Patterns of diversification in two species of short-tailed bats (Carollia Gray, 1838): the effects of historical fragmentation of Brazilian rainforests

The small-sized frugivorous bat Carollia perspicillata is an understory specialist and occurs in a wide range of lowland habitats, tending to be more common in tropical dry or moist forests of South and Central America. Its sister species, Carollia brevicauda, occurs almost exclusively in the Amazon rainforest. A recent phylogeographic study proposed a hypothesis of origin and subsequent diversification for C. perspicillata along the Atlantic coastal forest of Brazil. Additionally, it also found two allopatric clades for C. brevicauda separated by the Amazon Basin. We used cytochrome b gene sequences and a more extensive sampling to test hypotheses related to the origin and diversification of C. perspicillata plus C. brevicauda clade in South America. The results obtained indicate that there are two sympatric evolutionary lineages within each species. In C. perspicillata, one lineage is limited to the Southern Atlantic Forest, whereas the other is widely distributed. Coalescent analysis points to a simultaneous origin for C. perspicillata and C. brevicauda, although no place for the diversification of each species can be firmly suggested. The phylogeographic pattern shown by C. perspicillata is also congruent with the Pleistocene refugia hypothesis as a likely vicariant phenomenon shaping the present distribution of its intraspecific lineages. (C) 2011 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 102, 527-539.

The periaqueductal gray and its potential role in maternal behavior inhibition in response to predatory threats

Animals faced with conflicting cues, such as predatory threat and a given rewarding stimulus, must make rapid decisions to engage in defensive versus other appetitive behaviors. The brain mechanisms mediating such responses are poorly understood. However, the periaqueductal gray (PAG) seems particularly suitable for accomplishing this task. The PAG is thought to have, at least, two distinct general roles on the organization of motivated responses, i.e., one on the execution of defensive and reproductive behaviors, and the other on the motivational drive underlying adaptive responses. We have presently examined how the PAG would be involved in mediating the behavioral choice between mutually incompatible behaviors, such as reproduction or defense, when dams are exposed to pups and cat odor. First, we established the behavioral protocol and observed that lactating rats, simultaneously exposed to pups and cat odor, inhibited maternal behavior and expressed clear defensive responses. We have further revealed that cat odor exposure up-regulated Fos expression in the dorsal PAG, and that NMDA cytotoxic lesions therein were able to restore maternal responses, and, at the same time, block defensive responsiveness to cat odor. Potential paths mediating the dorsal PAG influences on the inhibition of appetitive (i.e., retrieving behavior) and consummatory (i.e., nursing) maternal responses are discussed. Overall, we were able to confirm the dual role of the PAG, where, in the present case, the dorsal PAG, apart from organizing defensive responses, also appears to account for the behavioral inhibition of non-defensive responses. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Role of glutamate NMDA receptors and nitric oxide located within the periaqueductal gray on defensive behaviors in mice confronted by predator

The midbrain periaqueductal gray (PAG) is part of the brain system involved in active defense reactions to threatening stimuli. Glutamate N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor activation within the dorsal column of the PAG (dPAG) leads to autonomic and behavioral responses characterized as the fear reaction. Nitric oxide (NO) has been proposed to be a mediator of the aversive action of glutamate, since the activation of NMDA receptors in the brain increases NO synthesis. We investigated the effects of intra-dPAG infusions of NMDA on defensive behaviors in mice pretreated with a neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) inhibitor [N omega-propyl-l-arginine (NPLA)], in the same midbrain site, during a confrontation with a predator in the rat exposure test (RET). Male Swiss mice received intra-dPAG injections of NPLA (0.1 or 0.4 nmol/0.1 mu l), and 10 min later, they were infused with NMDA (0.04 nmol/0.1 mu l) into the dPAG. After 10 min, each mouse was placed in the RET. NMDA treatment enhanced avoidance behavior from the predator and markedly increased freezing behavior. These proaversive effects of NMDA were prevented by prior injection of NPLA. Furthermore, defensive behaviors (e.g., avoidance, risk assessment, freezing) were consistently reduced by the highest dose of NPLA alone, suggesting an intrinsic effect of nitric oxide on defensive behavior in mice exposed to the RET. These findings suggest a potential role of glutamate NMDA receptors and NO in the dPAG in the regulation of defensive behaviors in mice during a confrontation with a predator in the RET.

Ecologia comportamental do Golfinho-Chileno, Cephalorhynchus eutropia (Gray 1846): seleção de hábitat e interações com atividades antrópicas no sul do Chile

