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Xylella fastidiosa (Xf) is a vascular plant pathogenic bacterium native to the Americas that is causing significant epidemics and economic losses in olive and almonds in Europe, where it is a quarantine pathogen. Since its first detection in 2013 in Italy, mandatory surveys across Europe revealed the presence of the bacterium also in France, Spain, and Portugal. Combining ONT and Illumina sequencing data, we assembled high-quality complete genomes of seven Xf subsp. fastidiosa strains isolated from different plants in Spain, the USA, and Mexico. Comparative genomic analyses discovered differences in plasmid content among strains, including plasmids that had been overlooked previously when using Illumina sequencing platform alone. Interestingly, in strain CFBP8073, intercepted in France from plants imported from Mexico, three plasmids were identified, including two (plasmid pXF-P1.CFBP8073 and pXF-P2.CFBP8073) not previously described in X. fastidiosa, and one (pXF5823.CFBP8073) almost identical to a plasmid described in a Xf strain from citrus. Plasmids found in the Spanish strains here were similar to those described previously in other strains from the same subspecies and ST1 isolated in the Balearic Islands and the USA. The genome resources from this work will assist in further studies on the role of plasmids in the epidemiology, ecology, and evolution of this plant pathogen., This research was funded by Project BeXyl (Beyond Xylella, Integrated Management Strategies for Mitigating Xylella fastidiosa impact in Europe; Grant ID No 101060593) from European Union’s Horizon Action ‘Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment’ Programme; Project E-RTA2017-00004-C06-02 (Desarrollo de estrategias de erradicación, contención y control de X. fastidiosa enEspaña) from ‘Programa Estatal de I+D+I Orientada a los Retos de la Sociedad of the Spanish Government AEI-INIA Spain’ and The Spanish Olive Oil Interprofesional; and the Thematic Interdisciplinary Platform on X. fastidiosa from CSIC (PTI Sol-Xyl). Financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries to the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture is also acknowledged. L.D.F. was a recipient of a research fellowship awarded by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Co-operative Research Programme (CRP), during the writing of this manuscript. M. P. Velasco Amo is recipient of a contract financed by the Intramural Project 178 201840E111 from CSIC.

The inclusion of a medicinal plant leaf extract (MPLE) from sage (Salvia officinalis) and lemon verbena (Lippia citriodora), rich in verbascoside and triterpenic compounds like ursolic acid, was evaluated in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) fed a low fishmeal-based diet (48% crude protein, 17% crude fat, 21.7 MJ kg-1, 7% fishmeal, 15% fish oil) for 92 days. In particular, the study focused on the effect of these phytogenic compounds on the gut condition by analyzing the transcriptomic profiling (microarray analysis) and histological structure of the intestinal mucosa, as well as the histochemical properties of mucins stored in goblet cells. A total number of 506 differentially expressed genes (285 up- and 221 down-regulated) were found when comparing the transcriptomic profiling of the intestine from fish fed the control and MPLE diets. The gut transcripteractome revealed an expression profile that favored biological mechanisms associated to the 1) immune system, particularly involving T cell activation and differentiation, 2) gut integrity (i.e., adherens and tight junctions) and cellular proliferation, and 3) cellular proteolytic pathways. The histological analysis showed that the MPLE dietary supplementation promoted an increase in the number of intestinal goblet cells and modified the composition of mucins’ glycoproteins stored in goblet cells, with an increase in the staining intensity of neutral mucins, as well as in mucins rich in carboxylated and weakly sulfated glycoconjugates, particularly those rich in sialic acid residues. The integration of transcriptomic and histological results showed that the evaluated MPLE from sage and lemon verbena is responsible for the maintenance of intestinal health, supporting gut homeostasis and increasing the integrity of the intestinal epithelium, which suggests that this phytogenic may be considered as a promising sustainable functional additive for aquafeeds., This work has been financially supported by the project “Nutritional strategies for the improvement of productive performance: the use of functional feeds and health diets in aquaculture (DIETAplus)”, funded by JACUMAR (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment of Spain, MAPAMA) and FEMP (EU), as well as by the ERC (European Research Council) in MedAID project (Mediterranean Aquaculture Integrated Development; Grant Agreement Nb. 727315). FR-L thanks the support of Fondecyt Regular grant (Nb. 1211841; ANID; Government of Chile). RS is supported by a PhD grant from the government of Paraguay (BECAL). JF have been subsidized by the Industrial PhD program of Generalitat de Catalunya and TECNOVIT-FARMFAES S.L. (Nb. 2017 DI 017). EV-V was financially granted with DICYT-USACH Postdoctoral fellowship (Nb. 022043IB). Collaboration between Ibero-American researchers has been done under the framework of the network LARVAplus “Strategies for the development and improvement of fish larvae production in Ibero-America” (117RT0521) funded by the Ibero-American Program of Science and Technology for Development (CYTED, Spain).

