Partitioning of net primary production in Eucalyptus and Acacia stands and in mixed-species plantations: Two case-studies in contrasting tropical environments

The introduction of nitrogen fixing species (NFS) in fast-growing tree plantations is an alternative option to reduce fertilizer inputs. However, the success of mixed-species plantations depends on the balance between positive interactions among species (resulting from facilitation and/or complementarity) and the negative effects of interspecific competition.Using a carbon budget approach and coupling measurements of standing biomass, aboveground litterfall and soil CO2 efflux, we assessed the influence of replacing half of eucalypt trees by Acacia mangium on total belowground carbon flux (TBCF), net primary production (NPP) and its partitioning between above- and belowground growth at two tropical sites in Brazil (Itatinga) and in Congo (Kissoko) exhibiting contrasting climates, edaphic conditions and wood productions.Annual soil CO2 efflux (FS) was significantly lower in the acacia monocultures than in eucalypt monocultures and mixed-species stands at both sites. Annual FS was significantly lower at Itatinga compared to Kissoko for all stands while TBCF was significantly lower in the eucalypt stands only. In the eucalypt monocultures we found a significantly lower aboveground NPP (ANPP) and wood production (wood NPP) at Kissoko compared to Itatinga that was almost fully balanced by a significantly higher belowground NPP (BNPP), leading to similar NPP. Similarly, acacia monocultures exhibited significantly higher ANPP and wood NPP at Itatinga than at Kissoko. The mixed-species stands exhibited a significantly lower wood NPP and ANPP than the eucalypt monocultures at the Brazilian site while NPP of the mixture was not significantly different than the average NPP of the two monocultures. At the Congolese site, NPP of the mixture was significantly higher than the average NPP of the two monocultures. NPP was similar in the mixed-species stand and the eucalypt monoculture with a significantly lower partitioning of NPP to belowground production, leading to a one third higher wood biomass at harvest in the mixed-species stand.A positive effect of growing eucalypts with the nitrogen fixing acacia trees on stand wood production occurred at Kissoko but not at Itatinga. Mixed-species plantations with NFS can be advocated at sites where the productive gains resulting from nitrogen fixation are not compromised by other resource limitations. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Context-dependence in seed removal by lekking and non-lekking frugivorous birds in Brazilian Atlantic forest

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

The functional biogeography of species: Biogeographical species roles of birds in Wallacea and the West Indies

Biogeographical systems can be analyzed as networks of species and geographical units. Within such a biogeographical network, individual species may differ fundamentally in their linkage pattern, and therefore hold different topological roles. To advance our understanding of the relationship between species traits and large-scale species distribution patterns in archipelagos, we use a network approach to classify birds as one of four biogeographical species roles: peripherals, connectors, module hubs, and network hubs. These roles are based upon the position of species within the modular network of islands and species in Wallacea and the West Indies. We test whether species traits - including habitat requirements, altitudinal range-span, feeding guild, trophic level, and body length - correlate with species roles. In both archipelagos, habitat requirements, altitudinal range-span and body length show strong relations to species roles. In particular, species that occupy coastal- and open habitats, as well as habitat generalists, show higher proportions of connectors and network hubs and thus tend to span several biogeographical modules (i.e. subregions). Likewise, large body size and a wide altitudinal range-span are related to a wide distribution on many islands and across several biogeographical modules. On the other hand, species restricted to interior forest are mainly characterized as peripherals and, thus, have narrow and localized distributions within biogeographical modules rather than across the archipelago-wide network. These results suggest that the ecological amplitude of a species is highly related to its geographical distribution within and across bio geographical subregions and furthermore supports the idea that large-scale species distributions relate to distributions at the local community level. We finally discuss how our biogeographical species roles may correspond to the stages of the taxon cycle and other prominent theories of species assembly. © 2013 The Authors.

