Three new species of Sloanea L. (Elaeocarpaceae) from the Central Amazon, Brazil

Three new species of Sloanea L. are recognized based on specimens collected in the Adolpho Ducke Forest Reserve. These new species are morphologically distinct from other Sloanea in the Neotropics in terms of their vegetative and reproductive characters. The Ducke Reserve contains a total of 18 species of Sloanea, and the species closest to these new taxa occur there. Morphological descriptions and illustrations are provided, together with comments concerning morphological similarities with other species, as well as their geographic distributions and their phenologies.

Relationship between incidence and severity of cashew gummosis in semiarid north-eastern Brazil

The incidence-severity relationship for cashew gummosis, caused by Lasiodiplodia theobromae, was studied to determine the feasibility of using disease incidence to estimate indirectly disease severity in order to establish the potential damage caused by this disease in semiarid north-eastern Brazil. Epidemics were monitored in two cashew orchards, from 1995 to 1998 in an experimental field composed of 28 dwarf clones, and from 2000 to 2002 in a commercial orchard of a single clone. The two sites were located 10 km from each other. Logarithmic transformation achieved the best linear adjustment of incidence and severity data as determined by coefficients of determination for place, age and pooled data. A very high correlation between incidence and severity was found in both fields, with different disease pressures, different cashew genotypes, different ages and at several epidemic stages. Thus, the easily assessed gummosis incidence could be used to estimate gummosis severity levels.

Fenced in: Common property struggles in the management of communal rangelands in central Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

This paper takes as its starting point the assertion that current rangeland management in the central Eastern Cape Province (former Ciskei) of South Africa, is characterised primarily by an ‘open access’ approach. Empirical material drawn from three case-study communities in the region is used to examine the main barriers to management of rangeland as a ‘commons’. The general inability to define and enforce rights to particular grazing resourses in the face of competing claims from ‘outsiders’, as well as inadequate local institutions responsible for rangeland management are highlighted as being of key importance. These are often exacerbated by lack of available grazing land, diffuse user groups and local political and ethnic divisions. Many of these problems have a strong legacy in historical apartheid policies such as forced resettlement and betterment planning. On this basis it is argued that policy should focus on facilitating the emergence of effective, local institutions for rangeland management. Given the limited grazing available to many communities in the region, a critical aspect of this will be finding ways to legitimise current patterns of extensive resource use, which traverse existing ‘community’ boundaries. However, this runs counter to recent legislation, which strongly links community management with legal ownership of land within strict boundaries often defined through fencing. Finding ways to overcome this apparent disjuncture between theory and policy will be vital for the effective management of common pool grazing resources in the region.

Oppida, agglomerations and suburbia: the bibracte environs and new perspectives on late Iron Age urbanism in central-eastern France

This paper explores the nature and chronology of La Tène and early Roman unenclosed agglomerations in central-eastern France. It has been prompted by the discovery of a c. 115 ha La Tène D2b/Augustan (c. 50 bc to ad 15) site close to Bibracte in the Morvan, located around the source of the River Yonne. This complex provides a new perspective on the chronology and role of Late La Tène and early Roman unenclosed settlements, adding further complexity to the story of the development of Late La Tène oppida. It indicates that these ‘agglomerations’ followed remarkably varied chronological trajectories, raising important issues concerning the nature of landscape and social change at the end of the Iron Age. Dieser Aufsatz untersucht den Charakter und die Datierung von latènezeitlichen und frührömischen offenen Siedlungen im östlichen Zentralfrankreich. Die Anregung dazu erfolgte durch die Entdeckung einer Latène D2b-zeitlichen bis augusteischen (ca. 50 v. Chr. – 15 n. Chr.) Anlage im Morvan bei Bibracte, die ca. 115 ha Fläche bedeckt und sich um die Quellen des Flusses Yonne erstreckt. Es wird vorgeschlagen, dass dieser Siedlungskomplex eine Ergänzung, aber auch einen Kontrast zu den üblichen Interpretationsmodellen von spätlatènezeitlichen und frührömischen, offenen Großsiedlungen und ihrer zeitlichen Entwicklung darstellt, und weiter zur Komplexität der Entwicklung spätlatènezeitlicher Oppida beiträgt. Es deutet sich an, dass einige der ‘Agglomerationen’ anderen Entwicklungslinien folgen, die wichtige Fragen zur Landschaftsgenese und zum sozialen Wandel am Ende der Eisenzeit aufwerfen. Cet article a pour but d'explorer la nature ainsi que la chronologie des agglomérations ouvertes apparaissant à La Tène Final et au début de la période gallo-romaine du Centre-Est de la France. Il fut inspiré et écrit suite à la découverte dans le Morvan d'un site de 115 ha datant de La Tène D2b et de la période Augustéenne (50 av. J.C. à 15 ap. J.C.) s'étirant autour des Sources de l'Yonne. Cette agglomération apporte de nouvelles perspectives sur la chronologie et sur le rôle des habitats ouverts à la fin de l'Âge du Fer ainsi qu'au début de l'époque gallo-romaine apportant des éléments amenés à renforcer le caractère complexe de l'histoire du développement des oppida à La Tène Final. Cette synthèse tend à démontrer que ces agglomérations suivaient des trajectoires chronologiques variées, élevant un certain nombre de questions, et donc des nouvelles problématiques, concernant la nature du paysage et du changement social à la fin de l'Âge du Fer.

