Fuerteventura Research Articles

Overgrazing triggers cascading effects on a top avian scavenger: long-term changes in diet and breeding success

Abstract Wildlife feeding and nutrition are key drivers of several demographic parameters, such as breeding success and survival, influencing long-term population viability. To comply with the diet requirements that ensure offspring survival, parents adapt their forage strategies to the environmental conditions and resource availability. This is especially important for central-place foragers like raptors, where prey availability in the surroundings of nest and livestock carcasses significantly impact both foraging efforts and breeding success. Here we take advantage of 20 years extensive monitoring (2001–2020) of the Canarian Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus majorensis) on the Fuerteventura Island (Canary Islands, Spain) to assess (1) what factors drive vulture diet diversity and, (2) how the number of livestock and diet diversity coupled together with environmental conditions affect breeding success and, ultimately, the conservation of vulture populations. We identified 3,787 prey items belonging to 37 different species. Diet diversity was positively related to the number of wild prey and to low livestock grazing pressure periods. Breeding success was positively related to the number of wild prey, low herbivory pressure and, to a lesser extent, to diet diversity. These results demonstrate the importance of wild prey on Canarian Egyptian vulture’s diet, albeit livestock carcasses are the most abundant feeding resource. We argue that livestock have controversial conservation implications for this species because it provides a stable feeding resource, but, in turn, is one of the major ecosystem disruptors. Overgrazing by livestock can negatively affect wild primary consumers, which are essential for this endemic vulture population.

A Territorial Strategy for the Activation of Tourism in Low Population Density Heritage Landscapes

Sustainable and balanced territory development involves management and planning based on the cultural and natural values that characterise it. In contrast to solutions based exclusively on quantitative growth, today, we defend qualitative territorial planning based on specific characteristics and identity what, ultimately, is the heritage content and significance of the territory. In line with these arguments, this article reflects on the need to design territorial planning strategies to activate territories with low demographic density through their heritage and landscape values, specifically referring to rural areas made up of small, scattered population centres. The wide territorial dispersion of these settlements, which represent a large proportion of Latin American and European territory, calls for specific planning and management models and criteria. This article proposes a territorial strategy for these sites aimed at sustainable tourism activation through itineraries and potential identity facilities. The application of the strategy is shown in a pilot case study of the island of Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, Spain).

Characterisation and Identification of Vines from Fuerteventura (Canary Volcanic Archipelago (Spain)) Using Simple Sequence Repeat Markers

A prospection was carried out on Fuerteventura Island in order to explore the existing biodiversity of Vitis vinifera ssp. vinifera in almost desert conditions (<120 mm per year). For this purpose, 40 individuals were collected and genotyped with 20 SSRs. Nine known varieties and one unknown variety, named Majorera on the island, were identified. In addition, four new mutations were found in the varieties Listan negro and Listan prieto, respectively. Thirteen unknown individuals and five erratic accessions were identified. Seven new names are proposed for inclusion in the world databank (one main name (Majorera), one new synonym for Listan negro (Hoja moral), four new mutation names (Listan prieto de Antigua, Listan prieto de Vega, Hoja moral de El Rosario and Hoja moral de Betancuria) and a new synonymy for Muscat Hamburg (Moscatel), which is very widespread on the island). Finally, the possibility is raised that the new Majorera variety is not a pure vinifera but the product of an interspecific cross, as has happened with the variety found on the island of La Palma, Bienmesabe tinto. Once again, the Canary Archipelago shows itself to be a possible centre for the creation of biodiversity for the cultivated vine.

Tindaya Guanche sacred mountain, Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, Spain) and its Ibero-Guanche (Latin) rock inscriptions

