Danny Rojas

• Pontificia Universidad Javeriana - Cali

The genus Caenolestes is the most species-rich of the marsupial order Paucituberculata. Two species inhabit Colombia (and also occur in Ecuador) with a discontinuous distribution that has not been accounted for in previous studies—Caenolestes fuliginosus known from the Central and Eastern Andes, and C. convelatus restricted to the Western Andes. He...

Aim The climatic niche is associated with diversification in many groups of animals and plants. However, the relationships between climatic‐niche breadth evolution, climatic‐niche position evolution, and speciation remain underexplored. It is particularly unclear whether changes in climatic‐niche breadth are related to diversification. We tested tw...

Climate change will impact environments globally. These changes, however, can affect species or regions differently. The upward limitation of high-mountain species suggests these are especially prone to the effects of climate change. We assess the impact of future climate scenarios on high-mountain species' suitable climatic niches. We gathered 135...

How traits affect speciation is a long-standing question in evolution. We investigate whether speciation rates are affected by the traits themselves or by the rates of their evolution, in hummingbirds, a clade with great variation in speciation rates, morphology and ecological niches. Further, we test two opposing hypotheses, postulating that speci...

Horizontal transfer of transposable elements is an important mechanism contributing to genetic diversity and innovation. Bats (order Chiroptera) have repeatedly been shown to experience horizontal transfer of transposable elements at what appears to be a high rate compared to other mammals. We investigated the occurrence of horizontally transferred...

Horizontal transfer of transposable elements is an important mechanism contributing to genetic diversity and innovation. Bats (order Chiroptera) have repeatedly been shown to experience horizontal transfer of transposable elements at what appears to be a high rate compared to other mammals. We investigated the occurrence of horizontally transferred...

The peak frequency of bat echolocation is a species-specific functional trait linked to foraging ecology. It is tailored via evolution to suit conditions within the distribution range of each species, but the evolutionary drivers are not yet well-understood. Global patterns of humidity correlate with many aspects of bat ecology. We hypothesized tha...

Morphological integration of skull modules can explain the outstanding morphological diversity of the rostrum in phyllostomids, the largest radiation of bats in the Western Hemisphere. However, the covariation of the rostral and caudal modules within adaptive zones, where specializations may impose constraints on morphological diversification, rema...

Identifying the role of quantitative variables on speciation rates is among the main purposes of trait-dependent diversification methods. ES-sim, a recent simulation-based approach that relies on Pearson’s correlations, allows testing trait-dependent diversification for single regression models. Here, we modified this approach to include generalize...

Parthenogenesis is rare in nature. With 39 described true parthenogens, scaled reptiles (Squamata) are the only vertebrates that evolved this reproductive strategy. Parthenogenesis is ecologically advantageous in the short term, but the young age and rarity of parthenogenetic species indicate it is less advantageous in the long term. This suggests...

La cartilla de los Murciélagos de Cali contiene información importante acerca de varias especies de murciélagos que habitan esta ciudad de Colombia. Presenta ilustraciones y datos relevantes de cada especie para que la comunidad pueda conocer y aprender sobre la fauna con la cual compartimos la ciudad, y de esta forma entender la importancia de est...

Human activities have led to global changes with direct consequences for biodiversity. For this reason, special concerns have arisen, particularly in respect to global threats such as habitat loss and fragmentation, because they decrease population size, promote the loss of species genetic diversity, contract species geographical distribution and f...

The IUCN provides a spatial database for many species, including terrestrial mammals. This database includes shapefiles with taxonomic information and the extent of occurrence for each species, and has been used in hundreds of studies in ecology, biogeography and conservation. Here we provide updated distribution maps that comprise the extent of oc...

Rates of speciation (or diversification) estimated in BAMM, either from the tips or path‐wise rates, must not be used in phylogenetic regressions in the way presented in our paper (Rojas et al. 2018), as we will explain in this correction. Different approaches have been recently developed to study the joint dynamics of trait evolution and species d...

The role of trophic specialisation in taxonomic diversification remains unclear. Plant specialists diversify faster than omnivores and animalivores, but at shorter macroevolutionary scales this pattern sometimes reverses. Here, we estimate the effect of diet diversification on speciation rates in noctilionoid bats, controlling for tree shape, rate...

Premise of the study: Populations of heterostylous species are characterized by two or three floral morphs with reciprocal positioning of stigmas and anthers. Theoretical models predict equal morph frequencies (isoplethy) when disassortative mating is prevalent in populations, but biased morph ratios may occur when variation in the expression of h...

