Assessing a quick monitoring method using rocky intertidal communities as a bioindicator: a multivariate approach in Algeciras Bay.

A multivariate approach was used to test the value of intertidal communities as a bioindicator of environmental conditions at Algeciras Bay, southern Spain. The study area is located in the Strait of Gibraltar and it is subjected to a variety of anthropic impacts. Eight localities (5 inside and 3 outside the bay) were selected, and four transects were undertaken in each locality to characterise the fauna and flora. The spatial distribution of the intertidal species reflected the physico-chemical conditions of Algeciras Bay. The stations located outside the bay, characterised by high hydrodynamism and dissolved oxygen and low sedimentation and turbidity, had a higher diversity and species richness than the inner stations. According to the BIO-ENV procedure and CCA, water turbidity was the factor which best correlated with the intertidal assemblages. SIMPER showed that the molluscs Chtamalus stellatus, Mytilus cf edulis, Littorina neritoides and Balanus perforatus, and the algae Gelidium pusillum, Corallina elongata, Asparagopsis armata, Colpomenia sinuosa and Fucus spiralis were the species that most contributed to the dissimilarity between internal and external sites. The present study, based on the spatial distribution of intertidal taxa, yielded similar results to those previously obtained in the area with costly physico-chemical analysis based on complex matrices of subtidal epifaunal communities. Consequently, the intertidal sampling method proposed in this study is presented here as a quick, effective alternative strategy, and can be useful in environmental monitoring programs, since these communities are easily accessible and amenable to sample, and the sessile nature of the majority of the species makes future, long-term monitoring relatively simple.

[Do we spend too much on medications? Pharmaceutical expenditures, an absolutely essential item in European countries]. / 'Gastamos demasiado en medicamentos? El gasto farmacéutico, un bien de primera necesidad entre los países europeos.

OBJECTIVE: To find out if the performance of the pharmaceutical expenditure between the most developed European countries come close more to a luxury good or a necessary good. To compare the pharmaceutical Spanish expenditure with the one of those countries. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: International. Europe. PARTICIPANTS: European countries members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union. METHODS: The data come from the OECD reports and other papers with the same source of information. The majority of the data refer to year 2000. The relationship between pharmaceutical expenditure and other variables as expenditure on health, on research and development (R&D), and socio-demographic variables are analysed with correlation and multiple linear regression. RESULTS: In both groups of countries, the Gross Domestic Product per capita (GDPPC) is positively and significantly correlated with the expenditure per capita on health (public and total) and on R&D, but not with pharmaceutical expenditure per capita (PhEPC). The pharmaceutical expenditure as part of total expenditure on health (PhE/TE) or as percentage of GDP (PhE/GDP), is negatively and significantly correlated with income (GDPPC). The regression model accepts as explicative variables of PhE/GDP: the income (negatively), the employment in health (negatively) and the PhEPC (positively). The PhEPC in Spain is situated in the average of the most developed European countries, and expressed as PhE/TE or as PhE/GDP is situated in the group of the countries with greater pharmaceutical expenditure, the majority of them with a lower GDPPC to the Spanish one. CONCLUSIONS: The performance of the pharmaceutical expenditure between the countries studied come close to a necessary good than to a luxury good. The PhEPC in Spain is situated in the average of these countries and, expressed as PhE/GDP or as PhE/TE, would be according to the Spanish income.