Tindaya volcano is a sacred Guanche (or Majo)* mountain, Canary Islands, Spain. This mountain was probably a religious / pilgrimage place for Guanche/Majo people. Many of its rocks are covered by lineal and figurative motifs with incised or picketed (carved) technology the most abundant reported are podomorphs, which in the Atlantic European façade usually point towards either the summer solstice sunset or the sunset yearly arch at these latitudes (Northwest direction). Podomorphs are generally admixed with other motifs in the rock panel. Among these motifs are the so called Ibero-Guanche incised Lineal Megalithic Scripts or pre-Guanche-Iberian signs. These are similar to those found in other Canary Islands, Algerian Sahara Desert or Iberia, some of them scripted in dolmens themselves (5-3,000 years BC). This finding at Tindaya volcano supports a very early Fuerteventura Island, longer before than Punic or Roman influence, if any; podomorphs todays Bronze Age chronology in Iberia supports ancient peopling in Fuerteventura and other Canary Islands. In the present paper we analyse these incise Iberian-Guanche (or earlier) writing and put forward a mainly religious/ funeral meaning in the context of the Paleolithic/Neoithic widespread Religion of the Mother. The Saharo-Canarian cultural circle may have been the origin of Eurafrican and Mediterranean Lineal scripts, like Runes, Iberian Tartessian, Etruscan, Lepontic, Minoan Lineal A and others. Particularly Iberian- Guanche scripts and their probable precursor Linela Megalithic signs also present in Sahara supports that Saharan people migration when desertification started about 10,000 BC was origin of this culture. *Majos= Lanzarote and Fuerteventura Islands inhabitants.

A new small carder bee species from the eastern Canary Islands (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae, Anthidiini)

Recent field surveys in the eastern Canary Islands (Spain), followed by contributions of new occurrence records through the citizen science platform iNaturalist.com and the social media photo repository Flickr.com have revealed the presence of an overlooked small carder bee species (genus Pseudoanthidium Friese (Megachilidae: Anthidiini)) on the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. Here, we combined morphology, DNA barcodes (mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I, COI) and ecological data (distribution, altitudinal ranges and environmental niche classification) to describe this species as Pseudoanthidium (Pseudoanthidium) jacobiisp. nov. We provide an illustrated description along with diagnostic morphological characters to separate it from P. (P.) canariense (Mavromoustakis, 1954), the only other congeneric species known from the neighbouring islands of La Gomera, Tenerife and Gran Canaria and from which it is separated by a genetic distance of 2.7%. We also evaluated the extent of shared environmental niche space among the two Pseudoanthidium species, and our results show a significant difference in elevation range as well as a very small (less than 1%) overlap between the modelled climatic niche of P. jacobii and that of P. canariense. Given the extremely restricted geographic distribution and the fragile and isolated nature of the habitat and host plants of this new island endemic species, we assign it an IUCN conservation status of “EN” (endangered) and discuss avenues for future research on the ecology and conservation of wild bees in the Canary Islands and neighbouring regions.

Ecosystem productivity drives the breeding success of an endangered top avian scavenger in a changing grazing pressure context

Environmental conditions and resource availability shape population dynamics through direct and indirect effects of climate, biological interactions and the human modification of landscape. Even when a species seems dependent on predictable anthropogenic food resources or subsidies, ecosystem-level factors can still determine population dynamics across taxa. However, there is still a knowledge gap about the cascade effects driven by climate, vegetation functioning, resource availability and governmental policies on key aspects of species reproduction for top scavengers. Here we put to good use 22 years (2000−2021) of extensive population monitoring from the endemic Canary Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus majorensis) on the Fuerteventura Island (Canary Islands, Spain) to study the relative importance of demographic factors, ecosystem conditions and availability of anthropogenic food sources on breeding success. Our results suggest that ecosystem-level primary productivity, the number of livestock animals present on the island and Density-dependent processes determine the temporal changes in the breeding success of this species. We firstly accounted for a top-down effect of livestock on island vegetation, where overgrazing directly reduces landscape-level vegetation biomass. We, consequently, found a bottom-up effect between vegetation and the Egyptian vulture's breeding success. In this context, minimal changes in ecological conditions can impact the species inhabiting these ecosystems, with direct consequences on a key population stage, such as breeding season, when energy requirements are higher. These results are especially relevant because cascading and indirect effects of ecosystem processes and governmental policies are often overlooked when pursuing conservation goals of endangered species.

Radiological risk assessment of beaches from volcanic oceanic islands: A case study of the Eastern Canary Islands (Spain)

This work constitutes the first survey that allows the establishment of baseline levels of environmental radioactivity in beach sands from the volcanic oceanic islands of La Graciosa, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and Gran Canaria. Activity concentration values of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K were measured by gamma spectroscopy in 108 samples, collected from 39 beaches across the whole study region. The radiological hazard risks associated with these sands were studied. The mean absorbed dose rate in the study region was 20 nGy h−1, which is below the world average value. The mean outdoor annual effective dose for the beaches studied was 0.025 mSv y−1, which is within the internationally accepted safe limit. Additionally, the assessment of the radium equivalent showed that all samples from the Eastern Canary Islands are below the safe limit of 370 Bq kg−1. Despite not posing any radiological risk to the human population, the radiological hazard indices obtained in Gran Canaria were significantly higher than those of other islands. These significant differences seem to be related to the presence of sediments in the beaches of Gran Canaria that have their origin in lithologies with higher activity concentration values of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K that are not present in the rest of the islands.

