5^thInternational Conference on Biodiversity March 10-12, 2016 Madrid, Spain

Amaia Autor has recently finished her MSc in Zoology at Complutense University of Madrid. She is giving the first step toward research by trying to publish a work about extra-pair paternity in blue tits (directed by Santiago Merino and Elisa Perez of MNCN-CSIC) and by the work presented here about the inter-specific differences between two species of clams

Clams (genus Ruditapes) constitute one important component of infaunal macrobenthic communities in coastal areas. Coexistence of two species–the native clam (R. decussatus) and the Manila clam (R. philippinarum) introduced some decades ago for commercial purposes in the intertidal zone along the Atlantic coast, poses the question of resource partitioning among populations of both species since these clams share a common filter – feeding mechanism. In this study, two main physiological components of the individual energy balance–filtration and metabolic rates were determined in these clams in order to ascertain whether differences in physiological behavior accounted for higher rates of growth reported in the introduced species (FAO reports). To cover growth trajectories, measurements were performed for a wide size-range of clams and physiological rate determinations formalized through allometric size-scaling relationships. Comparisons of allometric equations using ANCOVA showed lack of significant inter-specific differences in size exponents for either filtration or metabolic rates. Concerning the intercepts, differences were found no-significant for metabolic rates while intercept for filtration rates was significantly higher in R. decussatus. Thus, results do not support the expectation of higher filtration in the introduced species as inferred from their higher rates of growth reported. However, present filtration rates were based on active filtering individuals and complementary information concerning cycles of activity in both species is needed in order to achieve environmentally realistic assessments of energy acquisition

Carlos de la Cruz is a student of the 4th year of Biology Degree at the Complutense University in Madrid. The research on phylogeography of plant colonisation processes is the subject of his TFM (Graduation Thesis).

Hypochaeris glabra (Asteraceae) is a plant species originary from Eurasia and North Africa, adapted to the Mediterranean climate. The American colonization by Europeans in the 15th century occasioned the introduction of several herbaceous wild species. Some of these species naturalized in certain areas of Mediterranean climate, establishing mixed pasturelands together with native species – the Chilean “Espinal”. This work is a phylogeographic analysis of several populations from Spain and central Chile using two types of molecular DNA markers: ITS rDNA spacer sequences, and ISSR markers – genomic sequences flanked by tandem repeats. Only one SNP variation was found in the ITS sequences and the polymorphism was present in both continents. Both, the ITS sequences and the ISSR markers reflect a reduction in variability after colonization. Three main groups were defined according to geographical origin: Populations from northern Spain, populations from southern Spain, and Chilean populations (Chile). AMOVA analyses using different partitions indicate a certain degree of genetic differentiation between continents, and between groups, although most variation lies within populations and between populations within groups. Structure analysis of the ISSR markers indicated also a differentiation between continents, although certain Spanish populations show a close relationship with Chilean ones. No significant correlation between geographical and genetic distances was found when Mantel tests were applied, however, significant positive correlations were found between genetic distances and distances calculated from different ecological parameters. This supports a pattern of differentiation by environment rather than by distance.

Cristina Olmedo Salinas is a PhD student in the Zoology and Physical Anthropology Department of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM). She received her Master’s in Conservation Biology (2012) from UCM and degree in Biology from the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) in 2002. She has 5 published articles and 14 international conferences’ communications in Biodiversity and Species Distribution. Her current research areas are focused on the diversity of parasites in wildlife ungulates and its influence on the populations.

This study was to determine if MaxEnt is useful for establishing the most suitable areas for the reintroduction of a wildlife species, the Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica). This method uses partial data (presence-only); thus, its reliability can be doubtful compared to models that use presence-absence data (general linearized model). This paper seeks to compare these models from their graphical representations (spatial correlation) instead of using the traditional comparisons of the statistics that they generate. We determined the potentiality of the territory via binomial logistic regression (GLM) and the graphical representation of the territory suitability with presence data only (MaxEnt). To compare both results, correlation analyses were performed. The most suitable areas for the species are similar although they were extended in GLM Model. In both cases, the variables of altitude, anthropogenic influence, and vegetation/stoniness are relevant for the presence of the species. The correlation analyses performed showed a strong relationship between both models. These results suggest that the use of the species’ presence-only distribution modelling employing MaxEnt is useful for defining the preferred locations of the species and can replace the absence-presence methods when information on the absence of the species is lacking.

