Stink bugs (Heteroptera, Pentatomidae) and an unique host plant in the Brazilian subtropics

Stink bugs are seed/fruit sucking insects feeding on an array of host plants. Among them, an exotic tree called privet, Ligustrum lucidum Ait. (Oleaceae), is very common in the urban areas of the Brazilian subtropics, where it is utilized as food source and shelter for over a decem species of bugs, year round. The species composition, their performance and abundance on this host, and possible causes for this association are discussed and illustrated.

Morfologia e biologia dos imaturos de Euschistus hansi (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Pentatomidae)

São descritos e ilustrados os estágios imaturos de Euschistus hansi Grazia, 1987, com ênfase nos caracteres morfológicos externos do ovo e dos cinco instares. Adultos e ninfas foram alimentados com ramos frescos e frutos maduros de "ligustro", Ligustrum lucidum Ait. (Oleaceae). As ninfas de E. hansi são comparadas com os imaturos já descritos de outras espécies neotropicais de Euschistus Dallas, 1851: E. heros (Fabricius, 1798), E. sulcacitus Rolston, 1971 e E. bifibulus (Palisot de Beauvois, 1805). Dados biológicos também são fornecidos.

Inventário arbóreo em dois bairros paulistanos, Jardim da Saúde e Vila Vera, localizados na subprefeitura de Ipiranga

Foi realizado levantamento quantiqualitativo de vegetais de porte arbóreo em dois bairros paulistanos, Vila Vera e Jardim da Saúde, situados na região Sudeste de São Paulo, não distando muito entre si, porém com características de ocupação de uso do solo bastante distintas. No Jardim da Saúde, encontraram-se 1.033 exemplares de 72 espécies botânicas, cuja altura média de todas as árvores foi de 8,07 m. A Caesalpinea peltophoroides Benth. foi a espécie mais frequente, com 20,68%, seguida da Largestroemia indica L., com 7,48%. Predominavam árvores com mais de 8,50 m de altura, sendo o pior indicador de sanidade vegetal a infestação de cupins, com 8,33% do total. Apenas 23,33% tinham situações de permeabilidade do passeio suficiente, e 5,71% delas se encontravam com conduções de podas para desobstrução das redes aéreas; o rebaixamento das árvores aconteceu em 7,74% dos exemplares. Na Vila Vera havia 178 árvores pertencentes a 42 espécies botânicas, sendo a média da altura total de 6,31 m. A espécie mais abundante foi a Caesalpinea peltophoroides Benth., com 24,71%; a segunda seria a Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton, com 17,24% do total. Em 42,70% das árvores, a altura foi inferior a 4,50 m, e a sanidade vegetal estava comprometida em 12,37% dos exemplares pela infestação de cupins. Somente 7,87% dos exemplares estavam em situações de permeabilidade suficiente, as conduções de poda para desobstrução de redes eram de 3,38% e as podas de rebaixamento, de 13,48%. Havia uma média de 16,85 m de afastamento entre árvores no Jardim da Saúde, enquanto na Vila Vera esse indicativo era de 38,68 m.

Composição da flora arbórea e arborescente no Jardim Botânico de Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

