Dinâmica espaço-temporal em uma guilda de borboletas frugívoras no limite norte da floresta atlântica nordestina

The extent of the Brazilian Atlantic rainforest, a global biodiversity hotspot, has been reduced to less than 7% of its original range. Yet, it contains one of the richest butterfly fauna in the world. Butterflies are commonly used as environmental indicators, mostly because of their strict association with host plants, microclimate and resource availability. This research describes diversity, composition and species richness of frugivorous butterflies in a forest fragment in the Brazilian Northeast. It compares communities in different physiognomies and seasons. The climate in the study area is classified as tropical rainy, with two well defined seasons. Butterfly captures were made with 60 Van Someren-Rydon traps, randomly located within six different habitat units (10 traps per unit) that varied from very open (e.g. coconut plantation) to forest interior. Sampling was made between January and December 2008, for five days each month. I captured 12090 individuals from 32 species. The most abundant species were Taygetis laches, Opsiphanes invirae and Hamadryas februa, which accounted for 70% of all captures. Similarity analysis identified two main groups, one of species associated with open or disturbed areas and a second by species associated with shaded areas. There was a strong seasonal component in species composition, with less species and lower abundance in the dry season and more species and higher abundance in the rainy season. K-means analysis indicates that choice of habitat units overestimated faunal perceptions, suggesting less distinct units. The species Taygetis virgilia, Hamadryas chloe, Callicore pygas e Morpho achilles were associated with less disturbed habitats, while Yphthimoides sp, Historis odius, H. acheronta, Hamadryas feronia e Siderone marthesia likey indicate open or disturbed habitats. This research brings important information for conservation of frugivorous butterflies, and will serve as baseline for future projects in environmental monitoring

Rubiaceae em um remanescente de floresta atlântica no Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil

Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuária do Rio Grande do Norte

Risco de doença cardiovascular em mulheres com história de distúrbio hipertensivo da gravidez

OBJECTIVE: Preeclampsia is a disease that can lead to a high maternal and infant morbidity. Worldwide, the incidence of this disease is highly variable and there is no data on this disorder in the Brazilian population. This study aimed at determining incidence and risk factors in the hypertensive disorders during pregnancy in a neighborhood of Natal, in addition to observing the evolution of these disorders one year and five years after delivery. METHODS: Prospective cohort study to assess the outcome of pregnancies of 242 women who became pregnant between 2004-2007 in the neighborhood of Bom Pastor in the city of Natal, state of RN, Brazil. Five years after delivery, there was an active search of thirty-nine (39) women who became pregnant and had a hypertensive disorder during pregnancy and/or pré-eclâmpsia, out of the total of 242 participants in the initial study. We administered a structured questionnaire to obtain basic information about the current clinical situation of patients and occurrences of subsequent pregnancy and presence of hypertensive disorders during pregnancy. We also searched for information on the use of hypotensive drugs and contraceptives. The following characteristics were checked and recorded: a) current weight, b) blood pressure c) body mass index - BMI, and we collected biological samples (blood and urine) for measurement of biochemical parameters and evaluation of microalbuminúria. Finally, we monitored the ambulatory blood pressure (ABP), which uses the method of automatic measurement of heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure and an average of the two for the period of 24 hours. RESULTS: Out of 218 women who completed the study, the incidence of hypertensive disorders was of 16.9% (37 out of 218), while the incidence of preeclampsia was 13.8% (30 of 218). Women with preeclampsia had a BMI (body mass index) averaged of 25.3 (± 4.8) while this ratio in normotensive women was of 23.5 (± 3.7), p = 0.02. The risk of preeclampsia rises with age (OR 1084 p = 0.0034) and with a family history of hypertension (OR 2.6 p = 0.01). The follow-up one year after delivery revealed that 50% of women with hypertensive disorders in pregnancy remained hypertensive. High BMI was also observed after 5 years of delivery. CONCLUSIONS: an elevated BMI, age above 35 years and excessive weight gain during pregnancy were associated with hypertension in the long term in patients with prior preeclampsia. History of preeclampsia increases the risk of chronic hypertension

