One hundred specimens of Rhinella marina , (Anura: Bufonidae) collected in St. George's parish, Grenada, from September 2010 to August 2011, were examined for the presence of ectoparasites and helminths. Ninety-five (95%) were parasitized by 1 or more parasite species. Nine species of parasites were found: 1 digenean, 2 acanthocephalans, 4 nematodes, 1 arthropod and 1 pentastome. The endoparasites represented 98.9% of the total number of parasite specimens collected. Grenada represents a new locality record for Mesocoelium monas, Raillietiella frenatus, Pseudoacanthacephalus sp., Aplectana sp., Physocephalus sp., Acanthacephala cystacanth, and Physalopteridae larvae. The digenean M. monas occurred with the highest prevalence of 82%, contrasting many studies of R. marina where nematodes dominate the parasite infracommunity. Female toads were found to have a significantly higher prevalence of Amblyomma dissimile than male toads. Only 2 parasites exhibited a significant difference between wet and dry season with Parapharyngodon grenadensis prevalence highest in the wet season and A. dissimile prevalence highest during the dry season. Additionally, A. dissimile was significantly more abundant during the dry season.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1645/13-470.1 | DOI Listing |
Plant Cell Environ
January 2025
Qianyanzhou Ecological Research Station, Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
The segmentation hypothesis, a framework for understanding plant drought adaptive strategy, has long been based on hydraulic resistance and vulnerability. Storage of water and carbohydrate resources is another critical function and shapes plant drought adaption and fitness together with hydraulic efficiency and vulnerability. However, patterns and implications of the interdependency of stored water and carbohydrate resources in the context of the segmentation hypothesis are poorly understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTerrestrial bird populations on small, species depauperate islands often experience selection for generalist foraging traits via ecological release; however, it is unclear how island conditions may uniquely influence other life-history characteristics of small-island birds, such as the unusually high rates of molt-breeding overlap exhibited on the island of Grenada. To explore this question, we collected data on the life cycles and diets of 10 commonly occurring Grenadian bird species to assess the degree of generalist foraging and evaluate how seasonal patterns in diet niche breadth and diet overlap among species relates to the high rates of molt-breeding overlap. We evaluated three hypotheses explaining drivers of molt-breeding overlap (constraints on molt rate, unpredictable food abundance, and limited duration of food abundance), and suggest that widespread overlap in small-island tropical communities may be the result of generalist foraging adaptations and restricted time periods of sufficient invertebrate availability for successful breeding and molt to occur.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Res
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Efficient Utilization of Arid and Semi-arid Arable Land in Northern China, National Hulunbuir Grassland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China. Electronic address:
Increasing extreme precipitation and drought events along changes in their seasonal patterns due to climate change are expected to have profound consequences for carbon cycling. However, how these climate extremes impact ecosystem respiration (R) and whether these impacts differ between seasons remain unclear. Here, we reveal the responses of R and its components to extreme precipitation and drought in spring and summer by conducting a five-year manipulative experiment in a temperate meadow steppe.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
January 2025
Key Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province, School of Engineering, Westlake University, Hangzhou 310024, China. Electronic address:
Saltmarshes serve as repositories for various metal species, primarily due to vegetation removal and mineralization processes. However, the significance of potassium (K), one of the three major nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and K) essential for plant growth, has often been overlooked, particularly in the context of saltmarshes where the mechanisms of K transport via porewater exchange remain poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted field observations and laboratory analysis, and developed a Rn mass balance model to quantify K fluxes via porewater exchange under physical, biological, and anthropogenic drivers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSci Total Environ
January 2025
Department of Biology, Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Cádiz, Puerto Real 11510, Cádiz, Spain; Instituto Universitario de Investigación Marina (INMAR), Campus Universitario de Puerto Real, 11510 Cadiz, Spain.
Intertidal mudflats are among the most productive coastal ecosystems, largely because of the activity of the photosynthetic microbial community on the sediment surface, known as microphytobenthos (MPB). While the dynamics of MPB have been extensively studied in temperate estuaries, there is limited research in tropical estuaries. To address this knowledge gap, we investigated the spatio-temporal dynamics of MPB in the Nicoya Gulf (Costa Rica), one of the world's most productive tropical estuaries, using Sentinel-2 images at 10 m spatial resolution from 2018 to 2022.
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