© 2020 by the authors., Identification of sequence types (ST) of Xylella fastidiosa based on direct MultiLocus Sequence Typing (MLST) of plant DNA samples is partly efficient. In order to improve the sensitivity of X. fastidiosa identification, we developed a direct nested-MLST assay on plant extracted DNA. This method was performed based on a largely used scheme targeting seven housekeeping gene (HKG) loci (cysG, gltT, holC, leuA, malF, nuoL, petC). Samples analyzed included 49 plant species and two insect species (Philaenus spumarius, Neophilaenus campestris) that were collected in 2017 (106 plant samples in France), in 2018 (162 plant samples in France, 40 plant samples and 26 insect samples in Spain), and in 2019 (30 plant samples in Spain). With the nested approach, a significant higher number of samples were amplified. The threshold was improved by 100 to 1000 times compared to conventional PCR. Using nested-MLST assay, plants that were not yet considered hosts tested positive and revealed novel alleles in France, whereas for Spanish samples it was possible to assign the subspecies or ST to samples considered as new hosts in Europe. Direct typing by nested-MLST from plant material has an increased sensitivity and may be useful for epidemiological purposes., ED salary was funded by INRA SPE division and Anses. This work received support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement 727987 XF-ACTORS (Xylella fastidiosa Active Containment Through a multidisciplinary-Oriented Research Strategy), and from Projects E-RTA2017-00004-C06-02 from ‘Programa Estatal de I+D Orientada a los Retos de la Sociedad’ from Spanish State Research Agency and from the Organización Interprofesional del Aceite de Oliva Español, CSIC Intramural Project 2018 40E111, and from “Conselleria de Agricultura, Desarrollo Rural, Emergencia Climática y Transición Ecológica” from Valencia region, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Spain. The present work reflects only the authors’view and the EU funding agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.

Vibrio harveyi has been reported as the dominant heterotrophic bacterial species in western Mediterranean coastal areas during warm seasons, and is recognized as an economically significant pathogen for the aquaculture industry. The present work aimed to evaluate the pathogenicity of a V. harveyi strain isolated from ascitic fluid collected from cultured gilthead seabream and then used in a challenge experiment involving the two most important fish species in Mediterranean aquaculture: gilthead seabream, Sparus aurata and European seabass, Dicentrarchus labrax. The ascitic fluid from diseased juvenile seabreams, previously vaccinated against Photobacterium damselae and Vibrio anguillarum, was extracted and bacteria cultivated for isolation and characterization. Additionally, different tissues were sampled for histological evaluation and description. Significant histopathological responses were observed in hepatic and mucosal tissues. One of the strains isolated from ascitic fluid, IRTA 17-43, was selected for a bacterial challenge. Additionally, the attenuation of virulence through sequential passage of the strain on solid media was also assessed. In parallel, a co-habitation trial was performed in order to evaluate the possible transfer of the bacteria between injected and healthy individuals. Pathogenicity trials in gilthead seabream resulted in only 25% mortality when injected with 10 CFU mL, whereas, for European seabass, a mortality of 95% was recorded, with clear signs of vibriosis. When passed sequentially on solid media, the strain IRTA-17-43 showed a decrease of 35% in cumulative mortality for European seabass. No apparent transmission of the pathogen occurred during the co-habitation trial for both species. In conclusion, although few external signs of V. harveyi are observed in vaccinated carriers, internal effects of the infection were clear and severe. Although no horizontal transfer of infection was observed, the risk of occurrence between carriers and immunosuppressed individuals or between different species should be considered. This further validates that the establishment of a good health management system within fish farms is of major importance in order to avoid the onset of disease outbreaks., This work has been supported by the project “Nutritional strategies for the improvement of productive performance: the use of functional feeds and health diets in aquaculture (DIETAplus)”, funded by JACUMAR (Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment of Spain, MAPAMA) and FEMP (EU), and the MedAID project (Grant agreement No 727315), funded by the European Union‘s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. Joana P. Firmino have been subsidized by the Industrial PhD program of the Generalitat de Catalunya and TECNOVIT-FARMFAES.

