Pacific Lowlands Research Articles

Impact of oil palm agriculture on understory amphibians and reptiles: A Mesoamerican perspective

Oil palm plantations expand rapidly in tropical regions, including the Neotropics. This study, quantifies the impact on the herpetofauna of the Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica. Amphibians and reptiles were sampled along transects in forest interior (FI), at forest margins (FM) and in oil palm plantations (OP). While no significant difference in species richness was found between FI and FM, OP were characterized by a strongly impoverished fauna. Total species richness of amphibians and reptiles was reduced to 45.3% and 49.8% compared to FI, respectively. Species assemblages in OP differed from forest habitats and were characterized by disturbance-tolerant species and a severe loss of endemic species. In amphibians, functional diversity declined dramatically towards OP indicating a decrease of their ecological function. The almost complete absence of leaf litter, understory vegetation and woody debris and the more open canopy may be responsible for the depauperate herpetofauna in OP. Enhancing understory vegetation could help making plantations a less hostile environment for some species. Still, those management measures might not be enough to promote forest specialists. Therefore, to maintain a diverse herpetofauna in tropical human-modified landscapes, the protection of any forested habitats such as secondary forests and strips of gallery forests is essential.

Terra e libertà. I liberi di colore in una regione di frontiera (Popayán-Esmeraldas, secoli XVIII-XIX)

By analyzing a number of trials concerning land disputes that took place between the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth, this essay examines how freemen of color accessed property in the Pacific lowlands along the frontier of the Spanish empire, stretching from modern-day Colombia to Ecuador. Characterized by alluvial gold fields, this region was home to a significant population of Africans -both enslaved and free -who had mixed with local indigenous groups, in contrast to the very small presence of whites and the colonial authority. The mines thus became a resource for slaves to acquire freedom and land. In this particular context, the African diaspora communities living in this region considered the appeal to justice for the acknowledgment of their property rights more of a strategy to achieve citizenship, rather than the beginning of a process of ethno-genesis.

Dos décadas de estudio de la diversidad de hormigas en Colombia

The Research Group on the Biology, Ecology, and Management of Ants at the Universidad del Valle has published 60 studies in the last two decades on different Colombian ecosystems, including rural zones, protected areas, crops, and urban areas. Seventy percent of the contributions concentrated in the Andean region, followed by the Pacific, Insular, Amazon and Orinoco regions, each with 7%, and 2% in the Caribbean region. In terms of number of species, the ant diversity recorded reflects areas with greater sampling effort, such as the Pacific lowlands (227 species), the Andean valley of the Cauca river (215 species), the Amazon piedmont in the department of Caqueta (132 species), the Gorgona Natural National Park (129 species), and the Caribbean region (122 species). Studies include some key species of ants due to their rarity, endemism, wide distribution, or invasive behaviour, as well as those classified as indicators of habitats and land uses, diversity, and ecosystem disturbance. Ecosystem services to which various species contribute are also mentioned.

A new fossil species of small crested caracara (Aves: Falconidae:Caracara) from the Pacific lowlands of western South America

Abstract A new species of small crested caracara, Caracara seymouri, from Quaternary asphalt deposits of the Talara Tar Seeps, northwestern Peru, is described from most major elements of the skeleton. Specimens reported in the literature from late Pleistocene deposits at La Carolina, Ecuador, are referred to the same species. These fossils had previously been identified as Polyborus (now Caracara) plancus, but they possess a combination of characters not present in the living species of caracaras, C. plancus or C. cheriway and are from a much smaller and more gracile bird. Caracara seymouri is similar in size to the extinct species C. creightoni from the Bahamas and Cuba but differs in having the skeletal elements less robust, especially the premaxilla. This is the second paleospecies described for the genus Caracara in the Quaternary of South America.

Guerras interétnicas y anticoloniales: “bárbaros” y españoles en las tierras bajas del pacífico, siglos XVI y XVII

Desde la segunda mitad del siglo XVI hasta finales del siglo siguiente loshabitantes tanto indios como españoles de las tierras bajas del Pacífico delas Gobernaciones de Popayán y Antioquia fueron sometidos a largos periodosde guerra. Primero, la presión ejercida por los cristianos desde un largo rosariode ciudades que se extendían desde Pasto hasta la ciudad de Antioquia, provocó que las naciones indias lucharan entre ellas por el control de las tierras, los hombres y el oro. Segundo, la incursión de los españoles desde la cordillera Occidental hacia las tierras bajas conllevó no sólo a la ampliación de la frontera hispana y mestiza, sino también a retrocesos que mantuvo en vilo las comunicaciones entre los centros urbanos y obligó al despoblamiento dealgunas regiones importantes para la geopolítica imperial.

