Raptor reintroductions: Cost-effective alternatives to captive breeding.

Reintroductions are becoming a popular tool to prevent extinctions, although their overall success rate is low. Assessing the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of different reintroduction strategies may help identify and promote efficient practices. Captive-breeding is widely used in animal reintroductions, although concerns have been raised about relatively high failure rates and economic costs. Here, we compared the effectiveness of two simultaneously used strategies in the reintroduction of the Bonelli's eagle on the island of Mallorca: The release of captive-bred chicks and wild-reared, translocated non-juveniles. To do so, we estimated the main vital rates for individuals released by both strategies and used these to perform population simulations to assess their overall performances. The use of wild-reared nonjuveniles showed a trend with higher numbers of breeding pairs 10 years after the end of releases (14.75 pairs, 95% CI 4-25 vs. 11.21 pairs, 95% CI 2-24) and was the only strategy that prevented extinction in the long term. Following that, based on cost estimations of every strategy and different reintroduction budgets, we assessed the cost-effectiveness of releasing wild-reared non-juveniles compared with two captive-breeding alternatives: Releasing chicks either originally from breeding programmes or extracted from nests in natural populations. Again, releasing wild-reared non-juveniles was the only strategy that prevented long-term extinction in all economic scenarios (i.e. low-budget scenario 21.49 pairs, 95% CI 2-25). The use of chicks sourced from captive-breeding programmes did not guarantee long-term persistence even in high-budget scenarios (14.50 pairs, 95% CI 0- 25). Releasing wild-reared non-juveniles boosts early recruitment to the breeding population and early reproduction, which can be key for reintroduction success. However, in some scenarios, post-release effects can be stronger in wild-reared individuals, especially because of high translocation stress and post-release dispersal. Hence, we recommend undertaking careful evaluation of the pros and cons of every strategy and embracing adaptive management to choose best strategies

Multi-scale effects of nestling diet on breeding performance in a terrestrial top predator inferred from stable isotope analysis

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Inter-individual diet variation within populations is likely to have important ecological and evolutionary implications. The diet-fitness relationships at the individual level and the emerging population processes are, however, poorly understood for most avian predators inhabiting complex terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, we use an isotopic approach to assess the trophic ecology of nestlings in a long-lived raptor, the Bonelli's eagle Aquila fasciata, and investigate whether nestling dietary breath and main prey consumption can affect the species' reproductive performance at two spatial scales: territories within populations and populations over a large geographic area. At the territory level, those breeding pairs whose nestlings consumed similar diets to the overall population (i.e. moderate consumption of preferred prey, but complemented by alternative prey categories) or those disproportionally consuming preferred prey were more likely to fledge two chicks. An increase in the diet diversity, however, related negatively with productivity. The age and replacements of breeding pair members had also an influence on productivity, with more fledglings associated to adult pairs with few replacements, as expected in long-lived species. At the population level, mean productivity was higher in those population-years with lower dietary breadth and higher diet similarity among territories, which was related to an overall higher consumption of preferred prey. Thus, we revealed a correspondence in diet-fitness relationships at two spatial scales: territories and populations. We suggest that stable isotope analyses may be a powerful tool to monitor the diet of terrestrial avian predators on large spatio-temporal scales, which could serve to detect potential changes in the availability of those prey on which predators depend for breeding. We encourage ecologists and evolutionary and conservation biologists concerned with the multi-scale fitness consequences of inter-individual variation in resource use to employ similar stable isotope-based approaches, which can be successfully applied to complex ecosystems such as the Mediterranean.Funding for this work was provided by projects CGL2007-64805 and CGL2010-17056 from the ‘‘Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacio´n, Gobierno de Espan˜ a’’, the ‘‘A`rea d’Espais Naturals de la Diputacio´ de Barcelona’’, and Miquel Torres S.A. Fieldwork in France was carried out within the framework of the second National Action Plan for Bonelli’s eagle from the ‘‘Ministe`re franc¸ais de l’E´cologie, de L’E´nergie, du De´veloppement Durable et de la Mer’’ and coordinated by the DREAL LR ‘‘Direction Re´gionale de l’Environnement, de l’Ame´nagement et du Logement-Languedoc-Roussillon’’. J. Resano-Mayor was supported by a predoctoral grant from the ‘‘Departamento de Educacio´n, Gobierno de Navarra; Plan de Formacio´n y de I+D 2008–2009’’, and M. Moleo´n by a postdoctoral grant from the ‘‘Ministerio de Educacio´n, Gobierno de Espan˜ a; Plan Nacional de I+D+i 2008–2011’’. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Joint estimation of survival and dispersal effectively corrects the permanent emigration bias in mark‑recapture analyses

