Modelling Highly Biodiverse Areas in Brazil.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Oliveira U
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6479156 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:Subtropical and tropical forests are biodiversity hotspots, and untangling the spatial scaling of their diversity is fundamental for understanding global species richness and conserving biodiversity essential to human well-being. However, scale-dependent diversity distributions among coexisting taxa remain poorly understood for heterogeneous environments in biodiverse regions. We show that diversity relations among 43 taxa-including plants, arthropods and microorganisms-in a mountainous subtropical forest are highly nonlinear across spatial scales. Taxon-specific differences in ?-diversity cause under- or overestimation of overall diversity by up to 50% when using surrogate taxa such as plants. Similar relationships may apply to half of all (sub)tropical forests-including major biodiversity hotspots-where high environmental heterogeneity causes high biodiversity and species turnover. Our study highlights that our general understanding of biodiversity patterns has to be improved-and that much larger areas will be required than in better-studied lowland forests-to reliably estimate biodiversity distributions and devise conservation strategies for the world's biodiverse regions.
| S-EPMC4682160 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Food biodiversity presents one of the most significant opportunities to enhance food and nutrition security today. The lack of data on many plants, however, limits our understanding of their potential and the possibility of building a research agenda focused on them. Our objective with this systematic review was to identify biodiverse food plants occurring in the Caatinga biome, Brazil, strategic for the promotion of food and nutrition security. We selected studies from the following databases: Web of Science, Medline/PubMed (via the National Library of Medicine), Scopus and Embrapa Agricultural Research Databases (BDPA). Eligible were original articles, published since 2008, studying food plants occurring in the Caatinga. We assessed the methodological quality of the studies we selected. We reviewed a total of fifteen studies in which 65 plants that met our inclusion criteria were mentioned. Of this amount, 17 species, including varieties, subspecies, and different parts of plants, had data on chemical composition, in addition to being mentioned as food consumed by rural communities in observational ethnobotanical studies. From the energy and protein data associated with these plants, we produced a ranking of strategic species. The plants with values higher than the average of the set were: Dioclea grandiflora Mart. ex Benth (mucunã), Hymenaea courbaril L. (jatobá), Syagrus cearensis Noblick (coco-catolé), Libidibia ferrea (Mart. ex Tul.) L.P.Queiroz (jucá), Sideroxylon obtusifolium (Roem. & Schult.) T.D.Penn. (quixabeira). We suggest that the scientific community concentrates research efforts on tree legumes, due to their resilience and physiological, nutritional, and culinary qualities.
| S-EPMC7205212 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) (Steinernematidae and Heterorhabditidae) can control pests due to the mutualistic association with bacteria that kill the host by septicemia and make the environment favorable for EPNs development and reproduction. The diversity of EPNs in Brazilian soils requires further study. The identification of EPNs, adapted to environmental and climatic conditions of cultivated areas is important for sustainable pest suppression in integrated management programs in agricultural areas of Brazil. The objective was to identify EPNs isolated from agricultural soils with annual, fruit and forest crops in Brazil. Soil samples were collected and stored in 250 ml glass vials. The nematodes were isolated from these samples with live bait traps ([Galleria mellonella L. (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) larvae]. Infective juveniles were collected with White traps and identified by DNA barcoding procedures by sequencing the D2/D3 expansion of the 28S rDNA region by PCR. EPNs identified in agricultural areas in Brazil were Heterorhabditis amazonensis, Metarhabditis rainai, Oscheios tipulae and Steinernema rarum. These species should be considered pest biocontrol agents in Brazilian agricultural areas.
