Biogeography, vicariance and conservation of snakes of the neglected and endangered Caatinga region, north-eastern Brazil

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

Spatial-temporal variation of parasites in Cnemidophorus ocellifer (Teiidae) and Tropidurus hispidus and Tropidurus semitaeniatus (Tropiduridae) from Caatinga areas in northeastern Brazil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Phylogeny and micro-habitats utilized by lizards determine the composition of their endoparasites in the semiarid Caatinga of Northeast Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Diversity, natural history, and geographic distribution of snakes in the Caatinga, Northeastern Brazil

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

Ocorrência e distribuição espacial de mamíferos não-voadores em reflorestamento no sudeste do Brasil

The Conservation in countrysides landscapes only it will be understood in the context of the habitat fragmentation that have been affected the species richness, abundance and distribution. We carried out a mammal survey in platation forest at São Paulo State and 8 we discussed the species richness comparing with others sites surveyed elsewhere. We investigate the landscape influence in the mammal species distribution through spatial analysis. The absence of primate species in plantation forests appear to be a pattern for this environments. The species richness was similar among areas and it was higher when there have contiguous native forest remnants. Moreover the landscape interference don’t appeared affect the mammal species distribution. In overview the landscape connectivity is ameliorate with forest plantation. However, those species more susceptible to extinction in fragmented landscape only can persist when there are contiguous forest fragments from the plantation forests. The management of plantation forests can improves the conservation value for medium and large size mammals species at countryside landscapes.

Estudo da interação não-nativa no enovelamento de proteínas

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Imunocastração e ractopamina na dieta de suínos: implicações na qualidade de carne fresca e melhorada por injeção (enhancement)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Adsorção de cádmio em Latossolos sob vegetação de mata nativa e cultivados

Heavy metals are found naturally in soils at low concentrations, but their content may be increased by human activity, making them one of the barriers in management of tropical soils. These chemical elements can be found in the composition of organic and inorganic fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, mine tailings, and urban waste, and may cause serious damage to the environment and human health. Thus, adsorption studies are essential in assessing the behavior of heavy metals in the soil. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of soil chemical, particle size, and mineralogical properties on adsorption of cadmium (Cd), evaluated by Langmuir and Freundlich models, in Latossolos (Oxisols) with or without human activity. Soil samples were collected from the surface layer, 0.00-0.20 m, and chemical, particle size, and mineralogical analyzes were performed. In the adsorption study, concentrations of 0, 5, 25, 50, 100, 200, 300, and 400 mu g L-1 of Cd were used in the form of Cd(NO3)(2). The empirical mathematical models of Langmuir and Freundlich were used for construction of adsorption isotherms. Data were analyzed by means of multivariate statistical techniques, Cluster Analysis and Principal Component Analysis. The data from the adsorption experiment showed a good fit to the Langmuir and Freundlich models. Soils with a lower goethite/hematite ratio and greater cation exchange capacity and pH, showed higher maximum adsorption capacity of Cd.

Evolução temporal de fragmentos de vegetação nativa no município de Agudos-SP, utilizando fotografias aéreas.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Helmintofauna associada a leptodactylus fuscus (Anura: Leptodactylidae) em regiões de Cerrado, Pantanal e Caatinga no Brasil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

A criança nativa digital no contexto de filmes publicitários

Pós-graduação em Psicologia - FCLAS

A criança nativa digital no contexto de filmes publicitários

Pós-graduação em Psicologia - FCLAS

The Enhanced Tool-Kit of Two Groups of Wild Bearded Capuchin Monkeys in the Caatinga: Tool Making, Associative Use, and Secondary Tools

The use of stones to crack open encapsulated fruit is widespread among wild bearded capuchin monkeys (Cebus libidinosus) inhabiting savanna-like environments. Some populations in Serra da Capivara National Park (Piaui, Brazil), though, exhibit a seemingly broader toolkit, using wooden sticks as probes, and employing stone tools for a variety of purposes. Over the course of 701.5 hr of visual contact of two wild capuchin groups we recorded 677 tool use episodes. Five hundred and seventeen of these involved the use of stones, and 160 involved the use of sticks (or other plant parts) as probes to access water, arthropods, or the contents of insects` nests. Stones were mostly used as ""hammers""-not only to open fruit or seeds, or smash other food items, but also to break dead wood, conglomerate rock, or cement in search of arthropods, to dislodge bigger stones, and to pulverize embedded quartz pebbles (licking, sniffing, or rubbing the body with the powder produced). Stones also were used in a ""hammer-like"" fashion to loosen the soil for digging out roots and arthropods, and sometimes as ""hoes"" to pull the loosened soil. In a few cases, we observed the re-utilization of stone tools for different purposes (N = 3), or the combined use of two tools-stones and sticks (N = 4) or two stones (N = 5), as sequential or associative tools. On three occasions, the monkeys used smaller stones to loosen bigger quartz pebbles embedded in conglomerate rock, which were subsequently used as tools. These could be considered the first reports of secondary tool use by wild capuchin monkeys. Am. J. Primatol. 71:242-251, 2009. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Leishmanicidal and cholinesterase inhibiting activities of phenolic compounds of Dimorphandra gardneriana and Platymiscium floribundum, native plants from Caatinga biome

Nos últimos anos, o Ministério da Saúde do Brasil e a Organização Mundial da Saúde tem apoiado a investigação de novas tecnologias que possam contribuir para a vigilância, novos tratamentos e controle da leishmaniose visceral no país. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho foi isolar compostos de plantas do bioma Caatinga, e investigar a toxicidade destes compostos contra as formas promastigotas e amastigotas de Leishmania infantum chagasi, principal parasita responsável pela leishmaniose visceral na América do Sul, e avaliar a sua capacidade para inibir a enzima acetil-colinesterase (AChE). Após a exposição aos compostos em estudo, foram realizados testes utilizando a forma promastigota que expressa luciferase e ELISA in situ para medir a viabilidade das formas promastigotas e amastigota, respectivamente. O ensaio colorimétrico MTT foi realizado para determinar a toxicidade destas substâncias utilizando células monocíticas murina RAW 264.7. Todos os compostos foram testados in vitro para as sua propriedade anti-colinesterásica. Um cumarina, escoparona, foi isolada a partir de hastes de Platymiscium floribundum, e os flavonóides, rutina e quercetina, foram isolados a partir de grãos de Dimorphandra gardneriana. Estes compostos foram purificados, utilizando cromatografia em coluna gel eluída com solventes orgânicos em misturas de polaridade crescente, e identificados por análise espectral. Nos ensaios leishmanicidas, os compostos fenólicos mostraram eficácia contra as formas extracelulares promastigotas, com EC50 para escoporona de 21.4µg/mL e para quercetina e rutina 26 e 30.3µg/mL, respectivamente. Os flavonóides apresentaram resultados comparáveis à droga controle, a anfotericina B, contra as formas amastigotas com EC50 para quercetina e rutina de 10.6 e 43.3µg/mL, respectivamente. Os compostos inibiram a enzima AChE com halos de inibição variando de 0,8 a 0,6cm, indicando um possível mecanismo de ação para a atividade leishmanicida.