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Raquel Castillo-Contreras

Raquel Castillo-Contreras
Fundación Artemisan

PhD

About

91
Publications
12,776
Reads
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760
Citations
Additional affiliations
March 2020 - March 2021
University of Barcelona
Position
  • Postdoctoral researcher
April 2019 - July 2019
Autonomous University of Barcelona
Position
  • Technician
July 2015 - December 2015
Autonomous University of Barcelona
Position
  • Technician
Education
October 2013 - September 2014
September 2009 - June 2013

Publications

Publications (91)
Conference Paper
Full-text available
En el Observatorio Cinegético (OC), los/las cazadores/as llevan a cabo de manera voluntaria la monitorización de la fauna silvestre, principalmente cinegética, en sus cotos. La fauna cinegética es un recurso natural renovable y el OC tiene como objetivos conocer o actualizar la distribución y abundancia de estas especies en España y, a medio-largo...
Poster
Full-text available
MÉTODOS Se construyó un modelo biogeográfico mediante la función de favorabilidad usando información de perdiz roja en cuadrículas UTM de 10x10 km de España peninsular y un conjunto de variables climáticas, topográficas, humanas y de hábitat. Los datos de la especie provienen de datos recogidos durante la serie temporal 2020-2024 dentro del Observ...
Article
Urbanization is an ongoing global environmental change. Wildlife may respond using anthropized environments and resources, which is known as synurbization, creating human-wildlife interactions. Wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations have become common in urban areas, including the metropolitan area of Barcelona. Humans respond to wild boars in urban en...
Article
Full-text available
Wild ungulates are expanding in range and number worldwide leading to an urgent need to manage their populations to minimize conflicts and promote coexistence with humans. In the metropolitan area of Barcelona (MAB), wild boar is the main wildlife species causing a nuisance, from traffic accidents to health risks. Selective harvesting of specific s...
Poster
Full-text available
The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recognizes Spain as a priority region for the surveillance of swine influenza A virus (IAV). Currently, Spain is the largest pig producer in Europe, holding a domestic pig population of around 30 million. The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is a domestic pig conspecific, hence susceptible to swine IAV. Wild boa...
Article
Domestic cats (Felis catus) freely roaming in natural areas are considered as one of the major threats for biodiversity worldwide, especially in areas of high conservation value such as the European Union’s Natura 2000 network. Aiming to identify conservation problems and provide practical solutions derived from cats’ presence, in this study we add...
Article
Wildlife synurbization leads to coexistence and conflict with human society. • Agent-based models (ABM) can identify risk areas for human-wildlife interaction. • The ABM accurately forecasted human-wild boar interactions in Barcelona (Spain). • Anthropogenic food resources attract wild boars to urban areas generating conflict. • The method and mode...
Article
Full-text available
Wild boar (WB, Sus scrofa) populations are increasing in urban areas, posing an epidemiological risk for zoonotic pathogens such as hepatitis E virus (HEV) and antimicrobial-resistant Campylobacter (AMR-CAMP), as well as non-zoonotic pathogens such as African swine fever virus (ASFV). An epidemiological extension of a validated Agent-Based Model (A...
Article
Full-text available
Background Sarcoptic mange is one of the main parasitic diseases affecting the Iberian ibex Capra pyrenaica. Scabietic animals suffer a decline in body condition and reproductive fitness and in severe cases may die. Although several previous studies of the pathology of this disease and the physiological changes it produces in ibex have been carried...
Book
Este libro resume el conocimiento científico disponible sobre la cabra montés, endemismo ibérico, símbolo de la conservación y gestión de la fauna silvestre en España que, gracias al interés cinegético, pasó de estar al borde de la desaparición a campar en buena parte de nuestras sierras y cordilleras. Aporta una prolija revisión sobre la biología,...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations are increasing globally, accompanied by growing synurbization in cities such as Barcelona (Spain). Synurbization increases wild boar aggregation, contact rates and close interactions with humans, with the consequent risk of pathogen transmission, generating a new human-wild boar interface and creating public and a...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Wild boar populations have dramatically increased in both number and range in the last six decades. This process, along with the growth of metropolitan areas, has led to an increase in the occurrence of human-wildlife conflicts, including vehicle collisions, attacks on people, and the risk of zoonoses. Population control is the main management stra...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The progressive habituation of wild boar (Sus scrofa) to use urban anthropogenic resources has increased the number of roaming wild boar in peri-urban areas of Barcelona (Spain). In this human-wildlife coexistence scenario, wild boar lose fear of humans, and humans in turn become habituated or sensitized to wild boar. In this process of "reciprocal...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Wild boar has become common in the urban areas surrounding Barcelona, where the wild boar population has increased consistently from anecdotal sightings to becoming a source of conflicts with humans and causing economic losses. While genetically forming a single cluster separated from neighbouring rural populations, wild boar around Barcelona show...