| S-EPMC5382772 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Amazonian blackwaters are extremely biodiverse systems containing some of Earth's most naturally acidic, dissolved organic carbon -rich and ion-poor waters. Physiological adaptations of fish facing these ionoregulatory challenges are unresolved but could involve microbially-mediated processes. Here, we characterize the physiological response of 964 fish-microbe systems from four blackwater Teleost species along a natural hydrochemical gradient, using dual RNA-Seq and 16 S rRNA of gill samples. We find that host transcriptional responses to blackwaters are species-specific, but occasionally include the overexpression of Toll-receptors and integrins associated to interkingdom communication. Blackwater gill microbiomes are characterized by a transcriptionally-active betaproteobacterial cluster potentially interfering with epithelial permeability. We explore further blackwater fish-microbe interactions by analyzing transcriptomes of axenic zebrafish larvae exposed to sterile, non-sterile and inverted (non-native bacterioplankton) blackwater. We find that axenic zebrafish survive poorly when exposed to sterile/inverted blackwater. Overall, our results suggest a critical role for endogenous symbionts in blackwater fish physiology.
| S-EPMC10326040 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Intestinal microsporidiosis due to Enterocytozoon bieneusi is a leading cause of chronic diarrhea in severely immunocompromised human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients. It may be a public health problem in Africa due to the magnitude of the HIV pandemic and to poor sanitary conditions. We designed two prevalence studies of E. bieneusi in Central Africa, the first with HIV-positive patients from an urban setting in Gabon and the second with a nonselected rural population in Cameroon. Stool samples were analyzed by an immunofluorescence antibody test and PCR. Twenty-five out of 822 HIV-positive patients from Gabon and 22 out of 758 villagers from Cameroon were found to be positive for E. bieneusi. The prevalence rates of the two studies were surprisingly similar (3.0% and 2.9%). Genotypic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer region of the rRNA gene showed a high degree of diversity in samples from both countries. In Gabon, 15 isolates showed seven different genotypes: the previously reported genotypes A, D, and K along with four new genotypes, referred to as CAF1, CAF2, CAF3, and CAF4. In Cameroon, five genotypes were found in 20 isolates: the known genotypes A, B, D, and K and the new genotype CAF4. Genotypes A and CAF4 predominated in Cameroon, whereas K, CAF4, and CAF1 were more frequent in Gabon, suggesting that different genotypes present differing risks of infection associated with immune status and living conditions. Phylogenetic analysis of the new genotype CAF4, identified in both HIV-negative and HIV-positive subjects, indicates that it represents a highly divergent strain.
| S-EPMC1951207 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Wind energy has rapidly become an important alternative among renewable energies, and it is generally considered clean. However, little is known about its impact at the level of ecological communities, especially in biodiversity hotspots. The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is a highly biodiverse region in Mesoamerica, and has the highest potential for generating wind energy in Mexico. To assess the effects of installing a wind farm on the understory bat community in a landscape of fragmented habitat, we assessed its diversity and composition over four stages of installation (site preparation, construction, and two stages of operation). We captured 919 bats belonging to 22 species. Species richness, functional diversity and phylogenetic diversity decreased during construction and the first stage of operation. However, these components of biodiversity increased during the second stage of operation, and species composition began to resemble that of the site preparation stage. No species considered as sensitive to disturbance was recorded at any stage. This is the first study to reveal the diversity of a Neotropical bat community after wind turbines begin to operate.
| S-EPMC5474091 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundDigitaria insularis is a weed species that has gained considerable importance in Brazil's soybean production areas that rely on glyphosate-resistant cultivars. Herbicide-resistant weed populations of this species have been reported in many regions in Brazil, first in the south, followed by later reports in the north. We hypothesized that the spread of herbicide-resistant D. insularis is facilitated by movement of agricultural machinery from the southern regions of Brazil.ResultsPopulation genomics revealed a weak or no genetic structure (FST = [0; 0.16]), moderate expected heterozygosity (HE = 0.15; 0.44) and low inbreeding (FIS = [-0.1; 0.1]) in D. insularis populations. Our data supported the hypothesis that herbicide resistance gene flow predominantly occurred in a south-to-north direction based on a migration analysis. We also found evidence of local adaptation of resistant populations in the northern soybean-growing regions of Brazil.ConclusionEvidence in our work suggests that gene flow of glyphosate-resistant D. insularis is associated with movement of agricultural machinery, although local selection pressure seems to play an important role in the evolution of herbicide resistance throughout the country. Our results suggest preventive practices such as equipment sanitation should be implemented to limit the spread of herbicide resistant D. insularis. © 2021 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.
