Centro de Investigación de la Biodiversidad y Cambio Climático

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Universidad Indoamérica

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Explaining Andean megadiversity: The evolutionary and ecological causes of glassfrog elevational richness patterns
(2013)
Hutter C.R.
;
Guayasamin J.M.
;
Wiens J.J.
The Tropical Andes are an important global biodiversity hotspot, harbouring extraordinarily high richness and endemism. Although elevational richness and speciation have been studied independently in some Andean groups, the evolutionary and ecological processes that explain elevational richness patterns in the Andes have not been analysed together. Herein, we elucidate the processes underlying Andean richness patterns using glassfrogs (Centrolenidae) as a model system. Glassfrogs show the widespread mid-elevation diversity peak for both local and regional richness. Remarkably, these patterns are explained by greater time (montane museum) rather than faster speciation at mid-elevations (montane species pump), despite the recency of the major Andean uplift. We also show for the first time that rates of climatic-niche evolution and elevational change are related, supporting the hypothesis that climatic-niche conservatism decelerates species' shifts in elevational distributions and underlies the mid-elevation richness peak. These results may be relevant to other Andean clades and montane systems globally. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.
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First Insights into the Venom Composition of Two Ecuadorian Coral Snakes
(2022)
Hernández-Altamirano, J.A.
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Salazar Valenzuela, David
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Medina-Villamizar, E.J.
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Quirola, D.R.
;
Patel, K.
Micrurus is a medically relevant genus of venomous snakes composed of 85 species. Bites caused by coral snakes are rare, but they are usually associated with very severe and life-threatening clinical manifestations. Ecuador is a highly biodiverse country with a complex natural environment, which is home to approximately 20% of identified Micrurus species. Additionally, it is on the list of Latin American countries with the highest number of snakebites. However, there is no local antivenom available against the Ecuadorian snake venoms, and the biochemistry of these venoms has been poorly explored. Only a limited number of samples collected in the country from the Viperidae family were recently characterised. Therefore, this study addressed the compositional patterns of two coral snake venoms from Ecuador, M. helleri and M. mipartitus, using venomics strategies, integrating sample fractionation, gel electrophoresis, and mass spectrometry. Chromatographic and electrophoretic profiles of these snake venoms revealed interspecific variability, which was ascertained by mass spectrometry. The two venoms followed the recently recognised dichotomic toxin expression trends displayed by Micrurus species: M. helleri venom contains a high proportion (72%) of phospholipase A2, whereas M. mipartitus venom is dominated by three-finger toxins (63%). A few additional protein families were also detected in these venoms. Overall, these results provide the first comprehensive views on the composition of two Ecuadorian coral snake venoms and expand the knowledge of Micrurus venom phenotypes. These findings open novel perspectives to further research the functional aspects of these biological cocktails of PLA2s and 3FTxs and stress the need for the preclinical evaluation of the currently used antivenoms for therapeutic purposes in Ecuador. © 2022 by the authors.
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Fish ecology of the alto madre de dios river basin (Peru): Notes on electrofishing surveys, elevation, palm swamp and headwater fishes
(2021)
Tobes I.
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Ramos-Merchante A.
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Araujo-Flores J.
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Pino-Del-carpio A.
;
Ortega H.
Our study analyzes the distribution of fish communities related to the environmental variables of the Alto Madre de Dios River, an Andean-Amazon watershed of southern Peru, between 300 and 2811 m a.s.l. within the Manu Biosphere Reserve. We provide new ecological and diversity data on fishes for these poorly studied rivers and new data for palm swamp habitats. With electric fishing techniques, we collected a total of 1934 fish specimens belonging to 78 species, 42 genera and 15 families. To assess main patterns of diversity we combined SIMPER and ANOSIM with canonical correspondence analysis to obtain an overview of the community structure of fish and their distribution related to aquatic habitats. Our results show an important shift on fish diversity at 700 m a.s.l. separating headwater and middle-lowland communities. Electrofishing was a hindrance due to the depth, flow and low conductivity of the rivers, but also allowed us to capture fish not observed with other techniques. We also compared the use of elevation with slope as an alternative variable for statistical analysis. Our results show that slope offers a solid and equivalent explanation for fish distribution variability, avoids redundance, and instead of giving geographical data offers ecologically solid information. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
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A striking, critically endangered, new species of hillstar (Trochilidae: Oreotrochilus) from the southwestern Andes of Ecuador
(2018)
Sornoza-Molina F.
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Freile J.F.
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Nilsson J.
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Krabbe N.
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Bonaccorso, Elisa
We describe a new species of the genus Oreotrochilus from the southwestern Andes of Ecuador. The new species is most similar in adult male plumage to O. stolzmanni and O. chimborazo. However, male and female show unique combinations of plumage characters that are likely to act as social signals. Phylogenetic analyses based on mitochondrial DNA indicate that this new taxon is closely related to O. stolzmanni and O. melanogaster, whereas genetic distances and preliminary comparisons of vocalizations suggest a sister relationship with O. stolzmanni. The geographic distribution of the new species seems to be restricted to cordillera Chilla-Tioloma-Fierro Urcu, in the southwestern highlands of Ecuador, an area historically poorly explored by ornithologists. Thus, based on its restricted distribution, apparently low population size, and lack of protection of its habitat, we evaluate it as critically endangered. © 2018 American Ornithological Society.
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Applications of geographic information systems and remote sensing techniques to conservation of amphibians in northwestern Ecuador
(2015)
González M.P.
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Bonaccorso E.
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Papeş M.
