Biography:

BSc. in Biology. 1996. MSc. in Zoology & Ecology of Vertebrates. 2001. PhD. in Biological Sciences. In course. Current employment: Attach Researcher. Faculty of Biology. University of Havana, Cuba. Former institution: Institute of Ecology and Systematics, Havana, Cuba

Dr. Bosch has taken part in ten national and international research projects, all devoted to the systematics, ecology, behaviour and conservation of Caribbean vertebrates, particularly Cuban amphibians. He has published more than 30 scientific papers and notes (Carib. J. Sci., Rev. Esp. Herp., Cuad. Herpetol., Phyllomedusa, Herp. Rev., Froglog, Rev. Biol., etc.) and other contributions in books and compilations of biodiversity. He is the editor/author of the first Sound Guide of the Amphibians of Cuba. Moreover, he has attended more than fifty scientific meetings in Cuba and abroad, with 24 contributions as senior author and at least 30 as co-author. He acted as the Executive Secretary of the 8th Latin-American Congress of Herpetology (Cuba, 2008) and has delivered lectures and seminars at: Universidad de Salamanca, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Madrid and Fundacin Amigos del Coto de Doana, Sevilla in Spain, Universidad de La Habana and Centro de Investigaciones de Ecosistemas Costeros in Cuba. In the last ten years he has received grants and fellowships from LAAS (1999), IBRO (2001), TWAS (2001), AECI (2002), RELAB (2005) and STRI (2007). He earned the Annual Prize of the Cuban Academy of Sciences (2004), for the contribution Diversity of Amphibians and Reptiles of Cuba

Abstract:

An endemic radiation of toads (bufonidae: peltophryne) from the West Indies: Morphological behavioural and molecular diversification in Cuba

Islands play an important role in testing ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that may explain general patterns of biological diversity (reviewed in Grant 1998). The biodiversity of the West Indies has a long history of colonization, radiation, speciation and extinction (Wallace, 1881; Williams, 1989; Woods and Sergile, 2001) and provide a natural laboratory of biogeography and evolution (Ricklefs and Bermingham, 2008). The vertebrate fauna of the West Indies is characterized by high levels of endemism, particularly among amphibians and reptiles (Hedges, 2006), such as the endemic toad genus, Peltophryne. Integrating data on external morphology, male advertisement call, and DNA sequences from mitochondrial (16S & COI) and nuclear (CXCR4 & RAG-1) genes, we explore the phylogenetic relationships among Peltophryne including all Cuban species. We used multivariate statistics to discriminate species morphologically and mapped acoustical characters onto generated phylogenetic trees based on DNA data to elucidate the patterns of advertisement call evolution in this endemic radiation of toads. Species divergence times were calculated by combining the Cuban molecular data with published data containing global coverage of bufonids. The estimate of the times of arrival and radiation on the Caribbean islands could help to explain the relative significance of over-water dispersal vs. vicariance, as hypothetic models about the origin of the West Indies terrestrial vertebrates.