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Liquid crystals (LCs), discovered more than 130 years ago, are now emerging in the field of biomedicine. This article highlights the recent uses of lipid lyotropic LCs in therapeutics delivery, imaging, and tissue engineering and invites the scientific community to continue exploring the design of more complex LCs.

Available online 30 January 2023, The paper presents new annotated corpora for performing stance detection on Spanish Twitter data, most notably Health-related tweets. The objectives of this research are threefold: (1) to develop a manually annotated benchmark corpus for emotion recognition taking into account different variants of Spanish in social posts; (2) to evaluate the efficiency of semi-supervised models for extending such corpus with unlabelled posts; and (3) to describe such short text corpora via specialised topic modelling. A corpus of 2,801 tweets about COVID-19 vaccination was annotated by three native speakers to be in favour (904), against (674) or neither (1,223) with a 0.725 Fleiss kappa score. Results show that the self-training method with SVM base estimator can alleviate annotation work while ensuring high model performance. The self-training model outperformed the other approaches and produced a corpus of 11,204 tweets with a macro averaged f1 score of 0.94. The combination of sentence-level deep learning embeddings and density-based clustering was applied to explore the contents of both corpora. Topic quality was measured in terms of the trustworthiness and the validation index., This study was supported by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 under the scope of the CURMIS4th project (Grant PID2020–113673RB-I00), the Consellería de Educación, Universidades e Formación Profesional (Xunta de Galicia) under the scope of the strategic funding of ED431C2018/55-GRC Competitive Reference Group, the “Centro singular de investigación de Galicia” (accreditation 2019–2022), and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit. SING group thanks CITI (Centro de Investigación, Transferencia e Innovación) from the University of Vigo for hosting its IT infrastructure. Funding for open access charge: Universidade de Vigo/CISUG., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Potential exposure of the Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus) to pharmaceuticals is of high conservation interest, as these compounds can produce catastrophic consequences for populations of avian scavengers. Due to the extensive livestock management in most of Patagonia, we expected Andean condors to be rarely exposed to veterinary pharmaceuticals through scavenging of free-ranging livestock. Unexpectedly, we found a high prevalence (78.6 %) of pharmaceuticals in the plasma of a small sample of randomly captured condors (n = 14), of all age classes and sexes. The antibiotic enrofloxacin was detected in all 11 drug-positive condors (78.6 %). Two antibiotics and two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were found simultaneously or in combinations of two or three different pharmaceuticals in 3 of the 14 (21.4 %) condors: marbofloxacin and phenylbutazone were found in a single adult female together with enrofloxacin, while flunixin meglumine was found in two adult males and also in the presence of enrofloxacin. Our study suggests that livestock grazing in the vast Patagonian region may be subject to more frequent medication than expected a priori. Today, it should not be assumed that livestock in remote, sparsely populated, or low-income areas are free of veterinary pharmaceuticals with a possible negative impact on wildlife and public health., Fieldwork was funded by Fundación Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria project BIOCON-08-126 and project CGL2009-12753-C02-01 from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad. Laboratory work was funded by Toxicology and Forensic Veterinary Service, Faculty of Veterinary, University of Murcia and by Fundación Séneca - Agencia de Ciencia y Tecnología de la Región de Murcia (20945/PI/18).

El sistema educativo colombiano está en un momento en el cual se puede hacer grandes cambios, para ello es necesario analizar la situación actual del sistema, como está en comparación a los mejores sistemas de educación, y los aspectos se pueden y deben cambiar para buscar una mejora significativa en búsqueda del logro en la excelencia en educación.

Comprehending symbiont abundance among host species is a major ecological endeavour, and the metabolic theory of ecology has been proposed to understand what constraints symbiont populations. We parameterized metabolic theory equations to predict how bird species’ body size and the body size of their feather mites relate to mite abundance according to four potential energy (microbial abundance, uropygial gland size) and space constraints (wing area, number of feather barbs). Predictions were compared with the empirical scaling of feather mite abundance from 26,604 birds of 106 passerine species, using phylogenetic modelling and quantile regression. Feather mite populations were strongly constrained by host space (number of feather barbs) and not energy. Moreover, feather mite species’ body size was unrelated to their abundance or to the body size of their host species. We discuss the implications of our results for our understanding of the bird-feather mite system and for symbiont abundance in general.

