The Last Coastal Jaguars of Ecuador: Ecology, Conservation and Management Implications

Ecuador is one of the top countries with the highest biodiversity indexes in the planet. Among the mammal species inhabiting tropical forests along Ecuador’s coast, wild cats such as ocelots (Leopardus pardalis), jaguarundis (Puma yagouaroundi), cougars (Puma concolor) and jaguars (Panthera onca) are a key group of carnivores deserving critical consideration because these species are facing several anthropogenic threats and conservation challenges. Of particularly attention is the critically endangered subspecies of jaguar (Panthera onca centralis) from the Ecuadorian coast. Despite this species is the largest cat in Ecuador’s coastal tropical forests and demanding large territories to survive, little is known about its population and conservation status. In most forests along Ecuador’s coast, habitat loss due to deforestation and fragmentation, poaching of prey and illegal hunting threaten the survival of jaguars and questions linger about its ecology and population health. Based on recent field observations using transects and deployment of camera traps, as well as surveys conducted with the local community in and around Cerro Blanco Protected Forest and surrounding areas of the Cordillera Chongón-Colonche Mountain Range, we advance the state of the ecological knowledge of coastal jaguar populations with conservation implications of its threatened habitat and long-term survival in Ecuador

Validation of elemental and isotopic abundances in late-M spectral types with the benchmark HIP 55507 AB system

M dwarfs are common host stars to exoplanets but often lack atmospheric abundance measurements. Late-M dwarfs are also good analogs to the youngest substellar companions, which share similar $T_{\rm eff}\sim2300-2800~K$. We present atmospheric analyses for the M7.5 companion HIP 55507 B and its K6V primary star with Keck/KPIC high-resolution ($R\sim35,000$) $K$ band spectroscopy. First, by including KPIC relative radial velocities between the primary and secondary in the orbit fit, we improve the dynamical mass precision by 60% and find $M_B=88.0_{-3.2}^{+3.4}$ $M_{\rm Jup}$, putting HIP 55507 B above the stellar-substellar boundary. We also find that HIP 55507 B orbits its K6V primary star with $a=38^{+4}_{-3}$ AU and $e=0.40\pm0.04$. From atmospheric retrievals of HIP 55507 B, we measure $\rm [C/H]=0.24\pm0.13$, $\rm [O/H]=0.15\pm0.13$, and $\rm C/O=0.67\pm0.04$. Moreover, we strongly detect $\rm ^{13}CO$ ($7.8\sigma$ significance) and tentatively detect $\rm H_2^{18}O$ ($3.7\sigma$ significance) in companion's atmosphere, and measure $\rm ^{12}CO/^{13}CO=98_{-22}^{+28}$ and $\rm H_2^{16}O/H_2^{18}O=240_{-80}^{+145}$ after accounting for systematic errors. From a simplified retrieval analysis of HIP 55507 A, we measure $\rm ^{12}CO/^{13}CO=79_{-16}^{+21}$ and $\rm C^{16}O/C^{18}O=288_{-70}^{+125}$ for the primary star. These results demonstrate that HIP 55507 A and B have consistent $\rm ^{12} C/^{13}C$ and $\rm ^{16}O/^{18}O$ to the $<1\sigma$ level, as expected for a chemically homogeneous binary system. Given the similar flux ratios and separations between HIP 55507 AB and systems with young, substellar companions, our results open the door to systematically measuring $\rm ^{13}CO$ and $\rm H_2^{18}O$ abundances in the atmospheres of substellar or even planetary-mass companions with similar spectral types.Comment: Accepted to ApJ, 28 pages, 14 figure

Are These Planets or Brown Dwarfs? Broadly Solar Compositions from High-resolution Atmospheric Retrievals of ∼10–30 M Jup Companions

Using Keck Planet Imager and Characterizer high-resolution ( R ∼ 35,000) spectroscopy from 2.29 to 2.49 μ m, we present uniform atmospheric retrievals for eight young substellar companions with masses of ∼10–30 M _Jup , orbital separations spanning ∼50–360 au, and T _eff between ∼1500 and 2600 K. We find that all companions have solar C/O ratios and metallicities to within the 1 σ –2 σ level, with the measurements clustered around solar composition. Stars in the same stellar associations as our systems have near-solar abundances, so these results indicate that this population of companions is consistent with formation via direct gravitational collapse. Alternatively, core accretion outside the CO snowline would be compatible with our measurements, though the high mass ratios of most systems would require rapid core assembly and gas accretion in massive disks. On a population level, our findings can be contrasted with abundance measurements for directly imaged planets with m 3 σ significance. The cloudy models yield 2 σ −3 σ lower T _eff for these companions, though the C/O and [C/H] still agree between cloudy and clear models at the 1 σ level. Finally, we constrain ^12 CO/ ^13 CO for three companions with the highest signal-to-noise ratio data (GQ Lup b, HIP 79098b, and DH Tau b) and report $v\sin i$ and radial velocities for all companions

