GENETICS AND EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY 

Director: Dr Nicolás Bonel
Adjunct Researcher, CONICET
email: , 

CV CONICET

Lines of Research

• Adaptive phenotypic differentiation in a wide-dispersing species
• Sex-specific parasite infections in aquatic snails
• The role of epigenetics in inbreeding depression
• Phylogeography of Galba snails (Hygrophila, Lymnaeidae)
• Genetic diversity and population structure of the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica and other livestock parasites
• Environmental disturbances and parasites affecting mating strategies in hermaphrodites

• Pizá J, Guerrero Spagnuoli J., Dop NS, Cazzaniga NJ (2023). From the Mediterranean to Yungas and Patagonia. Dispersal of the non-native gastropod Rumina decollata in Argentina. Biología, 78(3), 865-871.
• Alba, A, Grech-Angelini, S, Vázquez, AA, Alda, P, Blin, Q, Lemmonier, L, ... & Quilichini, Y (2023). Fasciolosis in the Mediterranean island of Corsica (France): Insights from epidemiological and malacological investigations. Food and Waterborne Parasitology, 30, e00188.
• Hünicken LA, Sylvester F, Bonel N (2022). Fitness-related traits are maximized in recently introduced, slow-growing populations of a global invasive clam. Invertebrate Biology, 141(1), e12364.
• Rau AI, Beltramino AA, Serniotti EN, Pizá J, Caffetti JD, Vogler RE (2022). The exotic snail Rumina decollata (Linnaeus, 1758) (Gastropoda, Achatinidae) in Argentina: new records, range extension and areas of origin of Argentine populations. Check List 18 (1):91–102. https://doi.org/10.15560/18.1.91
• Vázquez AA, Alba A, Alda P, Vittecoq M, Hurtrez-Boussès S. (2022). On the arrival of fasciolosis in the Americas. Trends in Parasitology, 38 (3):195-204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pt.2021.12.001
• Bonel N, Pointier JPP, Alda P (2021). Environmental stressors induced strong small-scale phenotypic differentiation in a wide-dispersing marine snail. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 674: 143–162 https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13836
• Janicke T, Chapuis E, Meconcelli S, Bonel N, Delahaie B, David P (2021). Environmental effects on the genetic architecture of fitness components in a simultaneous hermaphrodite. Journal of Animal Ecology, 91(1), 124-137.
• Coughlan NE, Cunningham EM, Cuthbert R N, Joyce PWS, Anastácio P, Banha F, Bonel N, et al.  (2021). Biometric conversion factors as a unifying platform for comparative assessment of invasive freshwater bivalves. Journal of Applied Ecology, 58(9), 1945-1956.
• Loker ES, Dolginow S, Pape S, Topper C, Alda P, Pointier J-P, Ebbs E, DeJong R, Brant, SV, Laidemitt MR (2021). An outbreak of canine schistosomiasis in Utah: acquisition of a new snail host (Galba humilis) by Heterobilharzia americana, a pathogenic parasite on the move. One Health, 13, 100280.
• Vázquez AA, Sabourin E, Alda P, Leroy C, Leray C, Carron E, Mulero S, Caty C, Hasfia S, Boisseau M, Saugné L, Pineau O, Blanchon T, Alba A, Faugère D, Vittecoq M, Hurtrez-Boussès S. (2021). Genetic diversity and relationships of the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica (Trematoda) with native and introduced definitive and intermediate hosts. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1111/tbed.13882
