The ecosystem of San Sebastián

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Ecosystem:

Is the combined group of living things, the physical factors of the enviroment where they live, and the biotic and abiotic relationships between them.

The phisical enviroment in which all living things live, and the region of a habitat associated with a particular ecological community.

Set of organisms of diverse species, plants or animals, that live and reproduce in a certain biotope.

The place in an ecosystem or the natural home where a specie (animal, plant, or other organism) lives.

The mild season lasts for 3.1 months, from June 21 to September 24, and the daily average maximum temperature is over 22 ° C. The hottest day of the year is August 3, with an average maximum temperature of 25 ° C and an average minimum temperature of 18 ° C. The cool season lasts 3.8 months, from November 22 to March 15, and the daily average maximum temperature is less than 15 ° C. The coldest day of the year is February 7, with an average minimum temperature of 6 ° C and an average maximum of 13 ° C.

San Sebastián (Donostia) is a Spanish city and municipality located on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 kilometers from the border with France. The city is the capital of the province of Guipúzcoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The population of the municipality is 188,240 inhabitants (2020), and its metropolitan area reaches 436,500 (2010). It's the head of the Basque Eurocity Bayona-San Sebastián, a conurbation of more than 620,000 inhabitants.

DEFINITION OF POPULATION AND COMMUNITY

ABIOTIC FACTORS OF THE ECOSYSTEM

Rana bermeja (Rana temporaria)

&nbsp; It is a kind of frog of the Ranidae family. It lives in humid places, spends much of its adult life on land, and returns to the water only to escape when it is attacked and to reproduce. They are reproduced in spring &nbsp; It has a sturdier body and shorter legs than the common green frog. Its body measures between 6-9 cm2, females are considerably larger than males. &nbsp;It has a pointed head and snout, and a small eardrum, the pupil is horizontal elliptical. It has folds on the sides of the back that are relatively parallel to each other and visible. &nbsp; They have three tubercles on the palms and have four fingers that have tubercles below each joint. This specie is really attractive physically with a great variation in colors

San Sebastian is a green city so with little change it will make a difference. Mainly with time and evolution of electric cars the CO2 emissions will reduce to an acceptable point. Helping with the regulation of emissions of factories, the problem will be half solved. For the damage to forests it’ll be nice to plant trees to maintain the tree population per square meter, this will also contribute with air pollution and construction of houses or buildings could follow its path. To finish with it may be a good point to put more skips and bins in the natural areas and beaches to avoid contamination of seas and the whole city, if this was followed by vigilance of people in forests in a more frequent way, it should help to improve the situation.

Positive impacts to improve the situation

Protected Biotope of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe The Protected Biotope of Gaztelugatxe (158 ha) covers a stretch of the Biscayan coast between the outskirts of Bakio to the west and Cape Matxitxako (Bermeo) to the east. It is a very unique coastal enclave (made up of cliffs and steep slopes), especially if we take into account how few islands and islets are on our coast. In addition, one of its limits, the Matxitxako cape, is its most prominent point and a geographical feature of reference. One of the rocky islets, rather a peninsula, is connected to the land by a bridge built on the rocks that remained between the island and the mainland; At one end, the waves have carved perfect tunnels in the rock. The Rock of Aketze rises prominently out of the sea. For centuries, the human presence on the island has been very low, as it can only be accessed by boat. This isolation has made it a sanctuary for seabirds; 200 pairs of common cloth, shaggy cormorants and yellow-legged gulls nest in this exceptional place.

We call commensalism to the interspecific relationship in which one of the individuals obtains a benefit, while the other is neither harmed or benefited.

Mutualism consists of beneficial interaction between individuals, without this being necessary for their vital development.

Examples:

1)As an example of commensalism we can think of common kestrel, which locate their nest in the trunks of some olmos trees. In this case, the tree is indifferent to this.

2)Now as an example of mutualism we have with the common kestrel and the betizu cow or the pottok.These types of birds perch on the backs of cows and some horses, pecking at their lice, fleas and ticks.(both are beneficiated: they feed on these parasites, while cows and horses get rid of these pesky parasites)

Lacha

This breed of sheep is raised in the Vasque Country. &nbsp;It is known for its black head and their twisted horns on the head. It has really long hair that almost touches the floor, it is made of wool and the short hair on the head is reddish or black. There are three sub breeds: black face lacha, blonde face lacha and lacha carranzana. It is adapted to the local climatology belonging to the humid Spain. &nbsp;Its milk is used for the sheep’s cheese production.