Ebrahim Al-Ansari is one of Qatar’s most renowned Oceanographers. He has worked on the marine benthic biodiversity interface and the oceanographic influence on species diversity of the region for over 20 years and has several high impact publications as a result. \r\n\r\nIbrahim Al-Maslamani is one of Qatar’s most renowned marine biologists. He has worked on the marine benthic biodiversity of the region for over 15 years and has several high impact publications as a result.\r\n

Ebrahim Al-Ansari is one of Qatar’s most renowned Oceanographers. He has worked on the marine benthic biodiversity interface and the oceanographic influence on species diversity of the region for over 20 years and has several high impact publications as a result. \r\n\r\nIbrahim Al-Maslamani is one of Qatar’s most renowned marine biologists. He has worked on the marine benthic biodiversity of the region for over 15 years and has several high impact publications as a result.\r\n

Hatem E M Abdelwahab has completed his PhD from Arizona State University and Postdoctoral studies from School of Life Sciences and the Biodesgin Institute at Arizona State University, Departement of Biological and Ecological Engineering at Oregon State University. He served in Seuz Canal Univerisity, King Abdulaziz University and Jeddah University as an Assistant Professor. He has published more than 7 papers in reputed journals and 25 abstract and posters in international conferences and meetings

Seasonal biodiversity investigation of four different hot springs named Ardah, Kobah, Qowah and Bin-Malik in Jazan, Saudia Arabia were studied during 2015. Jazan springs are ecologically diverse that vary from fully protected to brutally flooded springs. Ardah hot spring (17º02′06″N, 42º59′22″E) has 5-sources that are 15-meters apart but ecologically diverse. Seasonal analysis of temperature, pH and TDS values show similar distinctions pattern in all 5-sources. Kobah hot spring (16º45′51″N, 43º07′46″E) is found in wadi bed that was greatly flooded during this study, species repossession and settlement after flood were feeble. Qowah hot spring (16º47′46″N, 43º12′01″E) is located in wadi Damad east of Kobah spring. This spring was eroded by massive flood that left no algae. Surprisingly, Qowah was rapidly occupied by 78 taxa (38 cyanobacteria species, 23 Bacillariophytaea species, and 17 Chlorophytaea species) after 4-weeks. The substantial recovery and establishment of heavy cyanobacteria mats in short period is different from Kobah. Indeed, physical, chemical and climatic factors analyses help explain this differences between these two thermal springs. The presence of green algal species in Qowah are fascinating, temperature gradient may help them colonize in Qowah. Bin-Malik spring located in mountain region (17º16′11″N, 43º13′09″E) that is fully fenced by the government. Surprisingly, limited biodiversity was recorded Bin-Malik spring compared to flooded sites. Indeed, detailed comparison of the physical, chemical, and biodiversity of the four springs help extract unique ecological data that might generate rational decisions for sustainable development of these valuable resources

Helena Godoy Bergallo has completed her PhD in Ecology in 1995 from State University of Campinas. She is Associate Professor of Rio de Janeiro State University where she teaches the undergraduate and graduate programs in Ecology and Evolution, and Environment. She has published more than 100 papers with emphasis in Mammal Ecology. Currently, she coordinates the Biodiversity Research Network of the Atlantic Forest (PPBioMA).

The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) of Brazil created in 2005 the Biodiversity Research Program (PPBio) in order to expand and disseminate knowledge on Brazilian biodiversity, being formerly implemented in the Amazon and Semi-Arid biomes. In 2012, the program became national, covering actions to create networks of researchers in each biome adopting standardized protocols of inventories and monitoring of biota (known as RAPELD); to support the modernization of biological collections; to conduct research in thematic areas; to develop a portal to access data and metadata; and to synthesize the knowledge gained by the research. In this context created was Biodiversity Research Network of the Atlantic Forest (PPBioMA) relying on 100 researchers from 23 institutions. The PPBioMA network is divided into four sections, the executive and one in each Atlantic Forest region (Northeast, Southeast and South), coordinated by one or two researchers. Each section has its own projects. Executor core aims to provide training courses in different subjects and for different stakeholders (researchers, students, technicians, managers), manage data and metadata, to know the collections associated with the network, and to ensure data integration and knowledge synthesis. Sixteen sites in the Atlantic Forest are being simultaneously studied using standardized protocols, and 81 researches are being developed. Two meetings were conducted to allow the exchange of information among the participants. Project data will be made available according to the data policy, in the Information System for the Brazilian Biodiversity (SiBBr).

