Island Of Mallorca Research Articles

The Role of Feral Goats in Maintaining Firebreaks by Using Attractants

The threat of large forest fires is increasing, and the main causes are the depopulation of rural areas, along with the effects of climate change. To counter this threat in recent decades, there have been numerous proposals and actions aimed at promoting grazing in the forest as a tool for controlling biomass fuel. However, the continued disappearance of traditional herds makes this activity difficult. Rural depopulation has also meant that domestic species become feral, being habitual in the case of goats. Currently, little is known about the role that feral goats can play in the fight against forest fires. In this work, an analysis is made on the effect of feral goats on the control of the vegetation in firebreak areas. Furthermore, the effect of attractants, such as water, salt, or food, on goat behavior is also studied. The study was carried out on the island of Mallorca, where a population of feral goats occupies the mountain areas, and where it is common for them to graze on the network of firebreaks. The results showed that these areas in themselves exert an attractive effect with respect to the neighboring forest, and that the herbaceous biomass is reduced. This effect was enhanced with the implementation of water and salt points, although only in certain periods of the year. In general, it was possible to reduce the phytovolume of many species without affecting biodiversity in the short or medium term. Therefore, strategic management of feral animals, aimed at firebreak areas, could contribute not only to reducing the risk of fires and, consequently, to the mitigation of climate change, but also to attracting these animals to the forests, thus avoiding their dispersion to conflictive places such as roads, residences, agricultural fields, and gardens.

The Messinian Salinity Crisis in Mallorca: New insights for a Western Mediterranean stratigraphic scenario

The Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) was an extraordinary geological event that affected the whole Mediterranean region, as well as global marine circulation between 5.97 and 5.33 Ma. In the Mediterranean, the crisis was mainly characterized by isolation from the Atlantic Ocean, resulting in a new hydrological budget leading to the accumulation of large amounts of evaporites and large-scale erosion of its margins. The nature of the majority of the evaporites and erosional surfaces is still unknown, thus representing a challenge which forms the subject of debate in the scientific community.The Neogene Mallorca basins (Balearic Islands) are well situated to provide a stratigraphic record which expresses the sequence of events related to the MSC, being especially suitable for testing possible geological models or scenarios. New research on the island of Mallorca provides data about the MSC and Zanclean reflooding in the central part of the Western Mediterranean (Balearic Basin), with obvious repercussions for both academia and industry.The main aim of this study is to describe the features which characterize sedimentation during the Miocene-Pliocene transition on the island of Mallorca, to establish how this stratigraphic record relates to the different proposed MSC scenarios for the whole of the Mediterranean. In this regard, a stratigraphic analysis was carried out on a total of 100 exposures and boreholes corresponding to the Neogene basins of Mallorca. The results indicate that, on the island of Mallorca, the development of the MSC is most consistent with models that represent the main phase of desiccation occurring after the accumulation of marginal evaporites (Primary Lower Gypsum), the Terminal Carbonate Complex and the Lago Mare deposits.

Orbital cycles, differential subsidence and internal factors controlling the high-frequency sequence architecture in a Sinemurian shallow carbonate platform (Mallorca island, Spain)

The ~125 m thick lower to lowermost upper Sinemurian peritidal to shallow subtidal platform carbonates in the Llevant Mountains of Mallorca (Spain) have been analysed from four stratigraphic sections, to provide new data on the hierarchical stacking pattern of high-frequency depositional sequences. Due to the fact that in shallow water environments the stacking of carbonate facies can be controlled by external (allocyclic) and internal (autocyclic) processes, deciphering the dominant controls on the high-frequency sequence architecture of these platforms is a challenge. The studied carbonates encompass a high variety of facies representative of open lagoon, internal bars, restricted lagoon and tidal flats with local beach sands. Based on a detailed analysis of vertical facies trends and bounding surfaces, large-, medium- and small-scale sequences have been identified within the long-term transgressive-regressive facies cycle defined by the entire succession. Large-scale sequences (~10–30 m thick) and medium-scale sequences (~1–10 m thick) are generally shallowing-upward sequences bounded by sharp facies changes to relatively deeper facies, and have been related to sea-level variations driven by long- (~400 kyr) and short- (~100 kyr) eccentricity cycles respectively. The overprinting of differential subsidence (probably related to extensional tectonic) and carbonate production and accumulation processes varied throughout time, controlling the lateral continuity and preservation potential of the ~100 kyr medium-scale sequences. Shallowing-upward, locally aggradational, small-scale sequences (~0.3 to 5 m thick) are very variable in number and thickness and cannot be correlated between sections, pointing out that their most important controlling factor was the internal processes (hiatuses and erosion related to subaerial exposure at the peritidal caps, lateral migration of internal bars, local wave and currents patterns, depositional and erosional processes related to spring tides and storms) in the frame of a complex mosaic of facies within the studied platform.