Ethanol from sweet sorghum in a year-round production cycle

Four sweet sorghum varieties, M81E, Sugar Drip, Top 76-6, and Umbrella, were sowed early in the years 2011 and 2012 in two experimental plots located in the Guatemalan Pacific lowlands within the sugarcane-producing region. Three harvests were done, a first cut and two consecutive ratoon crops. Stalk biomass, stalk sugar content, and proportions of individual sugars in the extracted juice were measured. Ethanol production employing simultaneous sugar extraction from stalk particles and fermentation by a commercial yeast strain was carried out in 2011 samples from the first harvest and second ratoon crop. Fresh stalk biomass productivity was the same for the first harvest and the first ratoon crop, but it was dependent on variety and site. The second ratoon crop diminished drastically without exception. Considering only two harvests per year, Top 76-6 had the best overall productivity with a rounded average of 47 Mg/ha/harvest, equivalent to 94 Mg/ha/year, and the higher sugar productivity, equal to 5,285 kg/ha/harvest or approximately 11 Mg/ha/year. Proportions of individual sugars at harvest varied among varieties, sites, and year, and three sample groups were identified by hierarchical clustering. An inverse correlation was found between stalk sugar content and the ratio between hexoses and sucrose at harvest, implying that the smaller the ratio, the higher the sugar content. Ethanol production was between 200 and 250 g/ethanol/kg of dry stem for Sugar Drip, Top 76-6, and Umbrella varieties for first harvest samples. The data for the second ratoon crop was lower for all varieties and sites. Ethanol productivity was higher for Umbrella and Top 76-6 and equal to approximately 2,500 L/ha/harvest.

Nuevo registro y ampliación de distribución geográfica para Agalychnis psilopygion (Anura: Hylidae: Phyllomedusinae) en el Chocó Biogeográfico de Colombia

We report a new locality for Agalychnis psilopygion (Cannatella 1980) in Biological Research Permanent Plot ( PPIB ), located in the center of the department of Choco; all three individuals were found associated with a permanent water body product human intervention in leaves of bushes , sharing habitat with A. spurrelli , A. aff terranova , Hypsiboas pellucens , H. rubracylus, Craugastor fitzingeri, Dendrosophus phleobodes and Lithobates vaillantis . This record extends the geographic range for the species about 190 km from the type locality. The discovery of this species listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora in Appendix II also lacks ecological, biological and phylogenetic relationships in the area of influence of the PPIB in the village of Salero is important in terms of conservation of forests for the preservation of amphibians of the Colombian Pacific lowlands.

Diversification of the Yellow-shouldered bats, Genus Sturnira (Chiroptera, Phyllostomidae), in the New World tropics

The Yellow-shouldered bats, Genus Sturnira, are widespread, diverse, and abundant throughout the Neotropical Region, but little is known of their phylogeny and biogeography. We collected 4409bp of DNA from three mitochondrial (cyt-b, ND2, D-loop) and two nuclear (RAG1, RAG2) sequences from 138 individuals representing all but two recognized species of Sturnira and five other phyllostomid bats used as outgroups. The sequence data were subjected to maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian inference analyses. Results overwhelmingly support the monophyly of the genus Sturnira but not continued recognition of Corvira as a subgenus; the two species (bidens and nana) allocated to that group constitute separate, basal branches on the phylogeny. A total of 21 monophyletic putatively species-level groups were recovered; pairs were separated by an average 7.09% (SD=1.61) pairwise genetic distance in cyt-b, and three of these groups are apparently unnamed. Several well-supported clades are evident, including a complex of seven species formerly confused with S. lilium, a species that is actually limited to the Brazilian Shield. We used four calibration points to construct a time-tree for Sturnira, using BEAST. Sturnira diverged from other stenodermatines in the mid-Miocene, and by the end of that epoch (5.3Ma), three basal lineages were present. Most living species belong to one of two clades, A and B, which appeared and diversified shortly afterwards, during the Pliocene. Both parsimony (DIVA) and likelihood (Lagrange) methods for reconstructing ancestral ranges indicate that the radiation of Sturnira is rooted in the Andes; all three basal lineages (in order, bidens, nana, and aratathomasi) have strictly or mainly Andean distributions. Only later did Sturnira colonize the Pacific lowlands (Chocó) and thence Central America. Sturnira species that are endemic to Central America appeared after the final emergence of the Panamanian landbridge ∼3Ma. Despite its ability to fly and to colonize the Antilles overwater, this genus probably accompanied the “legions” of South American taxa that moved overland during the Great American Biotic Interchange. Its eventual colonization of the Lesser Antilles and the appearance of two endemic lineages there did not take place until the Pleistocene. Because of its continual residence and diversification in South America, Andean assemblages of Sturnira contain both basal and highly derived members of the genus.

