Gabriele Gentile

University of Rome Tor Vergata | UNIROMA2

Galápagos iguanas are a monophyletic group endemic to the Galápagos archipelago, comprising the marine iguana Amblyrhynchus cristatus and three species of land iguanas: Conolophus subcristatus, C. pallidus and C. marthae. The biogeographic history of the land species in relation to their current distributions remains uncertain, in particular the or...

Galápagos iguanas are a monophyletic group endemic to the Galápagos archipelago which comprises the marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) and three species of land iguanas: Conolophus subcristatus, C. pallidus and C. marthae. The IUCN classifies C. marthae as Critically Endangered and the others as Vulnerable. Our work aims to elucidate the proce...

Simple Summary Galápagos pink land iguanas (Conolophus marthae) are a critically endangered species endemic to Wolf Volcano, Galápagos. Among other conservation initiatives, a head-start program, involving the captive rearing of hatchlings prior to release in the wild, has been identified as a primary action needed to prevent the species’ extinctio...

Critically Endangered Galápagos pink land iguanas ( Conolophus marthae ) are one of the rarest species of iguana, found exclusively on Isabela Island, in the Galápagos. A previous histological study provided an explanation of the unique pink color of adult C. marthae . Still, it also raised a question related to the recent discovery that C. marthae...

As the analysis of blood metabolites has become more readily accessible thanks to the use of point-of-care analyzers, it is now possible to evaluate stress level of wild animals directly in the field. Lactate is receiving much attention as a good stress level proxy in individuals subjected to capture, manual restraint, and data sampling in the wild...

We present the first estimate of population dynamics parameters for critically endangered Gal apagos pink land iguanas, Conolophus marthae, leveraging mark-recapture data collected between 2006 and 2021. Demographic parameters were estimated using the POPAN formulation of the Jolly-Seber model. This approach provided a solid and robust estimate, co...

Virus surveillance in wildlife is important to understanding ecosystem health, taxonomy, andevolution. Nevertheless, viruses in reptiles, and specifically in squamates, continue to beunderstudied. Herein, we conducted a health assessment on the critically endangered Galapagos pink land iguana (Conolophus marthae) and the vulnerable Galapagos land i...

One of the rarest and most unusual iguanas on the planet is the Galápagos pink land iguana (Conolophus marthae). There have been a number of hypotheses on the source of their pink coloration, including that the colour is from blood and a relative lack of dermal pigmentation. We obtained full thickness skin biopsies of three species and compared tis...

The Galápagos pink land iguana (Conolophus marthae) is categorised as Critically Endangered. The entire distribution of pink iguanas is within the protected area of the Galápagos National Park (GNP), which is managed by the Galápagos National Park Directorate (GNPD). This conservation and management plan (2022–2027) has the vision to ensure the lon...

Coexistence between closely related species can lead to intense competition for resources. Stable isotope analysis (SIA) is a reliable tool to estimate the extent of species competition. We employed SIA to evaluate niche partitioning among two syntopic species of Galápagos land iguanas: Conolophus subcristatus and C. marthae . Samples were collecte...

We report the first data on 25-hydroxyvitamin D plasma levels in natural populations of three species of land iguana endemic to the Galápagos Islands (Conolophus marthae, C. subcristatus, and C. pallidus). The pigment is present throughout the whole body in the skin of C. subcristatus and C. pallidus. On the contrary, pigment is not present in the...

Coexistence between closely related species can lead to intense competition for resources. Stable isotope ratio analysis (SIRA) is a reliable tool to estimate the extent of species competition. We performed SIRA to assess niche partitioning among two syntopic species of Galápagos land iguanas: Conolophus subcristatus and the critically endangered C...

Critically endangered Galápagos pink land iguanas, Conolophus marthae, are considered a rare and elusive species. These iguanas are endemic to Wolf Volcano, on Isabela Island (Galápagos), where they persist as a single, very small population on the northwestern slope of the volcano. In an attempt to unveil important information about their ecology...

The pink land iguana, Conolophus marthae, is one of four species of iguanas (three terrestrial and one marine) in the Galápagos Islands, and the only one listed as critically endangered by the IUCN. The species can only be found on the north-west slopes of the highest volcano on Isabela Island and was first described to science in 2009. As part of...

The caves located in the Frasassi Gorge, Marche region (central Italy) host unusually diverse subterranean invertebrate communities. The hotspots of biodiversity in these caves are represented by the sulfidic habitats where the biological communities are very rich and diverse, and where their foodbase is abundant and represented by in situ carbon f...

Area and environmental heterogeneity influence species richness in islands. Whether area or environmental heterogeneity is more relevant in determining species richness is a central issue in island biogeography. Several models have been proposed, addressing the issue, and they can be reconducted to three main hypotheses developed to explain the spe...

