Arturo Sousa

University of Seville | US · Plant Biology and Ecology

Hasta el inicio del siglo XIX no se poseen en la península Ibérica registros instrumentales continuados y precisos de variables meteorológicas. Con antelación, la reconstrucción de climatología histórica se basa generalmente en fuentes referidas al impacto provocado por sucesos extremos. Sin embargo, a partir de 1778, asociada al estado sanitario d...

The overexploitation of groundwater is directly altering the temporary pond network located in the sandy area of the Doñana National Park. Some ponds have disappeared, and many others have reduced their hydroperiod and flooded area which, in turn, have impacted the species inhabiting them. The most vulnerable species are those requiring a long hydr...

High-intensity rainfall can raise fluvial channel levels, increasing the risk of flooding. Maximum precipitation depths are used to estimate return periods and, thus, calculate the risk of this type of event. To improve these estimates in Southwest Europe, we studied the behavior of extreme rainfall using the historical records of San Fernando (Cád...

This study estimates the pluviometric evolution between the 13th and 19th centuries on the southwestern Iberian Peninsula based on the historic records of the impacts of the Guadalquivir River flooding on the city of Seville (Spain). The main documentary source was “Critical history of the floods of the Guadalquivir in Seville”, published in 1878,...

One of the greatest challenges that human society currently faces is the hazard of climate change with respect to human health [...]

One of the characteristics of the Mediterranean climate is the irregularity of its intra-annual precipitation. Thus, very intense and short rain events can have a serious impact due to the sudden increase of the water level in drainage basins, with the subsequent risk of pluvial and riverine floods. This study analyses the evolution––and the return...

The effect of climate change on autochthonous malaria, in countries where it is still endemic, and the risk of re-emergence in those where it had already been eradicated, is a widely discussed topic nowadays. The role that the increase in temperatures can play is especially relevant in the biological cycle of both the vector and the parasite that c...

Since the early twentieth century, the intensity of malaria transmission has decreased sharply worldwide, although it is still an infectious disease with a yearly estimate of 228 million cases. The aim of this study was to expand our knowledge on the main drivers of malaria in Spain. In the case of autochthonous malaria, these drivers were linked t...

Malaria is one of the most cited vector-borne infectious diseases by climate change expert panels. Malaria vectors often need water sheets or wetlands to complete the disease life cycle. The current context of population mobility and global change requires detailed monitoring and surveillance of malaria in all countries. This study analysed the spa...

The Southwest of the Iberian Peninsula is an area subject to risks of aridification, caused by climate change. We have analyzed the behavior of the Aridity Index (1901-2011) in this area during the last century from the Global Climate Monitor database. In this climate domain, the studied area is occupied mainly by the "dehesa" agroforestry ecosyste...

The annual Emberger’s pluviothermic Q index is suitable for classifying the Mediterranean climate and drawing conclusions about the spatiotemporal behaviour from which environmental effects may derive. The Q index was calculated to analyse its temporal variability throughout the study period of 1901–2012 in the Southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. T...

Malaria is one of the infectious diseases with the highest number of cases worldwide. It has always been linked to aquatic environments, since these can be a necessary reservoir for the anophelines that transmit the disease. This study analyses the role that unhealthy water bodies have played, since the early 20th century, in the most endemic and/o...

Un aspecto destacable en el conocimiento del clima es la determinación del régimen pluviométrico intraanual. Además, es un elemento importante para la gestión ambiental. La caracterización de la distribución intranual, con su variabilidad interanual, requiere el análisis conjunto de dos factores: el volumen de los episodios de lluvia y su correspon...

Understanding the intra-annual distribution of rainfall is an important element for climatic classification and serves as a basis for natural resources management. The present study analyses multi-annual irregularities of the rainfall distribution throughout the year in the period 1941–2010, in the hydrographic basins of the Iberian Peninsula. In o...

The temporal irregularity of rainfall, characteristic of a Mediterranean climate, corresponds to the irregularity of the environmental effects on soil. We used aggressiveness as an indicator to quantify the potential environmental impact of rainfall. However, quantifying rainfall aggressiveness is conditioned by the lack of sub-hourly frequency rec...

