Investigaciones de Diego Cisneros-Heredia 

con el laboratorio de Zoología Terrestre USFQ

A fines de julio/2017 concluyó la 1ra expedición científica organizada por el laboratorio de Zoología Terrestre USFQ y el Natural History Museum del Reino Unido. La expedición visitó los bosques nublados de Carchi y uno de los primeros resultados fue el redescubrimiento de una especie de sapo que se pensaba extinto. La prensa nacional e internacional ya está divulgando esta noticia (ver links al final). El objetivo es publicar un paper con un estudio sobre este sapo. Además, en esta expedición también se colectaron varias especies de anfibios y reptiles potencialmente nuevas para la ciencia, generando nuevas publicaciones. El trabajo colaborativo con el Natural History Museum empezó hace 2 años y está respaldado por un convenio de cooperación interinstitucional. Hasta el momento, hemos hecho 6 expediciones a lugares remotos, y con los datos obtenidos se ha desarrollado una tesis, se han publicado dos papers en revistas indexadas en SCOPUS, están en preparación dos más, y se vienen muchos otros. En el primer año, la colaboración con el Natural History Museum se vio fortalecida con un Collaboration Grant. Eso nos permitió conseguir fondos adicionales, incluido un NSF Grant para estudiar la evolución en anfibios durante 3 años y que fue aprobado hace un año, aproximadamente. En esta última visita, recibimos a cinco científicos del Natural History Museum, quienes fueron los primeros científicos internacionales en estrenar los nuevos espacios del laboratorio en el primer piso del edificio Darwin DW-104. Los nuevos espacios son excelentes y nos permitirán incrementar la productividad científica y docente del laboratorio.

Trabajo de investigación de Verónica Barragán, PhD 

y un grupo de científicos, para la American Society for Microbiology

ABSTRACT 

Exposure to soil or water contaminated with the urine of Leptospira-infected animals is the most common way in which humans contract leptospirosis. Entire populations can be at high risk of leptospirosis while working in inundated fields, when engaging in aquatic sports, or after periods of heavy rainfall. The risk of infection after contact with these environmental sources depends on the ability of Leptospira bacteria to survive, persist, and infect new hosts. Multiple variables such as soil and water pH, temperature, and even environmental microbial communities are likely to shape the environmental conditions needed by the pathogen to persist. Here we review what is known about the environmental phase of the infectious Leptospira transmission cycle and identify knowledge gaps that will serve as a guide for future research.

Con el aporte científico de 

David Romo, Kelly Swing y Diego Mosquera

https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyx046

Paúl Cárdenas, docente-investigador del Instituto de Microbiología, aplicó para CEDIA y le fue adjudicado el Grant por 50.000 USD.  Con estos fondos llevarán a cabo un par de proyectos relacionados con el estudio de la microbiota.

Este artículo fue publicado en Global Change Biology 

y se lo llevó a cabo con el apoyo investigativo de 

Esteban Suárez y otros profesionales.

Abstract 

Tropical peatlands store a significant

 portion of the global soil carbon (C) pool. However, tropical mountain peatlands contain extensive peat soils that have yet to be mapped or included in global C estimates. This 

lack of data hinders our ability to inform policy and apply sustainable management practices to these peatlands that are experiencing unprecedented high rates of land use and land cover change. Rapid large-scale mapping activities are urgently needed to quantify tropical wetland extent and rate of degradation. We tested a combination of multidate, multisensor radar and optical imagery (Landsat TM/PALSAR/RADARSAT-1/TPI image stack) for detecting peatlands in a 2715 km2 area in the high elevation mountains of the Ecuadorian p aramo. The map was combined with an extensive soil coring data set to produce the first estimate of regional peatland soil C storage in the p aramo. Our map displayed a high coverage of peatlands (614 km2) containing an estimated 128.2 9.1 Tg of peatland belowground soil C within the mapping area. Scaling-up to the country level, p aramo peatlands likely represent less than 1% of the total land area of Ecuador but could contain as much as ~23% of the above- and belowground vegetation C stocks in Ecuadorian forests. These mapping approaches provide an essential methodological improvement applicable to mountain peatlands across the globe, facilitating mapping efforts in support of effective policy and sustainable management, including national and global C accounting and C management efforts.