Flood related mortality in a touristic island: Mallorca (Balearic Islands) 1960–2018

AbstractAlthough they exist, fatalities related to floods are a rare occurrence in the island of Mallorca. In the aftermath of the Sant Llorenç flash‐flood of October 2018, which killed 13 people, a research was undertaken to develop database gathering information about the flood related victims on the island. The data was obtained from official reports and newspapers archives and was completed via field research and witnesses' interviews. The difficulties in obtaining information reduced the period to the past 58 years. The results show that 25 people died as a result of a flood event in basins with an average area of 19.83 km2 and a minimum of only 0.10 km2. Breaking down further into demographics, 14 were male and 11 were female. The largest number of victims is included in the 18–65 age group and 36% of the fatalities were tourists and foreign residents. Even if the number of fatalities is small compared with other Mediterranean regions, the research results highlight the importance of the need of an increased safety campaign in the Islands, aimed both to residents and to tourists as well, taking into account the importance of Mallorca as a holidays resort in Europe.

Nuevos datos sobre el paisaje vegetal de las primeras ocupaciones de Mallorca: el Coval Simó (Escorca, Mallorca)

El Coval Simó constituye una de las evidencias más antiguas de poblamiento en la isla de Mallorca y en el ar­chipiélago balear. Tiene, además, la particularidad de ser un hábitat en zona de montaña, de modo que los grupos huma­nos que se asentaron allí debieron de adaptar su sistema agropecuario y de explotación del entorno a este medio. Los restos vegetales (carbones y semillas) recuperados en los niveles de ocupación del yacimiento permiten aproximarse a estas cuestiones, ya que son resultado de las distintas ac­tividades desarrolladas en esta cavidad: combustible para las actividades domésticas, alimento para el ganado, etc. Los resultados de este estudio muestran que entre el III y II milenio cal BC se implantó un sistema agropecuario basado en la ganadería y en el cultivo de cereales, que realizaba una explotación de las formaciones forestales locales para la ob­tención de recursos, entre ellos, el combustible leñoso. Las formaciones vegetales explotadas remiten a la existencia de bosques de enebros o sabinas, con presencia de arces y ma­torrales de leguminosas, entre otros arbustos y matas.

Thalassoglobus polymorphus sp. nov., a novel Planctomycete isolated close to a public beach of Mallorca Island

Access to axenic cultures is crucial to extend the knowledge of the biology, lifestyle or metabolic capabilities of bacteria from different phyla. The phylum Planctomycetes is an excellent example since its members display an unusual cell biology and complex lifestyles. As a contribution to the current collection of axenic planctomycete cultures, here we describe strain Mal48T isolated from phytoplankton material sampled at the coast of S’Arenal close to Palma de Mallorca (Spain). The isolated strain shows optimal growth at pH 7.0–7.5 and 30 °C and exhibits typical features of Planctomycetes. Cells of the strain are spherical to pear-shaped, divide by polar budding with daughter cells showing the same shape as the mother cell, tend to aggregate, display a stalk and produce matrix or fimbriae. Strain Mal48T showed 95.8% 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity with the recently described Thalassoglobus neptunius KOR42T. The genome sequence of the novel isolate has a size of 6,357,355 bp with a G+C content of 50.3%. A total of 4874 protein-coding genes, 41 tRNA genes and 2 copies of the 16S rRNA gene are encoded in the genome. Based on phylogenetic, morphological and physiological analyses, we conclude that strain Mal48T (= DSM 100737T = LMG 29019T) should be classified as the type strain of a new species in the genus Thalassoglobus, for which the name Thalassoglobus polymorphus sp. nov. is proposed.

