Decay of interspecific avian flock networks along a disturbance gradient in Amazonia

Our understanding of how anthropogenic habitat change shapes species interactions is in its infancy. This is in large part because analytical approaches such as network theory have only recently been applied to characterize complex community dynamics. Network models are a powerful tool for quantifying how ecological interactions are affected by habitat modification because they provide metrics that quantify community structure and function. Here, we examine how large-scale habitat alteration has affected ecological interactions among mixed-species flocking birds in Amazonian rainforest. These flocks provide a model system for investigating how habitat heterogeneity influences non-trophic interactions and the subsequent social structure of forest-dependent mixed-species bird flocks. We analyse 21 flock interaction networks throughout a mosaic of primary forest, fragments of varying sizes and secondary forest (SF) at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project in central Amazonian Brazil. Habitat type had a strong effect on network structure at the levels of both species and flock. Frequency of associations among species, as summarized by weighted degree, declined with increasing levels of forest fragmentation and SF. At the flock level, clustering coefficients and overall attendance positively correlated with mean vegetation height, indicating a strong effect of habitat structure on flock cohesion and stability. Prior research has shown that trophic interactions are often resilient to large-scale changes in habitat structure because species are ecologically redundant. By contrast, our results suggest that behavioural interactions and the structure of non-trophic networks are highly sensitive to environmental change. Thus, a more nuanced, system-by-system approach may be needed when thinking about the resiliency of ecological networks.

Aplicação de água ozonizada como agente sanitizante durante o processamento de café arábica

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Energia na Agricultura) - FCA

Classificação fisiológica de sementes florestais quanto a tolerância à dessecação e ao armazenamento

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Desempenho fisiológico e superação de dormência em sementes de Brachiaria brizantha submetidas a tratamento químico e envelhecimento artificial

The use of seeds of B. brizantha has increased, however, the physiological quality of seeds available to the producer is still a limiting factor for a good performance culture. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects caused by chemical scarification, different periods of aging and priming on physiological quality and overcoming seed dormancy B. brizantha cv. MG-5 Victory. The seeds were subjected to chemical scarification-H2SO4 ( presence and absence), artificial aging periods ( zero, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144 and 168 hours) at 41 degrees C and priming using the 0,2 KNO3 % ( presence and absence) for two hours at 25 degrees C, creating a completely randomized design in factorial 2x8x2, with four repetitions. The seeds were evaluated by testing germination and vigor. Chemical scarification is an effective method for breaking dormancy, but decreases the physiological seed. Overcoming seed dormancy B. brizantha occurs with the use of artificial aging for non-scarified and scarified seeds. Priming generally has no effect on the physiological quality and overcoming seed dormancy B. brizantha, however, it provides less loss of cellular constituents.

Differential environmental impacts on small and medium size rivers from center of São Paulo State, Brazil, and regional management perspectives

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Levantamento da mastofauna e identificação das influências antrópicas em dois fragmentos de Mata Atlântica transição com Cerrado de Rubião Junior – Botucatu - SP

Atlantic Forest and Cerrado are between the biological richest areas in the world, for that are considered top conservation priorities. Those ecosystems are found at Botucatu region, where it´s extremely fragmented by routes, agricultural areas and urban centres. This fragmentation causes restrictions on animals populations, in particular to medium and large mammals, that needs larger areas to live and also are often hunted. Even isolated and suffering anthropic influences the fragments are fundamental for local biodiversity conservation. We realized a mammal survey on two forest fragments of Atlantic forest transition to Cerrado of Rubião Júnior – Botucatu – SP – Brazil: Santo Antônio Church and Parque das Cascatas forests. The Santo Antônio church munt is considered a turistic point and its forest receive many visitants, Parque das Cascatas forest is inside of a residential condominium. Both areas are classify as semidecidual stational forest and are disconected by Domingos Sartori route, that connect Botucatu centre to Rubião Júnior district. Around both fragments can be found residences, plantations and pastures. The utilized method included: recognition of tracks on the forests, interviews with next residents and sand plots mounting. The interviews indicated 29 mammals species, and 19 was validated for animal traces, overruns or visualization. Other 3 species found were not mentioned on interviews. Totally, was found 22 small and medium mammals presence evidences on both forest fragments. Parque das Cascatas forest showed more diversity (19) then Santo Antônio Church forest (11), and species like Eira barbara, Procyon cancrivorus, Mazama americana, Shiggurus villosus, Dasypus novemcinctus, Didelphis albiventris, Lutreolina crassicaudata and Lepus europaeus looked for other areas once that was verifyed overruns of individuals... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Expressão de genes no embrião e endosperma durante a germinação de sementes de lobeira (Solanum lycocarpum St. Hill)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Fisiologia da germinação das cipselas heteromórficas em Bidens L