The biodiversity of the Andean Chocó in western Ecuador and Colombia is threatened by anthropogenic changes in land cover. The main goal of this study was to contribute to conservation of 12 threatened species of amphibians at a cloud forest site in northwestern Ecuador, by identifying and proposing protection of critical areas. We used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing techniques to quantify land cover changes over 35 years and outline important areas for amphibian conservation. We performed a supervised classification of an IKONOS satellite image from 2011 and two aerial photographs from 1977 and 2000. The 2011 IKONOS satellite image classification was used to delineate areas important for conservation of threatened amphibians within a 200 m buffer around rivers and streams. The overall classification accuracy of the three images was ≥80%. Forest cover was reduced by 17% during the last 34 years. However, only 50% of the study area retained the initial (1977) forest cover, as land was cleared for farming and eventually reforested. Finally, using the 2011 IKONOS satellite image, we delineated areas of potential conservation interest that would benefit the long term survival of threatened amphibian species at the Ecuadorian cloud forest site studied. © 2015 The Authors.
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Population genomics of parallel hybrid zones in the mimetic butterflies, H. melpomene and H. erato
(2014)
Nadeau N.J.
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Ruiz M.
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Salazar P.
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Counterman B.
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Medina J.A.
Hybrid zones can be valuable tools for studying evolution and identifying genomic regions responsible for adaptive divergence and underlying phenotypic variation. Hybrid zones between subspecies of Heliconius butterflies can be very narrow and are maintained by strong selection acting on color pattern. The comimetic species, H. erato and H. melpomene, have parallel hybrid zones in which both species undergo a change from one color pattern form to another. We use restriction-associated DNA sequencing to obtain several thousand genome-wide sequence markers and use these to analyze patterns of population divergence across two pairs of parallel hybrid zones in Peru and Ecuador. We compare two approaches for analysis of this type of data - alignment to a reference genome and de novo assembly - and find that alignment gives the best results for species both closely (H. melpomene) and distantly (H. erato, ∼15% divergent) related to the reference sequence. Our results confirm that the color pattern controlling loci account for the majority of divergent regions across the genome, but we also detect other divergent regions apparently unlinked to color pattern differences. We also use association mapping to identify previously unmapped color pattern loci, in particular the Ro locus. Finally, we identify a new cryptic population of H. timareta in Ecuador, which occurs at relatively low altitude and is mimetic with H. melpomene malleti. © 2014 Nadeau et al.
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A mouth full of blood – autohaemorrhaging in three Ecuadorian snakes (Squamata: Colubridae & Tropidophiidae)
(2023)
Rödel M.-O.
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Loaiza-Lange A.
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Penner J.
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Neira-Salamea K.D.
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Salazar Valenzuela, David
[No abstract available]
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Phylogeny of Weinmannia (Cunoniaceae) reveals the contribution of the southern extratropics to tropical Andean biodiversity
(2025)
Ricardo A. Segovia
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Eduardo Aguirre-Mazzi
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Christine E. Edwards
;
Alexander G. Linan
;
Alfredo Fuentes
The Andes are a relatively young mountain range with impressive biodiversity, but the biogeographic processes underlying its hyperdiversity are still being unraveled. Novel mid- to high-elevation climates may have served as a biological corridor for the immigration of temperate-adapted lineages to more equatorial latitudes, contributing unknown levels of diversity to this region. We tested the hypothesis that Weinmannia is a lineage of extratropical origin that recently reached and then diversified extensively in the tropical Andes. Using a 2bRAD seq approach to generate a time-calibrated phylogeny for the genus, we found that extratropical species were placed as sister to the rest of Weinmannia and that younger clades were distributed towards more equatorial latitudes. Although Weinmannia exhibited low niche conservatism in elevation and latitude, trait reconstructions of climatic variables showed that the common ancestor of Weinmannia occupied cool climates, with high conservatism of thermal and water availability niche across the phylogeny. Thus, Andean uplift likely created habitats with suitable environmental conditions, providing a dispersal route for extant Weinmannia to colonize the tropical Andes from the southern extratropics. These southern lineages likely converged with those originating in other tropical and extratropical centers of diversification, providing multiple origins for the hyperdiversity in the modern montane forests of the tropical Andes.
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Spatial distribution patterns of fish assemblages relative to macroinvertebrates and environmental conditions in Andean piedmont streams of the Colombian Amazon
(2016)
Tobes I.
;
Gaspar S.
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Peláez-Rodríguez M.
;
Miranda R.
This work provides insight into an Andean–Amazonian river system by conducting a comprehensive study of the biodiversity and ecological processes in a poorly studied neotropical freshwater ecosystem. Hacha River in western Colombia harbours a rich and largely unknown biodiversity and is experiencing an increase in anthropogenic impacts from the city of Florencia. Changes in natural habitat characteristics and environmental quality were analysed and related to the distribution of fish and macroinvertebrates. Four environmental quality indices were applied, and concentrations of potential water pollutants were measured. All environmental quality indices used were reliable because they produced similar assessments of the ecological integrity of the study sites and were inversely related to the potential water pollutant concentrations. Fish and macroinvertebrate communities notably changed in response to differences in environmental quality, reinforcing the ecological integrity assessments. Nevertheless, natural gradients that influence fish and macroinvertebrate distributions showed an overlap with changes in environmental quality, thereby confounding the ability to discern the influence of natural and anthropogenic-induced alterations and to confirm an initials hift in fish assemblages due to anthropogenic impacts. © International Society of Limnology 2016.
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The Natural History, Distribution, and Conservation of Lonely Rainfrogs, Pristimantis eremitus
(2016)
Hutter C.R.
;
Liu V.
;
Kell T.
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Lyons J.A.
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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.
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Centro de Investigación de la Biodiversidad y Cambio Climático

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