Statistical characterization of the sea‐breeze physical mechanisms through in‐situ and satellite observations

AbstractThe physical mechanisms that take place under sea‐breeze (SB) conditions in the Palma basin (Mallorca island, western Mediterranean sea) are analysed through the inspection of data from automatic weather stations (AWS) during the period 2009–2017. Satellite‐derived land‐surface and sea‐surface temperatures (LST and SST, respectively) are used to compute the surface temperature difference (LST–SST) in the Palma basin. It is found that during daytime hourly averages for each month of this difference are always positive and maximal during summer time. A method is proposed to select the SB events using data from AWS. SB conditions are mainly reported during the warm months of the year (from April to September). Results from the statistical analysis of the selected SB events show that the morning reversal strongly depends on the speed and direction of the large‐scale winds. Besides, weak wind conditions are reported during the morning reversal and once the SB starts the cold advection from the sea counteracts the radiative heating and the 2‐m temperature levels off. The maximum surface temperature difference under SB conditions is larger than 5°C and it is often reported several hours after the morning reversal. About 2 hr later the maximum wind speed is formed, strongly influenced by the amount of soil moisture.

Primer registro de Sceliphron caementarium (Drury, 1773) (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) en las Islas Baleares, con una clave de identificación para las especies del archipiélago del género Sceliphron Klug, 1801

Díaz-Calafat, J. 2020. First record of Sceliphron caementarium (Drury, 1773) (Hymenoptera: Sphecidae) in the Balearic Islands, with an identification key to the archipelago’s species of the genus Sceliphron Klug, 1801. Ecosistemas 29(1):1939. https://doi.org/10.7818/ECOS.1939 The Black and Yellow Mud Dauber wasp (Sceliphron caementarium (Drury 1773)) is reported for the first time from two distant locations of the island of Mallorca (Balearic Islands, Spain). Possible entry pathways of this potentially invasive species to the archipelago are discussed, as well as potential threats to local biodiversity and ecologically relevant questions raised by the arrival of this new species in the archipelago. The addition of S. caementarium to the Balearic fauna raises the number of species in the genus Sceliphron Klug 1801 to four; with half of them being recent introductions of potentially invasive exotic species. Finally, an illustrated identification key to the Balearic species of the genus Sceliphron is presented in order to ease their identification in the future. Readers are encouraged to use the key and send new records of these species within the Balearic Islands to the author or to online biodiversity recording platforms in order to help studying the dispersion of introduced sphecid wasps and update the distribution data of native and introduced species.

Assessing relative post-release mortality for the transparent goby fishery: Environmental drivers and the utility of vitality metrics.

The target species (Aphia minuta and Pseudaphya ferreri) of the transparent goby fishery on Mallorca Island (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean) are currently discarded when the maximum daily catch is exceeded or when the sorting process is unworkable. The mortality suffered by this discarded fraction remains unknown, although it may be important for resource management. Accordingly, the aims of this study were to (1) assess the environmental drivers of the relative post-release survival of the discarded target species and (2) test the correlations between post-release survival and two behavior-related variables (swimming speed and its increase after a stimulus, assessed via video recording). To do so, mortality of the target species from 47 hauls sampled under normal fishing boat operations was monitored when the gear was onboard and after a few hours. At the reference level (an average depth of 25.7 m and temperature of 15.7 ºC), the immediate survival was 99.9% (95% CI: 97.9 to 100%), but the estimated post-release survival decreased to 47.2% (33.8 to 65.8%). Relative post-release mortality doubled when the water temperature increased by 2.8 ºC or when the fishing depth increased up to 32 m. Furthermore, the swimming speed of the target species was significantly correlated with the estimated post-release survival; thus, this vitality metric may offer a promising strategy for more easily estimating post-release mortality in other fisheries.

