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Rubén Ladrera
Area of Didactics of Experimental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of La Rioja, 26006 Logroño, Spain

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Journal article
Published: 16 December 2020 in Sustainability
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The serious and growing impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) on the planet make it necessary to include this issue with greater determination in educational programs, with the aim of generating citizens capable of dealing with this environmental problem in a sustainable way. Likewise, the management of IAS represents a clear socio-scientific issue (SSI), which gives greater interest to its inclusion in school. At this point, future teachers play a key role, so that their knowledge, perceptions and attitudes on the subject must be evaluated. In order to deal with this objective, a questionnaire was filled out by 400 students of the degrees in early childhood education and primary education of the Universities of La Rioja (UR) and the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Spain. Our results show that pre-service teachers do not perceive impacts of different types generated by IAS, and they show a clear lack of knowledge about transmission vectors. Likewise, they do not support various control measures, especially slaughter of invasive vertebrates, related to affective dimensions. These results highlight the need to work toward an appropriate integration of this issue at different educational levels, training students and educators, fostering favorable attitudes toward a sustainable management of IAS.

ACS Style

Rubén Ladrera; Beatriz Robredo; Unai Ortega-Lasuen; José Díez; Aritz Ruiz-González. Unprepared to Deal with Invasion: Pre-Service Teachers’ Perception, Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Invasive Species. Sustainability 2020, 12, 10543 .

AMA Style

Rubén Ladrera, Beatriz Robredo, Unai Ortega-Lasuen, José Díez, Aritz Ruiz-González. Unprepared to Deal with Invasion: Pre-Service Teachers’ Perception, Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Invasive Species. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (24):10543.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rubén Ladrera; Beatriz Robredo; Unai Ortega-Lasuen; José Díez; Aritz Ruiz-González. 2020. "Unprepared to Deal with Invasion: Pre-Service Teachers’ Perception, Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Invasive Species." Sustainability 12, no. 24: 10543.

Journal article
Published: 21 October 2020 in Sustainability
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The overall purpose of this study was to assess the knowledge that students have about the ecosystem concept of rivers and their sustainable management. A survey of nine questions gathered responses from 3447 students at three different Spanish education levels (Primary, Secondary, and bachelor’s degree in Primary Education) and six different geographic territories in the Iberian Peninsula. Respondents showed a limited understanding of rivers, much simpler than the ecosystem concept, which was related to proposals of unsustainable management of these ecosystems. Although the results were analogous among territories, undergraduate students had a more complex concept of rivers as well as more sustainable ideas regarding their management compared with Primary and Secondary Education students. This study demonstrates the lack of knowledge transfer between science and students regarding river ecosystems. Current educational programs should be adapted to address, even at early stages of education, the sustainability challenges around river ecosystems.

ACS Style

Rubén Ladrera; Pablo Rodríguez-Lozano; Iraima Verkaik; Narcís Prat; José Díez. What Do Students Know about Rivers and Their Management? Analysis by Educational Stages and Territories. Sustainability 2020, 12, 8719 .

AMA Style

Rubén Ladrera, Pablo Rodríguez-Lozano, Iraima Verkaik, Narcís Prat, José Díez. What Do Students Know about Rivers and Their Management? Analysis by Educational Stages and Territories. Sustainability. 2020; 12 (20):8719.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rubén Ladrera; Pablo Rodríguez-Lozano; Iraima Verkaik; Narcís Prat; José Díez. 2020. "What Do Students Know about Rivers and Their Management? Analysis by Educational Stages and Territories." Sustainability 12, no. 20: 8719.

