Browsing by Author "Toro, Frederick"

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    50 years of cetacean strandings reveal a concerning rise in Chilean patagonia
    (2020) Alvarado-Rybak, Mario; Toro, Frederick; Escobar-Dodero, Joaquín; Kinsley, Amy C.; Sepúlveda, Maximiliano A.; Capella, Juan; Azat, Claudio; Cortés Hinojosa, Galaxia Andrea; Zimin Veselkoff, Natalia; Mardones, Fernando O.
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    A Mass Stranding Event of Long-Finned Pilot Whales (Globicephala melas) in Southern Chile
    (2019) Alvarado-Rybak, Mario; Haro, Daniela; Oyarzun, Pablo A.; Dougnac, Catherine; Gutierrez, Josefina; Toledo, Natalia; Leiva, Nicolas; Pena, Claudia; Cifuentes, Constanza; Munoz, Nicolas; Monti, Elisa; Casado, Daniel; Toro, Frederick; Soto-Azat, Claudio; Pincheira, Betsy
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    Composition and structure of the skin microbiota of rorquals off the Eastern South Pacific
    (OXFORD UNIV PRESS, 2021) Toro, Frederick; Alarcon, Jaime; Marquez, Sebastian; Capella, Juan; Bahamonde, Paulina; Esperon, Fernando; Moreno Switt, Andrea; Castro Nallar, Eduardo
    Recent advances in high-throughput sequencing have enabled the large-scale interrogation of microbiota in the most diverse environments, including host-associated microbiota. This has led to the recognition that the skin microbiota of rorquals is specific and structurally different from that of the ocean. This study reveals the skin microbiome of 85 wild individuals along the Chilean coast belonging to Megaptera novaeangliae, Balaenoptera musculus and Balaenoptera physalus. Alpha diversity analysis revealed significant differences in richness and phylogenetic diversity, particularly among humpback whales from different locations and between blue and humpback whales. Beta diversity was partially explained by host and location but only accounting for up to 17% of microbiota variability (adjusted VPA). Overall, we found that microbiota composition was dominated by bacterial genera such as Cardiobacter, Moraxella, Tenacibaculum, Stenotrophomonas, Flavobacteria and Pseudomonas. We also found that no ASVs were associated with the three rorqual species. Up to four ASVs were specific of a location, indicating a great variability in the microbiota. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the composition and structure of the skin microbiota of whales off the coast of Chile, providing a foundational dataset to understand the microbiota's role in rorquals.
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    First Genetic Record of a Strap-Toothed Beaked Whale (Mesoplodon layardii) Stranding in Chile
    (2020) Espanol-Jimenez, Sonia; Abaud, Constanza; Aceituno, Camila; Alvarado-Rybak, Mario; Borroni, Cintya; Chiang, Gustavo; Diaz, Javier; Espejo, Winfred; Luisa Estay, Maria; Garcia-Cegarra, Ana M.; Gonzalez, Carlos; Gutierrez, Belen; Gutierrez, Josefina; Henriquez, Daniel; Hirmas, Andrea; Mejias, Pamela; Merino, Constanza; Molina, Charity; Naretto, Camilo; Olivares, Florencia; Pereira, Patricia; Penaloza, Diego; Pincheira, Betsy; Pinto, Nicolas; Rojas, Omar; Sanchez, Carolina; Toro, Barbara; Toro, Frederick; Undurraga, Raimundo
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    Pathological Findings in Cetaceans Sporadically Stranded Along the Chilean Coast
    (2020) Alvarado-Rybak, Mario; Toro, Frederick; Abarca, Paulette; Paredes, Enrique; Espanol-Jimenez, Sonia; Seguel, Mauricio
    Chile has one of the largest coastlines in the world with at least 50% of the world cetacean species occurring within its jurisdictional waters. However, little is known regarding the health status and main causes of death in cetaceans off continental Chile. In this report, we summarize the major pathological findings and most likely causes of death of 15 cetaceans stranded along the Chilean coast between 2010 and 2019. Drowning, due to fishing gear entanglement, was the most likely cause of death in 3 Burmeister's porpoises (Phocoena spinipinnis), a Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) and a short-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus delphis). Additionally, the 3 Burmeister's porpoises had mild to moderate eosinophilic and histiocytic pneumonia with pulmonary vasculitis associated with the nematode Pseudalius inflexus. A fourth Burmeister's porpoise died of drowning after stranding alive at a sandy beach. Two fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) died most likely of trauma associated with large vessel collision. A long-finned pilot whale (Globicephala melas) and an Orca (Orcinus orca) stranded most likely due to traumatic intra/interspecific interaction with other odontocete although for the pilot whale, osteoporosis with loss of alveolar bone and all teeth could have played a role. For a Strap-toothed beaked whale (Mesoplodon layardi), Dwarf sperm whale (Kogia sima), Southern right-whale dolphin (Lissodelphis peroni), Peale's dolphin (Lagenorhynchus australis) and a dusky dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obscurus), the cause of stranding could not be determined. This study shows, despite the small number of examined carcasses that in Chile, human related trauma is an important cause of single cetacean stranding events.