The effect of dietary protein source on growth and carcass composition in juvenile Australian freshwater crayfish

A feed trial was conducted for 12 weeks on juvenile Australian freshwater crayfish (Cherax destructor) (mean weight (SE) 0.82 (0.02)g) maintained on five isoenergetic diets with a protein content of 30%. Diets differed in the primary source of protein used, with meat, snail, soybean, yabby, and zooplankton meals comprising the major protein ingredient, varying from 56–60% of total protein. Mean percentage weight gain per day ranged from 7.57% (yabby meal diet), to 9.42% (snail meal diet). No significant difference occurred in mean weight, percentage weight gain, specific growth rate (%), or survival among diets. A maximum size of 16.44g was attained on the yabby meal diet. Largest mean weight was 8.27g on the snail-based diet. Food conversion ratios were all good, with a minimum value of 0.95 recorded for the snail-based diet. Initial food consumption per day was approximately 5% of mean animal weight, decreasing to around 2.4%, and is collectively described by a power curve. Protein retention ranged from 29.57% in the zooplankton meal diet to 41.15% in the snail-based diet. Carcass composition was influenced by feed type, with the most marked difference occurring in carapace colour. Animals fed the zooplankton-based pellets developed the strongest pigmentation. Recommendations are made for including certain protein-based ingredients in manufactured yabby diets.     

Spatiotemporal distribution of floral resources in a Brazilian city: Implications for the maintenance of pollinators,especially bees

Cities provide resources for the animals that live in them or their surroundings. There has been an increase in the number of ecological studies in urban areas, including interactions between plants and bees. Bees are pollinators that provide a vital ecosystem service to crops and wild plants. We assessed plant community structure in the campus of Universidade de São Paulo in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, included in the neotropical Atlantic Forest biome, focusing on floristic composition, pollination syndromes, flowering phenology, and spatiotemporal distribution of floral resources for bees. Currently, the city is surrounded by sugar cane plantations. Once a month, from April 2011 to March 2012, we sampled plant species and individuals in bloom in an area with 500 m radius from the bee-rearing facilities of Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras de Ribeirão Preto (FFCLRP), totaling 78 hectares. We sampled 289 plant species of 73 families; Leguminosae was the richest family. Plants pollinated by bees predominated (67%), followed by plants pollinated by hummingbirds (18%). Melittophilous species flowered throughout the year and, hence, food availability for bees was continuous. The flowering of plant individuals that provided pollen, nectar, and floral oil was seasonal in all vegetation (except for nectar in shrubs), with peaks in resource availability in the transition from the dry to the rainy season, and also in the rainy season. Our results show that the campus is able to maintain bee populations amid a monoculture matrix, acting as a refuge. In addition, it provides a list of several attractive native plants to different pollinator groups, coupled with a phenogram, that can be used in the design and planning of urban areas.     

Effects of temperature on growth,survival and physiological parameters in juveniles of Lophiosilurus alexandri,a carnivorous neotropical catfish

This study aimed to analyse the effects of different water temperatures on the growth, survival and blood physiological parameters of Lophiosilurus alexandri. Juveniles measuring 12.6 ± 0.5 cm and weighing 30.6 ± 3.6 g were subjected to four water temperature regimes: 23, 26, 29 and 32°C with four replicates. The animals were fed twice daily with formulated diet. The experiment lasted for 35 days. Survival was 100% at all water temperatures, and the best temperature for growth was estimated to be 27.8°C using a quadratic regression model. The estimated temperatures for the best feed conversion and highest feed consumption rates were 26.2 and 28.8°C respectively. The fat visceral‐somatic index was highest at 32°C. The highest haemoglobin and haematocrit values were 29.4 and 32.1°C respectively. For plasma protein and cholesterol, the lowest values estimated were 23.9 and 24.1°C respectively. Glucose and liver nitrogen content increased with rising temperature. Higher values of total ammonia in the water were observed at higher temperatures. No effects of temperature were seen on the amounts of muscle dry matter, nitrogen, energy content and triglycerides or on the hepatosomatic index. Water temperature has an important role in the developmental and blood physiological parameters of juvenile L. alexandri, and the quadratic regression model showed that the appropriate temperature for growth is between 27 and 28°C.     

Increased Inflammatory Mediators in Horses Naturally Infected with Trypanosoma vivax. A Preliminary Study

The aim of this study was to measure the levels of inflammatory mediators in serum from horses naturally infected with Trypanosoma vivax. Banked serum samples collected during a previously reported T. vivax natural infection were used to analyze proinflammatory cytokines such as interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin 1 (IL-1), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and nitrite/nitrate (NO_x) levels. We evaluated 12 serum samples from horses from a farm in southern Brazil, four of which had parasitological and molecular diagnoses for T. vivax and presented with clinical signs of disease. Cytokines were assessed by quantitative sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and NO_x was measured using the modified Griess method. Levels of IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6, and NO_x were increased in serum of infected animals compared to that in noninfected animals. Therefore, infection with T. vivax caused an increase in proinflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide content.     

