Papers by Marlene Brito-Millán
Marine Ecology Progress Series, Nov 7, 2019
Coral reef communities are often studied by tracking the percentage (or fraction) of the reef cov... more Coral reef communities are often studied by tracking the percentage (or fraction) of the reef covered by coral through time. However, coral community dynamics result, in part, from underlying colony-level growth and mortality, which in turn depend on characteristics of individual colonies, such as size, taxon, life history strategy, and morphology. Colonies are also subject to external disturbances that propel fission into smaller coral fragments and fusion where related fragments later fuse into contiguous colonies. To quantify how changes in coral growth through time depend on individual colony characteristics and colony fission and fusion processes, 4385 individual Caribbean coral colonies representing 4 dominant coral types (Madracis mirabilis, mounding coral species, Agaricia agaricites, and Millepora spp.) were tracked at 6 mo intervals for 4 yr. Despite overall stable percent coral cover, colonies belonging to different coral types experienced differential growth, shrinkage, mortality, fission, and fusion processes. All coral types displayed size-dependent allometric growth patterns whereby relative, or proportional, growth in colony area decreased with increasing colony size. The largest changes in relative colony growth resulted from colony fission or fusion with other colonies, which occurred in 16.4% of all monitored colonies. Colony longevity, or survival, increased significantly with increasing colony size for all hard-coral groups that did not experience fission, fusion, or a combination of these processes. Our findings illustrate the usefulness of a size-and life-history-dependent approach to coral demography that elucidates the factors driving community dynamics of colonial organisms, which are not captured by traditional approaches based on benthic cover alone.
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 2022
Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2019
Royal Society Open Science, 2019
Spatial patterning of coral reef sessile benthic organisms can constrain competitive and demograp... more Spatial patterning of coral reef sessile benthic organisms can constrain competitive and demographic rates, with implications for dynamics over a range of time scales. However, techniques for quantifying and analysing reefscape behaviour, particularly at short to intermediate time scales (weeks to decades), are lacking. An analysis of the dynamics of coral reefscapes simulated with a lattice model shows consistent trends that can be categorized into four stages: a repelling stage that moves rapidly away from an unstable initial condition, a transient stage where spatial rearrangements bring key competitors into contact, an attracting stage where the reefscape decays to a steady-state attractor, and an attractor stage. The transient stage exhibits nonlinear dynamics, whereas the other stages are linear. The relative durations of the stages are affected by the initial spatial configuration as characterized by coral aggregation—a measure of spatial clumpiness, which together with coral...
Journal of Forestry Research, 2020
Cloud forest ecosystems of the Latin American tropics are highly threatened by changes in land-us... more Cloud forest ecosystems of the Latin American tropics are highly threatened by changes in land-use such as expanding croplands and livestock pastures that promote shifts in the structure and composition of plant communities in these forests. However, shade coffee plantations represent a forest management alternative that has been shown to maintain biodiversity in these ecosystems. In this study, we evaluated changes in the composition, diversity, and structure of Mexican cloud-forest woody species for three land use categories: cattle pastures, shade coffee plantations and advanced succession forests. For each category, fifteen 0.28-ha plots were established and the composition and diversity of vegetation was noted. Composition of species was analyzed using ordination methods, and alpha diversity was compared using Hill numbers. Seventy-seven woody species belonging to 40 families were recorded. Species richness and diversity was high in both the advanced successional forest and coffee plantations compared to cattle pastures. Vegetation composition and structure was similar between late succession forests and coffee plantations with both land uses also being more structurally complex than cattle pastures. Our results show how shade coffee cultivation is a land-use activity that maintains woody plant communities in a manner that aligns with biodiversity conservation.
Water Justice and Technology: The COVID-19 Crisis, Computational Resource Control, and Water Relief Policy, 2022
We Need to Reject "Sustainable" Technologies
That Reproduce Colonial Gold Rush Devastation
on Ind... more We Need to Reject "Sustainable" Technologies
That Reproduce Colonial Gold Rush Devastation
on Indigenous Peoples.
Coral reef communities are often studied by tracking the percentage (or fraction) of the reef cov... more Coral reef communities are often studied by tracking the percentage (or fraction) of the reef covered by coral through time. However, coral community dynamics result, in part, from underlying colony-level growth and mortality, which in turn depend on characteristics of individual colonies, such as size, taxon, life history strategy, and morphology. Colonies are also subject to external disturbances that propel fission into smaller coral fragments and fusion where related fragments later fuse into contiguous colonies. To quantify how changes in coral growth through time depend on individual colony characteristics and colony fission and fusion processes, 4385 individual Caribbean coral colonies representing 4 dominant coral types (Madracis mirabilis, mounding coral species, Agaricia agaricites, and Millepora spp.) were tracked at 6 mo intervals for 4 yr. Despite overall stable percent coral cover, colonies belonging to different coral types experienced differential growth, shrinkage, ...
