Northeast Spain Research Articles

The association between male height and lifespan in rural Spain, birth cohorts 1835-1939

This article analyses the relationship between male height and age at death and its evolution over time among conscripts born in fourteen villages in north-east rural Spain. A total of 1,488 conscripts born between 1835 and 1939 (and who died between 1868 and 2019) have been included in the analysis (based on the study of 3 sub-periods: 1835–1869, 1870–1899, and 1900–1939). The height data have been obtained from military service conscription records and the demographic and socioeconomic information of the deceased was obtained from parish archives and censuses. The data have been linked according to nominative criteria using family reconstitution methods. For the statistical analysis, we have used ordinary least squares (OLS) linear regressions with heteroskedasticity-robust estimation. The results suggest a positive relationship between height and lifespan in the long-term. For the birth cohorts of 1835–1869, conscripts with a height of 170 cm or more lived on average 7.6 years longer than conscripts measuring less than 160 cm. This difference in life expectancy tended to disappear for the birth cohorts of 1900–1939, benefiting especially the short conscripts who had greater possibilities to increase their average lifespan. The reasons that might explain these changes could reside in the improvements experienced by this group in terms of their living conditions, health and nutrition during the twentieth century.

First Findings and Molecular Data of Phlebotomus mascittii (Diptera: Psychodidae) in the Cantabrian Cornice (Northern Spain).

Phlebotomus (Transphlebotomus) mascittii Grassi, 1908 (Diptera: Psychodidae) has been found in several European countries. In Spain, sporadic records were reported in the early '80s in Catalonia (Northeast Spain), and it was never detected again. Recent entomological surveys carried out between 2004 and 2020 revealed the presence of several specimens of P. mascittii in Spain. The species identification was confirmed by both morphological and molecular analyses. The analyzed specimens belonged to the haplotype (COI_2) defined by one polymorphic site compared to other European specimens. Phlebotomus mascittii was found in low population densities in rural areas associated with livestock farms and in an urban cemetery during the summer season. This study provides the first records of this species in various localities along the Cantabrian cornice (Northern Spain) and represents its westernmost observation in the Palearctic region. The implications of the finding of this uncommon species are discussed at different levels, with emphasis on its suspected role in the transmission of leishmaniosis.

Unravelling the distribution of decapod crustaceans in the Lower Eocene coral reef mounds of NE Spain (Tremp-Graus Basin, southern Pyrenees)

Modern reefs are considered important hot spots of biodiversity, but the analysis of the distribution of the invertebrate fauna across different reefal domains in ancient ecosystems can be challenging, because the fossil record is usually affected by strong taphonomic biases. The lower Eocene coral reef in the well-exposed outcrops of Ramals (Tremp-Graus Basin, southern Pyrenees, northeast Spain), preserve a high diversity of invertebrate groups, including decapod crustaceans. In Ramals the reefal facies belt is formed by a 100–200 m width E–W trending facies belt, including a set of closely spaced reef mounds up to five meters high, surrounded by the skeletal-rich (packstones, rudstones) inter-reef facies. These outcrops also allow the analysis of the fossil-association present in the inner and outer fore-reef facies, which are dominated by skeletal packstones with molluscs, foraminifera, corals, bryozoans, decapod crustaceans, echinoderms and vertebrate fragments (fishes and crocodiles). The reef framework consists of framestones with bioclastic wackestone to packstone matrix, including abundant colonial corals, as well as crustose red algae, encrusting foraminifera (Solenomeris), solitary corals and bryozoans. These reef mounds developed within the mesophotic zone, disturbed by the episodic activity of storm-induced waves.The distribution of decapod crustaceans across the different reefal domains was subjected to extensive paleontological and statistical analyses. The 911 specimens of decapod crustaceans include 41 species belonging to 21 families. Most crustaceans were concentrated in the periphery of the mound reefs and suggest that the core of the reef hosted the highest diversity and abundance of decapod crustaceans. Carpilioids were the most abundant group within the reefal facies belt, Ctenocheles sp. dominated the inner fore-reef areas, and Litoricola macrodactylus pyrenaicus showed preferences for outer fore-reef environments. Decapod crustaceans and associated faunas lived in close association with coral reefs but disappeared from the area after the demise of the reefs due to the increase of the depositional depth and fine terrigenous sedimentary input, illustrating how diversity changes at local scale due to extrinsic factors.

