Momma needs a drink: Droughts are stressing out pregnant snakes

Mothers invest a lot of time into the healthy development of their young. Yet, climate change is making motherhood more challenging. Water and nutrients are becoming scarce. Indeed, a recent study, led by Mathias Dezetter from the Centre for Biological Studies of Chizé in France, found that snakes are no exception. Populations of European adder (Vipera berus) may ‘dry out’ if drought conditions worsen..

Negative impacts of elevated nitrate on physiological performance are not exacerbated by low pH

Multiple environmental stressors, including nutrient effluents (i.e. nitrates []) and altered pH regimes, influence the persistence of freshwater species in anthropogenically disturbed habitats. Independently, nitrate and low pH affect energy allocation by increasing maintenance costs and disrupting oxygen uptake, which ultimately results in impacts upon whole animal performance. However, the interaction between these two stressors has not been characterised. To address this, the effects of nitrate and pH and their interaction on aerobic scope and physiological performance were investigated in the blueclaw crayfish, Cherax destructor. Crayfish were exposed to a 2 × 3 factorial combination, with two pH levels (pH 5.0 and 7.0) and three nitrate concentrations (0, 50 and 100 mg L−1). Crayfish were exposed to experimental conditions for 65 days and growth and survival were monitored. Aerobic scope (i.e. maximal – standard oxygen uptake) was measured at six time points (1, 3, 5, 7, 14, and 21 days) during exposure to experimental treatments. Crayfish performance was assessed after 28 days, by measuring chelae strength and whole animal activity capacity via the righting response. Survival was reduced in crayfish exposed to pH 5.0, but there was no exacerbation of this effect by exposure to high nitrate levels. Aerobic scope was compromised by the interaction between low pH and nitrate and resulted in prolonged elevations of standard oxygen uptake rates. Exposure to nitrate alone affected aerobic scope, causing a 59% reduction in maximum oxygen uptake. Reduced aerobic capacity translated to reduced chelae strength and righting capacity. Together, these data show that low pH and elevated nitrate levels reduce aerobic scope and translate to poorer performance in C. destructor, which may have the potential to affect organismal fitness in disturbed habitats

Thermal acclimation offsets the negative effects of nitrate on aerobic scope and performance

Rising temperatures are set to imperil freshwater fishes as climate change ensues unless compensatory strategies are employed. However, the presence of additional stressors, such as elevated nitrate concentrations, may affect the efficacy of compensatory responses. Here, juvenile silver perch (Bidyanus bidyanus) were exposed to current-day summer temperatures (28°C) or a future climate-warming scenario (32°C) and simultaneously exposed to one of three ecologically relevant nitrate concentrations (0, 50 or 100 mg l−1). We measured indicators of fish performance (growth, swimming), aerobic scope (AS) and upper thermal tolerance (CTmax) to test the hypothesis that nitrate exposure would increase susceptibility to elevated temperatures and limit thermal compensatory responses. After 8 weeks of acclimation, the thermal sensitivity and plasticity of AS and swimming performance were tested at three test temperatures (28, 32, 36°C). The AS of 28°C-acclimated fish declined with increasing temperature, and the effect was more pronounced in nitrate-exposed individuals. In these fish, declines in AS corresponded with poorer swimming performance and a 0.8°C decrease in CTmax compared with unexposed fish. In contrast, acclimation to 32°C masked the effects of nitrate; fish acclimated to 32°C displayed a thermally insensitive phenotype whereby locomotor performance remained unchanged, AS was maintained and CTmax was increased by ∼1°C irrespective of nitrate treatment compared with fish acclimated to 28°C. However, growth was markedly reduced in 32°C-acclimated compared with 28°C-acclimated fish. Our results indicate that nitrate exposure increases the susceptibility of fish to acute high temperatures, but thermal compensation can override some of these potentially detrimental effects

Diseño de una propuesta de transferencia de los recursos del sistema general de participaciones a las entidades territoriales en Colombia a través de los institutos de fomento y desarrollo regionales a partir del año 2006