Behavioural and morphological observations of the Collared Crescentchest (Melanopareia torquata) in a Cerrado area of south-eastern Brazil

The Collared Crescentchest (Melanopareia torquata) is endemic to the Cerrado Biome, and distributed mainly in Brazil, but extending to Bolivia and Paraguay. Although considered of least concern globally, it is threatened in the state of Sao Paulo in south-eastern Brazil. In this study we examined the morphology and some aspects of behaviour of the Collared Crescentchest. Birds were captured with mist-nets using playback in September-December 2006 and October-November 2007. For each captured bird, we took a range of morphological measurements, looked for brood-patches and moult, and took a blood sample for genetic determination of sex. Of the 35 individuals captured, only five were female, probably as a result of behavioural differences between sexes, with males apparently responding more readily to the playback. Furthermore, birds with white dorsal patches exhibited more aggression or risk taking behaviour than birds without patches. However, there was no sexual dimorphism in any of the morphological or colour traits measured ( although the female sample was small). Brood-patches were present mainly in October and November, but we did not detect any cloacal protuberance. Among the four species that comprise the family Melanopareiidae, this is the first record of brood-patches in males.

Habitat use by the South-American rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus) in south-eastern Brazil

Habitat use affects food intake, reproductive fitness and body temperature control in reptiles. Habitat use depends on both the characteristics of the animal and the environmental heterogeneity. In this study we investigated habitat use in a population of the South-American rattlesnake, Crotalus durissus, in a cerrado (the Brazilian savanna) remnant, in south-eastern Brazil. In general, snakes appeared to be thermal generalists. However, they showed substrate temperature preferences in the rainy season, when they selected colder substrates during the day and warmer substrates at night. Individuals were predominantly active on the surface and more frequently found under bushes. Furthermore, in general, the principal component analysis results indicate that rattlesnakes are generalists regarding the microhabitat variables examined in this study. These habitat characteristics, associated with a low thermal selectivity, indicate that rattlesnakes are able to colonize deforested areas where shade occurrence and vegetation cover are similar to those in the cerrado.

Diet and food selection by small mammals in an old-growth Atlantic forest of south-eastern Brazil

Here we describe the stomach contents of nine small mammal species (seven rodents and two didelphid marsupials) co-occurring in an old-growth Atlantic forest area. For four terrestrial rodents, we also compared the importance of arthropods in the diet and the selection of arthropod groups by comparing consumption with availability. Small mammals and arthropods were sampled in a 36-ha grid containing 25 sampling stations spaced every 150 m, and 47 stomach contents were analysed. While plant matter was the predominant item in the stomach contents of two rodents (Oligoryzomys nigripes and Rhipidomys mastacalis), four species presented arthropods as the main food item (the rodents Brucepattersonius soricinus and Oxymycterus dasytrichus, and the marsupials Monodelphis n. sp. and Marmosops incanus) and three consumed more plant matter than arthropods, but had significant amounts of both items (the rodents Delomys sublineatus, Euryoryzomys russatus and Thaptomys nigrita). Our results suggest that differences in diet, coupled with differences in habit and microhabitat preferences, are important factors allowing resource partition among species of the diverse group of co-occurring terrestrial small mammals in Atlantic forest areas. Moreover, arthropods were not preyed opportunistically by any of the four terrestrial rodents, since consumption was not proportional to availability. Rather, selection or rejection of arthropod groups seems to be determined by aspects other than availability, such as nutritional value, easiness of capture and handling or palatability.

A new species of Syllis (Polychaeta: Syllidae: Syllinae) from off Fortaleza, north-eastern Brazil

In a study investigating the composition and spatial and temporal variation of the benthic macrofauna associated to the discharge of domestic sewage off Fortaleza, north-eastern Brazil, a new species of Syllis was found. This new species, S. guidae sp. nov., is characterized by having blades of falcigers with subdistal tooth about same length as distal tooth, but stouter than it, with spines on cutting edge almost reaching the tip of subdistal tooth, blades of falcigers with conspicuous subdistal triangular process and unusually long anal papilla between anal cirri, measuring about one-quarter of their length. Syllis guidae sp. nov., is herein described and compared with the most similar congeners.

