Browsing by Autor "Susana Caballero"

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Challenges and priorities for river cetacean conservation
(Inter-Research, 2022) Elizabeth Campbell; Joanna Alfaro‐Shigueto; Enzo Aliaga‐Rossel; Isabel Beasley; Yurasi Briceño; Susana Caballero; VMF da Silva; Cédric Gilleman; Waleska Gravena; Ellen Hines
River cetaceans are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts due to their constrained ranges in freshwater systems of China, South Asia, and South America. We undertook an exhaustive review of 280 peer-reviewed papers and grey literature reports (1998-2020) to examine the current status of knowledge regarding these cetaceans and their conservation. We aimed to better understand the scale of threats they face, and to identify and propose priority future efforts to better conserve these species. We found that the species have been studied with varying frequency and that most of the research on threats has focused on habitat degradation and fragmentation (43%, mainly driven by dams and extractive activities such as sand mining and deforestation), and fishery interactions (39%, in the form of bycatch and direct take). These threats occur across all species, but more information is needed, primarily on quantifying the population impacts as a basis for designing mitigation measures. Other threats identified include pollution, vessel collisions, traditional use, and poorly managed tourism. Emerging methods such as environmental DNA and unmanned aerial vehicles are described for studying these species. Promising conservation interventions include cetacean-specific protected areas, natural ex situ protection, community-led conservation, and education programmes. However, transnational political will is required for a step change towards broad-scale protection in freshwater environments. In addition, we propose increasing capacity building, developing management plans, working closely with fishing communities, enhancing public awareness, expanding regional collaborations, and diversifying funding.
Conservación y tráfico de la tortuga matamata, Chelus fimbriata (Schneider, 1783) en Colombia: un ejemplo del trabajo conjunto entre el Sistema Nacional Ambiental, ONG y academia
(2018) Carlos A. Lasso; Fernando Trujillo; Mónica A. Morales-Betancourt; Laura Amaya; Susana Caballero; Beiker Castañeda
Se presentan los resultados de una iniciativa interinstitucional (Corpoamazonia, Corporinoquia, Instituto Humboldt, Universidad de Los Andes y Fundación Omacha), donde se verificó, con herramientas moleculares, que varios lotes de tortugas matamata (Chelus fimbriata) decomisadas en la ciudad de Leticia, departamento del Amazonas, Colombia, correspondían a ejemplares capturados en la Orinoquia y cuyo destino final era aparentemente Perú, como parte de una red de tráfico de fauna. Basados en este hallazgo, 2 corporaciones liberaron 400 individuos neonatos en el en el río Bita y la Reserva Natural Privada Bojonawi en el departamento del Vichada, Orinoquia colombiana. Se evidencia el tráfico de esta especie probablemente hacia Perú, donde la comercialización de tortugas es legal. Se recomienda el uso de protocolos de identificación genética para determinar y controlar la procedencia geográfica de tortugas decomisadas a futuro, como paso previo y necesario para su liberación.
Ethology and Behavioral Ecology of SireniaHeleneMarsh, Ed. Springer Nature. 2022. i–xvi + 417 pp. <scp>ISBN</scp>: 978–3–030‐90741‐9, <scp>US</scp>$159.99 (Hardcover); <scp>ISBN</scp>: 978–3–030‐90742‐6, <scp>US</scp>$119.00 (<scp>eBook</scp>)
(Wiley, 2023) Susana Caballero
It is always difficult, as a professor and student supervisor, to guide students on what texts, books, and articles to read to gain a deeper knowledge on a particular subject. This is especially difficult when most of the existing literature focuses on populations that have been well studied and when there is only scarce information from other populations, many of them in remote areas and/or developing countries. So, my initial thought about this book is that it shows a real effort from the authors and editors to include such information. This book, focusing on the ethology and behavioral ecology of Sirenia, provides a comprehensive coverage of behavior in sirenians and how to study them. It is clear that the editor and authors of the different chapters made a conscious effort to summarize all available information on the sirenian species. Both the editor and authors are experienced researchers and academics, most of them specializing in the study of manatees and dugongs, and they do an excellent job of providing information for some of the least studied species, particularly the African manatee. The book includes eight chapters. The first chapter focuses on behavior, particularly with respect to their feeding behavior and diet, that can be inferred from fossils of extinct Sirenia, presenting hypotheses on how they could have adapted to a fully aquatic environment. The second chapter covers morphological and sensory adaptations found in these animals, reviewing aspects such as thermoregulation, hydrostasis, skeletal pachyosteosclerorosis, and somatosensation and how these systems have contributed to a successful aquatic life and particular behavioral adaptations. This chapter explains in a detailed way the sirenian feeding apparatus as well as the central nervous system, for example, how neuronal aggregations known as Rinderkerne appear to be associated with sensory hairs in sirenians body and faces. Chapter three focuses on diving and foraging behaviors, reviewing the sirenian diving physiology and dive times as well as dietary preferences. It includes types and frequency of plants utilized. The authors explain how it is likely that all manatee species are omnivorous, including in their diet freshwater fish and invertebrates, although this has not yet been confirmed for the Amazonian manatee. I found the section on coprophagy very interesting as the authors explain how this practice may help balance nutritional needs of B-complex vitamins and nitrogen, as well as acting as inoculate of bacterial strains helpful for hindgut fermentation. The fourth chapter reviews information on group size, dispersal, and movement of sirenians in relation to their reproductive and social behaviors. In this chapter, the authors also present information on the mating systems found in Sirenia, including leks and scramble promiscuity, and they explain that it is unclear if these mating systems vary among species in relation to genetic makeup or due to adaptation to different ecological conditions. They also present information on movements in riverine populations of Amazonian and African manatees related to annual flood cycles. The