Diel comparison of the catch and size of the shrimp artemesia longinaris (dendrobranchiata, penaeidae) in the ubatuba region, northern coast of the state of São Paulo

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

Karyotypic Data on 28 Species of Scinax (Amphibia: Anura: Hylidae): Diversity and Informative Variation

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

The influence of landscape characteristics and home-range size on the quantification of landscape-genetics relationships

A common approach used to estimate landscape resistance involves comparing correlations of ecological and genetic distances calculated among individuals of a species. However, the location of sampled individuals may contain some degree of spatial uncertainty due to the natural variation of animals moving through their home range or measurement error in plant or animal locations. In this study, we evaluate the ways that spatial uncertainty, landscape characteristics, and genetic stochasticity interact to influence the strength and variability of conclusions about landscape-genetics relationships. We used a neutral landscape model to generate 45 landscapes composed of habitat and non-habitat, varying in percent habitat, aggregation, and structural connectivity (patch cohesion). We created true and alternate locations for 500 individuals, calculated ecological distances (least-cost paths), and simulated genetic distances among individuals. We compared correlations between ecological distances for true and alternate locations. We then simulated genotypes at 15 neutral loci and investigated whether the same influences could be detected in simple Mantel tests and while controlling for the effects of isolation-by distance using the partial Mantel test. Spatial uncertainty interacted with the percentage of habitat in the landscape, but led to only small reductions in correlations. Furthermore, the strongest correlations occurred with low percent habitat, high aggregation, and low to intermediate levels of cohesion. Overall genetic stochasticity was relatively low and was influenced by landscape characteristics.

Meal size and specific dynamic action in the rattlesnake Crotalus durissus (Serpentes : Viperidae)

We studied the effect of meal size on specific dynamic action (SDA) in the South American rattlesnake Crotalus durissus, by measuring oxygen consumption rates (VO2) prior to and after the ingestion of meals ranging from 10-50% of snake's body mass. Regardless of meal size, variation in VO2 with time during digestion demonstrated the same general pattern. Oxygen consumption rates peaked between 15 and 33 h post-feeding, at values 3.7-7.3 times those prior to feeding. Snakes, while digesting meals of 30% and 50% of their body mass, experienced VO2 that exceeded rates measured during forced activity. Following peaks in VO2, rates returned to prefeeding values within 62-170 h post-feeding. Post-prandial peak in VO2 and the duration of the metabolic response to feeding increased with meal size. Digestion is an energetically demanding activity for C. durissus, with an estimated cost equaling 12-18% of the ingested assimilated energy.

Geographic Distribution and Morphological Variation of Striped and Nonstriped Populations of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest Treefrog Hypsiboas bischoffi (Anura: Hylidae)

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

História de vida de Laetacara aff. araguaiae Ottoni & Costa, 2009 (Perciformes, Cichlidae) em dois riachos no Noroeste do Estado de São Paulo, Brasil

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

Influence of particle size on the properties of Pt-Ru/C catalysts prepared by a microemulsion method

Pt-Ru/C nanocatalysts were prepared by a microemulsion method using different values of water/surfactant molar ratio in order to get different particle sizes. Crystallite sizes and structural properties were determined by X-ray diffraction. Particle size and distribution were characterized by transmission electron microscopy and average composition was determined by energy-dispersive X-ray analysis. Thermogravimetric analysis was used to estimate the amount of supported metals. Differential scanning calorimetry measurements indicated the presence of hydrous ruthenium oxides in the as-prepared catalysts. Results for the oxidation of adsorbed CO as well as for methanol oxidation revealed significant differences in the behavior of the prepared catalysts. All together, the results demonstrate that the variation of particle size produces changes in other properties of the Pt-Ru/C catalysts and that to establish direct correlations between electrocatalytic activity and particle size is not possible because the effects of the different parameters cannot be separated. (c) 2007 the Electrochemical Society.

Size composition, monthly condition factor and morphometrics for fishery-dependent samples of Rioraja agassizi (Chondrichthyes: Rajidae), off Santos, Southeast Brazil

Espécimes de Rioraja agassizi foram mensalmente coletados em águas ao largo de Santos, sudeste do Brasil entre as latitudes 23º37'S e 27º40'S, desde março de 2005 até março de 2006. Um total de 278 machos e 1023 fêmeas foi capturado. A amplitude de profundidade de ocorrência foi 10-120 m, estando a espécie ausente em profundidades >120 m. A razão sexual favoreceu as fêmeas. A amplitude completa de comprimentos de R. agassizi esteve representada e oscilou nas fêmeas entre 16.0-59.4 cm comprimento e nos machos entre 13.0-47.2 cm. O tamanho médio das fêmeas foi significativamente maior do que dos machos. A distribuição de freqüência de comprimentos por amostras agrupadas foi assimétrica em ambos os sexos. As curvas da relação comprimento-largura foram sexualmente dimórficas. As fêmeas foram mais largas que os machos em todas as classes de comprimento maiores do que 25 cm. As curvas comprimento-peso total foram significativamente diferentes das curvas comprimento-peso eviscerado em ambos os sexos. As fêmeas foram mais pesadas do que os machos para uma determinada classe de comprimento. O coeficiente angular b foi <3 nos machos (alometría negativa) e nas fêmeas, mas com exceção da primavera, onde a alometría foi positiva (b>3). O fator de condição variou significativamente ao longo do ano em ambos os sexos.

