Revista de Investigaciones Altoandinas - Journal of High Andean Research

Vol. 27 (2025): Publicación continua
Original articles

Biometric Patterns of Orestias (Teleostei: Cyprinodontidae) and Their Relationship with Environmental Variables in High-Andean Lakes and Wetlands of Cusco

  • Jack Rodriguez,
  • Aldemar A. Acevedo,
  • Marco A. Méndez
Jack Rodriguez
Museo de la biodiversidad del Perú – MUBI, Cusco, Perú
Aldemar A. Acevedo
Instituto de Ciencias Naturales (ICN), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Sede Bogotá
Marco A. Méndez
Laboratorio de genética y evolución, departamento de ciencias ecológicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile

Published 2025-12-31

Keywords

  • Orestias ,
  • Allometry,
  • High-Andean lakes,
  • Cusco

Copyright (c) 2025 Jack Rodriguez, Aldemar A. Acevedo, Marco A. Méndez

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Rodriguez, J., Acevedo, A. A., & Méndez, M. A. (2025). Biometric Patterns of Orestias (Teleostei: Cyprinodontidae) and Their Relationship with Environmental Variables in High-Andean Lakes and Wetlands of Cusco. Revista De Investigaciones Altoandinas - Journal of High Andean Research, 27, e27763. https://doi.org/10.18271/ria.2025.763

Abstract

The biometric traits of the genus Orestias and their relationship with physicochemical variables were characterized across nine high-Andean lakes and wetlands in the department of Cusco, Peru, through the sampling of 141 individuals between 2022 and 2023. Specimens were manually captured, euthanized with tricaine methanesulfonate, and preserved for analysis; total length and body weight were measured, while hydrogen potential, temperature, electrical conductivity, salinity, total dissolved solids, dissolved oxygen, and altitude were recorded at each site. An allometric model was fitted to the length–weight relationship, a principal component analysis (PCA) was applied to physicochemical variables, and a similarity network was constructed integrating geographic distances and environmental similarity. The length–weight relationship was adjusted to W = 0.00000889 · L^3.1030, with a determination coefficient of 0.9219, indicating slight positive allometry (exponent 3.103). The first two components explained 46.4% and 20.7% of the variance, contrasting systems with high conductivity and dissolved solids against higher-altitude systems with greater hydrogen potential and dissolved oxygen; a second axis was associated with salinity and temperature gradients. The network identified an interconnected core (Lucre–Huacarpay, Huaypo, Pomacanchi, Huasao) and peripheral high-altitude sites (Sibinacocha, Qoricocha). Results indicated that hydrological connectivity and environmental filtering modulated Orestias biometric variation. Based on these findings, applied measures were proposed for monitoring and conserving the studied populations.

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