scholarly journals The vulnerability of leaflitter ants to forest disturbances in the island of Puerto Rico, Greater Antilles

2019 ◽  
pp. 74-91
Author(s):  
Miguel A. García
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Exotic Species ◽  
Greater Antilles ◽  
Native Forest ◽  
Forest Disturbances ◽  
Island Ecosystems ◽  
Main Hypothesis ◽  
Habitat Changes ◽  
Species Invasions ◽  
Exotic Plantations

Reduced biodiversity and high number of endemics characterize island ecosystems. Island natives and endemics are considered more vulnerable than continental species to exotic species invasions and habitat changes. The effect of replacing a native forest by an exotic wood plantation was studied on the assemblage of native and endemic ant species. The main hypothesis was that endemic and native ant species were more vulnerable to habitat changes than the exotic ant species. Nevertheless, it was found that native ants were more numerous and specious in both native and exotic plantations. Also, high numbers of two endemic ants were detected within exotic plantations, while only one exotic ant Hypoponera opacipeps was relatively abundant, particularly on native forest. In conclusion, exotic ant species did not dominate the communities studied nor the native and endemic ant assemblages seemed to be affected negatively by the forest replacement.

scholarly journals Bixa orellana (annatto).

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Ventosa
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Exotic Species ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Virgin Islands ◽  
Greater Antilles ◽  
Bixa Orellana ◽  
Small Tree ◽  
Tropical Africa ◽  
East Indies

Abstract B. orellana is a shrub or small tree which was one of the first American plants to be introduced into southern Asia and tropical Africa and soon became naturalized in these areas and in the East Indies (Morton, 1960). It is recognized as an exotic species in the Lesser and Greater Antilles. In Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands it is considered to be naturalized (Acevedo-Rodríguez and Strong 2012). It is listed as invasive principally on Pacific islands, although a risk assessment considers it as low risk in the region (PIER, 2015).

scholarly journals Native forest replacement by exotic plantations in southern Chile (1985–2011) and partial compensation by natural regeneration

2015 ◽  
Vol 345 ◽  
pp. 10-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Zamorano-Elgueta ◽  
José María Rey Benayas ◽  
Luis Cayuela ◽  
Stijn Hantson ◽  
Dolors Armenteras
Keyword(s):  
Natural Regeneration ◽  
Native Forest ◽  
Southern Chile ◽  
Exotic Plantations ◽  
Partial Compensation

scholarly journals Understanding the Urgent Need for Subtitling for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in the Spanish-Speaking Greater Antilles

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrián Fuentes-Luque ◽  
Pabsi Livmar González-Irizarry
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Dominican Republic ◽  
Hard Of Hearing ◽  
Greater Antilles ◽  
Social Barriers ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
Current State ◽  
The World ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Caribbean

Even though Audiovisual Translation (AVT) is growing and flourishing throughout the world, it is practically unheard-of in the Caribbean, where accessibility faces an even bleaker existence. The circumstances of the deaf and hard of hearing (also referred to as D/deaf) are no less alarming: social barriers and exclusion are widespread. This paper emphasizes the need to make subtitles accessible in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, specifically on the islands of Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, and underscores the challenges faced by the D/deaf communities on each island. Our research focuses on issues like AVT laws and regulations, the habits of viewers of audiovisual (AV) products, and literacy and limitations on each island. This paper also examines the different types of D/deaf audiovisual consumers in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean and the difficulties each community faces when accessing media and entertainment. Our research reveals the current state of AVT accessibility in this region and provides a foundation for influencing legislators to begin enforcing AVT regulations and drafting SDH guidelines.

scholarly journals The earliest record of Caribbean frogs: a fossil coquí from Puerto Rico

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 20190947 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Blackburn ◽  
Rachel M. Keeffe ◽  
María C. Vallejo-Pareja ◽  
Jorge Vélez-Juarbe
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Indirect Evidence ◽  
Distal Humerus ◽  
Greater Antilles ◽  
Terrestrial Vertebrates ◽  
Early Arrival ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Molecular Phylogenies ◽  
Additional Support

