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Whilst being generally small and shallow lentic water bodies, ponds provide valuable habitats for a multitude of groups and contribute to habitat connectivity. Semi-aquatic insects emerging from such ponds act as one of the most important vectors of dietary energy to the adjacent terrestrial environment. By providing essential fatty acids, emerging insects constitute an important nutritional food resource for terrestrial (e.g. spiders, lizards, ants) and aerial (e.g. bats, birds) consumers. Broad-scale studies are needed to explore differences in dietary exports encompassing diverse pond types and different landscapes or regions, with the final aim of drawing general patterns. Herein we present the first results of "EUROPONDS". In this ongoing project we quantify the seasonal and spatial variation in insect emergence. In a total of 55 ponds distributed across Europe we installed emergence traps for one week per season over a full year. This broad scale set-up allows us to quantify differences in biomass export between different geographical regions, between rural and urban systems as well as between natural and artificial ponds. The project brings together the knowledge of 80 early-career limnologists from all over Europe and therefore not only provides important insight in the aquatic-terrestrial linkages of ponds, but also provides an important exchange among the future generation of European limnologists.

Invertebrates have recently been recognised under a global decline, a situation that seems to be accentuated in continental waterbodies. In the EUROPONDS project we deepened in the contribution of aquatic invertebrates to terrestrial ecosystems, representing countries all over Europe. Our study was encompassed in a restored quarry in Alpedrete, Madrid, Spain, a landscape destined for livestock activities. We evaluated the invertebrate assemblages of a small permanent pond after restoration (physicochemical variables, macroinvertebrates assemblages and macrophytes species) and its contribution to the landscape by the emerging insects. To do that, we have carried out seasonal samplings starting in autumn 2020 and finishing by summer 2021. We detected a highly aquatic biodiversity in our study pond, showing oversaturation of dissolved oxygen concentration and a rich and dense cover of macrophytes. A diverse assemblage of aquatic macroinvertebrates included odonates, heteropterans, coleopterans, culicids, chironomids and ephemeropterans. We located two traps for emergent insects during one week each season, and we captured flying and adult individuals of some of these macroinvertebrates (even 60 chironomids in winter), revealing the importance of this pond for the adjacent landscape. We concluded that our shallow permanent pond shows a high degree of naturalisation due to the huge diversity of fauna and flora recorded. We consider of concern that the cattle’s faeces in the surroundings of the pond could reduce the water quality as detected an increase in nitrate concentration (0,16 mg/L in winter). Therefore, we encourage regional authorities to include this pond in the regional program for wetland conservation.

Globally there’s an astounding and often underestimated number of ponds (small stagnant water bodies). Ponds, whilst directly providing habitats for a multitude of animals and plants, also contribute to habitat connectivity by enabling organisms to cross the landscape, acting as “blue stepping stones”. The diverse community of insects emerging from such ponds acts as a vector of dietary energy to the surrounding terrestrial environment. By providing highly unsaturated fatty acids, emerging insects constitute a high nutritional food resource for terrestrial (e.g. spiders, lizards) and avian (e.g. bats, birds) consumers. One important dietary resource these insects export is essential fatty acids. These are introduced initially into the local food web and then on into the main terrestrial cycle. However, knowledge about the exact ecological role of ponds, their contribution to beta- and gamma-biodiversity, and dietary energy transfer is limited. Herein, we present preliminary results for the first seasonal sampling (Autumn 2020) of our ongoing “EUROPONDS” project. EUROPONDS aims to fill this gap of knowledge on ponds by analyzing 55 ponds distributed across Europe from Sweden in the north to remote Mediterranean islands in the south, from rural areas to large cities, and including both artificial and natural ponds. EUROPONDS brings together around 80 European early-career limnologists and covers autumn, winter, spring, and summer sampling campaigns through 2020/21. Preliminary results from autumn 2020 indicate differences in emerging insect biomass, trophic status of ponds, and between artificial and natural ponds.

Los orígenes del cine en Baleares están íntimamente ligados a los relatos de viajeros que llegaban a estas islas en busca de buen clima, espléndidos paisajes y el pintoresquismo de tradiciones y costumbres centenarias. Junto a las filmaciones de pioneros locales, abundan los documentales de las grandes productoras francesas de principios de siglo, Pathé y Gaumont. Estas películas contrastan con el testimonio escrito de visitantes que recalaban en unas islas todavía no descubiertas por el turismo de masas. El paisaje escarpado y rocoso de la Serra de Tramuntana de Mallorca es el escenario perfecto para ficciones de los años veinte y treinta, producciones mallorquinas y coproducciones que tienen, en su mayoría, el contrabando como núcleo de la trama. Junto con estas películas, otras filmaciones amateur, también de Menorca e Ibiza, constituyen el testimonio visual de las Baleares anteriores a 1936.

The origins of cinema in the Balearic Islands are closely linked to stories of travellers who came to these islands in search of good weather, splendid landscapes and the picturesqueness of centuries-old traditions and customs. Along with the filming of local pioneers, documentaries by the great French producers of the turn of the century, Pathé and Gaumont, abound. These films contrast with written testimonies by visitors who landed on islands not yet discovered by mass tourism. The steep and rocky landscape is the perfect setting for this fictions. Majorcan productions, co-productions and amateur films, also from Menorca and Ibiza, constitute the visual testimony of the Balearic Islands prior to 1936., Rassegna iberistica

Nowadays, the massive arrival of immigrants to the southern Italian coasts as a prelude to their trip towards Northern Europe is an issue of major concern for European society. Paradoxically, Italy was a country of emigrants just a few decades ago. Precisely, the Italian cinema has reflected the past Italian emigration through fiction as well as through documentary films. This paper compares films on migration of different periods, particularly Italian emigrants in the past and immigrants to Italy in current times. Despite the different time-span and social conditions, they share the desire of seeking Paradise in the idealized land of arrival., Biblioteca di Rassegna iberistica

Mallorca, the largest island in the Balearic archipelago, is well-known throughout the world as a place of rest, holiday destination, an ideal spot to enjoy the sunshine and the sea. This postcard image is the product of tourism marketing; From its origins, cinema has contributed to this depiction through documentaries and fiction films. The Mallorca shown in the films of the 1920s and 1930s differs greatly from the one that appears in the1950s and 1960s films. During these decades, Spain and the Balearic Islands in particular underwent a true tourist boom. The unspoilt beaches, the mountains and the fields which appear in the early movies are substituted by crowded beaches, hammocks and parasols; peasant farmers and popular traditions give way to massive hotels, fashionable music bands, discos and night clubs. These images reflect the transformation that Mallorca, as many other holiday destinations in the world, underwent: a process of gradual homogenization leading to a loss of its identity.

Mallorca, the largest island in the Balearic archipelago, is well-known throughout the world as a place of rest, holiday destination, an ideal spot to enjoy the sunshine and the sea. This postcard image is the product of tourism marketing; From its origins, cinema has contributed to this depiction through documentaries and fiction films. The Mallorca shown in the films of the 1920s and 1930s differs greatly from the one that appears in the1950s and 1960s films. During these decades, Spain and the Balearic Islands in particular underwent a true tourist boom. The unspoilt beaches, the mountains and the fields which appear in the early movies are substituted by crowded beaches, hammocks and parasols; peasant farmers and popular traditions give way to massive hotels, fashionable music bands, discos and night clubs. These images reflect the transformation that Mallorca, as many other holiday destinations in the world, underwent: a process of gradual homogenization leading to a loss of its identity., Rassegna iberistica