Benjamín Morales-Vela- Dr.
- Senior Researcher at El Colegio de la Frontera Sur
Benjamín Morales-Vela
- Dr.
- Senior Researcher at El Colegio de la Frontera Sur
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70
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Introduction
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January 1995 - November 2015
January 1995 - October 2015
Publications
Publications (70)
El manatí es un mamífero acuático herbívoro en peligro de extinción en México, que habita la vertiente Atlántica de México. La parte baja de las cuencas Grijalva y Usumacinta se ha propuesto como un núcleo importante de distribución y abundancia en México. Con el objetivo de reunir información sobre la presencia de la especie en un mapa basado en l...
Assessing the body condition of wild animals is necessary to monitor the health of the population and is critical to defining a framework for conservation actions. Body condition indices (BCIs) are a non-invasive and relatively simple means to assess the health of individual animals, useful for addressing a wide variety of ecological, behavioral, a...
Observation and Study of the Earth, the Atmosphere and the Ocean, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología-El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (CONACYT-ECOSUR), Av. del Centenario km 5.5, Chetumal, Mexico. Abstract The Mexican Caribbean and Belize are home to one of the largest populations of Caribbean manatees (Trichechus manatus manatus). However, the...
The variation in temperament among animals has consequences for evolution and ecology. One of the primary effects of consistent behavioral differences is on reproduction. In chelonians some authors have focused on the study of temperament using different methods. In our research our first aim was i) establish a methodology to determine the degree o...
Studies on the cognitive abilities of manatees are limited despite their importance for the environmental enrichment and welfare of individuals in captivity and the understanding of manatee behaviour in the wild. Our study analyses how the presence of new stimuli and their association with food may have changed the behaviour of an Antillean manatee...
• This study evaluated management effectiveness in three marine protected areas (MPAs) for conservation of the Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus Linnaeus 1758), located on the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. The MPAs evaluated were the Yum‐Balam Flora and Fauna Reserve, Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve, and Chetumal Bay Mana...
The West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus) is currently divided into two subspecies: the Antillean (T. m. manatus) and Florida manatee (T. m. latirostris). Florida manatees are found at the northern extreme of the species range, primarily inhabiting the waters around the Florida peninsula, while the Antillean manatee inhabits the remaining range...
Possible Spatio-temporal variations in manatee feeding habits in the Mexican Caribbean
The mission of the Sirenia Specialist Group (SSG) is to contribute to increase current knowledge on the status and distribution of Order Sirenia across the entire geographic range of its distri-bution, to identify issues of concern, and to provide recommendations in research and conservation actions to ensure their long-term conservation.
Brief description of unusual regional mortality of manatees in southern Gulf of Mexico
ABSTRACT. Fluvial-lagoon systems like the San Pedro River, a tributary of the Usumacinta River, are important habitats for Antillean
manatees. These systems are characterized by complex watercourses that contain water with high turbidity levels, which have historically
limited manatee studies in hydrological basins on the eastern coast of Mexico. T...
Background:
Low helminth diversity has been reported in West Indian manatees (Trichechus manatus). Most studies were conducted on the Florida sub species T. m. latirostris in subtropical environments, therefore limited information is available for the tropical Antillean subspecies T. m. manatus. In Mexico, there are apparently two population units...
The orphan manatee named Daniel, rescued in 2003, was under human care in the Guerrero lagoon in Chetumal Bay, Mexico. During his second year of life, Daniel started consuming lettuce, several vegetables, and fruits, and this was his diet for several years. Some years later, Daniel was given free access to the lagoon daily, and during these short e...
Understanding the physiological changes in animals during physical activity to improve animal welfare has become increasingly important in animal collections that remain under human care. To date, the effect of interactive programs on dolphins under human care has not been evaluated, for that reason the goal of this research was to evaluate cortiso...
Concentrations of seven metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn) were analyzed in 33 bone tissue samples of Antillean manatees (Trichechus manatus manatus) found dead in lagoons and rivers of Tabasco and Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico and Chetumal Bay in the Caribbean region. The concentrations of Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn were significantly different betw...
Nine observers representing 6 countries (Belize, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua and the United States) conducted the first ever international (transboundary) aerial survey of Antillean manatees in the Caribbean waters of Mexico, Belize and Guatemala, Central America from May 2–10, 2014. Surveys were flown to map distribution and estimate ma...