The Doñana temporary pond network is characterized by a high flora and fauna species richness, including a high number of are and threatened species. This high biodiversity is due to the high abundance of ponds of different size across a broad hydroperiod range. The different geomorphological areas within the park contribute to increase the heterog...

Rainfall aggressiveness causes environmental impacts and it is related to several natural hazards. Therefore, this parameter has been chosen as an environmental indicator. The present study is based on the monthly estimated rainfall using the Precipitation Runoff Integrated Model (SIMPA) for each Spanish hydrographic basin from 1940 to 2010. The ma...

Rainfall aggressiveness causes environmental impacts and it is related to several natural hazards. Therefore, this parameter has been chosen as an environmental indicator. The present study is based on the monthly estimated rainfall using the Precipitation Runoff Integrated Model (SIMPA) for each Spanish hydrographic basin from 1940 to 2010. The ma...

Unlike other aquatic continental ecosystems such as lakes, small coastal brooks have not been used as indicators of anthropogenic or climatic impacts. Our study addresses reconstructing the evolution of coastal brooks in the southwest of Spain from the early 17th century to the end of the 20th century using fieldwork, remote sensing, historical sou...

Nuestro objetivo, en este apartado, es integrar los cambios que han tenido lugar en las lagunas del antiguo Coto de Doñana con los factores principales que han causado dichos cambios durante los últimos 400 años. La comprensión de las alteraciones históricas de los hábitats naturales puede ayudar a los gestores a diseñar la manera de revertir décad...

Las variaciones y fluctuaciones climáticas juegan un papel clave en la alimentación y temporalidad de las lagunas. Estos cambios tienen mayor peso cuánto más sostenidos son en el tiempo. Por ello, las tendencias climáticas seculares deben ser consideradas como un elemento fundamental para entender no solo los cambios en las lagunas de Doñana, sino...

Por ello, las tendencias seculares y los escenarios climáticos parecen perfilar un escenario climático futuro para Doñana con una mayor evapotranspiración y, lo que es más importante, con una menor disponibilidad hídrica a escala secular. Estos resultados están en consonancia con estudios recientes para toda España (Argüeso y col., 2012). Estos aut...

The possible connectivity between the spatial distribution of water bodies suitable for vectors of malaria and endemic malaria foci in Southern Europe is still not well known. Spain was one of the last countries in Western Europe to be declared free of malaria by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1964. This study combines, by means of a spatia...

Las extracciones para regadío y sobre todo para abastecer a Matalascañas (Huelva) ponen en peligro el sistema de lagunas temporales de Doñana, el más importante de Europa de sus características. Mayor control del consumo de agua en la famosa urbanización litoral y la educación ambiental de los que veranean en ella son necesarios para garantizar la...

The annual rainfall irregularity has its correspondence in the irregularity of the environmental effects it generates. The rainfall aggressiveness is a factor with high environmental impact. It is associated, in turn, other effects (torrential, runoff, erosivity, silting...). Analysis of aggressiveness of rain, supports a dual approach based on the...

This paper analyses a reconstruction of changes from the 17th to the 20th centuries in peat bogs with Erica ciliaris Loefl. ex L. heathlands in southwestern Europe. The reconstruction is performed by means of a multidisciplinary method based on photointerpretation, the examination of historical sources (documentation and maps), and an analysis of m...

Sousa, A., García-Murillo, P., Morales, J., and García-Barrón, L. 2009. Anthropogenic and natural effects on the coastal lagoons in the southwest of Spain (Doñana National Park). – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 1508–1514.The Doñana peridunal lagoons, located in the southwest of Spain, have been well studied, because their conservation is of g...

Variability in precipitation affects annual total records and causes instability in rainfall distribution throughout the year. Our aim in this study was to develop a procedure, based on pluviometric centralisation and dispersion parameters, that is able to characterise rainfall distribution throughout a year of precipitation in a unique, condensed...

In the past decades, nutrient concentrations in several pre-Alpine lakes in central Europe have increased due to human activity in the catchment area. Here, we examine whether this trend will continue in the future, through our analysis of the development of the trophic status, over a period of 25 years (1984–2009), of the pre-Alpine, dimictic temp...