Rear-edge tree populations are currently at the forefront of habitat conservation. Understanding the dynamics of such marginal and peripheral populations is necessary to improve their preservation in the face of global change. Focusing on the south-western rear edge populations of silver fir (Abies alba) in Europe (Spanish Pyrenees) and using 763 resampled plots from the Spanish National Forest Inventory (1989–2000 and 2001–2010), we analyzed temporal changes in demographic parameters such as regeneration, growth and mortality as well as changes in diameter distribution and vitality of silver fir to identify shifts in the distribution. For this purpose, montane (900–1600 m a.s.l.) and subalpine (1600–2000 m a.s.l.) silver fir populations were considered separately. We then assessed the relative effects of various biotic and abiotic factors on the observed changes and specifically on each of the studied demographic parameters. In montane forests, early recruitment and the proportion of trees exhibiting high vitality decreased, while the amount of dead trees increased. In subalpine forests, silver fir has become more abundant and displays the highest growth and recruitment rates as well as the lowest mortality rate. The increase in radial growth and saplings were positively related to elevation but negatively associated with warmer and drier conditions, coinciding with the intensified aridification observed in the study area over recent decades. Our findings point to the contraction of montane silver fir forests but also to an upward expansion of subalpine forests. The results also indicate that the dynamics of marginal tree populations are driven not only by climate warming, but particularly, by biotic factors, suggesting a positive impact of interspecific interactions with tree species displaying differentiated ecophysiological traits. Given the singularity of marginal Pyrenean silver fir populations, their importance as regards the conservation of forest biodiversity at European scale, and the demographic changes revealed in this study, an integral conservation strategy to ensure their long-term preservation is necessary., Funding by the European Commission project 388432-IGN, the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Environment project EG17-042-C02-01, the Spanish Ministry of Economy project AGL2016-76769-C2-1-R FORESTCHANGE and the GESCLIMFOR project (Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales, Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Environment; ref. 979S/2013). JJC acknowledges funding by the Spanish Ministry of Economy “Fundiver” ( CGL2015-69186-C2-1-R ) and the RECREO (Organismo Autónomo de Parques Nacionales, Spanish Ministry of Agriculture and Environment; ref. 387/2011 ) projects.

Conservation regulations are increasingly recognized as important elements of the available toolkit for effective biodiversity conservation. However, the full integration of evidence when designing these tools is still scarce, which limits the effectiveness of these legal instruments. Increasing concern is emerging on the compatibility between leisure activities and biodiversity conservation, which require a true integration of the best available evidence into policy-making. Managing authorities are required to take actions in order to ensure the compliance of international conservation commitments with species conservation. This is the case of applying spatio-temporal regulations on bear viewing activities in critical bear areas and periods, such as during the cub-rearing period. Here, we took advantage of a unique long-term dataset (>25 years) of observations of females with cubs in the endangered brown bear population in the Cantabrian Mountains, N Spain (>3000 observations from 329 females with cubs) to estimate monthly bear cub survival rates in the first sixteen months of cubs life. Overall, the monthly cub survival in this population was remarkable high, ranging from 0.839 to 0.994 monthly survival rates. The lower monthly cub survival rates were in May and June after the cubs left the den (mean ± SD: 0.839 ± 0.050 and 0.897 ± 0.023, respectively). Infanticide was estimated as the main mortality cause for cubs during the study period. Our results are practical because they can be used to inform conservation policies regarding the most appropriate periods to implement temporal regulations of human activities in bear breeding areas. The most appropriate period to implement such regulations here is the period between the time when the cubs leave the den (late March–April) until and including June; which should be considered in future temporal regulations adopted by Regional Governments in Spain. Accordingly, we also urge an update of the Spanish brown bear strategies considering the new scenario of bear conservation in Spain, including a set of measures related to bear viewing activities., This research has received financial support from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment of the Government of Spain. JVLB was supported by a Ramon & Cajal research contract (RYC-2015-18932) from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness.

Over recent decades, forest management in Europe has increasingly moved towards the emulation of natural dynamics. Natural dynamics in beech-oak forests leads to the formation of monospecific beech stands, the oak usually being excluded or restricted to sites with poor growing conditions. However, beech is more vulnerable than oak to drought and high temperatures. In this study, we examine whether climate change could attenuate the dominance of beech and improve the competitive capacity of oak in an old-growth temperate forest located in the “Picos de Europa” National Park, northern Spain. We used a dendroecological approach to reconstruct the competitive capacity of beech and oak and developed a projection for the 21st century based on forecasted climate conditions under three different emission scenarios. Beech is the dominant tree species in the studied forest, where the disturbance regime has favored the replacement of oak by beech. In general oaks are older than beeches and most of the small trees are beeches. Our results show that this substitution process may weaken due to the vulnerability of beech to warmer and drier conditions. Climate change will benefit oak growth over beech over the course of the 21st century, as was observed in the late 20th century. However, the natural gap dynamic benefits beech due to its greater shade-tolerance. Therefore, if the resilience of the ecosystem is to be increased, management strategies favoring oak regeneration are necessary given the better adaptation of oak to climate change., This project has been funded by the National Parks Autonomous Agency of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Environment through the project 979S/2013, by the Autonomous Community of Madrid through the project P2013/MAE-2760, by the project AGL2016-76769-C2-1-R of the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and through a PhD fellowship of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. JJC acknowledges the support of the project “Fundiver” (CGL2015-69186-C2-1-R, Spanish Ministry of Economy).