Certain traits of recipient environments, such as the availability of limiting resources, strongly determine the establishment success and spread of non-native species. These limitations may be overcome through behavioral plasticity, allowing them to exploit alternative resources. Here, we show how a secondary cavity nester bird, the rose-ringed parakeet Psittacula krameri, innovates its nesting behavior as a response to the shortage of tree cavities for nesting in its invasive range in Tenerife (Canary Islands). We observed that some breeding pairs excavated their own nest cavities in palms, thus becoming primary cavity nester, whereas others occupied nests built with wood sticks by another invasive species, the monk parakeet Myiopsitta monachus. The use of these novel nesting strategies increased the number of breeding pairs by up to 52% over 6 years, contributing to a 128.8% increase of the whole population. Innovative nests were located at greater heights above ground and were more aggregated around conspecifics but did not result in greater breeding success than natural cavities. Occupation of monk parakeet colonies by rose-ringed parakeets also benefited the former species through a protective-nesting association against nest predators. Our results show how an invasive species innovate nesting behaviors and increase nest-site availability in the recipient environment, thus facilitating its population growth and invasion process. Potential behavioral innovations in other invasive rose-ringed parakeet populations may be overlooked, and should be considered for effective management plans.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is planted in about a tenth of the arable area around the world and is the largest source of food energy for half of humanity. Climatic change with increasing frequency of severe and prolonged drought periods and significant increases in air temperature has affected global rice production. Therefore, generating mutant rice cultivars tolerant to high temperatures and low water supplies is of utmost importance. Advanced mutant rice lines which were derived from irradiated Amistad -82 and J-104 were evaluated in the field under high temperatures and low water supply conditions using Amistad-82 variety as control. The genotypes with the best and worst field performances were compared using physiological parameters such as cell membrane thermostability, pollen viability, lipid peroxidation, and peroxidase and catalase activity under high temperature conditions. Three mutant lines, 8852, 8552 and LP-12 showed high yielding under high temperatures and low water supplies conditions in the field and also showed better pollen viability, cell membrane thermo stability, lipid peroxidation and peroxidase than LP-16 mutant lines and the control cv. Amistad-82. These results show that the physical irradiation of seeds with protons followed by subsequent in vitro embryo culture using 2,4D may generate genetic variability for tolerance to high temperatures. The variation observed for the physiological and biochemical indicators evaluated could be used for the early selection of high temperature tolerant rice genotypes

34 Páginas.-- 6 Figuras.-- 2 Tablas, Carotenoids are diet-based micronutrients important in health and coloration signaling. Related species with similar diets can differ in the kinds and levels of circulating carotenoids, which suggests specific physiological mechanisms to efficiently utilize these micronutrients, regardless of their availability. We explored whether diet and parental provisioning of unusual sources of carotenoids (fresh vegetal matter and vertebrate feces) can explain the occurrence and concentrations of carotenoids in the cinereous vulture Aegypius monachus, griffon vulture Gyps fulvus, and Egyptian vulture Neophron percnopterus nestlings, even when these pigments appear to not be deposited in their integumentary system. A greater diversity of wild prey in diet could be behind the profile of higher concentrations of carotenoids in the Egyptian vulture, the species with carotenoid-dependent coloration during adulthood, while differences in diet composition between cinereous and griffon vultures do not translate to different carotenoid profiles. The carotenoid profile appears to not be related to the ingestion of unusual matter rich in these compounds, although the infrequent occurrence of lycopene and an unidentified γ-carotene-like compounds suggest that these vultures may be exploiting vegetal matter that left no identifiable unconsumed remains in the nest of Egyptian vultures. The consumption of green plant material by griffon vultures does not result in especially high levels of carotenoids when compared to the carotenoids found in cinereous vultures, which do not consume green plant material. Ungulate feces were not provisioned to Egyptian vulture nestlings, despite the fact they contain carotenoids that adults need for appropriate coloration. Overall, this study indicates that diet differences alone appear insufficient to explain contrasting inter-specific carotenoid profiles, especially since all types of food consumed are considered to be poor in carotenoids, except vegetable matter. We suggest that nestling Egyptian vultures are comparatively efficient in up taking carotenoids present in low concentrations in food when these compounds are not deposited in their integument, which suggests allocation to other functions., We thank J.L. González del Barrio, Ó. Frías, B. Arroyo, F. Martínez, J.M. García, A. González, J.P. Calle, J. García,J. Oltra and M. Carrete for their help with fieldwork, and R. Sebastián for assistance in pigment extractions. J.de la Cruz, A. González and J. García kindly provided pictures. Research was funded through projects CGL2007-61395, CGL2010-15726, CGL2013-42451-P, and PID2019-109685GB-I00 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation

Scavenging is a key ecological process controlling energy flow in ecosystems and providing valuable ecosystem services worldwide. As long-lived species, the demographic dynamics of vultures can be disrupted by spatiotemporal fluctuations in food availability, with dramatic impacts on their population viability and the ecosystem services provided. In Europe, the outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in 2001 prompted a restrictive sanitary regulation banning the presence of livestock carcasses in the wild on a continental scale. In long-lived vertebrate species, the buffering hypothesis predicts that the demographic traits with the largest contribution to population growth rate should be less temporally variable. The BSE outbreak provides a unique opportunity to test for the impact of demographic buffering in a keystone scavenger suffering abrupt but transient food shortages. We studied the 42-year dynamics (1979¿2020) of one of the world's largest breeding colonies of Eurasian griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus). We fitted an inverse Bayesian state-space model with density-dependent demographic rates to the time series of stage-structured abundances to investigate shifts in vital rates and population dynamics before, during, and after the implementation of a restrictive sanitary regulation. Prior to the BSE outbreak the dynamics was mainly driven by adult survival: 83% of temporal variance in abundance was explained by variability in this rate. Moreover, during this period the regulation of population size operated through density-dependent fecundity and subadult survival. However, after the onset of the European ban, a 1-month delay in average laying date, a drop in fecundity, and a reduction in the number of fledglings induced a transient increase in the impact of fledgling and subadult recruitment on dynamics. Although adult survival rate remained constantly high, as predicted by the buffering hypothesis, its relative impact on the temporal variance in abundance dropped to 71% during the sanitary regulation and to 54% after the ban was lifted. A significant increase in the relative impact of environmental stochasticity on dynamics was modeled after the BSE outbreak. These results provide empirical evidence on how abrupt environmental deterioration may induce dramatic demographic and dynamic changes in the populations of keystone scavengers, with far-reaching impacts on ecosystem functioning worldwide. © 2022 The Ecological Society of America., Pablo Almaraz was supported by a predoctoral fellowship through the program Formacion del Profesorado Universitario FPU of the Spanish Ministry of Education (FPU16/00626). ZMR was supported by two postdoctoral contracts cofunded by the Generalitat Valenciana and the European Social Fund (APOSTD/2019/016) and funded by the Junta de Andalucía (POSTDOC_21_00353). Funds were provided by the projects CGL2009-12753-C02-01/BOS, CGL2010-15726, and PID2019-109685GB-I00 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

