Juan J NegroSpanish National Research Council | CSIC · Department of Evolutionary Ecology (EBD)
Juan J Negro
PhD Biology
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390
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Introduction
Additional affiliations
January 1988 - December 2012
Education
September 1982 - December 1991
Publications
Publications (390)
Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain the function of cosmetic behaviour of bearded vultures, being the signalling individual dominance status the most accepted. However, no advances have been made in understanding this mysterious behaviour, in part due to the secrecy of this species. With the help of camera traps and GPS devices we mo...
La oveja (Ovis aries) es el primer animal domesticado para consumo en un hito histórico que marca el inicio de la sedentarización de las comunidades humanas al comienzo del Neolítico. Durante milenios, fueron semejantes al muflón asiático (Ovis orientalis), su ancestro salvaje. Las razas primitivas supervivientes en el norte de Europa son oscuras,...
Gene expression differences can assist in characterizing important underlying genetic mechanisms between different phenotypic traits. However, when population-dense tissues are studied, the signals from scarce populations are diluted. Therefore, appropriately choosing a sample collection method that enriches a particular type of effector cells migh...
Europe holds a rich community of diurnal birds of prey, and the highest proportion of transcontinental migratory raptorial species of any landmass. This study will test the hypotheses that the high diversification of the raptor assemblage in Europe is a recent event, that closely related species sharing the same trophic niches can only coexist in s...
In the Copper Age, slate engraved plaques were produced massively in the southwestern corner of the Iberian Peninsula. Researchers have speculated about the function of these palm-sized stone objects for more than a century, although most have favored the idea that they represented goddesses, and served ritual purposes. The plaques are engraved wit...
Feral animals are those that live in the wild but are descendants of domesticated populations. Although, in many cases, these feral populations imply a demonstrable risk to the ecosystems in which they live and may conflict with local wild species and human activities, there are feral populations that are considered worth preserving and, in some ca...
Knowledge of animal dispersal patterns is of great importance for the conservation and maintenance of natural populations. We here analyze juvenile dispersal of the poorly studied Black-shouldered Kite (Elanus caeruleus) monitored in southwestern Spain in an ongoing long-term study initiated in 2003. The European population of Black-shouldered kite...
Most current insect research techniques are ground-based and provide scarce information about flying insects in the planetary boundary layer (PBL), which remains a poorly studied ecological niche. To address this gap, we developed a new insect-sampling method consisting of a fixed-wing drone platform with net traps attached to the fuselage, a mobil...
The genera Oryctolagus and Lepus (order Lagomorpha) are essential elements in the trophic chain in the Iberian Peninsula, being the main prey of many predators, including some highly endangered predators such as the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus). Myxomatosis, a disease producing tumorations in conjunctive tissues, and produced by the Myxoma Virus, h...
Accesible en la revista Quercus cuaderno 434:
https://www.revistaquercus.es/noticia/8186/articulos/aves-silvestres-que-crian-fuera-de-temporada.html
Aim
Europe should be considered as a diversity hotspot for diurnal raptors, but just during the breeding season, as it holds the higher proportion of transcontinental migratory species of any landmass, and the area becomes depleted during the winter period. This study will test the hypothesis that the high diversification of the raptor assemblage i...
Feral animals are those that live wild but are descendants of domesticated populations. Although in many cases, possibly the majority, these populations suppose a risk to the environment and may conflict with wild local species and human activities, there are feral populations that are considered worth preserving hold and, in some cases, already en...
Leucism, broadly defined as the lack of melanin pigmentation, occurs in many animal species. Most studies on leucism and other colour aberrations are based on opportunistic observations or small cross-sectional samples, thus limiting our ability to produce reliable results and test theoretical predictions. This study combines cross-sectional and lo...
Light pollution causes attraction and/or disorientation of seabirds, leading to mortality events due to multiple threats. This is a poorly understood phenomenon, largely because of the challenge to track seabirds at night from their nests to the grounding light-polluted locations. New tracking technologies can inform about this phenomenon. Here, we...