Recovery planning of threatened species is a complementary approach to establishing protected areas for biodiversity conservation. It is also incorporated into international treaties and the national legislation of several countries. Research and practice have shown that recovery planning is a very challenging task given the complexity of its ecolo...
Diving or respiratory behavior in aquatic mammals can be used as indicator of physiological activity and consequently, to infer behavioral patterns. Five Antillean manatees, Trichechus manatus manatus, were captured in Chetumal Bay and tagged with GPS tracking devices. The radios were equipped with a micropower saltwater sensor (SWS), which records...
Body size determines many physiological and ecological variables; however, there are few studies on this parameter for the Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus). We studied an osteological collection and databases of Antillean manatees in Mexico to infer body measurements and to determine the body mass (BM)/body length (BL) relationship. T...
Los manatíes (Trichechus manatus manatus) son mamíferos herbívoros y de hábitos oportunistas, se alimentan de casi 60 especies de plantas. El objetivo de este trabajo fue identificar los elementos de la dieta del manatí por medio de análisis de heces en dos sitios en México (Jonuta, Tabasco y Bahía de la Ascensión, Quintana Roo) y uno en Belice (So...
Los manatíes (Trichechus manatus manatus) son mamíferos herbívoros y de hábitos oportunistas, se alimentan de casi 60 especies de plantas. El objetivo de este trabajo fue identificar los elementos de la dieta del manatí por medio de análisis de heces en dos sitios en México (Jonuta, Tabasco y Bahía de la Ascensión, Quintana Roo) y uno en Belice (So...
1. The Yucatan Peninsula (YP), Mexico, is a large karstic Neotropical system hosting a highly diverse crustacean fauna related to epigean and subterranean aquatic habitats. There are more than 40 hypogean endemic species, thus qualifying as a subterranean biodiversity hotspot.
2. In view of the relevance of both the YP karstic aquifer and its relat...
Information from 15 satellite-tracked Antillean manatees (Trichechus manatus
manatus) was analyzed in order to assess individual movements, home ranges,
and high-use areas for conservation decisions. Manatees were captured in
Chetumal Bay, Mexico, and tagged with Argos-monitored satellite transmit-
ters. Location of the manatees and physical charac...
ABSTRACT
Manatees (Trichechus manatus manatus) are herbivorous mammals with opportunistic habits that feed on approximately 60 species of plants. The focus of this paper was to identify diet elements of the manatee by fecal analysis in two sites in Mexico (Jonuta, Tabasco and Bahía de la Ascensión, Quintana Roo) and one site in Belize (Southern Lag...
Updated information on the geographic and taxonomic representativeness of mammal specimens deposited in 28 Mexican mammal collections, the Mammal Networked Information System (MaNIS), and the Unidad de Informática para la Biodiversidad (UNIBIO) data bases were compiled in order to analyze and compare the overall current status of the specimens of M...
Los mamíferos de México en las colecciones científicas de Norteamérica
The Antillean manatee (Trichechus manatus manatus) occupies the tropical coastal waters of the Greater Antilles and Caribbean, extending from Mexico along Central and South America to Brazil. Historically, manatees were abundant in Mexico, but hunting during the pre-Columbian period, the Spanish colonization and throughout the history of Mexico, ha...
Chetumal Bay is a refuge for the manatee, Trichechus manatus, a large and strictly herbivorous aquatic mammal. The ecosystem is notoriously poor in subaquatic vegetation, the main components of manatees’ diet. Due to the constant presence of manatees in the bay and their ability to consume large volumes of plant material, it is assumed that the spe...
Behavioural research in endangered manatees is essential for
successful conservation management. We examined the
activities and social interactions of a captive group of Antillean
manatees located in the Dolphin Discovery Park in
Mexico. The group studied was composed of two adults, one
subadult and one calf. We determined activity patterns and
spa...
http://www.revistas.una.ac.cr/index.php/revmar/article/view/5551
The harpacticoid copepod Balaenophilus manatorum (Ortíz, Lalana and Torres, 199216.