Opioid prescription patterns in the province of Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Spain (2016-2020): differences between urban and rural areas.

Introduction: The use of opioids has increased markedly in the past decades in European countries, especially for treatment of non-cancer pain including painful chronic musculoskeletal conditions. However, there are some notable differences in the relative levels of use between geographical areas and some distinct, context-specific patterns of weak and strong opioid use. The aim of this work is to describe real world trends in dosage forms and population exposure in the prescription opioid use on isolated geographically area: The Canary Islands of Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, Spain. For this, several factors such as living in a rural or urban area, population over 65years of age, population density or socioeconomic status were analyzed. Methods: Data were extracted from the wholesalers who supply the community pharmacies at the population level. Prescription opioid use was measured as defined daily doses (DDD) per 1,000 inhabitants per day. A model based on covariance analysis with two nested fixed factors and one co-variable was used for contrast analysis at different level. Results: The overall DDD per 1000 inhabitants per day and year variation rate in Spain was very similar to that obtained for Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura (0.967 vs. 1.006), although the levels of dispensation were different (14.75 versus 18.24 for Gran Canaria and 12.7 for Fuerteventura, respectively). Lanzarote is completely different in all issues, where the opioid consumption rate remained stable during the study period, but with a decreasing tendency. The dispensation level of strong opioids varied between islands, from 56.41% for Fuerteventura vs. 17.61% for Gran Canaria, although these values remained stable. Tramadol with acetaminophen and Tramadol in monotherapy were the most consumed forms of the weak opioids, whereas Buprenorphine was the most used strong opioid followed by Fentanyl, although demand for it varied between islands, the transdermal formulations were the most frequent pharmaceutical preparation. Conclusion: The differences in prescription opioid use are most likely explained by the opioid prescribing practices in each island, whereas factors such urbanicity level, population age, population density and status socioeconomic does not help to explain the differences in prescription opioid use across rural and urban areas.

On the Orientation of Historic Christian Churches of Fuerteventura

We present the results of an analysis of the precise spatial orientation of colonial Christian churches located in the Canary Island of Fuerteventura (Spain). Our sample consists of 48 churches, most built during the period between the Castilian conquest led by the Norman Jean de Béthencourt in the early fifteenth century and the end of the nineteenth century. While most of the religious constructions in the sample have their main axes oriented within the solar range, in accordance with tradition, the statistical analysis also reveals the presence of two groups of churches that diverge from due east. For the first group, mainly composed of churches located in the central part of the island, an anomalous tendency of orientation towards a declination of c. ?14° was detected. We provide four possible explanations for this: (1) orientation to coincide with sunrise on the date of a traditional Canarian celebration; (2) the influence of topography; (3) sunset orientations; and (4), more controversially, a “bright star” orientation close to the declination of Sirius during the seventeenth century, drawing on ethnographic data. For the second group, meanwhile, we find a pattern of orientation slightly to the north of due east. We propose this might signal orientation to the rising Sun on dates close to Easter Sunday.

Anelastic response of the Earth's crust underneath the Canary Islands revealed from ocean tide loading observations

SUMMARY We report on the analysis of M2 ocean tide loading (OTL) kinematic GPS vertical displacement and tidal gravity measurements using 26 GPS and four gravimetric sites across the Canary Islands archipelago. In this region, the standard deviation among recent ocean tide models is lower than 0.4 cm in amplitude and 0.3° in phase, which are suitably accurate for displacement modelling. However, for gravity we need to model regional ocean tides to achieve enough accuracy in the loading calculations. Particularly, this study improves the predicted OTL gravity variations when global ocean models are replaced with the regional model CIAM2 which assimilates local tide gauge data. These small ocean tide model errors allow us to use the differences between observed and predicted OTL values to study the elastic and anelastic properties of the solid Earth around the Canary Islands. In the prediction of OTL, we first used the recent elastic STW105 and S362ANI seismic models, obtaining average observed minus predicted residuals of 1.2–1.3 mm for vertical displacement and 3 nm s−2 for gravity. After the STW105 and S362ANI models were adjusted for anelasticity, by considering a constant quality factor Q at periods ranging from 1 s to 12.42 hr, the average misfit between observations and predicted OTL values reduced to 0.7–0.8 mm for vertical displacement and to 1 nm s−2 for gravity. However, the average vertical displacement misfit is made up from site misfits less than 0.5 mm in western islands but for the easternmost islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, they still reach up to nearly 2 mm at some sites, which still exceeds the uncertainty in the GPS observations. It is hypothesized that mantle upwelling underneath the Canary Islands, creating spatial variations in the elastic properties, causes the large residuals observed in the eastern islands. We reduced the shear modulus by up to 35 per cent in the upper mantle layer of 24.4–220 km depth. This produced residual observed minus model differences of about 0.7 mm for the sites on Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, comparable to the results obtained for the GPS sites across the rest of the archipelago, whose residuals in turn were also slightly reduced through the VS velocity and shear modulus reductions (by 0.2 mm on average).

