The roles of environmental conditions and spatial factors in controlling stream macroalgal communities

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

Feeding, body condition and reproductive investment of Astyanax intermedius (Characiformes, Characidae) in relation to rainfall and temperature in a Brazilian Atlantic Forest stream

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

The effects of habitat complexity and hydraulic conditions on the establishment of benthic stream macroalgae

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

The stream fish fauna from the rio Machado basin, Rondônia State, Brazil

The rio Machado (also known as Ji-Paraná) is a tributary of the rio Madeira in the Amazon basin. Currently, the rio Madeira contains the greatest fish species richness of the world, with approximately 1,000 species. The present study presents the fish inventory from streams of the rio Machado basin. In total, 75 stream reaches, 80 meter-length, randomly selected, were sampled in 2011 (August to October) and 2012 (June to July). Overall, 22,875 fish in eight orders, 32 families, 89 genera, and 140 species were collected. Richness estimators indicate that almost 90% of the expected richness was registered. The great majority of specimens (52.2%) was represented by small sized piabas such as Serrapinnus aff. notomelas, Moenkhausia collettii, Serrapinnus microdon, and Hemigrammus melanochrous. Of the total richness, 25 species were restricted to 9°00’ S and 10°00’ S; among them, 14 were exclusive to the lower portion of the basin, which exhibits the larger proportion of native vegetation covering.

Review: Malpighian Tubule, an essential organ for insects

We did an overhaul on morphophysiology characteristics, cryptonephric system and secondary specializations in the Malpighian tubules of the class Insecta. This review grouped the most important information about this important organ that has different functions essential for insects.

Effects of lithium on the proliferation and migration of neuroblasts in the rostral migratory stream in adult mice

The discovery of neurogenesis in adult brains opened the possibility of cellular therapy strategies for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. Neurogenesis in the adult brain occurs in two areas: subgranular zone of the hippocampus and subventricular zone (SVZ) of the lateral ventricles. Neurons that originate from the SVZ migrate to the olfactory bulb (OB) through the rostral migratory stream (RMS). In Alzheimer’s disease, there is a progressive neuronal dysfunction and degeneration, resulting in brain atrophy and cognitive impairments including olfactory dysfunction. Several studies have demonstrated that pharmacological treatment with lithium exerts positive effects on adult neurogenesis, and one pathway seems to be the modulation of factors that regulate the migration of neuroblasts. The objective of this study was to investigate whether treatment with lithium promotes the increase of migratory neuroblasts using as parameter the RMS. Adult male C57BL/6 mice were divided into control and lithium-treated groups. The animals were treated for 6 weeks and, at four different time points, i.e., 10 days, 7 days, 3 days and 1 day before the end of treatments, they received an injection of BrdU (cell proliferation marker). The animals were sacrificed by perfusion fixation and the brains were immunohistochemically labeled for BrdU for analysis of migrating neuroblasts in the RMS. The results showed that the number of BrdU+ cells in the RMS was not significantly different between the two groups, suggesting that lithium, alone, is not capable of increasing the number of neuroblasts migrating from the SVZ to the OB

A sazonalidade ambiental afeta a composição faunística de Ephemeroptera e Trichoptera em um riacho de Cerrado do Sudeste do Brasil?

In this paper, data on the fauna of Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera (ET) from a Cerrado stream was analysed in order to test the hypothesis that the high seasonality of this biome can influence the composition of ET between the wet and dry seasons. The community structure was evaluated using Detrended Correspondence Analysis and Cluster Analysis (Morisita Horn-UPGMA). Environmental factors were analyzed using the Principal Components Analysis. In order to test the effect of abiotic variables on the fauna, It was applied the Procrustean Randomization Test (Protest) and Mantel Test. The environmental factors recorded for this study had a significant effect on the ET fauna from Córrego do Pedregulho. Faunal similarity was high throughout the year, indicating that although there was density of fluctuation, due to rainfall variation, the faunal composition showed little temporal variability. On the other hand, it was possible to observe that the genus Lachlania (Ephemeroptera) occurred preferably during the rainy months and that the faunal composition during the dry season was less variable than those from other seasons. Therefore, environmental seasonality had a partial effect on the faunal composition of ET from Córrego do Pedregulho.

The stream fish fauna from three regions of the Upper Paraná River basin

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Influence of landscape properties on stream water quality in agricultural catchments in Southeastern Brazil

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

Phylogenetic signal and major ecological shifts in the ecomorphological structure of stream fish in two river basins in Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

More of the same: high functional redundancy in stream fish assemblages from tropical agroecosystems

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Atrazine levels in the Jaboticabal water stream (Sao Paulo State, Brazil) and its toxicological effects on the pacu fish Piaractus mesopotamicus

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Effects of residential energy-saving lamps on the attraction of nocturnal insects

Many species of insects display a disposition to move towards light. As a consequence, nocturnal artificial lighting often contributes to an increase in insect population among humans. We tested the hypothesis that residential white lamps can evoke significantly different attraction to insects even when their light outputs are nearly indistinguishable to humans. In a two-choice experiment using insect traps equipped with either a compact fluorescent or a LED light source with similar photometric specifications, about three times more insects were captured in the trap with a compact fluorescent lamp than in the LED trap. The results suggest that LED lamps are preferable to compact fluorescent lamps when the objective is to avoid attracting nocturnal insects to households.

The relationship between macroalgal morphological complexity and hydraulic conditions in stream habitats

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

The importance of a Biosphere Reserve of Atlantic Forest for the conservation of stream fauna

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)