (Populus nigra) pollards are widespread but still understudied. First, the rapid rural depopulation has lead to the abandonment of pollarding creating trees with abundant, thick and heavy branches. Second, climate warming and alteration of river flows reduce soil moisture which could contribute to growth decline of riparian pollards. We investigated how these stress factors have impacted radial growth in seven sites located in four river basins of southern Aragón, north eastern Spain. We used dendrochronology to reconstruct the changes in radial growth during the period 1890–2020 and to assess how growth has responded to changes in temperature, precipitation and river flow variability. Since 1900 growth suppressions, probably corresponding to pollarding events, occurred in several decades (1910s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s) and showed a high variability among sites and river basins. Suppressions peaked during the 1940s, probably associated to intense pollarding related to high timber and firewood demand after the Spanish Civil War. Poplar radial growth increased in response to high precipitation and river flow from March to April, particularly in sites located away of river banks. Pollarding abandonment and declines in soil moisture availability threaten the persistence of veteran black poplars. Active management through pollarding and protection should be implemented to preserve these iconic, anthropogenic woodlands due to their multiple ecological and cultural services.

Evidence of Prolonged Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever Virus Endemicity by Retrospective Serosurvey, Eastern Spain.

We conducted a retrospective serosurvey for antibodies against Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus in wild ungulates along the eastern Mediterranean Coast of Spain. The virus has been endemic in this region since 2010 but is mainly restricted to geographic clusters with extremely high seropositivity associated with high density of bovids.

Predicting exclusive breastfeeding in maternity wards using machine learning techniques

Background and objectiveAdequate support in maternity wards is decisive for breastfeeding outcomes during the first year of life. Quality improvement interventions require the identification of the factors influencing hospital benchmark indicators. Machine Learning (ML) models and post-hoc Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) techniques allow accurate predictions and explaining them. This study aimed to predict exclusive breastfeeding during the in-hospital postpartum stay by ML algorithms and explain the ML model’s behaviour to support decision making. MethodsThe dataset included 2042 mothers giving birth in 18 hospitals in Eastern Spain. We obtained information on demographics, mothers’ breastfeeding experiences, clinical variables, and participating hospitals’ support conditions. The outcome variable was exclusive breastfeeding during the in-hospital postpartum stay. We tested algorithms from different ML families. To evaluate the ML models, we applied 10-fold stratified cross-validation. We used the following metrics: Area under curve receiver operating characteristic (ROC AUC), area under curve precision-recall (PR AUC), accuracy, and Brier score. After selecting the best fitting model, we calculated Shapley’s additive values to assign weights to each predictor depending on its additive contribution to the outcome and to explain the predictions. ResultsThe XGBoost algorithms showed the best metrics (ROC AUC = 0.78, PR AUC = 0.86, accuracy = 0.75, Brier = 0.17). The main predictors of the model included, in order of importance, the pacifier use, the degree of breastfeeding self-efficacy, the previous breastfeeding experience, the birth weight, the admission of the baby to a neonatal care unit after birth, the moment of the first skin-to-skin contact between mother and baby, and the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative accreditation of the hospital. Specific examples for linear and nonlinear relations between main predictors and the outcome and heterogeneity of effects are presented. Also, we describe diverse individual cases showing the variation of the prediction depending on individual characteristics. ConclusionThe ML model adequately predicted exclusive breastfeeding during the in-hospital stay. Our results pointed to opportunities for improving care related to support for specific mother’s groups, defined by current and previous infant feeding experiences and clinical conditions of the newborns, and the participating hospitals’ support conditions. Also, XAI techniques allowed identifying non-linearity relations and effect’s heterogeneity, explaining specific cases’ risk variations.

The 1620 and 1644 Earthquakes in Alcoy and the Eastern Region of Spain

Abstract The 2 December 1620 earthquake, which caused considerable damage to the town of Alcoy in eastern Spain, and the seismic sequence of June 1644 in the region from Alcoy to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea are studied using contemporary sources. Focal parameters are determined for the 1620 shock and the three mainshocks of the 1644 sequence on 15, 19, and 26 June. The distribution of damage and casualties from the 1620 earthquake in Alcoy leads to the assignment of maximum intensities of VIII–IX. A solution is presented for problems concerning dates, locations, and sizes of the three largest shocks of the 1644 sequence given in previous catalogs and studies.

Hydrometeorological analysis of the 12 and 13 September 2019 widespread flash flooding in eastern Spain

Abstract. On 12 and 13 September 2019, a long-lasting heavy precipitation episode (HPE) affected the València, Murcia and Almería regions in eastern Spain. Observed rainfall amounts were close to 500 mm in 48 h, being the highest cumulative precipitation registered in some rain gauges for the last century. Subsequent widespread flash flooding caused seven fatalities and estimated economical losses above EUR 425 million. High-resolution precipitation estimates from weather radar observations and flood response from stream gauges are used in combination with a fully distributed hydrological model to examine the main hydrometeorological processes within the HyMeX programme. This HPE was characterized by successive, well-organized convective structures that impacted a spatial extent of 7500 km2, with rainfall amounts equal to or larger than 200 mm. The main factors driving the flood response were quasi-stationarity of heavy precipitation, very dry initial soil moisture conditions and large storage capacities. Most of the examined catchments exhibited a dampened and delayed hydrological response to cumulative precipitation: until runoff thresholds were exceeded, infiltration-excess runoff generation did not start. This threshold-based hydrological behaviour may impact the shape of flood peak distributions, hindering strict flood frequency statistical analysis due to the generally limited lengths of data records in arid and semi-arid catchments. As an alternative, a power-law relationship is analytically derived to specifically link flood magnitude to rainfall amount, with the parameters depending on basin and precipitation features. This power law could aid in developing empirical envelope curves so as to assess hydrologic risk in arid and semi-arid catchments with a threshold-based hydrological behaviour.