From the “Kingdoms of Angola” to Santiago de Guatemala: The Portuguese Asientos and Spanish Central America, 1595–1640

Abstract The evidence presented in this article establishes the era of the major Portuguese asientos (1595–1640) as a key moment in the history of African migration to Spanish Central America. Between 1607 and 1628 alone, Portuguese slave traders made at least 15 voyages from Angola to the Caribbean coast of Central America, landing in most cases “by accident” at the Honduran port of Trujillo while allegedly en route to Veracruz. Many of the West Central Africans carried on these voyages were subsequently marched inland by the same Portuguese merchants to be sold in Santiago de Guatemala, capital of the Audiencia of Guatemala. Their final destinations were often rural properties located in or near the Pacific lowlands of modern-day Guatemala and El Salvador, where the largest sugar and indigo plantations counted dozens of Angolans among their enslaved workers. A decided majority of these involuntary migrants were young men, most no doubt having departed from Luanda following misfortune in the wars that, with a good deal of Portuguese encouragement, wracked their homelands after 1575. Their migration experiences testify to a significant shift in the point of origin of Africans brought to Central America away from Senegambia and neighboring regions of West Africa, birthplace of the majority of Africans transported to Central America prior to 1595. The later-arriving and larger West Central African workforce played a more important role than heretofore understood in satisfying the demands for labor that arose in the early seventeenth century as commercial agriculture briefly boomed amid persistent indigenous population decline.

Low retinol levels virtually undetected in coastal Guatemala: Findings from a convenience sample of women and schoolchildren

BackgroundGuatemala was the first nation ever to mandate fortification of granulated table sugar with vitamin A. Norms specify a concentration of from 10 to 20 mg of retinol as retinyl palmitate per kg of sugar. The program has been in continuous operation since 1987.ObjectiveTo assess vitamin A status with circulating retinol concentration in a convenience sample of women and children from coastal plain of Guatemala.MethodsPlasma samples were collected from 157 adult women and 134 schoolchildren from among 12 rural communities in the sugarcane‐growing Pacific lowlands of Guatemala. Retinol concentration was determined by high precision liquid chomatography at INCAP, and values were expressed in μg/dL.ResultsThe global median retinol concentration was 52 μg/dL. The mean retinol concentration of 63±23 μg/dL for women was significantly higher than the 46±14 μg/dL in children (p<0.001). The overall distribution of retinol concentration values was: <20 μg/dL, 0%; 20–29 μg/dL, 3%; 30–49 μg/dL, 44%; 50–69 μg/dL, 37%; 70–89 μg/dL, 11%; >;90 μg/dL, 5%.ConclusionRetinol concentration in the deficient (<20 μg/dL) and low (20–29 μg/dL) ranges were virtually undetected in coastal Guatemala, related, in part, we propose to the national sugar fortification program.Funded by Cabcorp, Guatemala and the Hildegard Grunow Foundation, Munich

A new species of Andean poison frog, Andinobates (Anura: Dendrobatidae), from the northwestern Andes of Colombia

The poison frogs of the Colombian Andes, Pacific lowlands and Panama have been recently recognized as a new, monophyletic and well-supported genus: Andinobates. The species richness and distribution within Andinobates remain poorly understood due to the paucity of geographic, genetic and phenotypic data. Here we use a combination of molecular, bioacoustic and morphometric evidence to describe a new species of Andean poison frog: Andinobates cassidyhornae sp. nov. from the high elevation cloud forests of the Colombian Cordillera Occidental, in the northwestern Andes. The new species is associated to the bombetes group and characterized by a unique combination of ventral and dorsal color patterns. Data on 1119 bp from two mitochondrial markers allowed us to reject the null hypotheses that A. cassidyhornae sp. nov. is part of the phenotypically similar and geographically less distant species: A. opisthomelas, A. virolinensis or A. bombetes. The best available phylogenetic trees and the genetic distance to other Andinobates species further support this decision. Altogether, the advertisement call parameters unambiguously separated A. cassidyhornae sp. nov. calls from the calls of the three closest species. The new species adds to a poorly known and highly endangered genus of poison frogs that requires further studies and urgent conservation measures.

