Thermal Constant of an Experimental Population of Muscina stabulans (Fallén 1817) (Diptera:Muscidae) in the Laboratory

A study was conducted to investigate the thermal constant in an experimental population of Muscina stabulans (Fallén 1817). A natural population was obtained from a livestock and their F1 generations were maintained at four constant temperatures (16°C, 20°C, 26°C and 31°C). The thermal constant was calculated by the hyperbole method using the base temperature, tb = 4.4°C and the thermal constant K = 35.3 GD. Ricker's geometric regression, considering tb = 7.8°C and K = 28.9 GD was also calculated.

Estrutura genética intrapopulacional em Cryptocarya moschata Nees (Lauraceae)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Aplicação do teste de raios x no estudo da morfologia interna e da qualidade fisiológica de aquênios de arnica (Lychnophora pinaster Mart.)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Increased B chromosome frequency and absence of drive in the fish Prochilodus lineatus

The neotropical freshwater fish species Prochilodus lineatus (Pisces, Prochilodontidae) shows 2n = 54 chromosomes plus supernumerary microchromosomes ranging in number from zero to seven among different animals. The transmission rates of B chromosomes were studied by the analysis of the parental and F1 generations in 10 controlled crosses performed with specimens from a natural population. The mean transmission rate observed for B chromosomes (k(B) = 0.511) was consistent with that expected from a regular meiotic behaviour orbs in both sexes and with the theoretical value under a Mendelian mode of transmission (0.5). Possible explanations for the dramatic increase in B frequency observed in this population during the last 10 years are discussed, bearing in mind the current absence of drive.

Genetic conservation of Brazilian fishes - Present state and perspectives

Natural environments have been worldwide affected by the growing impact of anthropogenic actions that promote the reduction or the extinction of several vertebrate species. Aquatic ecosystems represent one of the most affected environments and many fish species and/or populations have been increasingly fragmented distributed due to habitat degradation, predatory fishing, introduction of exotic species, river sedimentation, deforestation, pollution, reduction of food resource, and construction of hydroelectric dams. Actually, more than 150 Brazilian fish species, including freshwater, estuary and coastal species, can be considered threatened. Information on the diversity, conservation biology and population analysis on threatened species or populations, with several DNA markers, can be extremely useful for the success of fish species-recovery and maintenance programs. Although DNA analysis in Neotropical fish species are just beginning, they tend to increase with the widespread attention to the use of molecular approaches to minimize problems related to the risk of extinction. The accumulation of information on biology and pattern of genetic variation of fish species, associated with ecological and demographic data, and also education and respect to the nature, constitutes a crucial task to develop efficient conservation strategies in order to preserve the genetic diversity in aquatic environments.

Variação genética para compostos bioquímicos em sementes de duas populações naturais de Genipa americana L.: 1-análises individuais e univariada

Brazil is one of the world's richest countries in forest biodiversity. This has a great importance for humanity for sheltering essential scientific potential for the improvement in the quality of living beings. It also contributes to the preservation of natural resources and the environment. Among Brazil's forest species, jenipapo (Genipa americana L.) is commonly found in riparian vegetation. The objective of this work was to quantify the genetic variability of biochemical traits of seeds, as a support for in situ and ex situ conservation of natural populations of G. americana L. Two populations of the species were studied: one from Ilha Solteira, SP region (ISA) and other from Mogi Guaçu, SP (MOG). In the ISA population, seeds were collected from 30 trees, and in the MOG population, from 22 trees. These seeds were analyzed for chemical composition: content of proteins, carbohydrates, lipids and starch. The two populations of G. americana studied had a great genetic variation for these traits. The population ISA had an additive and phenotypic correlation, which was negative and high for starch with lipid; and positive and medium, for lipid with prolamine, as well as for globulin with prolamine. The population MOG presented additive and phenotypic correlations: positive and medium for gluteline with globulin. In these populations, narrow sense heritability estimates of progenies were moderate (0.69 for carbohydrates in the population ISA) to high (0.81 to 0.99 for the other traits in the two populations), indicating that much progress can be expected with selection strategies.

Produtividade, estabilidade e adaptabilidade em progênies de Myracrodruon urundeuva F.F. & M.F. Allemão-Anacardiaceae

The use and inadequate exploitation of natural resources is restricting the occurrence of aroeira (Myracrodruon urundeuva F.F. & M.F. Allemão), which now is on the FAO list of endangered species. This exploitation causes a decrease in the genetic base of M. urundeuva populations, which makes it difficult to find genotypes with stability and adaptability to different growing conditions. This study aimed at estimating the genetic variation and productivity, stability and adaptability of progenies of a M. urundeuva natural population, from the Ecological Station of Paulo de Faria-SP, under different planting systems. DBH (diameter at breast height) was evaluated in four progeny tests of M. urundeuva: i) planted with Anandenanthera falcata and Guazuma ulmifolia (TP-AMA); ii) single (TP-ASO); iii) planted with annual crops (TP-SAF) and iv) planted with Corymbia citriodora (TP-EUCA), installed in Selvíria-MS. The experimental design consisted of complete randomized blocks with three replications and a variable number of plants per plot in each of the four planting systems. From the joint analysis of the planting systems studied, it was found that: i) there were variations among planting systems particularly in TP-SAF; ii) only in TP-EUCA it was possible to detect variations among the progenies; iii) the effects of the genotype x environment interaction were not significant. Thereby, the harmonic mean of genotypic values (MHVG), the relative performance of genotypic values from the mean of each site (PRVG) and the harmonic mean of the relative performance of genotypic values (MHPRVG) for DBH showed, respectively: progenies with greater stability, adaptability, and stability and simultaneous adaptability within different planting systems. The use of these selection criteria provided a more refined selection of the best progenies of M. urundeuva under the different planting systems studied.

