Lychnos 9 (June 2012) takes another look at the subject of threatened species, one of Fundación General CSIC's strategic lines. The topic is introduced in this issue by Rafael Zardoya (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales), with his article "The Biodiversity Crisis: scientific and political challenges."
The second section presents some of the results of the first year of the five research projects into threatened species, selected through the FGCSIC's Proyectos Cero 2010 call for proposals, sponsored by Banco Santander, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Fundación General CSIC.
In the first article, Toni Gabaldon (Universitat Pompeu Fabra) describes the Iberian lynx's arrival in the genomic age. Next, Pedro Jiménez-Mejías, Elena Amat, Inés Álvarez and Pablo Vargas (Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid) present the results of their study's efforts to germinate five endangered genera of flowering plants: Avellara, Castrilanthemum, Gyrocaryum, Naufraga and Pseudomisopates. Andrés Fernández Loras and Jaime Bosch Pérez (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales), Matthew Fisher (Imperial College London) and Trenton WJ Garner (Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London) report on the progress made in the fight against chytridiomycosis: the scourge decimating the world's amphibians. In his article "Endangered birds and farming: new conservation strategy approaches," Lluís Brotons (Centro Tecnológico Forestal de Cataluña ) explains his team's new conservation strategy approach, which seeks to balance the need of farming and the conservation of threatened bird species. Last but not least, the group led by Annie Machordom (Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales) describes the scientific progress made in the conservation of Patella ferruginea.
In the third section, various experts – Jorge Cassinello Roldán (Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos), Xavier Bellés (Instituto de Biología Evolutiva) and María Begoña García (Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología) – discuss solutions concerning biodiversity, conservation biology, or the survival of species in the light of possible threats pushing them towards extinction.
Banco Santander, represented by its Santander Global Universities Division, tells us about its work and commitment to the protection, conservation and remediation of the environment. This is followed by an interview with José Antonio Villasante, General Manager of Banco Santander and Director of Santander Global Universities Division which rounds off the fourth section of the journal.
The Forum section then ends Lychnos 9 with some reflections by Sonia Castañeda, Director of Fundación Biodiversidad, on "Species Conservation from the Public Sphere."