Zoological studies, 2020
Knowledge of bird species diversity along elevational gradients is key for understanding the dist... more Knowledge of bird species diversity along elevational gradients is key for understanding the distributional limits of species and, ultimately, for promoting measures that conserve biodiversity. In the present study, we evaluated changes in bird species richness, diversity, and endemism along an elevational gradient in the Sierra Madre del Sur in southern Mexico -a globally recognized biodiversity hotspot. Monthly bird surveys were carried out at localities with elevations of 1600, 1800, 2000, and 2200 m over the course of one year (2014-2015) covering an area of 2000 km2 (10 circular plots with a radius of 25 m per elevation site). Diversity was calculated in terms of effective number of species or Hill numbers, while the composition of bird species along the elevational gradient was analyzed by non-metric multidimensional scaling, and endemic bird species turnover was assessed with faunal congruence curves. Overall, a total of 118 bird species belonging to 35 families were recorded...
The neocolonial undercurrent of internationalization that drives educational policies and standar... more The neocolonial undercurrent of internationalization that drives educational policies and standards, imposes a EEUUrocentric worldview and perspective of human development upon the global South. Beyond the discourse of international cooperation, this vision sustains what Quijano describes as the ‘coloniality of power’ that deepens inequalities between universities of the global North and South. In Latin America, there are various alternative educational projects, including indigenous universities that turn inwards toward rich pluriversal contexts, histories of resistance, and diverse tapestries of knowledge to address local problems and train youth to generate new horizons for ongoing indigenous and afro-mestizo social movements. This article is a reflective analytical account of our seven-year experience as volunteer educators at the Universidad Intercultural de los Pueblos del Sur (UNISUR) from an intercultural and decolonial feminist perspective. Founded in 2007 in southern Mexi...
Journal of Forestry Research, 2020
0.28-ha plots were established and the composition and diversity of vegetation was noted. Composi... more 0.28-ha plots were established and the composition and diversity of vegetation was noted. Composition of species was analyzed using ordination methods, and alpha diversity was compared using Hill numbers. Seventy-seven woody species belonging to 40 families were recorded. Species richness and diversity was high in both the advanced suc-cessional forest and coffee plantations compared to cattle pastures. Vegetation composition and structure was similar between late succession forests and coffee plantations with both land uses also being more structurally complex than cattle pastures. Our results show how shade coffee cultivation is a land-use activity that maintains woody plant communities in a manner that aligns with biodiversity conservation. Abstract Cloud forest ecosystems of the Latin American tropics are highly threatened by changes in land-use such as expanding croplands and livestock pastures that promote shifts in the structure and composition of plant communities in these forests. However, shade coffee plantations represent a forest management alternative that has been shown to maintain biodiversity in these ecosystems. In this study, we evaluated changes in the composition, diversity, and structure of Mexican cloud-forest woody species for three land use categories: cattle pastures, shade coffee plantations and advanced succession forests. For each category, fifteen 0.28-ha plots were established and the composition and
diversity of vegetation was noted. Composition of species
was analyzed using ordination methods, and alpha diversity
was compared using Hill numbers. Seventy-seven woody
species belonging to 40 families were recorded. Species
richness and diversity was high in both the advanced successional
forest and coffee plantations compared to cattle
pastures. Vegetation composition and structure was similar
between late succession forests and coffee plantations
with both land uses also being more structurally complex
than cattle pastures. Our results show how shade coffee cultivation
is a land-use activity that maintains woody plant
communities in a manner that aligns with biodiversity
conservation.
Marine Ecology Progress Series, 2019
Coral reef communities are often studied by tracking the percentage (or fraction) of the reef cov... more Coral reef communities are often studied by tracking the percentage (or fraction) of the reef covered by coral through time. However, coral community dynamics result, in part, from underlying colony-level growth and mortality, which in turn depend on characteristics of individual colonies, such as size, taxon, life history strategy, and morphology. Colonies are also subject to external disturbances that propel fission into smaller coral fragments and fusion where related fragments later fuse into contiguous colonies. To quantify how changes in coral growth through time depend on individual colony characteristics and colony fission and fusion processes, 4385 individual Caribbean coral colonies representing 4 dominant coral types (Madracis mirabilis, mounding coral species, Agaricia agaricites, and Millepora spp.) were tracked at 6 mo intervals for 4 yr. Despite overall stable percent coral cover, colonies belonging to different coral types experienced differential growth, shrinkage, mortality, fission, and fusion processes. All coral types displayed size-dependent allometric growth patterns whereby relative, or proportional, growth in colony area decreased with increasing colony size. The largest changes in relative colony growth resulted from colony fission or fusion with other colonies, which occurred in 16.4% of all monitored colonies. Colony longevity, or survival, increased significantly with increasing colony size for all hard-coral groups that did not experience fission, fusion, or a combination of these processes. Our findings illustrate the usefulness of a size- and life-history-dependent approach to coral demography that elucidates the factors driving community dynamics of colonial organisms, which are not captured by traditional approaches based on benthic cover alone.