The nearly 200 species of direct-developing frogs in the genus Eleutherodactylus (the Caribbean landfrogs, which include the coquís) comprise an important lineage for understanding the evolution and historical biogeography of the Caribbean. Time-calibrated molecular phylogenies provide indirect evidence for the processes that shaped the modern anuran fauna, but there is little direct evidence from the fossil record of Caribbean frogs about their distributions in the past. We report a distal humerus of a frog from the Oligocene (approx. 29 Ma) of Puerto Rico that represents the earliest known fossil frog from any Caribbean island. Based on its prominent rounded distal humeral head, distally projecting entepicondyle, and reduced ectepicondyle, we refer it to the genus Eleutherodactylus . This fossil provides additional support for an early arrival of some groups of terrestrial vertebrates to the Greater Antilles and corroborates previous estimates based on molecular phylogenies suggesting that this diverse Caribbean lineage was present in the islands by the mid-Cenozoic.

The Pre-Arawak Pottery Horizon in the Antilles: A New Approximation

2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reniel Rodríguez Ramos ◽  
Elvis Babilonia ◽  
L. Antonio Curet ◽  
Jorge Ulloa
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Lesser Antilles ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Divergent Evolution ◽  
Greater Antilles ◽  
The Social ◽  
Early Ceramic ◽  
Early Pottery

Pottery in contexts that predate the entrance of Arawak societies to the Antilles (500 B.C.) by at least one millennium demand a reassessment of the introduction of this technology to the islands. We summarize the available evidence of what we term the Pre-Arawak Pottery horizon and address the social implications of the introduction of such technology to the insular Caribbean, based on the role of pots as tools. We show that this early pottery is more widespread than originally thought, extending from Cuba to Hispanola and perhaps to Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles as well. We argue that the paucity of early ceramic contexts discovered thus far could have resulted from the consideration of pottery as intrusive in Pre-Arawak contexts and because of its technological and stylistic overlap with wares associated to the Ostionoid series (A.D. 600-1500) of the Greater Antilles. Based on this evidence, we conclude by suggesting that some of the post-Saladoid manifestations that have been identified in the islands could have resulted from a multifocal development of these pre-Arawak cultures rather than simply from the divergent evolution of Saladoid societies as has been argued thus far.

scholarly journals Local Annual Survival and Seasonal Residency Rates of Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris Pusilla) in Puerto Rico

The Auk ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 1397-1406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan M. Rice ◽  
Jaime A. Collazo ◽  
Mathew W. Alldredge ◽  
Brian A. Harrington ◽  
Allen R. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Length Of Stay ◽  
Differential Mortality ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
Greater Antilles ◽  
Annual Survival ◽  
Salt Flats ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Calidris Pusilla ◽  
Semipalmated Sandpipers

Abstract We report seasonal residency and local annual survival rates of migratory Semipalmated Sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) at the Cabo Rojo salt flats, Puerto Rico. Residency rate (daily probability of remaining on the flats) was 0.991 ± 0.001 (x̄ ± SE), yielding a mean length of stay of 110 days. This finding supports the inclusion of the Caribbean as part of the species' winter range. Average estimated percentage of fat was low but increased throughout the season, which suggests that birds replenish some spent fat reserves and strive for energetic maintenance. Local annual survival rate was 0.62 ± 0.04, within the range of values reported for breeding populations at Manitoba and Alaska (0.53–0.76). The similarity was not unexpected because estimates were obtained annually but at opposite sites of their annual migratory movements. Birds captured at the salt flats appeared to be a mix of birds from various parts of the breeding range, judging from morphology (culmen's coefficient of variation = 9.1, n = 106). This suggested that origin (breeding area) of birds and their proportion in the data should be ascertained and accounted for in analyses to glean the full conservation implications of winter-based annual survival estimates. Those data are needed to unravel the possibility that individuals of distinct populations are affected by differential mortality factors across different migratory routes. Mean length of stay strongly suggested that habitat quality at the salt flats was high. Rainfall and tidal flow combine to increase food availability during fall. The salt flats dry up gradually toward late January, at the onset of the dry season. Semipalmated Sandpipers may move west to other Greater Antilles or south to sites such as coastal Surinam until the onset of spring migration. They are not an oversummering species at the salt flats. Conservation efforts in the Caribbean region require understanding the dynamics of this species throughout winter to protect essential habitat. Tasas de Supervivencia Anual Local y de Residencia Estacional de Calidris pusilla en Puerto Rico

scholarly journals Invasibility and Recoverability of a Native Plant Community Following Invasion Depend on its Successional Stages

