Project description:We report the first cases of human infection by Rickettsia felis in the Canary Islands. Antibodies against R. felis were found in 5 adsorbed serum samples from 44 patients with clinically suspected rickettsiosis by Western blot serology. Fleas from 1 patient's dog were positive for R. felis by polymerase chain reaction.

| S-EPMC3367641 | biostudies-literature

Stranding of Mesopelagic Fishes in the Canary Islands.

Project description:Most mesopelagic fishes perform large diel vertical migrations from the deep-sea zone to the surface. Although there is a trade-off between a higher food availability at the upper layers and an energy cost and predation risk, incursion towards the surface also implies a transport by currents, where the fish are exposed to a stranding risk on the coast. Here, we reported the first documented stranding of mesopelagic fishes along the southeast shore of Gran Canaria Island. Our study hypothesized that (1) the influence of the Canary Current, (2) the dominant incidence of the Trade Winds during summer, and (3) the presence of an upwelling filament coupled with an anticyclonic eddy south of Gran Canaria Island were the causative mechanisms of the strandings. Diaphus dumerilii (Myctophidae family) was the main species found as observed from an external morphological analysis using traditional taxonomy. The otolith contour analysis suggested the presence of other Diaphus spp. and Lobianchia dofleini. Nevertheless, the otolith morphological features described in the literature suggested that all the specimens were actually D. dumerelii. Errors in the identification were mainly due to the high intraspecific variability found in the otolith morphology. Even so, two patterns of oval and elliptic shapes were described with significant differences in its morphometry.

| S-EPMC9774839 | biostudies-literature

Murine Typhus in Canary Islands, Spain, 1999-2015.

Project description:To document the epidemiology, clinical features, and outcomes of murine typhus patients in the Canary Islands (Spain), we analyzed data that were retrospectively collected for 16 years for 221 patients. Murine typhus in the Canary Islands is characterized by a high rate of complications (31.6%), mainly liver, lung, kidney or central nervous system involvement.

| S-EPMC7853564 | biostudies-literature

Wildlife-vehicle collisions in Lanzarote Biosphere Reserve, Canary Islands.

Project description:Insular wildlife is more prone to extinction than their mainland relatives. Thus, a basic understanding of non-natural mortality sources is the first step in the development of conservation management plans. The Canary Islands are an important tourist destination due to their unique climate and rich scenery and biodiversity. During the last few decades, there has been significant development of urban areas and busy road networks. However, there have been no studies describing the effects of road mortality on wildlife in this archipelago. We describe the temporal and spatial patterns of wildlife roadkill in Lanzarote (UNESCO Biosphere Reserve), using counts from cars for an entire annual cycle. A total of 666 roadkills were recorded (monthly average of 0.09 birds/km and 0.14 mammals/km) comprising at least 37 species including native birds and introduced mammals. Seasonal abundance, richness and diversity of roadkills showed a high peak during summer months for both mammals and birds. GLMs indicated that accidents (including birds and mammals) have a higher probability of occurrence close to houses and on roads with high speed limits. When analysed separately, mammal kills occurred in sectors with high speed limits, close to houses and in areas surrounded by exotic bushes, while bird roadkills appeared in road sectors with high speed limits, close to houses and low traffic volume. Our findings highlight that roads are a potential threat to native birds in the eastern Canary Islands. Detailed studies on the local population dynamics of highly affected species, such as the Houbara Bustard, Eurasian Stone Curlew, Barn Owl or Southern Shrike, are urgently needed to determine whether these levels of road mortality are sustainable.

| S-EPMC5862401 | biostudies-literature

Projections of wildfire weather danger in the Canary Islands.

Project description:Climate change is expected to enhance weather conditions prone to wildfires. Climate regionalized projections for the Canary Islands were performed, using as boundary conditions some of the results provided by the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) initiative, and covering the recent past (1980-2009) and future (2070-2099) periods, under two Representative Concentration Pathways, 4.5 and 8.5. All fire risk indicators derived from the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) are foreseen to worsen by the end of the century. The fire season could increase its length up to 75 days per year, being more noticeable as altitude increases. The extreme risk days (FWI > 60) show an average increase of 58%, reaching 12 days a year, and the area with high risk could increase by 44%. Analyzing the contribution of the different meteorological variables, it is observed that the main parameter in the fire danger index result is the temperature (currently weights 46%). However, in the future, the importance of precipitation will increase, since the rainfall reduction in some areas could reach 41%. The high dependence of the expected changes on land height, and the small size of the islands, demonstrates the necessity of using high-resolution climate regionalizations.

| S-EPMC9110393 | biostudies-literature

Morbillivirus and Pilot Whale Deaths, Canary Islands, Spain, 2015.

Project description: Not available

| S-EPMC4806956 | biostudies-literature

The maternal aborigine colonization of La Palma (Canary Islands).

Project description:Teeth from 38 aboriginal remains of La Palma (Canary Islands) were analyzed for external and endogenous mitochondrial DNA control region sequences and for diagnostic coding positions. Informative sequences were obtained from 30 individuals (78.9%). The majority of lineages (93%) were from West Eurasian origin, being the rest (7%) from sub-Saharan African ascription. The bulk of the aboriginal haplotypes had exact matches in North Africa (70%). However, the indigenous Canarian sub-type U6b1, also detected in La Palma, has not yet been found in North Africa, the cradle of the U6 expansion. The most abundant H1 clade in La Palma, defined by transition 16260, is also very rare in North Africa. This means that the exact region from which the ancestors of the Canarian aborigines came has not yet been sampled or that they have been replaced by later human migrations. The high gene diversity found in La Palma (95.2+/-2.3), which is one of the farthest islands from the African continent, is of the same level than the previously found in the central island of Tenerife (92.4+/-2.8). This is against the supposition that the islands were colonized from the continent by island hopping and posterior isolation. On the other hand, the great similarity found between the aboriginal populations of La Palma and Tenerife is against the idea of an island-by-island independent maritime colonization without secondary contacts. Our data better fit to an island model with frequent migrations between islands.

| S-EPMC2986650 | biostudies-literature

New oxidized zoanthamines from a Canary Islands Zoanthus sp.

Project description:Three new norzoanthamine-type alkaloids, named 2-hydroxy-11-ketonorzoan thamide B (1), norzoanthamide B (2) and 15-hydroxynorzoanthamine (3), were isolated from Zoanthus sp. specimens collected at the Canary Islands. Their structures were determined by interpretation of NMR and HR-ESIMS data. Relative configurations of their chiral centers were proposed on the basis of ROESY spectra and by comparison of their spectroscopic data with those of the well-known compound, norzoanthamine.

| S-EPMC4210893 | biostudies-literature

Pathogenic Leptospira spp. in wild rodents, Canary Islands, Spain.

Project description: Not available

| S-EPMC3322058 | biostudies-literature