Distribution Levels of Particulate Matter Fractions (10 µm) at Seven Primary Schools in a European Ceramic Cluster.

This study addresses the concentration of particulate matter and their size using a statistical analysis of data obtained inside seven schools located in the towns of Castellón (S1, S2, and S3), Alcora (S4, S5, and S6) and Lucena (S7) in northeast Spain. Samples were taken for five to eight hours, depending on school hours, to obtain a monthly sample for each school. The main goal of this study is to assess the differences depending on the type of location and the sampling point to be able to design corrective measures that improve the habitability and safety of the teaching spaces analyzed. The lowest concentrations of fine particulate matter, less than 2.5 µm, were registered at the rural location. The values of these particles found in industrial and urban locations were not substantially different. In the case of particulate matter between 2.5 and 10 µm, significant differences were observed between the three types of locations. The lowest concentrations of particles larger than 10 µm were registered at the rural location, and the highest concentrations were found at the industrial locations. Among the urban stations, the particle concentration of this fraction in station S2 was significantly higher than that in stations S1 and S3, which had similar concentrations. These values are also similar to those registered at school S6, which is at an industrial location. The resuspension of particles from both indoor sources as well as those transported from the outside is an important factor in the concentrations of particles inside classrooms.

Longitudinal, transverse and ultrasound vibration for the prediction of stiffness using models incorporating features in Pinus sylvestris timber

Non-destructive testing was used to predict the static modulus of elasticity (MOES) of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) timber from the northeast of Spain. Three vibration tests were performed, longitudinal, flatwise and edgewise, to obtain the dynamic modulus of elasticity (MOEdyn) based on the fundamental resonant frequencies. The MOEdyn was additionally obtained from ultrasound tests. Measurements of different features were performed of the various samples, which were also subjected to a bending test to find the MOES. Different types of models, simple linear regression (SLR), multiple linear regression (MLR) and artificial neural network (ANN), were generated to predict the MOES based on the study variables. The predictive capacity of the different models was analysed by comparing the root mean square error (RMSE) obtained using the tenfold cross-validation method. The vibration techniques showed a better MOES prediction than the ultrasound techniques. The MOEdyn obtained from the fundamental resonant frequency of the edgewise flexural vibration (MOEEV) was the variable that best predicted the MOES. The error of the SLR with MOEEV was not significantly improved by any other model, whether univariate or multivariate. The ANN-based models did not significantly improve the error of the MLR-based models.

Influence of hail suppression systems over silver content in the environment in Aragón (Spain). I: Rainfall and soils

In several countries, hail is considered as the most harmful climatic phenomenon from an agricultural perspective. The surroundings of the Gallocanta Lake (North-East Spain), is one of the areas where the storms affecting the Ebro Valley are formed. For this reason, silver iodide from hail suppression systems has been emitted to the atmosphere for half a century.Nowadays, there is an increasing social concern about the potential environmental consequences of this activity, which has promoted the analysis of the influence of hail suppression systems regarding the amount of silver concentration in the ecosystem. This study focuses on silver atmospheric deposition and its accumulation in soils.To this end, silver concentrations in rainfall (5 gauges, 16 samples per site, from April 2017 to March 2019) and soils (72 samples) distributed across the hail suppression network managed by the Anti-hail Consortium of Aragón, were analysed.The results show that the amount of silver is much higher in rainfall gauges and soils close to ground-based silver iodide generators (85 μg/m2·day and 10 mg/kg soil, respectively), but concentrations considerably decrease when samples are collected far from them (downing to 0.3 μg/m2·day and 0.1 mg/kg soil).Apart from the samples obtained nearby silver iodide generators, most of the other soil samples display silver concentrations below the legal threshold established for the most vulnerable activities (1 mg/kg soil in agricultural and forestry land uses). Nevertheless, silver content, both in precipitation and in soils, is higher in regions where hail suppression has been developed for decades when compared to nearby areas in which silver iodide emissions did not occur.Silver content observed in soils is not high, but their cumulative effect in sediments and biota should be analysed, which is the aim of the second part of the present study.