Jose A Sanabria is Marine Biologist (University of La Laguna) and now is a PhD student of BITES Lab at Centre d\'Estudis Avançats de Blanes, Spain (CEAB-CSIC). He has a short career in the marine research, and contributed in national and international conferences in the field of Biodiversity and Marine Biology

The Alboran Sea is an exceptional ecoregion in between the South European Atlantic Shelf and the Western Mediterranean ecoregions. Oceanographic conditions in the Alboran Sea are strongly influenced by Atlantic and Mediterranean currents, which suggest that this particular ecoregion could function as a transition zone from Atlantic to Mediterranean biodiversity. The Alboran Sea is a major contributor to species richness of temperate seas and it is considered as a biodiversity hotspot. Yet, there is little data on patterns of distribution of biological diversity across the Alboran Sea. Here, we investigated the biodiversity of this transition zone to better understand how the unique ecological traits of this area are determined by surrounding ecoregions, and the degree of influence that ecoregions confer to the Alboran Sea. We used underwater visual census to quantify marine fish and invertebrates across the whole region. Our results showed a general decrease in marine biodiversity as we move away from the Gibraltar Strait towards Western Mediterranean waters. This general trend is in fact two contrasting patterns between Western and Eastern Alboran Sea. In the Western side of the Alboran Sea, there is a decline in species richness while in the Eastern side of the Alboran Sea species richness increases. These contrasting trends in biodiversity between the Western and Eastern sides of the Alboran Sea seems to be explained by environmental variables or oceanographic currents that affect the distribution of marine life, and support for two functionally distinct Alboran Seas within this singular ecoregion

Lidia Ochoa Peñas has completed a Master’s Program in Ecological Restoration, specialized in Marine Ecosystems from Alcalá de Henares University, Complutense University, Politécnica de Madrid University and Rey Juan Carlos University. Her most recent studies, in collaboration with different organizations, consist of the invasion process of macro-algae along the Atlantic and Cantabrian coasts and its effects in the intertidal communities, and about the state of a seagrass in the Canary Islands.

Restoration ecology is the part of biology which studies how to change the state of a degraded ecosystem into a non-degraded one. It is also used regarding damaged or destroyed ecosystems, specially used in ecosystems altered or degraded by human in order to revitalize ecosystems integrity and functionality. There are a lot of different theories about the importance of restoring ecosystems or species and their value, for example the value of them itself, but one of the most persuasive arguments is the importance of the ecosystem services. Marine ecosystems are a great source of ecosystem services, for instance provisioning services (food, energy) or recreation. They also supply other ecosystem services such as regulation of global climate, sink of nutrients or acting as a reservoir for CO2, which are less known or considered. Ecological restoration can help these ecosystems, providing an important source of ecosystem services and ensuring their continuity in time.

María del Pilar de Arana completed her PhD with extraordinary Honor at the Complutense University and was Postdoctoral fellow at Duke University (NC, USA). She is Full Professor at the Genetics Department UCM since 2009. She is the Director of a research line on Animal Genetic Diversity. She has published more than 40 papers in reputed journals

Domestic animals are nowadays accepted as important contributors to biodiversity. Within this context, DNA markers have proved to be useful tools. Molecular diversity studies are strongly biased towards mitochondrial sequences, however, these do not represent the whole evolutionary and genealogical history of a species. Among nuclear sequences, those located on the differential segment of sex chromosomes overcome the technical disadvantages of diploid sequences, since certain regions are present in a single dose in XY males. Sex chromosomes sequences supply valuable data on the evolution of the taxonomic groups, on the impact of domestication, and on the effect of reproductive strategies. Orthologous sequences of the X and Y chromosomes of the horse, the domestic donkey and the Somali wild ass were analysed by chromosome specific amplification of fragments of the amelogenin and zinc finger protein genes. In general, these sequences showed low variability levels. The Y chromosomes showed no intraspecific variability. Two SNPs were found in the AmelX gene of horses, defining three haplotypes, none of them breed exclusive; no variation was found in the corresponding sequence of donkeys. Mitochondrial donkey sequences were analyzed to check for an overall decrease in variability, though no significant reduction was found. Equus caballus Y and X chromosomes show the highest similarity with E. przewalskii. E. asinus Y and X amelogenin sequences show one difference each with respect to those of E. africanus somalicus; donkey ZfY sequence coincides with those of Somali and Asiatic wild asses, E. a. somalicus and E. hemionus

Mona Ayesh Al-Salameen, graduated from Kuwait University with a bachelor degree in zoology; later completed her masters degree in zoology, (Temperature reaction of diurnal and nocturnal Tenebrionid beetles from Kuwait Desert). She finished her Phd in year 2000, in Micropaleontology, (Benthic foraminifera as indicators of pollution by heavy metal in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea). She worked as a assistant professor at science department and selected as the head of the science department; for four years. Now she is the vice dean of academic affairs. She’s researches are about foraminifera as environmental changes indicators and classification, which were for the Regional Organization of Protection Marine Environment

Global change and climate variability rely on proxy data from recent faunal content to monitor environmental change. Species diversity calculated from two regions at Kuwaiti Coast (Miskan Island and Al-Khiran area) allow estimation of the relative bleaching increase within-habitat of coral species associated with different types of faunal degradation. Beaches and Reefs at Kuwait and Gulf area subject to land-based pollution (sewage, sedimentation, and/or industrial pollution) show 40–50% reduced diversity at 7 m, and 30–60% reduced diversity at 10 m depth relative to unpolluted comparison reefs in each region. The decreased diversity on reefs subject to land-based pollution implies a dramatic, rapid decrease in Kuwait reef-based fisheries resources. Ostracoda (microscopic, aquatic Crustacea) and benthic foraminifera at the Kuwaiti islands have a great potential for ecological monitoring and environmental analyses in highly variable environments. The analysis of faunal assemblage (benthonic and ostracoda) composition, morphological features, diversity, and species distributions provide valuable information on present and past water salinity, temperature, substrate characteristics, climate, sea level variations, oxygen and nutrient availability. In this respect, this work will provide an overview on the application of benthic foraminifera and ostracods for environmental reconstruction

Natalí Lazzari finished her Master’s degree in Marine Biology at the University of La Laguna, Spain and now she is coursing her PhD in Biodiversity from Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and the University of Barcelona. In her short career, she has participied in few national and international congresses and has collaborated in the marine department of the University of La Laguna.

Marine biodiversity along the Iberian Peninsula coast is a unique crossroad, as it is surrounded by three ecoregions of the world: The South European Atlantic Shelf, the Alboran Sea, and the Western Mediterranean. Ecoregions are characterized by distinct environmental traits and associated biodiversity. The Mediterranean Sea is a highly diverse ecoregion whose waters are known to influence nearby regions outside the Mediterranean basin. Here, we looked at the marine biodiversity along the Iberian coast to quantify how benthic communities in the Atlantic coast deviated from the Mediterranean communities. We used underwater visual census to quantify fish and invertebrates and used multivariate techniques to quantify how communities in the Atlantic deviated from the Mediterranean type community. Our data showed how Mediterranean influence weakened as we move away from the Gibraltar straight up to the entrance of the Bay of Biscay. However, benthic communities in the Bay of Biscay become increasingly more Mediterranean-like communities as we get closer to France, reversing the trend found in Portugal and western Galicia coasts. Similarity with the Mediterranean type community decreased from over 50% in sites near the Gibraltar Strait to less than 15%, at the entrance of the Bay of Biscay. Then, despite the larger geographic distance, communities within the Bay of Biscay steadily recovered resemblance with the Mediterranean type community as we approached France. This pattern seemed to be caused by changes in environmental variables such as sea surface temperature and confirms the Mediterranean influence on Atlantic biodiversity well beyond Mediterranean boundaries.

Rajasthan is the second largest state in India occupying an area of 342274sq.km. It stretches between 230 N’ to 300 12‘N lat and 690 30’E, 780 17’E long. It forms the eastern extremity of great arid and semiarid belt of the world. A striking geological feature of Rajasthan is the presence of Aravallis the oldest Plateau mountains of the world. Aravalli range literally means line of peaks, range of mountains in west India running approximately 692km. in NE direction, across Indian states Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. The southern end is Palampur near Ahemdabad Gujrat and terminates into Raisina hill (last extension). The area west to Aravallis is desert and area east of this mountain is semiarid. Ajmer is located centrally in Rajasthan also known as heart of Rajasthan. About 7miles from the city is Pushkar lake created by the touch of lord Brahma. The Dargah of Khawaja Mouinuddin Chisti is holiest shrine next to Mecca in the world. Ajmer has hot dry summer and cold bracing winter. The temperature varies from 6-45 0C. The winter extends from November to February and summer from march to june followed by rainy season till September. The normal annual rainfall is 527mm.

Xiaoyan He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at College of Agriculture & Biotechnology, Zhejiang University (ZJU), China. She completed her PhD in Crop Science in 2015 from ZJU. Her main research interest is molecular physiology of abiotic stresses tolerance in barley. She has published 7 papers in reputed SCI-JOURNALS.

Drought is one of the most severe abiotic factors affecting crop productivity worldwide. The identification of drought tolerant crop germplasm and understanding the underlying tolerance mechanisms is necessary, therefore, to improve the plant adaptation to drought-prone environments. As a single cell type, root hair is an important organ in uptake water and nutrients, and plays an important role in drought tolerance. However, there is a very little information about the genetic and molecular basis of root hair development in monocots in response to drought. Tibetan wild barley is rich in genetic diversity and provides elite genes for crop improvement in such abiotic stress tolerance as drought. In this study, the drought-tolerant Tibetan wild barley XZ5 was used. Based on the genotypic differences ofrnroot hair development and root hair transcriptome in response to drought stress, the root hair development-regulated gene, HvEXPB7 being associated with drought tolerance in XZ5, was isolated and cloned, and the molecular drought-tolerant mechanism in wild barley was studied.