Variation in offspring sex ratios is a central topic in animal demography and population dynamics. Most studies have focused on bird species with marked sexual dimorphism and multiple-nestling broods, where the offspring sex ratio is often biased due to different individual or environmental variables. However, biases in offspring sex ratios have been far less investigated in monomorphic and single-egg laying species, and few studies have evaluated long-term and large-scale variations in the sex ratio of nestling vultures. Here, we explore individual and environmental factors potentially affecting the secondary sex ratio of the monomorphic griffon vulture Gyps fulvus. We used information collected at three breeding nuclei from central Spain over a 30-year period (1990–2020) to analyse the effects of nestling age, parental age, breeding phenology, conspecific density, population reproductive parameters, and spatial and temporal variability on nestling sex. Sex ratio did not differ from parity either at the population or the nuclei level. No significant between-year differences were detected, even under highly changing conditions of food availability associated with the mad-cow crisis. We found that tree nesting breeders tend to have more sons than daughters, but as this nesting behavior is rare and we consequently have a small sample size, this issue would require additional examination. Whereas further research is needed to assess the potential effect of breeder identity on nestling sex ratio, this study contributes to understanding the basic ecology and population dynamics of Griffon Vultures, a long-lived species with deferred maturity and low fecundity, whose minor deviations in the offspring sex ratio might imply major changes at the population level., Research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness through projects CGL2007-61395, CGL2010-15726, CGL2013-42451-P and PID2019-109685GB-I00 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. G.G.L. was supported by a FPU fellowship of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (FPU19/06511). A.S.A. was supported by a Ramón y Cajal fellowship of the Spanish Ministry of Science (RYC-2017-22796).

Liquid crystals (LCs) possess unique physicochemical properties, translatable into a wide range of applications. To date, lipidic lyotropic LCs (LLCs) have been extensively explored in drug delivery and imaging owing to the capability to encapsulate and release payloads with different characteristics. The current landscape of lipidic LLCs in biomedical applications is provided in this review. Initially, the main properties, types, methods of fabrication and applications of LCs are showcased. Then, a comprehensive discussion of the main biomedical applications of lipidic LLCs accordingly to the application (drug and biomacromolecule delivery, tissue engi-neering and molecular imaging) and route of administration is examined. Further discussion of the main limi-tations and perspectives of lipidic LLCs in biomedical applications are also provided.Statement of significance: Liquid crystals (LCs) are those systems between a solid and liquid state that possess unique morphological and physicochemical properties, translatable into a wide range of biomedical applications. A short description of the properties of LCs, their types and manufacturing procedures is given to serve as a background to the topic. Then, the latest and most innovative research in the field of biomedicine is examined, specifically the areas of drug and biomacromolecule delivery, tissue engineering and molecular imaging. Finally, prospects of LCs in biomedicine are discussed to show future trends and perspectives that might be utilized. This article is an ampliation, improvement and actualization of our previous short forum article "Bringing lipidic lyotropic liquid crystal technology into biomedicine" published in TIPS.