Impact of the 2010–2011 La Niña phenomenon in Colombia, South America: The human toll of an extreme weather event

The 2010–2011 La Niña (positive phase of El Niño) phenomenon affected four million Colombians, ∼9% of the total population, and caused economic losses of approximately US $7.8 billion, related to destruction of infrastructure, flooding of agricultural lands and payment of government subsidies. We analyzed the spatial patterns of effects on the population, measured as the number of affected persons in each municipality normalized to the total municipal population for 2011, using global (Moran's I index) and local (LISA) spatial autocorrelation indicators, and multiple regression analyses (OLS and ML spatial error model). The spatial autocorrelation analysis revealed two regional clusters or “hotspots” with high autocorrelation values, in the lower Magdalena River Valley (Caribbean plains) and lower Atrato Valley (Pacific lowlands). The regression analyses emphasized the importance of the spatial component as well as the variables related to hazard exposure and social vulnerability. Municipalities in “hotspots” show: (1) a high degree of flooding, as they are located on the Magdalena and Atrato River floodplains, and (2) high social vulnerability, suggested by low values of the ICV (national living conditions index).

Microhabitats for Oviposition and Male Clutch Attendance in Hyalinobatrachium aureoguttatum (Anura: Centrolenidae)

In this study we describe for the first time aspects of the reproductive ecology and behavior of a population of Hyalinobatrachium aureoguttatum located in the Colombian Pacific lowlands. Males vocalize and attend clutches from the underside of leaves overhanging the streams. Males showed high fidelity to their territory; each male repeatedly uses the same leaf for perching, calling, mating, and clutch attendance. There were no significant differences in the environmental variables registered for the microhabitats where males were located with or without clutches, with one or multiple clutches, or between successful or unsuccessful clutches, which suggest that the analyzed variables are not important for the obtention of the clutches and their success. Males were found grouped in the study area at distances varying between 0.3–0.5 m; thus, more than one male can be observed occupying other leaves in the same plant. Fights or aggressive behaviors were not observed in intrusion events by co-specific males in the territory of the resident males; however, we registered a series of movements that resulted in moving the intruder further away. Females almost immediately abandoned the clutches after oviposition, whereas most of the time, at day and night, males stayed near, touching or sitting on one to five egg clutches during most of their embryonic development. This brooding behavior also included hydration, cleaning, and defense of the eggs. Arthropod predation was observed in both attended and abandoned egg clutches; however, in one observation, the behavior of the male moved the predator away and saved the clutch. These observations and the finding of abandoned clutches that did not complete their development suggest that male parental care increases embryo survival and, as a result, his reproductive success.

Two new species of Euglossa from South America, with notes on their taxonomic affinities (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

Two new species of the genus Euglossa Latreille, subgenus Glossurella Dressler are here presented. Euglossa (Glossurella) embera sp. n., from the Pacific lowlands of Colombia, and Euglossa (Glossurella) adiastola sp. n., from the Atlantic Forest of Brazil. Their taxonomic association and distinction are discussed, as well as the correct understanding of the subgenus Glossurella.

Rediscovery ofAtractus microrhynchusand Reappraisal of the Taxonomic Status ofA. emersoniandA. natans(Serpentes: Dipsadidae)

Abstract The species Rhabdosoma microrhynchum (now Atractus microrhynchus) was originally described based on a single specimen collected by the Orton Expedition at “Guayaquil,” in the Guayas province on the Pacific coast of Ecuador. The holotype is currently lost and all specimens previously referred to this species were misidentified on the basis of material from Peruvian Amazonia. While examining museum collections and conducting fieldwork in the Pacific lowlands of Ecuador and Peru, we found specimens assignable to A. microrhynchus. In this study, we report the morphological variation in these new specimens of A. microrhynchus and evaluate the taxonomic status of the Amazonian species previously confused with it. We restrict the concept of A. microrhynchus to the Pacific lowland populations from Ecuador and Peru, and we designate a neotype for the species. Based on the examination of the types of A. emersoni and A. natans from Amazonia, we found that there is wide overlap in the internal and external c...

