About
77
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574
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Introduction
My main research interests are the systematics, biogeography, evolutionary ecology, behaviour, and conservation of amphibians. I completed my Ph.D. in biology in 2010 at Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania, working mainly on the ecology of the European spadefoot toads (Pelobates fuscus and P. syriacus). Since 2014 I'm working in Southern Ecuador, primarily with amphibian systematics and taxonomy.
Additional affiliations
April 2017 - present
April 2017 - present
October 2011 - December 2016
Publications
Publications (77)
We review the systematics of the species of Gastrotheca (Anura: Hemiphractidae) in the highlands of the southern Ecuadorian Andes. We analyzed phylogenetic, morphological, ecological, and acoustic data from populations in the region. We provide an updated phylogenetic hypothesis inferred from a database that contains 42 species of Gastrotheca, and...
In the genus Pristimantis, species are often combined into taxonomic units called species groups. The taxonomy of these groups is frequently inaccurate due to the absence of genetic data from type series and repeated misidentifications generated by high morphological resemblance between taxa. Here, we focus on the P. orestes species group, providin...
Abra de Zamora is an important biodiversity hotspot in southern Ecuador. Between 1938 and 2010, eleven species of frogs were described from here: Lynchius flavomaculatus, Gastrotheca psychrophila, Pristimantis balionotus, P. colodactylus, P. cryptomelas, P. percultus, P. versicolor, P. vidua, Telmatobius cirrhacelis, P. andinognomus, and Atelopus p...
We describe a new species of rain frog of the genus Pristimantis from the city of Loja, Southern Ecuador, based on an integrative taxonomy approach, combining molecular, morphological and bioacoustics data. Pristimantis lojanus sp. nov. is a medium sized species of the phylogenetically strongly supported P. phoxocephalus group, and its sister speci...
A new glassfrog species of the genus Centrolene (Amphibia, Anura, Centrolenidae) from Cordillera del Cóndor, southern Ecuador. ZooKeys Abstract Based on an integrative taxonomical approach, using molecular, morphological, and bioacoustics data, a new species of glassfrog of the genus Centrolene is described from Refugio de Vida Silvestre El Zarza,...
Thoroughly documenting prey items and diet composition is crucial for understanding a predator’s role in the ecosystem. In gape restricted predators, such as snakes, documenting and analyzing the type and size of the prey is important to interpret their ecological role. We describe the diet patterns of a species of venomous snake, the Terciopelo pi...
Seasonally dry forests (SDFs) are one of the most challenging ecosystems for amphibians, fueling the diversity of this group of vertebrates. An updated inventory of native amphibians present in the Equatorial SDF is provided, which extends along the Pacific coast of Ecuador and northwestern Peru. The study is based on an extensive field sampling (t...
Urbanization impacts biodiversity both directly through physical expansion over land, and indirectly due to land use conversion and human behaviors associated with urban areas. We assessed the response of a common spadefoot toad population (Pelobates fuscus) to habitat loss and fragmentation resulting from urban development by studying changes in s...
Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, but faces severe pressures and threats to its natural ecosystems. Numerous species have declined and require to be objectively evaluated and quantified, as a step towards the development of conservation strategies. Herein, we present an updated National Red List Assessment for amphibian...
El Abra de Zamora es un hotspot de biodiversidad de anfibios de los Andes del sur de Ecuador, esta área se ubica en la divisoria de aguas de la provincia de Loja y Zamora Chinchipe, al norte del Parque Nacional Podocarpus. Posee hasta el momento el registro de 29 especies de anfibios, 11 de estas endémicas del sector, siete especies del total aún n...
Divergence in ecological niche offers organisms the opportunity of exploiting different food and habitat resources, scaling down competition and predation both among species, and within different age or size-classes of the same species. In harsh environments, where abiotic factors determine a clustering of resources during short timespans, competit...
Material fotográfico de las especies registradas en el Abra de Zamora como parte de los resultados de la ejecución del proyecto: “Conservación de anfibios en el área clave de biodiversidad Abra de Zamora, Ecuador” que contó con el apoyo financiero del Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund - CEPF
Material divulgativo sobre el Abra de Zamora como parte de los resultados de la ejecución del proyecto: “Conservación de anfibios en el área clave de biodiversidad Abra de Zamora, Ecuador” que contó con el apoyo financiero del Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund - CEPF
Background:
In species with complex life cycles, size at metamorphosis is a key life-history trait which reflects the complex interactions between costs and benefits of life in the aquatic and terrestrial environments. Whereas the effects of a deteriorating larval habitat (e.g. pond desiccation) on triggering an early metamorphosis have been exten...
Background: In species with complex life cycles, size at metamorphosis is a key life-history trait which reflects the complex interactions between costs and benefits of life in the aquatic and terrestrial environments. Whereas the effects of a deteriorating larval habitat (e.g. pond desiccation) on triggering an early metamorphosis have been extens...