This paper proposes a new deep learning approach to better understand how optimistic and pessimistic feelings are conveyed in Twitter conversations about COVID-19. A pre-trained transformer embedding is used to extract the semantic features and several network architectures are compared. Model performance is evaluated on two new, publicly available Twitter corpora of crisis-related posts. The best performing pessimism and optimism detection models are based on bidirectional long- and short-term memory networks. Experimental results on four periods of the COVID-19 pandemic show how the proposed approach can model optimism and pessimism in the context of a health crisis. There is a total of 150,503 tweets and 51,319 unique users. Conversations are characterised in terms of emotional signals and shifts to unravel empathy and support mechanisms. Conversations with stronger pessimistic signals denoted little emotional shift (i.e. 62.21% of these conversations experienced almost no change in emotion). In turn, only 10.42% of the conversations laying more on the optimistic side maintained the mood. User emotional volatility is further linked with social influence., This study was supported by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 under the scope of the CURMIS4th project (Grant PID2020-113673RB-I00), the Conseller a de Educaci n, Universidades e Formaci n rofesional (Xunta de Galicia under the scope of the strategic funding of ED431C2018 55-GRC Competitive Reference Group, the “Centro singular de investigacion de Galicia” (accreditation 2019-2022) and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund - ERDF)- Ref. ED431G2019/06, and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology(FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDB/04469/2020 unit. SING group thanks CITI (Centro de Investigación, Transferencia e Innovación) from the University of Vigo for hosting its IT infrastructure., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Cardiac troponin T (encoded by TNNT2) is involved in the contraction of cardiomyocytes during beating. The alternative splicing of TNNT2 results in four transcript variants with differential Ca2+ sensitivity. The splicing of TNNT2 involves phosphorylation of the splicing factor SRSF6 by DYRK1A. Altered TNNT2 splicing patterns have been identified in failing human hearts. There is a paucity of studies describing DYRK1A-SRSF6-TNNT2 interplays in human cardiomyocytes. Also, it is not known whether the sensitivity of cardiomyocytes to cardiotoxic anthracyclines is modified in the context of variable DYRK1A-TNNT2 expression. In this study, we investigated the impact of DYRK1A on the endogenous expression of TNNT2 splicing variants in iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. We also examined whether DYRK1A expression modifies the sensitivity of cardiomyocytes to the cardiotoxic drug daunorubicin (DAU). DYRK1A over-expression increased the abundance of TNNT2 fetal variants by ~ 58% whereas the abundance of the adult cTnT3 variant decreased by ~ 27%. High DYRK1A expression increased the phosphorylation of SRSF6 by ~ 25–65%. DAU cytotoxicity was similar between cardiomyocytes with variable levels of DYRK1A expression. DYRK1A over-expression ameliorated the impact of DAU on beating frequency. This study lays the foundation to further investigate the contribution of variable DYRK1A-TNNT2 expression to Ca2+ handling and beating in human cardiomyocytes.

[Aim]: Oceanic islands have often been colonized by small groups of individuals dispersing from the nearest mainland, giving rise to insular populations characterized by locally adapted phenotypes and low genetic diversity. Alternatively, due to past geo‐climatic changes, the present‐day distribution of the species may not correspond to that found at the time of the original colonization so that the current mainland distribution may not include the original source area, leading to erroneous assumptions regarding colonization history. Here, we use patterns of genetic variation to evaluate alternative colonization scenarios of an insular passerine in the Canary Islands., [Location]: La Palma (Canary Islands), Northern Africa and the Iberian Peninsula., [Taxon]: Red‐billed chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax)., [Methods]: We use phylogeographical and coalescent analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequences and 10 microsatellite loci, together with Bayesian demographic modelling, to determine whether choughs on the island of La Palma originate from (a) present‐day populations in Iberia, (b) present‐day populations in the mountains of inland Morocco or (c) former populations in coastal Morocco, where suitable habitat existed in the past., [Results]: Both the mitochondrial and nuclear datasets indicate that the chough population on La Palma is genetically well differentiated from those in Iberia and Morocco, and that La Palma choughs are more closely related to choughs in Iberia than to those in Morocco. Genetic diversity in La Palma is lower than that of mainland populations, but shows no evidence of past bottlenecks. The best supported demographic model to explain the origin of La Palma choughs that is congruent with both genetic datasets includes a ‘ghost’ population closely related to Iberia, from which the insular population diverged within the last 30,000 years., [Main conclusions]: Our results are most consistent with the existence of a former connection between La Palma and Iberia along the North African coast, when suitable habitat was found there. Subsequent desertification of these coastal areas led to local extinctions that restricted gene flow between Iberia and the islands, promoting genetic differentiation. Our results provide a counterintuitive solution to a biogeographical enigma, and could help resolve the colonization history of other systems with similarly complex climatic pasts., The study was funded by projects from the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla‐La Mancha (PPIC10‐0094‐3036), the Spanish Ministry of the Environment (082/2002) and the Ministry of Science and Education (BOS2003‐05066 and CGL2015‐66381‐P). F. M. was supported by a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral fellowship from Spain's Ministry of Science and Innovation (FJCI‐2017‐32055) for part of this work.

The transmission of pathogens to native species has been highlighted as one of the most important impacts of biological invasions. In this study, we evaluated the presence of psittacine beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) and other circoviruses in native bird species cohabiting with invasive populations of wild rose-ringed (Psittacula krameri) and monk parakeets (Myiopsitta monachus) that were found positive for a particular BFDV genotype in Sevilla, southern Spain. None of the 290 individuals from the 18 native bird species captured showed typical signs of disease caused by BFDV. A sample of 79 individuals from 15 native species showed negative results for the presence of the BFDV genotype previously detected in the sympatric invasive parakeets, as well as any other of the circoviruses tested. Although preliminary, this study suggests a lack of circovirus transmission from invasive parakeets to native birds at the study site. Further research is needed to determine if this apparent absence in transmission depends on the BFDV genotype present in the parakeets, which requires additional screening in other invasive and native populations living in sympatry., F.M. was supported by a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral fellowship from Spain’s Ministry of Science and Innovation (FJCI-2017-32055). This work was supported by Loro Parque Fundación and MICINN through the European Regional Development Fund (SUMHAL, LIFEWATCH-2019-09-CSIC-13, POPE 2014-2020).