Four year multitrophic food web: source food web description, methodology accuracy and species diversity

Food webs have been used in order to understand the trophic relationship among organisms within an ecosystem, however the extension by which sampling efficiency could affect food web responses remain poorly understood. Still, there is a lack of long-term sampling data for many insect groups, mainly related to the interactions between herbivores and their host plants. In the first chapter, I describe a source food web based on the Senegalia tenuifolia plant by identifying the associated insect species and the interactions among them and with this host plant. Furthermore, I check for the data robustness from each trophic level and propose a cost-efficiently methodology. The results from this chapter show that the collected dataset and the methodology presented are a good tool for sample most insect richness of a source food web. In total the food web comprises 27 species belonging to four trophic levels. In the second chapter, I demonstrate the temporal variation in the species richness and abundance from each trophic level, as well as the relationship among distinct trophic levels. Moreover, I investigate the diversity patterns of the second and third trophic level by assessing the contribution of alfa and beta-diversity components along the years. This chapter shows that in our system the parasitoid abundance is regulated by the herbivore abundances. Besides, the species richness and abundances of the trophic levels vary temporally. It also shows that alfa-diversity was the diversity component that most contribute to the herbivore species diversity (2nd trophic level), while the contribution of alfa- and beta-diversity changed along the years for parasitoid diversity (3rd level). Overall, this dissertation describes a source food web and bring insights into some food web challenges related to the sampling effort to gather enough species from all trophic levels. It also discuss the relation among communities associated with distinct trophic levels and their temporal variation and diversity patterns. Finally, this dissertation contributes for the world food web database and in understanding the interactions among its trophic levels and each trophic level pattern along time and space

Spatial and temporal distribution in density and biomass of two Pseudodiaptomus species (Copepoda: Calanoida) in the Caeté river estuary (Amazon region - North of Brazil)

A distribuição espacial e temporal da densidade e biomassa dos copépodos planctônicos Pseudodiaptomus richardi e P. acutus, ao longo de um gradiente de salinidade, foi estudada no Estuário do Rio Caeté (Norte do Brasil) durante os meses de junho e dezembro de 1998 (estação seca) e fevereiro e maio de 1999 (estação chuvosa). A biomassa dos copépodos foi estimada a partir de parâmetros da regressão baseada na relação entre o peso seco e o comprimento do corpo (prossoma) de organismos adultos. O Estuário do Rio Caeté caracterizou-se por uma grande variação espacial e sazonal na salinidade (0,8-37,2). A relação peso-comprimento para ambas as espécies de Pseudodiaptomus foi do tipo exponencial. Os valores de densidade e biomassa oscilaram entre 0,28-46,18 ind. m^-3 e 0,0022-0,3507 mg DW. m^-3 para P. richardi; e entre 0,01-17,02 ind. m^-3 e 0,0005-0,7181 mg DW. m^-3 para P. acutus. Os resultados revelaram que a contribuição de P. richardi para a produção secundária no Estuário do Rio Caeté é mais importante na zona liminética que em outras zonas onde foram dominantes os regimes eurihalino-polihalino. Contudo, para P. acutus não foi possível observar de forma clara um padrão de distribuição espacial e temporal para a área estudada.

Environmental isolation, biochemical identification, and antifungal drug susceptibility of Cryptococcus species

Introduction The incidence of opportunistic fungal infections has increased in recent years and is considered an important public health problem. Among systemic and opportunistic mycoses, cryptococcosis is distinguished by its clinical importance due to the increased risk of infection in individuals infected by human immunodeficiency virus. Methods To determine the occurrence of pathogenic Cryptococcus in pigeon excrement in the City of Araraquara, samples were collected from nine environments, including state and municipal schools, abandoned buildings, parks, and a hospital. The isolates were identified using classical tests, and susceptibility testing for the antifungal drugs (fluconazole, itraconazole, voriconazole, and amphotericin B) independently was also performed. After collection, the excrement samples were plated on Niger agar and incubated at room temperature. Results A total of 87 bird dropping samples were collected, and 66.6% were positive for the genus Cryptococcus. The following species were identified: Cryptococcus neoformans (17.2%), Cryptococcus gattii (5.2%), Cryptococcus ater (3.5%), Cryptococcus laurentti (1.7%), and Cryptococcus luteolus (1.7%). A total of 70.7% of the isolates were not identified to the species level and are referred to as Cryptococcus spp. throughout the manuscript. Conclusions Although none of the isolates demonstrated resistance to antifungal drugs, the identification of infested areas, the proper control of birds, and the disinfection of these environments are essential for the epidemiological control of cryptococcosis.

