Los animales como reservorios de enfermedades

Los animales salvajes pueden actuar como reservorios de patógenos (virus, bacterias, protozoos y hongos) potencialmente peligrosos para el ser humano. De hecho, la gran mayoría de las enfermedades emergentes son zoonosis (es decir, son transmitidas por animales) y todo apunta a que el nuevo SARS-CoV-2, el virus responsable de la actual pandemia de coronavirus, se haya transmitido a los seres humanos de un reservorio animal (concretamente de los murciélagos). Conocer los reservorios animales y su distribución, a la vez que los factores que facilitan el contacto con los seres humanos y la transmisión de patógenos, es fundamental para la prevención de brotes de enfermedades. En este artículo analizamos la literatura disponible para identificar los grupos animales que representan los principales reservorios de zoonosis y los factores, tales como riqueza de especies, características fisiológicas, ecológicas o proximidad genética al ser humano, que aumentan la probabilidad de brotes zoonóticos. En particular, analizaremos el papel de roedores y murciélagos, que representan en la actualidad los dos principales reservorios de zoonosis

Fitness benefits of alternated chick provisioning in cooperatively breeding carrion crows

This work was funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Grant CGL2016 – 77636-P to VB) and a SEO-Birdlife Research Grant (to ET). Contributions to the writing were covered in part by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC; Grant BB/S018484/1 to CR).1. In most bird species, parents raise offspring cooperatively. In some cases, this cooperation extends to helpers-at-the-nest who assist the breeders with a range of tasks. 2. While cooperative food provisioning might merely arise incidentally, as a result of the efforts of carers that act independently from each other, recent studies suggest that birds may coordinate by taking turns in visiting the nest. However, evidence that such coordination emerges because individuals actively respond to each other's behaviour is controversial, and the potential benefits of carers' alternation remain unknown. 3. We addressed this knowledge gap by analysing a multiyear dataset for cooperatively breeding carrion crows Corvus corone, comprising 8693 nest visits across 50 groups. 4. Our results reveal that turn-taking does occur in this species and that all group members, regardless of their sex and social role (breeder/helper), tend to alternate at the nest with other carers rather than to make repeat visits. 5. Importantly, we found that the body mass of nestlings increased significantly with the degree of carers' alternation, possibly because well-coordinated groups provided food at more regular intervals. 6. Using earlier monitoring data, the observed increase in body mass is predicted to substantially boost postfledging survival rates. Our analyses demonstrate that alternation in nestling provisioning has measurable fitness benefits in this study system. 7. This raises the possibility that cooperatively breeding carrion crows, as well as other bird species with similarly coordinated brood provisioning, exhibit specialized behavioural strategies that enable effective alternation.PostprintPeer reviewe

Chicks of the Great Spotted Cuckoo May Turn Brood Parasitism into Mutualism by Producing a Foul-Smelling Secretion that Repels Predators

The great spotted cuckoo (Clamator glandarius) is an important brood parasite of carrion crows (Corvus corone corone) in northern Spain. We recently found that, unlike what is commonly known for cuckoo-host interactions, the great spotted cuckoo has no negative impact on average crow fitness in this region. The explanation for this surprising effect is a repulsive secretion that the cuckoo chicks produce when they are harassed and that may protect the brood against predation. Here, we provide details on the chemical composition of the cuckoo secretion, as well as conclusive evidence that the dominating volatile chemicals in the secretion are highly repellent to model species representative of common predators of the crows. These results support the notion that, in this particular system, the production of a repulsive secretion by the cuckoo chicks has turned a normally parasitic interaction into a mutualistic one

Aprendizaje-Servicio en el entorno rural de León

[ES] A través del grupo de Innovación Docente BIOMETAC, nace esta experiencia de ApS para promover en los estudiantes de los grados en Biología, Biotecnología y Ciencias Ambientales de la ULE, la iniciativa cívica de participación en la sociedad. El objetivo general del proyecto es que el alumnado aplique sus conocimientos y habilidades para sensibilizar y dinamizar a la población de varios municipios rurales de León frente a retos de la Agenda 2030 asociados a la salud y la sostenibilidad ambiental. Se establecieron 3 grupos de trabajo, cada uno integrado por 12 estudiantes de los tres grados, que trabajan en 3 municipios rurales de la provincia de León: Cistierna, Truchas y Villablino, con diversas problemáticas en el ámbito de la salud y medioambiente. El Proyecto se realiza en tres fases: Preparación, Ejecución y Evaluación y Difusión. Durante la primera fase (curso 2021/22), se realizaron reuniones con el alumnado para guiarlos en el diagnóstico de cada municipio. Los datos obtenidos permitieron detectar los problemas que más preocupaban a la población de cada municipio. En una segunda fase (curso 2022/23), los alumnos profundizarán en las distintas problemáticas mediante actuaciones propuestas por ellos mismos y presentarán sus conclusiones en cada municipio. Esta experiencia pretende que los estudiantes pongan los conocimientos y las competencias adquiridas al servicio de comunidades rurales, trabajando directamente sobre varios Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS), mejorando su capacidad de iniciativa, autonomía en la organización del trabajo, y responsabilidad para la resolución de problemas

Corneja negra – Corvus corone Linnaeus, 1758

Aves - Orden Passeriformes - Familia Corvidae en la Enciclopedia Virtual de Vertebrados Españoles, http://www.vertebradosibericos.org/. Versiones anteriores: 10-11-2009A comprehensive review of the natural history of the Carrion crow Corvus corone in Spain.Peer reviewe

Effects of meteorological conditions on brood care in cooperatively breeding carrion crow and consequences on reproductive success

Abstract Meteorological stressors (e.g., temperature and rain shortage) constrain brood provisioning in some bird species, but the consequences on reproductive success have been rarely quantified. Here we show, in a cooperatively breeding population of carrion crow Corvus corone in Spain, that individual feeding rates decreased significantly with rising air temperatures both in breeders and helpers, while lack of rain was associated with a significant reduction in the effort of the male helpers as compared to the other social categories. Group coordination, measured as the degree of alternation of nest visits by carers, was also negatively affected by rising temperature. Furthermore, we found that the body condition of the nestlings worsened when temperatures were high during the rearing period. Interestingly, the analysis of a long-term data set on crow reproduction showed that nestling body condition steadily deteriorated over the last 26-years. Although many factors may concur in causing population changes, our data suggest a possible causal link between global warming, brood caring behaviour and the decline of carrion crow population in the Mediterranean climatic region of Spain