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongwei Xu ◽  
Zemin Ai ◽  
Qing Qu ◽  
Minggang Wang ◽  
Guobin Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Exotic Species ◽  
Soil Nutrients ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Panicum Virgatum ◽  
Native Plant ◽  
Bothriochloa Ischaemum ◽  
Poor Growth ◽  
Species Invasions ◽  
Successional Species ◽  
Microbial Residues

Abstract Background: Exotic species invasions represent important causes of biodiversity loss in ecosystems. Yet, knowledge remains limited on the invasion advantage of exotic species (invasibility of native plants) and the ability of native species to recover following invasions at different stages of succession.Results: We selected three grasses (Setaria viridis, Artemisia gmelinii, and Bothriochloa ischaemum) representing early, middle, and late successional species, respectively, and an exotic species (Panicum virgatum) from a stable grassland community. Four types of field soil were collected to treat the three early, middle, and later successional species, plus the exotic species. We examined the invasion ability of the exotic species on native communities and the recoverability of these communities following invasion across succession. We compared the performance of the four plant species grown in their “own” and “other” soils in a 2-year glasshouse experiment. Here we show that exotic species performed better in soils of early and mid-successional species, owing to higher soil nutrients and microbial residues, than in the soil of later successional species. In the soil of exotic species, early and mid-successional species exhibited poor growth, while that of later successional species was unchanged.Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that soil nutrients and microbial residues create a soil legacy regulating the invasibility and recoverability (or resilience) of native plant communities and how it changed with vegetation succession.

scholarly journals Economic costs of biological invasions within North America

NeoBiota ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 67 ◽  
pp. 485-510
Author(s):  
Robert Crystal-Ornelas ◽  
Emma J. Hudgins ◽  
Ross N. Cuthbert ◽  
Phillip J. Haubrock ◽  
Jean Fantle-Lepczyk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Invasive Species ◽  
North America ◽  
North American ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
The United States ◽  
Greater Antilles ◽  
Economic Costs ◽  
The North ◽  
Species Invasions ◽  
American Economy

Invasive species can have severe impacts on ecosystems, economies, and human health. Though the economic impacts of invasions provide important foundations for management and policy, up-to-date syntheses of these impacts are lacking. To produce the most comprehensive estimate of invasive species costs within North America (including the Greater Antilles) to date, we synthesized economic impact data from the recently published InvaCost database. Here, we report that invasions have cost the North American economy at least US$ 1.26 trillion between 1960 and 2017. Economic costs have climbed over recent decades, averaging US$ 2 billion per year in the early 1960s to over US$ 26 billion per year in the 2010s. Of the countries within North America, the United States (US) had the highest recorded costs, even after controlling for research effort within each country ($5.81 billion per cost source in the US). Of the taxa and habitats that could be classified in our database, invasive vertebrates were associated with the greatest costs, with terrestrial habitats incurring the highest monetary impacts. In particular, invasive species cumulatively (from 1960–2017) cost the agriculture and forestry sectors US$ 527.07 billion and US$ 34.93 billion, respectively. Reporting issues (e.g., data quality or taxonomic granularity) prevented us from synthesizing data from all available studies. Furthermore, very few of the known invasive species in North America had reported economic costs. Therefore, while the costs to the North American economy are massive, our US$ 1.26 trillion estimate is likely very conservative. Accordingly, expanded and more rigorous economic cost reports are necessary to provide more comprehensive invasion impact estimates, and then support data-based management decisions and actions towards species invasions.

scholarly journals Confirmation of Polygyra cereolus (Gastropoda: Polygyridae) in Puerto Rico, Greater Antilles

2020 ◽  
pp. 159-163
Author(s):  
Laurent Charles ◽  
Arnaud Lenoble
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Invasive Species ◽  
Puerto Rico ◽  
Arabian Peninsula ◽  
The United States ◽  
Wide Area ◽  
Greater Antilles ◽  
The South ◽  
Air Breathing ◽  
Caribbean Islands

Polygyra cereolus (Megerle von Mühlfeld, 1816) is a small air-breathing snail originating in Florida, which is considered as an invasive species and is reported from a wide area in the south of the United States to Mexico and in some in some Caribbean Islands, Hawaii, Spain and the Arabian peninsula. Here we report the observation of this species in Puerto Rico.

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