The pink land iguana, Conolophus marthae, is one of four species of iguanas (three terrestrial and one marine) in the Galápagos Islands, and the only one listed as critically endangered by the IUCN. The species can only be found on the north-west slopes of the highest volcano on the island of Isabela and was first described to science in 2009. As p...

The improper use of antibiotics by humans may promote the dissemination of resistance in wildlife. The persistence and spread of acquired antibiotic resistance and human-associated bacteria in the environment, while representing a threat to wildlife, can also be exploited as a tool to monitor the extent of human impact, particularly on endangered a...

Scientific literature concerning genital bones in primates consists of both ancient works (dating back to the 19th century) and more recent revisions/meta-analyses, which, however, are not always so detailed or exhaustive. Based on a thorough analysis, several conflicting data, inaccurate references, and questionable claims have emerged. We generat...

The only known population of Conolophus marthae (Reptilia, Iguanidae) and a population of C. subcristatus are syntopic on Wolf Volcano (Isabela Island, Galápagos). No gene flow occurs suggesting that effective reproductive isolating mechanisms exist between these two species. Chemical signature of femoral pore secretions is important for intra-and...

CURSAT ver. 2.1 is an open-source code in QB64 basic, compilable into an executable file, that produces n pseudoreplicates of an empirical data set. Both resamplings with and without replacement are allowed by the software. The number (n) of pseudoreplicates is set by the user. Pseudoreplicates can be exported in a file that can be opened by a spre...

Background Gathering ecological data for species of conservation concern inhabiting remote regions can be daunting and, sometimes, logistically infeasible. We built a custom-made GPS tracking device that allows to remotely and accurately collect animal position, environmental, and ecological data, including animal temperature and UVB radiation. We...

We report and discuss faunistic data of Oniscidea inhabiting the Pontine islands, a group of five small volcanic islands and several islets in the Tyrrhenian Sea, located about 60 km from the Italian mainland. Data here presented were primarily obtained from the examination of the material collected during a three-year (1965-1968) research program...

The land iguanas, Conolophus pallidus and Conolophus subcristatu are large and charismatic lizards endemic to the Galápagos archipelago, but little information exists on their normal health parameters. The former is restricted to Santa Fe island, while C. subcristatus inhabits the islands of the central and western region of the archipelago. Both s...

The pustulose ark, Anadara tuberculosa, is considered as an emblematic species of the east Pacific mangrove ecosystem. The decline of its populations is of increasing preoccupation, in particular in Peru. The use of hatchery-produced larvae for stock enhancement or aquaculture is attractive but raises strong criticisms from an ecological point of v...

Wild populations of the pustulose ark, Anadara tuberculosa (Bivalvia), an emblematic species of the East Pacific mangrove ecosystem declined in South American countries (Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru) mainly due to overharvesting and habitat loss or degradation. Understanding the genetic aspects of geographic variations and population structure of A....

The design of wireless sensor nodes for animal tracking is a multidisciplinary activity that presents several research challenges both from a technical and a biological point of view. A monitoring device has to be designed accounting for all system requirements including the specific characteristics of animals and environment. In this work we prese...

Natural hybridization may influence population fitness and responsiveness to natural selection, in particular in oceanic island systems. In previous studies, interspecific hybridization was detected between the Galápagos iguana species Amblyrhynchus cristatus and Conolophus subcristatus. Further, possible hybridization was also suggested to occur b...

Energy management is a key issue in the design of long-lived wireless sensor networks. (WSNs). Energy is used to collect data by sensors and to communicate it to other nodes and to the gateways. The energy management procedures aim at minimizing the energy consumption of both the data acquisition and transmission activities. A careful design is cru...

The design of GPS tracking devices and the related data collection infrastructure is an old task that still presents several research challenges from both a technical and biological point of view. Weight, size, and power consumption of such devices must be made compatible with small-sized species so as not to interfere with their lives and habits....

La iguana rosada (Conolophus marthae) se encuentra en el volcán Wolf en la isla Isabela. Se estima que su población comprende entre 350 y 400 individuos adultos (Tapia, obs. pers.). Además, de la baja densidad poblacional, existen varios problemas que amenazan la existencia de esta especie: una distribución extremadamente restringida en un volcán a...

Studies at small spatial scale are often fundamental to highlight the behavioural plasticity of a species and thus have important implications for conservation planning, in particular for species usually considered as habitat specialists. We investigated second-order habitat selection of the European pine marten in an area dominated by deciduous oa...

In vertebrates, one main feature of stress response is the release of glucocorticoids (corticosterone in reptiles), steroid hormones whose synthesis is regulated by the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA). In the Galápagos Islands, populations of land iguanas are differentially impacted by a tick-transmitted apicomplexan hemoparasite of genus...

In a combined approach, endocrine and ultrasonic analyses were performed to assess reproduction of two syntopic populations of terrestrial Galápagos iguanas the . Conolophus marthae (the Galápagos Pink Land Iguana) and . C. subcristatus on the Volcán Wolf (Isabela Island). The ELISA methods (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) were used to measure p...