Article
Full-text available
Applying contemporary trapping standards when managing wildlife should no longer be an option, but a duty. Increasing wild boar populations originate a growing number of conflicts and hunting is the only cost-effective management option in most cases. However, new scenarios where hunting is unfeasible emerge and trapping necessities cope with lacki...
Article
Full-text available
Urban wildlife ecology is gaining relevance as metropolitan areas grow throughout the world, reducing natural habitats and creating new ecological niches. However, knowledge is still scarce about the colonisation processes of such urban niches, the establishment of new communities, populations and/or species, and the related changes in behaviour an...
Article
Campylobacter spp. and Salmonella spp. are the most reported zoonotic agents in Europe. They can be transmitted from wildlife to humans, and wild boars (Sus scrofa) can harbour them. In the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (MAB, NE Spain) wild boars are found in urbanized areas. To assess the potential public health risk of this increasing wild boar...
Presentation
Full-text available
Abstract Text: More than half of the emerging infectious diseases in humans originate from wildlife. Wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations are increasing and expanding across Europe, leading to growing interactions with humans. In urban environments, the zoonoses carried by wild boars have received little attention. Our aim is to compile knowledge abo...
Article
Full-text available
Tick-borne pathogens (TBPs) constitute an emerging public health concern favoured by multidimensional global changes. Amongst these, increase and spread of wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations are of special concern since this species can act as a reservoir of zoonotic pathogens and promote tick abundance. Thus, we aimed to make a first assessment of...
Conference Paper
Foodborne infections caused by Campylobacter spp. are the most commonly reported zoonoses in Europe, and their antimicrobial resistant (AMR) strains pose an additional health risk. The growing abundance of wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations and their proximity to urban and peri-urban areas result in an increased risk of disease transmission at the...
Article
Full-text available
Disease transmission among wild boars, domestic animals and humans is a public health concern, especially in areas with high wild boar densities. In this study, fecal samples of wild boars (n = 200) from different locations of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona were analyzed by PCR to explore the frequency of β-lactamases and extended cephalosporin...
Article
Urbanisation is a global human-induced environmental change and one of the most important threats to biodiversity. To survive in human-modified environments, wildlife must adjust to the challenging selection pressures of urban areas through behaviour, morphology, physiology and/or genetic changes. Here we explore the effect of urbanisation in a lar...
Chapter
Full-text available
rEsumo A abundância e a distribuição geográfica das populações de javali (Sus scrofa) têm aumentado nas últimas décadas, com a particularidade que algumas populações realizam incursões cada vez mais frequentes nos núcleos urbanos. O aparecimento de novas espécies nas cidades pode originar novos conflitos e representar novos riscos, o que requer est...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations in urban environments have increased during the last decades. In Barcelona, urban and human-habituated wild boars benefit from anthropogenic resources and have a reduced flight response to humans, as opposed to neighbouring wild boars inhabiting forested areas in the nearby Collserola Natural Park (CNP). This phen...
Presentation
Las actividades pesqueras y acuícolas representan uno de los mayores impactos antropogénicos sobre los ecosistemas marinos. En España, durante la pasada década, se creó una amplia Red de Áreas Marinas Protegidas (RAMPE) para minimizar dicho impacto; sin embargo, su eficacia todavía está por determinar. Aquí evaluamos el papel de la actual RAMPE en...
Article
Fasciola hepatica is a liver parasite of ruminants whose distribution is determined by its intermediate host, the freshwater snail Galba truncatula. In Europe, F. hepatica is mostly associated with lowlands. Infection from sympatric domestic reservoirs is rarely reported in wild mountain ungulates. This study explores F. hepatica in a multi-host sy...
Article
Background Wild boar ( Sus scrofa ) populations are increasing worldwide and invading urban areas. Live-capture can improve the management of this challenge, maximising efficiency, allowing scientific studies and potentially improving animal welfare. This study assesses teleanaesthesia, drop-net, corral trap and cage trap to live-capture wild boar...
Article
We studied the prevalence of anticoagulant rodenticides (ARs) in liver and muscle tissues of wild boar captured in the urban area of Barcelona, the suburban area of Collserola Natural Park and the rural area of Santa Quiteria, next to Cabañeros National Park, in Spain. The objective is to assess the influence of both urbanisation and wild boar (Sus...
Conference Paper
La capacidad del jabalí ( Sus scrofa ) para explotar nuevos ambientes ha propiciado que esta especie sea frecuente en el entorno urbano de Barcelona y de otras ciudades españolas y europeas. El jabalí se ve atraído por el medio urbano por la abundancia de comida de origen humano como la basura orgánica o el pienso para gatos callejeros. Las zonas a...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
La adaptabilidad del jabalí (Sus scrofa) para aprovechar los recursos tróficos de origen antrópico contribuye a su presencia en zonas urbanas y periurbanas, como sucede en Barcelona, particularmente en los distritos limítrofes con el Parque Natural de Collserola. El conflicto humano-jabalí (CHJ) surge por la afectación de los intereses de los ciuda...