Alex Hearn realizó una publicación en PLOS One, 

acerca de la asociación de tiburones ballena con frentes oceánicos junto con su colaborador John Ryan, un eminente oceanógrafo del Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI)

Abstract 

Satellite tracking of 27 whale sharks in the eastern tropical Pacific, examined in relation to environmental data, indicates preferential occupancy of thermo-biological frontal systems. In these systems, thermal gradients are caused by wind-forced circulation and mixing, and biological gradients are caused by associated nutrient enrichment and enhanced primary productivity. Two of the frontal systems result from upwelling, driven by divergence in the current systems along the equator and the west coast of South America; the third results from wind jet dynamics off Central America. All whale sharks were tagged near Darwin Island, Galápagos, within the equatorial Pacific upwelling system. Occupancy of frontal habitat is pronounced in synoptic patterns of shark locations in relation to serpentine, temporally varying thermal fronts across a zonal expanse > 4000 km. 80% of shark positions in northern equatorial upwelling habitat and 100% of positions in eastern boundary upwelling habitat were located within the upwelling front. Analysis of equatorial shark locations relative to thermal gradients reveals occupancy of a transition point in environmental stability. Equatorial subsurface tag data show residence in shallow, warm (>22°C) water 94% of the time. Surface zonal current speeds for all equatorial tracking explain only 16% of the variance in shark zonal movement speeds, indicating that passive drifting is not a primary determinant of movement patterns. Movement from equatorial to eastern boundary frontal zones occurred during boreal winter, when equatorial upwelling weakens seasonally. Off Peru sharks tracked upwelling frontal positions within ~100–350 km from the coast. Off Central America, the largest tagged shark (12.8 m TL) occupied an oceanic front along the periphery of the Panama wind jet. Seasonal movement from waning equatorial upwelling to productive eastern boundary habitat is consistent with underlying trophic dynamics. Persistent shallow residence in thermo-biological frontal zones suggests the role of physical-biological interactions that concentrate food resources.

Publicación de Verónica Barragán y otros investigadores

en la revista American Society for Microbiology

Exposure to soil or water contaminated with the urine of Leptospira-infected animals is the most common way in which humans contract leptospirosis. Entire populations can be at high risk of leptospirosis while working in inundated fields, when engaging in aquatic sports, or after periods of heavy rainfall. The risk of infection after contact with these environmental sources depends on the ability of Leptospira bacteria to survive, persist, and infect new hosts. Multiple variables such as soil and water pH, temperature, and even environmental microbial communities are likely to shape the environmental conditions needed by the pathogen to persist. Here we review what is known about the environmental phase of the infectious Leptospira transmission cycle and identify knowledge gaps that will serve as a guide for future research.

Resultado de la investigación realizada 

por Diego Cisneros-Heredia y otro grupo de investigadores, 

publicado por Check List

.

Publicación de Diego Cisneros-Heredia, representando a la USFQ, junto con otros investigadores

Abstract 

We present new records for Fleischmann’s Glassfrog, Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni (Boettger, 1893), which extend the distribution of this species into central and southwestern Ecuador and thus represent the southernmost known localities. These new reports are based on specimens collected at Cerro de Hayas, province of Guayas, and Macul, province of Los Ríos. These new localities extend the known geographic range of H. fleischmanni by approximately 250 km south of previous known occurrences.

