Frog diversity in the Floresta Nacional de Chapecó, Atlantic Forest of southern Brazil

The Atlantic Forest is considered one of the world's biological diversity hotspots but is nevertheless increasingly threatened with the rapid destruction and fragmentation of its natural areas. In the state of Santa Catarina, southern Brazil, remnants of the mixed ombrophilous forest and seasonal deciduous forest exist as islands within large areas of agriculture, pastures and human settlements. Here we present information on species richness and habitat use by anurans in the Floresta Nacional de Chapecó, located in the western portion of the state of Santa Catarina. Anurans were surveyed by active search of potential reproductive sites from December 1998 to December 2001. A total of 29 species were recorded, most of which have a known distribution restricted to southern Brazil and adjacent countries (Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay) and use open areas for reproduction. The species composition was most similar to other areas of mixed ombrophilous forest and seasonal deciduous forest from the extreme south of Brazil. The information in this study may support the implementation of conservation and management strategies in the area.

Rare earth element and yttrium geochemistry applied to the genetic study of cryolite ore at the Pitinga Mine (Amazon, Brazil)

This work aims at the geochemical study of Pitinga cryolite mineralization through REE and Y analyses in disseminated and massive cryolite ore deposits, as well as in fluorite occurrences. REE signatures in fluorite and cryolite are similar to those in the Madeira albite granite. The highest ΣREE values are found in magmatic cryolite (677 to 1345 ppm); ΣREE is lower in massive cryolite. Average values for the different cryolite types are 10.3 ppm, 6.66 ppm and 8.38 ppm (for nucleated, caramel and white types, respectively). Disseminated fluorite displays higher ΣREE values (1708 and 1526ppm) than fluorite in late veins(34.81ppm). Yttrium concentration is higher in disseminated fluorite and in magmatic cryolite. The evolution of several parameters (REEtotal, LREE/HREE, Y) was followed throughout successive stages of evolution in albite granites and associated mineralization. At the end of the process, late cryolite was formed with low REEtotal content. REE data indicate that the MCD was formed by, and the disseminated ore enriched by (additional formation of hydrothermal disseminated cryolite), hydrothermal fluids, residual from albite granite. The presence of tetrads is poorly defined, although nucleated, caramel and white cryolite types show evidence for tetrad effect.

Analysis of mangrove forest succession, using sediment cores: a case study in the Cananéia -Iguape coastal system, São Paulo Brazil

Sediment cores are an essential tool for the analysis of the dynamics of mangrove succession. Coring was used to correlate changes in depositional environments and lateral sedimentary facies with discrete stages of forest succession at the Cananéia-Iguape Coastal System in southeastern Brazil. A local level successional pattern was examined based on four core series T1) a sediment bank; T2) a smooth cordgrass Spartina alterniflora bank; T3) an active mangrove progradation fringe dominated by Laguncularia racemosa, and; T4) a mature mangrove forest dominated by Avicennia schaueriana. Cores were macroscopically described in terms of color, texture, sedimentary structure and organic components. The base of all cores exhibited a similar pattern suggesting common vertical progressive changes in depositional conditions and subsequent successional colonization pattern throughout the forest. The progradation zone is an exposed bank, colonized by S. alterniflora. L. racemosa, replaces S. alterniflora as progradation takes place. As the substrate consolidates A. schaueriana replaces L. racemosa and attains the greatest structural development in the mature forest. Cores collected within the A. schaueriana dominated stand contained S. alterniflora fragments near the base, confirming that a smooth cordgrass habitat characterized the establishment and early seral stages. Cores provide a reliable approach to describe local-level successional sequences in dynamic settings subject to drivers operating on multiple temporal and spatial scales where spatial heterogeneity can lead to multiple equilibria and where similar successional end-points may be reached through convergent paths.

Astyanax ajuricaba: a new species from the Amazon basin in Brazil (Characiformes: Characidae)

A new Astyanax species is described from several localities in the rio Negro, rio Solimões and lower rio Tapajós basins, Amazon basin, Brazil. The new species is distinguished from all remaining characids by its unique color pattern consisting of the combination of presence of a conspicuous, narrow dark midlateral stripe, a well-developed vertically-elongated dark humeral spot, and upper caudal-fin lobe and middle caudal-fin rays dark, with a rounded clear ocellated spot present at anterior third of caudal-fin lobe.