Biologia populacional comparada de duas espécies de heliconius (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) em um ambiente sazonal de floresta atlântica do nordeste brasileiro

Tropical environments often face strong seasonal variations in climate, such as alternate periods of dry and rain, that may often be important influence in the annual X the organisms lives. Here we assess how population dynamics of two butterfly species (Heliconius erato and Heliconius mepomene) respond to environmental and seasonal variations. A mark-release-recapture study carried out in an Atlantic forest reserve, 15 Km from Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, for 3 years, during the dry and rainy season, with three visits weekly done. Information such as species, wing lenght, site of capture, pollen load and phenotype (number of spots) (in H. erato only) were noted for each capture. Seasonal variation exists in capture rates of the two species, with great capture rates during the rainy season. Despite finding differences in the mean density of individuals of the two species among the different collection areas, this difference was only significant between floodplain and central areas, and no influence of seasonality was observed in the mean density between the areas. Seasonality in wing size was only observed for H. erato, with larger wings during the rainy season. Females carried larger pollen loads than males both species, but species were similar. Only males differed seasonally, with larger pollen loads during the rainy season. The distribution of the number of wing spots did not vary between the dry and rainy seasons, and the number of spots in males and females was similar. Therefore, we conclude that there was a strong influence of seasonal variation in the population dynamic of the two Heliconius species, as well as in several aspects of their biology

Ectoparasitos associados a aves de um fragmento de Floresta Estacional Decidual no Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil

This study to aimed investigate the community of ectoparasites associated with birds in the Mata do Olho D água, in the municipality of Macaíba, Rio Grande do Norte (RN), Brazil, its structure and the ambiental and hosts influential variables on it, and to verify microhabitats preferences by species of chewing lice and feather mites. We examined 172 individuals belonging to 38 species of Passeriformes and non-Passeriformes. 12 new geographic records are reported and 11 host-parasite associations not yet known for chewing lice and feather mites species. Significant relationship was found between the abundance of chewing lice and the variables total length (r = 0.29, p <0.05) and exposed culmen (r = 0.38, p <0.05) of the hosts. A principal component (PC1) accounted for 90.1% of the hosts morphological variation was significantly influential on the abundance of chewing lice (p <0.05), indicating that the morphological characteristics of the hosts may be positively influencing the abundance of these ectoparasites. Significantly higher frequency of individuals with high loads of chewing lice was detected during the dry period (x ² = 8.5, p <0.05), corroborating studies that propose that birds of arid environments suffer as much pressure as those of parasitic humid environments. Analyses of null models of co-occurrence and niche overlap showed a high degree of structure in the feather mites and chewing lice assemblies, when compared with other groups, and preferences in the use of microhabitats by taxa identified. These results corroborate ecological theories in host-parasite systems, contribute to the knowledge of ectoparasites associated with neotropical birds, and the need for experimental studies, as well as further deepening the biology of these arthropods

Os efeitos da estrutura de habitat sobre as comunidades de aranhas em uma floresta de caatinga do nordeste brasileiro

The inherent complexity of natural communities is a challenge to our understanding about how the habitat influences the abundance, local distribution and species diversity. The habitat can influence community structure in multiple ways and elucidate these relationships has provoked a lot of debate in ecology. The habitat heterogeneity hypothesis states that an increase in habitat heterogeneity (number of habitats) leads to an increase in species diversity in the landscape due to an expansion in niche dimensions. This study aims to identify whether this hypothesis is valid for the spiders that inhabit a locality in the Caatinga of northeastern Brazil. Cursorial and arboreal spiders were sampled in 30 plots within an area of Caatinga together with measures of environmental complexity, habitat heterogeneity and environmental parameters related to multiple aspects of vegetation architecture and species composition of woody plants. Stepwise multiple regressions were used to define which local environmental parameters best explain the variation in arboreal and cursorial spiders richness. Then a NMDS (Nonmetric multidimensional scaling) was used to reduce the number of predictive variables to those who are the most important and best represent the variation in spiders richness associated with the environment they were sampled. The results show a clear segregation between the guilds of arboreal and cursorial spiders, both related to what kind of environmental variables best explain its variation as well as in relation to what part of the vegetation they occupy