RESUMEN Habitualmente los impactos antropogénicos son mucho más conspicuos que los climáticos. Por ello pueden contribuir a que los efectos del cambio climático pasen desapercibidos. Este estudio plantea la posibilidad de detectar si ambos tipos de impactos han afectado de forma sinérgica a los humedales del suroeste de España. Para ello hemos cuan...

Soil erosion is remarkable environmental effect caused by precipitation. From different fields has been studied erosion, but are rare studies related to variation in time. This study is based on monthly precipitation estimated by the SIMPA (Mtº of Environment) for each Spanish basin during 1940-2010. The basins have been grouped into six areas anal...

The areas of the Iberian Peninsula with Mediterranean climate are characterised by rainfall irregularity. Standard statistical estimation methods provide a limited insight of all the dimensions of such irregularity. Based on different techniques to describe the inter-annual irregularity of rainfall, the authors develop a new method: the disparity i...

Recent studies have shown the value of place names as environmental indicators. Until now they have not been applied to the effects of climate change, because verifying such relationship by this approach requires a multidisciplinary analysis and a study area where the anthropic impact has been recent. This study aims to test the possibility in a st...

Unlike rivers, creeks have not been used as proxy data or as indicators of climatic changes. This paper approaches this possibility by means of a reconstruction of the evolution of the littoral creeks in SW Spain between the XVIIth century and the late XXth century. During these four centuries, these creeks lost 84.7% (54.3 km) of their length esti...

One noteworthy aspect of climate knowledge is the identification of rainfall patterns intraanual. A multitude of environmental and social processes are closely linked with the behavior throughout the year present rainfall. In the Iberian Peninsula intraanual regime is an indicator for climate classification, in which the common Mediterranean domain...

Malaria is a parasitic disease that is currently affecting a good number of countries with approximately one million deaths per year. Traditionally, this pathology has been related to wetlands and other unhealthy water bodies. It disappeared from most of Western Europe after the Second World War; however, its eradication from Spain took place later...

La percepción humana del clima, debido a que tenemos un horizonte vital muy limitado (con una esperanza de vida media entre 65 y 75 años), genera con frecuencia una visión distorsionada del clima. Ya que es un período de tiempo realmente breve si lo medimos a escala de la Historia del planeta Tierra. Esto explica que -aun sin ser conscientes de ell...

Los humedales son ecosistemas que hoy están sujetos a medidas específicas de conservación, e incluso tienen un gran reconocimiento social (marismas de Doñana, Laguna de Fuente de Piedra, etc.). Sin embargo secularmente han estado sometidos a sistemáticas medidas de desecación, y han sido considerados de forma muy negativa (González Bernáldez, 1992)...

Los medios de comunicación suministran información sobre la ocurrencia de sucesos extremos relacionados con los fenómenos meteorológicos. La televisión aproxima a los ciudadanos noticias de todo el mundo, de modo que las referidas a hechos catastróficos merecen especial relieve. Con frecuencia, sin un análisis histórico ni fundamentación suficiente...

The study of the evolution of the peridunar lagoons in Doñana National Park by means of the use of historical documentation, of aerial photographs and microrelief show a great reduction of their surfaces, at least since 17th century. The results of this study reveal that the fluctuations of this remarkable wetland are caused by the reactivation of...

Un aspecto importante en el estudio del clima en entornos mediterráneos, es analizar la variabilidad intraanual de las precipitaciones. La determinación de las épocas de lluvias en fechas determinadas, así como la duración e intensidad de tales épocas, son factores relevantes en la caracterización pluviométrica. Junto a otros factores meteorológico...

Doñana 2005 is an ambitious ecological restoration project that is developed in the wetlands of the Doñana protected space (SW Spain). The objective of this article is to present the preliminary results of the Flora and Vegetation Team linked to the project. Floristic spectrum and phytogeographical elements from the flora of the study area are show...

