About the Authors

Maritza Cárdenas-Calle

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Software, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Interinstitutional Network for the Study of Aquatic Ecosystems of Ecuador, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Ambiente Sociedad & Empresa Research Group, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Fundación Bioelit, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Leandro Patiño

Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Interinstitutional Network for the Study of Aquatic Ecosystems of Ecuador, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Ambiente Sociedad & Empresa Research Group, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Fundación Bioelit, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, National Institute for Public Health Research–INSPI- Dr. Leopoldo Izquieta Pérez, Technical Direction of Research, Development and Innovation, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Beatriz Pernia

Roles Methodology, Software, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Interinstitutional Network for the Study of Aquatic Ecosystems of Ecuador, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Ambiente Sociedad & Empresa Research Group, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Fundación Bioelit, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Roberto Erazo

Roles Formal analysis, Resources

Affiliations Interinstitutional Network for the Study of Aquatic Ecosystems of Ecuador, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Ambiente Sociedad & Empresa Research Group, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Fundación Bioelit, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Labcestta, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Carlos Muñoz

Roles Resources

Affiliation Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Magaly Valencia-Avellan

Roles Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Interinstitutional Network for the Study of Aquatic Ecosystems of Ecuador, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Fundación Bioelit, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Facultad del Mar y Medio Ambiente, Universidad del Pacífico, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Mariana Lozada

Roles Formal analysis, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Fundación Bioelit, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Environmental Microbiology Laboratory, Institute of Biology of Marine Organisms, CONICET, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina

Mary Regato-Arrata

Roles Formal analysis

Affiliation National Institute for Public Health Research–INSPI- Dr. Leopoldo Izquieta Pérez, National Reference Center for Exanthematous, Gastroenteric and Vector-borne Viruses, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Miguel Barrera

Roles Formal analysis, Methodology

Affiliations Ambiente Sociedad & Empresa Research Group, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Segundo Aquino

Roles Investigation

Affiliation Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Stefania Fuentes

Roles Investigation

Affiliations Ambiente Sociedad & Empresa Research Group, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Javier Duque

Roles Formal analysis

Affiliations Interinstitutional Network for the Study of Aquatic Ecosystems of Ecuador, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Ambiente Sociedad & Empresa Research Group, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Fundación Bioelit, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Luis Velázquez-Araque

Roles Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Ambiente Sociedad & Empresa Research Group, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Bertha Carpio

Roles Funding acquisition, Resources

Affiliation Dirección del Medio Ambiente, Gobierno Provincial de Santa Elena, Santa Elena, Ecuador

Carlos Méndez-Roman

Roles Investigation

Affiliation Área Nacional de Recreación Playas Villamil, Ministerio de Ambiente Agua y Transición Ecológica, Playas, Ecuador

Carlos Calle

Roles Writing – original draft

Affiliations Ambiente Sociedad & Empresa Research Group, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Fundación Bioelit, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Guillermo Cárdenas

Roles Writing – original draft

Affiliations Ambiente Sociedad & Empresa Research Group, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Fundación Bioelit, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

David Guizado-Herrera

Roles Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Faculty of Chemical Engineering, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, National Institute for Public Health Research–INSPI- Dr. Leopoldo Izquieta Pérez, Technical Direction of Research, Development and Innovation, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Clara Lucía Tello

Roles Formal analysis

Affiliations Fundación Bioelit, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, National Institute for Public Health Research–INSPI- Dr. Leopoldo Izquieta Pérez, Technical Direction of Research, Development and Innovation, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Verónica Bravo-Basantes

Roles Formal analysis

Affiliation Labcestta, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador

Jhannelle Francis

Roles Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Miguel Uyaguari

Roles Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

miguel.uyaguari@umanitoba.ca

Affiliations Ambiente Sociedad & Empresa Research Group, University of Guayaquil, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Fundación Bioelit, Guayaquil, Guayas, Ecuador, Department of Microbiology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.