Evidence is accumulating on the regular and systematic Neanderthal exploitation of birds. However, the motivations, mechanisms, and circumstances underlying this behavior remains little explored despite their potential implications on Neanderthal ecology and capabilities. Fossil remains of choughs (Pyrrhocorax, Corvidae) are among the most abundant...
Darwin set the pillars of organismic evolution when he defined natural and sexual selection in the 19th century. Concurrently, a frenzy of selective breeding programmes, generally supported by the wealthy and aristocratic, gave rise to novel breeds of plants and animals at a rate that was previously unforeseen. Since then, breeds selected over mill...
Background:
The back plays a vital role in horse locomotion, where the spine functions as a spring during the stride cycle. A complex interaction between the spine and the muscles of the back contribute to locomotion soundness, gait ability, and performance of riding and racehorses. Conformation is commonly used to select horses for breeding and p...
The family Ciconiidae comprises 19 extant species which are highly social when nesting and foraging. All species share similar morphotypes, with long necks, bill and legs, and are mostly colored in the achromatic spectrum (white, black, black and white, or shades of grey). Stork may have, however, brightly colored integumentary areas in, for instan...
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a global priority. To meet this goal, the Spanish government is planning 89 GW of wind and solar photovoltaic energy in the draft of the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan (PNIEC) for 2021–2030 (1). Despite the Spanish government's efforts to prevent a speculative bubble in the secondary market, there a...
The Lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni) evolved as a separate species in the Old-World kestrel radiation starting in the late Miocene. Given that the first cities were erected in the Holocene, this urban colonial raptor has only become a major town dweller recently in its evolutionary history. Today, more than 95% of lesser kestrel colonies in Spain an...
Modern death assemblages provide insights about the early stages of fossilization and useful ecological information about the species inhabiting the ecosystem. We present the results of taphonomic monitoring of modern vertebrate carcasses and bones from Doñana National Park, a Mediterranean coastal ecosystem in Andalusia, Spain. Ten different habit...
Las obras de rehabilitación de la iglesia de Sta. Ana en Carmona (Sevilla) han estado a punto de destruir la colonia de cernícalos primilla. A pesar de ser una especie protegida por la normativa legal vigente, a pesar de las advertencias de algunas ONG ecologistas, a mediados de enero de 2020 taparon todos los mechinales o huecos del edificio. Esto...
Grouping is a widespread form of predator defence, with individuals in groups often performing evasive collective movements in response to attack by predators. Individuals in these groups use behavioural rules to coordinate their movements, with visual cues about neighbours' positions and orientations often informing movement decisions. Although th...
Animal tuberculosis (TB) is endemic in wild boar (Sus scrofa), red deer (Cervus elaphus), fallow deer (Dama dama) and cattle in south and central Spain. In order to clarify the processes that operate in the medium and long-term, we studied TB at the wildlife–livestock interface in Doñana National Park for 14 years (2006–2018) in relation to host de...
Grouping is a widespread form of predator defense, with individuals in groups often performing evasive collective movements in response to predators' attacks. Individuals in these groups use behavioral rules to coordinate their movements, with visual cues about neighbors' positions and orientations informing movement decisions. Although the exact v...
Many nocturnal animals, including invertebrates such as scorpions and a variety of vertebrate species, including toadlets, flying squirrels, owls, and nightjars, emit bright fluorescence under ultraviolet light. However, the ecological significance of this unique coloration so attached to nocturnality remains obscure. Here, we used an intensively s...
The breeding goals for Icelandic horses comprise various conformation and riding ability traits. To aid the subjective conformation assessments in breeding field tests, 13 objective body measures (height, length and circumference) are recorded. Genetics has previously been shown to play a major role in conformation traits. Height at withers is the...
Bearded Vultures regularly visit ferruginous springs for cosmetic purposes to obtain their reddish plumage colouration. Different hypotheses have been proposed to explain this deliberate application of adventitious colouration: (1) to signal individual dominance status; (2) to exploit an anti-bacterial effect of iron oxides or ochre to reduce feath...
Animals living on the earth's surface are protected from the damaging effects of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation by melanin pigments that color their integument. UV levels that reach the earth's surface vary spatially, but the role of UV exposure in shaping clinal variations in animal pigmentation has never been tested. Here we show at a continent...
