ED003. Educación ambiental comunitaria enfocada a la conservación de la tribu Meliponini (Hymenoptera: Apidae) en las localidades Fátima y Santa Clara en la provincia de Pastaza

This research seeks to determine the contribution of environmental education focused on the conservation of the Meliponini tribe (Hymenoptera: Apidae) in the towns of Fatima and Santa Clara. The methodology of this research had a qualitative-quantitative, non-experimental, descriptive approach, the chosen technique was the same survey that was directed to the inhabitants of the towns of Fatima and Santa Clara, with 19 questions and an interview was also applied to three one specialists, one of environmental education and the other two specialists from the Meliponini tribe. The results obtained show that 55 % of the inhabitants of the town of Fatima and 53 % of the inhabitants of the town of Santa Clara know or have heard the term environmental education, showing that over half of the inhabitants surveyed are unaware of the subject, they have not participated in training or workshops focused on environmental education, so they are unaware of the benefit of the conservation of the Meliponini tribe, but the predisposition of the inhabitants to participate in workshops and trainings to learn and improve their natural environment and the conservation of these species is high. In Ecuador, minimal studies of the diversity of the Meliponini tribe have been carried out; however, each of the records shows the mega diversity existing in the country because we have conditions that favor their proliferation. For this reason, it was decided to develop an educational didactic resource, a didactic and illustrated guide to environmental education focused on the conservation of the Meliponini tribe that will allow us to get to know these organisms and thereby develop an environmental culture in the inhabitants, and thus contribute to maintaining diversity of stingless bees.La presente investigación determina la contribución de la educación ambiental enfocada en la conservación de la tribu Meliponini (Hymenoptera: Apidae) en las localidades Fátima y Santa Clara. La metodología de esta investigación tuvo un enfoque cualitativo - cuantitativo, no experimental, descriptivo, la técnica escogida fue la encuesta la misma que fue dirigida a los habitantes de las localidades Fátima y Santa Clara contando con 19 preguntas y además se aplicó una entrevista a tres especialistas uno de educación ambiental y los otros dos especialistas de la tribu Meliponini. Los resultados obtenidos demuestran que el 55 % de los habitantes de la localidad Fátima y el 53 % de los habitantes de la localidad Santa Clara conocen o han escuchado el término educación ambiental, evidenciando que un poco más de la mitad de los habitantes encuestados desconocen el término, tampoco han participado en capacitaciones ni talleres enfocados a la educación ambiental es así que desconocen el beneficio de la conservación de la tribu Meliponini pero la predisposición de los habitantes en participar en talleres y capacitaciones para aprender y mejorar su entorno natural y la conservación de estas especies es alta. En el Ecuador se han realizado mínimos estudios de la diversidad de la tribu Meliponini, sin embargo, cada uno de los registros demuestra la mega diversidad existente en el país debido a que poseemos condiciones que favorecen a la proliferación de estas. Por esta razón se decidió elaborar un recurso didáctico educativo, una guía didáctica e ilustrada de educación ambiental enfocada en la conservación de la tribu Meliponini que permitirá conocer a estos organismos y con ello desarrollar una cultura ambiental en los habitantes y así contribuir a mantener la diversidad de las abejas sin aguijón

Zoonotic Blood-Borne Pathogens in Non-Human Primates in the Neotropical Region: A Systematic Review

Understanding which non-human primates (NHPs) act as a wild reservoir for blood-borne pathogens will allow us to better understand the ecology of diseases and the role of NHPs in the emergence of human diseases in Ecuador, a small country in South America that lacks information on most of these pathogens. Methods and principal findings: A systematic review was carried out using PRISMA guidelines from 1927 until 2019 about blood-borne pathogens present in NHPs of the Neotropical region (i.e., South America and Middle America). Results: A total of 127 publications were found in several databases. We found in 25 genera (132 species) of NHPs a total of 56 blood-borne pathogens in 197 records where Protozoa has the highest number of records in neotropical NHPs (n = 128) compared to bacteria (n = 12) and viruses (n = 57). Plasmodium brasilianum and Trypanosoma cruzi are the most recorded protozoa in NHP. The neotropical primate genus with the highest number of blood-borne pathogens recorded is Alouatta sp. (n = 32). The use of non-invasive samples for neotropical NHPs remains poor in a group where several species are endangered or threatened. A combination of serological and molecular techniques is common when detecting blood-borne pathogens. Socioecological and ecological risk factors facilitate the transmission of these parasites. Finally, a large number of countries remain unsurveyed, such as Ecuador, which can be of public health importance. Conclusions and significance: NHPs are potential reservoirs of a large number of blood-borne pathogens. In Ecuador, research activities should be focused on bacteria and viruses, where there is a gap of information for neotropical NHPs, in order to implement surveillance programs with regular and effective monitoring protocols adapted to NHPs.Hemoparasites and arboviruses in non-human primates of the Ecuadorian Amazon using non-invasive technique

Dieta, Forrajeo y Presupuesto de Tiempo en Cotoncillos (Callicebus discolor) del Parque Nacional Yasuní en la Amazonia Ecuatoriana