Hemigrammus arua, a new species of characid (Characiformes: Characidae) from the lower Amazon, Brazil

A new Hemigrammus species is described from tributaries of the igarapé Juruti Grande and rio Arapiuns, lower rio Amazonas, Pará State, Brazil. The new species can be easily diagnosed from all its congeners, except from Hemigrammus stictus (Durbin), by possessing a single, large humeral spot which extends longitudinally from the fifth or sixth to the posterior margin of eighth to tenth, lateral line scales. It can be distinguished from Hemigrammus stictus by possessing a pronounced upper, anteriorly-oriented extension in the humeral blotch, conferring an inverted-comma shape to it, and by displaying a distinct life color pattern.

A new species of Rineloricaria (Siluriformes: Loricariidae: Loricariinae) from rio Daraá, rio Negro basin, Amazon, Brazil

Rineloricaria daraha, new species, is described from the rio Daraá, tributary of rio Negro, northwestern Amazonas State, Brazil. The new species is diagnosed by having seven branched pectoral-fin rays, finger-like papillae on the lower lip, a large multi-angular preanal plate, and at least four quadrangular plates of variable size surrounding the preanal plate. The new species is known only from rio Daraá and its waterfalls.

Habitat suitability of Anopheles vector species and association with human malaria in the Atlantic Forest in south-eastern Brazil

Every year, autochthonous cases of Plasmodium vivax malaria occur in low-endemicity areas of Vale do Ribeira in the south-eastern part of the Atlantic Forest, state of São Paulo, where Anopheles cruzii and Anopheles bellator are considered the primary vectors. However, other species in the subgenus Nyssorhynchus of Anopheles (e.g., Anopheles marajoara) are abundant and may participate in the dynamics of malarial transmission in that region. The objectives of the present study were to assess the spatial distribution of An. cruzii, An. bellator and An. marajoara and to associate the presence of these species with malaria cases in the municipalities of the Vale do Ribeira. Potential habitat suitability modelling was applied to determine both the spatial distribution of An. cruzii, An. bellator and An. marajoara and to establish the density of each species. Poisson regression was utilized to associate malaria cases with estimated vector densities. As a result, An. cruzii was correlated with the forested slopes of the Serra do Mar, An. bellator with the coastal plain and An. marajoara with the deforested areas. Moreover, both An. marajoara and An. cruzii were positively associated with malaria cases. Considering that An. marajoara was demonstrated to be a primary vector of human Plasmodium in the rural areas of the state of Amapá, more attention should be given to the species in the deforested areas of the Atlantic Forest, where it might be a secondary vector.

Effect of CO2 and 1-octen-3-ol attractants for estimating species richness and the abundance of diurnal mosquitoes in the southeastern Atlantic forest, Brazil

Studies have shown that both carbon dioxide (CO2) and octenol (1-octen-3-ol) are effective attractants for mosquitoes. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the attractiveness of 1-octen-3-ol and CO2 for diurnal mosquitoes in the southeastern Atlantic forest. A Latin square experimental design was employed with four treatments: CDC-light trap (CDC-LT), CDC-LT and 1-octen-3-ol, CDC-LT and CO2 and CDC-LT with 1-octen-3-ol and CO2. Results demonstrated that both CDC-CO2 and CDC-CO2-1-octen-3-ol captured a greater number of mosquito species and specimens compared to CDC-1-octen-3-ol; CDC-LT was used as the control. Interestingly, Anopheles (Kerteszia) sp. was generally attracted to 1-octen-3-ol, whereas Aedes serratus was the most abundant species in all Latin square collections. This species was recently shown to be competent to transmit the yellow fever virus and may therefore play a role as a disease vector in rural areas of Brazil.

