Noteworthy record of the kit fox (Vulpes macrotis) and its relation to physiographic characteristics in Baja California, Mexico

SARAHI SANDOVAL ESPINOZA MARIANA DELGADO FERNANDEZ Jonathan Gabriel Escobar Flores (2017, [Artículo])

"The kit fox (Vulpes macrotis) lives in sandy and shallow soils of the Pacific coastal plains and the ecoregion of San Felipe desert. The reports of this species are scarce and in Mexico it is listed as a threatened species. The populations of V. macrotis tend to decrease due to the change in the habitat to agricultural land, which has been one of the causes of the disappearance of kit fox populations in Mexico. As part of the project “Characterisation of water bodies in Sierra Santa Isabel, Baja California”, 12 camera traps were placed in six watering holes that are visited by wildlife from January to August 2015. Digital terrain elevation models were used to describe three variables: roughness, slope inclination and orientation; these variables are essential for the kit fox to build its burrows, catch its preys and escape from predators. The analyses were also carried out in localities where this carnivore had previously been recorded in Baja California. An analysis of variance was used to determine the existence of similarities or differences between the topographical characteristics of the historical localities and the new record. The first photographic record of the kit fox was obtained in one of the watering holes located within the Valle de los Cirios Flora and Fauna Protection Area. The analyses of variance confirmed that there are no significant differences between roughness (F(4, 780) = 0.11, P > 0.05), slope inclination (F(4, 1275) = 0.319, P > 0.05) and orientation (F(4, 15) = 0.41, P > 0.05), between the historical localities and the site where the new record was obtained. Other carnivores were also recorded in the watering hole, such as the cougar (Puma concolor), bobcat (Lynx rufus), coyote (Canis latrans) and gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). The presence of the kit fox is likely occasional in the watering hole, because the slopes are greater than 10 degrees and, therefore, these sites are unsuitable for the construction of burrows. However, flat sites with sandy substrates that empty into the Gulf of California occur at a distance of less than 5 km from the watering hole, which are therefore suitable to be inhabited by the kit fox. the analysis of topographic variables of the historical records coupled with camera traps jointly confirmed that the site with the new record has characteristics that are suitable for the kit fox."

"La zorra norteña (Vulpes macrotis) habita en los suelos arenosos y pocos profundos de las planicies costeras del pacifico y de la ecorregión del desierto de San Felipe. Los reportes de esta especie son escasos y en México esta enlistada como una especie amenazada. Las poblaciones de V. macrotis tienden a disminuir por la transformación del hábitat a tierras agrícolas, la cual ha sido una de las causantes de la extirpación de poblaciones de zorra norteña en México. Como parte del proyecto “Caracterización de los cuerpos de agua en Sierra Santa Isabel, Baja California”, se colocaron 12 cámaras trampa en seis aguajes que son visitados por la fauna silvestre de enero a agosto de 2015. Mediante modelos digitales de elevación del terreno se describieron tres variables: rugosidad, pendiente y orientación de las laderas, estas variables son esenciales para que la zorra norteña construya sus madrigueras, capture a sus presas y escape de sus depredadores. Los análisis también se realizaron en localidades que previamente se había registrado a este carnívoro en Baja California. Por medio de un análisis de varianza de una vía se determinó si existen similitudes o diferencias entre las características topográficas de las localidades históricas y el nuevo registro. En uno de los aguajes que se ubica dentro del Área de Protección de Flora y Fauna Valle de los Cirios, se obtuvo el primero registro fotográfico de la zorra norteña. Con los análisis de varianza se confirmó que no hay diferencias significativas entre la rugosidad (F(4, 780) = 0.11, P > 0.05), pendiente (F(4, 1275) = 0.319, P > 0.05) y orientación (F(4, 15) = 0.41, P > 0.05), entre las localidades históricas y el sitio donde se obtuvo el nuevo registro. En el aguaje también se registraron otro carnívoros, como el puma (Puma concolor), gato montés (Lynx rufus), coyote (Canis latrans) y zorra gris (Urocyon cinereoargenteus). La presencia de la zorra norteña posiblemente es ocasional en el aguaje, debido a que las pendientes en el lugar son mayores a 10 grados y por lo tanto estos sitios no son idóneos para la construcción de madrigueras. Sin embargo, a una distancia menor a 5 km del aguaje se encuentran sitios planos con sustratos arenosos que desembocan al Golfo de California, y por lo tanto son idóneos para que la zorra norteña sea residente de esos lugares..."