Este trabajo investigativo comprende una propuesta que permita transferir los Recursos del Sistema General de Participaciones a los Entes Territoriales en Colombia a través de los Institutos de Fomento y Desarrollo regionales del País – INFIS-, en igualdad de condiciones a las Entidades Financieras que actualmente realizan la intermediación de éstos recursos, y responde al sentir de tiempo atrás, de los INFIS, que han venido gestionando, ante instancias del Gobierno Nacional, la posibilidad de transferir los recursos del Sistema General de Participaciones SGP a través de cuentas que los Institutos manejan en el sistema financiero a nombre de las entidades territoriales. De acuerdo a la legislación actual, los ordenadores territoriales del gasto pueden disponer de los recursos del Sistema General de Participaciones, para ejecutarlos según lo establecido por la Ley 715 de 2001, solamente después que la Nación ha efectuado el correspondiente giro a cuentas bancarias debidamente registradas en el Tesoro Nacional, de las cuales deben ser titulares los Distritos, Municipios y Departamentos. Los INFIS, han venido generando en gran parte el desarrollo de las regiones en todo el país. Una forma de coadyuvar en el desarrollo es que se les permita recibir el giro de los Recursos del Sistema General de Participaciones, gestión que han venido realizando de tiempo atrás; pero no ha sido posible llevarla a feliz término porque la regulación en el manejo de cuentas corrientes y de ahorros de entidades vigiladas por la Superintendencia Financiera, no le permite a esta clase de entidades tramitar la vinculación al Sistema de Transferencias CENIT del Banco de la República, medio necesario para realizar las transferencias del Sistema General de Participaciones; no obstante, INFIS como el IDEA, tiene cuentas corrientes y de ahorro en Bancos Comerciales que si están vinculados al sistema de transferencia CENIT, y a través de ellos se podrían realizar las transferencias a las cuentas de los INFIS y luego distribuirlas en las cuentas de depósitos que los municipios y el Departamento de Antioquia tienen aperturadas en el IDEA con las denominaciones que obligan el manejo de los recursos del Sistema General de Participaciones. Lo anterior se facilita y garantiza con el Sistema Integrado de Información Financiera (SIIF) con que cuenta institutos como el IDEA y que es utilizado también por la banca, lo que permite un manejo ágil y eficiente en las operaciones y servicios financieros a nombre de las entidades territoriales. Dentro de este proyecto se abordan las argumentaciones de la Dirección del Tesoro Nacional, de no ha acceder a las peticiones de los INFIS; pero las razones expuestas por aquella no son irremediables, es por esto que se decidió realizar esta investigación, con los debidos fundamentos legales, sociales y económicos, para finalmente realizar una propuesta, que sirva como insumo a los INFIS en la búsqueda de ajustes a las normas y requisitos que hoy impiden que las transferencias se giren con su intermediación. Es así como en el presente trabajo investigativo se enuncian las diferentes características que distinguen a los Institutos de Fomento y Desarrollo y su posicionamiento a nivel nacional; para esta caracterización se tomó como referencia la naturaleza jurídica, la misión, la visión y objeto social, igualmente se informan de estos el portafolio de servicios y estados financieros, que permitan determinan el posicionamiento y alcance que tienen en todo el país, incluso varios de estos con proyección internacional. Finalmente, las argumentaciones expuestas en esta investigación, permiten el diseño de una propuesta, a través de un proyecto de ley que podrá servir para que el Gobierno Nacional transfiera los recursos del Sistema General de Participaciones de las entidades territoriales a través de los INFIS.This investigative work includes proposal that allows to transfer the Resources of the General System of Participation to the Territorial Beings in Colombia through the Institutes of regional Promotion and Development of the Country - INFIS -, in the same conditions of the Financial Institutions that currently develop the intermediation of these resources, and responds to the long-time-ago-feeling that the INFIS, that have negotiated, before branches of the National Government, the possibility of transferring the resources of the General System of Participation SGP through accounts that these Institutes manage in the financial system on the name of the territorial organizations. According to the present legislation, the territorial computers of the cost can have the resources of the General System of Participation, to execute them according to the established thing by Law 715 of 2001, after the Nation has only carried out the corresponding turn to banking accounts properly registered in the National Treasure, of which the Districts, Municipalities and Departments must be titular. The INFIS, have originated most of the development in the regions throughout the country. One way to collaborate in the development is that the INFIS get to transfers of the Resources of the General System of Participation, negotiation that has been taking place for a long time now, but which has not been possible to successfully conclude, because the regulation on the management of current and saving accounts provided by the institutions watched over the Supervisory Financial Authority, does not allow this class of institutions (INFIS) to process the entailment to the System of Transferences CENIT from the Bank of the Republic, means necessary to make the transferences from the General System of Participation resources; however, INFIS such as IDEA, own current and saving accounts, with Commercial Banks that are actually linked to the System of Transferences CENIT, and through them, it could be possible to perform the transferences to the accounts of the INFIS and then distributed in the accounts that municipalities and the Department of Antioquia at IDEA with the denominations related to the management of the resources of the General System of Participation. The mentioned above can easily be accomplished and guaranteed with the Integrated System of Financial Information (SIIF) whereupon counts institutes like IDEA and that is also used by the commercial banks, which allows an agile and efficient management in the operations and financial services on behalf of the territorial organizations. Trough this project it is approached the argumentations of the Direction of the National Treasure, on not allowing the requests of the INFIS; but the reasons exposed by that government branch are not absolute, and that is why we decided to develop this research, based on legal, social and economic foundations related to the matters, to finally make a proposal, that becomes an income to the INFIS in the search of adjustments to the norms and requirements that today prevent the transferences to take place under their intermediation. So, in the present investigative work, we enunciate the different characteristics are that distinguish the Institutes of Promotion and Development and their position in the national market; in order to make this characterization the legal nature, the mission, the vision and social object, were taken into account, as well as their portfolio of services and financial statements, that allow determine their position and physical reach throughout the regions of the country, even several of these with international projection. Finally, the argumentations exposed in this research, allow the design of a proposal, through a law project so that the National Government transfers the resources of the General System of Participation of the territorial organizations through the INFIS

