Urban noise and surrounding city morphology influence green space occupancy by native birds in a Mediterranean-type South American metropolis.

Urban green spaces provide natural habitat for birds in urban landscapes, yet the effects of noise and surrounding urban morphology on bird community structure and distribution are not well understood in Latin America, the second most urbanized region in the world. Santiago of Chile is the single city belonging to the Mediterranean ecosystem in South America and is subject to extensive urbanization as seen throughout Latin America. We examined the role of 65 urban green spaces-6 large urban parks (PAR) and 59 small green spaces (SGS)-in harboring native birds during winter 2019, analyzing the quality of green areas in terms of vegetation (i.

Exploring consistency between stated and revealed preferences for the plastic bag ban policy in Chile.

This paper exploits individual-level data before the implementation of a national policy to understand the factors driving avoidance of plastic consumption and explore potential inconsistencies between revealed and stated preferences for a plastic bag ban policy. We estimate a bivariate ordered probit model that allows us to account for a potential correlation between these types of preferences. The data reveals that while 71% of respondents take a reusable bag for shopping, only 58% of the sample state to strongly agree with prohibiting plastic bags.

An experimental look at trust, bargaining, and public goods in fishing communities.

Pro-social behavior is crucial to the sustainable governance of common-pool resources such as fisheries. Here, we investigate how key socioeconomic characteristics influence fishers' pro-social and bargaining behavior in three types of experimental economic games (public goods, trust, and trade) conducted in fishing associations in Chile. Our games revealed high levels of cooperation in the public goods game, a high degree of trust, and that sellers rather than buyers had more bargaining power, yet these results were strongly influenced by participants' socioeconomic characteristics.

Natural selection on plasticity of thermal traits in a highly seasonal environment.

For ectothermic species with broad geographical distributions, latitudinal/altitudinal variation in environmental temperatures (averages and extremes) is expected to shape the evolution of physiological tolerances and the acclimation capacity (i.e., degree of phenotypic plasticity) of natural populations.

Using people's perceptions of ecosystem services to guide modeling and management efforts.

Although ecosystem service (ES) approaches are showing promise in moving environmental decision-making processes toward better outcomes for ecosystems and people, ES modeling (i.e., tools that estimate the supply of nature's benefits given biophysical constraints) and valuation methods (i.

Long-Term, Fructose-Induced Metabolic Syndrome-Like Condition Is Associated with Higher Metabolism, Reduced Synaptic Plasticity and Cognitive Impairment in Octodon degus.

There has been a progressive increase in the incidence of fructose-induced metabolic disorders, such as metabolic syndrome (MetS). Moreover, novel evidence reported negative effects of high-fructose diets in brain function. This study was designed to evaluate for the first time the effects of long-term fructose consumption (LT-FC) on the normal ageing process in a long-lived animal model rodent, Octodon degus or degu.

Quorum-Sensing Systems in the Plant Growth-Promoting Bacterium Paraburkholderia phytofirmans PsJN Exhibit Cross-Regulation and Are Involved in Biofilm Formation.

Quorum-sensing systems play important roles in host colonization and host establishment of Burkholderiales species. Beneficial Paraburkholderia species share a conserved quorum-sensing (QS) system, designated BraI/R, that controls different phenotypes. In this context, the plant growth-promoting bacterium Paraburkholderia phytofirmans PsJN possesses two different homoserine lactone QS systems BpI.

Early life experience drives short-term acclimation of metabolic and osmoregulatory traits in the leaf-eared mouse.

We studied the putative effect of early life experience on the physiological flexibility of metabolic and osmoregulatory traits in the leaf-eared mouse, , an altricial rodent inhabiting seasonal Mediterranean environments. Adult individuals were collected in central Chile and maintained in breeding pairs. Pups were isolated after weaning and acclimated to different temperatures (cold or warm) and water availability (unrestricted and restricted) until adulthood.

Andrographolide recovers cognitive impairment in a natural model of Alzheimer's disease (Octodon degus).

The social species Octodon degus (degu) is the only wild-type South American rodent that develops Alzheimer's-like pathology with age. Here, we evaluated the ability of a natural product (Andrographolide, ANDRO), a diterpene of the labdane family obtained from the Asian plant Andrographis paniculata, to recover the cognitive decline in this long-lived animal model. We administered ANDRO to aged degus (56-month old) for 3 months.

Ontogenetic thermal tolerance and performance of ectotherms at variable temperatures.

Early experience and environmental conditions during ontogeny may affect organismal structure, physiology and fitness. Here, we assessed the effect of developmental acclimation to environmental thermal variability on walking speed in Drosophila melanogaster adults. Our results showed a shift in the performance curve to the right.

On cognitive ecology and the environmental factors that promote Alzheimer disease: lessons from Octodon degus (Rodentia: Octodontidae).

Cognitive ecologist posits that the more efficiently an animal uses information from the biotic and abiotic environment, the more adaptive are its cognitive abilities. Nevertheless, this approach does not test for natural neurodegenerative processes under field or experimental conditions, which may recover animals information processing and decision making and may explain, mechanistically, maladaptive behaviors. Here, we call for integrative approaches to explain the relationship between ultimate and proximate mechanisms behind social behavior.

Role of abscisic acid (ABA) in activating antioxidant tolerance responses to desiccation stress in intertidal seaweed species.

The hormone ABA regulates the oxidative stress state under desiccation in seaweed species; an environmental condition generated during daily tidal changes. Desiccation is one of the most important factors that determine the distribution pattern of intertidal seaweeds. Among most tolerant seaweed is Pyropia orbicularis, which colonizes upper intertidal zones along the Chilean coast.

Identification of proteins involved in desiccation tolerance in the red seaweed Pyropia orbicularis (Rhodophyta, Bangiales).

Extreme reduction in cellular water content leads to desiccation, which, if persistent, affects the physiology of organisms, mainly through oxidative stress. Some organisms are highly tolerant to desiccation, including resurrection plants and certain intertidal seaweeds. One such species is Pyropia orbicularis, a rhodophycean that colonizes upper intertidal zones along the Chilean coast.

The effects of temperature on the gas exchange cycle in Agathemera crassa.

Insects exhibit three patterns of gas exchange: continuous (CoGE), cyclic (CGE) and discontinuous (DGE). In this work, we present the first record of a DGE in Phasmatodea and its transition to CGE and to CoGE through a thermal gradient. The rate of CO2 production (VCO2) at 10, 20 and 30°C was examined in adults of Agathemera crassa, a high-Andean phasmid of central Chile.

Age Progression of Neuropathological Markers in the Brain of the Chilean Rodent Octodon degus, a Natural Model of Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder and the leading cause of age-related dementia worldwide. Several models for AD have been developed to provide information regarding the initial changes that lead to degeneration. Transgenic mouse models recapitulate many, but not all, of the features of AD, most likely because of the high complexity of the pathology.

Dietary effect on immunological energetics in mice.

Defense against natural aggressors, such as bacterial infections, requires both energy and an immune-cellular response. However, the question as to how these two components are interconnected in small endotherms by means of the host diet remains only poorly understood. Here, we tested in laboratory mice whether dietary proteins and carbohydrates can modulate the interplay between energy expenditure, food intake and the innate and adaptive immune response when confronting a bacterial challenge (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin, BCG).