Engaging the Guatemala Scientific Diaspora: The Power of Networking and Shared Learning.

The underdevelopment of the higher education system in Guatemala and the fragility of its science and technology (S&T) contexts have compelled a significant number of talented Guatemalan scientists to be trained, educated, and employed abroad. The relocation of such skilled human power to different countries and regions has resulted in a growing Guatemalan Scientific Diaspora (GSD). Until recently, the emigration of scientists from the Global South to scientifically advanced countries in the North was studied as it negatively impacted the countries of origin. However, technological upgrades and globalization have progressively shifted the paradigm in which such scientific diasporas interact and connect, thus enabling them to influence their home countries positively. Due to the lack of knowledge-based evidence and functioning connecting platforms, the value and potential of the GSD in their involvement in proposing solutions to complex socio-economic, environmental, and other challenges faced by Guatemalan society remain unknown. Moreover, the lack of interaction of relevant stakeholders (S&T policy agents, international partners, higher education institutions and research centers, industry, and relevant not governmental organizations) represents a pervasive obstacle to the untapped impact of the GSD in the country. This study outlines the Guatemalan scientific diasporas' networking as a mechanism for building research excellence and intellectual capital. This force could respond to the need to strengthen the national science capacities and meet the demands for knowledge production and access to broader sectors of society. This research applied qualitative methodology that, through the conduction of focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews with members of the Guatemalan scientific community and relevant key stakeholders, delved into the existence and articulation of the GSD and potential stages for their engagement with their country of origin. Findings highlight the importance of digital and technological pathways that might leverage the GSD's knowledge and experience, channeling skills, and international connections for better interaction with the Guatemalan society. Furthermore, the discussion addresses how technology might turn brain drain into brain circulation, enabling the articulation of the GSD as a viable opportunity to generate collaboration between scientists abroad and local actors, ultimately impacting the building and development of Guatemalan science and national research capacities.

Ingreso de nitrógeno y fósforo al lago Atitlán (Guatemala) vía deposición atmosférica / Input of Nitrogen and Phosphorus to Lake Atitlán (Guatemala) via atmospheric deposition

La deposición de nutrientes por vía atmosférica tiene graves impactos sobre la ecología de bosques y cuerpos de agua templados. Sin embargo, su importancia en cuerpos de agua neotropicales casi no ha sido estudiada. En este artículo se cuantifica la contribución de nitrógeno inorgánico disuelto (NID, [NO3--N + NH4+-N]) y fósforo inorgánico soluble (FIS, [PO4-3-P]) depositados en bulto sobre superficies húmedas por vía atmosférica hacia el lago Atitlán (Guatemala). Las cargas estimadas de NID y FIS consecuencia de la deposición atmosférica directa (depositada sobre la superficie del lago) fueron de 151.2 ton/año y 5.6 ton/año, respectivamente. Con estos resulta-dos, se estima que el aporte de FIS por deposición atmosférica al lago Atitlán es comparable al de sus principales ríos tributarios, y de casi el doble para el ingreso de NID. Las estimaciones para el lago Atitlán son mayores que lo reportado para otros lagos. Nuestro estudio proporciona información básica para entender la eutrofización del lago Atitlán, enfatizado en la importancia de la deposición atmosférica como contribuyente al deterioro de este cuerpo de agua. Además, demuestra la necesidad de extender este tipo de estudio a otras cuencas neotropicales y la importancia de minimizar este impacto.

Atmospheric nutrient deposition has serious impacts on the ecology of forests and temperate water bodies nevertheless its importance in Neotropical water bodies has hardly been studied. Here we quantify the contribution of bulk atmospheric deposition on wet surfaces of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN,[NO3--N + NH4+-N])and soluble inorganic phosphorus (SIP, [PO4-3-P])into Lake Atitlán (Guatemala). The estimated NID and SIP loads from this direct deposition on the lake surface were respectively, 151.2 tons/year and 5.6 tons/year. With these results, we estimated that the SIP input from atmospheric deposition to Lake Atitlán is comparable to that from the lake's main tributary rivers, whereas for DIN entry this is almost twice as much. Estimates for Lake Atitlán are higher than those reported for many lakes. Our study provides basic information towards understanding the eutrophication of Lake Atitlán, emphasizes the importance of atmospheric deposition in this process and the need for additional studies to document the process in neotropical watersheds.

Holocene life and microbiome profiling in ancient tropical Lake Chalco, Mexico.

Metagenomic and traditional paleolimnological approaches are suitable to infer past biological and environmental changes, however, they are often applied independently, especially in tropical regions. We combined both approaches to investigate Holocene Prokaryote and Eukaryote diversity and microbial metabolic pathways in ancient Lake Chalco, Mexico. Here, we report on diversity among a large number of lineages (36,722 OTUs) and functional diversity (27,636,243 non-clustered predicted proteins, and 6,144 annotated protein-family genes). The most abundant domain is Bacteria (81%), followed by Archaea (15%) and Eukarya (3%). We also determined the diversity of protein families and their relationship to metabolic pathways. The early Holocene (> 11,000 cal years BP) lake was characterized by cool, freshwater conditions, which later became warmer and hyposaline (11,000-6,000 cal years BP). We found high abundances of cyanobacteria, and fungi groups associated with mature forests in these sediments. Bacteria and Archaea include mainly anaerobes and extremophiles that are involved in the sulfur, nitrogen, and carbon cycles. We found evidence for early human impacts, including landscape modifications and lake eutrophication, which began ~ 6,000 cal years BP. Subsaline, temperate conditions were inferred for the past 5,000 years. Finally, we found nitrogen-fixing bacteria and protein-family genes that are linked to contaminated environments, as well as several fungal pathogens of crops in near-surface sediments.