Coping with climatic extremes: Dietary fat content decreased the thermal resilience of barramundi (Lates calcarifer)

Aquatic organisms, including important cultured species, are forced to contend with acute changes in water temperature as the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events worsen. Acute temperature spikes are likely to threaten aquaculture species, but dietary intervention may play an important protective role. Increasing the concentration of macronutrients, for example dietary fat content, may improve the thermal resilience of aquaculture species, however, this remains unexplored. To evaluate this hypothesis, we used two commercially available diets (20% versus 10% crude fat) to examine if dietary fat content improves the growth performance of juvenile barramundi (Lates calcarifer) while increasing their resilience to acute thermal stress. Fish were fed their assigned diets for 28-days before assessing the upper thermal tolerance (CTMAX) and the thermal sensitivity of swimming performance (UCRIT) and metabolism. We found that feeding fish a high fat diet resulted in heavier fish, but did not affect the thermal sensitivity of swimming performance or metabolism over an 18 °C temperature range (from 20 to 38 °C). Thermal tolerance was compromised in fish fed the high fat diet by 0.48 °C, showing significantly lower CTMAX. Together, these results suggest that while a high fat diet increases juvenile L. calcarifer growth, it does not benefit physiological performance across a range of relevant water temperatures and may even reduce fish tolerance of extreme water temperatures. These data may have implications for aquaculture production in a warming world, where episodic extremes of temperature are likely to become more frequent

Characterization of Sex-Based Dna Methylation Signatures in the Airways During Early Life.

Human respiratory conditions are largely influenced by the individual\u27s sex resulting in overall higher risk for males. Sex-based respiratory differences are present at birth suggesting a strong genetic component. Our objective was to characterize early life sex-based genomic signatures determined by variable X-chromosome methylation in the airways. We compared male versus female genome-wide DNA methylation in nasal airway samples from newborns and infants aged 1-6 months (N = 12). We analyzed methylation signals across CpG sites mapped to each X-linked gene using an unsupervised classifier (principal components) followed by an internal evaluation and an exhaustive cross-validation. Results were validated in an independent population of children (N = 72) following the same algorithm. X-linked genes with significant sex-based differential methylation in the nasal airway of infants represented only about 50% of the unique protein coding transcripts. X-linked genes without significant sex-based differential methylation included genes with evidence of escaping X-inactivation and female-biased airway expression. These genes showed similar methylation patterns in males and females suggesting unbalanced X-chromosome dosage. In conclusion, we identified that the human airways have already sex-based DNA methylation signatures at birth. These early airway epigenomic marks may determine sex-based respiratory phenotypes and overall predisposition to develop respiratory disorders later in life