Robust and reliable estimates of demographic parameters are essential to understand population dynamics. Natal dispersal is a common process in monitored populations and can cause underestimations of survival and dispersal due to permanent emigration. Here, we present a multistate Bayesian capture-mark-recapture approach based on a joint estimation of natal dispersal kernel and detection probabilities to address biases in survival, dispersal, and related demographic parameters when dispersal information is limited. We implement this approach to long-term data of a threatened population: the Bonelli's eagle in Catalonia (SW Europe). To assess the method's performance, we compare demographic estimates structured by sex, age, and breeding status in cases of limited versus large data scales, with those of classical models where dispersal and detection probabilities are estimated separately. Results show substantial corrections of demographic estimates. Natal dispersal and permanent emigration probabilities were larger in females, and consequently, female non-breeder survival showed larger differences between separate and joint estimation models. Moreover, our results suggest that estimates are sensitive to the choice of the dispersal kernel, fat-tailed kernels providing larger values in cases of data limitation. This study provides a general multistate framework to model demographic parameters while correcting permanent emigration biases caused by natal dispersal

An evaluation of the prevalence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in hospital food

Los artículos que componen este libro ilustran desde múltiples puntos de vista el concepto de patrimonio biocultural. El contenido de la publicación se estructura en tres espacios sintetizados en las problemáticas asociadas al patrimonio biológico y cultural, el territorio y las disputas territoriales, la construcción identitaria y los problema de carácter socio-históricos de las comunidades afro indoamericanas. Ello permite, por un lado, obtener una aproximación contrastante, holística y compleja de la realidad latinoamericana y por otra lado sumar aportes a un concepto en construcción que no esconde su intencionalidad emancipadora.Agradecimientos; Introducción; PATRIMONIO BIOCULTURAL: Juan Pohlenz Córdova / La disputa por el patrimonio biocultural. Un acercamiento desde Mesoamérica; León Enrique Ávila Romero / La disputa por el patrimonio biocultural, la economía verde y sus impactos en los pueblos indígenas; Bernardo Javier Tobar / Lugares de vida y registros de la memoria biocultural en el Pacífico sur-colombiano; Iskra García Vázquez, Rocío Becerra Montané y Gimena Pérez Ortega / Uso, aprovechamiento social y conservación de las plantas medicinales en México; Kelly Giovanna Muñoz Balcázar / Transformaciones del territorio y el patrimonio biocultural a partir del proceso de industrialización. Recuperación de la finca tradicional en el municipio de Corinto, vereda La Paila; TERRITORIO: Johnny L. Ledezma Rivera / Reflexiones sobre las concepciones y visiones de lo que se entiende por territorio; Sindy Hernández Bonilla / ¿Justicia o legalidad para los q’eqchi’es? Agustín Ávila Romero / Turismo y pueblos indígenas de México: despojo y veredas de apropiación comunitaria; SOCIEDADES AFROINDOAMERICANAS EN MOVIMIENTO Johnny L. Ledezma Rivera / Construcción e implementación de las autonomías indígenas en Bolivia: avances y retrocesos; Stefano Claudio Sartorello / Educar para el arraigo sociocultural. El perfil de egreso de alumn@s indígenas en una propuesta educativa intercultural y bilingüe en Chiapas; Elena Pareja y Virginia Cornalino / La cultura afrodescendiente en la constitución del Estado-nación (1870-1900). La reconstrucción de los mapas de identidad en la frontera uruguayo-brasileña; Karla Chagas y Natalia Stalla / Mano de obra negra en el Estado Oriental: una mirada del trabajo esclavo y libre a través del análisis de casos; Diego E. Piñeiro y Joaquín Cardeillac / Los afro-descendientes en el campo uruguayo; Soledad Figueredo y Matías Carámbula Pareja / Puntos en el mapa: ensayo sobre identidad, inmovilidad y cultura de la población afrodescendiente en el medio rural uruguayo

El rol de la masa muscular en la prevención y tratamiento de las enfermedades crónicas

Las enfermedades crónicas no transmisibles (ECNT), según la clasificación de la Organización Mundial de la Salud, son la primera causa de muerte dentro de los países llamados desarrollados y en vía de desarrollo. Algunas de las patologías que se clasifican dentro de esta categoría, son las cardiometabólicas, como pueden ser la obesidad, hipertensión arterial, diabetes, infarto agudo de miocardio, entre otras. En la actualidad las estadísticas son muy preocupantes y en lo que respecta al futuro peor aun. Hoy en día, en el primer lugar de morbi-mortalidad se encuentran las enfermedades cardiovasculares (17 millones de muertes en 2002) ascendiendo según OMS para el 2030 a 25 millones, seguido por el cáncer (7 millones), enfermedades pulmonares crónicas (4 millones) y la diabetes mellitus (casi 1 millón). Debido a este contexto se estima que para el año 2020, las ECNT explicarán el 75% de todas las muertes en el mundo, en especial en países en vías de desarrollo. La gran mayoría de las enfermedades denominadas cardiometabólicas, se asocian directamente con un estilo de vida nocivo que predisponen a las personas a desarrollar este tipo de patologías. En los últimos 30 años, la población mundial se ha vuelto más obesa y menos activos físicamente, como resultado, hay una aparición de enfermedades asociadas con disfunciones metabólicas y cardiovasculares, tales como la obesidad, la diabetes tipo 2 y síndrome metabólico (Szostak, 2011).Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Coral Reef Resilience Index for Novel Ecosystems: A Spatial Planning Tool for Managers and Decision Makers - A Case Study from Puerto Rico

