Roberto Alonso BoschFaculty of Biology, University of Havana · Museum of Natural History Felipe Poey
Roberto Alonso Bosch
PhD in Biological Sciences
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54
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Publications
Publications (54)
This is a brief note that reports the climbing behavior of P. taladai in an area where some species of deer and cattle have been introduced
We documented the first information about limb abnormalities in Peltophryne florentinoi, a Critically Endangered Cuban toad. Although, the causes for the abnormalities recorded in the Zapata’s Toad remain unknown, we suggested that the adverse effects of UV radiation should be monitor carefully in the future. In addition, we do not discard inbreedi...
Rationale:
Host defense peptides accumulated in the skin glands of the animals constitute the basis of the adaptive and immune system of amphibians. The peptidome of the Cuban frog Osteopilus septentrionalis was established using tandem mass spectrometry as the best analytical tool to elucidate the sequence of these peptides.
Methods:
Manual int...
Leptodactylus fragilis is a recently introduced frog in Cuba, where it may impact local populations of amphibians in different ways. Here, we combined two methods to predict the invasion of the acoustic niche of Cuban amphibians by L. fragilis. We first use species distribution models to predict the spread and establishment of L. fragilis in Cuba....
Pigmentation anomalies may occur due to genetic or environmental factors and can affect restricted parts of
the body or the entire surface. Eleutherodactylus zeus is frog endemic to western Cuba where it is adapted to life in caves,
rock crevices, and other sheltered sites in limestone landscapes associated with forest habitats. We observed 43 frog...
Methanolic extracts of paratoid gland secretions from Cuban Peltophryne toads contain inhibitory activities against peptidases with biomedical relevance. ABSTRACT Peptidases regulate most biochemical and physiological processes and are essential for propagation of infectious agents. Many became established targets for new therapeutic drugs. Amphibi...
The Neotropical genus Leptodactylus is currently represented by three species in the West Indies (Leptodactylus albilabris, Leptodactylus fallax and Leptodactylus validus). Based on morphological, acoustic and molecular evidence, we document the presence of a fourth species in the Caribbean region, Leptodactylus fragilis (Brocchi, 1877). The specie...
1. Global change processes (including climate change, sea-level rise, and land-use change, among others) represent significant threats to biodiversity. These changes are usually studied across broad areas, and understanding their effects on narrowly distributed endangered species is challenging. Peltophryne florentinoi is a critically endangered Cu...
The Neotropical genus Leptodactylus is currently represented by three species in the West Indies (Leptodactylus albilabris, Leptodactylus fallax and Leptodactylus validus). Based on morphological, acoustic and molecular evidence, we document the presence of a fourth species in the Caribbean region, Leptodactylus fragilis (Brocchi, 1877). The specie...
La presente obra ofrece un compendio de métodos para el inventario y el monitoreo de diferentes grupos de la biota terrestre en Cuba. Realizada con la colaboración de 71 especialistas, fue escrita fundamentalmente para estudiantes, biólogos de campo, profesionales y técnicos de la conservación, que desarrollen trabajos relacionados con las ciencias...
The mourning gecko, Lepidodactylus lugubris (Duméril and Bibron, 1836), native to the Southwest Pacific, is one of the most successful reptile invaders. This study reports the first record from Cuba and the Greater Antilles. We document the occurrence of reproductive individuals in 2008, and collected five adult individuals in an urban environment...
Many agents can cause malformation in frogs: UV-B radiation, retinoid exposure, pesticide contamination, predation, and trematode infection. The malformations typically involve the limbs: missing limbs and parts of limbs, extra limbs, and skin webbings. Osteopilus septentrionalis is a native Cuban species, and has been introduced in other West Indi...
In this contribution, we offer new information about the advertisement call of Peltophryne cataulaciceps, an endemic toad species from Cuba and the smallest bufonid from the West Indies. We measured seven acoustic properties from 17 males and analyzed the variability at the within-individual and between-individual levels, using coefficients of vari...
We studied the variation in genetics, bioacustics, and morphology in Eleutherodactylus glamyrus, a regionally endemic frog species restricted to high elevations in the Sierra Maestra Massif, Western Cuba that was originally described as a cryptic species hidden under the name E. auriculatus. Genetic analysis of mtDNA sequences of the 16S and cob ge...
Habitat loss and climate change are major threats to amphibian species worldwide. We combined niche modelling under various climatic scenarios with analysis of habitat loss and the appropriateness of Cuban protected areas to identify major risk zones for the Endangered Cuban toad Peltophryne longinasus . Four subspecies with disjunct distributions...
We provide new distributional data for the most geographically restricted and threatened Cuban toad, the Zapata Toad (Peltophryne florentinoi), and evaluate this information for its potential conservation implications. Prior to this survey, the species was known from only one locality. Although our records extend the geographic distribution about 2...
Parotoid gland secretions of toad species are a vast reservoir of bioactive molecules with a wide range of biological properties. Herein, for the first time, it is described the isolation by preparative reversed-phase HPLC and the structure elucidation by NMR spectroscopy and/or mass spectrometry of nine major bufadienolides from parotoid gland sec...
The number of introductions and resulting established populations of amphibians and reptiles in Caribbean islands is alarming. Through an extensive review of information on Cuban herpetofauna, including protected area management plans, we present the first comprehensive inventory of introduced amphibians and reptiles in the Cuban archipelago. We cl...