Pyrenean desman(Galemys pyrenaicus)

The Pyrenean desman is a small semi aquatic, globally threatened mammal related to moles and shrews. The species is located in the north and central parts of Spain and Portugal, French Pyrenees, and Andorra. The Pyrenean desman is 11 to 14 cm long with a rounded scale-covered tail of 12 to 16 cm, and weighs 35 to 80 g. They can live at least 3.5 years. Pyrenean desmans have a long, sensitive nasal trompe helping prey detection and a large webbed feet with fringed hairs to increase the swimming surface. The desman's body is covered in dark, brownish fur, with the exception of its tail and nose, as the nose is black and is covered with facial hairs, which it uses to feel the movement of prey as it sticks its nose into mud or crevices while searching for food. The animals are mostly nocturnal, and eat small invertebrates, mostly aquatic macroinvertebrates.&nbsp;

The soils on sandstones, sandstones-shales and sandstones-siltstones, the predominant lithology in the municipality of San Sebastián, are soils with a sandy texture, fast draining and consequently poor in nutritive elements.

Sandstone or psammite is a sedimentary rock of the detrital type, of variable color, containing clasts of sand size. As for the grains, they are made up of quartz, feldspar or rock fragments.

Craft paper border

The ecosystem of "San Sebastián"

Made by: 1. Jara Albarrán 2. Inés Morón 3. Paola Blanco 4. Diego Camacho 5. Izan María

As an example, we can highlight the 'Lachas', which are individuals (that are not necessarily related) that live together for a certain period of time and who help each other.

San Sebastian is a city which is very respectful with the natural areas and tries to involve them in the middle of it’s city. Moreover it still having some problems. - the destruction and invasion of green areas to build houses (usually luxurious.) - emissions of carbon dioxide in construction ,or as usually as consequence of the mains of transport such a as cars. - the contamination of beaches with plastics, cans, tobacco butts contaminate the area, but the cigarettes butts can cause big fires in forests. These effects are causing damage to the flora and fauna of the area, destroying their landscapes or endangering the species.

Negative impacts that humans are causing in San Sebastián ecosystem.

Siltstone is a sedimentary rock that has a grain size in the silt range, finer than sandstone and coarser than clays. It is a rock that contains mud, which is a material that has a range of silt and clay. Siltstone differs by having a majority composition of silt, not clay.

BETIZU(bovine breed)

“Betizu” is the name given to a semi-wild breed of cow, reddish in color, from northern Spain and the French Basque country. It is a breed of special protection and that is why their owners do not keep them because they are low producers, so the Basque and Navarre governments are buying them and releasing them in the wild. &nbsp; Their head is fine short, covered with abundant curled hairs, expressive eyes and they had white lyre-shaped horns. &nbsp; They are animals that live in a semi-freedom regime and whose semi-wild behavior is adapted to the environmental conditions in which they develop.

Olmo de montaña(Ulmus glabra)

Ulmus glabra is a tree of the ulmáceas family, typical of the mountains of all Europe. These trees can reach 40 m. They have the largest leaves of the Iberian elms, up to 18 cm long by 13.5 cm wide. They are deciduous, simple, oval or lanceolate in outline, with a very pointed apex. The flowers appear in small groups of 10-20 before the leaves in early spring. The fruits (sámaras) have a suborbicular shape with a size of about 2.5 by 2 cm, that have wings with smooth edges and a seed in a central position. They are hard to see in Spain, which usually grows scattered or in small stands in mixed forests, beech or fir trees, always in shady environments. It prefers cool and stony soils, at the foot of cliffs and river banks. It grows from sea level to 1800 m. In Spain, the mountain elm is distributed in the north (Basque Country, Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia)

Community, in biology, refers to the assemblage of interacting organisms (either of the same or different species) coexisting in a particular area and time. Because of their interactions, members of a community tend to affect each other's abundance, distribution, adaptation and existence.

EXAMPLES: Within a community, we can include the next animals and plants species: the pottok, the Lacha (sheep), Betizu (bovine breed) They interact between them and with the environment too.