Differential Evolutionary Constraints in the Evolution of Chemoreceptors: A Murine and Human Case Study

Chemoreception is among the most important sensory modalities in animals. Organisms use the ability to perceive chemical compounds in all major ecological activities. Recent studies have allowed the characterization of chemoreceptor gene families. These genes present strikingly high variability in copy numbers and pseudogenization degrees among different species, but the mechanisms underlying their evolution are not fully understood. We have analyzed the functional networks of these genes, their orthologs distribution, and performed phylogenetic analyses in order to investigate their evolutionary dynamics. We have modeled the chemosensory networks and compared the evolutionary constraints of their genes in Mus musculus, Homo sapiens, and Rattus norvegicus. We have observed significant differences regarding the constraints on the orthologous groups and network topologies of chemoreceptors and signal transduction machinery. Our findings suggest that chemosensory receptor genes are less constrained than their signal transducing machinery, resulting in greater receptor diversity and conservation of information processing pathways. More importantly, we have observed significant differences among the receptors themselves, suggesting that olfactory and bitter taste receptors are more conserved than vomeronasal receptors.

Species delimitation, patterns of diversification and historical biogeography of the Neotropical frog genus Adenomera (Anura, Leptodactylidae)

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

Determinants of bird species richness, endemism, and island network roles in Wallacea and the West Indies: is geography sufficient or does current and historical climate matter?

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

Species limits, phylogeographic and hybridization patterns in Neotropical leaf frogs (Phyllomedusinae)

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

Diversity and Localization of Bacterial Endosymbionts from Whitefly Species Collected in Brazil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A new species of hylodes (Anura, Hylodidae) and its secretive underwater breeding behavior

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

Investigation of a new acetogen isolated from an enrichment of the tammar wallaby forestomach

Background: Forestomach fermentation in Australian marsupials such as wallabies and kangaroos, though analogous to rumen fermentation, results in lower methane emissions. Insights into hydrogenotrophy in these systems could help in devising strategies to reduce ruminal methanogenesis. Reductive acetogenesis may be a significant hydrogen sink in these systems and previous molecular analyses have revealed a novel diversity of putative acetogens in the tammar wallaby forestomach.Results: Methanogen-inhibited enrichment cultures prepared from tammar wallaby forestomach contents consumed hydrogen and produced primarily acetate. Functional gene (formyltetrahydrofolate synthetase and acetyl-CoA synthase) analyses revealed a restricted diversity of Clostridiales species as the putative acetogens in the cultures. A new acetogen (growth on H-2/CO2 with acetate as primary end product) designated isolate TWA4, was obtained from the cultures. Isolate TWA4 classified within the Lachnospiraceae and demonstrated > 97% rrs identity to previously isolated kangaroo acetogens. Isolate TWA4 was a potent hydrogenotroph and demonstrated excellent mixotrophic growth (concomitant consumption of hydrogen during heterotrophic growth) with glycerol. Mixotrophic growth of isolate TWA4 on glycerol resulted in increased cell densities and acetate production compared to autotrophic growth. Co-cultures with an autotrophic methanogen Methanobrevibacter smithii revealed that isolate TWA4 performed reductive acetogenesis under high hydrogen concentration (> 5 mM), but not at low concentrations. Under heterotrophic growth conditions, isolate TWA4 did not significantly stimulate methanogenesis in a co-culture with M. smithii contrary to the expectation for organisms growing fermentatively.Conclusions: The unique properties of tammar wallaby acetogens might be contributing factors to reduced methanogen numbers and methane emissions from tammar wallaby forestomach fermentation, compared to ruminal fermentation. The macropod forestomach may be a useful source of acetogens for future strategies to reduce methane emissions from ruminants, particularly if these strategies also include some level of methane suppression and/or acetogen stimulation, for example by harnessing mixotrophic growth capabilities

Effect of antioxidants during bovine in vitro fertilization procedures on spermatozoa and embryo development

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

New species of Rhinotragini and redescription of two species of Stultutragus Clarke (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae, Cerambycinae)

Agaone amazonica sp. nov. and Stultutragus endoluteus sp. nov. are described from Brazil, and variation in A. peruviensis Fisher, is discussed. Stultutragus nigricornis is elevated to species rank and re-described. Updated keys to Agaone and Stultutragus are provided.