Description of the relationship between trunk disease expression and meteorological conditions, irrigation and physiological response in Chardonnay grapevines

Esca disease and Botryosphaeria dieback are currently considered as serious grapevine diseases which affect vineyard health and induce economic losses. Both of these trunk diseases (GTDs) are caused by a complex of pathogens, and foliar expression is influenced by several factors, including environmental factors such as water stress. To manage water stress in some vine areas, culture practice based on irrigation systems for limiting water stress have been developed; however, little knowledge of the influence of such systems on GTD emergence is currently available. The present paper addresses the impact of irrigation systems and climatic factors (rainfall and temperature) on the expression of GTDs, specifically esca and Botryosphaeria dieback. A field experiment on Chardonnay in North East Spain, a vine growing area where drought is present and which is managed by an irrigation system, was therefore carried out during a 3-year period. The water stress impact on GTD expression was evaluated by measuring the GTD incidence and analysing different physiological parameters at different phenological stages, including principal component analysis and gene expression. The main finding of this study was the significant roles of vine transpiration and water availability, which depend on irrigation volume and rainfall amount; together, they may explain the erratic symptom expression in plants infected by GTD fungi depending on the year. All these parameters are discussed to better understand the relationship between GTD expression, irrigation system and climatic factors.

Land CSEM Simulations and Experimental Test Using Metallic Casing in a Geothermal Exploration Context: Vallès Basin (NE Spain) Case Study

Controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) measurements are complementary data for magnetotelluric (MT) characterization although its methodology on land is not sufficiently developed and tested as in marine environments. Acquiring expertise in CSEM is crucial for surveys in places where MT cannot be performed due to high levels of cultural noise. To acquire that expertise, we perform CSEM experiments in the Vallès fault [Northeast (NE), Spain], where MT results have been satisfactory and allow us to verify the CSEM results. The Vallès basin is relevant for potential heat generation because of the presence of several geothermal anomalies and its nearby location in urban areas. In this article, we present the experimental setup for that region, a 2-D joint MT+CSEM inverse model, several 3-D CSEM simulations in the presence of metallic casing, and its comparison with real data measurements. We employ a parallel and high-order vector finite element algorithm to discretize the governing equations. By using an adapted meshing strategy, different scenarios are simulated to study the influence of the source position/direction and the conductivity model in a metallic casing presence. An excellent agreement between the simulated data and analytical/real field data demonstrates the feasibility of study metallic structures in realistic configurations. Our numerical results confirm that metallic casing strongly influences electromagnetic (EM) responses, making surface measurements more sensitive to resistivity variations near the metallic structure. It could be beneficial getting higher signal-to-noise ratios and sensitivity to deep targets. However, such a casing effect depends on the input model (e.g., conductivity contrasts, frequency, and geometry).

Selection of insectary plants for the conservation of biological control agents of aphids and thrips in fruit orchards.

This study evaluated the potential of flowering plant species naturally occurring to promote the conservation and early establishment of key natural enemies of aphids and thrips in apple and peach orchards. Flowering plants present in the North East of Spain, a main fruit production area in Europe, were sampled to determine their flowering period and to identify potential natural enemies present on each plant species. Thirty-six plant species were found blooming from early March to late May and provided an array of flowers that might ensure food resources for natural enemies. Among them, six species - Eruca vesicaria (L.) Cav., Cardaria draba (L.) Desv., Euphorbia serrata (L.) S.G. Gmel., Malva sylvestris L., Anacyclus clavatus (Desf.) Pers. and Diplotaxis erucoides (L.) DC. - hosted a high diversity of potential natural enemies of aphids and thrips. Their blooming started early in the season and lasted for several sampling weeks and they were widely distributed. Moreover, they had available nectar even in those species with protected nectaries. Therefore, these plant species can be considered as promising candidates for inclusion in the ecological infrastructure designed for fruit orchards in the study area to promote the conservation of the biological control agents of aphids and thrips.