Conference Paper
The contribution of wildlife to human campylobacteriosis is still largely unknown. This study aimed to gain insight into the epidemiology and virulence potential of C. coli and C. lanienae isolated from wild boars from the metropolitan area of Barcelona (NE Spain), where this species has colonized urban and peri-urban areas. The recovered isolates...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recognizes Spain as a priority region for the surveillance of swine influenza because it meets the main risk factors for the spread and emergence of the influenza A virus in swine. Currently, Spain is the largest pig producer in Europe and the fifth in the world with a population of about 30 million pi...
Conference Paper
Aim: The contribution of wildlife to human campylobacteriosis is still largely unknown. This study aimed to gain insight into the epidemiology and virulence potential of C. coli and C. lanienae isolated from wild boars from the metropolitan area of Barcelona (NE Spain), where this species has colonized urban and peri-urban areas. Method: The recove...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Capturing wild ungulates is a common population control tool that has been used for repopulation, relocation and scientific research. However, wild animal capturing often involves an underlying risk for both its welfare and its life. Stress brought forward by physical capture induces a series of quantifiable homeostatic, haematological and biochemi...
Article
Wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations in urban environments have increased during the last decades. This has led to a new scenario where humans share the space with this recent colonising species inside urban areas. Citizen perception on wild boar presence must be taken into account to assure the most suitable design, application and acceptance of man...
Article
Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a hepatotropic virus, endemic in Europe where it infects humans and animals, with domestic pigs and wild boar as main reservoirs. The number of HEV infected cases with unknown source of infection increases in Europe. There are human HEV strains genetically similar to viruses from domestic pigs, and zoonotic transmission v...
Article
Full-text available
The Western European population of wild boar (Sus scrofa) has increased its distribution over the past several decades, and some populations have colonized areas strongly influenced by human activity. Wild boars are known carriers of antibiotic-resistant bacteria acquired from the environment, and urban populations of wild boars may be more exposed...
Article
Full-text available
This study examined the sexual reproductive cycle, energy storage and metabolic requirements of a Mediterranean gorgonian in a mesophotic ecosystem (~70 m depth). Paramuricea macrospina resulted to be a gonochoric internal brooding species with a 1:1 population sex ratio. Oogenesis lasted ~12–14 months, whereas spermatogenesis was significantly sho...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
In May 2013, the Wildlife Ecology & Health group (WEH) of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona was appointed by the Barcelona Council to provide consultancy services related to the increasing wild boar-related incidences in the urban area of Barcelona. Since then, study and management approaches have been developed along five main lines, namely: 1...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations have been steadily increasing in the highly populated Barcelona metropolitan area (BMA, NE Spain) for the last 35 years. Since wild boar in BMA are commonly infested by ixodid ticks, the zoonotic pathogens transmitted by these ticks represent an increasing public health concern. Our aim was to describe the species...
Article
Full-text available
Wild boar (Sus scrofa) population spread into urban and periurban areas has exacerbated conflicts with humans. There is a need for planned wild boar management strategies, and Population viability analysis (PVA) combined with perturbation analyses allow the assessment of the management effort of control methods. Our study aims to develop stochastic...
Data
Vortex functions. Harvest and breeding functions used in the model of the Collserola Natural Park wild boar population. (PDF)
Data
Relationship between mortality and wild boar population trend. Sensitivity test outcome for the mortality rates of the wild boar population of Collserola Natural park (showed different values in variation in population size and effect for Juvenile a) males and b) females (2,000; 5.75%), Yearling c) males and d) females, and Adult e) males and f) fe...
Data
Urban wild boar. Wild boar population in the study area habituated to humans showing A) indirect and B) direct feeding from anthropogenic resources. (PDF)
Data
Hunting data. Wild boar captured, hunted or found dead from 2000 to 2015, used to calculate population and specific sex and age classes relative abundances and mortality rates. (XLSX)
Data
Relationship between Hypothetical Population Threshold (HPT) and wild boar population trend. Sensitivity test outcome of the Hypothetical Population Threshold (HPT): Supplementary feeding availability (K value in VORTEX model), showed a total variation in the Collserola Natural Park wild boar population size of 3,820 individuals and an effect of 9....
Data
Relationship between fertility and wild boar population trend. Sensitivity test outcome for the fertility rates showed different values in variation in the Collserola Natural Park wild boar population size and effect for a) males and b) females, c) Juvenile females, d) Yearling females, and e) Adult females. Each line represents the population proj...
Article
Full-text available
Porcine circovirus 3 (PCV‐3) prevalence has been minimally investigated in wild boar; dynamics of infection and viral tissue distribution are currently unknown. In this study, serum samples from 518 wild boar (from years 2004 to 2018) were used to study frequency of infection. Also, serum samples from 19 boar captured and re‐captured at least two t...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Urbanization is an important threat to biodiversity but some species can thrive in urban environments. However, urban selective pressures may alter the behaviour, morphology and genetic structure of populations. Despite wild boar (Sus scrofa) is colonizing urban areas, few studies have analysed wild boar responses to urbanization. Thus, our aim was...
Article
Full-text available
Urban wild boars (Sus scrofa) from Barcelona, Spain, harbor great diversity of Streptococcus suis strains, including strains with the cps2 gene and with the same molecular profile as local human cases. The increasing trend of potential effective contacts for S. suis transmission is of public health concern. © 2018, Centers for Disease Control and P...
Article
Full-text available
Background: Sarcoptic mange has recently emerged in wild boar in Switzerland, raising the question of the origin of the infection. The main aim of this study was to assess the extent of exposure of the wild boar populations to Sarcoptes scabiei in Switzerland, prior to and after the detection of mange cases, to determine whether the mite has been...
Article
Body condition (i.e., the amount of the energy stored in organs and tissues) is a key parameter that has been related with health, reproductive performance and density of wild ungulates including the wild boar (Sus scrofa). In this wild pig, a reference method to assess body condition has not yet been agreed and different procedures have been used...
Article
Ruminant livestock is the main reservoir of Coxiella burnetii (Cb), but little is known about the role of wildlife and ticks in its epidemiology. The Iberian ibex (Capra pyrenaica, Schinz 1838) population of "Ports de Tortosa i Beseit" (NE Spain) suffers intense tick infestations and low reproduction rates. This study aims to (1) assess the relatio...
Article
Wild boar populations are expanding throughout the world and intruding into periurban and urban areas. In the last years, wild boar has colonized several European cities, including our study area, the city of Barcelona. It is required to identify the main factors driving wild boar into urban areas prior to establish management measures. We built Bo...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Wild boar (Sus scrofa) populations are increasing worldwide. The great adaptability of wild boar has allowed them tocolonizeurban and peri-urban areas, where wild boars have adaptedto use urban anthropogenic food sources. Thehabituation of wild boar to urban environments increases human-wildlife conflicts. Wild boar presence is common in the peri-u...
Conference Paper
The increasing abundance of wild boar (Sus scrofa) and its adaptation to urban and peri-urban areas is a worldwide phenomenon, resulting in an increased risk of disease transmission between wildlife, domestic animals and humans. Campylobacteriosis is the most commonly reported food-borne disease in the EU. In our previous studies, up to 60% of the...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
La captura de ungulados salvajes es una herramienta habitual de gestión de sus poblaciones, con objetivos tan diversos como repoblaciones, traslados de animales o la realización de estudios científicos. Sin embargo, supone un riesgo tanto para la vida como para el bienestar de los animales. El estrés relacionado con la captura de animales salvajes...
Conference Paper
La paratubercolosi (PTB) è una malattia infettiva ampiamente distribuita causata dal batterio Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). I ruminanti domestici sono i suoi principali ospiti, ma può infettare numerose specie domestiche e selvatiche, tanto ruminanti come non ruminanti. La malattia si trasmette principalmente per via oro-fecale...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Wild boar (Sus scrofa) can carry numerous pathogens and the risk of disease transmission to other wildlife species, domestic animals and humans has increased in recent decades due to its increasing abundance and adaptation to urban areas. This study aims at determining thermophilic Campylobacter spp. prevalence and genetic diversity in wild boars f...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Barcelona is one of the cities affected by wild boar (Sus scrofa) colonisation and it is increasingly facing conflictive situations caused by the presence of this species inside the urban area, which lead to the development of a specific operating protocol. This protocol was collaboratively developed by the Barcelona City Council and the Servei d’E...
Article
The present study evaluated the limitations of the coprological sedimentation test to assess Macracanthorhynchus hirudinaceus infestation in 59 wild boars (Sus scrofa) from central Spain. The coprological sedimentation test appeared to be a poor predictor of both prevalence of infestation and the real parasite burden due to the high number of false...
Conference Paper
OBJETIVO •Detectar anticuerpos frente a C.burnetii en la cabra montés. •Detectar la prevalencia en garrapatas recogidas sobre las mismas cabras y analizar diversos factores que puedan influir sobre dicha prevalencia. CONCLUSIÓN • La cabra montés está expuesta a C.burnetii y las garrapatas recogidas de este ungulado mantienen la bacteria en esta reg...