Vulpes macrotis, Baja California BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) MAMÍFEROS MAMÍFEROS

The Pacific harbor seal gut microbiota in Mexico: Its relationship with diet and functional inferences

ARLETTE MARIMAR PACHECO SANDOVAL (2019, [Artículo])

Diet is a primary driver of the composition of gut microbiota and is considered one of the main routes of microbial colonization. Prey identification is fundamental for correlating the diet with the presence of particular microbial groups. The present study examined how diet influenced the composition and function of the gut microbiota of the Pacific harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardii) in order to better understand the role of prey consumption in shaping its microbiota. This species is a good indicator of the quality of the local environment due to both its foraging and haul-out site fidelity. DNA was extracted from 20 fecal samples collected from five harbor seal colonies located in Baja California, Mexico. The V4 region of 16S rRNA gene was amplified and sequenced using the Illumina technology. Results showed that the gut microbiota of the harbor seals was dominated by the phyla Firmicutes (37%), Bacteroidetes (26%) and Fusobacteria (26%) and revealed significant differences in its composition among the colonies. Funtional analysis using the PICRUSt software suggests a high number of pathways involved in the basal metabolism, such as those for carbohydrates (22%) and amino acids (20%), and those related to the degradation of persistent environmental pollutants. In addition, a DNA metabarcoding analysis of the same samples, via the amplification and sequencing of the mtRNA 16S and rRNA 18S genes, was used to identify the prey consumed by harbor seals revealing the consumption of prey with mainly demersal habits. Functional redundancy in the seal gut microbiota was observed, irrespective of diet or location. Our results indicate that the frequency of occurrence of specific prey in the harbor seal diet plays an important role in shaping the composition of the gut microbiota of harbor seals by influencing the relative abundance of specific groups of gut microorganisms. A significant relationship was found among diet, gut microbiota composition and OTUs assigned to a particular metabolic pathway. © 2019 Pacheco-Sandoval et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

RNA 16S, RNA 18S, amino acid analysis, animal food, Article, bacterium colony, Bacteroidetes, basal metabolic rate, biodegradation, controlled study, DNA barcoding, feces analysis, Firmicutes, Fusobacteria, intestine flora, metabolism, Mexico, microb BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA)

What Are Medusozoans, and Why Do They Sting?

José Agüero Mariae del Carmen Estrada González Leonela Rosales Catalán Ariadne Molina Alonso MARIA DE LOS ANGELES MENDOZA BECERRIL (2022, [Artículo])

"Medusozoans are marine animals without backbones that live near the coasts, or in the depths of the oceans. Some of them are large, but others are even tinier than a seed. Medusozoans have been living on Earth for more than 600 million years. Their bodies are 95% water. Some medusozoans live attached to a surface, but others can swim freely. All medusozoans have tentacles, armed with stinging cells called nematocysts. When the nematocysts are triggered, the tiny stingers inside them can travel at speeds up to 67 km per hour. Around 3% of medusozoans are harmful to humans. Therefore, when visiting beaches where these harmful medusozoans live, it is necessary to take some precautions. Wearing protective clothing and not touching a medusozoan stranded on the beach will help you stay safe and healthy, so you can enjoy your beach day!"

Medusozoans BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) ZOOLOGÍA MARINA ZOOLOGÍA MARINA

Riqueza y diversidad de especies de murciélagos (Chiroptera) en Honduras

ANA LUISA PINEL TROCHEZ (2023, [Tesis de maestría])

BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) ECOLOGÍA ANIMAL ECOLOGÍA ANIMAL

Expansión poblacional reciente en la historia evolutiva de la anchoveta de California Engraulis mordax

Recent population expansion in the evolutionary history of the Californian anchovy Engraulis mordax

NOE DIAZ VILORIA LAURA SANCHEZ VELASCO RICARDO PEREZ ENRIQUEZ (2012, [Artículo])

"La anchoveta de California Engraulis mordax, es una especie templada que pudo haber pasado por un proceso de disyunción poblacional, debido al proceso postglacial de calentamiento del agua alrededor de la punta de la península de Baja California, hace unos 10,000 años. Se realizó un análisis genético para probar la hipótesis nula de homogeneidad genética entre el Golfo de California, México y el sur de California, EUA y si este era el caso, estimar el tiempo de surgimiento de haplotipos en términos de coalescencia. Se analizaron en total 80 secuencias de la región control hipervariable (ADNmt) de E. mordax, capturadas en la región central del Golfo de California (n = 40) y el sur de California (n = 40). A pesar del gran número de haplotipos únicos, no se observó diferenciación genética significativa entre localidades (FST = –0.0025, p = 0.686). Una distribución unimodal en la frecuencia del número de diferencias entre haplotipos indica un modelo de expansión rápida en el tamaño poblacional, que basado en una tasa mutacional de 3.6% por millón de años para la región control, indicó un tiempo de diferenciación nucleotídica relativamente reciente de aproximadamente 61,000 años. Este periodo de tiempo corresponde al Pleistoceno tardío, después de la formación de la península de Baja California, sugiriendo expansiones poblacionales en cada una de las localidades, seguidas del último episodio de glaciación, el cual quizás contribuyó a la migración de esta especie de afinidad templada entre las dos localidades y a su homogenización genética. Sin embargo este único evento reciente de flujo genético en la historia evolutiva de la especie, no explica por sí solo los patrones de distribución encontrados en las frecuencias de diferencias nucleotídicas."