Detecting and mapping irrigated areas in a Mediterranean environment by using remote sensing soil moisture and a land surface model

Although irrigation practices affect food production and water resource management, with ever more impacting effects under climate change and population increasing scenarios, detailed knowledge of irrigation is still lacking. In fact, explicit information on the spatial occurrence of irrigation and on the amounts of water used for this purpose is often not available, thus making irrigation the missing variable to comprehensively understand the hydrological cycle dynamics over agricultural areas. Nevertheless, remote sensing techniques can be used to delimit the irrigation extent.In this study, the capability of five remotely sensed soil moisture products to detect the irrigation signal over an area intensely equipped for irrigation in the North East of Spain is investigated; moreover, a method to map the actually irrigated areas based on the K-means clustering algorithm is proposed. The remote sensing soil moisture data sets used in this study are SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) at 1 km, SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) at 1 km and 9 km, Sentinel-1 at 1 km, and ASCAT (Advanced SCATterometer) at 12.5 km. The 1 km resolution versions of SMOS and SMAP are obtained by downscaling coarser SMOS and SMAP data through the DISPATCH (DISaggregation based on Physical And Theoretical scale CHange) algorithm. The analyses are supported by an additional data set of soil moisture at 1 km resolution simulated by the SURFEX-ISBA (SURFace EXternalisée – Interaction Sol Biosphère Atmosphère) land surface model.Among all the considered data sets, the L-band passive microwave downscaled products show the best performances in detecting the irrigation signal over the pilot area, especially SMAP at 1 km. The proposed maps of irrigated areas derived by exploiting soil moisture from SMAP at 1 km data set agree well (up to 78%) with the ground truth derived irrigated areas. Furthermore, the method is able to well distinguish the actually irrigated areas from rainfed agricultural areas, thus representing a useful tool to obtain reliable spatial information about the areas where irrigation actually occurs.

Prevalence of Trichinella spiralis and Trichinella britovi in wild boars in the northeast of Spain

A total of 33,206 wild boars (Sus scrofa) hunted throughout the province of Girona (northeastern Spain) were submitted to a game processing plant during four hunting seasons (2014–2015 to 2017–2018). This province is divided into seven districts with different habitat types for wild boar populations. Muscle samples from each wild boar were tested for Trichinella spp. infection by artificial digestion following Regulations 2075/2005 and 2015/1375 of the European Union. Larvae from positive muscle samples were characterized at the species level in the National Reference Laboratory for Trichinella in Spain using a multiplex PCR analysis. Trichinella larvae were found in a total 112 wild boars (0.34%; 95% IC 0.27–0.39%). Results indicated an annual ascending trend in the percentage of infected wild boars; however, this trend was small, as shown by the low values of both Kendall’s tau (0.328; p=0.012) and the linear fit slope (b=8.864E-5). The prevalence of Trichinella spp. per district and hunting season was positively correlated with hunting yield (Spearman’s rank correlation rs = 0.440; p = 0.024). Spring prevalence (0%) was significantly lower than in other seasons (0.29–0.33%), although this effect could be explained by the scarcity of captures during the months of April, May, and June. The finding of one positive animal weighing only 7.5 kg indicates that piglets can be infected by Trichinella at an early age, but a significantly higher proportion of positives was found among adult wild boars exceeding 50 kg. The molecular identification of 112 Trichinella isolates revealed the predominance of Trichinella spiralis (n = 109) over Trichinella britovi (n = 3). These findings indicate that Trichinella infection in wild boar remains a public health problem in northeastern Spain.

Leaf turgor loss point shapes local and regional distributions of evergreen but not deciduous tropical trees.

Summary The effects of climate change on tropical forests will depend on how diverse tropical tree species respond to drought. Current distributions of evergreen and deciduous tree species across local and regional moisture gradients reflect their ability to tolerate drought stress, and might be explained by functional traits.We measured leaf water potential at turgor loss (i.e. ‘wilting point’; πtlp), wood density (WD) and leaf mass per area (LMA) on 50 of the most abundant tree species in central Panama. We then tested their ability to explain distributions of evergreen and deciduous species within a 50 ha plot on Barro Colorado Island and across a 70 km rainfall gradient spanning the Isthmus of Panama.Among evergreen trees, species with lower πtlp were associated with drier habitats, with πtlp explaining 28% and 32% of habitat association on local and regional scales, respectively, greatly exceeding the predictive power of WD and LMA. In contrast, πtlp did not predict habitat associations among deciduous species.Across spatial scales, πtlp is a useful indicator of habitat preference for tropical tree species that retain their leaves during periods of water stress, and holds the potential to predict vegetation responses to climate change.

