Effect of architectural angularity on refugia selection by the brown spider, Loxosceles gaucho

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Brown Recluse Spider Venom: Proteomic Analysis and Proposal of a Putative Mechanism of Action

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

Caste Differences in Polybia emaciata, a Mud-Nesting Eusocial Wasp (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), that Bear on Pre-Imaginal Determination but not Size Differences

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

Penetration time of Salmonella Heidelberg through shells of white and brown commercial eggs

This study aimed at determining the minimum time required for the penetration of Salmonella Heidelberg inside the eggs after contact with contaminated material. Recently-collected brown and white eggs from laying hens between 45-50 weeks of age, reared in a commercial poultry house, were artificially contaminated by contact with wood shavings moistened with liquid inoculum of Salmonella Heidelberg in stationary-growth phase (10³-10(4) CFU g-1). According to type (white or brown), eggs were distributed into three different groups, with four replicates each: negative control group (no artificial contamination), positive control group (analyzed externally immediately after contamination and internally after the maximum storage period of the test group) and test group. Eggs were stored at controlled environmental temperature varying from 25ºC to 30ºC. In the test group, eggs contents (yolk and albumen) were pooled and analyzed after 1:00, 1:30, 2:00, 2:30, 3:00, 3:30, and 4:00 hours after contamination for the presence of Salmonella Heidelberg in 25g of this pool. The experimental unit consisted of five eggs in each test. The analysis protocol included pre-enrichment, selective enrichment, plating on selective agar, and biochemical and serological tests. The results obtained were submitted to logistic regression, which indicated that the presence of Salmonella Heidelberg was verified after 2:16 h and 2:44 h of contact with white and brown eggs, respectively.

On the development of the brown spider Loxosceles gaucho Gertsch (Araneae, Sicariidae): the nympho-imaginal period

Observations of the developmental biology of Loxosceles gaucho Gertsch, 1967, the brown spider of southeastern Brazil are scarce. The present study reports the method of individualized rearing of 18 populations of L. gaucho, kept in laboratory under varied diet conditions, and characterizes their nympho-imaginal period as well as factors related to their reproduction. Females built the first egg sac about 20 days after copulation and nymphs hatched 40 days after the laying date. Average offspring was 61.3 spiderlings and females usually built three to four successive egg sacs in a period of five to seven months. First nymphs initiated their predatory activity between the 5th and 8th days after hatching and the majority reached adulthood within six moults (range of five to eight) in approximately 15 to 17 months (male) and 15.5 to 18 months (female). The average sex ratio equaled 1.0:1.7 (male:female). The wide individual variability of this species intermoult intervals is herewith expressed by the intermoult rate, which was fairly uniform for both intra and interpopulations and gives a relevant aspect for a general idea of the life cycles of spiders.

Composição química, digestibilidade dos nutrientes e da energia de diferentes milhetos (Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Brown) em suínos

Foram conduzidos dois ensaios de digestibilidade, objetivando-se estudar o valor nutricional de quatro diferentes milhetos (BN2, COMUM, IAPAR e IAPAR-REPASSE) processados em moinhos com três tipos de peneiras (diâmetros de furo de 3, 2 e 1 mm). Os coeficientes de digestibilidade (CD) da energia bruta (CDEB) e o coeficiente de metabolizabilidade (CM) da energia bruta (CMEB) relativos à peneira de 3 mm foram: 63,09 e 61,20% (COMUM); 71,57 e 69,66% (IAPAR) e 67,39 e 65,60% (BN2). Os CD e CM da energia do COMUM foram inferiores ao IAPAR e ambos foram semelhantes ao BN2. O IAPAR-REPASSE apresentou CDEB de 70,62% e CMEB de 68,49%, semelhante ao IAPAR. O IAPAR-1 mm apresentou maior CDEB e CMEB (84,61 e 81,41%) que o IAPAR-3 mm (70,59 e 68,71%) e o IAPAR-2 mm (77,73 e 75,46%). Os valores de energia digestível (ED) e energia metabolizável (EM) para o IAPAR (3 mm) foram de 3.030 kcal/kg e 3.001 kcal/kg, respectivamente. Verificou-se ED de 3.083 e 3.355 kcal/kg e em de 2.993 e 3.228 kcal/kg para o IAPAR (2 e 1 mm). O IAPAR-REPASSE apresentou valores de 2.849 kcal/kg (ED) e 2.763 kcal/kg (EM), enquanto o COMUM (3 e 2 mm), de 2.574 e 3.022 kcal/kg (ED) e 2.497 e 2.932 kcal/kg (EM), e o BN2 (3 e 2 mm), de 2.692 e 3.047 kcal/kg (ED) e 2.620 e 2.966 kcal/kg (EM). As diferentes variedades de milheto apresentaram variações em sua composição química que resultaram em diferenças no valor nutricional, sendo o milheto IAPAR o que apresentou melhor valor, seguido pelo BN2 e o COMUM.

Hanbury-Brown-Twiss interferometry for sonoluminescence bubble

Two-photon correlation of the light pulse emitted from a sonoluminescence bubble is discussed. It is shown that several important features of the mechanism of light emission, such as the time scale and the shape of the emission region, could be obtained from Hanbury-Brown-Twiss interferometry. We also argue that such a measurement may serve to reject one of the two currently suggested emission mechanisms, i.e., the thermal process versus the dynamical Casimir effect.

DIET OF THE BROWN HOWLER MONKEY ALOUATTA-FUSCA IN A FOREST FRAGMENT IN SOUTHEASTERN BRAZIL

The diet of the brown howler monkey Alouatta fusca in a 250 ha forest fragment in southeastern Brazil was studied for 42 consecutive months. The howlers were observed eating in 366 feeding records (one group or a monkey eating a single plant) of 52 plant species. Twenty three percent of the leaves and 52 % of the flowers in the howler's diet came from lianas. Eighteen fruit species were recorded as being dispersed by howlers and seeds of two liana species were eaten. In small forest fragments where most large specialized frugivores are absent howlers may be the main seed disperser of large fruits.