Of the 10,272 currently recognized reptile species, fewer than 8% are regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and the European Wildlife Trade Regulations (EWTR). However, The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List has assessed 45% of the world’s reptile species...

The Galápagos Pink Land Iguana ( Conolophus marthae , Fig. 15.1 ) was fi rst seen on Volcán Wolf (Isabela island) in 1986, when a group formed by Galápagos National Park rangers and technical personnel of the Charles Darwin Foundation accidentally encountered it during a fi eld trip to the remote northwestern slope of Volcán Wolf (Márquez et al. 20...

Electron microscopy analyses of Iguana iguana blood preparations revealed the presence of mitochondria within erythrocytes with well-structured cristae. Fluorescence microscopy analyses upon incubation with phalloidin-FITC, Hoechst 33342 and mitochondrial transmembrane potential (Δψm)-sensitive probe MitoTracker Red indicated that mitochondria i) w...

The effects of the direct interaction between hybridization and speciation-two major contrasting evolutionary processes-are poorly understood. We present here the evolutionary history of the Galápagos marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) and reveal a case of incipient within-island speciation, which is paralleled by between-island hybridization....

Four species of iguanas occur in Galápagos. All of them are included in the red list of the IUCN (the International Union for the Conservation of Nature) and are protected under the CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). In Ecuador, attempting to remove wildlife from the Galápagos Islands is a s...

The present study article examines the shapes of centipede species–area relationships (SARs) in the Mediterranean islands, compares the results of the linear form of the power model between archipelagos, discusses biological significance of the power model parameters with other taxa on the Aegean archipelago, and tests for a significant small-islan...

The aim of the study was to elucidate the association between the zoonotic pathogen Salmonella and a population of land iguana, Colonophus subcristatus, endemic to Galápagos Islands in Ecuador. We assessed the presence of Salmonella subspecies and serovars and estimated the prevalence of the pathogen in that population. Additionally, we investigate...

The distribution of the Galápagos land iguanas Conolophus subcristatus has been strongly affected by human activities in the last century. Previously widespread throughout the whole archipelago, today they inhabit only few islands, with populations often small and isolated. In this study, we analyzed the population genetic structure of land iguanas...

Calandrinia galapagosa (Portulacaceae) is a threatened plant endemic to San Cristobal Island, Galapagos. The species is threatened by goat herbivory: less than 1300 individuals remain in nine populations, three of which have been fenced for protection. It is not known whether these three populations are genetically representative of the species at...

The presence of Vibrio isolates was investigated in cloacal swabs from the Galápagos marine iguana (Amblyrhyncus cristatus). Such unique iguana is endemic to the Galápagos Archipelago, it is listed as vulnerable in the IUCN Red List (2009), and is strictly protected by CITES and Ecuador laws. Our results revealed an uneven isolation frequency of vi...

Antibiotic resistance, evolving and spreading among bacterial pathogens, poses a serious threat to human health. Antibiotic use for clinical, veterinary and agricultural practices provides the major selective pressure for emergence and persistence of acquired resistance determinants. However, resistance has also been found in the absence of antibio...

The presence of Vibrio isolates was investigated in cloacal swabs from the Galápagos marine iguana (Amblyrhyncus cristatus). Such unique iguana is endemic to the Galápagos Archipelago, it is listed as vulnerable in the IUCN Red List (2009), and is strictly protected by CITES and Ecuador laws. Our results revealed an uneven isolation frequency of vi...

Table S1: Possible dispersal distances of marine iguanas.

Figure S3: Mismatch distribution of Galápagos marine iguana D-loop haplotypes.

Table S2: Detailed infromation on D-loop haplotypes.

Supporting information on mitochondrial CR analyses [88-93].

Table S3: General characteristics of the three mitochondrial clades of Galápagos marine iguanas.

Figure S1: Estimation of genetic clusters according to Evanno et al.

Table S4: Best found partitions according to BAPS v3.2.

Figure S2: Scatter plot FST(based on microsatellite loci) versus possible dispersal distance.

Figure S4: Scatter plot with regression analysis of island perimeter as measured by NOAA GIS resource (World Vector Coastline) vs genetic diversity values.

Table S5: Intra locus specific k-values of thirteen microsatellite loci of Galápagos marine iguana populations.

Marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) inhabit the coastlines of large and small islands throughout the Galápagos archipelago, providing a rich system to study the spatial and temporal factors influencing the phylogeographic distribution and population structure of a species. Here, we analyze the microevolution of marine iguanas using the complet...

Helleria brevicornis has a disjunct, peri-Tyrrhenian distribution that mirrors that of several organisms, for which geographic vicariance is invoked, due to the geological events started with the Oligocene split of the Sardo-Corsican microplate from the Pyrenees, and successive separation between Sardinia and Corsica. Molecular phylogenetic analyse...