PROLOGUE by Leoncio García-Barrón, Vicente Jurado Doña & Arturo Sousa (Edition coordinators) Among nowadays’ scientific subjects with more social diffusion are included those related with the climate change and its impacts. Mass media are permanently transferring to the public opinion summaries of reports elaborated by administrative institutions....

In 2001, Azolla filiculoides Lam., a floating pteridophyte native to the New World, was found in Donana National Park (SW Spain), an European protected area well known for its high value from a conservation point of view and for its ecological vulnerability. Until that time, there had been no exotic aquatic macrophyte observations in the National P...

Donana 2005 is an ambitious ecological restoration project that is developed in the wetlands of the Doñana protected space (SW Spain). The objective of this article is to present the preliminary results of the Flora and Vegetation Team linked to the project. Floristic spectrum and phytogeographical elements from the flora of the study area are show...

Prólogo Los medios de comunicación suministran información sobre la ocurrencia de sucesos extremos relacionados con los fenómenos meteorológicos. La televisión aproxima a los ciudadanos noticias de todo el mundo, de modo que las referidas a hechos catastróficos merecen especial relieve. Con frecuencia, sin un análisis histórico ni fundamentación su...

The “Laguna de las Madres” is located in SW Spain, in the Huelva province, and belongs to the network of protected natural areas from the Andalusian Regional Government. It is the most important peat wetland from the Southern Iberian Peninsula and one of the rarest habitats in the Spanish meridional regions, which represents a refuge for many singu...

Recent planetary warming is a fact that -with some qualifications- is indisputable from analysis of instrumental data series for the last 100 or 150 years. Anthropogenic effects are superimposed on a background of natural climatic variability, which it can attenuate or amplify (Rodrigo, 2007). The interpretation of this trend therefore requires an...

This chapter works out the existing relationship between most recent climate changes –as Little Ice Age and global warming- and the evolution the wetlands in Andalusia. That's why, it is required to develop a proper method –ad hoc- which permits not only to remodel the evolution of wetlands during last centuries, but also quantifies it using normal...

Among nowadays’ scientific subjects with more social diffusion are included those related with the climate change and its impacts. Mass media are permanently transferring to the public opinion summaries of reports elaborated by administrative institutions. Sometimes, scientists’ statements are selected in order to support striking headlines. This p...

Yer isimlerinin peyzaj değişimini analiz etmede nasıl kullanılabileceğine ilişkin bir makaledir.

New floristic records for Doñana National Park (Sw Spain)Palabras clave. Flora, macrófitos acuáticos, Chara, Azolla, especies amenazadas, especies invasoras, Doñana, humedales.Key words. Flora, aquatic macrophytes, Chara, Azolla, threatened species, invasive species, Doñana, wetlands.

During the last few decades, studies have been performed and evidence has been found concerning the importance of the climatic period known as the “Little Ice Age” (mid 15th century through late 19th century). However, most of the studies have been focused to more northern latitudes and, therefore, scarce studies have still been made on the Mediter...

A big portion of the Doñana protected areas corresponds to wetlands; in them aquatic macrophytes are the main primary producers and play also other important ecological functions. Nevertheless, they are inconspicuous organisms and their importance in these ecosystems does not seem to be well reflected in the bibliography about this natural area. Th...

At least until the mid of the 20th century, the eastern coast of the province of Huelva (South-West of Spain) was a malaria endemic area. The possibility that this disease, that disapperared in temperate areas along the second half of the 20th century, rises due to the global warming, have been raised by some authors. In this work data of this path...

The Basidiomycetes produce a large amount of spores that are wind dispersed to long distances, many of those spores are important aeroallergens that are involved in asthma and allergic rhinitis. The concentration of these basidiospores in the air is influenced by the meteorological factors. In a survey carried out in Seville during two consecutive...

The aeromycological behaviour in a certain place is conditioned by its climate, in such a way that if we know the existing relation among the different climatic variables and the spores concentration in the air, we will be able to elaborate predictive models that would allow us to calculate their concentration at a certain moment. In this work we h...

Between the Las Madres and Palos lagoons Natural Area and the western area of Doñana Natural Park (Huelva, SW Spain) there is a group of disminished and almost silted creeks. At least since the 19th century, these creeks, along with their associated riparian woods, have experienced a great regression. Four centuries ago there were at least thirteen...