| S-EPMC9291757 | biostudies-literature
Project description:As yet, certain aspects of the Africanization process are not well understood, for example, the reproductive behavior of African and European honeybees and how the first Africanized swarms were formed and spread. Drone congregation areas (DCAs) are the ideal place to study honeybee reproduction under natural conditions since hundreds of drones from various colonies gather together in the same geographical area for mating. In the present study, we assessed the genetic structure of seven drone congregations and four commercial European-derived and Africanized apiaries in southern Brazil, employing seven microsatellite loci for this purpose. We also estimated the number of mother-colonies that drones of a specific DCA originated from. Pairwise comparison failed to reveal any population sub-structuring among the DCAs, thus indicating low mutual genetic differentiation. We also observed high genetic similarity between colonies of commercial apiaries and DCAs, besides a slight contribution from a European-derived apiary to a DCA formed nearby. Africanized DCAs seem to have a somewhat different genetic structure when compared to the European.
| S-EPMC3036887 | biostudies-other
Project description:The destruction of natural vegetation in recent decades has been concentrated in the tropics, where ecosystem processes underpin global homeostasis and harbor most of the world’s biodiversity. Protected areas (PAs) are the primary societal tool to avoid this destruction, yet their effectiveness is often questioned. Here, we quantified the impact of PAs and indigenous lands in avoiding 34 years of vegetation destruction in forested and nonforested biomes in Brazil. We showed that the odds of destruction in the PA network are four times lower than in unprotected areas, and generally, this positive effect extends to a buffer zone around PAs. Among the most effective groups of PAs are those that are older, larger, located in the Amazonian region, and indigenous lands. Despite recent setbacks for the Brazilian PA system, we highlight the benefits of PAs for biodiversity and climate if they were instead strengthened.
| S-EPMC8448448 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Research on discrimination and health focused on older adults has been scarce, comparatively with younger and middle-aged adults. Considering where people live matters, accurate measures of perceived discrimination might consider how the place of residence interferes on discriminatory experiences. This study aimed to assess the association between perceived discrimination and urban/rural place of residence among a representative sample of older adults in Brazil. METHODS:Data came from the baseline of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil), conducted in 2015/2016, with individuals aged 50 years and older. Perceived Discrimination was measured by means of the following question: "In the past 12 months have you felt a victim of any type of discrimination" with five possible answers: (1)"when you sought medical services or health care?", (2)"in social gatherings?", (3)"in the work place?", (4)"within the family?", (5)"due to where you live?". Participants who answered yes for any of the five domains were coded as having reported an experience of discrimination. The main exposure variable was the urban-rural classification of the households, carried out according to the methods employed by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics during the 2010 Population Census. Other covariates included: age, sex, skin color, household wealth and education. Multiple Poisson regression was used to estimate prevalence ratios and their respective 95% confidence interval for the association between discrimination and independent variables. RESULTS:Prevalence of any perceived discrimination among Brazilian older adults was 16.8%. Regardless the place of residence (either urban or rural), participants reported health care settings as the most common domain where discriminatory experiences occurred and the work place as the least common. According to the adjusted model, perceived discrimination was significantly higher among urban dwellers when compared to their rural counterparts, independent of sociodemographic characteristics, health status and neighborhood social environment. The outcome was significant associated with skin color, education and health status. CONCLUSIONS:Urban environment plays a core role in perceived discrimination and health care settings constitute the most common domain where discriminatory experiences occurred. Our findings may contribute to fulfill the knowledge gap on discrimination among older adults living in developing countries.
| S-EPMC6399885 | biostudies-literature