Este estudo teve como objetivo o levantamento florístico e fitossociológico de uma área de 178.000 m², situada nas coordenadas 29º10'38"S e 51º27'16"W, na localidade de Linha Palmeiro, Distrito de São Pedro, no Município de Bento Gonçalves, RS, Brasil, onde se encontra o Jardim Botânico de Bento Gonçalves, o qual se situa numa zona de transição de três formações vegetais distintas: Floresta Ombrófila Mista, Floresta Estacional Decidual e resquícios de Mata Atlântica. O local é uma área de conservação in situ no Jardim Botânico de Bento Gonçalves. O método de amostragem utilizado foi o de parcelas distribuídas ao acaso. Avaliaram-se 10 parcelas medindo 50 x 50 m cada. Dentro de cada parcela, foram amostrados indivíduos com circunferência à altura do peito (CAP) superior ou igual a 30 cm. Foram amostrados 1.947 indivíduos vivos dentro de 35 famílias botânicas, além de 109 indivíduos mortos ainda em pé. As famílias mais expressivas em número de indivíduos e em espécies foram Sapindaceae, Anacardiaceae, Myrtaceae, Oleaceae e Lauraceae. As espécies com maiores valores de importância foram Matayba elaeagnoides Radlk., Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze, Lithraea brasiliensis Marchand, Ligustrum licidum W. T. Aiton e Sebastiania serrata (Klotzsch) Müll. Arg. O índice de diversidade de Shannon foi de 3,18 nats/indivíduos, enquanto a equabilidade de Pielou (J'), 0,71, valores esses considerados altos se comparados a de outros levantamentos. O número de espécies identificadas evidenciou nível alto de diversidade florística, que se caracterizou pela associação de diferentes contingentes florestais, com predomínio daquelas de ampla distribuição na área.

Invasão por espécies arbóreas exóticas em remanescentes florestais no Planalto Sul Catarinense

Este estudo objetivou avaliar a invasão por espécies arbóreas exóticas em dois fragmentos (F1 e F2) de Floresta Ombrófila Mista (FOM) em Lages, SC. Foram alocadas 25 parcelas por fragmento, distribuídas em cinco transeções de 20 x 100 m, perpendiculares às bordas e com distância de 100 m entre si, onde foram avaliados os indivíduos dos estratos adulto (DAP - diâmetro à altura do peito > 5 cm) e regenerante (DAP < 5 cm e altura >10 cm). Esses foram identificados e mensurados (circunferência e altura). Foi calculado, para as espécies de cada estrato e de cada fragmento, o Índice de Invasão Biológica (IIB). A relação entre o IIB e a distância da borda foi verificada por meio de regressões lineares simples. O agrupamento de espécies exóticas e nativas foi determinado por meio de correlações de Spearman e de dendrogramas. Foram amostrados 3.701 indivíduos distribuídos em 105 espécies, sendo cinco espécies invasoras. No F1 houve valores de IIB relativamente baixos (0,05 e 0,54), com Pinus taeda L., obtendo-se a maior participação na invasão, e esse esteve agrupado com espécies nativas pioneiras. Os IIB´s no F2 foram altos (0,61 e 1,96), principalmente pela elevada participação de Ligustrum lucidum W.T. Aiton., que ficou agrupado a espécies típicas da FOM. Não foi observada relação entre a distância da borda e a intensidade da invasão biológica. Os resultados indicaram que os fragmentos apresentaram diferentes padrões de invasão biológica, determinados pela natureza da matriz de entorno e pelas características ecológicas das espécies invasoras.

Alimentary preconditioning in Acromyrmex subterraneus brunneus workers

Ants suffer a strong environmental influence and are sometimes conditioned for many social activities. To understand better this phenomenon in leaf-cutting ants, 24 colonies of Acromyrmex subterraneus brunneus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) were conditioned for 2 months with 6 different plants (Citrus spp., Ligustrum spp., Acalypha spp., Eucalyptus spp., Alchornea triplinervia, Melia spp.), to verify alimentary preconditioning in plant selection. After the conditioning period, plants were offered simultaneously, to evaluate the acceptability of each plant species. During foraging, the workers did not exhibit alimentary source fidelity, which was familiarized. This fact suggests the absence of alimentary preconditioning, reinforcing the polyphagic foraging behavior of leaf-cutting ants.