This book will provide the state-of-the-art research on topics involved in the ecology and conservation of birds of prey. With chapters authored by the most recognized and prestigious researchers on each of the fields, this book will become an authorized reference volume for raptor biologists and researchers around the world.
The eminent ornithologist Ian Newton lamented almost 40 years ago that research on birds of prey had made little contribution to the mainstream of ecological thought. Since then, and to prove Newton wrong, a plethora of raptor studies have tackled questions of broad interest, particularly in the realm of behavioural ecology, including investigation...
Symbolic or religious value has been attributed to raptor feathers in many cultures. This behavior seems to be rooted in ancient times; bones and claws of white-tailed eagles have been found at many Mesolithic and Neolithic sites in Germany, which indicates these large birds may have continued to have symbolic meaning for past communities in Centra...
In the last two decades, unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) have experienced an exponential development. Originally conceived for military use, technological advances and a dramatic reduction of prices are leading to widespread use of UASs in environmental disciplines including remote sensing, ecology, wildlife management or environmental monitoring...
Melanins are the most common pigments providing coloration in the plumage and bare skin of birds and other vertebrates. Numerous species are dichromatic in the adult or definitive plumage, but the direction of this type of sexual dichromatism (i.e., whether one sex tends to be darker than the other ones) has not been thoroughly investigated. Using...
Paleo-colour scientists have recently made the transition from describing melanin-based colouration in fossil specimens to inferring life-history traits of the species involved. Two such cases correspond to counter-shaded dinosaurs: dark-coloured due to melanins dorsally, and light-coloured ventrally. We believe that colour reconstruction of fossil...
Abstract
Species distribution and population abundance are keystone patterns in ecology, and currently also in epidemiology. The aggregation of individuals in the population is closely related to distribution and abundance, but they are not totally equivalent patterns. Despite the great efforts made in recent decades to harmonise the sampling proto...
Background:
Human populations and breeds of domestic animals are composed of individuals with a multiplicity of eye (= iris) colorations. Some wild birds and mammals may have intraspecific eye color variability, but this variation seems to be due to the developmental stage of the individual, its breeding status, and/or sexual dimorphism. In other...
Birds exhibit a extraordinary diversity of plumage pigmentation patterns. It has been overlooked, however, that complex patterns can be produced only with the contribution of melanins because these are the only pigments under direct cellular control. We tested this hypothesis for the first time examining the plumage patterning of all species of ext...
The use of small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS; also known as “drones”) for professional and personal-leisure use is increasing enormously. UAS operate at low altitudes (<500 m) and in any terrain, thus they are susceptible to interact with local fauna, generating a new type of anthropogenic disturbance that has not been systematically evaluated....
Background
Dark pigments provide animals with several adaptive benefits such as protection against ultraviolet (UV) radiation and mechanical abrasion, but may also impose several constraints like a high absorbance of solar radiation. Endotherms, with relatively constant and high body temperatures, may be especially prone to thermoregulatory limitat...
Artificial lights at night cause high mortality of seabirds, one of the most endangered groups of birds globally. Fledglings of burrow-nesting seabirds, and to a lesser extent adults, are grounded by lights when they fly at night. We review the current state of knowledge of light attraction, identify information gaps and propose measures to address...
Colours that underlie animal pigmentation can either be permanent or renewable in the short term. Here we describe the discovery of a conspicuous salmon-pink colouration in the base of bustard feathers and down that has never been reported because of its extraordinarily brief expression. HPLC analyses indicated that its constituent pigments are cop...
Human consumption of bird meat in modern societies comes in two ways: as embryos ei.e., eggs- and as hatched individuals, either young or adults. Poultry provide nowadays about one-third of the animal proteins and fat in human diets, but the birdehuman interface is possibly an ancient one. Hundreds of species are kept as pets and non-edible product...
Significance
We have discovered that a mammalian species, a bat called the Honduran white bat Ectophylla alba , displays a yellow carotenoid pigment called lutein in its bare skin. Even though carotenoid-based coloration has been found in birds, fish, amphibians, and reptiles, there are no reports of any extant mammals showing these pigments in the...