Salt variation induces oxidative stress response in aquatic macrophytes: The case of the Eurasian water-milfoil Myriophyllum spicatum L. (Saxifragales: Haloragaceae)

Wetlands are very fragile systems and susceptible to being affected by human activity. S'Albufera de Mallorca Natural Park is the main wetland in Mallorca Island (Spain), and undergoes a salinization process derived from the overexploitation of adjacent aquifers, which favors marine intrusion. The objective was to evaluate the effects of salinity changes in a channel in s'Albufera de Mallorca through the analysis of biomarkers of oxidative stress in the submerged macrophyte Myriophyllum spicatum. Six different points were analysed along a channel characterized by different salinity values, ranging from ~2 to ~11. The % of macrophyte coverage in the studied stations followed an inverse salinity pattern with greater coverage in areas of low salinity and minimal coverage in those with higher saline concentration. The photosynthetic pigments index (D430/D665), determined in M. spicatum leaves, was significantly higher at the stations most affected by salinity. All antioxidant enzyme activities – catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase – followed a similar pattern of response with an increase in activity as salinity increases. Similarly, the levels of malondialdehyde, as marker of lipid peroxidation, were also increased the stations with the highest salinity. In conclusion, marine water intrusion causes an increase in the salinity of inland waters in s’Albufera de Mallorca, which is evidenced by the increase in the antioxidant enzyme activities and oxidative damage.

Modelling pest dynamics under uncertainty in pest detection: the case of the red palm weevil

A common complication in invasive pest management is that the infectious state of the host can be wrongly assessed, leading to biases in the estimation of the prevalence of the pest and on the efficacy of mitigation actions. We designed a multievent model that accommodates uncertainty on host state to investigate the dynamics of the infestation of Phoenix canariensis by the invasive Rhynchophorus ferrugineus. Since 2011, the council of Palma city (Mallorca Island, Spain) applied preventive, curative and destructive treatments to public Phoenix palms. A year later awareness campaigns focused on every palm owner in an attempt to control the plague. We estimated the probability of infestation and assessed the efficiency of mitigation measures, awareness campaigns and palm-dependent covariates. Our results show that infestation probabilities were higher for palms infested in the previous year than for healthy palms and it decreased substantially over time as a results of mitigation measures and awareness campaigns. Palms surrounded by treated palms had a lower probability of being infested than palms surrounded by untreated palms, i.e. private palms before awareness campaigns implementation. Our results highlight the key role of awareness campaigns and public participation for invasive species control.

Memory at your feet: Modeling the agency of past trails

Landscape archaeologists rely on the use of least-cost paths to explore and reconstruct movement patterns in the past. An important factor seldom incorporated in these studies is the possibility of earlier paths influencing later ones. This is due, in no small part, to the inability of current least-cost path algorithms to incorporate such an effect in an efficient manner. Once the effect of earlier paths is considered, the order in which sites, or other features, are connected is likely to play an important role in the resulting network. In this paper, a simple Python network simulation package (NetSim) is presented. This package, includes a new accumulated cost surface algorithm, influence weighted distance transform or IWDT, that allows the effect of previous paths to affect later paths when reconstructing possible least-cost paths networks among various locations. The simulation is illustrated using a simple case study from island of Mallorca, where the range of possible networks between different types of Talayotic (Iron Age) sites are explored.

Impacts of the peer-to-peer market on tourist accommodation on the Balearic Islands of Mallorca and Menorca

Using the Balearic Islands of Mallorca and Menorca as case studies, this research identifies the patterns of development in the peer-to-peer market for tourist accommodation in the islands. Characteristics of this market include the predominance of the supply of entire homes and the concentration of demand in a few accommodations, as well as the remarkable unequal spatial distribution in the existing urban structure and the aggravation of problems related to seasonality. Nevertheless, the different degree of maturity of each market differs in the two cases. The results show hotel occupancy suffers from the intensification of tourist housing, independent of hotel category, or of the growth of demand in the peer-to-peer market, while tourism employment increases. These results suggest the impacts are evident beyond some threshold of tourism market development.