Trilhando os caminhos da educação: um olhar sobre a universidade da floresta Acre

!Acre! Un lugar místico marcado por las luchas y conquistas que traen en su historia las bellezas de sus riquezas naturales y la diversidad cultural. Este es el escenario en que se constituye ese trabajo como resultado de estudios sobre la implantación de una universidad en la región del Alto Juruá-Acre, denominada de Universidad de la Floresta. Esta surge como proceso de fortalecimiento y expansión del Campus de la Universidad Federal de Acre, en el município de Cruzeiro del Sul. Envuelto por los movimientos sociales que cambiaron los rumbos de su historia, incluyendo la identidad acreana, Acre resguarda a sus hijos el derecho de exigir conciencia ecológica y desarrollo con la preservación de la floresta y de la sustentabilidad. Así, los movimientos como empates, socioambientalismo y florestanía impulsionarán el proyecto de implantación de la Universidad de la floresta, donde el reconocimiento de los saberes de las poblaciones tradicionales y el convívio diário de eses pueblos con la naturaleza representa un nuevo paradigma para el concepto de universidad. Todo eso apunta para una nueva forma de pensar y sistematizar la educación. Para el desarrollo del análisis sobre la implantación de esra universidad me fundamenté en los princípios referendados por el abordaje de la complejidad a travéz de los pensamientos de grandes sábios, entre los cuales destaco Edgar Morin, Claude Lévi-Straus y Conceição Almeida. Para transitar metodológicamente opté por trillar en caminos futiristas, donde mi escrita se construye a partir de mi punto de vista, de mi sentir y de mis conversaciones con la Floresta. De esta forma, presento los princípios y la estructura interinstitucional de la universidad de la Floresta, formada por tres grandes ejes: Centro de formación y tecnologías de la Floresta CEFLORA, Instituto de la Biodiversidad y Manejo Sustentable de los recursos Naturales IB y el Campus UFAC / Floresta. Estas tres unidades deverán funcionar de modo integrado componiendo el tripé enseñanza, pesquisa y extensión de la Universidad de la Floresta. Por fin, delante de la especificidad de esta universidad y de sus propuestas, afirmo la importancia de interactuar los saberes de la tradición a los saberes de la academia como forma de valorizar lLa cultura de los pueblos de la floresta

Dinâmica populacional do psilídeo-de-concha Glycaspis brimblecombei (Moore, 1964) (Hemiptera: Psyllidae) e de seu parasitóide Psyllaephagus bliteus (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) em floresta de Eucalyptus camaldulensis

O psilídeo-de-concha, Glycaspis brimblecombei, é uma praga exótica específica de Eucalyptus, que causa desfolha, secamento de ponteiros e ramos, podendo levar as árvores à morte. O parasitóide Psyllaephagus bliteus é indicado como principal agente no controle biológico desta praga. Portanto, o monitoramento adequado de as ambas espécies por um método eficiente de amostragem facilitaria o manejo para uma futura tomada de decisão. Devido à falta de informações referentes ao seu comportamento em plantações extensivas de eucalipto no Brasil, este trabalho teve como objetivo estudar as populações de G. brimblecombei e de P. bliteus em florestas de Eucalyptus camaldulensis, utilizando armadilhas amarelas para determinação de sua flutuação populacional e correlacionado-as com variáveis meteorológicas (temperatura e precipitação). A determinação da flutuação populacional (53 pontos amostrais) foi realizada em talhão de 19ha com E. camaldulensis em Luíz Antônio, SP, em 10avaliações quinzenais, entre janeiro e junho de 2005. As populações de ambas as espécies apresentaram correlação inversamente proporcional em função da temperatura e não há correlação com a precipitação no período avaliado.