Universidad Indoamérica
Thumbnail Image
Country
EC
City
Quito
Description
INDOAMÉRICA es una Institución de educación superior con más de tres décadas al servicio de la ciencia y la formación de profesionales de excelencia. Nuestros orígenes se remontan a los años ochenta, cuando fue constituido el Centro de Estudios de Computación “Servisistemas Informáticos Indoamérica”. Su nombre, INDOAMÉRICA, expresa un profundo sentido de pertenencia a la cultura latinoamericana, lo cual constituye la base fundamental de nuestra identidad.

2024 2024 2023 2023 2022 2022 2021 2021 2020 2020 2019 2019 2018 2018 2017 2017 2016 2016 2015 2015 0 0 10 10 20 20 30 30 40 40 50 50 60 60 70 70 80 80 90 90

Filters
Reset filters

Settings
Now showing 1 - 10 of 530
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Friend or foe? Social system influences the allocation of signals across functional categories in the repertoires of the New World jays

2016 , Rosa G.L.M. , Ellis J.M. , Bonaccorso, Elisa , Dos Anjos L.

Many factors could influence repertoire size and function. Here, we provide a review of the descriptions of vocal repertoires of New World jays and a unifying terminology for function of their vocalizations. We summarized 19 different functional types of vocal behaviour shared by at least two species, for review purposes. Comparing the 14 studied species, we also classified vocalizations into four major classes defined a priori: 'Social Integration', 'Conflict Resolution', 'Predator-related', and 'Breeding'. Cooperative breeding, as well as group size, are related not only to repertoire size, but to how species allocate their vocalizations into functional classes. We discuss the tendencies of Conflict Resolution and Social Integration and the possibility of the existence and implications of a trade-off between those functional classes. We identified gaps in the current knowledge on vocalizations of the studied species, and emphasize the importance of empiric evidence of vocalization function in the New World jays. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2016.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

New relevant chorological and conservation data on Carex (Cyperaceae) and Hypericum (Hypericaceae) from Ecuador

2023 , Jiménez-Mejías P. , Morales-Alonso A. , Oleas N.H. , Sánchez E. , Martín-Bravo S. , Masa-Iranzo I. , Meseguer A.S.

Background Knowledge of Carex L. (true sedges) and Hypericum L. (St. John's wort) in the Neotropics is fragmentary. New information As a result of a fieldwork campaign in Ecuador and revision of herbarium collections (K, QCA and QCNE), we present here relevant records of twelve Carex (Cyperaceae) and four Hypericum (Hypericaceae) species. Regarding Carex, we present the novel report for South America of C. aztecica, as well as the first Ecuadorian records for C. brehmeri, C. collumanthus, C. fecunda, C. melanocystis and C. punicola. The three later records have additional biogeographical significance, as they represent the new northern limit of these species. We also include observations for another five species included in the Ecuadorian Red List of Endemic Plants. As a result, the list of native Carex reported for Ecuador would now include 52 taxa. With regard to Hypericum, we include the new report of H. sprucei for the province of Bolívar, and the confirmation of the presence of three rare species (H. acostanum, H. matangense, H. prietoi) in their type localities, although with extremely low population sizes. We discuss their conservation status and implications © Jiménez-Mejías P et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Structural and Electromagnetic Signatures of Anatase and Rutile NTs and Sheets in Three Different Water Models under Different Temperature Conditions

2023 , Ruiz E.P.E. , Thirumuruganandham, Saravana Prakash , Lago J.C.L.