There is broad consensus that increasing the use of renewable energies is effective to mitigate the global climate crisis. However, the development of renewables may carry environmental impacts, and their expansion could accelerate biodiversity loss (1). However, Dunnett et al. (2) have recently estimated a minimal overlap between renewable energy expansion and important conservation areas (ICAs;i.e., protected areas, key biodiversity areas, wilderness areas) (sensu ref. 2), suggesting that these infrastructures would not significantly affect biodiversity conservation if properly planned and regulated.

Degradation of natural ecosystems increases the risk of infections in wildlife due to microbiota dysbiosis. However, little is known about its influence on the development of fungal communities in predators and facultative avian scavengers. We evaluated the incidence of oral disease in wild nestling black kites (Milvus migrans) under contrasting environmental degradation conditions, and explored their oral fungal patterns using molecular methods and multivariate analysis. Oral lesions were found in 36.8% of the 38 nestlings examined in an anthropogenically altered habitat (southeastern Madrid, Spain), but in none of the 105 nestlings examined in a well-conserved natural area (Doñana National Park, Spain). In a subsample of 48 black kites, the composition of the oral fungal community differed among symptomatic nestlings from Madrid (SM) and asymptomatic nestlings from Madrid (AM) and Doñana (AD). Opportunistic fungal pathogens (e.g., Fusarium incarnatum-equiseti species complex, Mucor spp., Rhizopus oryzae) were more prevalent in SM and AM than in AD. Hierarchical clustering and principal component analyses revealed that fungal patterns were distinct between both study areas, and that anthropogenic and natural environmental factors had a greater impact on them than oral disease. Fungal signatures associated with anthropogenic and natural stresses harbored some taxa that could be used to flag oral infection (F. incarnatum-equiseti species complex and Alternaria), indicate environmental degradation (Alternaria) or provide protective benefits in degraded environments (Trichoderma, Epicoccum nigrum and Sordaria). Co-occurrence associations between potentially beneficial and pathogenic fungi were typical of AM and AD, hinting at a possible role in host health. This study shows that early-life exposure to highly degraded environments induces a shift towards a higher prevalence of pathogenic species in the oral cavity of black kites, favoring oral disease. Furthermore, our findings suggest potential ecological applications of the monitoring of oral mycobiome as a bioindication of oral disease and environmental degradation., This work was supported by projects CGL2009-12753-C02-01/BOS, CGL2010-15726 and PGC2018-095860-B-I00 of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, and FEDER funds and P18-FR-4239 of the Junta de Andalucía (Consejería de Conocimiento, Investigación y Universidad).

Despite important recent advances in cognitive ecology, our current understanding of avian cognition still largely rests on research conducted on a few model taxa. Vultures are an ecologically distinctive group of species by being the only obligate carrion consumers across terrestrial vertebrates. Their unique scavenging lifestyle suggests they have been subject to particular selective pressures to locate scarce, unpredictable, ephemeral, and nutritionally challenging food. However, substantial variation exists among species in diet, foraging techniques and social structure of populations. Here, we provide an overview of the current knowledge on vulture cognition through a comprehensive literature review and a compilation of our own observations. We find evidence for a variety of innovative foraging behaviors, scrounging tactics, collective problem-solving abilities and tool-use, skills that are considered indicative of enhanced cognition and that bear clear connections with the eco-social lifestyles of species. However, we also find that the cognitive basis of these skills remain insufficiently studied, and identify new research areas that require further attention in the future. Despite these knowledge gaps and the challenges of working with such large animals, we conclude that vultures may provide fresh insight into our knowledge of the ecology and evolution of cognition., Thijs van Overveld received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No “SocForVul 659008” and through a National Geographic Research grant No “295-R18”. The long-term monitoring of the Canarian Egyptian vulture population on Fuerteventura has been funded by the projects REN 2000–1556GLO, CGL2004-00270/BOS, CGL2009-12753-C02-02, CGL2012-40013-C02-01, CGL2015-66966-C2-1-2-R and RTI2018-099609-B-C21 (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and EU/FEDER). Further support was provided by the Cabildo Insular de Fuerteventura and the Dirección General de Protección de la Naturaleza (Viceconsejería de Medio Ambiente, Canarian Government). Antoni Margalida, Guillermo Blanco and Daniel Sol were funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (projects RTI2018-099609-B-C22, PID2019-109685 GB-I00 and PID2020-119514 GB-I00, respectively).