Trends in the Consumption of Antidepressant Drugs before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Canary Islands, Spain: The Case of the Province of Las Palmas.

The use of antidepressants (ADs) has increased significantly as a result of COVID-19 and its consequences. However, there are some notable differences in the relative levels of use between geographical areas and population groups. The aim of this work is to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the consumption of ADs in the Canary Islands, focusing on the islands of Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, by analyzing the trends in prescriptions of ADs during the pandemic period (2020) compared to the pre-pandemic period (2016-2020). Data were extracted from the community pharmacy wholesaler at a population level. Consumption patterns are expressed as the number of defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitant/day. The overall consumption of DIDs was higher in Gran Canaria, mainly in urban areas and the capital. It was similar in both Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, but particularly localized in the capital, which are considered semi-urban areas. Lanzarote and Fuerteventura present the same pattern of prescription ADs use, whereas Gran Canaria is notably different. This finding was also observed in the more consumed active pharmaceutical ingredients, although small inter-island variations in the ranking and percentages were observed. Sertraline and escitalopram are two of the most prescribed N06AB ADs, whereas the most recent N06AX ADs such as venlafaxine, mirtazapine and desvenlafaxine are more commonly prescribed. These differences in prescription ADs can be explained by demographical characteristics, population size, the fact of living in an urban area and general medical practice. In this context, the COVID-19 pandemic did not have an impact on the overall trend of the use of ADs between 2016 and 2020 in the islands under study.

Factors influencing the level of Social Responsibility of marine tourism companies and restaurants: The island of Fuerteventura

This research aims to analyse the factors that affect the level of commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of marine tourism companies and restaurants. This commitment can be conditioned by economic reasons, stakeholder pressure, difficulties in implementing socio-environmentally responsible actions, and adaptation to change, as reflected in the innovative activities of companies, as well as by the degree of collaboration with public and private agents. This study was carried out on the island of Fuerteventura. A Likert scale questionnaire with 39 items was designed to collect the data, which was processed using a combination of factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. The results show that innovation, stakeholder pressure, and economic reasons have positive effects on companies’ commitment to CSR, while poor collaboration with public and private actors and implementation difficulties have negative effects. Given that this sector is highly regulated and depends on different public authorities to carry out its activity, collaboration with the public administration must be improved to reduce barriers for companies and their activities. Moreover, when an island’s economy depends almost exclusively on tourist activity, it is essential to develop responsible tourism. This requires public authorities that organise and promote sustainable uses of the territory, while encouraging dialogue and facilitating mechanisms for private initiatives, as well as socio-environmentally responsible companies.

Human decimation caused bottleneck effect, genetic drift, and inbreeding in the Canarian houbara bustard