Background:
In species with complex life cycles, metamorphosing size is a key life-history trait which reflects the complex interactions between costs and benefits of life in the aquatic and terrestrial environments. Whereas the effects of a deteriorating larval habitat (e.g. pond desiccation) on triggering an early metamorphosis have been extensiv...
Background: In species with complex life cycles, size at metamorphosis is a key life-history trait which reflects the complex interactions between costs and benefits of life in the aquatic and terrestrial environments. Whereas the effects of a deteriorating larval habitat (e.g. pond desiccation) on triggering an early metamorphosis have been extens...
Background: In species with complex life cycles, size at metamorphosis is a key life-history trait which reflects the complex interactions between costs and benefits of life in the aquatic and terrestrial environments. Whereas the effects of a deteriorating larval habitat (e.g. pond desiccation) on triggering an early metamorphosis have been extens...
Cryptic phylogeographic diversifications are unique models to examine the role of phylogenetic divergence on the evolution of reproductive isolation, without extrinsic factors such as ecology. Yet, to date very few comparative studies were attempted within such radiations. Here, we characterize a new speciation continuum in a group of widespread Eu...
We describe for the first time the feeding ecology of the Pacific horned frog ( Ceratophrys stolzmanni ), as inferred through gastrointestinal tract content analysis and behavioural observations in its natural habitat. Ingested prey in adults ranged from mites and various insects to frogs and snakes. Prey items predominantly consisted of gastropods...
We describe a new rainfrog species (Pristimantis), from the wetland complex Oña, Nabón,
Saraguro and Yacuambi, in the Andes of southern Ecuador, at altitudes ranging between
3000±3400 m a.s.l. Pristimantis tiktik sp. nov. is a small frog, displaying sexual dimorphism (the males with dorsum of various shades of gray, brown, orange or green and a whi...
Information regarding the call recordings and the bioacoustic measurements for each of the recorded males.
Each of the recordings are from distinct males. Values are given as average ± SD (range) and n measured parameter.
(XLSX)
Additional specimens examined.
(DOCX)
A 1-minute fragment of the advertisement call of Pristimantis tiktik sp.nov.
(WAV)
Primers used for PCR amplification.
(DOCX)
Voucher, GenBank accession numbers and localities for the specimens used in the phylogenetic analysis.
(DOCX)
Morphometric measurements of the Pristimantis tiktik sp. nov. type specimens.
(XLSX)
Tríptico divulgativo sobre las Ranas de la ciudad de Loja y sus alrededores.
Sexual selection theory predicts that, when body size is correlated with fecundity, there should be fitness advantages for mate choice of the largest females. Moreover, because larger males are expected to monopolise the largest females, this should result in an assortative mating based on body size. Although such patterns could be expected in both...
We successfully used skeletochronology to provide the first detailed demographic data regarding Ceratophrys stolzmanni, a cryptic, fossorial amphibian inhabiting the xeric Neotropics. We observed a female-biased sexual size dimorphism, but no differences in age parameters between the two sexes. Growth rate is accelerated during the first year of
li...
The fossorial life-history emerged as a response to hostile environmental conditions, such as extreme temperatures and dryness. It evolved independently in different lineages of amphibians, which are particularly vulnerable to dehydration and require a continuous level of humidity because of their permeable skin. For the first time, we test the hyp...
A new frog in the genus Pristimantis is described from a cloud forest on the western flanks of the Cordillera del Cóndor and eastern Andean slopes in the province of Zamora Chinchipe, southeastern of Ecuador. We inferred its phylogenetic position using DNA sequences of mitochondrial and nuclear genes. The new species is strongly supported as part o...
We describe for the first time the advertisement call of Pristimantis subsigillatus from southern Ecuador. Our study provides a detailed quantitative characterization of the advertisement call of P. subsigillatus, filling a gap in our knowledge of this genus, the most speciose among vertebrates. Males called perched on vegetation 0.5-2.5 m above gr...
Salinity tolerance is critical during the early ontogeny of amphibians, shaping future population size, health and dispersal in a certain area. We focused our research on two related anurans with similar ecological niches—Pelobates fuscus and P. syriacus—inhabiting the western Black Sea coast, at the limits of their ranges. We hypothesize that thei...
The hydroperiod of breeding habitats imposes a strong selection on amphibians and pond-breeding species usually exhibit a high degree of plasticity in the duration of larval period. However, the potential for phenotypic plasticity in fast developing species was investigated only in a small number of anurans, and the specific response to environment...
Understanding how major life history traits such as body size and mass and growth change in response to resource availability is crucial in explaining life history trade-offs. We conducted a laboratory experiment with three (high, medium and low) feeding intensity treatments using metamorphs of two spadefoot toads species, Pelobates syriacus and P....
The present study comprises an updated distribution of Emys orbicularis in Romania that emphasizes the
spatio-temporal sampling. We have compiled a distribution database consisting of 866 E. orbicularis occurrence
records in Romania, based on published data (76.4%), museum collections (2.8%) and personal
field data (20.8%). Emys orbicularis holds a...