Molecular characterization of group A bovine rotavirus in southeastern and central-western Brazil, 2009-2010

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

Serologic evidence of equine granulocytic anaplasmosis in horses from central West Brazil

A Erliquiose é uma doença zoonótica causada por bactérias gram-negativas e intracelulares obrigatórias. A Anaplasmose Granulocítica Equina - AGE (anteriormente denominada Erliquiose Granulocítica Equina, EGE) é uma enfermidade sazonal, normalmente auto-limitante em equinos. No Brasil, existem poucos relatos deste agente erliquial, bem como de seus vetores naturais. Atualmente, veterinários têm levantado a suspeita de casos de AGE em equinos com sinais clínicos sugestivos de erliquiose e não responsivos ao tratamento para a piroplasmose equina. O objetivo do presente estudo foi identificar equinos expostos a A. phagocytophilum por meio de técnicas sorológicas e moleculares. Vinte amostras de sangue e soro de equinos da região Centro-oeste do Brasil foram avaliados por meio do exame microscópico de capa leucocitária, ensaio imunoenzimático indireto (ELISA), reação de imunofluorescência indireta (RIFI) e reação em cadeia da polimerase (nested PCR). Adicionalmente, o diagnóstico sorológico de Theileria equi pela RIFI e ELISA foram realizados, assim como o diagnóstico molecular pelo nPCR. Treze (65%) amostras de soro foram positivas para A. phagocytophilum pelo teste de ELISA, entretanto nenhum equino foi positivo pelo exame microscópico da capa leucocitária ou nPCR. Anticorpos IgG anti-T. equi foram detectados em 18 (90%) e 17 (85%) equinos pela RIFI e ELISA, respectivamente e o agente foi detectado em 9 (45%) animais pelo nPCR. Estes dados sugerem importante informação para o entendimento da ocorrência da AGE e piroplasmose equina no Centro-oeste do Brasil.

Molecular characterisation of Bartonella species in cats from Sao Luis, state of Maranhao, north-eastern Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Ecological aspects of the free-living ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) on animal trails within Atlantic rainforest in south-eastern Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Diet of Eared Doves (Zenaida auriculata, Aves, Columbidae) in a sugar-cane colony in South-eastern Brazil

Agricultores no médio Vale do Paranapanema têm relatado problemas com bandos de pombas (Zenaida auriculata) que se alimentam de cotilédones de soja na época do plantio. Na região do município de Tarumã, SP, essas aves se reproduzem em uma colônia situada em um canavial, e sua dieta é composta de 70% do peso seco por 4 grãos cultivados (em ordem de importância: milho, trigo, arroz e soja). As sementes de três invasoras (Euphorbia heterophylla, Brachiaria plantaginea e Commelina benghalensis) são importantes. Essa informação sugere que as pombas se adaptaram particularmente bem à paisagem criada pelas práticas agrícolas da região, aproveitando vários alimentos oferecidos.

Parturition intervals and distributions of parturitions by months of buffalo in Southern and South-eastern Brazil

Reproductive rate is an important component of economic success in livestock production. Parturition interval (IEP) is a direct measure of the productivity of the animal. Long IEP reduce the number of calves produced per year. The objective this study was to determine the distribution of parturitions across month and to evaluate factors affecting IEP. The data included 7,588 parturitions of Murrah, Mediterranean and Carabobo buffalo from 10 herds in Southern and South-eastern Brazil. The analysis of distribution of parturitions evaluated the effects of month, year and their interaction on birth date of calves by using a Chi-Square test in SAS PROC FREQ (SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA). Parturition intervals (n = 2,630) were evaluated using analysis of variance in SAS PROC GLM. The model for IEP included the fixed effects of season (December to May = 1, June to November = 2), year, season x year, sex of the preceding parturition, age of weaning of the previous calf, and herd. All sources of variation were significant (P<0.0001) except sex of the preceding parturition (P <0.85). The mean IEP was 446.7 +/- 10.4 days, for seasons 1 and 2 IEP were 419.8 +/- 11.3 and 473.6 +/- 40.7 days, respectively, a difference of 54 days. As weaning age increased there was a lengthening of IEP. Buffalo in Brazil showed seasonal parturition with calving concentrated from January to April, although the frequency by month differed across years (P<0.0001). These months also had the lowest calving interval.