Visibilizar lo invisible: análisis espacio temporal de los insectos en Guayaquil urbano

Abstract

This project analyzes insect diversity in the urban environment of Guayaquil using georeferenced open data obtained from GBIF, corresponding to the last 25 years. The aim is to analyze spatial and temporal diversity in order to detect relevant variations that could be associated with seasonality and observed distribution. The hypothesis is that the observed distribution and diversity of insects show detectable spatiotemporal patterns that cannot be explained solely by sampling effort, but rather reflect environmental gradients in part. In Guayaquil, there is no consolidated, reproducible database with quality records on the observed urban richness. The dataset of occurrences was cleaned and standardized under Darwin Core fields. The fundamental tool for data cleaning and descriptive statistical techniques was RStudio. To mitigate biases associated with observations, unbiased comparative analyses were performed with standardization by subsampling. The results showed marked heterogeneity with dominance of contributors and sampling effort, so it is important to make interpretations based on observed occurrence rather than abundance. A high proportion of Odonata was found in cells near bodies of water, reflecting real gradients and not just observer routes. This project presents a standardized database, demonstrating that ecological signals can emerge even under sampling biases, and cartographic products useful for future monitoring strategies. Keywords: Biodiversity, seasonality, database, R Studio.