Browsing by Author "Coccia, Cristina"

Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
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    Biological invasion modifies the co-occurrence patterns of insects along a stress gradient
    (2017) Carbonell, José Antonio; Velasco, Josefa; Millán, Andrés; Green, Andy J.; Coccia, Cristina; Guareschi, Simone; Gutiérrez‐Cánovas, Cayetano
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    Domestic dog and alien North American mink as reservoirs of infectious diseases in the endangered Southern river otter
    (2022) Barros, Macarena; Pons, Daniel J.; Moreno, Andrea; Vianna, Juliana; Ramos, Barbara; Duenas, Fernando; Coccia, Cristina; Saavedra-Rodriguez, Roberto; Santibanez, Alexis; Medina-Vogel, Gonzalo
    Introduced alien carnivores are host to infectious diseases that may become an important threat for native carnivore species conservation. Canine distemper virus (CDV) is thought to be transmitted among individuals by direct contact and to present viral dynamics associated with a density-dependent multi-host carnivore community. In contrast, Canine Parvovirus (CPV) is mostly transmitted by indirect contact and does not depend only on the density, but also on the social behaviour of infected as well as susceptible hosts. The objective of this study was to assess how introduced American mink (Neovison vison) can act as a bridge-host between domestic dog (Canis familiaris) and Southern river otter (Lontra provocax) in different dog and mink population density scenarios. Our data show that otters are seropositive to both CDV and PV, as well as a molecular identity to Parvovirus in dogs and minks. Furthermore, a strong positive correlation between dog population density and observed seroprevalence of CDV in dogs, minks, and otters was recorded. For Parvovirus, the observed seroprevalence in mink and otters was not correlated to a higher dog population density, but instead a relationship between dog and mink population densities and social behaviour. Our results suggest that introduced American mink and domestic dogs are reservoirs of CDV and PV, both being diseases of major importance for the conservation of native endangered carnivores in Patagonia.
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    Exotic oniscideans (Crustacea: Isopoda) in coastal salt marshes: first record of the families Halophilosciidae and Platyarthridae in Continental Chile
    (2019) Perez-Schultheiss, Jorge; Ayala, Karina; Miguel Farina, Jose; Coccia, Cristina
    We report two new exotic introduced isopods in Chile: Halophiloscia couchii of the family Halophilosciidae and Niambia capensis of the family Platyarthridae. This report provides first evidence of the presence of these species in the Southeastern Pacific. These species were found in several salt marshes and beaches spanning nearly 2000 km of the Chilean coast. With the data reported here, the percentage of exotic oniscidean isopods in Chile is 28%.
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    Modelling Water Depth, Turbidity and Chlorophyll Using Airborne Hyperspectral Remote Sensing in a Restored Pond Complex of Doñana National Park (Spain)
    (2024) Coccia, Cristina; Pintado, Eva; Paredes, alvaro L.; Aragones, David; O'Ryan, Daniela C.; Green, Andy J.; Bustamante, Javier; Diaz-Delgado, Ricardo
    Restored wetlands should be closely monitored to fully evaluate the effectiveness of restoration efforts. However, regular post-restoration monitoring can be time-consuming and expensive, and is often absent or inadequate. Satellite and airborne remote sensing systems have proven to be cost-effective tools in many fields, but they have not been widely used to monitor ecological restoration. This study assessed the potential of airborne hyperspectral remote sensing to monitor water mass characteristics of experimental temporary ponds in the Mediterranean region. These ponds were created during marsh restoration in Do & ntilde;ana National Park (south-west Spain). We used hyperspectral images acquired by the CASI-1500 hyperspectral airborne sensor to estimate and map water depth, turbidity and chlorophyll a in a subset of the 96 new ponds. The high spatial and spectral resolution of the CASI sensor allowed us to detect differences between ponds in water depth, turbidity and chlorophyll a, providing accurate mapping of these three variables, and a useful method to assess restoration success. High levels of spatial variation were recorded between different ponds, which likely generates high diversity in the animal and plant species that they contain. These results highlight the great potential of hyperspectral sensors for the long-term monitoring of wetland complexes in the Mediterranean region and elsewhere.