Active immunization against GnRH in pre-pubertal domestic mammals: testicular morphometry, histopathology and endocrine responses in rabbits, guinea pigs and ram lambs 

Pedro M. Aponte, llevó a cabo, junto con otros investigadores, un estudio básico interespecies para el abordaje de la contracepción no quirúrgica en animales domésticos y producto de una colaboración del Área de Biotecnología Animal del COCIBA y la Escuela de Veterinaria con el Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agraria y Veterinaria de Portugal y la Universidad Técnica de Cotopaxi de Ecuador.

Effective tools for male contraception are important in the control of reproduction in animal populations. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of active immunization against gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) on male reproductive function assessing testicular morphological changes and serum-gonadotropin levels in pre-pubertal rabbits, guinea pigs and ram lambs. An anti-GnRH vaccine was developed by linking a GnRH-homologous molecule to a tetanus clostridial toxoid (Al(OH)3 coadjuvant).

Diario El Universo en su edición del domingo 16 de julio del 2017 en su sección Ecología publicó el reportaje “Lianas enredadas, muestra de la dependencia en el Yasuní” trabajo periodístico que explora la función ecológica que cumplen estas plantas en el Yasuní. Se incluyen los destacados comentarios de David Romo, Codirector de la Estación de Biodiversidad Tiputini.

Primera publicación de Paúl Cárdenas como parte del 
Instituto de Microbiología 
desde su reincorporación a la USFQ. 

Fue publicado en el Journal of Medical Entomology indexado en Scopus.

The detection and identification of natural infections in sand flies by Leishmania protozoan species in endemic areas is a key factor in assessing the risk of leishmaniasis and in designing prevention and control measures for this infectious disease. In this study, we analyzed the Leishmania DNA using nuclear ribosomal internal transcript spacer (ITS) sequences. Parasite DNA was extracted from naturally infected, blood-fed sand flies collected in nine localities considered leishmaniasis-endemic foci in Ecuador. The species of parasites identified in sand flies were Leishmania major-like, Leishmania naiffi, Leishmania mexicana, Leishmania lainsoni, and “Leishmania sp. siamensis”. Sand fly specimens of Brumptomyia leopoldoi, Mycropigomyia cayennensis, Nyssomyia yuilli yuilli, Nyssomyia trapidoi, Pressatia triac

Publicación de Sonia Zapata y Gabriel Trueba, 

del Instituto de Microbiología, 

en conjunto con otros investigadores  

https://www.parasite-journal.org/articles/parasite/abs/2017/01/parasite160094/parasite160094.html

The genus Culicoides includes vectors of important animal diseases such as bluetongue and Schmallenberg virus (BTV and SBV). This genus includes 1300 species classified in 32 subgenera and 38 unclassified species. However, the phylogenetic relationships between different subgenera of Culicoides have never been studied. Phylogenetic analyses of 42 species belonging to 12 subgenera and 8 ungrouped species of genus Culicoides from Ecuador, France, Gabon, Madagascar and Tunisia were carried out using two molecular markers (28S rDNA D1 and D2 domains and COI mtDNA). Sequences were subjected to non-probabilistic (maximum parsimony) and probabilistic (Bayesian inference (BI)) approaches. The subgenera Monoculicoides, Culicoides, Haematomyidium, Hoffmania, Remmia and Avaritia (including the main vectors of bluetongue disease) were monophyletic, whereas the subgenus Oecacta was paraphyletic. Our study validates the subgenus Remmia (= Schultzei group) as a valid subgenus, outside of the subgenus Oecacta. In Europe, Culicoides obsoletus, Culicoides scoticus and Culicoides chiopterus should be part of the Obsoletus complex whereas Culicoides dewulfi should be excluded from this complex. Our study suggests that the current Culicoides classification needs to be revisited with modern tools.

Publicación del artículo referente a los movimientos del 
esturión verde en el Río Sacramento, 
en la revista Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.  
Alex Hearn participó en la investigación de este proyecto.

