Erick de la Barrera

• Ph. D. in Biology
• Professor (Full) at National Autonomous University of Mexico

Hace 30 años, Laura Esquivel nos regaló su novela, Como agua para chocolate, que aquí celebramos con 15 recetas y 15 ensayos. En este libro, 36 autores nos comparten su amor por la vida, por el planeta y, sobre todo, por la comida. Esta obra era necesaria y urgente en una época en la que son evidentes los efectos nocivos de las acciones humanas sob...

Biomonitoring of atmospheric pollution is an increasingly accepted practice. However, most existing biomonitors are usually epiphytic species from mesic environments. This work assessed the suitability of buffelgrass (Cenchrus ciliaris), an invasive C4 grass in northwestern Mexico, as a biomonitor, by means of the spatial distribution of the carbon...

Phosphorus is an essential element for agricultural production, and for life in general, whose availability as a mineral is geographically restricted. Considering that Mexico is a major contributor to the global flow of water embedded in agricultural commodities, it is likely that this country is also a major exporter of embedded phosphorus. Thus,...

La producción de formas reactivas de N ha superado los límites planetarios que permiten el adecuado funcionamiento de los ecosistemas. Su depósito representa una amenaza tanto a la biodiversidad como a la salud pública. Los sistemas de monitoreo para cuantificar su depósito son escasos, por lo que el biomonitoreo puede ser una alternativa, donde se...

Understanding how transport and storage conditions affect enzymatic activity is essential for accurate biomonitoring of nitrogen metabolism in plants. This study evaluated the effects of transport conditions and low-temperature storage on the enzymatic activities of nitrate reductase (NR), glutamine synthetase (GS), and phosphomonoesterase (PME) fo...

Aquatic ecosystems are reservoirs of biodiversity and are highly threatened. Among the main threats to biodiversity are invasive species and global warming, the later has allowed the establishment of invasive species from originally warmer climates outside their native range by reducing the barriers to their establishment and distribution. Behaviou...

Resumen La intensificación de las prácticas agrícolas en respuesta a la creciente demanda de alimentos contribuye a la degradación ambiental. Los patrones alimentarios actuales agravan estos problemas, favoreciendo alimentos que son económicamente accesibles pero perjudiciales tanto para el medio ambiente como para la salud. Este trabajo propone un...

Maize is one of the most important crops in the world, particularly in Mexico where it was domesticated and is central to traditional cultures. The fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda [J.E. Smith]), is a major pest that can greatly reduce production of this crop. Climate change also threatens maize production, as projections estimate an increase o...

Human impact on the planet is such that geologists have acknowledged the start of a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, which is characterized by an environmental emergency with multiple open fronts such as climate change, biodiversity loss, decreased fresh water availability, alterations to the nitrogen cycle, and chemical pollution. Activitie...

Exploring the mechanisms that promote population divergence represents a central point in evolutionary ecology. Along their distribution, species commonly experience contrasting environmental conditions, which impose local selection pressures to which populations tend to adapt resulting, for example, in ways to deal with resource shortage or abunda...

Urbanization creates environmental conditions that hinder the growth of natural vegetation. We surveyed the ruderal vegetation from a periurban university campus in west-central Mexico during the rainy seasons of 2008 and 2016-2018, time during which the campus underwent intensive construction. The built area grew from 4 ha in 2009 to 12.6 ha in 20...

Background: Sunlight stress and drought affect plants by inducing various biochemical and physiological responses, which reduce growth. Seasonal changes in light and water availability that occur in forest canopies, where epiphytes occur, are extreme. Questions: What are the seasonal changes in photosynthesis for an abundant epiphytic bromeliad in...

Published in Nitrogen (EISSN 2504-3129). Environmental pollution is a major threat to public health and is the cause of important economic losses worldwide. Atmospheric nitrogen deposition is one of the most significant components of environmental pollution, which, in addition to being a health risk, is one of the leading drivers of global biodiver...

Background: Plants take up various species of reactive nitrogen and their different physiological responses to the increase of nitrogen availability can be useful in biomonitoring. Questions: Does atmospheric nitrogen deposition affect the physiology of ruderal weeds? Which species are most responsive to the nitrogen deposition? Studied species:...

Environmental change and biodiversity loss are but two of the complex challenges facing conservation practitioners and policy makers. Relevant and robust scientific knowledge is critical for providing decision-makers with the actionable evidence needed to inform conservation decisions. In the Anthropocene, science that leads to meaningful improveme...