Color pattern variation in Trichomycterus iheringi (Eigenmann, 1917) (Siluriformes: Trichomycteridae) from rio Itatinga and rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Orthogonal projections and bootstrap resampling procedures in the study of infraspecific variation

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

CRANIOMETRIC VARIATION AND SUBSPECIFIC DIFFERENTIATION IN THRICHOMYS APEREOIDES IN NORTHEASTERN BRAZIL (RODENTIA, ECHIMYIDAE)

Thrichomys apereoides is an echimyid rodent which ranges in distribution from northeastern and central Brazil into Paraguay. Five subspecies are recognized, although each form is not well characterized and diagnosis is based primarily in pelage color variation. In this study we employed procedures from multivariate statistics to assess the systematic status of subspecies described from northeastern Brazil. The results of the craniometric analysis cannot be reconciled with the subspecies currently recognized for northeastern Brazil. Populations assigned to T. a. laurentius and T. a. inermis form a continuum of variation in cranial size, although they differ in cranial shape from a population from the locality of Bodoco in the state of Pernambuco. The implications of these findings for the systematics of T. apereoides are discussed.

Ontogenetic variation in skull shape of Thrichomys apereoides (Rodentia : Echimyidae)

The pattern of change in shape during postnatal development in skulls of punare (Thrichomys apereoides) skulls, was studied by geometric morphometric techniques. Skull shape observed in T. apereoides varied both with size and age, but variation in size explains most of the overall change in shape. Differences in shape observed among the eight age categories showed that main changes in shape occurred principally between the first and second age categories. Among the other age classes, changes became less pronounced leading to elongation of the snout and the mid-face and narrowing of the basicranium. The change in global shape resulted in lateral compression of the skull. Despite the high level of integration observed, localized transformations dominated the ontogenetic changes in shape indicating the presence of two large scale cranium components-the orofacial and the basicranial region. The ontogenetic pattern in this species seems to follow the same trends observed in the initial phases of development.

ONTOGENIC VARIATION OF OXYGEN-UPTAKE IN THE PITVIPER BOTHROPS MOOJENI (SERPENTES, VIPERIDAE)

The scaling of oxygen uptake was measured along the ontogeny, in the neotropical pitviper Bothrops moojeni. Allometric relationship between oxygen uptake and body mass, quantified for juveniles, sub-adults and adults, showed the same mass coefficient and exponent. The uniformity of mass constants along ontogeny suggests that B. moojeni is energetically homomorphic. Variation in mass seem to be the sole determinant of oxygen uptake, and structural modifications have no effect on the metabolic rate. Applications of the homomorphism principle to assess variations in mass coefficient and exponent for intraspecific analysis of metabolism in reptiles are discussed. B. moojeni had an oxygen consumption in the range reported for viperids, but lower than that for colubrid snakes of similar size. Possible causative reasons for this pattern is discussed.

SPATIAL AUTOCORRELATION OF MORPHOMETRIC VARIATION IN LUTOSA-BRASILIENSIS (BRUNNER VONWATTENWYL, 1888) (ORTHOPTERA, GRYLLACRIDOIDEA, HENICIDAE)

Geographic differentiation and sexual dimorphism in eighteen morphometric characters of Lutosa brasiliensis (Orthoptera: Henicidae) collected in eight localities of the State of São Paulo (Brazil) were analysed. A two-way Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MONOVA) was used to assess simultaneously the effects of sex and geographic location (plus their interaction) on morphometric variability. The spatial patterns of variation were analysed by Factor and Spatial Autocorrelation Analyses (Moran's I coefficient in four distance classes). Both indicate that the main direction of variation is, for males and females, a north-south cline in overall body size. In females, however, ovipositor length is not correlated with overall body size and displays a different pattern of variation over geographic space, indicating that distinct evolutionary forces produced the geographic differentiation in the species.

Fecundity of Callinectes danae Smith, 1869 (Crustacea, Decapoda, Portunidae) in Ubatuba region (SP), Brazil

The fecundity of C. danae in Ubatuba (SP) region was analized. The swimming crabs were collected by trawl during two consecutive years. Only females earring early developmental stage eggs were used in this work. The ovigerous females mean size based on the carapace width, except the lateral teeth, was 21.5 +/- 90 mm. The fecundity obtained from 29 ovigerous females varied from 363,660 to 826,638 eggs.