[EN]: The eighty-four species of Eupelmidae known from the Iberian Peninsula and Canary Islands are listed with distributional data and host records. A new species of Calosota, C. carmenae Askew & Nieves-Aldrey sp. n. is described. The previously unrecognised males of Calosota bolivari Askew, 2006, C. nitens Askew, 2006, Anastatus oscari (Ruthe, 1859) and A. uromeni Ferrière, 1968 are also described. Neanastatus africanus Ferrière, 1938, Eupelmus confusus Al khatib, 2015, E. gemellus Al khatib, 2015, E. kiefferi De Stefani, 1898, E. martellii Masi, 1941 and E. stramineipes Nikol’skaya, 1952 are added to the list of Spanish Eupelmidae, and E. fulvipes Förster, 1860 is removed., [ES]: Se presenta un listado taxonómico comentado de las ochenta y cuatro especies de Eupelmidae que se conocen de la Península Ibérica e Islas Baleares, incluyendo nuevos datos de distribución y de especies hospedadoras. Se describe una nueva especie de Calosota, C. carmenae Askew & Nieves-Aldrey sp. n. Se describen también los machos, hasta ahora no reconocidos, de cuatro especies: Calosota bolivari Askew, 2006, C. nitens Askew, 2006, Anastatus oscari (Ruthe, 1859) and A. uromeni Ferrière, 1968. Neanastatus africanus Ferrière, 1938, Eupelmus confusus Al khatib, 2015, E. gemellus Al khatib, 2015, E. kiefferi De Stefani, 1898, E. martellii Masi, 1941 y E. stramineipes Nikol’skaya, 1951 se incorporan al listado de Eupelmidae de España, mientras que E. fulvipes Förster, 1860 se elimina de dicha lista., Financial support of RRA at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC) in Madrid was provided by the European Community’s Programme ‘Research Infrastructure Action’ under SYNTHESYS (ES-TAF-4868). JLNA was supported in part by research projects (MINECO/ FEDER, UE) CGL2015-66571-P, (AEI/FEDER, UE) AGL2016-76262-R and Encomienda de Gestión del MAPAMA a la Agencia Estatal CSIC, exp. 16MNES003.

Trabajo presentado en el XVI Congreso Nacional de Acuicultura, celebrado en Zaragoza (España), del 3 al 5 de octubre de 2017, [EN] This project promotes technology developments for gilthead sea bream industrial sector of Spain, to facilitate and normalize the implementation of genetic selection schemes in this species, by defining new technological traits of commercial interest, with new standardized and extensible technological developments that permit, in an economical manner, normalized measuring methods, to study genetic parameters (growth,morphology, carcass and resistance disease), genotype-environment interaction to extend the Spanish production, and guarantee the production levels to the whole production chain. At the same time, improving the breeders management under industrial conditions, the validation of feeding efficiency during the selection processes and location of biomarkers linked and applied in genomic selection., [ES] Con la presente propuesta se pretende desarrollar metodología transferible al sector industrial de dorada en España que facilite y normalice la implementación de esquemas de selección genética en esta especie, mediante la definición de caracteres de interés comercial con nuevos desarrollos tecnológicos que estandaricen y hagan extensible a todo el sector, de manera económica, la medición de caracteres a escala industrial, el estudio de parámetros genéticos para caracteres de interés comercial (crecimiento, morfología, rendimiento y resistencia a enfermedades) en stocks de reproductores de la industria española, la estimación de la interacción genotipo-ambiente para permitir de manera garante la expansión de los rendimientos productivos de la industria Española, la gestión de reproductores bajo los propios condicionantes de la industria, así como la validación de la eficiencia alimenticia de los procesos de selección y búsqueda de biomarcadores asociados y aplicables en los modelos de selección., Este trabajo ha sido financiado a través de las Ayudas a la investigación de los Planes Nacionales de Acuicultura 2016 por el Ministerio de Agricultura y Pesca, Alimentación y Medioambiente (MAPAMA) y el Fondo Europeo Marítimo y de Pesca (FEMP).