Glycoside hydrolases are responsible for the enzymatic deconstruction of complex carbohydrates. Most of the families are known to conserve the catalytic machinery and molecular mechanisms. This work introduces a new method to predict glycolytic abilities in sequenced genomes and thus, gain a better understanding of how to target specific carbohydrates and identify potentially interesting sources of specialised enzymes. Genome sequences are aligned to those of organisms with expertly curated glycolytic abilities. Clustering of homology scores helps identify organisms that share common abilities and the most promising organisms regarding specific glycolytic abilities. The method has been applied to members of the bacterial families Ruminococcaceae (39 genera), Eubacteriaceae (11 genera) and Lachnospiraceae (59 genera), which hold major representatives of the human gut microbiota. The method predicted the potential presence of glycoside hydrolases in 1701 species of these genera. Here, the validity and practical usefulness of the method is discussed based on the predictions obtained for members of the genus Ruminococcus. Results were consistent with existing literature and offer useful, complementary insights to comparative genomics and physiological testing. The implementation of the Gleukos web portal (http://sing-group.org/gleukos) offers a public service to those interested in targeting microbial carbohydrate metabolism for biotechnological and health applications., SING group thanks CITI (Centro de Investigacion, Transferencia e Innovacion) from the University of Vigo for hosting its IT infrastructure. Funding: This work was funded by the Spanish “Ministerio de Economıa y Competitividad—Agencia Estatal de Investigacion” (grant AGL2016-78311-R; AEI/ FEDER, UE) and by the grant IDI/2018/000236 from the Government of the Principality of Asturias. This study was also supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2019 unit and the Consellerıa de Educacion, Universidades e Formacion Profesional (Xunta de Galicia) under the scope of the strategic funding of ED431C2018/55-GRC Competitive Reference Group. Conflict of interest: Abelardo Margolles and Borja Sanchez are scientific founders of Microviable Therapeutics SL. The rest of the authors have no conflicts of interest to declare, info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Evidence is accumulating on the regular and systematic Neanderthal exploitation of birds. However, the motivations, mechanisms, and circumstances underlying this behavior remains little explored despite their potential implications on Neanderthal ecology and capabilities. Fossil remains of choughs (Pyrrhocorax, Corvidae) are among the most abundant in cave sites with Mousterian technology. We reviewed the evidence showing that Neanderthals processed choughs for food, and confirmed that it occurred frequently over a widespread spatial and temporal scale. This lead us to propose the hypothesis that the cave-like refuge is the keystone resource connecting Neanderthals and choughs captured at night in rocky shelters eventually used by both species. By adopting an actualistic approach, we documented the patterns of refuge use and population dynamics of communally roosting choughs, the strategies and technology currently used to capture them, and their behavioral response against experimental human predators at night. Actualistic experiments showed that large numbers of choughs can be captured without highly sophisticated tools at night regularly and periodically, due to their occupation year-round during long-term periods of the same nocturnal shelters, the constant turnover of individuals,and their high site tenacity at these roost-sites even after recurrent disturbance and predation. Captures even with bare hands are further facilitated because choughs tend to flee confused into the cavity in darkness when dazzled and cornered by human (experimental) predators. Given the extreme difficulty of daylight chough capturing in open country, nocturnal hunting with the help of fire in the roosting caves and consumption in situ are proposed as the most plausible explanations for the strong association of choughs and Neanderthals in fossil assemblages. Night hunting of birds has implications for the social, anatomical, technological, and cognitive capacities of Neanderthals., This study was partially funded by projects from the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha (PPIC10-0094-3036), the Spanish Ministry of the Environment (082/2002), and the Ministry of Science and Education (BOS2003-05066 and CGL2015-66381-P). AS-M was supported by the projects CGL2016-76431-P and CGL2017-82654-P (AEI/FEDER, EU)., We also acknowledge institutional support from the Unit of Information Resources for Research at the Unit of Information Resources for Research at the "Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas" (CSIC) for the article-processing charges contribution

Despite important recent advances in cognitive ecology, our current understanding of avian cognition still largely rests on research conducted on a few model taxa. Vultures are an ecologically distinctive group of species by being the only obligate carrion consumers across terrestrial vertebrates. Their unique scavenging lifestyle suggests they have been subject to particular selective pressures to locate scarce, unpredictable, ephemeral, and nutritionally challenging food. However, substantial variation exists among species in diet, foraging techniques and social structure of populations. Here, we provide an overview of the current knowledge on vulture cognition through a comprehensive literature review and a compilation of our own observations. We find evidence for a variety of innovative foraging behaviors, scrounging tactics, collective problem-solving abilities and tool-use, skills that are considered indicative of enhanced cognition and that bear clear connections with the eco-social lifestyles of species. However, we also find that the cognitive basis of these skills remain insufficiently studied, and identify new research areas that require further attention in the future. Despite these knowledge gaps and the challenges of working with such large animals, we conclude that vultures may provide fresh insight into our knowledge of the ecology and evolution of cognition.

International audience; Viruses are pathogens that have evolved to hijack the cellular machinery to replicate themselves and spread to new cells. During the course of evolution, viruses developed different strategies to overcome the cellular defenses and create new progeny. Among them, some RNA and many DNA viruses require access to the nucleus to replicate their genome. In non-dividing cells, viruses can only access the nucleus through the nuclear pore complex (NPC). Therefore, viruses have developed strategies to usurp the nuclear transport machinery and gain access to the nucleus. The majority of these viruses use the capsid to manipulate the nuclear import machinery. However, the particular tactics employed by each virus to reach the host chromatin compartment are very different. Nevertheless, they all require some degree of capsid remodeling. Recent notions on the interplay between the viral capsid and cellular factors shine new light on the quest for the nuclear entry step and for the fate of these viruses. In this review, we describe the main components and function of nuclear transport machinery. Next, we discuss selected examples of RNA and DNA viruses (HBV, HSV, adenovirus, and HIV) that remodel their capsid as part of their strategies to access the nucleus and to replicate.