La Imagen y la Narrativa como Herramientas para el Abordaje Psicosocial en Escenarios de Violencia. Municipio de Dosquebradas

Las experiencias de vida dentro de los relatos de violencia en el territorio Colombiano, son una fuente de información que mediante la narrativa y la comprensión de las voces e imágenes dentro de las historias contadas, permiten realizar una identificación de los significados de la violencia y sus múltiples impactos en la vida de sus sobrevivientes; el análisis de la historia de Carlos Arturo Bravo del Libro Voces: Relatos de violencia y esperanza en Colombia y el caso Peñas Coloradas 2019 Comisión de la verdad, ha permitido identificar desde la subjetividad de sus protagonistas las posiciones de víctima y sobreviviente, encontrando una capacidad resiliente ante las imágenes de horror vividas. El conflicto armado a lo largo de la historia del país ha dejado impactos psicológicos los individuos como seres bio-psico-sociales, haciendo que la experiencia del evento traumático en sea resignificado desde la preservación de la memoria, la narrativa, la imagen, y la empatía por el otro; las sociedades mediante sus propias experiencias, ha permitido llevar a cabo diferentes intervenciones psicosociales, que poseen características propias, determinadas por sus protagonistas, teniendo puntos de encuentro y divergencia, pero no siendo iguales a los sucesos de otros lugares y culturas que han vivenciado problemáticas sociales similares. Partiendo de esta premisa el presente Estudio titulado: La imagen y la narrativa en escenarios de violencia como herramientas para el abordaje psicosocial, busca desde un análisis de los casos seleccionados responder las siguientes preguntas: ¿Cómo influye en los abordajes psicosociales la manera en que los protagonistas de los casos perciben y narran sus experiencias con el conflicto armado? ¿De qué forma mejoran la eficacia del abordaje psicosocial las imágenes y las narrativas como fuente clave de información de los casos de Víctimas del Conflicto Armado? El método utilizado fue el estudio de caso y mediante una serie de preguntas orientadoras permitió identificar una serie de necesidades para el planteamiento de estrategias y la realizar un abordaje psicológico desde lo social en casos de víctimas del conflicto armado, utilizando como herramientas la foto – voz y la narrativa, dando cumplimiento a las acciones exigidas en el componente estratégico Psicosocial.The armed conflict throughout the history of the country has left psychological impacts on individuals as bio-psycho-social beings, making the experience of the traumatic event in a new meaning from the preservation of memory, narrative, image, and empathy for the other; societies through their own experiences, has allowed to carry out different psychosocial interventions, which have their own characteristics, determined by their protagonists, having meeting points and divergence, but not being the same as the events of other places and cultures that have experienced social problems Similar. Based on this premise, this Study entitled: The image and narrative in violence scenarios as tools for the psychosocial approach, seeks from an analysis of the selected cases to answer the following questions: How does the way in which the psychosocial approaches influence the protagonists of the cases perceive and narrate their experiences with the armed conflict? How do images and narratives as a key source of information in the cases of Victims of the Armed Conflict improve the effectiveness of the psychosocial approach? The method used was the case study and by means of a series of guiding questions it allowed to identify a series of needs for the formulation of strategies and to carry out a psychological approach from the social point of view in cases of victims of the armed conflict, using photo-voice as tools and the narrative, complying with the actions required in the Psychosocial strategic component

Integrating physiological data with the conservation and management of fishes: A meta-analytical review using the threatened green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris)

Reversing global declines in the abundance and diversity of fishes is dependent on science-based conservation solutions. A wealth of data exist on the ecophysiological constraints of many fishes, but much of this information is underutilized in recovery plans due to a lack of synthesis. Here, we used the imperiled green sturgeon (Acipenser medirostris) as an example of how a quantitative synthesis of physiological data can inform conservation plans, identify knowledge gaps and direct future research actions. We reviewed and extracted metadata from peer-reviewed papers on green sturgeon. A total of 105 publications were identified, spanning multiple disciplines, with the primary focus being conservation physiology (23.8%). A meta-analytical approach was chosen to summarize the mean effects of prominent stressors (elevated temperatures, salinity, low food availability and contaminants) on several physiological traits (growth, thermal tolerance, swimming performance and heat shock protein expression). All examined stressors significantly impaired green sturgeon growth, and additional stressor-specific costs were documented. These findings were then used to suggest several management actions, such as mitigating salt intrusion in nursery habitats and maintaining water temperatures within optimal ranges during peak spawning periods. Key data gaps were also identified; research efforts have been biased towards juvenile (38.1%) and adult (35.2%) life-history stages, and less data are available for early life-history stages (embryonic, 11.4%; yolk-sac larvae, 12.4%; and post yolk-sac larvae, 16.2%). Similarly, most data were collected from single-stressor studies (91.4%) and there is an urgent need to understand interactions among stressors as anthropogenic change is multi-variate and dynamic. Collectively, these findings provide an example of how meta-analytic reviews are a powerful tool to inform management actions, with the end goal of maximizing conservation gains from research efforts

