Browsing by Author "Pelegrin, Jonathan S."
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Item Citizen Science and Multimedia Didactic Resources: Knowledge of Mosquito-Borne Diseases in an Urban Area of Southwestern Colombia(MDPI, 2024) Bedoya Rodriguez, Francisco Javier; Guevara Fletcher, Carlos Eduardo; Pelegrin, Jonathan S.Citizen science resources have had great relevance in community educational intervention, fostering interest in ecological research projects. This study investigated the influence of the application of multimedia didactic resources focused on citizen science and analysis of sociodemographic variables to improve the levels of ecological knowledge about mosquito-borne diseases. For this, a probabilistic sample of 172 participants from an urban sector in southwestern Colombia was selected. A multimedia didactic material was designed for the educational intervention and evaluated by means of pretest and posttest. To assess whether the educational intervention was statistically significant, the data were processed with statistical inference to determine the influence of various variables (gender, age, marital status, schooling, and occupation) on each person’s ecological knowledge. The findings showed a significant increase in the knowledge levels of the participants. The marital status variable (married and cohabiting) significantly influenced ecological knowledge. These participants are more likely to obtain high knowledge, associated with the prevention of their family environment. This study demonstrated that multimedia didactic strategies are an important factor to take into account in the structuring of environmental education and citizen science projects. For future research, it is suggested to deepen the relationship between sociodemographic variables and ecological knowledge.Item Knowledge in Regard to Environmental Problems among University Students in Cali, Colombia(2023-11) Quijano, Silvia A.; Cerón, Victor Alfonso; Guevera-Fletcher, Carlos Eduardo; Bermúdez, Iván Mauricio; Gutiérrez, César Augusto; Pelegrin, Jonathan S.The purpose of this research was to understand the level of environmental knowledge among students at Santiago de Cali University (USC) and to evaluate the differences found based on school, gender, and age groups. To gather data, a survey that included sociodemographic information, aspects of environmental knowledge, actions aimed at mitigating environmental problems, and environmental awareness was administered to 268 students at USC in the year 2017. We conducted an online survey of 268 students in the year 2017 by means of a questionnaire that included 18 questions with sociodemographic information, aspects of environmental knowledge, actions aimed at mitigating environmental problems, and environmental awareness campaigns conducted at USC. Additionally, we conducted an analysis to assess how gender, age groups, and academic training influence the scores of the constructed indicators: General Index of Environmental Knowledge (GI), Identification of Environmental Problems (EP), Solutions to Environmental Problems (SP), and Knowledge of Environmental Campaigns (EC). Statistical tests (i.e., Mann–Whitney U test, Chi-square test of independence, Pearson’s coefficients correlation) were used to analyze the data. Through this study, we concluded that although no significant differences were found in environmental knowledge and actions to mitigate environmental problems between genders, age groups, and schools, there were important implications observed in these categories concerning the variables analyzed. In addition, positive correlations were found between the indicators GI and SP, both globally and at the level of each gender, age group, and in some schools, which shows that with greater knowledge of environmental problems, there is greater recognition of solutions.Item Late Pleistocene biota from Pubenza, Colombia; turtles, mammals, birds, invertebrates and plant remains(2021) Alfonso Rojas, Andrés; Herrera Gutierrez, Laura M.; Suárez, Catalina; Ciancio, Martín R.; Pelegrin, Jonathan S.; Cadena, Edwin AlbertoPubenza is a remarkable palaeontological site of Colombia, and a place that could hold some of the potentially oldest evidence of humans in northern South America. Previous palaeontological research at this site has mainly focused on the megafauna. Here we describe and establish the systematic palaeontology for the small fauna that inhabited this ancient lacustrine ecosystem, including the first report of birds, tortoises and vipers for the Late Pleistocene in Colombia. Furthermore, exceptionally well preserved fossilised wasp nests are morphologically and elementally characterised, which is the first report of an ichnofossil of this kind in northern South America. In addition, new material of kinosternid turtles, armadillos and rodents is also described. Our results reveal that the Bogotá River Basin, where Pubenza is located, was a rich ecosystem during the Late Pleistocene and a region of great interest for future articulated palaeontological and archaeological studiesItem Macroevolutionary processes in turtles (Testudines): a view from biomic specialization and historical climatic changes(Frontiers Media SA, 2024) Thomas, Juan S.; Gamboa, Sara; Hernández Fernández, Manuel; Murillo, Oscar; Pelegrin, Jonathan S.The resource-use hypothesis proposed by Elisabeth S. Vrba suggests that lineages display varying tendencies toward generalism or specialization in biome occupancy, with a tendency towards the accumulation of specialists due to their higher rate of speciation through vicariance. It also posits differences in biome occupancy patterns driven by the environmental characteristics of biomes, with a higher presence of biome specialist species in biomes that are placed in the extremes of the global climatic gradients. Here, we tested this hypothesis in turtles, a very ancient and morphologically stable lineage, representing a remarkable diversity with 357 