We analyzed the evolution of the series of temperatures as a result of the transfer of the observatory of Badajoz from the urban center to the outside. This system allows to obtain an indicator of the effect of the heat island in the cities. The results indicate that such effect is approximately stable throughout the year and must to the nocturnal...

INTRODUCCIÓN Las turberas son ecosistemas muy extraños en el sur de la Península Ibérica. Las turberas andalu-zas se localizan en las montañas de Sierra Nevada, la depresión de Padul (Granada) y el manto eólico litoral próximo a la desembocadura del Río Tinto (Huelva): Laguna de las Madres, Rivatehilos, Peladillo (Fig. 1); también muestran carácter...

Doñana, constituye en el ámbito andaluz, español y europeo, un auténtico referente en cuanto a la conservación y a la política de Espacios Naturales Protegidos. Dentro de este marco, sin duda, uno de los aspectos más sobresalientes es el extenso y variado abanico de humedales (Sousa, 2004). Sin embargo ¿hasta qué punto los humedales continentales d...

The group of lined up lagoons, limited by the advance of semi-steady dunes can be found within the boundaries of the Biologic Reserve of Doñana National Park (Huelva, SW Spain), is known as the peridune lagoons of Doñana. The vegetation analysis, and that of its variations, reveals that this group of lagoons (Santa Olalla, Dulce, Taraje, Zahillo, C...

Jusqu'au milieu du XXe siècle, tout au moins, le littoral oriental de la région de Huelva (sud-ouest de l'Espagne) constituait une zone endémique de paludisme. Certains auteurs pensent qu'il est possible que cette maladie, disparue des zones tempérées pendant la seconde moitié du XXe siècle, ne réapparaisse du fait du Réchauffement Global de l'atmo...

In the Huelva province (SW Spain) lays one of the most important peat-bogs of the southern part of the Iberian penninsula: the Laguna de las Madres, an habitat extremely rare in this meridional regions. This work shows the preliminary results of a still ongoing important study on Laguna de las Madres. rom data about the basins' reconstruction, cart...

The main objective of this study is to make clear if there exists a relationship between the disappearance of a great number of lagoons in the eastern coast of the province of Huelva and the recent climate changes. For that reason a reconstruction of the reduction of the surface occupied by these wetlands since around the beginning of 17th century...

The main objective of this study is to make clear if there exists a relationship between the disappearance of a great number of lagoons in the eastern coast of the province of Huelva and the recent climate changes. For that reason a reconstruction of the reduction of the surface occupied by these wetlands since around the beginning of 17th century...

The Little Ice Age is a climatic period still insufficiently known. This ignorance is more marked in the case of Andalusia (southern Spain), where only recent works throw any light on the topic. Our studies, primarily from the perspective of botany and changes in the plant landscape, reveal the effects that this period had in these latitudes, and i...

Se presenta una síntesis del análisis científico, técnico y jurídico que sentó las bases conceptuales de lo que llegaría a ser la norma legal que regula la declaración de monumentos naturales de Andalucía. Contenido: Introducción. Preámbulo. Justificación. Revisión del ordenamiento jurídico. Principios y definición de la figura de protección de Mon...

Utilidad de este informe Consideramos que este informe tiene utilidades múltiples para muy diferentes destinatarios. Por un lado, respalda la investigación dirigida hacia el Cambio Climático y sus efectos en los ecosistemas y establece vínculos entre los diferentes campos de investigación. Por otro, el documento indica una serie de cuestiones que d...

This work broaches the possibility of using place names as indicators of original landscapes that have been much transformed. The reconstruction of landscape elements from place names is commonly disputed because such daring notion is impossible to demonstrate. The present case avoids this by making a preliminary study of changes in the landscape u...

To present a analysis of times changes of toponymy Natural Park of Doñana (Sector Abalario), in historic cartography available from XIX century to nowadays. After intense changes produced in this territory (working conventional methodology), had been studied, it's verified if these changes have repercussions at the toponymy (place names). To conclu...