Environmental risk assessment of petrogenic hydrocarbon spills in mangrove ecosystems: the Tumaco case study as a baseline, Colombian Pacific.

Petrogenic hydrocarbon spills (PHS) are harmful to mangrove ecosystems along tropical coastlines in the short and long term. The aim of this study was to assess the environmental risk of recurrent PHS on mangrove ecosystems in Tumaco municipality, Colombian Pacific. Mangrove characteristics and management aspects led to subdividing the study area into 11 units-of-analysis (UAs) for which threats, vulnerability, potential impacts, and risks were assessed based on environmental factors and the formulation and use of indicators in a rating scale with five categories, which are very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. The results showed that all UAs are highly (64%; 15,525 ha) or moderately (36%; 4,464 ha) threatened by PHS, highly (45%; 13,478 ha) or moderately (55%; 6,511 ha) vulnerable to this kind of pollution, and susceptible to high (73%; 17,075 ha) or moderate (27%; 2,914 ha) potential impacts. The environmental risk was high in 73% (17,075 ha) of the UAs, indicating likely irreversible damage to mangrove ecosystems by PHS, thus pointing to the need of urgent intervention by responsible authorities to ease their recovery and conservation. The methodology and results of this study become technical inputs that serve for environmental control and monitoring, which can be incorporated into contingency and risk management plans.

Comparative Genomics of Clinical and Environmental Isolates of Vibrio spp. of Colombia: Implications of Traits Associated with Virulence and Resistance.

There is widespread concern about the increase in cases of human and animal infections caused by pathogenic Vibrio species due to the emergence of epidemic lineages. In Colombia, active surveillance by the National Institute of Health (INS) has confirmed the presence of Vibrio; however, in routine surveillance, these isolates are not genomically characterized. This study focused on the pangenome analysis of six Vibrio species: V. parahaemolyticus, V. vulnificus, V. alginolyticus, V. fluvialis, V. diabolicus and V. furnissii to determine the genetic architectures of potentially virulent and antimicrobial resistance traits. Isolates from environmental and clinical samples were genome sequenced, assembled and annotated. The most important species in public health were further characterized by multilocus sequence typing and phylogenomics. For V. parahaemolyticus, we found the virulent ST3 and ST120 genotypes. For V. vulnificus, we identified isolates belonging to lineages 1 and 2. Virulence gene homologues between species were found even in non-pathogenic species such as V. diabolicus. Annotations related to the mobilome, integrative mobile and conjugative elements and resistance genes were obtained from environmental and clinical isolates. This study contributes genomic information to the intensified surveillance program implemented by the INS to establish potential sources of vibriosis in Colombia.