The effect of plant diversity on fungus garden development and foraging behavior of leaf-cutting ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae)

The leaf-cutting ants forage a wide variety of plant species, used for symbiotic fungus cultivation. To better understand this tripartite complex interaction, 24 colonies of Acromyrmex subterraneus brunneus were conditioned for 4 months to 6 different plants (Citrus spp., Ligustrum spp., Acalypha spp., Eucalyptus spp., Alchornea triplinervia, Melia spp.), to verify the influence of conditioning on foraging behavior of workers. The effect of plants on symbiotic fungus development was studied separately, through macerated plants in Agar and culture medium A as the control. During foraging, workers presented polyphagic foraging behavior, refusing the plants to which they were conditioned. The selection of plants is not correlated with the plant substrate that promotes good development of symbiotic fungus. Such results demonstrate the importance of plant diversity for fungus garden maintenance.

Interferência dos fatores físicos, químicos e do desenvolvimento do fungo simbionte de Atta sexdens rubropilosa Forel, 1908 (Hymenoptera: formicidae) na seleção de substratos e localização da desfolha

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Parasites in the neighbourhood: Interactions of the mistletoe Phoradendron affine (Viscaceae) with its dispersers and hosts in urban areas of Brazil

Mistletoes constitute an important food resource for animals in many ecosystems. However, these plants are considered pests in urban areas because of deleterious effects they have on the host trees. Studies in urban areas were mostly focused on listing host species or procedures to control the "pest". In this sense, broader studies including several aspects of mistletoes ecology in urban ecosystems are still missing. We studied the interaction of the mistletoe, Phoradendron affine, with its dispersers and hosts in two urban sites in Uberlandia, Brazil. Phoradendron affine fruits were consumed almost exclusively by Euphonia chlorotica, which was crucial for seed germination. Parasitism was recorded in five hosts, two native (Handroanthus chrysotrichus and Tabebuia roseoalba) and three exotic species (Spathodea campanulata, Ligustrum lucidum and Melia azedarach). Mistletoes were found parasitizing larger host trees, a trend commonly reported for mistletoe-host interaction. Mistletoe seed germination was not affected by the trees species, whether host or non-host, but the radicle of germinated seeds could not penetrate the bark and seedlings invariably died in non-host species. We found a high prevalence of parasitism in our study, in comparison to what previous studies reported for natural areas. The spatial distribution of the hosts and high light incidence on isolated host trees may lead to this high prevalence in urban areas. Rather than eradicated, mistletoes in urban areas should be ecologically managed and their importance for bird species conservation must be considered. More studies to determine which bird species are favoured by mistletoe presence in urban areas will be essential for, this purpose. (C) 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Pollen profiles from 8 sediment cores from the Degersee, Southern Germany

The discovery of a neolithic pile field in the shallow water near the eastern shore of the Degersee confirmed earlier palynological and sedimentological studies stating that early man was active in the region since more than 6000 years. The already available off-site data were freshly assessed, completed by additional data from old and new cores and the interpretations revised. A common time scale for the off-site data and the on-site data was obtained by AMS dating of terrestrial macro remains of the neolithic section of off-site core De_I+De_H. The ages can thus be parallelled with AMS ages of construction timber on-site. Pollen analyses from all cores provide a further time scale. The continuously and densely sampled pollen profile of the profundal zone embracing the entire Late glacial and Holocene serves as a reference. From the Boreal onwards the relative ages are transformed by AMS ages and varve counts into calibrated and absolute. A transect cored close to the neolithic pile field across the lake marl-platform demonstrates its geological architecture in the shallow water since the Lateglacial. Studies of the microfabric of thin sections of drilled cores and of box cores from the excavations demonstrate that neolithic settlements now at 2-3,5 m water depth had been erected on lake marl freshly fallen dry, thus indicating earlier lake levels dropped by 1.5-2 m. The neolithic section of the highly resolved off-site profile in the lake=s profundal zone has laminated and calcareous zones alternating with massive ones. Assemblages of diatoms and concentrations of trace elements changing simultaneously characterise the calcareous sections as deposits of low lake levels that lasted between some 40 and more than 300 years. The ages of discovered lake shore dwellings fall into calcareous segments with low lake levels. From the end of the Upper Atlantic period (F VII) appear Secondary Forest Cycles in the beech forest, a man-made sequence of repeated vegetational development with an identical pattern: With a decrease of beech pollen appear pollen of grasses, herbs and cultural indicators. These are suppressed by the light demanding hazel and birch, those again by ash, and finally by the shade demanding beech forming a new pollen peak. Seven main Forest Cycles are identified In the upper Neolithic period each comprising some 250, 450 or 800 years. They are subdivided into subcycles that can be broken down by very dense sampling in even shorter cycles of decadal length. Farming settlers have caused minor patchy clearances of the beech-mixed-forest with the use of fire. The phases of clearance coincide with peaks of charcoal and low stands of the lake levels. The Secondary Forest Cycles and the continuous occurrence of charcoal prove a continued occupation of the region. Together with the repeated restoration of the beech climax forest they point to pulsating occupation probably associated with dynamic demography. The synchronism of the many palynological, sedimentological and archaeological data point to an external forcing as the climate that affects comprehensively all these proxies. The fluctuations of the activity of the sun as manifested in the residual d14C go largely along with the proxies. The initial clearances at the begin of the forest cycles are linked to low lake levels and negative values of d14C that point to dry and warm phases of a more continental climate type. The subcycles exist independent from climatic changes, indicating that early man acted largely independent from external forces.