ABSTRACT 

Vast sections of the Sacramento River have been listed as critical habitat by the National Marine Fisheries Service for green sturgeon spawning (Acipenser medirostris), yet spawning is known to occur at only a few specific locations. This study reveals the range of physical habitat variables selected by adult green sturgeon during their spawning period. We integrated fine-scale fish positions, physical habitat characteristics, discharge, bathymetry, and simulated velocity and depth using a two-dimensional hydraulic model (FaSTMECH). The objective was to create habitat suitability curves for depth, velocity, and substrate type within three known spawning locations over two years. An overall cumulative habitat suitability score was calculated that averaged the depth, velocity, and substrate scores over all fish, sites, and years. A weighted usable area index was calculated throughout the sampling periods for each of the three sites. Cumulative results indicate that the microhabitat characteristics most preferred by green sturgeon in these three spawning locations were velocities between 1.0 and 1.1 m/s, depths of 8–9 m, and gravel and sand substrate. This study provides guidance for those who may in the future want to increase spawning habitat for green sturgeon within the Sacramento River.

En junio del 2017,  The School of Public Health University of Michigan otorgó al Instituto de Microbiología un grant de NIH (considerable) para investigar Dengue y Zika en la costa ecuatoriana. Bajo la gestión de Gabriel Trueba.

Publicación del Instituto de Microbiología derivada del proyecto de Microbiota Vaginal de la USFQ, representada por Antonio Machado y la colaboración de investigadores de Portugal  

Abstract 

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is a molecular method used to identify and quantify microorganisms in a wide range of samples. This technique combines the simplicity of microscopic observation and the specificity of DNA/rRNA hybridization, allowing detection of selected bacterial species and morphologic visualization. Here, we describe a quantitative molecular diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis, based on the classical Nugent score. Our probes are able to differentiate Lactobacillus spp. and Gardnerella vaginalis from the other undefined bacterial species considered in the Nugent score.

Abstract 

Janzen's extension of the climate variability hypothesis (CVH) posits that increased seasonal variation at high latitudes should result in greater temperature overlap across elevations, and favour wider thermal breadths in temperate organisms compared to their tropical counterparts. We tested these predictions by measuring stream temperatures and thermal breadths (i.e. the difference between the critical thermal maximum and minimum) of 62 aquatic insect species from temperate (Colorado, USA) and tropical (Papallacta, Ecuador) streams spanning an elevation gradient of c. 2000 m. Temperate streams exhibited greater seasonal temperature variation and overlap across elevations than tropical streams, and as predicted, temperate aquatic insects exhibited broader thermal breadths than tropical insects. However, elevation had contrasting effects on patterns of thermal breadth. In temperate species, thermal breadth decreased with increasing elevation because CTMAX declined with elevation while CTMIN was similar across elevations. In tropical insects, by contrast, CTMAX declined less sharply than CTMIN with elevation, causing thermal breadth to increase with elevation. These macrophysiological patterns are consistent with the narrower elevation ranges found in other tropical organisms, and they extend Janzen's CVH to freshwater streams. Furthermore, because lowland tropical aquatic insects have the narrowest thermal breadths of any region, they may be particularly vulnerable to short-term extreme changes in stream temperature.

Publicación del proyecto de Cetácea con la colaboración de expertos de Chile, México, Colombia, Perú, Panamá, Costa Rica y Ecuador, representado por Judith Denkinger.

Abstract 

Latitudinal preferences within the breeding range have been suggested for Breeding Stock G humpback whales that summer in different feeding areas of the eastern South Pacific. To address this hypothesis, humpback whales photo-identified from the Antarctic Peninsula and the Fueguian Archipelago (southern Chile) were compared with whales photo-identified from lower latitudes extending from northern Peru to Costa Rica. This comparison was performed over a time span that includes 18 austral seasons. A total of 238 whales identified from the Antarctic Peninsula and 25 whales from the Fueguian Archipelago were among those photo-identified at the breeding grounds. Our findings showed that humpback whales from each feeding area were resighted unevenly across the breeding grounds, which suggests a degree of spatial