Symphimus leucostomus Cope, 1869 (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae): distribution extension in the Pacific lowlands of Oaxaca, Mexico

An adult Symphimus leucostomus Cope, 1869, was found 2 km N of the village La Cofradía, in the Municipality of San Pedro Mixtepec, state of Oaxaca, México. This record represents the southernmost location of the species, and fills a gap between reported localities in southeastern Oaxaca in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and the mouth of the Balsas River in the state of Michoacán.

Human induced discharge diversion in a tropical delta and its environmental implications: The Patía River, Colombia

Summary The Patia River, the number one in terms of sediment yield ∼1500 t km −2 yr −1 draining the western South America, has the most extensive and well developed delta on the Pacific coast, measuring 1700 km 2 . During the Holocene, nature forced the Patia delta to the south; however, a major water diversion, starting in 1972, diverted the Patia flow to the Sanguianga River, the latter, a small stream draining internal lakes from the Pacific lowlands. This human induced discharge diversion shifted the active delta plain back to the north and changed the northern estuarine system into an active delta plain. Overall, major environmental consequences of this discharge diversion in terms of morphological changes along the delta coast and distributary channels, are evidenced by: (1) coastal retreat along the abandoned delta lobe; 63% of the southern shoreline is retreating at maximum rates of 7 m yr −1 , with a corresponding coastal land loss of 106 m yr −1 ; (2) transgressive barrier islands with exposed peat soils in the surf zone; (3) abandonment of former active distributaries in the southern delta plain with associated closing of inlets and formation of ebb tidal deltas; (4) breaching events on barrier islands; and (5) distributary channel accretion in the northern delta plain by morphological processes such as sedimentation (also in crevasses), overbank flow, increasing width of levees, interdistributary channel fill, and colonization of pioneer mangrove. The Sanguianga Mangrove National Park (SMNP), the largest mangrove reserve in Colombia, measuring 800 km 2 , lies in this former estuary, where major hydrologic and sedimentation changes are occurring. Observed environmental changes in the SMNP, include (1) seaward advance of the sub-aqueous delta front at the Sanquianga inlet evidenced by an increase in tidal flat area from 5.4 Mm 2 in 1986 to 14 Mm 2 in 2001; (2) freshening conditions in the Sanguianga distributary channel, a hydrologic change that has shifted the upper estuarine region (salinity −1 for the 1984–2006 yr-period, after the devastating tsunami of 1979. In the Patia catchment, erosion rates have been more pronounced during the 1970–1980 and 1990–2000 decades, as a result of land degradation and deforestation. Preliminary results indicate that relative resent anthropogenic influences on the Patia River drainage basin have altered the deltaic environment and beyond significantly.

<p class="HeadingRunIn"><strong>A new <em>Trichosalpinx</em> (Orchidaceae: Pleurothallidinae) from the northern Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica</strong></p>

A new species of Trichosalpinx from the Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica is described and illustrated. Trichosalpinx reflexa, which is morphologically most similar to T. memor and T. ciliaris, is distinguished mainly by the narrow elliptical leaves, the glabrous sepals and the reflexed synsepal. Information about distribution, habitat and phenology of the new species is also provided.

Black and Green: Afro-Colombians, Development, and Nature in the Pacific Lowlands by Kiran Asher

Black and Green: Afro-Colombians, Development, and Nature in the Pacific Lowlands by Kiran Asher

The potential value of agroforestry to dung beetle diversity in the wet tropical forests of the Pacific lowlands of Colombia

In tropical regions where agricultural activities are limited, agroforestry is an alternative for both economic development and for the management and conservation of biodiversity. The potential role of different types of land use as reservoirs of dung beetle diversity in the wet tropical forest of the Pacific lowlands of Colombia is evaluated in three agroforestry systems that differ in canopy cover and the sowing density of Borojoa patinoi crops associated with timber forest. Although total species richness was similar among land use types, differences related to the decrease in the abundance and biomass of the species were remarkable, and reflected in turn by the diversity and structure of the guilds. The general pattern observed was one in which the structure of the dung beetle assemblage of B. patinoi growing below a diversified and permanent tree cover was similar to that of the primary and secondary forest. Beetle diversity in management systems with less tree cover or a high sowing density of B. patinoi was lower and very similar to that of abandoned agricultural fields. This suggests that B. patinoi agroforestry systems can be viewed as valuable instruments for biodiversity management and conservation in the wet tropical forests of the Pacific lowlands and not just as substitutes for forest, though we must be aware that structural changes in the beetle community may in turn affect the ecological processes regulated by these insects in the agrosystems under study.