Efeitos do corte seletivo de árvores sobre o sistema de reprodução e dispersão de pólen em uma população de Hymenaea courbaril na Amazônia brasileira

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Variabilidade genética de Colletotrichum gloeosporioides e Colletotrichum acutatum em seringueira (Hevea brasiliensis) no Brasil

Pós-graduação em Agronomia (Irrigação e Drenagem) - FCA

Herança, manutenção e origem dos diferentes tipos de cromossomos B em Prochilodus lineatus (Characiformes, Prochilodontidae) do rio Mogi-Guaçu

Pós-graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Genética) - IBB

Marcadores moleculares na identificação de híbridos e introgressão genética em populações de Pseudoplatystoma corruscans e Pseudoplatystoma reticulatim

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

A mathematical approach to simulate spatio-temporal patterns of an insect-pest, the corn rootworm Diabrotica speciosa (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in intercropping systems

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Produtividade, estabilidade e adaptabilidade em progênies de Myracrodruon urundeuva F.F. & M.F. Allemão – Anacardiaceae

The use and inadequate exploitation of natural resources is restricting the occurrence of aroeira (Myracrodruon urundeuva F.F. & M.F. Allemão), which now is on the FAO list of endangered species. This exploitation causes a decrease in the genetic base of M. urundeuva populations, which makes it difficult to find genotypes with stability and adaptability to different growing conditions. This study aimed at estimating the genetic variation and productivity, stability and adaptability of progenies of a M. urundeuva natural population, from the Ecological Station of Paulo de Faria-SP, under different planting systems. DBH (diameter at breast height) was evaluated in four progeny tests of M. urundeuva: i) planted with Anandenanthera falcata and Guazuma ulmifolia (TP-AMA); ii) single (TP-ASO); iii) planted with annual crops (TP-SAF) and iv) planted with Corymbia citriodora (TP-EUCA), installed in Selvíria-MS. The experimental design consisted of complete randomized blocks with three replications and a variable number of plants per plot in each of the four planting systems. From the joint analysis of the planting systems studied, it was found that: i) there were variations among planting systems particularly in TP-SAF; ii) only in TP-EUCA it was possible to detect variations among the progenies; iii) the effects of the genotype x environment interaction were not significant. Thereby, the harmonic mean of genotypic values (MHVG), the relative performance of genotypic values from the mean of each site (PRVG) and the harmonic mean of the relative performance of genotypic values (MHPRVG) for DBH showed, respectively: progenies with greater stability, adaptability, and stability and simultaneous adaptability within different planting systems. The use of these selection criteria provided a more refined selection of the best progenies of M. urundeuva under the different planting systems studied.

Stocking of captive-bred fish can cause long-term population decline and gene pool replacement: predictions from a population dynamics model incorporating density-dependent mortality

Releasing captive-bred fish into natural environments (stocking) is common in fisheries worldwide. Although stocking is believed to have a positive effect on fish abundance over the short term, little is known about the long-term consequences of recurrent stocking and its influence on natural populations. In fact, there are growing concerns that genetically maladapted captive-bred fish can eventually reduce the abundance of natural population. In this study, we develop a simple model to quantitatively investigate the condition under which recurrent stocking has long-term effects on the natural population. Using a population dynamics model that takes into account a density-dependent recruitment, a gene responsible for the fitness difference between wild and captive-bred fish, and hybridization between them, we show that there is little or no contribution of recurrent stocking to the stock enhancement without a replacement of the wild gene pool by the captive-bred gene pool. The model further predicted that stocking of an intermediate level causes a reduction, rather than enhancement, of population size over the long term. The population decline due to stocking was attributed to the fitness disadvantage of captive-bred fish and strong overcompensation at recruitment stage. These results suggest that it would be difficult to simultaneously attain population size recovery and conservation of the local gene pool when captive-bred fish have fitness disadvantage in the wild, although caution is needed when applying the predictions from the simplified model to a specific species or population.

Statistical analysis of multichannel scalp field data

High density spatial and temporal sampling of EEG data enhances the quality of results of electrophysiological experiments. Because EEG sources typically produce widespread electric fields (see Chapter 3) and operate at frequencies well below the sampling rate, increasing the number of electrodes and time samples will not necessarily increase the number of observed processes, but mainly increase the accuracy of the representation of these processes. This is namely the case when inverse solutions are computed. As a consequence, increasing the sampling in space and time increases the redundancy of the data (in space, because electrodes are correlated due to volume conduction, and time, because neighboring time points are correlated), while the degrees of freedom of the data change only little. This has to be taken into account when statistical inferences are to be made from the data. However, in many ERP studies, the intrinsic correlation structure of the data has been disregarded. Often, some electrodes or groups of electrodes are a priori selected as the analysis entity and considered as repeated (within subject) measures that are analyzed using standard univariate statistics. The increased spatial resolution obtained with more electrodes is thus poorly represented by the resulting statistics. In addition, the assumptions made (e.g. in terms of what constitutes a repeated measure) are not supported by what we know about the properties of EEG data. From the point of view of physics (see Chapter 3), the natural “atomic” analysis entity of EEG and ERP data is the scalp electric field