Sara Álvarez Solas

• PhD Animal Behavior (Primatology)
• Lecturer at Universidad Regional Amazónica IKIAM

Infanticide is considered a conspicuous expression of sexual conflict amongst mammals, including at least 35 primate species. Here we describe two suspected and one attempted case of intragroup infanticide in spider monkeys that augment five prior cases of observed or suspected infanticide in this genus. Contrary to the typical pattern of infantici...

Objectives The 12-item Self-Compassion Scale–Short Form (SCS–SF) is a widely used instrument for the assessment of self-compassion. To date, there have been few examinations of this instrument’s psychometric properties, particularly across nations and languages. Therefore, we used data from the Body Image in Nature Survey (BINS) to assess measureme...

Objectives: The 12-item Self-Compassion Scale–Short Form (SCS–SF) is a widely used instrument for the assessment of self-compassion. To date, there have been few examinations of this instrument’s psychometric properties, particularly across nations and languages. Therefore, we used data from the Body Image in Nature Survey (BINS) to assess measurem...

The Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) is a widely used self-report measure of subjective well-being, but studies of its measurement invariance across a large number of nations remain limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset–with data collected between 2020 and 2022 –to assess measurement invariance of the SWLS across 65...

Though people usually imagine the typical person as a man rather than a woman, the effect is mixed for racial groups and understudied among traditionally male social groups (e.g., police and criminals) and non-U.S. populations. Results from a survey (N > 5000) collected via a globally distributed laboratory network in over 40 regions demonstrated t...

Detachment from nature is contributing to the environmental crisis and reversing this trend requires detailed monitoring and targeted interventions to reconnect people to nature. Most tools measuring nature exposure and attachment were developed in high-income countries and little is known about their robustness across national and linguistic group...

The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a widely used measure of a core facet of the positive body image construct. However, extant research concerning measurement invariance of the BAS-2 across a large number of nations remains limited. Here, we utilised the Body Image in Nature (BINS) dataset – with data collected between 2020 and 2022 – to asse...

Mental simulation theories of language comprehension propose that people automatically create mental representations of objects mentioned in sentences. Mental representation is often measured with the sentence-picture verification task, wherein participants first read a sentence that implies the object property (i.e., shape and orientation). Partic...

The COVID-19 pandemic (and its aftermath) highlights a critical need to communicate health information effectively to the global public. Given that subtle differences in information framing can have meaningful effects on behavior, behavioral science research highlights a pressing question: Is it more effective to frame COVID-19 health messages in t...

Significance Communicating in ways that motivate engagement in social distancing remains a critical global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study tested motivational qualities of messages about social distancing (those that promoted choice and agency vs. those that were forceful and shaming) in 25,718 people in 89 countries...

Nocturnal curassows (Nothocrax urumutum) are one of the most enigmatic birds from South American rainforests. Their elusive habits and their nocturnal vocal behavior have led to the generalized assumption that they differ from other curassows in their presumable nocturnal habits. Here, we compiled camera trap data from long term projects in the Ama...

Understanding the geographic distributions of primates is necessary to ensure effective conservation strategies. Nonetheless, many gaps persist in information regarding the range limits of platyrrhines. Leontocebus lagonotus is no exception; it is one of the least studied primates in Ecuador and its geographic limits are poorly known. We obtained 2...

Habituation is used in most field research with primates to minimize observer effects on their behavior. Despite its importance, there is little published on the methods used to habituate different taxa of primates or how these methods vary in different habitat types. We assessed changes in behavior and space use of two groups of Leontocebus lagono...

The bush dog (Speothos venaticus) is one of the rarest canids in Central and South America. Very little is known about its distribution or its ecological behavior. However, there are ongoing scientific efforts to compile updated data on this species. By using line transect surveys, interviews with local people and camera traps, we studied mammals a...

The tadpoles of the Neotropical genus Atelopus are only known for 26 out of 96 species described. Here, we describe the tadpoles of A. elegans and A. palmatus including ontogenetic information, measurements, and images of individuals in several stages of growth. Both species are compared with their congeners taking into account some relevant featur...

Environmental enrichment is essential to zoos and animal rescue centres, mainly for its role in improving the welfare of animals. However, enrichment strategies have also shown potential in other areas, such as the rehabilitation of candidates in reintroduction processes. This study, which aimed to check the effectiveness of enrichment techniques o...

Las palmas son consideradas especies clave desde una perspectiva ecológica y económica, con múltiples usos para las comunidades locales. Muchas especies de mamíferos, tales como agutíes, primates y pecaríes, son considerados importantes dispersores de semillas de tamaño grande. Este estudio se centra en la asociación de dos especies de palmas, Socr...