Taphonomy and systematics of decapod crustaceans from the Aptian (Lower Cretaceous) in the Oliete Sub-basin (Teruel, Spain)

Decapod crustaceans from the Forcall Formation (Aptian, Lower Cretaceous) of the Oliete Sub-basin (Maestrazgo Basin) are recorded, specimens having been collected from the localities of Josa and Obón (Teruel) in the Aragonese branch of the Iberian Cordillera, northeast Spain. The glypheid lobster Atherfieldastacus magnus is by far the commonest species at several stratigraphical levels. Minor components of the decapod crustacean fauna include axiidean shrimps (Aptaxiopsis longimanus gen. et sp. nov., Crosniera forcallensis sp. nov., Meticonaxius gracilis sp. nov., Aptanacalliax enigma gen. et sp. nov.), a glypheidean lobster (Meyeria ornata), a hermit crab (Cretacocalcinus josaensis gen. et sp. nov.) and a brachyuran, Mithracites vectensis Gould, 1859. Meticonaxius gracilis nov. sp. represents the oldest fossil record of this genus to date. Aptanacalliax enigma gen. et sp. nov. and Crosniera forcallensis sp. nov. are considered to be the earliest occurrences of the families Anacalliacidae and Callianideidae, respectively, at this date. The specimens studied document two different modes of preservation, which also have an impact on the diversity of each assemblage. Our collections include specimens preserved within calcareous concretions and those preserved in mudstones. The assemblages studied are considered parautochthonous, i.e., were preserved within or close to their habitat and were entombed by obrution events that accumulated sediment and bioclastic material within an offshore setting.

Sampling and selection of butterfly indicators for general surveillance of genetically modified maize in north-east Spain

Genetically modified (GM) maize has been cultivated commercially in Spain since 1998. Although long-term environmental monitoring to detect unexpected environmental effects of GM crops (General Surveillance, GS) is compulsory in the EU, GS currently has a very low capacity to detect adverse effects on the environment. This study aimed to increase the feasibility of GS of GM maize expressing insect-resistance (Bt) and herbicide tolerance (HT) traits by using butterflies as models.Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) were sampled using transect-counts in three differentiated maize-growing regions in north-east Spain. Five transects were established per region and sampled three times per season in two consecutive years. Transects were 300 m long, including 100 m sections in field margins, alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and non-crop vegetation. In addition, butterfly larvae were sampled during maize anthesis in field margins in Lleida region and distribution of larval host plants in maize agroecosystems was assessed in the three regions.Field data and literature were used to construct a step-by-step selection process to identify appropriate butterfly indicators for monitoring effects of GM maize cultivation. In addition, suitable multispecies indicators were constructed. The required sampling effort to detect effects using these butterfly indicators was estimated by prospective power analysis.We identified 41 butterfly species, including three protected species. Most species were potentially exposed to GM maize cultivation effects because their larval host plants were present in maize fields, margins and neighbouring habitats. We identified larvae of four butterflies in maize field margins, the most abundant of which was Carcharodus alceae. It would be possible to detect a 30% population change by sampling its host plants Malva spp. in 35 to 95 site pairs.When we applied the selection procedure, the most appropriate species for monitoring depended on the region considered. Across regions, the sampling effort using selected indicators was lowest for multispecies groups (i.e. 15–32 site pairs for butterfly abundance) and for the single species Pieris napi and Polyommatus icarus (24–84 and 27–87 site pairs respectively). These indicators could be monitored through existing butterfly monitoring schemes as part of a wider environmental monitoring in agricultural regions to assess impacts of agri-environmental management.

