HOME RANGE AND SPATIAL ORGANIZATION OF MANED WOLVES IN THE BRAZILIAN GRASSLANDS

The maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) is the largest canid in South America, weighing up to 30 kg, and exhibits an omnivorous diet based on fruits and small vertebrates. Maned wolves are considered to live in monogamous pairs defending a common territory, with mates living a largely solitary life, but these conclusions come from few studies with small samples. We captured maned wolves in Emas National Park, central Brazil, and monitored their use of space using radiotelemetry. Home-range size and overlap of 45 adults, and interactions between members of 5 pairs, were investigated. Home-range sizes of resident adults averaged 80.18 km(2) using the fixed kernel with 95% of the locations, and averaged 13.78 km(2) with 50% of the locations. Overlap of 95% ranges between male-male, female-female, or mixed dyads was similar, approximately 0.20, whereas 50% ranges of maned wolves showed less overlap overall but more tolerance for overlap with the opposite sex. Members of a pair were located alone more often than together, and even when located simultaneously maintained a mean distance of >0.5 km apart, independent of time of day. Results are in agreement with a spatial organization based on monogamous mating pairs with little intrapair sociality, but the latter needs to be investigated in more detail.

Confocal laser scanning microscopy is appropriate to detect viability of Enterococcus faecalis in infected dentin

The purpose of this study was to explore the potential of confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) for in situ identification of live and dead Enterococcus faecalis in infected dentin. Eight cylindrical dentin specimens were infected with Enterococcus faecalis in BHI for 21 days. After the experimental period, the specimens were stained with fluorescein diacetate (FDA) and propidium iodide (PI) or acridine orange (0.01 %) and analyzed by CLSM. Two noninfected dentin specimens were used as negative controls. CLSM analysis shows that the discrimination between viable (green) and dead (red) bacteria in infected dentinal tubules could be observed after staining with FDA/PI. Acridine orange was able to show metabolic activity of the E. faecalis cells inside the dentinal tubules showed by its red fluorescence. The viability of bacteria in infected dentin can be determined in situ by CLSM. FDA/PI and acricline orange are useful for this technique.