Salmonellosis detection and evidence of antibiotic resistance in an urban raccoon population in a highly populated area,Costa Rica

Wild animals are involved in zoonotic disease transmission cycles. These are generally complex and poorly understood, especially among animals adapted to life in human ecosystems. Raccoons are reservoirs and effective carriers for infectious agents such as Salmonella throughout different environments and contribute to the transference of resistance genes. This study examined the presence of circulating Salmonella sp. in a population of raccoons in a tropical urban environment and evaluated resistance to antibiotics commonly used to treat salmonellosis. A total of 97 raccoons of different ages and sex were included in this study. 49% (38–60 CI) of the faecal samples were positive for Salmonella spp. The study identified 15 circulating serovars with the most prevalent being S. Hartford (7/15), S. Typhimurium (4/15) and S. Bovismorbificans (4/15). These serovars correspond to the serovars detected in humans with clinical symptoms in Costa Rica. 9.5% of the Salmonella strains recovered demonstrated ciprofloxacin resistance, and 7.1% showed resistance to nalidixic acid. This study provides evidence of multiple Salmonella serovars circulating in a population of urban raccoons in Costa Rica. Furthermore, the study confirms the existence of antimicrobial resistance to two antibiotics used to treat human salmonellosis. The findings emphasize the role of the raccoon as a reservoir of Salmonella in the Greater Metropolitan Area of Costa Rica (GAM) and stress the need for active monitoring of the presence and possible spread in antibiotic resistance due to this peri‐domestic carnivore.     

Essential oil composition of Pentzia incana (Asteraceae), an important natural pasture plant in the Karoo region of South Africa

Pentzia incana is one of the most important of all natural pasture plants in the dry interior (Karoo) region of South Africa. This highly aromatic shrub is thought to be responsible for the distinctive flavour of Karoo lamb (a registered geographical indication), yet the essential oil is here characterised for the first time. Leafy twigs are traditionally chewed for relief of stomach ache. Essential oil is associated with numerous small, multicellu- lar glands. Gas chromatography and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis of 17 essential oil samples from five populations showed considerable variation in both yield (0.12% to 0.88% dry weight) and composition. Of interest was the presence of one major biosynthetic group comprising yomogi alcohol (to 38.9%), artemisia alcohol (to 26.1%), artemisia ketone (to 35.0%) and artemisyl acetate (to 9.4%). High levels of fragranol (26.9%) and fragranyl acetate (27.1%) were observed only in a single specimen. Other main compounds were 1,8-cineole (to 16.7%), santolina alcohol (to 11.3%), camphor (to 47.9%), linalyl acetate (to 17.4%) and bicyclogermacrene (to 11.8%). Six of the 10 major compounds were isolated and their identities confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance. The volatile compounds may possibly be linked to the medicinal use of P. incana, as well as the flavour profile of Karoo lamb.     

Assessing biogas digestate,pot ale,wood ash and rockdust as soil amendments: effects on soil chemistry and microbial community composition

Applying by-products as soil amendments to agricultural systems is growing in popularity. We aimed to assess the efficacy of some contemporary by-products to provide nutrients to crops as well as the potential harm of adding toxic elements to the environment. Four different by-products widely available in Northern Europe were tested for their effects on two nutrient-poor agricultural soils in terms of increasing available macro- and micro-nutrients as well as toxic elements. Assessing soil microbial community as a sensitive tool for evaluating soil quality was conducted with the focus on microbial activity, carbon metabolism and on Rhizobium/Agrobacterium. Wood ash increased pH and Ca_EDTA, K_EDTA and Mg_EDTA in the soils. The only increase in EDTA-extractable micronutrients in the soils was observed by applying pot ale, increasing Cu. None of the amendments increased the availability of Pb and Cd in the soils. Soils amended with the by-products thus remained similar to the unamended control but were quite different from fully mineral fertilised soils. There were no detectable adverse effects on the physiological and genetic profiles of microbial communities. The by-products were moderately beneficial and did not change the soil microbial community as much as the fully fertilised treatment with mineral fertilisers. Changes in the microbial community profiles were probably due to direct effects on microbes limited by K, Ca and N as opposed to indirect effects on plant growth. This is potentially significant in understanding how to improve impoverished and marginal soils as microbial activity affects many other ecosystem functions.     

An integrative insight into the synsacral canal of fossil and extant Antarctic penguins

The lumbosacral-canal system in birds most likely operates as a sense organ involved in the control of balanced walking and perching, but our knowledge of it is superficial. Penguins constitute interesting objects for the study of this system due to their upright walking, but only the Humboldt penguin, Spheniscus humboldti, and some incomplete fossil penguin synsacra have been studied in this respect. Here, we give an integrative comparative insight into the synsacral canal of extant Emperor penguin, Aptenodytes forsteri, Adelie penguin, Pygoscelis adeliae, and Eocene giant Anthropornis and/or Palaeeudyptes Antarctic penguins, using computed tomography imaging and associated data-extraction methodologies, complemented by analytical approaches ranging from geometric morphometrics to modularity, curvature, and wavelet analyses. We document that the variability in the number of synsacro-lumbar vertebrae is evolutionarily conserved, and all studied synsacra possess osteological correlates of the lumbosacral-canal system. We also found that Eocene and extant Antarctic penguins were separable on the basis of the main direction of the shape-related (size-independent) variability within said system, and A. forsteri was unique in the entire studied set in terms of the relative cranial shift of this compound structure. Moreover, we suggest that the evolutionary processes, shaping both the terrestrial posture and gait, were responsible, in extant penguins, for the increased simplicity and stability of the synsacral canal cross-sectional periodic patterns, as well as pave the way for the lumbosacral-canal system modularity characterized by reduced atomization/complexity.     

