Suchergebnisse

The Sustainability collection of the Editorial Universidad de Sevilla has published, between 2012 and 2020, 9 volumes that demonstrate the interest of the University of Seville in this essential concept without which society cannot adequately advance and is still key more in the face of the challenges of the 21st century. The collection navigates disclosure and professionalism, knowledge and application, for a wide audience. In the book The importance of the bicycle. An analysis of the role of the bicycle in the transition towards more sustainable urban mobility makes a careful analysis of the inexcusable role of the bicycle in the transition to sustainable urban mobility. This book clearly analyzes the reasons why the bicycle is returning to cities around the world as an essential element to solve and overcome the crisis of the dominant model of urban mobility, based on the abuse of the private car, with its well-known consequences of congestion, pollution, degradation of urban space, decrease in public health and quality of life, and contribution to climate change.

Urban health depends on the environmental matrix of the different streets of the city through which urban bicycle users circulate through the bike lane. Our results show that the circulation of the bike lane in cities takes place in an urban atmospheric layer that shows pollution, mainly due to motorized traffic, which can affect the health of bicycle users. It is essential to clean the air exerted by the green infrastructure in relation to air quality. An evaluation of the situation of the city's bike lane in relation to urban pollution and the presence of green infrastructure is necessary. A correct choice of plant species is essential as well as an adequate alignment of the specimens and a subsequent management of the trees that allow the function of air purification. The issue of urban radiative and thermal balance is a momentous issue especially in the predicted scenarios of climate change. We have shown that the presence of trees in the bike lane favors conditions of less incidence of solar radiation which minimizes the possibility of heat stroke, suffocation and heat waves. Green infrastructure, especially woodland, has an important value in facilitating a healthy urban matrix for users of active mobility and especially for urban cyclists developing a healthy bike lane.

Climate change can induce temporary, spatial or behavioral changes in species, so that only some species can adapt to the new climatic conditions. In the case of invasive species, it is expected that they will be promoted in a context of global change, given their high tolerance to environmental factors and phenotypic plasticity. Once in the invaded range, these species can hybridize with native species thus introducing their genotype in the native biota. However, the effects that climate change will have on this process of invasion by hybridization remain unclear. We evaluated the historical establishment of the reciprocal hybrids between the native Spartina maritima and the invasive S. densiflora in the Gulf of Cadiz (SW Iberian Peninsula) and we related it to climatic changes during the period 1955–2017. Our results showed that, according to their dating based on their rate of lateral expansion rates, the establishment of S. maritima x densiflora and S. densiflora x maritima in the Gulf of Cadiz has occurred in the last two centuries and has been related to changes in air temperature and rainfall during the flowering periods of their parental species, with antagonist impacts on both hybrids. Thus, the hybrid S. densiflora x maritima has been established in years with mild ends of spring and beginning of summer when the flowering of S. maritima lengthened and its pollen production was higher, and it coincided with the beginning of the flowering period of S. densiflora. Moreover, the establishment of this hybrid was related to higher spring/summer rainfalls, probably due to the reduction in salinity in middle marshes. However, the hybrid S. maritima x densiflora, was established mainly in warmer spring/summers in which the proportion of pollen:ovule of S. maritima was reduced favoring its pollination by S. densiflora. As a consequence of the promotion of S. maritima x densiflora with climate change, the native and endangered species S. maritima would be threatened, as both taxa share the same habitat and the hybrid shows a remarkably higher competitive potential. ; This work was supported by research contract to BG-T by Universidad de Sevilla (Plan Propio de Investigacion) and to MI-I by Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura y Deporte, Spanish Government (FPU14/06556). Funding provided by a cooperative agreement between the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) Invasive Species and Pollinator Health Research Unit and the University of Seville facilitated this collaboration.