Experimental studies of TiO2 nanotubes have been conducted for nearly three decades and have revealed the remarkable advantages of this material. Research based on computer simulations is much rarer, with research using density functional theory (DFT) being the most significant in this field. It should be noted, however, that this approach has significant limitations when studying the macroscopic properties of nanostructures such as nanosheets and nanotubes. An alternative with great potential has emerged: classical molecular dynamics simulations (MD). MD Simulations offer the possibility to study macroscopic properties such as the density of phonon states (PDOS), power spectra, infrared spectrum, water absorption and others. From this point of view, the present study focuses on the distinction between the phases of anatase and rutile TiO2. The LAMMPS package is used to study both the structural properties by applying the radial distribution function (RDF) and the electromagnetic properties of these phases. Our efforts are focused on exploring the effect of temperature on the vibrational properties of TiO2 anatase nanotubes and an in-depth analysis of how the phononic softening phenomenon affects TiO2 nanostructures to improve the fundamental understanding in different dimensions and morphological configurations. A careful evaluation of the stability of TiO2 nanolamines and nanotubes at different temperatures is performed, as well as the adsorption of water on the nanosurface of TiO2, using three different water models. © 2023 by the authors.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Use of ring recoveries to predict habitat suitability in small passerines

2012 , Tellería J.L. , Santos T. , Refoyo P. , Muñoz J.

Aim Abundance of small passerines may be distributed over large wintering areas according to geographical patterns that are difficult to detect. This may prevent the identification and conservation of the most suitable sectors, or the detection of local and regional features affecting the species during winter. In this paper, we explore the usefulness of ring recoveries to predict bird distribution in wintering grounds by using Maxent, one of the presence-only techniques available for modelling species distributions. We test whether suitability indices obtained in 2.5×2.5km UTM squares from ring recoveries were positively correlated with the actual abundance of robins (Erithacus rubecula) and blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) inside the squares. Location Spain. Methods We used 686 and 1139 localities across the country in which blackcap and robin ring recoveries were recorded by the Spanish Office of Migratory Species to generate the suitability maps. In addition, we sampled bird abundance inside 70 control squares independent of ring recovery localities along a belt crossing mountains, highlands and lowlands of the Iberian Peninsula during January from 2006 to 2011. Results Suitability indices predicted by Maxent were positively correlated with robin (r=0.42, n=70, P<0.001) and blackcap (r=0.52, n=70, P<0.001) abundances in the 70 control squares along the belt crossing the Iberian Peninsula. Main conclusions These results suggest that the use of distribution models with ring recoveries may be used to describe the habitat suitability of the winter ranges of small, common passerines. This also means that the huge number of ring recoveries stored in national and transnational data banks could be used to explore the factors shaping bird ranges and to forecast the geographical distribution of suitable wintering areas of migratory birds in large, poorly known regions. This may be useful in biogeography and conservation. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

The Natural History, Distribution, and Conservation of Lonely Rainfrogs, Pristimantis eremitus

2016 , Hutter C.R. , Liu V. , Kell T. , Lyons J.A. , Guayasamin, Juan M.

Natural history and behavioral information for species of the genus Pristimantis is scarce. We conducted an extensive study of Pristimantis eremitus, a vulnerable species for which there is scant biological information. We monitored 17 individuals for movements and intraspecific interactions for 13 mo. We describe the species' variation in dorsal color and pattern, which we used to uniquely identify individuals during the study. We also present results on the habitat utilization and home range of this species, providing evidence that this species shows a preference toward the bromeliad microhabitat when compared with other microhabitat types. We also describe the advertisement call and associated behaviors of the species. We update the known distribution of the species. Our data provide a baseline for future researchers to survey and identify individuals of P. eremitus, and which could be applied comparatively to other species where little of their natural history is known. We also show how an in-depth in situ study can provide useful information for species conservation. © 2016 by The Herpetologists' League, Inc.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

THE DECLARATION OF PARTIES AS FUNDAMENTAL EVIDENCE TO PROVE LACK OF HARMONY IN MARRIAGE IN ECUADOR

2023 , Puyol A.C. , Rodríguez Salcedo, E.

