How much importance is given to native plants in cities’ treescape? A case study in Fortaleza,Brazil

Even though Brazil is a mega-diverse country, many Brazilian cities prioritize exotic plants in their treescapes. Aiming to evaluate how much the treescape in Fortaleza (the fifth largest city in Brazil) is aligned with the policy of valorization of native biodiversity, we sampled street and backyard trees surrounding one of the few vegetation fragments of the city, which is an area considered a priority for conservation. We used the vegetation fragment's flora as reference to compare the potential number of local native species with the actual number of native species in the treescape of the site. To account how much of the native flora was present in the surrounding treescape, we made an inventory of the trees in streets, squares and backyards around the vegetation and compared with the native flora of the vegetation fragment. We then compared the ratio of native to exotic species and checked how many native species of the fragment were also in the surrounding treescape. Exotics were prevalent in both number of species and number of individuals, comprising 70% of the species and 86% of the individuals of public spaces, and 79% of the species and 78% of the individuals of private spaces. Only 14% of the native species of the vegetation were also represented in the treescape, and, in general, they comprehended only a few individuals. We argue that the city's treescape should be re-evaluated in order to value native plants more. Native plants in the treescape could be used as an environmental education tool to publicize native biodiversity to citizens.     

Using the same fish with different rules: A science‐based approach for improving management of recreational fisheries in a biodiversity hotspot of the Western South Atlantic

In this study we tested the hypothesis that Centropomus parallelus Poey moves between areas where fishing tourism is important, but the management rules for recreational fisheries are different. Fieldwork was conducted from May 2014 to June 2017 in an estuary located in the border between the states of São Paulo and Paraná, South‐Southeastern Brazil. Through a mark and recapture experiment, 2.000 individuals were tagged, of which 42 were recaptured. Among these, six fish were recaptured in Paraná, after being tagged in São Paulo, and a fish was recaptured in São Paulo, after being tagged in Paraná. These results support the hypothesis tested and indicate an uneven use of C. parallelus by anglers in both states. Thus, the use of the species and the recreational fisheries regulations need to be reviewed in the study area, taking into account the ability of C. parallelus to move across political boundaries and the importance of a fish‐oriented fisheries management regime.     

Toxicological hazards of natural environments: Clinical reports from Poison Control Centre of Milan

The belief that approaching nature can enhance well-being, widely promoted by mass media, is widespread. People explore parks and forests searching for wild herbs, berries and mushrooms that could be used as food or medicines, thinking that all things natural are healthy and harmless while picking up toxic species or encountering a snake is not so infrequent. To point out the Italian cases concerning these natural poisons, all cases handled between 2001 and 2005 by Poison Control Centre of Milan, the leading toxicological centre in Italy, have been reviewed. Regarding plants, 4432 records were collected; the patients most frequently involved were children that had picked poisonous species at home, at school or in other public places, but the most serious cases were related to wild plants used by adults for health enhancement: three deaths were recorded. Among 4289 calls concerning mushrooms several life-threatening cases, 6 transplants and 9 deaths were recorded. Eventually, 2072 records connected to snake bites were collected, among them at least 1061 were related to Vipera spp.: three patients died. These accidents can lead to severe or lethal poisonings that, requiring intensive medical cares and antidotes, have also a social and economic cost to the National Health Service. A public information campaign should be promoted to make people more aware of the risks of these events and of the detrimental consequences that this could have. Some cases of poisonings have arisen due to incorrect information conveyed through radio, television, press and the Internet; we highlight the need for better control on the content of messages diffused through mass media.     

Feed processing affected the digestibility of carbohydrate sources for dourado Salminus brasiliensis

Carbohydrate utilization by fish varies with feeding habits and feed processing. Extruded aquafeeds have increased digestibility of carbohydrate sources resulting from the cooking and gelatinization of this nutrient, making it readily available for all aquatic species. This study aimed at determining the effects of extrusion cooking of feeds in the digestibility of different dietary carbohydrate sources for dourado. Isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets (530 g kg^?1 crude protein and 20.80 MJ kg^?1 gross energy) containing either corn, toasted cassava flour, wheat flour, broken rice, cassava starch, or corn starch, in extruded or pelletized form and added of chromic oxide as inert marker, were fed to groups of juvenile dourado (73.97 ± 12.0 g; n = 40) stocked in 500‐L polyethylene tanks. Extrusion cooking improved the digestibility of energy and/or starch of corn, cassava starch, wheat flour, rice and corn starch (P < 0.05), but did not affect digestibility of toasted cassava flour (P > 0.05). It is thus fair to infer that dourado, despite being a carnivorous species, is properly fit to digest wheat flour, rice and corn starch in natural form.     

Risk factors for canine echinococcosis in an endemic area of Peru

An epidemiological study was conducted in a highland rural community in Peru to determine risk factors for canine echinococcosis caused by Echinococcus granulosus. Dogs were diagnosed using a coproantigen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Dog owners were interviewed prior to stool collection and asked for attitudes, practices and beliefs likely to be associated with local patterns of E. granulosus transmission. Univariate and multivariate analysis were used to determine odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI). The main risk factors found to be significantly associated with canine echinococcosis by univariate analysis were dog age (3-25 months) (OR, 5.14; CI, 1.7-15.7), female sex (OR, 4.3; CI, 1.4-13.3) and having been fed hydatid infected offal (OR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.0-8.6). There was complete lack of knowledge about echinococcosis transmission. In addition to periodic dog treatment, control programs need to emphasize education of the human population to increase knowledge of parasite transmission and to change human practices associated with high rates of infection.     