"The Californian anchovy Engraulis mordax, a temperate species, may have undergone a process of population disjunction from experiencing post-glacial water heating processes around the tip of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico about 10,000 b.p. A genetic analysis was performed to test the null hypothesis of genetic homogeneity between the Gulf of California and Southern California, U. S. A., and if this is the case, to estimate the time of haplotype emergence in terms of coalescence. A total of 80 sequences of the mtDNA hypervariable control region of E. mordax captured in the central Gulf of California (n = 40) and Southern California (n = 40) were analyzed. In spite of the large number of private haplotypes, no significant genetic differentiation among sites (FST = –0.0025, p = 0.686) was observed. An unimodal distribution of mismatch frequency between haplotypes indicated a model of rapid expansion in population size that, based on a mutation rate of 3.6% per million years in the control region, indicates a relatively recent nucleotide differentiation

time of approximately 61,000 years. This time period corresponds to the late Pleistocene, suggesting population expansions at each locality, followed by the last episode of glaciation, which may have contributed to migration of this temperate-affinity species between two locations and the genetic homogenization. However this unique recent event of gene flow in the evolutionary history of species does not explain by itself the mismatch distribution patterns found."

ADN mitocondrial, expansión poblacional reciente, flujo genético, región control, reloj molecular. Control region, gene flow, mitochondrial DNA, molecular clock, recent population expansion. BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) ZOOLOGÍA MARINA ZOOLOGÍA MARINA

Dynamic simulation of diploid vs. triploid Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) productive performance in northwestern Mexico

ROBERTO ASCENCIO MICHEL Ana María Ibarra Humphries MARCELO EDUARDO ARANEDA PADILLA GERMAN PONCE DIAZ FRANCISCO JAVIER VERGARA SOLANA (2022, [Artículo])

"The Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas was introduced in northwestern Mexico for aquaculture purposes. Although its cultivation has been successful, this species has shown high mortalities during summer. To mitigate this problem, producers have resorted to biotechnology (triploidy), whose performance -regarding diploid seedling- depends on site conditions and stocking time. Hence, uncertainty exists on its benefits under real production conditions. This research evaluates triploidy performance by implementing a Dynamic simulation model considering environmental effects (temperature and chlorophyll) on culture production. The dynamic simulation was based on systems theory, dividing the productive system into two sub-models (environmental and biological), including temperature and chlorophyll effects, growth, mortality, and condition index parameterized in the function of the environmental parameters. The dynamic simulation results suggest that implementing triploid culture is advantageous in zones under high stress associated with high temperatura and low productivity; likewise, triploid spat tends to show better performance independently of the site. Nevertheless, performance by ploidy varies depending on the environmental conditions of the sites."

BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) FISIOLOGÍA ANIMAL FISIOLOGÍA ANIMAL

Draft Genome Sequence of Pediococcus pentosaceus Strain PP16CC, Isolated from Oyster Crassostrea corteziensis

JULIO ANTONIO HERNANDEZ GONZALEZ RICARDO VAZQUEZ JUAREZ Jose Manuel Vazquez-Guillen Carlos Rangel Dávalos MARIA CRISTINA RODRIGUEZ PADILLA MAURILIA ROJAS CONTRERAS (2022, [Artículo])

"Pediococcus pentosaceus strain PP16CC comes from the intestine of Crassostrea corteziensis. A 1.82-Mbp draft genome of this strain was assembled using A5-miseq from illumina reads, resulting in 4 contigs and 1,856 predicted protein coding genes. Additionally, 23 proteins belonging to various glycosyl hydrolase families and 6 prophage regions were identified."