• Alda P, Lounnas M, Vázquez AA, Ayaqui R, Calvopiña M, Celi-Erazo M, Dillon R Jr, González Ramírez LC, Loker ES, Muzzio-Aroca J, Orlando Nárvaez A, Noya O, Pereira AE, Martini Robles L, Rodríguez-Hidalgo R, Uribe N, David P, Jarne P, Pointier J-P, Hurtrez-Boussès S. (2021).  Systematics and geographical distribution of Galba species, a group of cryptic and worldwide freshwater snails. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 157:107035 doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2020.107035 Also reviewed by three reviewers and recommended for publication by Dr. Fabien Condamine for PCI Evolutionary Biology.
• Celi-Erazo M, Alda P, Montenegro-Franco M, Pavon D, Minda-Aluisa E, Calvopiña M, Pointier, J-P, Hurtrez-Boussès S, Cevallos W, Benítez-Ortíz W, Rodríguez-Hidalgo R. (2020). Prevalence of Fasciola hepatica infection in Galba cousini and Galba schirazensis from an Andean region of Ecuador. Veterinary Parasitology: Regional Studies and Reports, 20:100390  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vprsr.2020.100390c
• Vázquez AA, de Vargas M, Alba A, Sánchez J, Alda P, Sabourin E, Vittecoq M, Alarcón-Elba PM, Pointier J-P, Hurtrez-Boussès S. (2019). Reviewing Fasciola hepatica transmission in the West Indies and novel perceptions from experimental infections of sympatric vs. allopatric snail/fluke combinations. Veterinary Parasitology, 275:108955. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetpar.2019.108955
• Alda P, Bonel N, Cazzaniga NJ, Martorelli SR & Lafferty K. (2019). A strong colonizer rules the trematode guild in an intertidal snail host. Ecology, 100(6):e02696.
• Hünicken LA, Abrameto M, Bonel N (2019). Corbicula at its southernmost invasion front in Patagonia: unusual low density and asymmetric trait responses to varying environmental conditions. Journal of Molluscan Studies, 85 (1), 143-153.
• Noël E, Fruitet E, Lelaurin D, N. Bonel N, A Ségard A, V Sarda V, Jarne P, David P (2019). Sexual selection and inbreeding: two efficient ways to limit the 1 accumulation of deleterious mutations. Evolution Letters, 3 (1), 80-92.
• Bonel N*, Noël E*, Janicke T, Sartori K, Chapuis E, Ségard A, Meconcelli S, Pélissié B, Sarda V, David P (2018). Asymmetric evolutionary responses to sex-specific selection in a hermaphrodite. Evolution 72 (10): 2181-2201. (* equal contributions)
• Vázquez AA, Alda P, Lounnas M, Sabourin E, Alba A, Pointier J-P, Hurtrez-Boussès S (2018). Lymnaeid snails hosts of Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica (Trematoda: Digenea): a worldwide review. CAB Reviews, 13(062):1–15.
• Sabourin E, Alda P, Vazquez A, Hurtrez-Boussès S & Vittecoq M (2018). Impact of human activities on fasciolosis transmission. Trends in Parasitology, 34 (10): P891–903.
• Alda P, Lounnas M, Vázquez AA, Ayaqui R, Calvopiña M, Celi-Erazo M, Dillon Jr R, Jarne P, Loker ES, Muñiz Pareja FC, Muzzio-Aroca J, Nárvaez AO, Noya O, Martini Robles L, Rodríguez-Hidalgo R, Uribe N, David P, Pointier J-P, Hurtrez-Boussès S (2018). A new multiplex PCR assay to distinguish among three cryptic Galba species, intermediate hosts of Fasciola hepatica. Veterinary Parasitology, 251:101–105.
   