The Cuban archipelago hosts at least thirteen endemic species of the genus Eleutherodactylus that live in association with rocks, caves, or limestone landscapes. However, the reproductive biology of Cuban rock-cave dwelling frogs has received little attention. In this contribution, we offer the first report of oviposition, clutch size, nest site lo...
RESUMEN Las descripciones taxonómicas requieren de manera ineludible la compara-ción de los ejemplares de las nuevas especies con el material tipo de táxones afines depositados en colecciones zoológicas. En la presente comunicación se presenta el hallazgo de un ejemplar de talla extrema de Peltaphryne fusti-ger, a partir de una hembra adulta recole...
pp.. Progresos en el estudio de las vocalizaciones de anfibios cubanos Progress in the study of the vocalizations of Cuban amphibians En los anfibios anuros, la comunicación acústica (vocalización) juega un papel esencial en disímiles contextos conductuales, particular-mente en la conducta reproductiva de muchas especies (Gerhardt y Huber, 2002; Wa...
The endemic Cuban Eleutherodactylus limbatus group contains five species of miniature species of frogs (E. cubanus, E. iberia, E. jaumei, E. limbatus, E. orientalis), and one larger and more generalized species (E. etheridgei). Several of the miniature species have contrasting colour patterns with bright yellow or white stripes on a dark dorsum, a...
Aim In this study we present a molecular phylogenetic and phylogeographical analysis of Peltophryne (Anura: Bufonidae), an endemic genus of Antillean toads, to investigate the spatial and temporal origins of the genus, with particular focus on the eight Cuban species.
Location Greater Antilles, with extensive sampling of the Cuban archipelago.
Meth...
Eleutherodactylus planirostris Cope 1862, the greenhouse frog, is native to the Bahamas, Cayman Islands and Cuba, with introduced populations in the southeastern United States, Jamaica, Honduras, Mexico, Grenada, Caicos Islands, the Miskito Cays of Nicaragua, and on the Pacific islands of Hawaii and Guam (Heinicke et al. 2011; Somma 2011). This spe...
We analyzed variation in the advertisement calls among three localities of Eleutherodactylus glamyrus, a frog endemic to the Sierra Maestra mountains in Eastern Cuba. We assessed the levels of within male variation of each call property and the influence of temperature and size of calling male on acoustical features. The typical single-note adverti...
The advertisement call of Peltophryne florentinoi, an endemic toad from Zapata Swamp, Matanzas, Cuba, is described in terms of temporal properties and dominant frequency. A comparison with the advertisement calls produced by the other three species of large toads in Cuba (P. peltocephala, P. fustiger and P. taladai) is also provided. Like other lar...
The Zoological Collection of the Institute of Ecology and Systematics (CZACC) hosts six holotypes, 80 paratypes and one paratopotype of seven taxa of frogs of the genera Bufo and Eleutherodactylus endemic to Cuba. Type specimens of each species are listed with their respective catalogue number, sex, locality, collection date, and name of collectors...
Cuando la comunidad mundial de herpetólogos se debate ante el fenóme-no de las enfermedades emergentes y el declive global de las poblaciones de anfi-bios, con las incalculables consecuencias que esto puede acarrear; nos llega esta obra de Fauna Ibérica en su volumen dedicado a los anfibios, la cual responde con profundidad a las preguntas: ¿Qué te...
The Bufo peltocephalus group is comprised of ten species of toads from the West Indies. Cuba hosts the highest diversity, with a total of seven endemic species. Adequate acoustic characterization of the vocalizations remained absent for the majority of these species. We offer some natural history data on their calling behavior, calling/breeding sit...
A quienes gustan de caminar por nuestros bosques y admirar sus bellezas naturales les recomendamos que presten atención, pues justo debajo de sus pies existe un mundo fascinante que, probablemente, aún desconocen. En los húmedos bosques cubanos, durante la temporada de lluvias, resulta verdaderamente impresionante ver cómo una gran cantidad de dimi...
Acoustic and trophic activity patterns in calling males of Eleutherodactylus eileenae (Anura: Leptodactylidae).- Ecological data of E. eileenae obtained from field research at the Biosphere Reserve "Sie- rra del Rosario", Pinar del Río are presented. The acoustic activity of males of this species is analyzed in detail establishing the annual and di...
A new diminutive species of Eleutherodactylus is described from Sierra Maestra in eastern Cuba. It is a member of the limbatus group of the subgenus Euhyas. The new species is most similar to E. limbatus and E. orientalis, but has a relatively wider head and longer snout, and a distinctive orange ground color.
Projects
Projects (5)
The objective is to update biological inventories and using GIS data to quantify the cover, configuration and heterogeneity of human-modified landscapes on four mountain areas. We will assess the responses at the richness values of target groups of fauna (e.g. butterflies, birds and bats) to the landscape structure and identify important sites for conservation and possible landscape connectors between core refugia of biodiversity. This is an output of the international project “A landscape approach to the conservation of threatened mountain ecosystems” funded by GEF.
The main objective is using ecological niche models and spatial analyses to evaluate the effect of anthropogenic climate change on the potential distribution of terrestrial species of flora and fauna. We will identify most important area to biodiversity conservation and highest vulnerability regions on Cuba, besides we will assess the representation of these on the current Cuban system of protected areas to offer alternatives for the timely adoption of mitigation and adaptation measures to reduce the adverse impacts of climate change on the Cuban biodiversity.