Timely information is critical for coral reef managers and decision-makers to implement sustainable management measures. A Coral Reef Resilience Index (CRRI) was developed with a GIS-coupled decision-making tool applicable for Caribbean coral reef ecosystems. The CRRI is based on a five-point scale parameterized from the quantitative characterization of benthic assemblages. Separate subindices such as the Coral Index, the Threatened Species Index, and the Algal Index also provide specific information regarding targeted benthic components. This case study was based on assessments conducted in 2014 on 11 reef sites located across 3 geographic zones and 3 depth zones along the southwestern shelf of the island of Puerto Rico, Caribbean Sea. There was a significant spatial and bathymetric gradient (p < 0.05) in the distribution of CRRI values indicating higher degradation of inshore reefs. Mean global CRRI ranged from 2.78 to 3.17 across the shelf, ranking them as “fair.” The Coral Index ranged from 2.60 to 3.76, ranking reefs from “poor” to “good,” showing a general cross-shelf trend of improving conditions with increasing distance from pollution sources. Turbidity and ammonia were significantly correlated to CRRI scores. Multiple recommendations are provided based on coral reef conditions according to observed CRRI rankings

Spectrum of genetic diversity and networks of clonal organisms

Clonal organisms present a particular challenge in population genetics because, in addition to the possible existence of replicates of the same genotype in a given sample, some of the hypotheses and concepts underlying classical population genetics models are irreconcilable with clonality. The genetic structure and diversity of clonal populations was examined using a combination of new tools to analyze microsatellite data in the marine angiosperm Posidonia oceanica. These tools were based on examination of the frequency distribution of the genetic distance among ramets, termed the spectrum of genetic diversity (GDS), and of networks built on the basis of pairwise genetic distances among genets. The properties and topology of networks based on genetic distances showed a "small-world" topology, characterized by a high degree of connectivity among nodes, and a substantial amount of substructure, revealing organization in sub-families of closely related individuals. Keywords: genetic networks; small-world networks; genetic diversity; clonal organismsComment: Replaced with revised versio

TOI-150: A transiting hot Jupiter in the TESS southern CVZ

We report the detection of a hot Jupiter ($M_{p}=1.75_{-0.17}^{+0.14}\ M_{J}$,$R_{p}=1.38\pm0.04\ R_{J}$) orbiting a middle-aged star ($\log g=4.152^{+0.030}_{-0.043}$) in the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) southern continuous viewing zone ($\beta=-79.59^{\circ}$). We confirm the planetary nature of the candidate TOI-150.01 using radial velocity observations from the APOGEE-2 South spectrograph and the Carnegie Planet Finder Spectrograph, ground-based photometric observations from the robotic Three-hundred MilliMeter Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, and Gaia distance estimates. Large-scale spectroscopic surveys, such as APOGEE/APOGEE-2, now have sufficient radial velocity precision to directly confirm the signature of giant exoplanets, making such data sets valuable tools in the TESS era. Continual monitoring of TOI-150 by TESS can reveal additional planets and subsequent observations can provide insights into planetary system architectures involving a hot Jupiter around a star about halfway through its main-sequence life.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, accepted to ApJ

From local monitoring to a broad‐scale viability assessment: a case study for the Bonelli's Eagle in western Europe

Population viability analysis (PVA) has become a basic tool of current conservation practice. However, if not accounted for properly, the uncertainties inherent to PVA predictions can decrease the reliability of this type of analysis. In the present study, we performed a PVA of the whole western European population (France, Portugal, and Spain) of the endangered Bonelli's Eagle (Aquila fasciata), in which we thoroughly explored the consequences of uncertainty in population processes and parameters on PVA predictions. First, we estimated key vital rates (survival, fertility, recruitment, and dispersal rates) using monitoring, ringing, and bibliographic data from the period 1990-2009 from 12 populations found throughout the studied geographic range. Second, we evaluated the uncertainty about model structure (i.e., the assumed processes that govern individual fates and population dynamics) by comparing the observed growth rates of the studied populations with model predictions for the same period. Third, using the model structures suggested in the previous step, we assessed the viability of both the local populations and the overall population. Finally, we analyzed the effects of model and parameter uncertainty on PVA predictions. Our results strongly support the idea that all local populations in western Europe belong to a single, spatially structured population operating as a source-sink system, whereby the populations in the south of the Iberian Peninsula act as sources and, thanks to dispersal, sustain all other local populations, which would otherwise decline. Predictions regarding population dynamics varied considerably, and models assuming more constrained dispersal predicted more pessimistic population trends than models assuming greater dispersal. Model predictions accounting for parameter uncertainty revealed a marked increase in the risk of population declines over the next 50 years. Sensitivity analyses indicated that adult and pre‐adult survival are the chief vital rates regulating these populations, and thus, the conservation efforts aimed at improving these survival rates should be strengthened in order to guarantee the long‐term viability of the European populations of this endangered species. Overall, the study provides a framework for the implementation of multi‐site PVAs and highlights the importance of dispersal processes in shaping the population dynamics of long‐lived birds distributed across heterogeneous landscapes