Amphibians of Reserva Buenaventura, El Oro Province, ECUADOR
Rapid Color Guide # 818
Field Museum Of Chicago
Phenotypic plasticity is one of the major means that enables species to persist in unpredictable environments. Using as model a neotropical anuran species, the Pacific horned frog, Ceratophrys stolzmanni, inhabiting the Tumbesian dry forest, we investigated if the tadpoles are capable of timing their metamorphosis in order to escape a drying aquati...
Arenillas Ecological Reserve (Reserva Ecológica Arenillas – REA), located in southwestern Ecuador, belongs to one of the most important areas of endemism in the world – the Tumbesian biogeographic region, while at the same time, it is one of the most threatened by increasing agriculture and livestock activities. REA is one of the last remnants of t...
Conducting a complete species inventory is difficult to achieve, especially in highly diverse areas. We inventoried the herpetofauna of Reserva Buenaventura, El Oro Province, southwestern Ecuador. The reserve covers an area of about 2000 ha, is privately owned by the Jocotoco Conservation Foundation, and covers an altitudinal range between 350 and...
We report the first provincial records for Rhaebo ecuadorensis Mueses-Cisneros, Cisneros-Heredia & McDiarmid, 2012, and Phyllomedusa tarsius (Cope, 1868) in Zamora-Chinchipe, southern Ecuador. The new locations are significant because they represent the southernmost records in Ecuador as well as the western-most limits of the ranges of these two sp...
Arenillas Ecological Reserve (Reserva Ecológica Arenillas - REA) is located in southwestern Ecuador, close to the Peruvian border, and belongs to the Tumbesian Endemism Region and is one of the last remnants of tropical dry forests at altitudes below 100 m a.s.l. Climate is characterized by a rainy season extending from January to May and a dry sea...
A new species of Pristimantis is described from Reserva Buenaventura, southern Ecuador, at elevations between 878 and 1082 m. A molecular phylogeny based on nuclear and mitochondrial genes shows that the new species is closely related to P. phoxocephalus, P. riveti, and P. versicolor. The new species differs from them and other morphologically simi...
Considerando la riqueza por unidad de área, Ecuador es el país con el mayor número de especies de anibios y reptiles del mundo, y sin embargo, éstos constituyen un grupo faunístico insuicientemente estudiado para el país y particularmente para la Región Sur. La herpetofauna se encuentra seriamente amenazada a nivel mundial por diferentes presiones...
La producción cafetalera es una de las actividades productivas de mayor relevancia social y económica de la región sur del país. Estos sistemas productivos a nivel local poseen la particularidad de no estar implementados en grandes extensiones de monocultivos; al contrario, involucran la mezcla de árboles dentro de las parcelas del café, lo que rep...
fieldguides.fieldmuseum.org, #797, version 1, 08/2016
Arenillas Ecological Reserve (Reserva Ecologica Arenillas - REA) is located in southwestern Ecuador, close to the Peruvian border, and belongs to the Tumbesian biogeographic region. This region is one of the most important areas of endemism in the world, but at the same time, one of the most threatened by increasing agriculture and livestock activi...
Arenillas Ecological Reserve (Reserva Ecologica Arenillas - REA) is located in southwestern Ecuador, close to the Peruvian border, and belongs to the Tumbesian biogeographic region. This region is one of the most important areas of endemism in the world, but at the same time, one of the most threatened by increasing agriculture and livestock activi...
Understanding how major life history traits such as body size and mass and growth change in response to resource availability is crucial in explaining life history trade-offs. We conducted a laboratory experiment with three (high, medium and low) feeding intensity treatments using metamorphs of two spadefoot toads species, Pelobates syriacus and P....
The construction of the Iron Gates I reservoir in the early 1970s led to major changes in the structure of aquatic and associated terrestrial ecosystems, altering the microclimate and hydrological cycle. A comparative analysis of herpetofauna diversity within the proximate areas of the Iron Gates I reservoir in Romania, before and after 1971, revea...
Age and size at sexual maturity are major life-history traits that affect growth rate and reproductive output. The differences in these life-history traits can be better assessed in syntopic populations of related species, where environmental variability in time and space is removed. The Spadefoot Toads (Pelobates spp.) are highly specialized burro...
Facultative paedomorphosis refers to the simultaneous expression of 2 different phenotypes (i.e. paedomorphic and metamorphic) within the same population. Over the last 6 decades, this phenomenon was reported from only 5 populations of smooth newt Lissotriton vulgaris (Linnaeus, 1758) in Romania. In the spring of 2011, we found a new facultative pa...
The way animals allocate resources to growth and reproduction is of major importance in understanding life-history trade-offs. Because the investment in reproduction of the two sexes differs, comparing the costs and the reproductive strategies adopted offers an insight into the evolutionary forces that shaped them. In the Eastern Spadefoot Toad, Pe...
The reptile fauna of Romania comprises 23 species, out of which 12 species reach here the limit of their geographic range. We compiled and updated a national database of the reptile species occurrences from a variety of sources including our own field surveys, personal communication from specialists, museum collections and the scientific literature...