Pictured is a Honduran white bat (Ectophylla alba) from Costa Rica. Ismael Galván et al. discovered that deposits of the carotenoid pigment lutein color the bright yellow skin of the Honduran white bat, making the animal a potential mammalian model for carotenoid skin coloration. The finding suggests that bats may use color for visual communication...
The Crowned Solitary Eagle (Buteogallus coronatus) is one of the rarest and most severely threatened birds of prey in the Neotropical region. We studied levels of neutral genetic diversity, population structure, and the demographic history of the species using 55 contemporary samples covering a large fraction of the species range, which were genoty...
Avian nests are frequently concealed or camouflaged, but a number of species builds noticeable nests or use conspicuous materials for nest decoration. In most cases, nest decoration has a role in mate choice or provides thermoregulatory or antiparasitic benefits. In territorial species however, decorations may serve additional or complementary func...
Fig A. Example image of the hexacopter during the experimental flights around black kite nests. Table A. Nest detection probability (A) and latency to nest detection (B) by human observers in relation to decoration treatment (decorated and non-decorated) in the approaching snapshots. Aside of the results shown in Table 1 of the main text, the model...
The number of biodiversity information platforms have recently expanded as means to improve decision making processes through a linkage with envirionmental information. These platforms are expected to work as information hubs that facilitate the integration and use of information gathered from different sources. Such integration is being done by tw...
Table S1. Environmental covariates, descriptions, mean values (X) and standard deviations (SD) of UAS track grids and GPS locations buffers versus MA3 and total study area grids used in the analysis of cattle spatial abundance patterns in Doñana Nature Reserve (DNR).
The knowledge about the spatial ecology and distribution of organisms is important for both basic and applied science. Biologging is one of the most popular methods for obtaining information about spatial distribution of animals , but requires capturing the animals and is often limited by costs and data retrieval. Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) ha...
Light pollution and its consequences on ecosystems are increasing worldwide. Knowledge on the threshold levels of light pollution at which significant ecological impacts emerge and the size of dark refuges to maintain natural nocturnal processes is crucial to mitigate its negative consequences. Seabird fledglings are attracted by artificial lights...
Complex ecological and epidemiological systems require multidisciplinary and innovative research. Low cost unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) can provide information on the spatial pattern of hosts' distribution and abundance, which is crucial as regards modelling the determinants of disease transmission and persistence on a fine spatial scale. In thi...
The design of ubiquitous computing environments is challenging, mainly due to the unforeseeable impact of real-world environments on the system performance. A crucial step to validate the behavior of these systems is to perform in-field experiments under various conditions. We introduce IRIS, an experiment management and data processing tool allowi...
Llamamos biodiversidad al conjunto de la variedad de la vida en todos sus niveles de organización, desde los genes a los individuos, las poblaciones, las especies, las comunidades y los ecosistemas. Pero la biodiversidad es más que la suma de los elementos que componen el mundo vivo. También son biodiversidad las relaciones entre esos elementos, lo...
Light pollution is increasing around the world and altering natural nightscapes with potential ecological and evolutionary consequences. A severe ecological perturbation caused by artificial lights is mass mortalities of organisms, including seabird fledglings that are attracted to lights at night on their first flights to the sea. Here, we report...
The production of purposely made painted or engraved designs on cave walls—a means of recording and transmitting symbolic codes in a durable manner—is recognized as a major cognitive step in human evolution. Considered exclusive to modern humans, this behavior has been used to argue in favor of significant cognitive differences between our direct a...
Background/Question/Methods
Wetland ecosystems of the world maintain biologically diverse communities of ecological and economic value. Water pollution has been identified as one of the most important threats for water ecosystems. Biologist and management authorities need physicochemical and biological monitoring for assessing the risks due to fre...
Feral Pigeons have colonised all corners of the Earth, having developed a close association with humans and their activities. The wild ancestor of the Feral Pigeon, the Rock Dove, is a species of rocky habitats, nesting typically on cliff ledges and at the entrance to large caves. This habit would have brought them into close contact with cave-dwel...