University of Córdoba (Spain)

About: University of Córdoba (Spain) is a education organization based out in Cordova, Spain. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Catalysis. The organization has 12006 authors who have published 22998 publications receiving 537842 citations. The organization is also known as: University of Córdoba (Spain) & Universidad de Córdoba.

Effect of Rubbish Dumps on Breeding Success in the White Stork in Southern Spain

Abstract: Rubbish dumps provide an extra and constant food source for many birds. The White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) is one of the species that have taken advantage of these new foraging areas both during breeding season and during the winter. This study analyzes data collected in the Spanish province of Cordoba throughout five years between 1992 and 1998 on the biology and breeding success of the White Stork and the influence of rubbish dumps. Breeding success varied significantly between years and areas in two of the study years. A banding program from 1990 to 1998 resulted in 145 storks being marked as nestlings. Of these, 49 were resighted at least once by May 2001 (34% resighting rate) and 16 of these birds were resighted as breeders at a mean age of 2.87 years. 75% of them were breeding close to rubbish dumps. Fifteen birds were resighted during wintering time, of which twelve were at rubbish dumps.

Spatial and temporal variation of the nekton and hyperbenthos from a temperate European estuary with regulated freshwater inflow

Abstract: The aquatic macrofauna of the Guadalquivir estuary were sampled (1 mm mesh persiana net) at 5 sampling sites located along the entire (except the tidal freshwater region) estuarine gradient of salinity (outer 50 km). A total of 134 fish and macroinvertebrate species was collected but only 62 were considered common or regularly present in the estuary. Univariate measures of the community structure showed statistically significant differences among sampling sites: species richness, abundance, and biomass decreased in the upstream direction, being positively correlated with the salinity. Temporal differences of these three variables were also statistically significant. While a clear seasonal pattern (minimum densities in winter and maximum in spring-summer) was observed for abundance and biomass, no such pattern existed for the number of species. Mysids was the most dominant group throughout the estuary (96% to 99% of abundance; 49% to 85% of biomass), although fish biomass was also important at the outer estuary (36% to 38%). Multivariate analyses indicated highly significant spatial variation in the macrofaunal communities observed along the salinity gradient. These analyses suggest that the underlying structure was a continuum with more or less overlapping distributions of the species dependent on their ability to tolerate different physicochemical conditions. There were also significant temporal (intermonthly + interannual) variation of the estuarine community; the relative multivariate dispersion indicated that monthly variation was more considerable (relative multivariate dispersion >1) at the outer part of the estuary during the wet year (last 20 km) and was higher in the inner stations during the dry year (32 to 50 km from the river mouth). Since a clear negative exponential relationship was observed between the freshwater input (from a dam located 110 km upstream) and water salinity at all sampling stations, it is concluded that the human freshwater management is probably affecting the studied estuarine communities. While the higher seasonal (long-term) stability of the salinity gradient, due to the human control of the freshwater input, may facilitate the recruitment of marine species juveniles during the meteorologically unstable early-spring, the additional (short-term) salinity fluctuations during the warm period may negatively affect species that complete their lifecycle within the estuary.