Os mares e oceanos vêm sendo intensamente impactados por diversas atividades antrópicas, as quais vêm provocando a diminuição dos recursos naturais devido a sobrepesca, poluição e o aumento do tráfego de embarcações. A perda de hábitat crítico, decorrente do intenso uso das zonas litorâneas, tem sido uma das maiores ameaças aos cetáceos costeiros. O Chile possui uma grande diversidade de baleias e golfinhos, porém o golfinho-chileno (Cephalorhynchus eutropia) é a única espécie endêmica às águas costeiras deste país. Na porção sul da distribuição de C. eutropia (fiordes e canais) há uma grande sobreposição da indústria de aqüicultura (uma das atividades antrópicas mais importantes no sul do Chile) aos principais locais de ocorrência desta espécie. Observações a partir de terra foram realizadas com o objetivo de estudar a seleção de hábitat dos golfinhos-chilenos em pequena escala espacial e avaliar as reações comportamentais desta espécie em relação ao tráfego de embarcações presente na Baía Yaldad, local onde há intenso cultivo de mexilhão e de salmão. Utilizou-se um teodolito para marcar a posição dos golfinhos e um total de 293,5 horas de esforço foram realizadas entre os meses de janeiro a abril de 2002. O padrão de uso de hábitat, concentrado a uma pequena porção da área de estudo, mostrou que os golfinhos selecionam locais rasos, próximos à costa e próximo aos rios. As atividades dos golfinhos foram influenciadas pelo regime de maré e o forrageio foi a principal atividade realizada na baía. . A aqüicultura representou um impacto negativo, devido à redução de espaço disponível aos animais e ao aumento do tráfego de embarcação, que afetou consideravelmente os padrões comportamentais de C. eutropia. A presença, os padrões de movimento e uso de hábitat dos golfinhos-chilenos devem ser levados em consideração na regulamnetação das atividades de aqüicultura e nas políticas de manejo dos ecossistemas costeiros. Visto que predadores topo de cadeia podem ser considerados indicadores ambientais, a conservação dos ecossistemas marinhos poderia ser abordada pela descrição dos movimentos e seleção de hábitat de cetáceos que atuariam como “espécies guarda-chuva”.

Alasdair Gray`s 1982 Janine (1984): a postmodernist scottish novel

Alasdair Gray is now an established figure in the Scottish literary scene and has numerous claims to be considered an important voice writing in English. First Lanark: A Life in Four Books (1981) and then 1982 Janine (1984) contributed to the recognition of Gray as one of the founding fathers of the new Scottish writing and as a figure of importance in international contemporary fiction due to his innovative, experimental and postmodernist novels. As the title of this dissertation - “Alasdair Gray’s 1982 Janine (1984): A Postmodernist Scottish Novel” - suggests, it aims at analysing the author’s second novel, 1982 Janine (1984), in a thematic and formal perspective, in order to justify the choice of the terms - Postmodernist and Scottish - to classify this novel. 1982 Janine projects a world through Jock McLeish’s mind and is a powerful stream-of-consciousness narrative. Jock is an alcoholic who lives a personal crisis and, therefore, tries to escape from his depressing reality through sexual fantasies and political diatribes. During a single night in a Scottish hotel room, he drinks and dreams, and spends the whole night alone with his fantasies and fears, his memories and hopes. In Chapter 11, the most daring experimental section of the novel, Jock attempts to commit suicide by taking an overdose of tablets with alcohol but fails. Following this, he decides to review his life and make for a new beginning; the novel thus closing with an optimistic note. Also, the narrative is based on a constant interweaving of sex fantasy with political satire, that is, it is through his protagonist that Gray manages to convey the state of Scotland as well as the concerns and aspirations of the Scottish people and then, proceed to a political and social critique. This dissertation appears structured in three chapters. In Chapter I - “Alasdair Gray: A Postmodernist Scottish Writer” - I present Gray as a powerful postmodernist writer who also sees himself as a Scottish author, and more particularly as a Glaswegian, who concentrates on Scottish subject matter in his literary work. In a first section, I offer a brief survey of the Scottish literary scene from the fourteenth to the twentieth century, in order to understand Gray’s choice of setting and themes and to check his influence or indebtedness to previous Scottish authors. As 1982 Janine is also a good example of selfconscious experimental writing, in a second section, I present various seminal fictional works that introduced and developed experimentalism in British fiction, in order to evaluate the influence of modernist developments in form and technique on recent experimental writing. The third section consists of an introduction to Gray’s work for he is not only a novelist, but also an artist, a playwright, a poet, an activist and a scholar. Chapter II - “Postmodernist Features in 1982 Janine” - aims at listing and examining the postmodernist devices that the novel includes, in what content and form are concerned. On the one hand, the use of a developed type of the modernist stream of consciousness, the presence of a protagonist who feels entrapped in a specific system, the quest for freedom, the incoherence and fragmentation of time, the nonchronological order of the narrative, the blending of fantasy and “reality”, as well as the importance of the Scottish material are definitely current aspects within postmodernist literature that can be found in Gray’s novel. On the other hand, the handling of literary self-conscious devices, such as typographical experimentation, presence of metafiction and intertextuality, and inclusion of an Epilogue, are likewise among recurrent postmodernist features. As the title - “A Narratological Analysis of 1982 Janine” - evidences, Chapter III offers a description of the mechanics of the narrative and its functioning in order to better understand the narrative technique of postmodernist fiction. This study is based primarily on Gérard Genette’s theoretical framework and terminology, presented in Narrative Discourse: An Essay in Method, an analytical tool that allows me to provide a more objective and scientific analysis. Hence, I follow the Genettian division of narrative discourse in Time, Mood and Voice while examining the novel. Finally, I proceed to a description of the intertextual relationships 1982 Janine establishes with other texts.

Murais modernos de Newton Navarro e Dorian Gray

This research aims to study wall paitings created by artists Newton Navarro and Dorian Gray, installed in public buildings of modern architecture, in Natal/RN from 1950 to 1970. The subject is seen by focusing on its concepts and characterization, linked to the ideia of integration of the arts and the meaning of modern mural painting in Brasil. The study presents an analyses of those paitings considering themes, techiniques and dimensions, comparing the solutions of local artists with brasilian muralist painters, particularly the work of Cândido Portinari. Registers of artistic works show a view of the inclusion of arts in modern architecture in the city

Periaqueductal gray matter modulates the hypercapnic ventilatory response

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