The declaration of the party is an evidentiary element recognized by the Ecuadorian legal system capable of proving the habitual state of disharmony in the marriage, within a judicial process of divorce. In Ecuador, since the enactment of the General Organic Code of Processes in 2016, this figure is contemplated as an innovation to the evidentiary system, the same that is accompanied by several principles that guarantee orality in the procedural field. The research allows to unveil the way in which the statement of the party should be used as a key and fundamental piece to prove the third ground of Article 110 of the Civil Code in force. A qualitative approach of the research allowed the deep and detailed analysis of the object of study, so that, by means of the corresponding observation, the expected results could be obtained, concluding that, in effect the declaration of part is a valid and sufficient evidence to corroborate the habitual state of lack of harmony in the marriage. © 2023, University of Cienfuegos, Carlos Rafael Rodriguez. All rights reserved.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Phenotypic plasticity raises questions for taxonomically important traits: A remarkable new Andean rainfrog (Pristimantis) with the ability to change skin texture

2015 , Guayasamin, Juan M. , Krynak T. , Krynak K. , Culebras J. , Hutter C.R.

We describe a new frog, Pristimantis mutabilis sp. nov., from the Andes of Ecuador. Individuals of the new species are remarkable for their ability to change skin texture from tuberculate to almost smooth in a few minutes, being the first documented amphibian species to show such dramatic phenotypic plasticity. The new taxon is assigned to the P. myersi group. It differs from other members of its group by body size (adult males 17.2-17.4mm; adult females 20.9-23.2mm), arboreal habitat, and red flash coloration in females. We document three call types for the new species, which differ through their number of notes and amplitude peaks. The three types are pulsed calls that share a dominant frequency of 3186.9-3445.3Hz. Surprisingly, we also document similar skin texture plasticity in species (P.sobetes) from a different species group, suggesting that this ability might be more common than previously thought. The discovery of these variable species poses challenges to amphibian taxonomists and field biologists, who have traditionally used skin texture and presence/absence of tubercles as important discrete traits in diagnosing and identifying species. Reciprocal monophyly and genetic distances also support the validity of the new species, as it has distances of 15.1-16.3% (12S) and 16.4-18.6% (16S) from the most similar species, Pristimantis verecundus. Additionally, each of the two known populations of Pristimantis mutabilis are reciprocally monophyletic and exhibit a high genetic distance between them (5.0-6.5%). This pattern is best explained by the presence of a dry valley (Guayllabamba River) that seems to be acting as a dispersal barrier. © 2015 The Linnean Society of London.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Unveiling the evolutionary relationships and the high cryptic diversity in Andean rainfrogs (Craugastoridae: Pristimantis myersi group)

2023 , Franco-Mena, Daniela , Guayasamin J.M. , Andrade-Brito D. , Yánez-Muñoz M.H. , Rojas-Runjaic F.J.M.

Background. Pristimantis is the most diverse genus of terrestrial frogs. Historically, it has been divided into several phenetic groups in order to facilitate species identification. However, in light of phylogenetic analysis, many of these groups have been shown to be non-monophyletic, denoting a high degree of morphological convergence and limited number of diagnostic traits. In this study, we focus on the Pristimantis myersi group, an assemblage of small rainfrogs distributed throughout the Andes of Ecuador and Colombia, whose external morphology is highly conserved, and its species diversity and evolutionary relationships largely unknown. Methods. We inferred a new phylogenetic hypothesis for the frog genus Pristimantis, including all available sequences of the mtDNA 16S rRNA, as well as new DNA sequences from 175 specimens. Our sampling included 19 of the 24 species currently recognized as part of the Pristimantis myersi group. Results. Our new evolutionary hypothesis recovered the P. myersi group as non-monophyletic and composed of 16 species. Therefore, we exclude P. albujai, P. bicantus, P. sambalan, and P. nelsongalloi in order to preserve the monophyly of the group. We discovered at least eight candidate species, most of them hidden under the names of P. leoni, P. hectus, P. festae, P. gladiator, and P. ocreatus. Discussion. Our results reveal the occurrence of a high level of cryptic diversity to the species level within the P. myersi group and highlight the need to redefine some of its species and reassess their conservation status. We suggest that the conservation status of six species within the group need to be re-evaluated because they exhibit smaller distributions than previously thought; these species are: P. festae, P. gladiator, P. hectus, P. leoni, P. ocreatus, and P. pyrrhomerus. Finally, given that the Pristimantis myersi group, as defined in this work, is monophyletic and morphologically diagnosable, and that Trachyphrynus is an available name for the clade containing P. myersi, we implement Trachyphrynus as a formal subgenus name for the Pristimantis myersi group. Copyright 2023 Franco-Mena et al.