The occurrence of classical and emerging halogenated flame retardants in bird samples collected between 2010–17 from the Castrejón reservoir (central Spain)was studied. Different wetland bird samples were analysed, including unhatched bird eggs and liver of dead nestlings. Polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs)were detected in all the samples at high concentration values, with levels up to 5167 ng/g lw. Dechloranes were found in 78% of analysed samples, but at lower concentration levels, between not detected (nd)and 2153 ng/g lw. The time trend evaluation over the sampling period showed an approximately 50% decline in mean concentrations of PBDEs. However, the most recent data for PBDEs (2016–17)still indicate that, in some cases, and based on reported LOECs, wetland birds were exposed to PBDE concentrations that are associated with possible ecological hazards. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd, This work has been funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Consolidated Research Group Water and Soil Quality Unit 2017 SGR 1404), and by the projects CGL2009-12753-C02-01/BOS , CGL2010-15726 and CGL2015-69445-P of the Spanish Ministerio of Economía y Competitividad . Biotage is acknowledged for providing SPE cartridges. We appreciate the help of Albert Estepa, Meritxell Mallén and Alba Martínez in the analytical work, and José C. Oliveros, Roberto Oliveros, Pilar Villalobos and Francisco Morales in the fieldwork. Appendix A

In Europe, vulture recovery has been an important conservation success story (1). This success may now be jeopardized by the use of diclofenac in Europe’s pastoral landscapes. Although diclofenac had already caused a rapid and catastrophic 95% decline in Asian vulture populations (2), the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug was approved for veterinary use in Spain in 2013 (3). Although measures for the safe disposal of carcasses of livestock treated with diclofenac are supposed to prevent avian scavengers from feeding on contaminated carrion (4), a Spanish cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus) was found dead,poisoned with diclofenac (5), in September 2020. European regulatory authorities should permanently ban diclofenac use in livestock before the tragedy met by Asian vultures repeats itself in Europe.

Vultures and condors are among the most threatened avian species in the world due to the impacts of human activities. Negative perceptions can contribute to these threats as some vulture species have been historical ly blamed for killing livestock. This perception of confli ct has increased in recent years, associated with a viral spread of partial and biased information through social media and despite limited empirical support for these assertions. Here, we highlight that magnifying infrequent events of livestock being injured by vultures through publically shared videos or biased news items negatively impact efforts to conserve threatened populations of avian scavengers. We encourage environmental agencies, researchers, and practitioners to evaluate the reliability, frequency, and context of reports of vulture preda tion, weighing those results against the diverse and valuable contributions of vultures to environmental health and human well-being. We also encoura ge the development of awareness campaigns and improved livestock management practices, including commonly available nonlethal deterrence strategies, if needed. These actions are urgently required to allow the development of a more effective conservation strategy for vultures worldwide.

Understanding of ecosystem structure and functioning requires detailed knowledge about plant–animal interactions, especially when keystone species are involved. The recent consideration of parrots as legitimate seed dispersers has widened the range of mechanisms influencing the lifecycle of many plant species. We examined the interactions between the burrowing parro tCyanoliseus patagonus and two dominant algarrobo trees (Prosopis alba and Prosopis nigra) in the Monte Desert, Argentina. We recorded the abundance and foraging behaviour of parrots; quantified the handling, consumption, wasting, and dispersal of ripe and unripe pods; and tested the viability of soft and hardripe seeds wasted and transported by parrots. We found a high abundance of burrowing parrots.They predated on soft seeds from unripe pods while exclusively feeding upon pulp wrapping hardseeds from ripe pods. Frequent pod wasting beneath the plant or transport at a distance invariablyimplied the dispersal of multiple seeds in each event. Moreover, soft seeds retained viability afterdesiccation outside the mother plant, suggesting effective seed dispersal after partial pod predation due to a predator satiation effect. In about half of the foraging flocks, at least one parrot departed in flight with pods in its beak, with 10–34% of the flock components moving pods at distances averaging 238 m (P. alba) and 418 m (P. nigra). A snapshot sampling of faeces from livestock and wildmammals suggested a low frequency of seed dispersal by endozoochory and secondary dispersalby ants and dung beetles. The nomadic movements and long flights of burrowing parrots betweenbreeding and foraging sites can lead to the dispersal of huge amounts of seeds across large areas thatare sequentially exploited. Further research should evaluate the role of the burrowing parrot as afunctionally unique species in the structure of the Monte Desert woods and the genetic structure ofalgarrobo species., This research was funded by the Loro Parque Fundación (grant reference: PP-146-2018-1).