A reintroduction project involving Saimiri cassiquiarensis was initiated by the Yana Cocha Wildlife Rescue Center located in the Tamandua Ecological Reserve, an area of tropical rainforest in Ecuador, where no other squirrel monkeys were seen before. A group of 9 specimens from illegal trafficking and zoos (three female juveniles, one female adult,...

Over the last ten years, Oosterhof and Todorov’s valence-dominance model has emerged as the most prominent account of how people evaluate faces on social dimensions. In this model, two dimensions (valence and dominance) underpin social judgments of faces. Because this model has primarily been developed and tested in Western regions, it is unclear w...

Key message Wettinia maynensis’ phenology is influenced by temperature and the relative humidity, suggesting that the reproductive phenology can change in extreme climate event contexts, even in very humid unseasonal forests. Abstract Wettinia maynensis is a piedmont palm tree whose ecology, phenology and responses to climate are yet unknown. In o...

Much research on moral judgment is centered on moral dilemmas in which deontological perspectives (i.e., emphasizing rules, individual rights and duties) are in conflict with utilitarian judgements (i.e., following the greater good defined through consequences). A central finding of this field Greene et al. showed that psychological and situational...

Keystone species are organisms, usually animals of higher trophic levels, that have large ecological impacts relative to their abundance. A recent extension of this concept recognizes hyperkeystone species, such as humans, which affect other keystone species and often play a key role in multiple ecosystem dynamics. Following a systematic review, we...

El capítulo describe el estado actual de conservación de Ateles belzebuth en el Ecuador, además se indica la descripción, historia natural, distribución, hábitat, situación actual, amenazas, medidas de conservación, y los estudios sobre la especie en el Ecuador.

Concerns about the veracity of psychological research have been growing. Many findings in psychological science are based on studies with insufficient statistical power and nonrepresentative samples, or may otherwise be limited to specific, ungeneralizable settings or populations. Crowdsourced research, a type of large-scale collaboration in which...

Effective conservation strategies need to be created based on accurate and updated data on the distribution and conservation status of the species of concern. Not surprisingly, the most diverse countries which are currently facing the greater threats, tend to be those with the greatest lack of information. This is the case for Ecuador, where defore...

Concerns have been growing about the veracity of psychological findings. Many findings in psychological science are based on studies with insufficient statistical power and non-representative samples, or may otherwise be limited to specific, ungeneralizable settings or populations. Large-scale collaboration, in which one or more research projects a...

The 2015 assessment of the conservation status of the Neotropical primates reported that 91 species and subspecies (42.5%) are threatened. This highlights the need to establish priority actions to mitigate the threats caused by human activities and promote the conservation of their populations and habitats. Ecuador is fifth-ranking of the Neotropic...

Dominancia y prestigio se han propuesto como estrategias para alcanzar estatus en humanos. La dominancia es el uso de amenazas y agresión, y el prestigio es la búsqueda de logros culturales. Esta investigación fue llevada a cabo utilizando cuestionarios en muestras de habla hispana: Madrid (España) y San José (Costa Rica). La dominancia y el presti...

Álvarez-Solas S & Galbany J (2017) Primatología Internacional: una visión de los avances de la primatología en todo el mundo. Boletín de la Asociación Primatológica Española 24(1): 110-117. El pasado mes de agosto se celebró la 26ª edición del «Congreso de la International Primatological Society (IPS)», que este año se realizó conjuntamente con el...

One convergent aspect of the societies of chimpanzees and spider monkeys is the fact that members of a social group jointly conduct territorial boundary patrols and raids into home ranges of neighboring groups. Boundary patrols are usually perpetrated by subgroups of adult and subadult males who travel in silence into neighboring territories. Only...

La Reserva Biológica Colonso-Chalupas es un área protegida de reciente creación, con 93 246 hectáreas de superficie y un gradiente altitudinal desde 560 a 4432 metros sobre el nivel del mar. Su precipitación anual muestra un promedio de 1700 milímetros en la parte alta, a 4300 milímetros en la parte baja. La reserva presenta seis diferentes ecosist...

Los saladeros constituyen un recurso territorial muy interesante desde un punto de vista social y fisiológico. Son lugares visitados por muchas especies animales, con objeto de ingerir barro; lo cual ha sido sugerido por varios autores como una forma para adquirir minerales y/o como agente desintoxicante. Los monos araña (Ateles sp.) presentan un s...