Artikel
Bats and their viruses in the city scape
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Autoren
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Román Espinal Palomino
- Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (Cinvestav), Unidad Mérida, Yucatán, México
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Víctor M. Vidal Martinez
- Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (Cinvestav), Unidad Mérida, Yucatán, México
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Andres Moreira Soto
- Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and HumboldtUniversität zu Berlin, Institut für Virologie, Berlin, Germany
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Jan Felix Drexler
- Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and HumboldtUniversität zu Berlin, Institut für Virologie, Berlin, Germany
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Carlos N. Ibarra Cerdeña
- Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (Cinvestav), Unidad Mérida, Yucatán, México
| Veröffentlicht: | 28. November 2023 |
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Gliederung
Text
Urbanization is a complex phenomenon that involves various changes, both environmental, demographic, and socio-economic, with the aim of benefiting people. This phenomenon usually has a significant impact on the environment through the reduction of green areas (vegetation cover), which generally affects the abundance, species richness, behavior, and physiological condition of bats. In general, there is evidence that urbanization has a variety impact on bats; however, bats are one of the most diverse groups to persist in cities. Our research question is how urbanization affects the composition and diversity of viruses in the synanthropic bat A. jamaicensis. The study was carried out in the city of Mérida, Yucatán, México (20°58' N 89°37' W/20.97, -89.62). Four transects oriented in the four cardinal directions were sampled to collect bats using mist nets. Bats were inspected to collect ectoparasites and tissues. The city of Mérida, Yucatán shows a radial growth pattern; in addition, a marked gradient is observed on the different variables analyzed. We observed effects on the ecology of Artibeus jamaicensis populations, sex proportions, body condition, prevalence of ectoparasites. Samples are currently being processed for Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) analysis to characterize the virus diversity and their change along the urbanization gradient. Increase the connectivity among green spaces to reduce the hyper-concentration of bats in urban landscapes, which will reduce density dependent virus transmission. Implement measures to improve social communication and awareness about the benefits of wildlife presence in the cities.