AbstractAn endangered subspecies of the African houbara bustard, the Canarian houbara (Chlamydotis undulata fuertaventurae), is endemic to the Canary Islands off southern Morocco (Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, and La Graciosa islands). This population decreased over the last centuries because of hunting and egg collection, and was close to extinction in Lanzarote around the middle of last century. Later, the species recovered because of hunting bans, but in Fuerteventura a significant decline has again occurred in the last decades and houbaras are on the brink of extirpation on that island. We describe the genetic characteristics and recent evolutionary history of this subspecies to provide essential information for the evaluation of the conservation actions implemented and for the development of new measures to prevent further declines and local extirpations. We amplified microsatellite loci to infer genetic variability, population structure, and gene flow. The subspecies exhibited relatively high genetic variability but reduced heterozygosity. In spite of high gene flow among locations and islands, we identified 2 genetic units: 1 comprising La Graciosa and Fuerteventura islands, and the other restricted to Lanzarote. We detected genetic bottlenecks and subsequent inbreeding in both units, with a reduced effective number of alleles in Lanzarote compared to Fuerteventura‐La Graciosa. This genetic structure may be explained by human‐induced historical population declines and an associated bottleneck effect, particularly in Lanzarote. Conservation measures should aim to recover the houbara population of Fuerteventura, improving survival of adults and juvenile productivity, and to ensure that genetic flow continues among breeding locations and islands to recover the original population structure (an unique genetic unit over the range of the species) and prevent further genetic deterioration, which could lead to extirpation of this endemic subspecies.

Rhodolith beds and their onshore transport in Fuerteventura Island (Canary Archipelago, Spain)

Rhodoliths occur extensively around the shores of Fuerteventura Island in the Canary Archipelago, with Lithothamnion cf. corallioides being the most prominent species. A large number of rhodoliths end up washed onshore, the debris from which contributes to the formation of sediments constituting modern beaches. In a previous study by one of the co-authors (MEJ), the northern coast of Fuerteventura was shown to comprise various types of rhodolith deposits such as beach, platform overwash, tidal pools, coastal dunes, and others. An extraordinary example of stranded rhodoliths is located near Caleta del Bajo de Mejillones, approximately 3 km west of Corralejo, on the north coast of the island. The deposit forms a supratidal beach 120 m long and 10 m wide that sits above the landward termination of an extensive wave-cut platform eroded in basalt and exposed at low tide to a width of 130 m perpendicular to shore. Here, rhodoliths are very small (<3 cm) resembling popcorn, and the locality is known as the “Popcorn Beach”. Other examples are berms up to 150 m long and 9 m wide at Caleta del Bajo de Mejillones, or an exposed beach at Playa del Hierro with an area of more than 1500 m2 covered entirely of very coarse rhodolith sand. Extensive living rhodolith beds were found at a water depth of 22 m.

Joppeicus paradoxus (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Joppeicidae): a new alien species in the European Union?

Joppeicus paradoxus Puton, 1881 is the only representative of the family Joppeicidae. This tiny predaceous bug of around 3 mm long has a resemblance to members of the family Anthocoridae sensu lato. Herein we present an up-to-date distribution of the species, recording it for the first time in the Canary Islands (Fuerteventura Island) and in Yemen (Socotra Island). We provide pictures of the dorsal and lateral habitus of the species and discuss its current distribution. The collection circumstances suggest probably native occurrence in Socotra, but in Fuerteventura it was found in an urban environment with a fair chance it was introduced due to human activity. Details on the types of J. paradoxus are also provided.

Lineal Megalithic Rock Scripts as precursors of Iberian and other lineal Mediterranean/Euro African ancient writings: the case of Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, Spain)

Lineal Megalithic/Paleolithic Lineal signs/lines may have a variety of purposes or representations. Some authors have proposed they represent sky, planets and stars and their movements, space/time representations or others, including letters/syllables or symbols/events. Some are painted, other incised; the latter are relatively more common in Megalithic scripts. Man is “writing” or creating handmade figures on stones /rocks and other supports, which sometimes have intentionally been polished since Paleolithic times: at least 70,000 years BP (Blombos Cave, South Africa). Megalithic script is named because it is associated to megalithic structures, although not exclusively. Von Petzinger 40,000 years old “symbols” and/or writing are extended worldwide in Paleolithic caves and other rocks. Man connection was worldwide in Paleolithic times. Canary Islands incise or picketed lineal writing exists with a transcribed and translated meaning collection of signs (Ibero-Guanche or Latin inscriptions and Lybic ones). Also, other African/European/Mediterranean lineal scripts there exist and examples are given in the present paper. Fuerteventura Island contains in addition many small or bigger stones and rocks with these Paleolithic/Megalithic incised lines all over its territory. About timing in which these stones that were incised by man, we are only referring to a kind of stone crafting. However, we do not discard that they were made by man several thousand years BP. Some Paleolithic/Megalithic scripts are mixed with clear Iberian semi-syllabary signs in Fuerteventura and other Canary Islands. They may reflect the evolution of more ancient Megalithic scripts to lineal writings like those detailed in the present paper and others. Finally, writing concept should be redefined whenever more precise data and dating be available.