Understanding the relationship between soundscape and landscape features in a Tropical Andean environment, Colombia

The acoustic component of the landscape (soundscape) has been suggested as an indicator of landscape conditions as it has been related to physical, biological and anthropogenic features of the local environment. Despite of acoustic indices have been used as measurements of soundscape complexity, their relationship with landscape features has shown to be highly variable and not direct. This relationship has not been examined on the tropical Andes then it is not clear if soundscape can be a reliable indicator of landscape conditions. In this study, we assess the relationship between 14 acoustic indices and landscape conditions in an area on the northern Andes of Colombia. This region is highly fragmented and characterized for a highly diverse community of animals and plants thus representing an excellent opportunity to test such relationship. Soundscape recordings were obtained from 31 randomly selected sites surveyed among May and July 2017. A Song Meter SM4 device was deployed at each site for five consecutive days, and programmed to collect 1-min recordings every 15 minutes for a total of 95 samples per day. Recordings were obtained as monaural 16 bits and at a sampling rate of 22.05 kHz. Out of 14 indices, we calculated 9 non-correlated acoustic indices for each 1-min recording and selected the maximum value per hour to estimate the hourly average over the five days at each site. Thirteen landscape features were derived from satellite images and metrics describing vegetation, fragmentation, water availability, terrain, and soil attributes at 100 m radius around each site. Indices did not present a similar pattern of variation with respect to landscape conditions. Acoustic evenness (AE) and temporal entropy (TE) indices were related to changes in terrain conditions, while acoustic diversity index (ADI) was associated to fragmentation. The bioacoustic index (BI), acoustic complexity index (ACI), and the number of peaks (NP) were positively related with water availability. Our results suggest that in Andean environments specific acoustic indices could be connected to particular aspects of landscape

Automating biological monitoring on the Northern Andes of South America: combining biology and machine learning for conservation

The northern Andes in South America harbors one of the most diverse biological diversity on the planet. Yet, it is one of the most threatened regions as a result of habitat fragmentation, invasive species, agriculture and cattle grazing, and global climate change. It is therefore critical to implement robust conservation strategies and effective monitoring plans. In the region, biological monitoring relies on traditional methods such as direct observation and capture. These methods are expensive and require a large effort specially for rare species. As an alternative, automated passive bioacoustics allow to obtain large amounts of data both in time and space and in comparison, with traditional methods at low cost. The main challenge in passive monitoring is to handle and analyze these rivers of information in order to obtain meaningful results from acoustic data. We have implemented a passive bioacoustic monitoring since 2012 on the northern Andes in Colombia, a highly diverse region in the Neotropics. Our goals are two fold: first, we want to develop analytical strategies to process large amounts of sound files and second we are interested in answering biological questions from individuals to the landscape. As a result of this monitoring, we have developed a machine learning algorithm based on syllable recognition to automatically identify frog species (Ecol. Inf. 24: 200-209). We also have developed an algorithm to estimate the amount of rain from acoustic recordings (Ecol. Ind. 75:95-100). We have answered biological questions ranging from acoustic niche partitioning, interaction of traditional community indices with acoustic indices, and association of acoustic indices with landscape features. Now, we are using passive monitoring to fit complex occupation models and to determine assembling rules in anuran communities. In addition, we are assessing acoustic indices aiming to develop tools with more functions for soundscape analysis (Ecol. Inf. 45:16-25). We show how the continuous feedback between biologists and engineers will spike the implementation and analysis of passive monitoring in imperiled tropical hotspots