Science for the People Magazine, 2019
https://magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/vol22-1/agua-es-vida-solidarity-science-against-false-cl... more https://magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/vol22-1/agua-es-vida-solidarity-science-against-false-climate-change-solutions/
This ground-breaking new article, "No Comemos Baterías: Solidarity Science Against False Climate Change Solutions", by the Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Justice (CIEJ) explains why lithium batteries and electric cars exploit Indigenous peoples and threaten sacred waters in South America, how they actually create more carbon emissions that gas vehicles, and why they are not justice-centered solutions for climate change. We also define a decolonial feminist science practice and present a call to action for scientists and researchers who want to challenge capitalism and support repatriating land and life to Indigenous peoples.
Science for the People, 2019
This ground-breaking new article, "No Comemos Baterías: Solidarity Science Against False Climate ... more This ground-breaking new article, "No Comemos Baterías: Solidarity Science Against False Climate Change Solutions", by the Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Justice (CIEJ) explains why lithium batteries and electric cars exploit Indigenous peoples and threaten sacred waters in South America, how they actually create more carbon emissions that gas vehicles, and why they are not justice-centered solutions for climate change. We also define a decolonial feminist science practice and present a call to action for scientists and researchers who want to challenge capitalism and support repatriating land and life to Indigenous peoples.
Spatial patterning of coral reef sessile benthic organisms can constrain competitive and demograp... more Spatial patterning of coral reef sessile benthic organisms can constrain competitive and demographic rates, with implications for dynamics over a range of time scales. However, techniques for quantifying and analysing reefscape behaviour, particularly at short to intermediate time scales (weeks to decades), are lacking. An analysis of the dynamics of coral reefscapes simulated with a lattice model shows consistent trends that can be categorized into four stages: a repelling stage that moves rapidly away from an unstable initial condition, a transient stage where spatial rearrangements bring key competitors into contact, an attracting stage where the reefscape decays to a steady-state attractor, and an attractor stage. The transient stage exhibits nonlinear dynamics, whereas the other stages are linear. The relative durations of the stages are affected by the initial spatial configuration as characterized by coral aggregation-a measure of spatial clumpiness, which together with coral and macroalgae fractional cover, more completely describe modelled reefscape dynamics. Incorporating diffusional processes results in aggregated patterns persisting in the attractor. Our quantitative characterization of reefscape dynamics has possible applications to other spatio-temporal systems and implications for reef restoration: high initial aggregation patterns slow losses in herbivore-limited systems and low initial aggregation configurations accelerate growth in herbivore-dominated systems.
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Papers by Marlene Brito-Millán
That Reproduce Colonial Gold Rush Devastation
on Indigenous Peoples.
diversity of vegetation was noted. Composition of species
was analyzed using ordination methods, and alpha diversity
was compared using Hill numbers. Seventy-seven woody
species belonging to 40 families were recorded. Species
richness and diversity was high in both the advanced successional
forest and coffee plantations compared to cattle
pastures. Vegetation composition and structure was similar
between late succession forests and coffee plantations
with both land uses also being more structurally complex
than cattle pastures. Our results show how shade coffee cultivation
is a land-use activity that maintains woody plant
communities in a manner that aligns with biodiversity
conservation.
This ground-breaking new article, "No Comemos Baterías: Solidarity Science Against False Climate Change Solutions", by the Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Justice (CIEJ) explains why lithium batteries and electric cars exploit Indigenous peoples and threaten sacred waters in South America, how they actually create more carbon emissions that gas vehicles, and why they are not justice-centered solutions for climate change. We also define a decolonial feminist science practice and present a call to action for scientists and researchers who want to challenge capitalism and support repatriating land and life to Indigenous peoples.
That Reproduce Colonial Gold Rush Devastation
on Indigenous Peoples.
diversity of vegetation was noted. Composition of species
was analyzed using ordination methods, and alpha diversity
was compared using Hill numbers. Seventy-seven woody
species belonging to 40 families were recorded. Species
richness and diversity was high in both the advanced successional
forest and coffee plantations compared to cattle
pastures. Vegetation composition and structure was similar
between late succession forests and coffee plantations
with both land uses also being more structurally complex
than cattle pastures. Our results show how shade coffee cultivation
is a land-use activity that maintains woody plant
communities in a manner that aligns with biodiversity
conservation.
This ground-breaking new article, "No Comemos Baterías: Solidarity Science Against False Climate Change Solutions", by the Center for Interdisciplinary Environmental Justice (CIEJ) explains why lithium batteries and electric cars exploit Indigenous peoples and threaten sacred waters in South America, how they actually create more carbon emissions that gas vehicles, and why they are not justice-centered solutions for climate change. We also define a decolonial feminist science practice and present a call to action for scientists and researchers who want to challenge capitalism and support repatriating land and life to Indigenous peoples.