Research article
Published: 01 March 2018 in PLOS ONE
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This study aims to contribute to the understanding of the impact of Didymosphenia geminata massive growths upon river ecosystem communities’ composition and functioning. This is the first study to jointly consider the taxonomic composition and functional structure of diatom and macroinvertebrate assemblages in order to determine changes in community structure, and the food web alterations associated with this invasive alga. This study was carried out in the Lumbreras River (Ebro Basin, La Rioja, Northern Spain), which has been affected by a considerable massive growth of D. geminata since 2011. The study shows a profound alteration in both the river community composition and in the food web structure at the sites affected by the massive growth, which is primarily due to the alteration of the environmental conditions, thus demonstrating that D. geminata has an important role as an ecosystem engineer in the river. Thick filamentous mats impede the movement of large invertebrates—especially those that move and feed up on it—and favor small, opportunistic, herbivorous organisms, mainly chironomids, that are capable of moving between filaments and are aided by the absence of large trophic competitors and predators -prey release effect-. Only small predators, such as hydra, are capable of surviving in the new environment, as they are favored by the increase in chironomids, a source of food, and by the reduction in both their own predators and other midge predators -mesopredator release-. This change in the top-down control affects the diatom community, since chironomids may feed on large diatoms, increasing the proportion of small diatoms in the substrate. The survival of small and fast-growing pioneer diatoms is also favored by the mesh of filaments, which offers them a new habitat for colonization. Simultaneously, D. geminata causes a significant reduction in the number of diatoms with similar ecological requirements (those attached to the substrate). Overall, D. geminata creates a community dominated by small organisms that is clearly different from the existing communities in the same stream where there is an absence of massive growths.

ACS Style

Rubén Ladrera; Joan Gomà; Narcís Prat. Effects of Didymosphenia geminata massive growth on stream communities: Smaller organisms and simplified food web structure. PLOS ONE 2018, 13, e0193545 .

AMA Style

Rubén Ladrera, Joan Gomà, Narcís Prat. Effects of Didymosphenia geminata massive growth on stream communities: Smaller organisms and simplified food web structure. PLOS ONE. 2018; 13 (3):e0193545.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rubén Ladrera; Joan Gomà; Narcís Prat. 2018. "Effects of Didymosphenia geminata massive growth on stream communities: Smaller organisms and simplified food web structure." PLOS ONE 13, no. 3: e0193545.

Journal article
Published: 08 January 2014 in River Research and Applications
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The objective of this paper is to determine the alteration of the taxonomic composition and functional structure of macroinvertebrate community associated with a massive growth of the invasive algae Didymosphenia geminata downstream of a mountain reservoir (Pajares Reservoir, La Rioja, Northern Spain). As the massive growth of the alga disappears a few kilometres downstream of the reservoir associated with the input of nutrients from a nearby village sewage, we may compare the community composition between nine stations in three different conditions: three stations heavily affected by the presence of D. geminata, three further downstream stations without the algal massive growth but affected by river regulation and three control stations (unregulated and without the algae). Results show a significant disturbance of the composition and structure of macroinvertebrate community in sites affected by the stream flow regulation downstream of the dam compared with unregulated streams, but the alterations are more dramatic in the area where the growth of D. geminata is massive because of the total substrate occupation by the algal filaments. Scrapers and others invertebrates living on the coarse substrate are especially affected at such sites. Moreover, an important increase in the relative abundance of chironomids is associated with the algal massive growth, especially in case of Eukiefferiella devonica and Cricotopus spp., reducing the assemblage diversity and leading to the taxonomic and functional homogenization of the community. Changes in the reservoir management (such as releasing the water from surface rather than from the hypolimnion) may be useful to control the massive growth of D. geminata and thus reducing the effects of river regulation on macroinvertebrate assemblage composition. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

ACS Style

Rubén Ladrera; Maria Rieradevall; Narcís Prat. Massive Growth of the Invasive AlgaeDidymosphenia GeminataAssociated with Discharges from a Mountain Reservoir Alters the Taxonomic and Functional Structure of Macroinvertebrate Community. River Research and Applications 2014, 31, 216 -227.

AMA Style

Rubén Ladrera, Maria Rieradevall, Narcís Prat. Massive Growth of the Invasive AlgaeDidymosphenia GeminataAssociated with Discharges from a Mountain Reservoir Alters the Taxonomic and Functional Structure of Macroinvertebrate Community. River Research and Applications. 2014; 31 (2):216-227.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rubén Ladrera; Maria Rieradevall; Narcís Prat. 2014. "Massive Growth of the Invasive AlgaeDidymosphenia GeminataAssociated with Discharges from a Mountain Reservoir Alters the Taxonomic and Functional Structure of Macroinvertebrate Community." River Research and Applications 31, no. 2: 216-227.