Plant–animal interactions are key to sustaining whole communities and ecosystem function. However, their complexity may limit our understanding of the underlying mechanisms and the species involved. The ecological effects of epizoochory remain little known compared to other seed dispersal mechanisms given the few vectors identified. In addition, epizoochory is mostly considered non-mutualistic since dispersers do not obtain nutritional rewards. Here, we show a widespread but unknown mutualistic interaction between parrots and plants through epizoochory. Combining our observations with photos from web-sources, we recorded nearly 2000 epizoochory events in 48 countries across five continents, involving 116 parrot species and nearly 100 plant species from 35 families, including both native and non-native species. The viscid pulp of fleshy fruits and anemochorous structures facilitate the adherence of tiny seeds (mean 3.7 2.56 mm) on the surface of parrots while feeding, allowing the dispersion of these seeds over long distances (mean = 118.5 m). This parrot–plant mutualism could be important in ecosystem functioning across a wide diversity of environments, also facilitating the spread of exotic plants. Future studies should include parrots for a better understanding of plant dispersal processes and for developing effective conservation actions against habitat loss and biological invasions

The common chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs, is one of the most common, widespread, and well-studied passerines in Europe, with a broad distribution encompassingWestern Europe and parts ofAsia,NorthAfrica, and theMacaronesian archipelagos.We present a high-quality genome assemblyof the commonchaffinchgeneratedusing Illumina shotgunsequencing incombination with Chicago and Hi-C libraries. The final genome is a 994.87-Mb chromosome-level assembly, with 98% of the sequence data located in chromosome scaffolds and a N50 statistic of 69.73Mb. Our genome assembly shows high completeness, with a complete BUSCO score of 93.9% using the avian data set. Around 7.8% of the genome contains interspersed repetitive elements. The structural annotation yielded 17,703 genes, 86.5% of which have a functional annotation, including 7,827 complete universal single-copy orthologs out of 8,338 genes represented in the BUSCO avian data set. This newannotated genome assemblywill be a valuable resource as a reference for comparative and population genomic analyses of passerine, avian, and vertebrate evolution., This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CGL2015-66381P to B.M. and G.B.) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PGC2018-098897-B-I00 from to B.M.). M.R. was supported by a doctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sport (FPU16/05724). We also acknowledge institutional support from the Unit of Information Resources for Research at the Unit of Information Resources for Research at the "Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas" (CSIC) for the article-processing charges contribution., We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).

Avian haemosporidians are a common and widespread group of vector-borne parasitescapable of infecting most bird species around the world. They can negatively affect host conditionand fitness. Vultures are assumed to have a very low prevalence of these blood parasites, likelydue to their strong immunity; however, factors contributing to variation in host exposure andsusceptibility to haemosporidians are complex, and supporting evidence is still very limited. Weanalyzed blood samples collected from nestlings of three vulture species in Spain over 18 years,and used updated nested-PCR protocols capable of detecting all haesmosporidian cytochrome blineages typical for diurnal birds of prey (Accipitriformes). Similarly to previous studies, we foundlow haemosporidian prevalence in cliff-breeding species, withLeucocytozoonas the only representedblood parasite genus: 3.1% in griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus) (n= 128) and 5.3% in Egyptian vultures(Neophron percnopterus) (n= 114). In contrast, the tree-breeding cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus)had a substantially higher prevalence: 10.3% (n= 146). By far the most common lineage in Spanishscavenging raptors was theLeucocytozoonlineage CIAE02. No effects of nestling age and sex, ortemporal trends in prevalence were found, but an effect of nest habitat (tree-nest vs. cliff-nest) wasfound in the griffon vulture. These patterns may be explained by a preference of vectors to foragein and around trees rather than on cliffs and wide open spaces. We found an apparent detrimentaleffect of haemosporidians on body mass of nestling cinereous vultures. Further research is needed toevaluate the pathogenicity of each haemosporidian lineage and their interaction with the immunesystem of nestlings, especially if compromised due to pollution with pharmaceuticals and infectionby bacterial and mycotic pathogens., Funds for the fieldwork were provided by the projects CGL2009-12753-C02-01/BOS,CGL2010-15726 and PID2019-109685GB-I00 of Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. This research was partially funded by a Marie Curie grant (PIEF-GA-2013-625883) to N.C.

Behavioural and socio‑cultural traits are recognized in the restriction of gene flow in species with high cognitive capacity and complex societies. This isolation by social barriers has been generally overlooked in threatened species by assuming disrupted gene flow due to population fragmentation and decline. We examine the genetic structure and ecology of the global population of the Critically Endangered red‑fronted macaw (Ara rubrogenys), an endemic species to the inter‑Andean valleys of Bolivia. We found a fine‑scale genetic structuring in four genetic clusters. Genetic diversity was higher in wild compared to captive‑bred macaws, but similar to that of captive wild‑caught macaws. We found no clear evidence of severe genetic erosion in the population in recent decades, but it was patent in historic times, overlapping with drastic human habitat transformation and macaw persecution over millennia. We found no evidence of geographical and ecological barriers, owing to the high dispersal ability, nesting and foraging habits between genetic clusters. The lack of genetic intermixing despite long‑distance foraging and seasonal movements suggests recruitment in natal colonies and other social factors reinforcing philopatry‑related genetic structure. Conservation efforts should be specifically focussed on major threats in each genetic cluster as independent conservation units, and also considered in ex‑situ management., This work was funded by Fundación Biodiversidad (52I.CA2109) and further supported by Loro Parque Fundación (PP-146-2018-1). I. Afán (LAST-EBD) elaborated the maps, and laboratory, logistic and technical support was provided by Doñana ICTS-RBD. F. M. was supported by a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral fellowship from Spain’s Ministry of Science and Innovation (FJCI-2017-32055) for part of this work