Observations on Haemagogus janthinomys Dyar (Diptera: Culicidae) and other mosquito populations within tree holes in a gallery forest in the northwestern region of Sao Paulo state, Brazil

In 2000, an outbreak of sylvatic yellow fever possibly occurred in gallery forests of the Grande river in the Paraná basin in the northwestern region of São Paulo state. The aim of this study was to obtain information on the bionomics of Haemagogus and other mosquitoes inside tree holes in that area. Eighteen open tree holes were sampled for immature specimens. Adults were collected twice a month in the forest in Santa Albertina county from July 2000 to June 2001. The seasonal frequency of fourth instars was obtained by the Williams geometric mean (Mw), while the adult frequency was estimated either by hourly arithmetic or the Williams' means. Cole's index was applied to evaluate larval inter-specific associations. Among the ten mosquito species identified, the most abundant was Aedes terrens Walker followed by Sabethes tridentatus Cerqueira and Haemagogus janthinomys Dyar. Larval and adult abundance of these species was higher in summer than in winter. Although larval abundance of Hg. janthinomys peaked in the rainy season, correlation with rainfall was not significant. Six groups of larval associations were distinguished, one of which the most positively stable. The Hg. janthinomys and Ae. terrens association was significant, and Limatus durhamii Theobald was the species with most negative associations.

Occurrence and molecular characterization of Cryptosporidium spp. isolated from domestic animals in a rural area surrounding Atlantic dry forest fragments in Teodoro Sampaio municipality, State of São Paulo, Brazil

The aim of this study was to assess the occurrence of Cryptosporidium in domestic animals in rural properties surrounding rain forest fragments within the municipality of Teodoro Sampaio, southeastern Brazil. Conventional sucrose flotation method followed by molecular characterization of the parasites by sequencing PCR products amplified from SSU rRNA gene were used. Stool samples were collected from domestic animals raised as pets and livestock in all rural properties surrounding three forest fragments. Samples from cattle (197), equine (63), pigs (25), sheep (11), and dogs (28) were collected from 98 rural properties. The frequency of occurrence of Cryptosporidium within each animal species was 3.0% (6/197) among cattle and 10.7% (3/28) among dogs. Cryptosporidium was not detected in stool samples from equine, sheep, and pigs. All sequences obtained from the six samples of calves showed molecular identity with Cryptosporidium andersoni while all sequences from dog samples were similar to C. canis. The frequency of occurrence of Cryptosporidium in these domestic animal species was low. The absence of C. parvum in the present study suggests that the zoonotic cycle of cryptosporidiosis may not be relevant in the region studied. The presence of Cryptosporidium species seldom described in humans may be, otherwise, important for the wild fauna as these animals are a source of infection and dissemination of this protozoan to other animal species. The impact and magnitude of infection by C. andersoni in wild ruminants and C. canis in wild canids have to be assessed in future studies to better understand the actual importance of these species in this region.

Entomological characterization and natural infection of anophelines in an area of the Atlantic Forest with autochthonous malaria cases in mountainous region of Espírito Santo State, Brazil

No Espírito Santo, os casos de malária autóctone estão distribuídos na região serrana próximo aos fragmentos de Mata Atlântica. Uma vez que alguns aspectos da doença são obscuros, a detecção das possíveis espécies de vetores pode auxiliar na elucidação de incertezas epidemiológicas. Estudos entomológicos e de infecção natural foram realizados com anofelinos (Diptera: Culicidae) capturados no município de Santa Tereza, ES. Capturas mensais foram realizadas de março de 2004 a fevereiro de 2006. Armadilhas CDC-CO2 foram utilizadas do crepúsculo (18:00h) ao amanhecer (6:00h), para capturar anofelinos nos seguintes habitats: próximo ao domicílio e área aberta (solo), margem e interior da mata (solo e copa). Armadilhas Shannon também foram utilizadas nos mesmos locais que as de CDC-CO2. Capturou-se o total de 2.290 anofelinos distribuídos em 10 espécies. A maior frequência relativa foi de Anopheles (Kerteszia) cruzii Dyar & Knab / A.(K.) homunculus Komp, sendo a maioria capturada em CDC-CO2 instalada na copa da mata. A principal espécie capturada em armadilha Shannon foi A.(Nyssorhynchus) strodei Root. O maior número de anofelinos foi capturado entre julho e setembro das 18:00h às 22:00h. Provavelmente A.(K.) cruzii é responsável pela transmissão da malária dentro ou próximo aos fragmentos de Mata Atlântica. Entretanto, a participação de outras espécies não pode ser ignorada, visto que 53 por cento da amostragem foi constituída pelo subgênero Nyssorhynchus. A detecção de Plasmodium vivax no tórax de A. cruzii, A. parvus (Chagas) e A. galvaoi Causey, Deane & Deane por meio de PCR reforça esse argumento

New Species of Eugenia sect. Racemosae (Myrtaceae) from the Atlantic Forest, Eastern Brazil

Morphological characters support the description of four new species of Eugenia L sect. Racemosae O. Berg (Myrtaceae) from Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The new species are described, illustrated, and compared with putatively related species. They are: E. brunneopubescens Mazine from Parana, E. capixaba Mazine from Espirito San to, E. costatifructa Mazine from Bahia and Sergipe, and E. longibracteata Mazine from Sao Paulo.

