https://hdl.handle.net/10481/32296 2026-04-12T04:56:02Z https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111668 Relationship of airborne fungal spores to epidemiological data on respiratory disease: a systematic review Jiménez Uribe, Dámaris A.; Acevedo Barrios, Rosa; Rubiano Labrador, Carolina; Cariñanos González, Paloma Exposure to fungal spores is associated with various types of respiratory health problems, and volumetric suction particle samplers have been used to estimate their concentrations in the atmos phere. This systematic review analyzes the sampling of fungal spores in outdoor air worldwide and its relationship to epidemiological data on respiratory disease. Ninety-four studies were identified that met the following inclusion criteria: They were original studies published in English or Spanish between 2010 and 2024, used active volumetric impact samplers, and identified the type of fungal spores in air. Most of the studies were conducted in Europe, with a dura tion of 1 to 2 years. The fungal taxa with the high est records were Alternaria sp. and Cladosporium sp. Only 13% of the studies correlated fungal spore con centrations with epidemiological variables; however, 77% of these studies concluded that there is a clear relationship between airborne fungal spore concentra tion and the occurrence of respiratory symptoms in the sensitized population. Therefore, this study pro vides an elaborate review of recent airborne fungal spore surveillance issues worldwide, attempting to include different perspectives of recent research on outdoor volumetric sampling, including epidemio logical analysis. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111136 Preliminary essay on the chorology of the Iberian gypsicolous flora: rarity and richness of the gypsum outcrops Martínez Hernández, Fabián; Medina-Cazorla, José Miguel; Mendoza Fernández, Antonio Jesús; Pérez García, Francisco Javier; Sánchez Gómez, Pedro; Garrido-Becerra, Juan Antonio; Gil de Carrasco, Carlos; Mota Poveda, Juan Francisco The Iberian aljezares have been recognized as areas of high phytodiversity and endemism as they harbour an extremely peculiar flora. Mining activities can endanger this flora. It is necessary to indicate the most important areas in order to conserve the biodiversity, so the chorology of 53 gypsophytes taxa have been developed where “1” was used for presences of every taxon and “0” for absences in UTM cells of 10 x 10 km2. This chorology is a complex dataset including numerous local endemics and high territorial differences (high β-diversity). In addition, the results indicate that the richest aljezares are present in the Central Iberian Meseta (plateau), while the highest values of rarity are situated in the semiarid South East of the Iberian Peninsula. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111135 Selection of an endemic flora reserve network and its biogeographical significance in the Baetic ranges (Southern Spain) Pérez García, Francisco Javier; Cueto, Miguel; Peñas De Giles, Julio; Martínez Hernández, Fabián; Medina-Cazorla, José Miguel; Garrido-Becerra, Juan Antonio; Mota Poveda, Juan Francisco The Baetic mountains are a very important centre of plant diversity and endemicity. The current environmental legislation includes many of these localities. In order to assess the current reserves network and to propose a selection of protected areas, and to examine the biogeographic distinctiveness of that selection, we applied to the orophilous endemic flora a variety of algorithms (some of which were never used for Europe before) on the Baetic ranges. In order to preserve this natural heritage, it would be necessary to protect at least twelve massifs, considering the siliceous portion of Sierra Nevada as a great priority area. The most notable gaps in the legislation are the ranges of Gádor, Revolcadores and La Pandera. The selected localities were characterized by their great biogeographical distinctiveness. The distinctiveness of the obtained selections stresses their reliability and also emphasizes the suitability of the biogeographic researches of the flora of the Baetic ranges for conservation objectives. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111083 Genetic diversity, genetic structure and phylogeography of the Iberian endemic Gypsophila struthium (Caryophyllaceae) as revealed by AFLP and plastid DNA sequences: connecting habitat fragmentation and diversification Martínez-Nieto, María Isabel; Segarra-Moragues, José Gabriel; Merlo Calvente, María Encarnación; Martínez Hernández, Fabián; Mota Poveda, Juan Francisco Iberian gypsum outcrops are highly fragmented and ecologically challenging environments for plant colonization. As gypsophytes occur exclusively in such habitats, they are ideal models for the study of both the effects of habitat fragmentation and selection on population genetic diversity and structure. In this study, we used amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) and plastid DNA sequences to investigate the phylogeographical history of the Iberian plant Gypsophila struthium (Caryophyllaceae), a widespread endemic restricted to Iberian gypsum outcrops. Gypsophila struthium consists of two subspecies that differ in the architecture of their inflorescence and have mostly allopatric ranges. Gypsophila struthium subsp. struthium occurs in central, eastern and south-eastern Iberia, whereas G. struthium subsp. hispanica occurs in northern and eastern areas. AFLPs revealed low but significant genetic differentiation between the subspecies, probably as a result of a recent diversification during the Pliocene–Pleistocene. In the geographical contact zone between the taxa, the Bayesian analyses revealed populations with mixed ancestries and genetic clusters predominantly of one or the other subspecies, indicating incomplete reproductive barriers between them. Plastid DNA haplotypes revealed strong geographical structure and testified to processes of isolation by distance and continuous range expansion for some haplotype clades. The Bayesian analyses of the population structure of AFLP data and nested clade phylogeographical analysis (NCPA) of plastid haplotypes revealed that the putative ancestral range corresponded to central and eastern populations of G. struthium subsp. struthium, with those lineages contributing through more recent expansion to increased genetic diversity and structure of the south-eastern and eastern ranges of this subspecies and to the diversification of G. struthium subsp. hispanica in northern and eastern gypsum outcrops. Financial support was provided by a project from the Consejería de Economía, Innovación y Ciencia (Regional Government of Andalusia) and E.R.D.F. (European Regional Development Fund): ‘Proyecto de excelencia P07-RNM03217’. MIM-N was supported by a Junta de Andalucía PhD grant. JGS-M was supported by a Ramón y Cajal postdoctoral contract from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain. https://hdl.handle.net/10481/111077 Syntaxa-area relationships, lessons from the vegetation of the Betic high mountain ranges (southern Spain) Pérez García, Francisco Javier; Merlo Calvente, María Encarnación; Martínez Hernández, Fabián; Medina-Cazorla, José Miguel; Mendoza Fernández, Antonio Jesús; Garrido-Becerra, Juan Antonio; Salmerón Sánchez, Esteban; Mota Poveda, Juan Francisco The species-area relationship is one of the most commonly studied issues in ecology and several explanatory models have been proposed for the question. Most papers on the relationships between taxa and area adopt the species-level approach. By contrast, our approach exports these concepts to other organizational levels of biodiversity and analyses the community-area relationships in the Betic mountain ranges at 4 levels of syntaxonomical hierarchy. Our approach also aims at studying the diversity of communities in the same way as taxonomical diversity is studied. To evaluate the matching of data to the different models, we used the regression coefficient (R2) and the corrected version of Akaike’s information criterion (AICc). The highest altitude of a sierra was taken as a surrogate of habitat diversity. “Syntaxonomical diversity” was evaluated in a similar way to the taxonomical diversity of Clarke & Warwick. We have studied 94 associations (belonging to 42 alliances, 36 orders and 25 classes). The calculated indexes reveal higher regression coefficient between richness in syntaxa and the parameter under study (area and highest altitude) in a semi-log model than in a log-log model. Although the best correlation is obtained considering both variables, the patterns of richness exhibit a higher correspondence with altitude than with area. Results confirm very high regression coefficient between richness in syntaxa and in the quantity of the endemic flora present in each sierra. The higher the syntaxonomical level concerned, the higher the regression coefficient. The richness of the syntaxa exhibits patterns similar to those of the endemic flora: the most important sites are siliceous Sierra Nevada, Sierra de Las Nieves and Sierra de Gádor. There are important implications for conservation biology. These results show that approaches based on species and those based on communities are compatible for the preservation of biodiversity.