Detecting Exomoons from Radial Velocity Measurements of Self-luminous Planets: Application to Observations of HR 7672 B and Future Prospects

The detection of satellites around extrasolar planets, so called exomoons, remains a largely unexplored territory. In this work, we study the potential of detecting these elusive objects from radial velocity monitoring of self-luminous, directly imaged planets. This technique is now possible thanks to the development of dedicated instruments combining the power of high-resolution spectroscopy and high-contrast imaging. First, we demonstrate a sensitivity to satellites with a mass ratio of 1%–4% at separations similar to the Galilean moons from observations of a brown-dwarf companion (HR 7672 B; K _mag = 13; 0.″7 separation) with the Keck Planet Imager and Characterizer ( R ∼ 35,000 in the K band) at the W. M. Keck Observatory. Current instrumentation is therefore already sensitive to large unresolved satellites that could be forming from gravitational instability akin to binary star formation. Using end-to-end simulations, we then estimate that future instruments such as the Multi-Object Diffraction-limited High-resolution Infrared Spectrograph, planned for the Thirty Meter Telescope, should be sensitive to satellites with mass ratios of ∼10 ^−4 . Such small moons would likely form in a circumplanetary disk similar to the Jovian satellites in the solar system. Looking for the Rossiter–McLaughlin effect could also be an interesting pathway to detecting the smallest moons on short orbital periods. Future exomoon discoveries will allow precise mass measurements of the substellar companions that they orbit and provide key insight into the formation of exoplanets. They would also help constrain the population of habitable Earth-sized moons orbiting gas giants in the habitable zone of their stars

Do Multinationals Influence Labor Standards? A Close Look at US Outward FDI

This paper investigates the effects of multinational corporations on labor standards. We argue that the previous literature has failed to distinguish the different motives that encourage fi rms to become multinational. Therefore, we build a stylized model of segmented labor markets with equilibrium unemployment where parts of the labor force are willing to accept reductions in their labor standards to attract job-creating horizontal foreign direct investment. By disentangling US FDI data for 34 advanced host countries throughout the period 1997 to 2002 into vertically and horizontally motivated FDI, we show that this disaggregation provides much more signifi cant results. Concretely, we find a statistically signifi cant and economically considerable negative impact of horizontal US FDI on labor right practices in industrialized host countries by using a static OLS model and qualitatively similar results with dynamic GMM estimation. Our results do not imply that this effect leads to a decrease in welfare in the host economy but that in the welfare optimization process employment, income and job-quality serve as substitutes with an elasticity positively depending on equilibrium unemployment

Validation of Elemental and Isotopic Abundances in Late-M Spectral Types with the Benchmark HIP 55507 AB System

M dwarfs are common host stars to exoplanets but often lack atmospheric abundance measurements. Late-M dwarfs are also good analogs to the youngest substellar companions, which share similar T _eff ∼ 2300–2800 K. We present atmospheric analyses for the M7.5 companion HIP 55507 B and its K6V primary star with Keck/KPIC high-resolution ( R ∼ 35,000) K -band spectroscopy. First, by including KPIC relative radial velocities between the primary and secondary in the orbit fit, we improve the dynamical mass precision by 60% and find ${M}_{B}={88.0}_{-3.2}^{+3.4}\,{M}_{\mathrm{Jup}}$ , putting HIP 55507 B above the stellar–substellar boundary. We also find that HIP 55507 B orbits its K6V primary star with $a={38}_{-3}^{+4}$ au and e = 0.40 ± 0.04. From atmospheric retrievals of HIP 55507 B, we measure [C/H] = 0.24 ± 0.13, [O/H] = 0.15 ± 0.13, and C/O = 0.67 ± 0.04. Moreover, we strongly detect ^13 CO (7.8 σ significance) and tentatively detect ${{\rm{H}}}_{2}^{18}{\rm{O}}$ (3.7 σ significance) in the companion’s atmosphere and measure ${}^{12}\mathrm{CO}{/}^{13}\mathrm{CO}={98}_{-22}^{+28}$ and ${{\rm{H}}}_{2}^{16}{\rm{O}}/{{\rm{H}}}_{2}^{18}{\rm{O}}={240}_{-80}^{+145}$ after accounting for systematic errors. From a simplified retrieval analysis of HIP 55507 A, we measure ${}^{12}\mathrm{CO}{/}^{13}\mathrm{CO}={79}_{-16}^{+21}$ and ${{\rm{C}}}^{16}{\rm{O}}/{{\rm{C}}}^{18}{\rm{O}}={288}_{-70}^{+125}$ for the primary star. These results demonstrate that HIP 55507 A and B have consistent ^12 C/ ^13 C and ^16 O/ ^18 O to the <1 σ level, as expected for a chemically homogeneous binary system. Given the similar flux ratios and separations between HIP 55507 AB and systems with young substellar companions, our results open the door to systematically measuring ^13 CO and ${{\rm{H}}}_{2}^{18}{\rm{O}}$ abundances in the atmospheres of substellar or even planetary-mass companions with similar spectral types