Trap-nesting bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) in forest fragments of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil

We studied the community ecology of trap-nesting bees in two forest fragments of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, during two years, utilizing bamboo canes and tubes made of black cardboard as trap nests. The traps were inspected once a month with an otoscope. One hundred and fifteen nests were obtained at Estacao Ecologica de Paulo de Faria, Paulo de Faria (EEPF). These included nine species belonging to five genera and two families. At Santa Cecilia Farm (SCF), 12 species belonging to seven genera and three families built 392 nests. Natural enemies reared from nests of both areas included Hymenoptera, Diptera and Coleoptera. Species richness was similar between the areas but the communities differed considerably in species composition. The higher diversity found at EEPF was due to more even distribution of the species. No difference was observed between the numbers of nests built in each year in each area. Although the species richness was lower in the cool/dry season of both years at SCF, and in the first year at EEPF, the nesting frequencies did not differ between seasons for both the overall community but for each of the most abundant species. No annual fluctuation in the frequencies of nesting was observed. As temperature and precipitation were not found to be significantly different between the two years of study in each area, we concluded that climatic stability resulted in population stability.

Spatial patterns of malaria in a land reform colonization project, Juruena municipality, Mato Grosso, Brazil

Background: In Brazil, 99% of malaria cases are concentrated in the Amazon, and malaria's spatial distribution is commonly associated with socio-environmental conditions on a fine landscape scale. In this study, the spatial patterns of malaria and its determinants in a rural settlement of the Brazilian agricultural reform programme called ""Vale do Amanhecer"" in the northern Mato Grosso state were analysed. Methods: In a fine-scaled, exploratory ecological study, geocoded notification forms corresponding to malaria cases from 2005 were compared with spectral indices, such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the third component of the Tasseled Cap Transformation (TC_3) and thematic layers, derived from the visual interpretation of multispectral TM-Landsat 5 imagery and the application of GIS distance operators. Results: Of a total of 336 malaria cases, 102 (30.36%) were caused by Plasmodium falciparum and 174 (51.79%) by Plasmodium vivax. Of all the cases, 37.6% (133 cases) were from residents of a unique road. In total, 276 cases were reported for the southern part of the settlement, where the population density is higher, with notification rates higher than 10 cases per household. The local landscape mostly consists of open areas (38.79 km(2)). Training forest occupied 27.34 km(2) and midsize vegetation 7.01 km(2). Most domiciles with more than five notified malaria cases were located near areas with high NDVI values. Most domiciles (41.78%) and malaria cases (44.94%) were concentrated in areas with intermediate values of the TC_3, a spectral index representing surface and vegetation humidity. Conclusions: Environmental factors and their alteration are associated with the occurrence and spatial distribution of malaria cases in rural settlements.

Genotoxic potential generated by biomass burning in the Brazilian Legal Amazon by Tradescantia micronucleus bioassay: a toxicity assessment study

Background: The Brazilian Amazon has suffered impacts from non-sustainable economic development, especially owing to the expansion of agricultural commodities into forest areas. The Tangara da Serra region, located in the southern of the Legal Amazon, is characterized by non-mechanized sugar cane production. In addition, it lies on the dispersion path of the pollution plume generated by biomass burning. The aim of this study was to assess the genotoxic potential of the atmosphere in the Tangara da Serra region, using Tradescantia pallida as in situ bioindicator. Methods: The study was conducted during the dry and rainy seasons, where the plants were exposed to two types of exposure, active and passive. Results: The results showed that in all the sampling seasons, irrespective of exposure type, there was an increase in micronucleus frequency, compared to control and that it was statistically significant in the dry season. A strong and significant relationship was also observed between the increase in micronucleus incidence and the rise in fine particulate matter, and hospital morbidity from respiratory diseases in children. Conclusions: Based on the results, we demonstrated that pollutants generated by biomass burning in the Brazilian Amazon can induce genetic damage in test plants that was more prominent during dry season, and correlated with the level of particulates and elevated respiratory morbidity.