Browsing by Author "Duclos, Melanie"

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    European Rabbit Invasion in a Semi-Arid Ecosystem of Chile: How Relevant Is Its Role in Food Webs?
    (2023) Gubelin, Patricia; Correa-Cuadros, Jennifer Paola; Ávila Thieme, María Isidora; Flores Benner, Gabriela Verónica; Duclos, Melanie; Lima Arce, Mauricio; Jaksic Andrade, Fabián; Torre, Ignasi; Balčiauskas, Linas
    The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is one of the main invasive species in Chile, where it became naturalized ca. 150 years ago. Their high reproductive capacity, lack of specialist predators, and great adaptability favored the settlement of rabbits in diverse mainland and island ecosystems of the country. Recently, rabbits have become central players in semi-arid ecosystems, such as those represented in Las Chinchillas National Reserve in north-central Chile. We undertook to analyze the place and role of rabbits in the food web of that Reserve, based on a bibliographic review and long-term annual data gathered from 1987 until 2022 (36 years). Results showed that the network comprised 77 species, where 69% were primary producers (plants), 18% were mid-level consumers (herbivores), and 13% were top-level consumers (predators). The most connected species in the food web was the rabbit, which positively or negatively affected the species interacting with it. Predators such as Galictis cuja, Geranoaetus polyosoma, Leopardus colocolo, and Puma concolor, and the scavenger Vultur gryphus, could be negatively affected by an eventual decrease (natural or human-caused) in the rabbit population of the Reserve. To the contrary, primary producers such as Oxalis perdicaria, Plantago hispidula, Schizanthus parvulus, Senna cumminggi, and Tropaeolum azureum could be positively affected by an increase in their biomass in response to a decrease in rabbits, favoring native rodents. We consider that analyzing the rabbit-centered food web and its impacts on native interacting species allows a better understanding of the relevance of invasive species in the local community, providing conceptual tools for rabbit management.
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    First Detection of Benign Rabbit Caliciviruses in Chile
    (2024) Smertina, Elena; Keller, Luca M.; Huang, Nina; Flores Benner, Gabriela Verónica; Correa Cuadros, Jennifer Paola; Duclos, Melanie; Jaksic Andrade, Fabián; Briceño, Cristóbal; Neira Ramírez, Víctor; Díaz-Gacitúa, Miguel; Carrasco-Fernández, Sebastián; Smith, Ina L.; Strive, Tanja; Jenckel, Maria
    Pathogenic lagoviruses (Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus, RHDV) are widely spread across the world and are used in Australia and New Zealand to control populations of feral European rabbits. The spread of the non-pathogenic lagoviruses, e.g., rabbit calicivirus (RCV), is less well studied as the infection results in no clinical signs. Nonetheless, RCV has important implications for the spread of RHDV and rabbit biocontrol as it can provide varying levels of cross-protection against fatal infection with pathogenic lagoviruses. In Chile, where European rabbits are also an introduced species, myxoma virus was used for localised biocontrol of rabbits in the 1950s. To date, there have been no studies investigating the presence of lagoviruses in the Chilean feral rabbit population. In this study, liver and duodenum rabbit samples from central Chile were tested for the presence of lagoviruses and positive samples were subject to whole RNA sequencing and subsequent data analysis. Phylogenetic analysis revealed a novel RCV variant in duodenal samples that likely originated from European RCVs. Sequencing analysis also detected the presence of a rabbit astrovirus in one of the lagovirus-positive samples.
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    La invasión del conejo europeo en Chile
    (2023) Correa Cuadros, Jennifer Paola; Flores-Benner, Gabriela; Gübelin , Patricia; Ávila-Thieme, María Isidora; Muñoz, Manuel; Duclos, Melanie; Soto, Nicolás; Briceño, Cristóbal; Vásquez, Felipe; Díaz, Miguel; Jaksic, Fabián
    El conejo europeo (Oryctolagus cuniculus) fue introducido en Chile central a mediados del siglo XVIII y se encuentra entre las especies invasoras que más afectan los ecosistemas chilenos y sus usos productivos. Los impactos más negativos del conejo se han reportado en islas chilenas y en el bosque esclerófilo continental. En Chile, los impactos de esta especie han sido abordados principalmente desde una perspectiva ecológicacomunitaria. Sin embargo, hace falta investigación aplicada para mejorar las políticas públicas y el manejo eficiente del conejo, como por ejemplo determinar su distribución geográfica, el tamaño de su población, comprender mejor sus impactos en los ecosistemas naturales y agroecosistemas, y los depredadores y patógenos que los afectan. En este libro se realiza una revisión exhaustiva de los estudios existentes sobre el conejo europeo en Chile en cuanto a su historia y control, epidemiología de enfermedades virales, ecología e impactos económicos, con el fin de detectar los vacíos y desafíos resultantes y orientar los esfuerzos hacia su manejo en Chile