Long-term African dust delivery to the eastern Atlantic Ocean from the Sahara and Sahel regions: Evidence from Quaternary paleosols on the Canary Islands, Spain

Africa is the most important source of dust in the world today and dust storms from that continent frequently deposit sediment on the nearby Canary Islands. Many investigators have inferred African dust inputs to Canary Islands paleosols based only on the presence of quartz. However, some local rocks do contain this mineral, so quartz alone is insufficient proof of dust deposition. Further, it is not known whether the Sahara Desert or the Sahel region is more important as a dust source. We address these issues by study of sequences of Pleistocene aeolian sands on the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. Aeolian sands are composed mostly of marine carbonate minerals and locally derived volcanic minerals. They date from the early-middle Pleistocene to the Holocene. Trace element geochemistry shows that the soils formed from both locally derived basalt and African dust. Major element geochemistry and clay mineralogy indicate that dust additions to the Canary Islands likely come from both the Sahara and Sahel. Dust delivered from the Sahel indicates that droughts in that region have had a history extending through much of the Quaternary. Accretionary-inflationary profile development, from dust accretion, is evident in the upward growth of Canary Islands paleosols.

Assessing the scenic quality of transgressive dune systems on volcanic islands. The case of Corralejo (Fuerteventura island, Spain)

The formation of transgressive aeolian sedimentary systems on hot-spot volcanic islands results in globally singular conditions. The natural attractions and landscape features of these spaces can result in the concentration of urban-tourist developments in their surroundings, altering their physical integrity and their ecological and scenic functionality. This has been the case of the Corralejo dunefield in Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, Spain), where the strong pressure exerted by tourism is endangering the area's natural and landscape resources. This study aims to qualitatively assess the landscape heritage through a number of indicators, some of which are developed on the basis of user perception. Four landscape dimensions (substratum, sea, vegetation, and scenic background) were used to analyse the 24 landscape units into which the Corralejo beach-dune system was divided. The results show that this system presents a high landscape value, as do its four different dimensions. This value was found to decrease in areas bordering the urban area or where tourists were commonly present. Recommendations are proposed to improve the area based on user perceptions. This type of research is of interest for future planning, ordinance preparation and management with a view to establishing a balance between the physical medium and anthropic pressure.

Solid-Liquid-Liquid Microextraction (μSLLE) Method for Determining Persistent Pollutants in Microplastics

Ongoing pollution of the marine environment requires quick and reasonably priced analytical techniques that allow routine checking of the concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) found in different samples and, in particular, coastal samples. Miniaturized extraction techniques enable us to analyze samples more quickly and cheaply. These methodologies are highly effective for analysis of liquid samples, but not for solid samples, and even less so for microplastic pollutant analyses. A miniaturized solid-liquid-liquid extraction technique (μSLLE) has been developed to extract, pre-concentrate, and analyze up to 27 POPs from marine microplastics, using a quick methodology which does not require drying of the extract for its preconcentration. Target pollutants were analyzed using single quadrupole gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The method has been optimized and validated, and was applied to different marine microplastic samples collected on the islands of Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, Spain).

An integral approach to address socio-ecological systems sustainability and their uncertainties

The analysis of the sustainability should be addressed with a holistic approach that facilitates an integral analysis of the social, economic, institutional and environmental factors and their interactions characterizing complex socio-ecological systems (SES). Nevertheless, despite the increasing acknowledgment about the need for such systemic approaches, their application in real SES are less frequent than desirable. Among the difficulties behind this, the need for a new conceptual perspective concerning the relationships between science and the management of real SES, as well as the lack of tools to manage the inherent complexity of such systems should be emphasized. In this work, we further discuss these difficulties and propose an integral methodological framework for the assessment of SES sustainability, with the following key components: i) The hierarchical definition of sustainability goals and indicators. ii) A dynamic system model taking into account the key socio-economic and environmental factors and their interactions, in which the most representative indicators and their sustainability thresholds are integrated. iii) The analysis of vulnerabilities to exogenous drivers (scenario analysis) and the exploration of available management and planning options (policy assessment). iv) An uncertainty assessment concerning system behavior and model outcomes to guide decisions for an improved sustainability in complex SES. The whole framework highlights the need to integrate a participative approach, above all at the initial and final steps. In this work, these components are exemplified by means of their application to a real socio-ecological system: Fuerteventura island (The Canary Islands, Spain).