  Book Chapters
• Alda P, Bonel N, Alba A, Aksenova OV, Bolotov IN, Kondakov A, Jarne P. (2023) Chapter 5. Molecular techniques for the study of ecological and evolutionary processes in lymnaeids. In: The Lymnaeidae: a handbook on their natural history and parasitological significance. Eds: Vinarski MV and Vázquez AA.

• Springer.Vinarski MV, Aksenova OV, Bolotov IN, Vázquez AA, Alda P, Pointier, JP, Hurtrez-Boussès S. (2023). Chapter 7. Biogeography of the living Lymnaeidae, in: The Lymnaeidae: a handbook on their natural history and parasitological significance. Eds: Vinarski MV and Vázquez AA. Springer.
• Bonel N, Nakadera Y, Pizá J, Vázquez AA, Koene Y, David P, Jarne P, Alda P. (2023) Chapter 10. Reproductive strategies, genetic diversity, and invasive ability in Lymnaeidae. In: The Lymnaeidae: a handbook on their natural history and parasitological significance. Eds: Vinarski MV and Vázquez AA. Springer. 
• Hurtrez-Boussès S, Alba A, Alda P, Chapuis E, Faugere D, Gourbal B, Pointier JP, Sánchez J, Vittecoq M, Vázquez AA. (2023). Chapter 12. Overview of interactions between parasitic digenea and their molluscan hosts, with special emphasis on the Lymnaeidae, in: The Lymnaeidae: a handbook on their natural history and parasitological significance. Eds: Vinarski MV and Vázquez AA. Springer.
• Vázquez AA, Alba A, Alda P, Vittecoq M, Chapuis E, Faugere D, Pointier, JP, Hurtrez-Boussès S. (2023) Chapter 13. Lymnaeid snails and the transmission of fasciolosis: understanding the differential risks from local to global scale. In: The Lymnaeidae: a handbook on their natural history and parasitological significance. Eds: Vinarski MV and Vázquez AA. Springer.
• Martorelli S, Marcotegui P, Montes M, Alda P. (2020). Chapter 13: Parasite, symbionts and microorganism of Neohelice granulata. In Book: Neohelice granulata, a model species for studies on crustaceans, volume I: life history and ecology. Eds: Luppi TA and Rodriguez EM. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

National and International Collaborations

Argentina

• Michelle SCIBERRAS,UNS-CONICET, Bahía Blanca
• Néstor J. CAZZANIGA, UNS-CIC, Bahía Blanca
• Luciano LA SALA, INBIOSUR-CONICET, Bahía Blanca
• Sergio R. MARTORELLI, CEPAVE-CONICET, La Plata
• Paula MARCOTEGUI, CEPAVE-CONICET, La Plata
• Leandro A. HÜNICKEN, CIMAS-CONICET, San Antonio Oeste
• Soledad AVACA, CIMAS-CONICET, San Antonio Oeste
• Matías MERLO, IIMyC, Mar del Plata
• Mariela PARIETTI, IIMyC, Mar del Plata
  
• Francisco SYLVESTER, IEBI-UNSA, CONICET, Salta

• Julio LORDA (UABC, Baja California)

Funding

2024-2027. "Une maladie négligée en Patagonie : Mesurer le risque de la fasciolose dans la zone la plus méridionale de son aire de répartition mondiale". Programme ARTS, MIVEGEC-IRD, France.

2022-2025. “Biodiversity of argentine invertebrates in the context of climate change and bio-invasions” – PGI-UNS.

2022-2024.“Una enfermedad desatendida en la Patagonia: Medición del riesgo de fasciolosis en el área más al sur de su distribución de rango global” – PICT-FONCyT.

2022-2023.“Una enfermedad desatendida en la Patagonia: midiendo el riesgo de fasciolosis en el área más austral de su distribución” – PIP Grupo en Formación.

2022-2023."Does restricted connectivity explain adaptive phenotypic differentiation in a wide-dispersing species?” – PADI Foundation; PICT-FONCyT; PIBBA.

2020-2022. “Sexual selection in plants: mechanisms of female choice and its role for conservation” . Projets de Recherche Exploratoire financiado por Labex-CEMEB

Group Members:

Dr Pilar Alda
Adjunct Researcher, CONICET
e-mail: ,

CV CONICET

Dra. Julia Pizá
Assistant Researcher, CONICET
Adjunct Profesor, UNS
email:
CV CONICET
Sebastián Dop
Degree in Biological Scs.
Doctoral Fellow, CONICET-UNS
E-mail: 


Matias ABAFATORI
Bachelor Student of Biological Science
EVC-CIN, CONICET-UNS
Topic Phylogeography of the freshwater snail Pectinidens diaphanus (Lymnaeidae), potential transmitter of Fasciola hepatica in southern Argentina.
E-mail: 



Melisa PERL
Bachelor Student of Biological Science 
EVC-CIN, CONICET-UNS
Topic: Reproductive strategies in a hermaphrodite snail
E-mail:  

Micaela MÜLLER
PhD Student, ARTS-IRD, Francia
Topic: Une maladie négligée en Patagonie : Mesurer le risque de la fasciolose dans la zone la plus méridionale de son aire de répartition mondiale.
E-mail: