Accede a los seminarios de investigación celebrados en el Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales.
Seminarios de investigación en el canal Youtube del MNCN

Próximos seminarios:

ICE-SHEET CRITICAL THRESHOLDS

Ponente: Marisa Montoya, Facultad de Ciencias Físicas; Universidad Complutense de Madrid & Instituto de Geociencias

Fecha y hora: viernes 30 de octubre, 13:00h

Lugar: salón de actos del MNCN

Abstract: Ice sheets are continental-scale masses of ice that cover land areas, formed by the accumulation and compaction of snow over thousands of years. Two ice sheets exist in the Earth, the Greenland ice sheet and the Antarctic ice sheet. Both of them are currently losing ice mass, increasingly contributing to sea-level rise. Ice sheets are actually the main source of uncertainty in future sea-level rise projections. These uncertainties are due to the uncertain future climate evolution, as well as to uncertain initial conditions and structural (model-related) uncertainties. In addition, ice sheets are thought to show threshold behaviour with respect to control parameters such as global temperature. The values of such critical thresholds and crossing times are deeply uncertain. Crossing these thresholds could further lead to irreversible mass loss on long timescales. I will herein review the processes responsible for the current ice-sheet mass loss and the positive feedbacks that result in their nonlinear behaviour. I will present results from our group illustrating these features from a modelling perspective. Finally, I will show how classical stability analysis can be misleading, since irreversible collapse is possible below the critical threshold if forcing rates are sufficiently high. On the other hand, crossing these thresholds does not immediately lead to irreversible ice-mass loss, but fast reversal of warming trends is required to prevent substantial ice-mass loss.

NOVIEMBRE

RECYCLING OF CONTINENTS IN THE DEEP LITHOSPHERE

Ponentes: Daniel Gómez Frutos, University of Portsmouth

Fecha y hora: viernes 06 de noviembre, 12:00h

Lugar: salón de actos del MNCN

Abstract: Life and landscape on Earth are intimately linked to the evolution of its emerged landmass: the continental crust. Continents are among the most geologically complex features of our planet, and their evolution strongly influences the surrounding Earth system through plate tectonics. Yet how continents are recycled remains a fundamental question, owing to biases in the preserved geological record and the strict limitations of geophysical observations to present-day conditions.

Continental recycling requires continental material to return to the mantle, melt and re-incorporate into the overlying continental mass. It is therefore fundamentally a coupled geodynamic and igneous process. Combining numerical modelling with petrological experiments allows investigation of how these processes operated throughout Earth’s geological history.

New coupled experimental–numerical evidence demonstrates that continental crust can be efficiently recycled during collisional orogeny. During collision, continental crust subducts beneath the opposing plate, founders into the mantle, and subsequently relaminates beneath the overlying lithosphere. Interaction between this buoyant crust and the surrounding mantle generates magmatism with a distinctive and consistent geochemical signature. This signature can be recognised in continental rocks worldwide, providing evidence that collisional orogeny has played a fundamental role in recycling continental crust and reshaping the composition of the continents since the Archean, 3 billion years ago.

CUANDO PROTEGERSE UNE: ESTRATEGIAS DE DEFENSA Y COMUNIDADES
Presencial, no se retransmite

Ponentes: Paola Laiolo, Instituto Mixto de Investigación en Biodiversidad (IMIB), CSIC. Universidad de Oviedo (Principado de Asturias)

Fecha y hora: viernes 13 de noviembre, 12:00h

Lugar: salón de actos del MNCN

Abstract: El seminario aborda cómo la defensa frente a depredadores puede desempeñar un papel en la estructura y diversidad de las comunidades. En aves forestales, las redes de intercambio de información acústica —donde algunas especies actúan como “informantes de la presencia de depredadores”— favorecen la coexistencia y aumentan la riqueza local más allá de factores abióticos o espaciales. De forma similar, en comunidades de abejorros, el mimetismo mülleriano promueve la coexistencia al aumentar la señal de defensa al tiempo que reduce el solapamiento de nichos y favorece una mayor diversidad de especies y recursos utilizados. En conjunto, estos mecanismos de defensa compartidos actúan como fuerzas facilitadoras en el ensamblaje de comunidades, incrementando la biodiversidad y contribuyendo a sus funciones ecológicas.

UNA PERSPECTIVA ECOFISOLÓGICA DE LAS HISTORIAS DE VIDA

Ponentes: Ana Ángela Romero, Investigadora Atracción de Talento Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales

Fecha y hora: viernes 20 de noviembre, 12:00h

Lugar: salón de actos del MNCN

Abstract: Mi área de investigación se centra en el estudio de las diferencias entre individuos en la expresión de los rasgos de historia de vida y en los mecanismos fisiológicos que modulan dicha expresión. Desde una perspectiva ecosifiológica, mi investigación aborda preguntas como: ¿por qué existen diferencias tan marcadas en longevidad entre individuos? ¿cuál es el coste de criar a mis hijos? ¿pueden las condiciones que sufrí durante mi desarrollo afectar a mis hijos? Las aves son mi principal modelo de estudio, que combino con la cuantificación de diferentes biomarcadores, incluyendo el estrés oxidativo, la longitud de los telómeros o determinados niveles hormonales. En este seminario presentaré las principales líneas de investigación que he desarrollado en este contexto, incluyendo el efecto de las condiciones estresantes sufridas durante el desarrollo sobre el fenotipo, la expresión de rasgos sexuales, los costes y las limitaciones de la inversión reproductiva y los efectos parentales.

DICIEMBRE

EVOLUTION OF GENOME REGULATION AT THE DAWN OF ANIMAL MULTICELLULARITY

Ponente: lana Kim, Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa

Fecha y hora: viernes 04 de diciembre, 12:00h

Lugar: salón de actos del MNCN

Abstract: In bilaterian animals, specialized cell types emerge through a combination of linear and spatial genome regulation. Linear information, such as transcription factor binding sites and histone modifications, is interpreted within a three-dimensional chromatin context shaped by genome folding and long-range interactions. This enables differential access to shared genomic information, allowing diverse cell types to arise from the same genetic blueprint. However, how this regulatory architecture evolved remains poorly understood. To investigate the evolutionary origin of animal genome regulation, we analyzed the genome organization of non-bilaterian animals (sponges, ctenophores, placozoans and cnidarians) and their closest unicellular relatives (ichthyosporeans, filastereans, and choanoflagellates) using high-resolution chromosome conformation analysis. We showed that chromatin looping, which enables long-range promoter-promoter and promoter-enhancer interactions, is an ancient feature of genome folding in animals but is absent in unicellular relatives of animals. Our findings demonstrate that spatial genome regulation evolved alongside animal multicellularity, adding regulatory complexity and positional tolerance to the combinatorial interactions of transcription factors, ultimately enabling the further diversification of animal cell type repertoires.

Anteriores