Ortíz , M , Lalana , R and Torres-Fundora , O. 1992 . Un nuevo género y una nueva especie de copépodo Harpacticoida asociada al manatí Trichechus manatus en aguas cubanas . Rev Invest Marinas La Habana. , 13 : 117 – 127 . View all references) was originally describe...
Abstract in Spanish: Los manatíes (Trichechus manatus) son totalmente herbívoros y de hábitos oportunistas. Se alimentan de diferentes plantas acuáticas presentes en lugares poco profundos sobre la costa marina, bahías, ríos y lagunas donde ellos habitan. El objetivo del estudio fue identificar la composición de la dieta del manatí Trichechus manat...
Genetic variation at the mitochondrial DNA control region was examined in 33 manatees (Trichechus manatus) from Quintana Roo, Yucatán, Tabasco, Chiapas, Veracruz and Florida and they were compared with those from Florida, the Antillean Islands and Southern America reported by García-Rodríguez et al. (1998) and Vianna et al. (2006). Manatees from th...
Este documento es la referencia más actualizada y completa sobre el estatus de la especie en México, por lo que debe ser el fundamento que oriente la toma de decisiones sobre las actividades de investigación, manejo y conservación llevadas a cabo por los tres niveles de gobierno y los demás sectores de la sociedad.
In Mexico the population of manatees (Trichechus mannatus) is estimated of 1500 animals, the Antillean manatee is Endangered according to the IUCN and listened in the Appendix 1 by CITES (Convention of International trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora). Unfortunately there is very little information about the cause of death of this...
Manatees, as well as other sirenians, are aquatic, opportunistic herbivores. Knowledge of their diet is important to determine habitat requirements. This is the first study of manatee diet in México. Our main objective was to identify the plant species eaten by manatees in Chetumal Bay, and to establish if diet composition varied by climatic season...
El manatí es un mamífero acuático común en las costas de Quintana Roo, México. Su mayor concentración ocurre en la bahía de Chetumal, con una población estimada de 150 individuos, la cual, al parecer, se mantiene estable. Las crías representan en promedio el 7.9 % de esta población, valor que, comparado con otras regiones de su distribución, se con...
The tanaidaceans are among the most conspicuous and ecologically relevant benthic microcrustaceans in the marine realm but there are only a few records of species of tanaids associated with other marine organisms. During a long-term survey on the biology and distribution of the Caribbean manatee Trichechus manatus manatus Linnaeus in Mexican waters...
Abstract The three living species of manatees, West Indian (Trichechus manatus), Amazonian (Trichechus inunguis) and West African (Trichechus senegalensis), are distributed across the shallow tropical and subtropical waters of America and the western coast of Africa. We have sequenced the mitochondrial DNA control region in 330 Trichechus to compar...
The status of manatees along the northern and western coasts of the Yucatan Peninsula is poorly known. The objective of this study was to gather information about the distribution and abundance of manatees in this region. We interviewed local fishermen and authorities along the northern coast of the Peninsula in December 1999 and made three aerial...
The nearshore coastal areas of Belize and of Chetumal Bay, Mexico, support one of the largest populations of manatees (Trichechus manatus manatus) in the Caribbean. In order to further document the distribution, relative abundance, habitat associations, and status of this population, we conducted three aerial surveys. The flights were done in Janua...
To resolve the population genetic structure and phylogeography of the West Indian manatee (Trichechus manatus), mitochondrial (mt) DNA control region sequences were compared among eight locations across the western Atlantic region. Fifteen haplotypes were identified among 86 individuals from Florida, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Col...
Influence of atmospheric variables and water temperature, winds, cloudiness, depth, salinity, grass and algal abundance, and group structure on the spatial distribution of Trichechus manatus manatus was studied in Chetumal Bay, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Boat surveys were done from November 1994 through June 1995. There was little association with cloud...
Influence of atmospheric variables and water temperature, winds, cloudiness, depth, salinity, grass and algal abundance, and group structure on the spatial distribution of Trichechus manatus manatus was studied in Chetumal Bay, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Boat surveys were done from November 1994 through June 1995. There was little association with cloud...
Based on studies of the sea lion carried out on the island of Angel de la Guarda in the Gulf of California during 1986, 1987 and 1988, it has been established that the reproductive season of sea lions is between May and June. The births begin in the third week of May and end in the third week of July. It has been recommended that special captures o...