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Atributos produtivos e qualitativos de grãos e fisiológicos e sanitários das sementes de cultivares de feijão

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Produção Vegetal) - FCAV

Testes de estresse na avaliação do vigor de sementes de milho

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Propriedades ópticas e elétricas de materiais híbridos de sílica/orgânico à base de GPTS:TEOS preparados pelo método sol-gel

Fabrication of optoelectronic devices requires the employment of at least one transparent electrode. Usually, commercially transparent electrodes have been made by deposition of indium tin oxide (ITO) films by RF-Sputtering technique. These commercial electrodes have sheet resistance of about 100 Ω/sq and optical transmittance of 77% at the wavelength of 550 nm. The poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene-sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) is an alternative material to fabricate transparent electrodes due to its high conductivity (about 600 S/cm) and solubility in water. Soluble conductive materials exhibits advantages for processing of electrode layers, however there is a disadvantage during devices fabrication once materials with the same solvent of the electrode material cannot be coated one over the other. Alternatively, organic/Silica hybrid materials prepared by sol-gel process allow producing bulks and films with high chemical durability. In order to obtain transparent electrodes with high chemical durability, we introduced a blended material comprising the high UV-VIS transparency of organic/Silica sol-gel material and a high conductivity polymer PEDOT:PSS. The organic/Silica sol was obtained using two different molar concentrations (1:1 and 4:1), of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GPTS). Amounts of PEDOT:PSS solutions were added to the sol material, resulting in different weight fractions of sol and polymer. G:T/P:P were deposit onto glass substrates by spray-coating. In order to perform electrical characterization of the blended material, gold electrodes were thermally evaporated onto the films. The electrical characterization was performed using a Keithley 2410 source/meter unity and the optical characterization, using a Cary50 UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The absorption coefficient and electric conductivity of the different compositions blends, as function of the PEDOT:PSS concentration, were...

Oxygen mobility in Bi:Sr:Ca:Cu:O ceramic measured using anelastic relaxation methods

Since the discovery of YBaCuO, experiments have shown that its superconducting properties are strongly affected by the oxygen content. More recently, anelastic relaxation measurements in La2CuO4+δ, showed that the decrease in the oxygen content can be related to two events. One is the decrease in mobility between two adjacent CuO planes, and the other is the increase in the number of tilting patterns of the CuO6 octahedra. In the case of the bismuth-based ceramic, it is known that the oxygen content, within some limits, does not affect its superconducting properties. In order to evaluate the mobility and the effect of the oxygen content on this material we have prepared BSCCO ceramic and tested regarding its internal friction and electrical resistivity as a function of the temperature while the oxygen content was being reduced by a sequence of vacuum annelaing at 620 K. The samples were prepared in the Bi:Sr:Ca:Cu = 2212 and 2223 proportion, using powder obtained by the sol-gel route and conventional solid state reaction. The anelastic relaxation measurements were performed using a torsion pendulum operating with frequency about 15-35 Hz between 77 to 700 K. The diffraction pattern of the as sintered and the vacuum annealed material were also presented. The results have shown complex anelastic relaxation structures that were associated to the jump of interstitial oxygen atoms between two adjacent CuO planes. The vacuum annealing showed to be deleterious to the critical temperature of the superconducting ceramic.

Oxygen Interstitial Dynamics in Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+delta) Oxides Measured by Mechanical Spectroscopy

Many researchers became interested in the discovery of Bi(2)Sr(2)CaCu(2)O(8+delta) oxides with critical temperature of around 80 K. It is known that the critical temperature is related to the CuO2 planes of the material. For this reason, the study of the interstitial oxygen in these oxides is of great relevance. The samples were prepared by means of conventional solid state reactions, through the stoichiometric mixture of precursory powders. After the sinterization, the samples were submitted to measurements of density, electrical resistivity, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersion spectroscopy, with the objective of performing their characterization. The measurements of mechanical spectroscopy were performed by a torsion pendulum. The results show three relaxation processes in the temperature range of 200 and 700 K, with activation energy of approximately 0.9 eV, which has been attributed to the dynamics of the interstitial oxygen present in the material.

Diversidade e evolução do gênero Adenomera Steindachner, 1867 (Anura, Leptodactylidae)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

O efeito da estrutura da matriz na percepção de aves na paisagem

Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Zoologia) - IBRC