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    New genus and species of Delphacini (Hemiptera: Delphacidae) from a salt marsh in northern Chile
    (2019) Campodonico, Juan F.; Coccia, Cristina
    Salinesia atacamensis gen. et sp. nov. is described from a coastal wetland of Atacama Region, Chile. It is characterized by the small size (males < 2 mm), dorsal side concolorous, with lateral carinae of pronotum reaching hind margin, armature of male pygofer narrow and not produced, phallus curved ventrad, and abdominal segment X of male without processes.
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    Newly created ponds complement natural waterbodies for restoration of macroinvertebrate assemblages
    (2016) Coccia, Cristina; Vanschoenwinkel, B.; Brendonck, L.; Boyero, L.; Green, A. J.
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    Responses of plant-arthropod communities to nutrient enrichment in hyper-arid and semi-arid zones
    (2022) Coccia, Cristina; Farina, Jose Miguel
    Excessive nutrient loading in coastal wetlands is threatening biodiversity and altering ecosystem functioning worldwide. Nonetheless, fertilization studies have focused mainly on temperate, continental and humid climates, while little is known about the effects of nutrient enrichment in more arid environments.This study examines the responses of salt marsh plants and two dominant arthropod communities (Isopoda and Coleoptera) to short-term nutrient addition in hyper-arid (HA) and semi-arid (SA) zones of Chile. We experi-mentally increased nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) to examine how enrichment alters primary producers and consumer taxonomic and non-taxonomic (size-based) structure. Both N and P increased plant biomass in the HA, while in the SA, N addition increased biomass but P addition had no significant effects. N and P addition affected arthropod community and size structure differentially in HA and SA. N addition changed Coleoptera composition in HA, while P addition had large contrasting effect sizes on Isopoda and Coloeptera size evenness. In SA, N addition had large and negative effect sizes on Isopoda size evenness and Coleoptera mean body size, while P addition had large, positive effect sizes on total arthropod abundance and changed the composition of both Coleoptera and Isopoda. Although nutrient additions did not significantly affect arthropod productivity, struc-tural equation models suggested that increases in vegetation biomass with fertilization in HA could mediate positively the effects of fertilization on arthropod biomass, but not in SA where Coleoptera body size reduced. In conclusion, this study revealed that over a short time frame the effects of nutrient additions flow through the food webs more disproportionately in SA than in HA.
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    The life cycle of the alien boatman Trichocorixa verticalis (Hemiptera, Corixidae) in saline and hypersaline wetlands of south-west Spain
    (2019) Cespedes, Vanessa; Coccia, Cristina; Antonio Carbonell, Jose; Sanchez, Marta I.; Green, Andy J.
    Trichocorixa verticalis (Corixidae) is native to North America but is well established as an alien in the Western Mediterranean region, where it is invasive in permanent coastal wetlands with high salinities. We investigated the annual cycle and generation time of T. verticalis in the introduced range in south-west Spain, through a combination of field surveys and laboratory experiments. Field surveys were conducted on a monthly basis over 1year in three saline fish ponds in Donana and four hypersaline salt ponds in the Odiel marshes. Adults were present all year round, whereas nymphs were only absent in August, when temperatures and salinities were high. Adult sex ratios were idiosyncratic and often male or female biased for a given location and month. Adults were smaller during summer months. Laboratory experiments revealed an oviposition rate of 11.5eggsper day and a generation time of about 54days from egg to adult, suggesting T. verticalis may complete around six generations per year in permanent wetlands. A combination of a high oviposition rate and continuous reproduction throughout the year gives T. verticalis an advantage over native corixid competitors (Sigara spp), and appears to explain the success of this alien aquatic insect.