Genome Sequence, Pediococcus pentosaceus BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) GENÉTICA ANIMAL GENÉTICA ANIMAL

Factores determinantes en la estructuración de la comunidad de murciélagos en la Sierra de Omoa, Honduras

ALEX EMILIO VALLEJO HAM (2023, [Tesis de maestría])

BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) ECOLOGÍA ANIMAL ECOLOGÍA ANIMAL

The cerato-mandibular ligament: a key functional trait for grazing in damselfishes (Pomacentridae)

Damien Olivier Bruno Frederich MILTON ALEJANDRO SPANOPOULOS ZARCO Eduardo Francisco Balart Páez Eric Parmentier (2014, [Artículo])

"The success of a taxonomic group can be promoted by a key character that allows the group to interact with its environment in a different way and to potentially occupy new niches. The Pomacentridae possess a synapomorphic trait, the cerato-mandibular (c-md) ligament, which joins the hyoid bar to the inner part of the lower jaw. It has previously been shown that this ligament is a key trait in communication in damselfishes because it enables them to slam the oral jaws shut causing teeth collision and sound production. This specific behavior of mouth closing could, however, also be used for other tasks, such as feeding. Many territorial damselfishes are referred to as farmers, due to their ability to manage algal crops on which they feed. This study hypothesizes that the c-md ligament provides an advantage for grazing filamentous algae, and should thus be considered a key trait for farming behavior."

Biomechanics, Evolution, Farming, Functional morphology BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) ZOOLOGÍA MARINA ZOOLOGÍA MARINA

Taxonomic versus ecological prey traits among arthropodophagous bats: implications for surveying trophic partitioning patterns

CINTYA ARACELI SEGURA TRUJILLO SERGIO TICUL ALVAREZ CASTAÑEDA SUSETTE SAMI CASTAÑEDA RICO Jesus Maldonado (2022, [Artículo])

"Species can coexist spatially and temporally by partitioning the niche space and forming complex assemblages made up of different species that share the prey resource. Chiroptera is the second most species-rich mammalian order and about 75% of bat species feed on arthropods, which makes these bats a good model group for studying complex trophic interactions. Next-generation parallel sequencing techniques allow a detailed analysis of arthropod resource partitioning patterns in bats. However, previous studies have not reached a consensus on the concordance between diet composition, habitat use, and segregation of trophic resources in bats. We analyzed diet composition in terms of taxonomy of the insect prey, and the prey characteristics. Feces of 16 bat species were examined in the Mexican Neotropics. We carried out a SIMPER (similarity percentage) test, nonmetric multidimensional scaling, and principal component analyses to identify general segregation patterns of trophic resources in relation to the habitat-use guild of bats and computed Pianka’s niche overlap index between species and Levin’s index to estimate the niche width of each species. Bats from the same locality tend to partition their diet, with a niche overlap ranging between 0.5 and 0.8. The highest values were found between species with different foraging behaviors. We suggest that future bat diet studies should incorporate the ecological and taxonomic information of arthropod prey to better understand the trophic interactions with bats."

"Aproximadamente el 75% de las especies de murciélagos se alimentan de artrópodos, algunas de estas especies pueden coexistir espacial y temporalmente al particionar el espacio del nicho. Los murciélagos forman ensamblajes complejos compuestos por diferentes especies que comparten su recurso trófico. Por tanto, los murciélagos pueden utilizarse como grupo modelo para estudiar interacciones tróficas complejas. Las técnicas de secuenciación masiva paralela del ADN permiten un análisis detallado de sus patrones de partición de recursos tróficos. Sin embargo, los estudios no han llegado a un consenso sobre la concordancia entre la composición de la dieta, el uso del hábitat y la partición de los recursos tróficos en los murciélagos. Analizamos la composición de la dieta en términos de taxonomía de los artrópodos presa y sus características ecológicas. Examinamos las heces de 16 especies de murciélagos a lo largo del Neotrópico Mexicano. Se utilizaron análisis de similitud porcentual (SIMPER), escalamiento multidimensional no métrico y análisis de componentes principales para identificar patrones generales de partición de recursos tróficos en relación con el gremio de uso de hábitat de los murciélagos. Calculamos el índice de superposición de nicho de Pianka entre especies y el índice de Levin para estimar la amplitud del nicho de cada especie. Encontramos que los murciélagos de la misma localidad tienden a diferenciar su dieta, con una superposición de nicho que varía entre 0.5 y 0.8. Los valores más altos se encontraron entre especies con diferentes hábitos de alimentación. Sugerimos que, en el futuro, los estudios de dieta de murciélagos consideren las características ecológicas de sus presas y utilicen la información taxonómica como clave para recuperar información sobre la biología de las presas y comprender la ecología de estas interacciones tróficas."

arthropods, bats, foraging ecology, next-generation sequencing, prey traits, resource partitioning, trophic ecology artrópodos, ecología trófca, murciélagos, partición de recursos, rasgos de presa, secuenciación de nueva generación BIOLOGÍA Y QUÍMICA CIENCIAS DE LA VIDA BIOLOGÍA ANIMAL (ZOOLOGÍA) ECOLOGÍA ANIMAL ECOLOGÍA ANIMAL