Parásitos gastrointestinales como indicadores en vizcacha

Los parásitos son importantes indicadores de distintos aspectos bioecológicos de sus poblaciones hospedadores. Los helmintos son uno de los marcadores biológicos más reconocidos. Se caracterizaron las comunidades de helmintos gastrointestinales en poblaciones continentales e insulares de vizcacha. El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar las comunidades de parásitos gastrointestinales asociadas a poblaciones continentales e insulares de vizcacha en el sudoeste bonaerense y utilizar esta información como indicador del estado de las poblaciones y de su de su posible conexión a través de la migración de individuos.Área: Ciencias Biológicas, Ambiente y Salu

Anthropogenic nesting sites allow urban breeding in burrowing parrots Cyanoliseus patagonus

How birds adapt to urban life is a key question in evolutionary and conservation biology since urbanisation is one of the major causes of habitat loss worldwide. Some species are able to deal with these anthropogenic changes but a shortage of nesting sites may preclude them from breeding in cities. We conducted a baseline survey of the cliff-nesting burrowing parrot Cyanoliseus patagonus around Bahía Blanca (Argentina), estimating a minimum total of 1,361 pairs breeding at 24 sites (colonies) in 2013. The species showed facultative colonial behaviour, colony size varying between 1 and 300 pairs. Most colonies (68%) and pairs (74%) occupied human-made substrates, mostly quarries but also water wells. Colony size was strongly correlated to the extent of both natural and anthropogenic nesting substrates, suggesting an ideal free distribution of pairs according to the availability of nesting resources. Anthropogenic substrates have certainly allowed population expansion in what is a rather flat landscape with a shortage of cliffs and ravines, as well as urban breeding by a large part (61%) of the surveyed population. This is currently one of the largest populations of burrowing parrots, a previously abundant species that is progressively threatened by persecution and nest poaching for the international pet trade.Peer Reviewe

Community Structure, Succession And Invasibility In A Seasonal Deciduous Forest In Southern Brazil

Majority of invasive trees colonize grasslands, shrublands, and temperate forests. Hovenia dulcis is an exception, because it is one of the most pervasive invaders in Brazilian subtropical forests where it has changed their structure and composition. This study has aimed to identify the clues for its success by defining the structural and functional characteristics of plant communities in different stages of succession with and without H. dulcis. Following the general assumptions of invasion ecology, we expected that H. dulcis establishment and invasion success would be significantly higher in early successional communities, with high resource availability and low species richness and diversity, as well as low functional diversity. Contrary to this hypothesis, no differences were found between plant communities invaded and non-invaded by H. dulcis at three different succession stages. No relationship was found between species richness and diversity and functional diversity, with respect to invasibility along the successional gradient. Hovenia dulcis is strongly associated with semi-open vegetation, where the species was found in higher density. The invasion of open vegetation is more recent, providing evidence of the species’s ability to invade plant communities in early successional stages. We concluded that the colonization by H. dulcis was associated with forest openness, but the species is also able to colonize semi-open vegetation, and persist in the successionally more advanced communities