Evaluation of Cheetah and Leopard Spermatozoa Developmental Capability after Interspecific ICSI with Domestic Cat Oocytes

The ICSI procedure is potentially of great value for felids, and it has not been extensively studied in these species. The objectives of this work were to determine the best conditions for ICSI in the domestic cat (DC) to generate interspecific embryos by injecting cheetah (Ch) and leopard (Leo) spermatozoa. Firstly, DC oocytes were matured with insulin–transferrin–selenium (ITS) or without it (MM) and cultured using atmospheric (21%) or low (5%) oxygen tension after ICSI. The group ITS‐5%O₂ showed the highest blastocyst rate (p < 0.05), 20.9% vs 8.7%, 7% and 6.5%, for MM‐21%O₂, MM‐5%O₂ and ITS‐21%O₂, respectively. The best conditions were used to generate the interspecific embryos, together with ionomycin activation (Io) after ICSI. Interspecific embryos resulted in high rates of blastocysts that were not positively affected by Io activation: 32.6% vs 21% for Ch and Ch‐Io, 9.8% vs 21% for Leo and Leo‐Io, and 20% vs 17.4% for DC and DC‐Io. We also evaluated DNA‐fragmented nuclei of experiment 1 and 2 blastocysts, using TUNEL assay. The fragmented nucleus proportion was higher in the ITS‐5%O₂ group, 67.6%. Surprisingly, interspecific blastocysts showed the lowest fragmented nucleus proportion: 27% and 29.9% for Ch and Leo, respectively. We concluded that ITS and 5%O₂ improve blastocyst formation in DC, although with a concomitant increase in DNA fragmentation. Most importantly, cheetah and leopard spermatozoa were able to generate blastocysts without artificial activation, which suggests that developmental capacity of wild felid spermatozoa can be evaluated by interspecific ICSI. This technique should be used to assist wild felid reproduction.     

Mapping QTLs for aluminum tolerance in maize

Aluminum toxicity is one of the major constraints for plant development in acid soils, limiting food production in many countries. Cultivars genetically adapted to acid soils may offer an environmental compatible solution, providing a sustainable agriculture system. The aim of this work was to identify genomic regions associated with Al tolerance in maize, and to quantify the genetic effects on the phenotypic variation. A population of 168F_3:4 families derived from a cross between two contrasting maize inbred lines for Al tolerance was evaluated using the NSRL and RSRL parameters in nutrient solution containing toxic level of aluminum. Variance analyses indicated that the NSRL was the most reliable phenotypicindex to measure Al tolerance in the population, being used for further QTL mapping analysis. RFLP and SSR markers were selected for bulked segregant analysis, and additional SSR markers, flanking the polymorphisms of interest, were chosen in order to saturate the putative target regions. Seven linkage groups were constructed using 17 RFLP and 34 SSR markers. Five QTLs were mapped on chromosomes 2, 6 and 8, explaining 60% of the phenotypic variation. QTL₄ and marker umc043 were located on chromosomes 8and 5, close to genes encoding for enzymes involved in the organic acids synthesis pathways, a widely proposed mechanism for Al tolerance in plants. QTL₂ was mapped in the same region as Alm2,also associated with Al tolerance in maize. In addition, dominant and additive effects were important in the control of this trait in maize. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Responses to selection and changes in combining ability after three cycles of a modified reciprocal recurrent selection in maize

This research reports responses to selection and changes in general (GCA) and specific (SCA) combining abilities after three cycles of a modified reciprocal recurrent selection procedure (MRRS) in EPB-4 and EPB-5 maize populations. In the MRRS procedure a cycle can be completed in 1 or 2 years depending on the availability of winter breeding nurseries. The original and the three selection cycles of the two populations per se (eight entries) and the partial diallel developed from the crosses between them (16 entries) were evaluated in six environments. Realized response to selection on the population cross was 7.25% cycle⁻¹ for grain yield, −13.63% cycle⁻¹ for plant lodging, and 11.93% cyle⁻¹ for prolificacy, whereas plant and ear heights remained unchanged. GCA estimates increased with selection cycles for both populations for grain yield and prolificacy, and decreased for plant lodging, indicating that the frequency of favorable alleles with additive effects for these traits increased with the MRRS cycles in both populations. SCA estimates increased for grain yield and prolificacy indicating that the frequency of favorable complementary alleles at loci with non-additive effects in the reciprocal populations increased with the MRRS cycles. For grain yield, SCA effects increased more than GCA effects with selection cycles, indicating that MRRS exploited more the non-additive effects than the additive effects for the improvement of this trait. The overall results showed that the MRRS procedure was highly effective in improving the population cross, exploiting both GCA and SCA effects.     

Health surveillance in wildlife reintroductions

Reintroductions and translocations are increasingly used as conservation tools. However, despite guidelines recommending that health-screening be an integral part of such programmes, few reports are available. For most species, even baseline data, against which to compare future results, are not published. Here we report two case studies of health surveillance in wildlife reintroduction programmes - for water voles (Arvicola terrestris) in Australia, and for marsupial dibblers (Parantechinus apicalis) in the UK. These illustrate the potential importance of even basic screening strategies in helping to avoid disease transfer and identifying predictors of survival. Factors to be considered in the design of future monitoring schemes are also discussed.     

Soil microorganisms are less susceptible than crop plants to potassium deficiency

To evaluate the relationship between the potassium (K) status in the microbial community and the exchangeable K concentration in soils, the effects of K addition on microbial activity were assessed in cultivated Andisols not having received K fertilizer. Potassium limitation was not observed in the microbial community, even in a soil amended with only nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) but not K since 1938, though crop plants in this soil showed severe K deficiency symptoms. Furthermore, in a soil amended with NP + compost, microbial activity was limited by K only after limitation of carbon (C) and N. These results suggest that soil microorganisms demand more C and N than K, even in soils with low K availability, and also that the soil microbial community is less susceptible to K deficiency than are crop plants.