Seasonal wetlands in the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and Nicaragua: environmental characterisation and conservation state.
Seasonal wetlands in the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and Nicaragua: environmental characterisation and conservation status On the Pacific coast of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, rainfall patterns and clay-rich soils allow the development of extensive wetlands. These environments constitute unique habitats for the maintenance of aquatic biodiversity and provide significant ecological services to the surrounding seasonal dry forest. Despite these benefits, wetlands have been severely reduced in the last four decades, and little information is available on their biology and current conservation status. Here, we describe the main limnological traits of 30 sites representing different types of wetlan…
Hydrology Affects Environmental and Spatial Structuring of Microalgal Metacommunities in Tropical Pacific Coast Wetlands
The alternating climate between wet and dry periods has important effects on the hydrology and therefore on niche-based processes of water bodies in tropical areas. Additionally, assemblages of microorganism can show spatial patterns, in the form of a distance decay relationship due to their size or life form. We aimed to test spatial and environmental effects, modulated by a seasonal flooding climatic pattern, on the distribution of microalgae in 30 wetlands of a tropical dry forest region: the Pacific coast of Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Three surveys were conducted corresponding to the beginning, the highest peak, and the end of the hydrological year during the wet season, and species abun…
Cohort-Dependent Sex Ratio Biases in the American Crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus)of the Tempisque Basin
A male-biased sex ratio of 3:1 has been reported for a population of American crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) in the Tempisque River Basin, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. If confirmed, this would constitute one of the largest male-biased sex ratios reported for any population of a member of the genus Crocodylus. Here, we examine the aforementioned population of C. acutus and report on sex ratios of hatchling, juvenile, and adult age classes within a sample of 474 crocodiles captured in the Tempisque Basin between May 2012 and June 2014. Hatchling sex ratio is exceptionally male biased (3.5:1), an imbalance that is maintained in juveniles but is reduced in adults (1.5:1). Mark–recapture data documen…
Metacommunities from bacteria to birds: stronger environmental selection in mediterranean than in tropical ponds
AbstractThe metacommunity concept provides a theoretical framework that aims at explaining organism distributions by a combination of environmental filtering, dispersal and drift. With the development of statistical tools to quantify and partially isolate the role of each of these processes, empirical metacommunity studies have multiplied worldwide. However, few works attempt a multi-taxon approach and even fewer compare two distant biogeographical regions using the same methodology. Under this framework, we tested the expectation that temperate (mediterranean-climate) pond metacommunities would be more influenced by environmental and spatial processes than tropical ones, because of stronge…
Environment and Space Rule, but Time also Matters for the Organization of Tropical Pond Metacommunities
Metacommunities are dynamic systems, but the influence of time independently of environmental change in their configuration has been rarely considered. Temporary ponds are excellent ecosystem models, as they have well-defined boundaries in time and space; their communities are relatively isolated through a landscape matrix, and the progress of time leads to major changes through ecological succession and in habitat suitability related to hydroperiod dynamics. Therefore, strong temporal effects are expected to influence their metacommunity structure. We surveyed 30 temporary ponds along the dry tropical region of western Costa Rica and Nicaragua at three different moments of their hydroperio…
Effects of migratory status and habitat on the prevalence and intensity of infection by haemoparasites in passerines in eastern Spain
Efectos del estatus migratorio y del tipo de habitat sobre la prevalencia y la intensidad de la infeccion por hemoparasitos en paseriformes en el este de Espana La peninsula iberica es un sitio idoneo para estudiar los efectos de la condicion migratoria en la prevalencia de hemoparasitos en comunidades de aves, dado que convergen poblaciones residentes locales con especies migratorias y abundantes poblaciones de vectores. En este trabajo examinamos la incidencia de hemoparasitos presentes en aves de tres localidades de la region mediterranea (este de Espana), con respecto del estatus migratorio. Examinamos 333 frotis sanguineos de 11 especies, y encontramos una prevalencia global del 9,6%. …
Base de datos de variables geográficas y limnológicas de 30 lagunas someras de la costa pacífica de Nicaragua y Costa Rica [Dataset]
Esta base de datos contiene los valores de 24 variables (geográficas y limnológicas) de 30 lagunas costeras de la costa pacífica de Nicaragua y Costa Rica en tres periodos de su año hidrológico: comienzo de las lluvias (junio 2010), plena inundación (septiembre 2010) y sequía (enero 2011). En esta matriz de datos las filas son los cuerpos de agua muestreados y las columnas las variables. Cada periodo hidrológico muestreado se presenta en una hoja aparte. Descripción de estas lagunas basada en esta y en otra información se puede encontrar en Sasa et al. (2015: Limnetica vol 34).