Los humedales brindan numerosos servicios ecosistémicos, como la captura de carbono en la biomasa viva y en el suelo. En México la mayoría de los estudios se ha centrado en humedales costeros, principalmente manglares, por lo que la información sobre humedales continentales aún es escasa. Se abordaron dos preguntas de investigación: ¿Cómo es la est...

Research Highlights: Reciprocal altitudinal transplants of Abies religiosa seedlings within the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR) allow prediction of the impacts of climatic change, because they grow in sites with a climate that differs from that of their origin. Background and Objectives: Climatic change is generating a mismatch between t...

Plants from phosphorus (P) limited environments have developed various strategies for acquiring P from the soil, and for maintaining P homeostasis within the plant. We analyzed the mechanisms of phosphorus acquisition used by the grass Sporobolus airoides-rhizosphere microbiota during two years with contrasting annual rainfall in an extreme P-oligo...

Atmospheric pollution has become a serious threat for human health and the environment. However, the deployment, operation, and maintenance of monitoring networks can represent a high cost for local governments. In certain locations, the use of naturally occurring plants for monitoring pollution can be a useful supplement of existing monitoring net...

Applying physiological tools, knowledge and concepts to understand conservation problems (i.e. conservation physiology) has become commonplace and confers an ability to understand mechanistic processes, develop predictive models and identify cause-and-effect relationships. Conservation physiology is making contributions to conservation solutions; t...

A principal intention of ecological sciences is to explain biodiversity: why are some species and not others found in certain places. As an experimental science, plant ecophysiology focuses on the interactions among plants, the environment, and other biological species. In this context, the VII Mexican Ecology Congress focused on "addressing the co...

The environmental requirements leading to germination were determined by three common species found during the June-October 2009 rainy season in a peri-urban site from Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico, where the construction of a campus of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) was underway. In particular, we evaluated responses in the labora...

An intended generalized ban on the “introduction and use of transgenic seeds” has been announced by the Mexican government, which, unlike the other agricultural programs under this administration, lacks a budget and rules of operation. In this policy brief we consider scenarios of implementing such an intended ban, de-regulating the use of genetica...

On his first day in office, on 1 December 2018, freshman President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) delivered a speech outlining 100 policy priorities of his administration. The present study analyzed the contributions of this government’s program relating to food security and their environmental implications, and whether they contribu...

These are the extended data for F1000 Research paper, DOI: https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.20934.1

Drying protocols might alter the isotopic signatures of plant samples given that high temperatures can volatilize various organic compounds or delay the halting of physiological processes at lower drying temperatures. We thus evaluated the effect of four drying protocols on the carbon and nitrogen isotopic signatures for 23 species of plants. In pa...

The monitoring of atmospheric nitrogen deposition is necessary considering that this kind of environmental pollution is among the leading causes of global biodiversity loss. However, deploying and operating monitoring networks can be cost-prohibitive; the use of naturally occurring biomonitors can be a viable alternative for characterizing such nit...

Orchidaceae is the largest family of plants, reaching its maximum diversity in Colombia where 4000 species have been registered. One particular ecosystem with high diversity of orchids is the tropical montane cloud forest characterized by high humidity and low air temperatures. However, due to anthropic pressure such as land use change its area has...

Environmental impacts of mining activities are well known, particularly on-site degradation, but long term effects are less known. Mercury content from vegetation samples from a mine dump and surrounding forests was quantified for understanding the fate of this element in the local the environment. The study area, Tlalpujahua, Michoacán, México, ha...

An increase of nitrogen deposition resulting from human activities is not only a major threat for global biodiversity, but also for human health, especially in highly populated regions. It is thus important and in some instances legally mandated to monitor reactive nitrogen species in the atmosphere. The utilization of widely distributed biological...

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme climatic events, yet few studies have addressed the capacity of plant species to deal with such events. Species that are widespread are predicted to be highly plastic and able to acclimate to highly changing conditions. To study the plasticity in physiological responses of the widely d...

The temperature and water potential requirements for seed germination were determined for five heirloom maizes from three different agroclimatological regions from the P'urhépecha community of San Francisco Pichátaro, Michoacán, Mexico. Germination experiments were conducted in environmental controlled chambers exposing seeds to day/night air tempe...

Atmospheric nitrogen deposition is the third largest cause of global biodiversity loss, with rates that have more than doubled over the past century. This is especially threatening for tropical regions where the deposition may soon exceed 25 kg of N ha−1 year−1, well above the threshold for physiological damage of 12–20 kg of N ha−1 year−1, dependi...