Generation of chilling hours maps using surface observations and satellite data

Abstract In complex terrain, the topography influences the air temperature near the surface since cold air pooling and thermally-generated winds might respectively enhance or diminish the nocturnal cooling rate. The characterization of the temperature patterns in agricultural areas is important because many crops need a certain amount of time under cold temperatures. This is usually given by the Chilling Hours (CH, number of hours below a certain temperature threshold). In this work the number of CH has been estimated in the island of Mallorca using in-situ and satellite Meteosat data for the period 2008–2018, taking a threshold value of 7 °C, applying corrections for missing data in both cases, including cloudiness for the satellite data. CH values per year obtained are small for stations near or at the coast (CH below 400) and large at mountain tops (CH above 1500), whereas at the foothills and central plain the values vary between 500 and 1000. Cold events contributing to the number of CH happen mostly between December and March and they may be related to cold synoptic advection (with clear or cloudy skies) or mostly to clear nights with weak local winds that may end in late night fog. Satellite-derived CH maps indicate that the coldest areas are located in the central lowlands between the two major mountain ranges and the elevated area in the center of the island, where cold air pools are usually found. Significant differences between in-situ and satellite CH may exist due to the topographical local features compared to a surface-averaged value from the satellite pixel. Furthermore, existing CH parameterizations making use of daily extreme temperatures are checked and adjusted coefficients are proposed.

Mercado de trabajo, género y especialización oleícola: Mallorca a mediados del siglo XVII

Recently, an intense historiographical debate has developed concerning female participation in rural labour markets and its impact on the gender wage gap before 1800. The underlying hypothesis is that increased participation of women in the labour market should lead to a reduction in the wage gap and a parallel improvement in their life conditions. However, research results to date are inconclusive. This article aims to address some of these issues, using the island of Mallorca during the seventeenth century as a case study. Female par ticipation in the labour market was more intense there than in other Mediterranean and Atlantic regions. In addition, the seasonality of labour demand on the island provoked more instances of collusion than complementarity with regard to agrarian tasks, in contrast with what happened in Atlantic regions. Finally, we also explain why higher rates of female occupation did not necessarily imply a significant reduction of the gender wage gap.

Lower Jurassic benthic foraminiferal assemblages from shallow-marine platform carbonates of Mallorca (Spain): stratigraphic implications

The stratigraphic distribution of larger benthic foraminifera and other microfossils, as analysed in thin-sections, has been investigated in three stratigraphic sections from the island of Mallorca (Son Maina, S’Heretat and Cuevas de Arta). These stratigraphic sections represent deposition in a Lower Jurassic shallow-water carbonate platform succession (Es Barraca Member, Soller Formation) of the Llevant Mountains. The microfossil assemblages contain abundant benthic foraminifera and calcareous algae, including the typical Liassic dasycladalean alga Palaeodasycladus mediterraneus (Pia) and the microproblematica Thaumatoporella parvovesiculifera (Raineri), which provide good age constraint of the succession. Three consecutive biozones have been recognized based on the stratigraphic distribution of foraminifera, including the evolutionary bioseries Mesoendothyra—Lituosepta—Orbitopsella spp., which are documented for the first time in the Balearic Basin: Biozone A (interval Zone) is characterized by the occurrence of small Siphovalvulina spp., Mesoendothyra sp. and rare Lituosepta ancestors. Biozone B (lineage Zone), whose lower boundary is defined by the first occurrence of Lituosepta recoarensis Cati and its top by the first appearance of Orbitopsella aff. primaeva (Henson). The uppermost part of biozone B shows an interval with transitional morphotypes between Lituosepta and Orbitopsella, indicating that the change between biozones B and C1 is gradual (B/C1 transition). This interval is characterized by the presence of very primitive forms of Orbitopsella. Finally, Biozone C1 (lineage Zone) is defined by the first occurrence of Orbitopsella aff. primaeva together with L. recoarensis. The upper boundary of the Biozone C1, which is defined by the first occurrence of O. praecursor s.l., is not recorded in the studied sections of the Es Barraca Member. This biostratigraphic zonation is consistent with a Sinemurian age for the Es Barraca Member with its top most likely not extending into the Pliensbachian. The proposed biostratigraphic scheme is comparable with those established for other western Tethyan margins such as the High Atlas of Morocco, the Southern Italian Alps or the Dinaric Alps of Slovenia and Croatia. The reconstruction of a depositional transect across the studied sections shows the progressive loss of the upper biozones towards the northeast, demonstrating the existence of significant hiatuses in some sections of the Llevant Mountains domain. These hiatuses point to an intra-lower Pliensbachian (Carixian) early stage of platform fragmentation, with areas affected by erosion or non-deposition, and areas with marine marly limestone sedimentation followed by deltaic siliciclastic progradation on the north-western part of Mallorca.