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Chemocoding as an identification tool where morphological- and DNA-based methods fall short: Inga as a case study

2018 , Endara M.-J. , Coley P.D. , Wiggins N.L. , Forrister D.L. , Younkin G.C. , Nicholls J.A. , Pennington R.T. , Dexter K.G. , Kidner C.A. , Stone G.N. , Kursar T.A.

The need for species identification and taxonomic discovery has led to the development of innovative technologies for large-scale plant identification. DNA barcoding has been useful, but fails to distinguish among many species in species-rich plant genera, particularly in tropical regions. Here, we show that chemical fingerprinting, or ‘chemocoding’, has great potential for plant identification in challenging tropical biomes. Using untargeted metabolomics in combination with multivariate analysis, we constructed species-level fingerprints, which we define as chemocoding. We evaluated the utility of chemocoding with species that were defined morphologically and subject to next-generation DNA sequencing in the diverse and recently radiated neotropical genus Inga (Leguminosae), both at single study sites and across broad geographic scales. Our results show that chemocoding is a robust method for distinguishing morphologically similar species at a single site and for identifying widespread species across continental-scale ranges. Given that species are the fundamental unit of analysis for conservation and biodiversity research, the development of accurate identification methods is essential. We suggest that chemocoding will be a valuable additional source of data for a quick identification of plants, especially for groups where other methods fall short. © 2018 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2018 New Phytologist Trust

View
No Thumbnail Available
Publication

Stratification and recovery time jointly shape ant functional reassembly in a neotropical forest

2023 , Hoenle P.O. , Staab M. , Donoso, David A. , Argoti A. , Blüthgen N.

Microhabitat differentiation of species communities such as vertical stratification in tropical forests contributes to species coexistence and thus biodiversity. However, little is known about how the extent of stratification changes during forest recovery and influences community reassembly. Environmental filtering determines community reassembly in time (succession) and in space (stratification), hence functional and phylogenetic composition of species communities are highly dynamic. It is poorly understood if and how these two concurrent filters—forest recovery and stratification—interact. In a tropical forest chronosequence in Ecuador spanning 34 years of natural recovery, we investigated the recovery trajectory of ant communities in three overlapping strata (ground, leaf litter, lower tree trunk) by quantifying 13 traits, as well as the functional and phylogenetic diversity of the ants. We expected that functional and phylogenetic diversity would increase with recovery time and that each ant community within each stratum would show a distinct functional reassembly. We predicted that traits related to ant diet would show divergent trajectories reflecting an increase in niche differentiation with recovery time. On the other hand, traits related to the abiotic environment were predicted to show convergent trajectories due to a more similar microclimate across strata with increasing recovery age. Most of the functional traits and the phylogenetic diversity of the ants were clearly stratified, confirming previous findings. However, neither functional nor phylogenetic diversity increased with recovery time. Community-weighted trait means had complex relationships to recovery time and the majority were shaped by a statistical interaction between recovery time and stratum, confirming our expectations. However, most trait trajectories converged among strata with increasing recovery time regardless of whether they were related to ant diet or environmental conditions. We confirm the hypothesized interaction among environmental filters during the functional reassembly in tropical forests. Communities in individual strata respond differently to recovery, and possible filter mechanisms likely arise from both abiotic (e.g. microclimate) and biotic (e.g. diet) conditions. Since vertical stratification is prevalent across animal and plant taxa, our results highlight the importance of stratum-specific analysis in dynamic ecosystems and may generalize beyond ants. © 2023 The Authors. Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.

View