First record of a giant bird (Ornithuromorpha) from the uppermost Maastrichtian of the Southern Pyrenees, northeast Spain

ABSTRACT Throughout the evolutionary history of Avialae, several members of this clade have evolved into giant forms, in different time periods and ecological contexts. In Europe, the first birds that show this condition, the Gargantuaviidae, occur during the Late Cretaceous (late Campanian–early Maastrichtian), but it is during the Paleogene when more groups evolve large forms. However, until now, there was no record of any giant bird during the late Maastrichtian of Europe, close to the K/Pg boundary. Here we describe a cervical vertebra (MPZ 2019/264) from Beranuy (Huesca, NE Spain), which is the first fossil evidence of a giant bird from the late Maastrichtian of Europe, within Chron C29r. The vertebra displays some features, such as a well-marked heterocoelous articulation, lateral pneumatic foramina, ventral carotid processes, and a low neural spine, that support its inclusion within the clade Ornithuromorpha. This phylogenetic assignment is supported by two cladistic analyses. The vertebra is clearly different from the one assigned to Gargantuavis, meaning that it belonged to a distinct taxon. Although the kinship between these two taxa of giant birds is still unclear, this finding demonstrates that large-sized birds were part of the ecological communities of the Ibero-Armorican island from the late Campanian to the Late Maastrichtian, being present during the last hundreds of thousands of years prior to the K/Pg extinction event.

Palaeoecology of Middle Triassic tetrapod ichnoassociations (middle Muschelkalk, NE Iberian Peninsula) and their implications for palaeobiogeography in the western Tethys region

Tetrapod ichnology is a powerful tool to reconstruct the faunal composition of Middle Triassic ecosystems. However, reconstructions based on a single palaeoenvironment provide an incomplete and impoverished picture of the actual palaeodiversity. In this paper, we analyse Middle Triassic tetrapod ichnoassociations from the detrital Muschelkalk facies of the Catalan Basin of northeast Spain, ranging from terrestrial to coastal settings. We identified two main tetrapod ichnoassociations, preserved in two different palaeoenvironments, comprising the following ichnogenera and morphotypes: Procolophonichnium, Chelonipus, Rhynchosauroides, Rotodactylus, Chirotherium, Isochirotherium, Sphingopus, and indeterminate chirotheriids. We also statistically analyse a database of all known Middle Triassic tetrapod footprint localities worldwide; this database includes, for each track locality, the precise age, the palaeoenvironment and the presence/absence of ichnotaxa. Our results on the composition of ichnofauna within the palaeoenvironments of the Catalan Basin are integrated into this database. This approach allows us to revisit the palaeoenvironmental bias linked to the marine transgression that affected the Western Tethys region. Tetrapod ichnoassociations reveal the following palaeoenvironmental patterns: (1) in coastal settings, ichnoassociations are Rhynchosauroides-dominated and diversity is relatively low; (2) in terrestrial settings and those with less marine influences, ichnoassociations are non-Rhynchosauroides-dominated, usually characterised by more abundant chirotheriid tracks and, generally, a higher track diversity. The correlation between tetrapod ichnoassociations and sedimentary facies reveals how palaeoenvironmental constraints influenced faunal assemblages, especially those of the Middle Triassic of the Western Tethys region. Ichnoassociations allow the ecological response of tetrapod faunas to the environmental changes to be inferred for this critical time interval. Marine transgressions strongly influenced tetrapod ecosystems: environmental conditions were key for the faunal recovery in the aftermath of the end-Permian extinction, with the settlement of the so-called modern faunas and the rise of the dinosaur lineage.

Irrigated corn and non-irrigated wheat carbon and water footprints in northeast Spain

Irrigation improves yields and enables the production of many crops in areas where it would otherwise be difficult owing to a lack of rainfall. Irrigation, on the other hand, may have a number of negative environmental consequences, which must be well understood before mitigation measures can be implemented. The life cycle assessment methodology was used to compare the main irrigated and no irrigated crops in Northeast Spain (corn and wheat, respectively), identifying the processes that have the greatest impact on environmental impacts (carbon and water footprint categories), and providing scientifically sound information to aid government decisions. Because of worries about climate change and water shortage, the IPCC 2013 GWP (carbon footprint) and the water scarcity indicator were chosen as the methodologies for assessing environmental effects (water footprint). The study region, a 7.38-km2 basin, was observed for 12 years, including before, during, and after irrigation was implemented. The cultivation of 1 ha over the course of a year was the functional unit with which all material and energy flows were linked. Irrigated corn has a greater total carbon footprint, however when factoring the increased productivity obtained with irrigation, the emissions per kilogram of maize drop, favoring this irrigated crop. When it came to the water footprint, the amounts of irrigation water used were so large that production could not compensate for the negative effects of water consumption in corn. Considering productivities and gross revenues, however, puts the findings closer together. The major contributions to the negative effects discovered were fertilizer usage (carbon footprint) and irrigation water (water footprint).