Implementation of Water-Saving Measures in Hotels in Mallorca

The efficient management of water resources by the tourism sector is essential to be able to achieve sustainability in the future. Hotels, together with other tour operators, have a responsibility not to use more water than is absolutely necessary. Through a survey carried out in hotels on the island of Mallorca, we asked hotel managers about their water consumption and what types of water-saving measures they had introduced. We identified eleven water-saving measures, which were classified into “advanced” and “simple” according to the technical complications and the level of economic investment required. The numbers of measures of each kind that had been implemented were used as the dependent variables in two different Ordered Probit models. This method allowed us to identify the main variables that explain the introduction of water-saving measures. The significant main variables leading hotel managers to adopt simple water-saving initiatives are the existence of laundry facilities, the age of the hotel, and the number of stars. The same variables were found to be important for the introduction of advanced measures. The main drivers for introducing water-saving measures were the reduction in costs, followed by environmental concerns, while legal requirements and customer loyalty were found to be the least important drivers.

ASLO ASM 2021 IN PALMA, SPAIN: Tips to Enjoy the Amazingly Beautiful Spots while on the Island of Mallorca and Surroundings

ASLO ASM 2021 IN PALMA, SPAIN: Tips to Enjoy the Amazingly Beautiful Spots while on the Island of Mallorca and Surroundings

A palaeornithological assemblage from the early Pliocene of the Mediterranean island of Mallorca: Raptorial birds as bioaccumulators at Na Burguesa-1

A palaeornithological assemblage from the early Pliocene of Mallorca (Balearic Islands) is documented on 583 fossil bones from Na Burguesa-1 site. Ten different taxa have been identified: two Tytonidae, one small-sized Strigidae, one Phasianidae, one Charadriiform, and at least five Passeriformes. The specimens included in the Tytonidae correspond to a giant Barn Owl, Tyto sp. 1, with size similar to Tyto robusta, and a second Barn Owl, Tyto sp. 2, similar in size to Tyto sanctialbani. The small-sized Strigidae is attributed to Otus sp., although some of the pedal phalanges obtained are included only tentatively in this genus. The presence of these nocturnal raptorial birds combined with the prevalence of small vertebrates (mainly ranging from ca. 8g to almost 1kg) with practically unaltered bones suggests that this deposit was originated by the accumulation of prey remains of these owls.

Assessment of the invasion process of the common raccoon Procyon lotor (Carnivora: Procyonidae) on a Mediterranean island a decade after its introduction

The common raccoon, Procyon lotor was introduced at the Balearic Islands (Spain) in 2006. Since then, a colonization process has been carried out, with captures of specimens in 24.30% of the surface of the whole Mallorca Island. For the first time, information has been provided on the invasive process of P. lotor in an insular ecosystem. 257 specimens of P. lotor were captured during the period 2007–2018, of them 104 were analysed to estimate population parameters. Demographic data showed that the population had a sex ratio of 1.00:1.21 (males:females), high BMI values and up to 40% of females were lactating when captured. Related to diet data, the composition was mainly the same as previous studies around its natural and introduced distribution area. Plant residues represented the 53.25 ± 38.66% followed by invertebrates with 12.22 ± 22.54%, inorganic remains with 11.9 ± 22.07% and finally the vertebrates with 4.94 ± 18.27%. Thus, it is shown how an opportunistic omnivorous species has adapted to the resources provided by the island. Cultivated plants' remains and plastic content in diet evidence that P. lotor is entering in contact with human settlements and agricultural areas. As occurred in other islands where P. lotor was introduced, it is expected that it could become a future problem for the conservation biodiversity in insular ecosystems, as well as for agriculture and human activity. Due to the potential impact on native biodiversity it is necessary to reinforce the implementation of control actions and prevent its expansion to the rest of the island.