Efficacy of pre- and postinoculation application of Fungicides to expanding young citrus leaves for control of melanose, scab, and alternarial brown spot

In greenhouse trials, copper hydroxide, pyraclostrobin, and famoxadone were applied to actively crowing young citrus seedlings to determine the duration of protection of young leaves provided by these fungicides against melanose, caused by Diaporthe citri, citrus scab, caused by Elsinoe fawcettii, and Alternaria brown spot, caused by Alternaria alternata. Fungicides were applied to different sets of potted plants of grapefruit for control of melanose, of rough lemon for control of scab, and of Dancy tangerine for control of Afternaria brown spot 1 to 6 days prior to inoculation. as well as on the day of inoculation. Leaf area of treated shoots was estimated on the day of fungicide application and the day of inoculation and disease severity evaluated subsequently. In most cases. copper hydroxide and famoxadone provided at least 50% control of all three diseases for only about 2 days after application. Generally, there was little or no disease control when the products were applied 4 or more days before inoculation. In contrast, pyraclostrobin usually provided a high level of control of all three diseases when applied up to 5 days prior to inoculation. The level of disease control decreased as the interval between a fungicide application and inoculation increased and the relationship between disease control and leaf expansion best fit a quadratic equation. Effective disease control was observed with copper hydroxide and famoxadone until leaf area had increased by 100 to 200%, whereas control with pyraclostrobin was observed up to 400 to 500% increase in leaf area. In postinoculation tests with scab and melanose, pyraclostrobin provided high levels of disease control (>75%) when applied up to 2 days after inoculation. whereas copper hydroxide and famoxadone had minimal postinoculation activity. Applications of pyraclostrobin to the spring flush growth of citrus trees are much more likely to provide control of melanose, scab, and Alternaria brown spot than those of famoxadone or copper hydroxide.

Effect of lesion age, humidity, and fungicide application on sporulation of Alternaria alternata, the cause of brown spot of tangerine

Alternaria brown spot, caused by Alternaria alternata, causes yield losses and fruit blemishes on many tangerines and their hybrids in most citrus areas of the world where susceptible cultivars are grown. Although the conditions affecting infection and disease severity are known, little information is available on inoculum production on infected tissue. We found that sporulation on leaves began about 10 days after symptoms developed, was abundant from 20 to 40 days, and declined thereafter. Conidial production was far greater on leaf than on fruit or twig lesions. Spore production per unit area of leaf lesion was greater on the more susceptible hybrids, Minneola and Orlando tangelos, than on the less susceptible Murcott tangor. At 74% relative humidity, conidial production on leaf lesions was low, but it was abundant at 85, 92.5, 96, and 100%. Application of Q(o)I or copper fungicides, but not ferbam, suppressed sporulation on leaf lesions for about 14 to 21 days after application. Additional applications did not appear to be more effective than a single spray in reducing inoculum production.

Aquatic humus from an unpolluted Brazilian dark-brown stream: general characterization and size fractionation of bound heavy metals

The main pool of dissolved organic carbon in tropical aquatic environments, notably in dark-coloured streams, is concentrated in humic substances (HS). Aquatic HS are large organic molecules formed by micro-biotic degradation of biopolymers and polymerization of smaller organic molecules. From an environmental point of view, the study of metal-humic interactions is often aimed at predicting the effect of aquatic HS on the bioavailability of heavy metal ions in the environment. In the present work the aquatic humic substances (HS) isolated from a dark-brown stream (located in an environmental protection area near Cubatao city in São Paulo-State, Brazil) by means of the collector XAD-8 were investigated. FTIR studies showed that the carboxylic carbons are probably the most important binding sites for Hg(II) ions within humic molecules. C-13-NMR and H-1-NMR studies of aquatic HS showed the presence of constituents with a high degree of aromaticity (40% of carbons) and small substitution. A special five-stage tangential-flow ultrafiltration device (UF) was used for size fractionation of the aquatic HS under study and for their metal species in the molecular size range 1-100 kDa (six fractions). The fractionation patterns showed that metal traces remaining in aquatic HS after their XAD-8 isolation have different distributions. Generally, the major percentage of traces of Mn, Cd and Ni (determined by ICP-AES) was preferably complexed by molecules with relatively high molecular size. Cu was bound by fractions with low molecular size and Co showed no preferential binding site in the various humic fractions. Moreover, the species formed between aquatic HS and Hg(II), prepared by spiking (determined by CVAAS), appeared to be concentrated in the relatively high molecular size fraction F-1 (> 100 kDa).

The use of silica-immobilized brown alga (Pilayella littoralis) for metal preconcentration and determination by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry

The brown alga Pilayella littoralis was used as a new biosorbent in an on-line metal preconcentration procedure in a flow-injection system. Al, Co, Cu and Fe were determined in lake water samples by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) after preconcentration in a silica-immobilized alga column. Like other algae, P. littoralis exhibited strong affinity for these metals proving to be an effective accumulation medium. Metals were bound at pH 5.5 and were displaced at pH < 2 with diluted HCl. The enrichment factors for Cu-II, Fe-III, Al-III and Co-II were 13, 7, 16 and 11, respectively. Metal sorption efficiency ranged from 86 to 90%. The method accuracy was assessed by using drinking water certified reference material and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) as a comparison technique. The column procedure allowed a less time consuming, easy regeneration of the biomaterial and rigidity of the alga provided by its immobilization on silica gel. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.