Erika Kubisch

Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet Comahue · Estadística - Zoología

We studied encounters between Chaco tortoises (Chelonoidis chilensis) that are in a threatened state of conservation in Patagonia, Argentina, which constitutes the southern limit of their geographical distribution. We monitored six individuals during different behavioural periods of the year (mating, nesting, and brumation), recording 24 344 encoun...

Sister species that live in sympatry provide the possibility to analyse the level of divergence in their ecological, physiological and life-history traits and how they can coexist without out-competing each other. We studied the thermal sensitivity of locomotor performance in the sympatric lizards Phymaturus querque and Phymaturus zapalensis from P...

Ecophysiological plasticity determines, to a great extent, the geographic distribution and the vulnerability of ectotherms to climate change. We studied the relationship between locomotor performance and temperature of Liolaemus elongatus lizards in three populations in northern Patagonia, Argentina, differing in thermal characteristics. We related...

Monitoring the tortoise Chelonoidis chilensis in the wild, currently in a vulnerable state of conservation in southern Argentina, is essential to gather movement information to elaborate guidelines for the species preservation. We present here the electronic circuit design as well as the associated firmware for animal monitoring that was entirely d...

The reproductive cycle of Galapagos giant tortoises has primarily been studied in captive individuals via noninvasive methodologies, including hormonal studies, radiographs, and ultrasound. During the annual reproductive cycle, mating peaks occur during the hot season months (December–June), followed by nesting during the cool season (June–December...

The extent of stress caused by acute and chronic environmental disturbances depends on the adaptive ability of organisms to behaviorally and physiologically adjust to change and on the timing and magnitude of the disturbances. This resilience is a result of numerous exposures to perturbations throughout the evolution of the species. In Patagonia, v...

Global warming can significantly affect many aspects of the biology of animal species, including their thermal physiology and physiological performance. Thermal performance curves provide a heuristic model to evaluate the impacts of temperature on the ecophysiology of ectotherms. When integrated with other thermal biology parameters, they can be us...

The lizard genus Phymaturus comprises two reciprocally monophyletic clades: Phymaturus palluma and Phymaturus patagonicus. Species belonging to the P. patagonicus clade occur in extra-Andean Patagonia, and some of them remain with unresolved phylogenetic relationships after studies based on morphological and nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) ev...

Ectotherms are especially vulnerable to climate change due to their dependence on environmental thermal conditions to obtain adequate body temperatures for physiological performance. An approach to predict the impact of global warming in ectotherms is quantifying their locomotor sensitivities to temperature across the thermal performance curves (TP...

The lizard genus Phymaturus comprises two reciprocally monophyletic clades: Phymaturus palluma and Phymaturus patagonicus. Species belonging to the P. patagonicus clade occur in extra-Andean Patagonia, and some of them remain with unresolved phylogenetic relationships after studies based on morphological and nuclear and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) ev...

The thermal physiology determines the whole biology of ectotherm organisms, by limiting their acquisition and allocation of resources. Herein, we aim to add knowledge on how different species use the thermal resources when they coexist in a habitat, studying the thermal physiology of three sympatric and syntopic liolaemid lizards, Phymaturus querqu...

Two hypotheses have prevailed to explain the evolution of viviparity in reptiles: the first proposed that viviparity evolved in response to cold-climates because the possibility of pregnant females to thermoregulate at higher temperatures than embryos could experience in a nest in nature. The second hypothesis posits that the advantage of viviparit...

¿La temperatura afecta la eficiencia digestiva en la tortuga terrestre argentina (Chelonoidis chilensis)? CARLOS N 1, SASSI P 2, KUBISCH E 3, CONA M 2 y CAMPOS C M 2 1 Ciclo de Licenciaturas, San Pedro Nolasco-Universidad del Aconcagua, Ciudad, Mendoza, Argentina. 2 IADIZA-CONICET, Ciudad, Mendoza, Argentina. 3 INIBIOMA-CONICET, Universidad Naciona...

Reproductive and life history patterns in reptiles are tightly related to the environmental conditions, so male reproductive cycles have been historically characterized as continuous, for tropical lizards, or seasonal, for temperate lizards. However, males of Liolaemus and Phymaturus lizards (Liolaemidae), from cold-temperate climates of high altit...

The vulnerability of populations and species to global warming depends not only on the environmental temperatures, but also on the behavioral and physiological abilities to respond to these changes. In this sense, the knowledge of an organism’s sensitivity to temperature variation is essential to predict potential responses to climate warming. In p...

The Puyehue-Cordón Caulle eruption of 4 June 2011 dispersed about 100 million tonnes of pyroclastic materials resulting in ash accumulations of 30 cm depth on the Patagonian steppe, an area occupied by several lizard species. Herein we analysed, by experimental trials, the effects of ash and slope on running performance of two endemic and vulnerabl...

Recently, Sinervo et al. (2010, Science, 328: 894–899) reported declines of lizard biodiversity due to local warming trends and altered thermal niches. Herein, we applied the Sinervo et al. (2010) physiological model to predict the local extinction risk of three species of lizard from Patagonia. Whereas the previous model used a single equation (fo...

Lizards that live in the harsh climate of the Argentinean Patagonia (40°–53° S) are active for a period restricted to spring and summer when vitellogenesis, pregnancy and birth take place. Herein, we present data on the female reproductive cycle, body size at sexual maturity, litter size and fat-body cycle of one of the world's southernmost reptile...

Puyehue is a largely basaltic stratovolcano located in the southern volcanic zone of the Andes, with an irregular inter-occurrence intervals of eruption that affects the ecology of the native communities. The latest Puyehue eruption occurred in June 2011and dispersed about 100 M tons of pyroclastic materials to the Patagonia steppe of Argentina, du...

The locomotor performance of lizards depends on their morphological and physiological adaptations to the habitat. However, when the habitat changes dramatically, for example, by a volcanic eruption, the performance of lizards may be affected. We registered the vegetation cover, the surface covered by ash, the presence of crevices suitable for Phyma...

We evaluated the thermal biology of two sympatric saxicolous species of the genus Phymaturus, endemic from the Argentine Payunia region. Taking into account that the distributional range of Phymaturus roigorum (the largest species) is greater than the range of P. payuniae, we evaluated the habitat (type of rocks) used by these species. We recorded...

Recent studies predict that several lineages of tropical animals are at particular risk given current estimates of global climate change. Yet, much uncertainty exists on the effects of climate shifts in ectothermic species from cool temperate regions such as Patagonia. In this study, we focus on the impact of environmental temperature on growth, ag...

We studied the relationship between locomotor performance and temperature in Liolaemus pictus argentinus, from the Andean–Patagonian forest, Argentina. We determined the running speed in long and sprint runs at four different body temperatures, the panting threshold, and minimum critical temperature. The results are discussed in relation to body te...