Spanish National Research Council

About: Spanish National Research Council is a government organization based out in Madrid, Spain. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Galaxy. The organization has 79563 authors who have published 220470 publications receiving 7698991 citations. The organization is also known as: CSIC & Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas.

Vast underestimation of Madagascar's biodiversity evidenced by an integrative amphibian inventory

Abstract: Amphibians are in decline worldwide. However, their patterns of diversity, especially in the tropics, are not well understood, mainly because of incomplete information on taxonomy and distribution. We assess morphological, bioacoustic, and genetic variation of Madagascar's amphibians, one of the first near-complete taxon samplings from a biodiversity hotspot. Based on DNA sequences of 2,850 specimens sampled from over 170 localities, our analyses reveal an extreme proportion of amphibian diversity, projecting an almost 2-fold increase in species numbers from the currently described 244 species to a minimum of 373 and up to 465. This diversity is widespread geographically and across most major phylogenetic lineages except in a few previously well-studied genera, and is not restricted to morphologically cryptic clades. We classify the genealogical lineages in confirmed and unconfirmed candidate species or deeply divergent conspecific lineages based on concordance of genetic divergences with other characters. This integrative approach may be widely applicable to improve estimates of organismal diversity. Our results suggest that in Madagascar the spatial pattern of amphibian richness and endemism must be revisited, and current habitat destruction may be affecting more species than previously thought, in amphibians as well as in other animal groups. This case study suggests that worldwide tropical amphibian diversity is probably underestimated at an unprecedented level and stresses the need for integrated taxonomic surveys as a basis for prioritizing conservation efforts within biodiversity hotspots.

Nanoscale control of optical heating in complex plasmonic systems.

Abstract: We introduce a numerical technique to investigate the temperature distribution in arbitrarily complex plasmonic systems subject to external illumination. We perform both electromagnetic and thermodynamic calculations based upon a time-efficient boundary element method. Two kinds of plasmonic systems are investigated in order to illustrate the potential of such a technique. First, we focus on individual particles with various morphologies. In analogy with electrostatics, we introduce the concept of thermal capacitance. This geometry-dependent quantity allows us to assess the temperature increase inside a plasmonic particle from the sole knowledge of its absorption cross section. We present universal thermal-capacitance curves for ellipsoids, rods, disks, and rings. Additionally, we investigate assemblies of nanoparticles in close proximity and show that, despite its diffusive nature, the temperature distribution can be made highly non-uniform even at the nanoscale using plasmonic systems. A significant deg...