A dispersión de sementes é lendaria, pois regula a dinámica das comunidades de plantas e animais. As redes ecolóxicas permítenos estudar a estructura e funcionamento dos ecosistemas, permitindo ollar ao mesmo tempo as “árbores e o bosque”. Numerosos estudos amosaron os efeitos negativos da actividade antrópica sobre as propiedades das redes de inte...

The family Sciuridae is one of the most widespread and ecologically diverse lineage of rodents and represents an ideal model for investigating the evolution of locomotion modes and the historical biogeography of terrestrial mammals. We used a comprehensive database on locomotion modes, an updated phylogeny and novel biogeographic comparative method...

The mechanisms underlying the high extant biodiversity in the Neotropics have been controversial since the 19th century. Support for the influence of period-specific changes on diversification often rests on detecting more speciation events during a particular period. The timing of speciation events may reflect the influence of incomplete taxon sam...

The earliest record of plant visiting in bats dates to the Middle Miocene of La Venta, the worldtextquoterights most diverse tropical palaeocommunity. Palynephyllum antimaster is known from molars that indicate nectarivory. Skull length, an important indicator of key traits such as body size, bite force and trophic specialization, remains unknown....

A persistent challenge in ecology is to tease apart the influence of multiple processes acting simultaneously and interacting in complex ways to shape the structure of species assemblages. We implement a heuristic approach that relies on explicitly defining species pools and permits assessment of the relative influence of the main processes thought...

Activity patterns have profound implications on primates’ morphology, physiology, and behavior and have likely driven their diversification. The last common ancestor of extant primates has been traditionally considered nocturnal although this notion has been recently debated due to emerging contradictory evidence. Previous studies underestimated th...

Abstract—A new orchid species, Encyclia sabanensis, is described and illustrated. The new taxon is compared with a large group of species of Encyclia from the Caribbean. The distribution, ecology, and conservation status of E. sabanensis are briefly discussed. A general field key for identifying 24 Encyclia species that has been reported for Cuba i...

Comparative correlational studies of brain size and ecological traits (e.g. feeding habits and habitat complexity) have increased our knowledge about the selective pressures on brain evolution. Studies conducted in bats as a model system assume that shared evolutionary history has a maximum effect on the traits. However, this effect has not been qu...

The geographical distribution, population structure and pollination ecology are key aspects in the conservation and management of rare orchids. Here, we address these aspects and the main threats affecting the endangered Cuban orchid Broughtonia cubensis. This rewardless orchid is self-compatible, but pollinator dependent. However, seed production...

A new orchid species, Tetramicra riparia is described from eastern Cuba. The new taxon has intermediate traits between the two subgenera of Tetramicra currently accepted. In fact, the most useful feature to distinguish T. riparia from its congeneric species (the combination of a repent growing habit with a completely entire labellum) is also the ma...

Aim. Ecological interactions are among the most important biotic factors influencing the processes of speciation and extinction. Our aim was to test whether diversification rates of New World Noctilionoidea bats are associated with specialization for frugivory, and how this pattern differs between the mainland and the West Indies. Location. The New...

Encyclia navarroi Vale & Rojas (Orchidaceae) is described from Western Cuba. This orchid thrives in coastal vegetation on the karstic terrains in the Pinar del Río and Artemisa provinces. It co-occurs locally with congeneric species. Encyclia navarroi can be easily recognized by its erose leaf margin, the not connivent and triangular lateral lobes...

The mimicry of malpighiaceous oil-flowers appears to be a recurrent pollination strategy among many orchids of the subtribe Oncidiinae. These two plant groups are mainly pollinated by oil-gathering bees, which also specialize in pollen collection by buzzing. In the present study, the floral ecology of the rewardless orchid Tolumnia guibertiana (Onc...

A great proportion of bats of the New World family Phyllostomidae feed on fruit, nectar and pollen, and many of them present adaptations to feed also on insects and small vertebrates. So far, attempts to examine the diversification of feeding specialization in this group, and particularly the evolution of nectarivory and frugivory, have provided co...

Low fruit set values in most orchids (especially epiphytic and tropical species) are normally thought to be the consequence of pollination constraints and limited resources. In particular, pollination constraints are modulated by pollinator visitation rates, pollinator visitation behaviour (promoting crossing or selfing), the type and number of pol...

Biogeography of Cuban bats have been received a general attention and little particular analyses of internal events referred to the origins, diversification, and extinction of Cuban bats have been made. On the basis of recent discoveries of two fossils and one extant species, and other recent publications, we approach to the historical biogeography...