We determined the environmental requirements leading to germination by three common species found during the summer rainy season in a peri-urban site where construction of a university campus was underway. In particular, we evaluated laboratory responses to low-temperature stratification, day/night air temperature, and water potential for the nativ...

We determined the environmental requirements leading to germination by three common species found during the summer rainy season in a peri-urban site where construction of a university campus was underway. In particular, we evaluated laboratory responses to low-temperature stratification, day/night air temperature, and water potential for the nativ...

This is a Pre-print and has not been peer-reviewed// An increase of nitrogen deposition resulting from human activities is not only a major threat for global biodiversity, but also for human health, especially in highly populated regions. It is thus important and in some instances legally mandated to monitor reactive nitrogen species in the atmosph...

View book information at: http://www.fao.org/publications/card/en/c/6cb6bff1-66f3-4d2e-92cc-c58130c1f9dc/

Mexico is hosting the 13th Conference of the Parts (COP-13) on the Convention on Biological Diversity. Participants will have another opportunity to "integrate biodiversity for wellbeing." Considering that food production is a major driver for the loss of biological diversity, despite the fact that ample genetic reservoirs are crucial for the persi...

The vulnerability of 59 Mexican landraces of maize was assessed in relation to five socio-ecological factors, namely, social and economic marginalization, association with indigenous peoples, high biodiversity regions, environmental suitability for cultivation, and climate change effects. The most marginalized states had the highest number of landr...

Atmospheric nitrogen deposition poses a major threat to global biodiversity. Tropical epiphytic plants are especially at risk given their reliance on atmospheric sources of nutrients. The leaf, pseudobulb, and root carbon and nitrogen content, C:N ratio, as well as the nitrogen isotopic composition were studied for individuals of Laelia speciosa fr...

Responses of seed germination to air temperature, water potential, light, and smoke were studied in the laboratory for seeds of the invasive bunch grass Pennisetum ciliare (L.) Link (syn. Cenchrus ciliare L.; buffel grass). First introduced to North America during the mid-twentieth Century for establishing pastures, this African bunch grass has bec...

Movement of species outside their range of distribution could be a strategy for conservation purposes, but before implementation, it is necessary to evaluate plants responses to the conditions that they will experience in new locations. We evaluated the effect of potassium fertilisation to enhance the frost tolerance of young individuals of Albizia...

Alterations in precipitation regimes resulting from climate change threaten countries like Mexico, where rainfed agriculture for subsistence is widespread. However, numerous local maizes are cultivated throughout the country’s territory originated from a substantial environmental diversity. To investigate whether an environmental specialization exi...

The Mayflower orchid, Laelia speciosa, is an endangered orchid endemic to oak forests of central Mexico. Because of extractive pressure on remaining natural populations, in vitro propagation has been proposed as an alternative for the massive propagation of this plant for conservation and commercial purposes. However, it is unknown whether this orc...

Cattleya mendelii and C. quadricolor are endemic orchids from Colombia, which have been subjected to extraction from their natural environments for commercial purposes, becoming critically endangered. However, there is no sustainable management practice for the conservation of these species. The aim of this study was to establish a protocol of in v...

Software development for mobile platforms demands adapting and sometimes replacing current or traditional technologies and methodologies. The use of Agile Methods seems to be one of the handiest choices. Thus Prosoft has detected an area of opportunity and is now encouraging software development through various mechanisms, such as the creation of r...

En suelos severamente degradados el establecimiento de plantas se dificulta por la ausencia de estructura, de microorganismos del suelo y en muchos casos por las bajas concentraciones de macronutrientes. En estas condiciones, el uso de interacciones con hongos micorrízicos, podría ser una estrategia efectiva para la revegetación y la restauración e...

La dinámica de comunidades vegetales de humedales está influenciada por factores abióticos, como los nutrimentos y el fuego. En humedales en donde hay especies invasoras, determinar el papel de factores abióticos en las interacciones planta-planta es fundamental para entender la dinámica de la comunidad y para su manejo. En este estudio, la interac...

Potential ecophysiological responses to nitrogen deposition, which is considered to be one of the leading causes for global biodiversity loss, were studied for the endangered endemic Mexican epiphytic orchid, Laelia speciosa, via a shadehouse dose-response experiment (doses were 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40, and 80 kg N ha(-1) yr(-1)) in order to assess the...

Floral nectaries are essential for plant reproduction. Their position and shape are important because these factors determine the amount of nectar secreted and therefore the pollinators that are attracted. The main objective of this study is to determine the position, shape and macromorphology of floral nectaries for three columnar cacti, namely Po...