El pottok, from the breed Equus Caballus

&nbsp;&nbsp;They are the little horses of the Basque Country. The name is pronounced “potiok”. This peculiar breed that only exists in the Vasque Country could be the descendant of a prehistoric horse, they inhabited from the Paleolithic to the present day with almost any changes. &nbsp; The Pottok measures 1.15 to 1.47 metres in height, and weighs between 300 to 350 kilograms. It has a large, square head, small ears, short neck and long back with short but slim legs, and small, sturdy<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse_hoof"> </a>hooves &nbsp; He is fully adapted to life in the mountains. For a long time, this little horse was used in agriculture and mining. The pottok is a docile and generous animal, however it is a wild animal.

Carlina acanthifolia

It is commonly called chameleon, is a kind of herbaceous plant of the genus Carlina of the Asteraceae family that grows in mountainous regions of Europe. &nbsp; It is a biennial, thorny perennial plant, similar to thistle, with a rigid stem.&nbsp; It has Lobed and sharp leaves and flowers surrounded by spiny bracts, &nbsp; It was searched and harvested due to its decorative appearance. This thistle is used as a barometer since its flower closes in the presence of bad weather. &nbsp; These&nbsp;flowers can be kept dry and they were often hung on the doors of some villages, as a call of good luck and protection. &nbsp; Currently, it is in danger and it’s also protected.

INTRASPECIFIC RELATIONSHIPS

They occur when the individuals are of the same species. There are four types: Family associations, gregarious associations, social associations and colonial associations.

Here, intraspecific competition might be included. It is considered an interaction in population biology, whereby members of the same species compete for limited resources. 

For more information: check this link to a very useful explanation.

What Are Interspecific & Intraspecific Interactions | Ecology & Environment | Biology | FuseSchool

- Average precipitation per year

Rainfall in Gipuzkoa oscillates between 1,051 mm. and 1,734 mm. annual totals, with approximately 190 mm of rain and snow. The annual average of precipitation in Donostia-San Sebastian is 1474 mm, an important amount if the moderate nature of the temperatures is taken into account.

Rana bermeja

Common kestrel

Grasshopper

Pyrenean desman

El pottok

Lacha

El castaño(castanea)

Castanea is a kind of plant of the Fagaceae family, it is located in the temperate regions in the north of&nbsp;Spain. It is known as castaño, due to the fruit of these trees that is called castaña. &nbsp; These trees tend to last lots of years and they can also reach really high height(25m). It has a wide, rounded and dense crown, the trunk is short, very thick and it has a large number of branches. However, the wild ones have a slimmer and with fewer branches. &nbsp; They are trees of fallen leaf

Sandstone-shale is a clastic sedimentary rock with a very fine grain, pelitic texture, varied; Made up of clastic debris made up of particles of the sizes of clay and silt. Shales are porous and despite this they are waterproof, because their pores are very small and they are not well communicated with each other.

¿WHAT IS A POPULATION?

A population is defined as a group of individuals of the same species living and interbreeding within a given area.

Members of a population often rely on the same resources, are subject to a similar environmental constraints, and depend on the availability of other members to persist over time.

EXAMPLE: The pottok, from the breed Equus caballus. (The little horses of the Basque Country) In this case, within a habitat there can be many different populations; and an example is this type of mammmals. This nature may provide a habitat for other kinds of populations including this one.

- General description of the biotope.

Iñurritza Protected Biotope Located in the vicinity of the urban area of Zarautz, the Iñurritza Protected Biotope is the largest and best-preserved dune field on the coast of the Basque Autonomous Community. This natural area is located between the north of the beach and the left bank of the Iñurritza estuary and has a total area of 177,200 m², most of which are occupied by the facilities of the Zarautz Golf Club. This space, characterized by the dune landscape, is associated with other typically coastal environments, such as the cliffs or the rocky coast, as well as the marsh and the estuary linked to the mouth of the Iñurritza regatta.

Iñurritza Protected Biotope Link

Common kestrel(Falco tinnunculus)

They are small compared with other birds of prey, but larger than most<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songbird"> </a>songbirds. They have long wings as well as a distinctive long tail, their plumage is mainly light<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chestnut_(colour)"> </a>chestnut brown with blackish spots on the upper side and<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buff_(colour)"> </a>buff with narrow blackish streaks on the underside.&nbsp; All common kestrels have a&nbsp;prominent black<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheek"> </a>malar stripe like their closest relatives. The cere, feet, and a narrow ring around the eye are bright yellow. &nbsp; This species shows an enormous capacity for adaptation when it comes to selecting the prey on which it feeds, such as small mammals(mice and voles),&nbsp; Big insects (crickets and grasshoppers), reptiles and birds.

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