species, many of which are threatened with extinction. We analyzed the resource-use hypothesis in a phylogenetic context within the Testudines lineage. For this purpose, a presence/absence matrix was compiled for all species across all 10 terrestrial biomes. Their distribution across biomes was contrasted with 10,000 Monte Carlo simulations. The relationship between diversification rates and both the biomic specialization index and the biomes occupied by specialists species was evaluated. The results demonstrate strong consistency with Vrba`s hypothesis, revealing a higher number of biome specialist species than expected by chance, with a significant accumulation of species in tropical ecosystems. These trends also were observed for ecological groups (terrestrial and freshwater species). In addition, higher diversification rates were observed for biome specialist species, although the particular biome occupied did not significantly influence their diversification rates.Item Phylogenetic biome conservatism as a key concept for an integrative understanding of evolutionary history: Galliformes and Falconiformes as study cases(2023-05-01) Pelegrin, Jonathan S.; Cantalapiedra, Juan L.; Gamboa, Sara; Menéndez, Iris; Fernández, Manuel HernándezBiomes are climatically and biotically distinctive macroecological units that formed over geological time scales. Their features consolidate them as ‘evolutionary scenarios’, with their own diversification dynamics. Under the concept of phylogenetic niche conservatism, we assessed, for the first time, the evolution of biome occupation in birds. We aimed to analyse patterns of adaptation to different climatic regimes and the determinant factors for colonization of emerging biomes by clades from different ancestral biomes. In this work, we reconstructed the biome occupation history of two clades of birds (Galliformes and Falconiformes) under an integrative perspective through a comprehensive review of ecological, phylogenetic, palaeontological and biogeographical evidence. Our findings for both groups are consistent with a scenario of phylogenetic biome conservatism and highlight the importance of changes in climate during the Miocene in the adaptation and evolution of climatic niches. In particular, our results indicate high biome conservatism associated with biomes situated in some of the extremes of the global climate gradient (evergreen tropical rainforest, steppe and tundra) for both bird taxa. Finally, the historical dynamics of tropical seasonal biomes, such as tropical deciduous woodlands and savannas, appear to have played a preponderant role during the diversification processes of these bird lineages.Item REPORT ON MANDIBULAR REMAINS OF NOTIOMASTODON PLATENSIS (MAMMALIA, PROBOSCIDEA) AND REVIEW OF ITS FOSSIL RECORD IN THE PALEOECOLOGICAL CONTEXT OF VALLE DEL CAUCA, COLOMBIA(Sociedade Brasileira de Paleontologia, 2022-04-12) Pelegrin, Jonathan S.; Quijano, Silvia A.; Belalcázar, Leonardo; Benavides Herrán, Alberto; Escobar Flórez, Sebastián; Mothé, Dimila; Santos Avilla, Leonardo DosThe Proboscidea were very prominent in South American ecosystems during the Pleistocene and part of the Holocene. Specifically, in Valle del Cauca (Colombia), fossils of these large mammals have been found, reflecting an abundant presence in the region. In this work, a mandibular fragment with a complete last molar (m3) is reported, found near the bed of the Cauca River, in the Juanchito municipality of Santiago de Cali. According to the morphological features of the specimen, it is proposed that the remains belong to the proboscidean Notiomastodon platensis. This study emphasizes the large geographical distribution of this proboscidean in South America, including the Valle del Cauca, and provides new information on its presence in Colombia. In a paleoecological context, this work supports a generalist condition based on the use of food resources associated with the tropical dry forest during the processes of glacial and interglacial fluctuation that this type of ecosystem experienced during the Pleistocene epoch and that led to various changes in habitat aridity, fragmentation, and heterogeneity.Item The first terror bird of Colombia: a giant rewriting the paleoecology and palaeobiogeography of La Venta Miocene(Colombian Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences, 2024) Pelegrin, Jonathan S.Item Trophic Niche Breadth of Falconidae Species Predicts Biomic Specialisation but Not Range Size(MDPI, 2022-04) Fargallo, Juan A.; Navarro López, Juan; Cantalapiedra, Juan L.; Pelegrin, Jonathan S.; Fernández Hernández, ManuelTrophic niche breadth plays a key role in biogeographic distribution patterns. Theory posits that generalist strategies are favoured in a more heterogeneous set of environments across a spatio-temporal gradient of resources predictability, conferring individuals and species a greater capacity for colonising new habitats and thus expanding their distribution area. Using the family Falconidae (Aves, Falconiformes) as a model study, we tested the prediction that those species with a wider diet spectrum will have larger geographic range sizes and inhabit more biomes. We assessed the relationships between trophic breadth (diet richness and diversity) at different taxonomic resolutions of the prey (class and order), range size and biomic specialisation index (BSI; number of biomes inhabited) for the different species. Despite different diet breadth indexes and taxonomic resolutions defined differently the trophic niche of the clade and species, our findings revealed that trophic breadth was not a good predictor for range size but was for total environmental heterogeneity, with more diet-generalist species occupying a higher number of biomes. Diet breadth at the order taxonomic level showed a higher capacity of predicting BSI than at class level, and can be an important ecological trait explaining biogeographic patterns of the species. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.