Cuando las epífitas caen de sus forofitos tienden a morir debido a las diferencias de microambiente, pero algunas bromeliáceas epifitas han demostrado ser capaces de sobrevivir, adaptarse y reproducirse sobre el suelo. Aechmea bracteata es una bromeliácea epifita con fotosíntesis CAM, tanque central y cuyas hojas pueden alcanzar más de en metro de...

The accelerated increase of nitrogen deposition is the third cause of biodiversity loss, as a result of saturation of ecosystems worldwide. The effects of nitrogen deposition on the endemic and endangered neotropical epiphytic orchid, Laelia speciosa, were evaluated via a dose-response experiment and a stable isotopic field assessment for individua...

The accelerated increase of nitrogen deposition is the third cause of biodiversity loss, as a result of saturation of ecosystems worldwide. The effects of nitrogen deposition on the endemic and endangered neotropical epiphytic orchid, Laelia speciosa, were evaluated via a dose-response experiment and a stable isotopic field assessment for individua...

Many cacti have edible fruits, so they have acquired an important role in agriculture in arid and semiarid regions, both for regional and international markets. Pitayas are the third most important cactus crop, after cactus pear and pitahaya. Reproductive phenology of Stenocereus queretaroensis requires specific conditions of temperature and precip...

The accelerated increase of nitrogen deposition is the third cause of biodiversity loss, as a result of saturation of ecosystems worldwide. The effects of nitrogen deposition on the endemic and endangered neotropical epiphytic orchid, Laelia speciosa, were evaluated via a dose-response experiment and a stable isotopic field assessment for individua...

Considering that their distribution is limited to altitudinal gradients along mountains that are likely to become warmer and drier, climate change poses an increased threat to temperate forest species from tropical regions. We studied whether the understorey shrub Lupinus elegans, endemic to temperate forests of west-central Mexico, will be able to...

When degradation is severe, as it is often the case on acrisols, it is necessary to test the effect of plant-plant interactions in their survival and growth. An experiment was conducted, with substrate from an eroded site (acrisols with gullies) in a shaded greenhouse (30% shade) to evaluate the effect of fertilization and the presence of pioneer h...

Cover crops and green manures have been adopted in rainfed agriculture for providing soil protection between culti-vation seasons and for increasing soil nutrient and organic matter content. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate physiological responses of the green manure Vicia sativa to drought. The gravimetric leaf water of content of...

As a result of an increase in the urban demand for organic horticultural products, locally available soil amendments need to be evaluated. Here, the effects on growth and reproductive output of Cucurbita pepo, were assessed for the aquatic invasive Eichornia crassipes, a commercially produced vermicompost, and chicken manure. In addition, their eff...

Cover crops and green manures have been adopted in rainfed agriculture for providing soil protection between cultivation seasons and for increasing soil nutrient and organic matter content. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate physiological responses of the green manure Vicia sativa to drought. The gravimetric leaf water of content of...

Germination of wild and managed populations of columnar cacti was compared to analyze differences associated to management intensity. The species studied: Polaskia chende, Escontria chiotilla, Myrtillocactus schenckii, Polaskia chichipe, and Stenocereus pruinosus are in a gradient from lower to higher management intensity, respectively. Within each...

Anthesis is a process of paramount ecological importance because it allows access of pollinators to floral structures enabling fertilization and an eventual fruit development. Anthesis is regulated by endogenous and exogenous factors, so changes in the environment can have effects on this process. In the present study, the climate of Acatepec, Pueb...

Responses to nutrient concentrations can determine the dynamics among wetland plant species. One of these species is Typha domingensis (Typhaceae) for which previous studies have obtained dissimilar results on the response to additions of nitrogen and phosphorus. Schoenoplectas americanas (Cyperaceae), is a species that coexists with the latter in...

La respuesta a los cambios en las concentraciones de nutrimentos en las plantas de los humedales puede determinar la dinámica entre ellas. Estudios previos con Typha domingensis (Typhaceae) muestran discrepancias en cuanto a su respuesta al nitrógeno y al fósforo; en comparación, de Schoenoplectus americanus (Cyperaceae), una especie con la que coe...

Chance favors only the prepared mind Louis Pasteur The natural world that current environmental scientists study is substantially different from that faced by our predecesors. Unlike the vast unex-plored territories from a few centuries ago that favored the expansion of European empires and the largely unknown biodiversity that stimulated the exped...

The whole book is available in Google Books: https://books.google.com.mx/books?id=FOLucdeycDkC&lpg=PA393&ots=9pz9EVuNJz&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

The Centro Ecológico de Sonora is a natural protected area where the natural vegetation remained undisturbed at least until 1997. Since then, Cenchrus ciliaris has become a prominent element of the vegetation because of disturbance. Climate, soil properties, population structure and biological activity for C. ciliaris were studied to gain understan...

