Fish ladders select fish traits on migration - still a growing problem for natural fish populations

We investigated the potential selective effect of fish ladders on physiological and morphological profiles of the curimbata, Prochilodus lineatus, during reproductive migration in Brazil. We registered sex, body weight and length, plasma glucose, hepatosomatic and gonadosomatic indices (HSI and GSI, respectively), hematocrit, leucocrit, blood cell and nucleus areas, and the diameter of white and red muscle fibers in fish sampled at the bottom (downstream) and at the top (upstream) of a fish ladder at a hydroelectric dam. Males and females at the top of the ladder showed higher size (weight and length), white muscle fiber diameters, plasma glucose levels and lower hematocrit when compared with those at the bottom. These size and muscle traits assist fish to overcome the ladder barrier and bypass the dam, an effort that might be reflected in the glucose levels. Females also showed higher GSI at the top of the fish ladder, a trait possibly facilitating their reproduction upstream. These results indicate that a dam system favors fish with specific morphological-physiological profile. This may have a strong influence upon upstream fish populations over generations and implies the presence of artificial selective pressure.

Low-Resolution Molecular Models Reveal the Oligomeric State of the PPAR and the Conformational Organization of Its Domains in Solution

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

Morphophysiological Differences between the Metapleural Glands of Fungus-Growing and Non-Fungus-Growing Ants (Hymenoptera, Formicidae)

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

Planting of fungus onto hibernating workers of the fungus-growing ant Mycetosoritis clorindae (Attini, Formicidae)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Ecology of microfungal communities in gardens of fungus-growing ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae): a year-long survey of three species of attine ants in Central Texas

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)National Science Foundation (NSF)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Cryptic sexual populations account for genetic diversity and ecological success in a widely distributed, asexual fungus-growing ant

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

A new workerless inquiline in the Lower Attini (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), with a discussion of social parasitism in fungus-growing ants

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

Nesting biology and fungiculture of the fungus-growing ant, Mycetagroicus cerradensis: New light on the origin of higher-attine agriculture

The genus Mycetagroicus is perhaps the least known of all fungus-growing ant genera, having been first described in 2001 from museum specimens. A recent molecular phylogenetic analysis of the fungus-growing ants demonstrated that Mycetagroicus is the sister to all higher attine ants (Trachymyrmex, Sericomyrmex, Acromyrmex, Pseudoatta, and Atta), making it of extreme importance for understanding the transition between lower and higher attine agriculture. Four nests of Mycetagroicus cerradensis near Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil were excavated, and fungus chambers for one were located at a depth of 3.5 meters. Based on its lack of gongylidia (hyphal-tip swellings typical of higher attine cultivars), and a phylogenetic analysis of the ITS rDNA gene region, M. cerradensis cultivates a lower attine fungus in Clade 2 of lower attine (G3) fungi. This finding refines a previous estimate for the origin of higher attine agriculture, an event that can now be dated at approximately 21-25 mya in the ancestor of extant species of Trachymyrmex and Sericomyrmex.

Spirulina enhanced the skeletal muscle protein in growing rats

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Dynamics in dumbbell domains II. The limiting problem

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Shrimp-shape domains in a dissipative kicked rotator

Some dynamical properties for a dissipative kicked rotator are studied. Our results show that when dissipation is taken into account a drastic change happens in the structure of the phase space in the sense that the mixed structure is modified and attracting fixed points and chaotic attractors are observed. A detailed numerical investigation in a two-dimensional parameter space based on the behavior of the Lyapunov exponent is considered. Our results show the existence of infinite self-similar shrimp-shaped structures corresponding to periodic attractors, embedded in a large region corresponding to the chaotic regime. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3657917]

Semilinear parabolic problems in thin domains with a highly oscillatory boundary

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Thermal evaporation furnace with improved configuration for growing nanostructured inorganic materials

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

Determination of pesticides multiresidues in shallow groundwater in a cotton-growing region of Mato Grosso, Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)