Papers by Santiago Herrera
Biodiversity Data Journal, 2019
Attention to the deep-sea environment has increased dramatically in the last decade due to the ri... more Attention to the deep-sea environment has increased dramatically in the last decade due to the rising interest in natural resource exploitation. Although Colombia holds a large submerged territory, knowledge of the seabed and its biodiversity beyond 1,000 m depth is very limited. During 2015–2017, Anadarko Colombia Company (ACC) carried out hydrocarbon exploratory activities in the South-western Colombian Caribbean, at depths between 375 m and 2,565 m. Capitalising on available data resources from these activities, several cnidarian species were observed in ROV and towed camera surveys. We analysed over nine hours of video and 5,066 still images from these surveys, identifying organisms to the lowest possible taxonomic level. The images and associated data presented here correspond to 108 observations of deep-sea cnidarians, including seven new records for the Colombian Caribbean. Given the paucity of research and funding to explore the deep-sea in Colombia, the present dataset comp...
Anthozoans (e.g., corals, anemones) are an ecologically important and diverse group of marine met... more Anthozoans (e.g., corals, anemones) are an ecologically important and diverse group of marine metazoans that occur from shallow to deep waters worldwide. However, our understanding of the evolutionary relationships among the ~7500 species within this class is hindered by the lack of phylogenetically informative markers that can be reliably sequenced across a diversity of taxa. We designed and tested 16,308 RNA baits to capture 720 Ultraconserved Element loci and 1,071 exon loci. Library preparation and target enrichment was performed on 33 taxa from all orders within the class Anthozoa. Following Illumina sequencing and Trinity assembly, we recovered 1,774 of 1,791 targeted loci. The mean number of loci recovered from each species was 638 ± 222, with more loci recovered from octocorals (783 ± 138 loci) than hexacorals (475 ± 187 loci). Phylogenetically informative sites ranged from 26-49% for alignments at differing hierarchical taxonomic levels (e.g., Anthozoa, Octocorallia, Hexaco...
Revista de Biología Tropical, 2015
The health of coral reef communities has been decreasing over the last 50 years, due the negative... more The health of coral reef communities has been decreasing over the last 50 years, due the negative effects of human activities combined with other natural processes. We present documentation of a White Plague Disease (WPD) outbreak in the Serrana Bank, an isolated Western Caribbean atoll with presumably inexistent pollutant inputs from local human settlements. In addition, this study summarizes seven years of observations on diseased corals in the nearby island of San Andrés, which in contrast is one of the most populated islands of the Caribbean. There was a massive coral mortality in the atoll lagoon (14°27'53.24", 80°14'22.27" W, and 12m depth) due to WPD on May 4 of 2003. Seventeen species were found dead or largely affected by the disease. The information resulting from GPS and manta-tow transects revealed that approximately 5.8ha of reticulate Montastraea spp. patch reefs were lethally affected by the disease in the atoll. On May 8 of the same year we observed and calculated a mean coral cover of 7.03% (SD± 2.44), a mean diseased coral tissue cover of 5.5% (SD± 1.1) and a 13.4% (SD± 8.05) of recently dead coral covered with a thin filamentous algae layer; approximately 73% of mortalities caused by the disease occurred before the end of the outbreak. A rough estimate of 18.9% in recent coral cover reduction can be attributed to WPD. This represents about 82% of the total coral cover decline since 1995. Semi-enclosed environments such as atoll lagoons and the reticulate patch-reefs of Montastraea spp. seem to be particularly vulnerable to this kind of coral disease, which constitute an alert to increase the monitoring of the same kind of atoll environments. The WPD has been present in the area of the nearby island of San Andrés at a low prevalence level, with sporadic increasing peaks of disease proliferation. The peaks observed during 1999 and 2004 comprised increases of 266% and 355% respectively, suggesting an alarming progression of the disease in this area. This study includes new information of the epizoolotiology of White Plague Disease and documents the permanent prevalence and progression of the WPD in the area of San
Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 2010
Bubblegum octocorals (Paragorgia and Sibogagorgia) play an important ecological role in many deep... more Bubblegum octocorals (Paragorgia and Sibogagorgia) play an important ecological role in many deep-sea ecosystems. However, these organisms are currently threatened by destructive fishing methods such as bottom trawling. Taxonomic knowledge of conservation targets is necessary for the creation and implementation of efficient conservation strategies. However, for most deep-sea coral groups this knowledge remains incomplete. For instance, despite its similarities with Paragorgia, Sibogagorgia is particular in lacking polyp sclerites, which are present in groups like Paragorgia and the Coralliidae. Although two kinds of sclerites are very similar between Paragorgia and Sibogagorgia, other characters challenge the monophyly of these genera. Here we help to clarify the taxonomy and evolutionary relationships of the bubblegum octocorals and related taxa by examining molecular data. We employed nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial (ND6, ND6-ND3 intergenic spacer, ND3, ND2, COI, msh1 and 16S) and nuclear (28S and ITS2) genomic regions from several taxa to infer molecular phylogenetics and to examine the correspondence of morphological features with the underlying genetic information. Our data strongly supported the monophyly of the genus Paragorgia, the family Coralliidae (precious corals), and a group of undescribed specimens resembling Sibogagorgia. Further morphological observations were congruent regarding the uniqueness of the undescribed specimens, here defined as a new species, Sibogagorgia cauliflora sp. nov., which occurs in both sides of the North American landmass at depths below 1700 m. This new species resembles S. dennisgordoni with branching in one plane but has fairly different radiate sclerites and significantly divergent DNA sequences. The existence of several diagnostic characters of Sibogagorgia in S. cauliflora indicates that they indeed belong to this genus. It is however remarkable that a small number of medullar canals are also found in this species; medullar canals have been considered as the main diagnostic character of Paragorgia. Thus, the evidence generated here indicates that the presence or absence of these canals per se is not a conclusively diagnostic character for either genus. The lack of internal-node resolution in the inferred phylogenetic hypotheses of these genera does not allow us to propose a clear scenario regarding the evolution of these traits.
Techniques in Vascular and Interventional Radiology, 2011
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Papers by Santiago Herrera