The term “functional groups” was proposed by Cummins [1] to classify species playing similar roles or performing analogous processes in the ecosystem. Plant functional types may describe groups of plants with common responses to certain environmental influences [2,3] and have been applied to several ecosystem functions such as biochemical cycles, f...

Mexico possesses a great species diversity of Crassulacean Acid Metabolism (CAM) plants. These plants can grow in places where water is infrequent, such as and and semi-arid zones, and tree canopies, or as aquatic plants in places with low CO(2) availability. This review presents methodological, evolutionary, ecological, and physiological aspects o...

Buffel grass was introduced to the Sonoran Desert in the mid-twentieth century, where it has aggressively invaded new areas. Given its ecological success at a place where the air temperature can approach 50 degrees C, the effects of high air temperatures on gas exchange were studied for this species. The carbon dioxide uptake and water use efficien...

The columnar cactus Stenocereus queretaroensis is cultivated for its fruits in southern Jalisco, Mexico. Plantations are established by clonal propagation of individuals that produce fruits with desirable characteristics. Because recruitment of wild individuals originated from sexual reproduction is paramount for the maintenance of genetic diversit...

Leaf morphology was measured and aerodynamical attributes as well as transpiration rates were calculated for the mangrove Conocarpus erecta from sites naturally sheltered or sites exposed to oceanic winds at Socorro Island, Mexico, and compared with those of C. erecta, Laguncularia racemosa, and Rhizophora mangle at a mainland estuary near La Manza...

Growth, gas exchange rates, and carbohydrate content were studied for developing fruits of the cultivated cactus Opuntia ficus‐indica (L.) Miller, including effects of drought and exogenous gibberellic acid (GA3). Fruit development required 110 d from the time of bud differentiation to ripening at 80 d after anthesis, when the fruit mass averaged 6...

Although nectar is crucial for most pollinators, its evolutionary origin has received scant attention. Nectar is derived from the phloem solution. Both have high sugar concentrations (usually 10-30% solutes by fresh mass); the main solute in the phloem is sucrose, whereas nectar can also contain considerable amounts of fructose and glucose. The phl...

The climate of the native tropical forest habitats of Hylocereus undatus, a hemiepiphytic cactus cultivated in 20 countries for its fruit, can help explain the response of its net CO2 uptake to environmental factors. Under wet conditions, about 85% of the total daily net CO2 uptake occurs at night via Crassulacean acid metabolism, leading to a high...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Los Angeles, 2003. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Responses of seed germination to temperature, water potential, time after harvest, and light were investigated for Stenocereus queretaroensis, a columnar cactus native to west central Mexico. Germination was optimal between 20°C and 30°C, and the germination percentage decreased as the water potential was lowered from 0·00 to −1·0 MPa. Maximal germ...

Opuntia ficus-indica , a cactus widely cultivated for fruits and forage/fodder, has shoots composed of flattened stem segments (cladodes) that are relatively sensitive to freezing temperatures below − 6 ° C but extremely tolerant of high temperatures up to 65 ° C. Based on the uptake of the vital strain neutral red, fruits and roots were damaged by...

The net CO2 uptake ability of a vine-like cactus native to shaded habitats, Hylocereus undatus, was hypothesized to adjust more rapidly to changes in the applied nitrogen concentration, which can have major impacts on fruiting, than the more massive cactus most widely cultivated for fruit, Opuntia ficus-indica. Specific objectives were to examine t...

Hylocereus undatus is widely distributed naturally and is currently cultivated in 19 countries for fruit. Because of its relatively thin stems, H. undatus was hypothesized to respond to drought more rapidly than other cacti. Stem water potential, water content and thickness were monitored during drought to provide easily measured parameters to be c...

Hylocereus undatus, which is native to tropical forests experiencing moderate temperatures, would not be expected to tolerate the extremely high temperatures that can be tolerated by cacti native to deserts. Nevertheless, total daily net CO2 uptake by this hemiepiphytic cactus, which is widely cultivated for its fruits, was optimal at day/night air...

Questions relating to transpired versus retained water for fruits, the xylem versus the phloem as water supplier to the fruits, and the importance of fruit photosynthesis for fruit dry mass gain were examined in the field for 6 species of platyopuntias (Nopalea cochenillifera, Opuntia ficus-indica, O. megacantha, O. robusta, O. streptacantha and O....