La subfamilia Callicebinae se encuentra representada por el género Callicebus, conocidos en Ecuador como cotoncillos o songo-songos (Tirira, 1999). La sistemática del género ha recibido importantes revisiones últimamente luego que Hershkovitz (1990) realizara una revisión taxonómica en la que llevó el número de especies de tres a 13 (Kinzey, 1981; de la Torre, 1998; Van Roosmalen et al., 2002). Actualmente, sólo dos especies del género se encuentran en Ecuador (C. lucifer y C. discolor, Van Roosmalen et al., 2002) y las mismas habitan el bosque lluvioso tropical amazónico (Extracto de la Introducción, el trabajo no tiene resumen)Fil: Carrillo Bilbao, Gabriel. Universidad Central del Ecuador; EcuadorFil: Di Fiore, Anthony. University of Texas at Austin; Estados UnidosFil: Fernandez Duque, Eduardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral; Argentina. University of Pennsylvania; Estados Unido

Gastrointestinal parasites in captive and free-ranging Cebus albifrons in the Western Amazon, Ecuador

Currently, there is a lack of surveys that report the occurrence of gastrointestinal parasites in the whiteheaded capuchin monkey (Cebus albifrons). We therefore assessed the presence and richness (= number of different parasite genera) of parasites in C. albifrons in wildlife refuges (n = 11) and in a free-ranging group near a human village (n = 15) in the Ecuadorian Amazon. In the 78 samples collected (median of 3 samples per animal), we identified a total of 6 genera of gastrointestinal parasites, representing protozoa, nematodes, acanthocephalans and cestodes. We observed a high prevalence (84%) across the 26 individuals, with the most prevalent parasite being Strongyloides sp. (76.9%), followed by Hymenolepis sp. (38.5%) and Prosthenorchis elegans (11.5%). We found Entamoeba histolytica/dispar/moskovskii/nuttalli and Capillaria sp. in only a minority of the animals (3.8%). In addition, we observed unidentified strongyles in approximately one-third of the animals (34.6%). We found a total of 6 parasite genera for the adult age group, which showed higher parasite richness than the subadult age group (5) and the juvenile age group (3). Faecal egg/cyst counts were not significantly different between captive and free-ranging individuals or between sexes or age groups. The free-ranging group had a higher prevalence than the captive group; however, this difference was not significant. The only genus common to captive and free-ranging individuals was Strongyloides sp. The high prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites and the presence of Strongyloides in both populations support results from previous studies in Cebus species. This high prevalence could be related to the high degree of humidity in the region. For the free-ranging group, additional studies are required to gain insights into the differences in parasite prevalence and intensity between age and sex groups. Additionally, our study demonstrated that a serial sampling of each individual increases the test sensitivity

Arboviruses in Mammals in the Neotropics: A Systematic Review to Strengthen Epidemiological Monitoring Strategies and Conservation Medicine.

peer reviewedArthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) are a diverse group of ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses, with the exception of African swine fever virus, that are transmitted by hematophagous arthropods to a vertebrate host. They are the important cause of many diseases due to their ability to spread in different environments and their diversity of vectors. Currently, there is no information on the geographical distribution of the diseases because the routes of transmission and the mammals (wild or domestic) that act as potential hosts are poorly documented or unknown. We conducted a systematic review from 1967 to 2021 to identify the diversity of arboviruses, the areas, and taxonomic groups that have been monitored, the prevalence of positive records, and the associated risk factors. We identified forty-three arboviruses in nine mammalian orders distributed in eleven countries. In Brazil, the order primates harbor the highest number of arbovirus records. The three most recorded arboviruses were Venezuelan equine encephalitis, Saint Louis encephalitis and West Nile virus. Serum is the most used sample to obtain arbovirus records. Deforestation is identified as the main risk factor for arbovirus transmission between different species and environments (an odds ratio of 1.46 with a 95% confidence interval: 1.34-1.59). The results show an increase in the sampling effort over the years in the neotropical region. Despite the importance of arboviruses for public health, little is known about the interaction of arboviruses, their hosts, and vectors, as some countries and mammalian orders have not yet been monitored. Long-term and constant monitoring allows focusing research on the analysis of the interrelationships and characteristics of each component animal, human, and their environment to understand the dynamics of the diseases and guide epidemiological surveillance and vector control programs. The biodiversity of the Neotropics should be considered to support epidemiological monitoring strategies

Molecular identification of Plasmodium falciparum from captive non-human primates in the Western Amazon Ecuador

peer reviewe

Jet energy measurement and its systematic uncertainty in proton–proton collisions at √s=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The jet energy scale (JES) and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector using proton–proton collision data with a centre-of-mass energy of √s=7 TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb −1. Jets are reconstructed from energy deposits forming topological clusters of calorimeter cells using the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0.4 or R=0.6, and are calibrated using MC simulations. A residual JES correction is applied to account for differences between data and MC simulations. This correction and its systematic uncertainty are estimated using a combination of in situ techniques exploiting the transverse momentum balance between a jet and a reference object such as a photon or a Z boson, for 20≤pTjet1 TeV. The calibration of forward jets is derived from dijet pT balance measurements. The resulting uncertainty reaches its largest value of 6 % for low-pT jets at |η|=4.5. Additional JES uncertainties due to specific event topologies, such as close-by jets or selections of event samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks or gluons, are also discussed. The magnitude of these uncertainties depends on the event sample used in a given physics analysis, but typically amounts to 0.5–3 %