Alteration of the temporal association between courtship audio and visual components affects female sexual response

Some multimodal signals—that is, occurring in more than one sensory modality—appear to carry additional information which is not present when component signals are presented separately. To understand the function of male ring dove's (Streptopelia risoria) multimodal courtship, we used audiovisual playback of male displays to investigate female response to stimuli differing in their audiovisual timing. From natural courtship recordings, we created a shifted stimulus where audio was shifted relative to video by a fixed value and a jittered stimulus, where each call was moved randomly along the visual channel. We presented 3 groups of females with the same stimulus type, that is, control, shifted, and jittered, for 7 days. We recorded their behavior and assessed pre- and post-test blood estradiol concentration. We found that playback exposure increased estradiol levels, confirming that this technique can be efficiently used to study doves’ sexual communication. Additionally, chasing behavior (indicating sexual stimulation) increased over experimental days only in the control condition, suggesting a role of multimodal timing on female response. This stresses the importance of signal configuration in multimodal communication, as additional information is likely to be contained in the temporal association between modalities.     

Zur Wirkung von Niemprodukten aufBemisia tabaci Genn. an Auberginen bei Verwendung verschiedener Zusatzstoffe

As neem (Azadirachta indica A. Juss.) seed is still quite expensive in the Dominican Republic, it was tried to reduce the dosage by increasing the efficiency of the insecticide using the adjuvant Tersan (Alcohol-9-ethylen-oxid).The effect of various aqueous neem seed extracts (25 g seeds per 1, 40 g/l, 60 g/l, oilcake 15 g/l) and formulated neem oil mixed with the adjvant was tested in laboratory and field trials againstBemisia tabaci on eggplant. In laboratory trials the efficiency of all tested products except neem oil was increased by 24% to 48%. The increase of efficiency was more pronounced on very hairy than on glabrous plants. These positive results could not be confirmed in field trials, where the adjuvant had no effect or even reduced the efficiency of the insecticide.The effect of the adjuvant is a reduction of the surface tension of the spraying mixture for better wetting and to adhere it to the leaf. As the laboratory plants usually possessed much more hairs than those in the field, the insecticide could develop its full effect in the field even without support by the adjuvant.

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Zur Wirkung von Niemprodukten aufBemisia tabaci Genn. an Auberginen bei Verwendung verschiedener Zusatzstoffe

Zusammenfassung Eine Verringerung der Dosis von Niemprodukten kann mitunter zu einer signifikanten Minderung des Wirkungsgrades und zu Ernteverlusten führen. Geringer Befall sollte aber immer auch mit einer Dosis unterhalb der empfohlenen 50 g Samenpulver pro Liter Wasser bekämpfbar sein. Der Zusatz von Stoffen, die eine bessere Benetzung der Pflanze gewährleisten, zu Niemsamenwasserextrakten führte im Labor bei wenig behaarten Auberginenpflanzen kaum zu Wirkungssteigerungen gegenüberB. tabaci. Bei stark behaarten Pflanzen jedoch konnte die Effektivität um bis zu 90% gesteigert werden, da die Behaarung eine Benetzung der Blattspreite und damit eine Wirkung verhindert. Im Feld konnten Wirkungssteigerungen durch Zusatz von Netzmitteln nicht erreicht werden. Im Gegenteil: Die Wirkung der wässrigen Niemsamenextrakte wurde oft aus unerklärlichen Gründen herabgesetzt. Die Wirkung von Niemöl konnte weder im Feld- noch im Laborversuch durch Zusatzstoffe gesteigert werden.

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Mit 3 Abbildungen     

Sap flux – a real time assessment of health status in Norway spruce

Top dieback of Norway spruce (Picea abies), triggered by drought in 2004–2006, has been observed in Southeast Norway and trees died within four years after appearance of the first symptoms. The aim of our study was to use sap flux measurements as a diagnostic method for assessment of tree vitality. We used the heat field deformation method to monitor the sap flux density (SFD) in four pairs of healthy and declining trees in situ. To provide retrospective information on hydraulic performance of the trees we took samples for wood anatomical analysis. After felling the trees we used the modified differential translucence method (MDT) as a proxy for the SFD measurements. Healthy trees had three times higher SFD values as declining trees. In some healthy trees we detected decreasing SFD with time. The MDT method agreed with the SFD measurements. In conclusion, we detected sap flux dysfunction in declining trees and showed that the SFD reduction may occur during a short period, prior to occurrence of any visual symptoms. We suggest incorporating the SFD measurements into the repertoire of diagnostic tools in forest pathology.