A Data-Driven Method for Unsupervised Electricity Consumption Characterisation at the District Level and Beyond

A bottom-up electricity characterisation methodology of the building stock at the local level is presented. It is based on the statistical learning analysis of aggregated energy consumption data, weather data, cadastre, and socioeconomic information. To demonstrate the validity of this methodology, the characterisation of the electricity consumption of the whole province of Lleida, located in northeast Spain, is implemented and tested. The geographical aggregation level considered is the postal code since it is the highest data resolution available through the open data sources used in the research work. The development and the experimental tests are supported by a web application environment formed by interactive user interfaces specifically developed for this purpose. The paper's novelty relies on the application of statistical data methods able to infer the main energy performance characteristics of a large number of urban districts without prior knowledge of their building characteristics and with the use of solely measured data coming from smart meters, cadastre databases and weather forecasting services. A data-driven technique disaggregates electricity consumption in multiple uses (space heating, cooling, holidays and baseload). In addition, multiple Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are derived from this disaggregated energy uses to obtain the energy characterization of the buildings within a specific area. The potential reuse of this methodology allows for a better understanding of the drivers of electricity use, with multiple applications for the public and private sector.

Field observations and remote sensing techniques for evaluation of vegetal recovery after different wildfire severity in a Mediterranean ecosystem

Many studies of Mediterranean ecosystems have analyzed vegetation recovery after a wildfire based on fieldwork or remote sensing; however, only a few have adopted a multi-approach assessment. The aim of this study is to determine the viability of a multi-approach using vegetation and remote sensing to observe vegetation recovery time in areas with different wildfire severity. The study area is located in a Mediterranean forest of North-east Spain. After a wildfire, low-, medium- and high- severities with an unburned control were delimited and inventoried at short-, medium- and long-terms using a 20-m transect; measurements were taken in a 1-m width. In each area, vegetal richness (S), diversity (H’) and density (D) were measured using fieldwork. The differenced Normalized Burnt Ratio (dNBR) and Mean Decrease Accuracy (%incMSE) were calculated and quantified. Both methods result to be accurate in studying plant density. The dNBR index decreases over time as an effect of the disappearance of fire disturbance. Topographic and vegetation variables help explain the fire severity at very-short and short-terms, while at medium- and long-terms any explanatory power is virtually lost. Partial dependence allowed us to identify those areas that suffered higher fire severity and vegetal evolution over time.

Improving models of wild boar hunting yield distribution: new insights for predictions at fine spatial resolution

ENETWILD consortium has developed methodologies for modelling wild boar abundance distribution based on hunting yield (HY) data. Although the methodologies reached an acceptable reliability, when models were downscaled to higher spatial resolution the predictions of absolute numbers of hunted animals tended to overprediction. Some important issues such as HY-surface relationship and the spatial autocorrelation of HY data or the accuracy of downscaled predictions were not fully addressed yet due to the complexity of dealing with huge datasets at a European scale. In this report we (i) explored the use of hunted wild boar densities (numbers of hunted wild boar relative to surface) instead of raw counts (numbers of hunted animals) as response variable, and (ii) introduced intrinsic Conditional Auto-Regressive models (iCAR) taking into account spatial autocorrelation. Using simulations and actual wild boar data, these new actions were aimed to produce high resolution predictions (2x2 km grid) with higher accuracy. We assessed model fitting in two different regions in Europe with high quality resolution HY data: Aragón autonomous region (North East Spain, belonging to South Bioregion as defined by ENETWILD) and the whole country of Slovenia (East Bioregion). We found that the marked overprediction, as observed in previous reports when models were downscaled, was now controlled by using hunted wild boar densities as response variable. Additionally, higher accuracy in model predictions was reached when iCAR approach was used to control for spatial autocorrelation. This high accuracy was maintained even when high resolution predictions were aggregated and compared to actual wild boar HY. These approaches should be considered in future models and represent an important step forward to model the distribution of wild boar abundance and other wildlife at high resolution over Europe.