authors do an excellent job in summarizing information on genetic studies the results of which, although not aimed directly at answering questions related to movement or dispersal, support related hypotheses, including natal philopatry in females for most species as well as male-mediated gene flow due to higher dispersal rates for males. Chapter five presents information on migratory patterns and large-scale sirenian movements, reviewing information on how to study these movements and on how physiological characteristics of these species require adaptations in order to undertake long-distance movement related to temperature changes in their habitat. However, environmental selective pressures are varied and numerous across sirenian species, suggesting important variation in large-scale movements in different species, populations, and at the individual level. The authors compiled a very complete and interesting table presenting different studies on environmental drivers of seasonal movements and migration at both the species and population level. Chapter six completes the information on movements in sirenians, focusing on small-scale movements. The authors present information on how GPS tags can provide detailed positions for tagged individuals. Such devices, combined with the more recent use of multisensor biologgers, allow for our further understanding of behavioral changes in relation to particular environmental features found in certain areas. The seventh chapter reviews historical and current interactions between sirenian species and humans. I found this chapter fascinating as it presents archeological and anthropological information about the inclusion of manatees and dugongs in different narratives and myths, due to the similarities in nursing behavior between sirenian females and calves and human females and babies. In addition, there are myths about mermaids in many different cultures in Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. Human-sirenian interactions also include hunting techniques developed by different human groups to catch manatees or dugongs. In this chapter, the authors present evidence on how many of such myths have been included in conservation strategies around manatees, particularly in the Amazon region. The authors present information on behavioral aspects of sirenians that make them more prone to negative interactions with fishing activities and they summarize aspects of habitat change and degradation (noise, seagrass bed destruction, boat traffic) and its effect on different manatee and dugong populations. In the last chapter, the authors present information on how climate change and its consequences (i.e., temperature increase, sea level change, etc.) may affect sirenian species around the world. They emphasize the need to have better assessment of changes occurring in plant community composition to predict potential effects on sirenian population dynamics and reproduction. The authors also present potential stressors, such as harmful algal blooms, that may increase health risks and reduce survival for these animals. I think this book is an important reference for all of those interested in sirenian biology and behavior and should be required reading for any biologist interested in deepening their understanding of these fascinating animals.
Migratory connections among breeding grounds off the Eastern Pacific and feeding areas in the Antarctic Peninsula based on genotype matching
(Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras, 2021) Susana Caballero; Debbie Steel; Logan J. Pallin; Natalia Botero; Fernando Félix; Carlos Olavarría; María Claudia Diazgranados; Sandra Bessudo; Ari S. Friedlaender; C. Scott Baker
We analysed 114 DNA samples collected in different locations within the stock G breeding grounds, including Ecuador and the northern and southern Pacific of Colombia. We genotyped 15 microsatellite loci, sexed all samples, and performed genotype comparisons. Genotype comparisons were done using a DNA register of previously genotyped individuals from the Colombian breeding ground and the Antarctic Peninsula feeding Area. We confirmed connectivity between feeding grounds in Antarctic Peninsula and breeding grounds in Colombia and Ecuador using microsatellite loci. We found recaptures within each sampling location in the same year, but we also found a few recaptures in the same locations between years both in breeding and feeding grounds. Interestingly, we found recaptures between breeding and feeding grounds using samples collected 20 years apart, providing some information about longevity in this stock. Further comparisons with other data sets (Brazil, North Pacific) are needed to understand the migratory connectivity of this stock.
Phylogeography, genetic diversity and population structure of the freshwater stingray, Paratrygon aiereba (Müller & Henle, 1841) (Myliobatiformes: Potamotrygonidae) in the Colombian Amazon and Orinoco basins
(Taylor & Francis, 2020) Maira A. Rizo-Fuentes; Camilo A. Correa‐Cárdenas; Carlos A. Lasso; Mónica A. Morales-Betancourt; Dalia C. Barragán‐Barrera; Susana Caballero
The freshwater stingray Paratrygon aiereba have coloration, osteological and morphometric variations that could suggest the existence of more than one species in Colombia. In order to evaluate the phylogeography, population structure and genetic diversity for P. aiereba distributed in the Amazon and Orinoco basins, we amplified Cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI) partial region of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in 50 samples from eight different sub-basins. Our results suggest three phylogroups and a vicariance event occurred 43 million years ago proposing how Paratrygon diverged into the basins. A high population structure (ΦST = 0.692; p < 0.005) and a value of (K) of 3 were defined. A high genetic diversity within phylogroups was found: Phylogroup A (h = 0.64; π% = 2.48), Phylogroup B (h = 0.552; π% = 1.67), and Phylogroup C (h = 0.49; π% = 0.73). These results should be considered in local management plans, conservation programs and reclassification in at least Amazon and Orinoco.
“Pig in a poke (gato por liebre)”: The “mota” (Calophysus macropterus) Fishery, Molecular Evidence of Commercialization in Colombia and Toxicological Analyses
(Springer Science+Business Media, 2014) Cristian Salinas; Juan Camilo Cubillos-M; Rigoberto Gómez; Fernando Trujillo; Susana Caballero
Update on the freshwater distribution of Sotalia in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela and Suriname
(2010) Catalina Gomez‐Salazar; Marcela Portocarrero‐Aya; Fernando Trujillo; Susana Caballero; Jaime Bolaños‐Jiménez; V. Utreras; Tamara L. McGuire; Arnaldo Ferrer-Pérez; Monique Pool; Enzo Aliaga‐Rossel