Pollen and macroremains from three sediment cores from Göttingen, Germany

In a borehole in the southern outskirts of the town of Göttingen, limnic sediments of several Pleistocene warm periods occur intercalated with coarse solifluction debris and gravel of the river Leine. Pollen analysis of the limnic sediments in a borehole at Ottostrasse gave evidence of three warm periods of interglacial character, followed by three interstadial phases. The warm phases are separated one from another by stadial phases with, at least in one case, indications of periglacial solifluction. This sequence belongs to the Brunhes magnetic epoch. The pollen data allow to exclude an Eemian or Holsteinian age of the warm period sediments. Thus a Cromerian age is assumed, though the exact position of the newly described warm periods within the ''Cromerian'' remains uncertain. A section in a borehole at Akazienweg is of Holsteinian age.

Pollen and diatom analysis on varved sediments in Lake Jues (Harz Mountains, Germany)

Studies combining sedimentological and biological evidence to reconstruct Holocene climate beyond the major changes, and especially seasonality, are rare in Europe, and are nearly completely absent in Germany. The present study tries to reconstruct changes of seasonality from evidence of annual algal successions within the framework of well-established pollen zonation and 14C-AMS dates from terrestrial plants. Laminated Holocene sediments in Lake Jues (10°20.70' E, 51°39.30' N, 241 m a.s.l.), located at the SW margin of the Harz Mountains, central Germany, were studied for sediment characteristics, pollen, diatoms and coccal green algae. An age model is based on 21 calibrated AMS radiocarbon dates from terrestrial plants. The sedimentary record covers the entire Holocene period. Trophic status and circulation/stagnation patterns of the lake were inferred from algal assemblages, the subannual structure of varves and the physico-chemical properties of the sediment. During the Holocene, mixing conditions alternated between di-, oligo- and meromictic depending on length and variability of spring and fall periods, and the stability of winter and summer weather. The trophic state was controlled by nutrient input, circulation patterns and the temperature-dependent rates of organic production and mineralization. Climate shifts, mainly in phase with those recorded from other European regions, are inferred from changing limnological conditions and terrestrial vegetation. Significant changes occurred at 11,600 cal. yr. BP (Preboreal warming), between 10,600 and 10,100 cal. yr. BP (Boreal cooling), and between 8,400 and 4,550 cal. yr. BP (warm and dry interval of the Atlantic). Since 4,550 cal. yr. BP the climate became gradually cooler, wetter and more oceanic. This trend was interrupted by warmer and dryer phases between 3,440 and 2,850 cal. yr. BP and, likely, between 2,500 and 2,250 cal. yr. BP.