Ecosystem‐based management of Amazon fisheries and wetlands

Infrastructure development and overfishing in the Amazon make it imperative to define adequate scales for the ecosystem‐based management of commercial fisheries and the wetlands on which they depend. We mapped fisheries and fish ecology data from Brazil, Peru, Bolivia and Colombia to an explicit GIS framework of river basins and mainstems. Migratory species account for more than 80% of the known maximum catches of commercial fisheries across the Amazon. Of these migratory species, we nominated six long‐distance migratory fish taxa as flagship species to define the two main commercial fishery regions. The migrations of at least one goliath catfish species define a large‐scale longitudinal link joining the Andes, Amazon Lowlands and Amazon River estuary. Migratory Characiforms demonstrate interbasin wetland connectivity between nutrient‐rich and nutrient‐poor rivers over at least 2 million km², or about one‐third of the Amazon Basin. We show that flooded forest area is the most important wetland variable explaining regional variations in migratory characiforme biomass as indicated by maximum annual fishery catches. The sustainable management of Amazon fisheries will require transnational cooperation and a paradigm shift from local community management alone to a more integrated approach that considers both rural and urban consumers and challenges, and the realistic life histories of migratory species.     

Sedimentary characterization of Tagus estuarine beaches (Portugal)

Background, Aim and Scope  The distribution of sediments in estuarine beaches is controlled by the interactions between sediment supply, hydrodynamic processes and human intervention. The main purpose of this study is to characterize the sediments of Tagus estuarine beaches in order to understand their origin and to contribute to a better knowledge of the Tagus estuary sediment budget. Methods  Surface sediment samples were collected across beach profiles and sand grain size analysis was performed by dry sieving. Grain size statistics for the median (d₅₀) and standard deviation (SDM) were obtained using the Moment method. This study was complemented by a qualitative evaluation of the sediment composition. Cross-shore topographic surveys were conducted for selected sampling sites. Results  Tagus estuarine beach sediments are mainly composed of quartz sand particles which are fine-grained and well sorted near the mouth of the estuary and medium to coarse-grained and moderately sorted in the inner domain. Compositional results show evidence of active anthropogenic sediment sources, especially in the coarser fractions. Discussion  The analysis of the textural and compositional characteristics of beach sediments in the inner estuarine domain is compatible with local sedimentary sources, while a marine signature is present at the mouth and inlet channel sediments. In the inner domain, differences in the sedimentary processes are represented by the textural characteristics of the sediments, such as the sorting degree and the gravel content. Sediment characteristics also reflect human intervention in the system, with the introduction of anthropogenic and allochthonous particles and the mixture of sediments from different sources. Conclusions  The sediments of the inner Tagus estuarine beaches are derived from local Plio-Pleistocene outcrops while inlet and outer estuary beaches reveal a dominant marine source. Beach textural variability observed in the inner domain is not related to wave forcing gradients, but mainly to variations in the sedimentary processes along the estuarine margins and to human intervention. Results show that the Tagus estuarine beaches depended, almost exclusively, on sediment input from local sources until the last century. With increasing human occupation, sediment transfers became dominated by anthropogenically related activities mainly connected with the occupation of estuarine margins and dredging. Recommendations and Perspectives  Further studies should extend the present level of knowledge in what concerns sand transport patterns through additional compositional and geochemical analysis, and the development of new techniques in order to allow the quantitative evaluation of the impact of human activities on the sediment budget.     

Effects of Phosphate Type on the Quality of Vacuum-Tumbled Catfish Fillets

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of various agglomerated phosphate blends on the quality of vacuum-tumbled catfish fillets. Catfish fillets were tumbled with a brine solution at 15% over initial, raw weight prior to tray-packing and storage at 4°C for 10 days. Fillets were evaluated for protein exudate, tumbling yield, color, pH, cooking loss, tenderness, purge loss, and shelf life. A specific blend of agglomerated sodium phosphates (AGSP) that contains mono-, tri-, and polyphosphates had significantly less protein (p < 0.05) exudate and significantly higher pH (p < 0.05) than other treatments. All phosphate treatments significantly increased (p < 0.05) tenderness and significantly decreased (p < 0.05) purge loss, but agglomerated phosphate blends significantly decreased (p < 0.05) cooking loss and yellowness. Psychrotrophic plate counts for all phosphate treatments were similar to the control at each storage time. All phosphate treatments improved the yield and quality of catfish fillets, but the use of AGSP may optimize quality attributes.     

Morphological Characterization of the Ovarian Preantral Follicle Population of Collared Peccaries (Tayassu tajacu Linnaeus, 1758)

The aim of this research was to characterize the preantral ovarian follicular population in collared peccaries (Tayassu tajacu) using light and electron microscopy. Ovaries from six mature females were collected and further fixed for histological and ultrastructural analysis. A total of 33273.45 ± 5789.99 preantral follicles (PFs) were estimated for the population in each ovary. Most preantral follicles were primordial (91.56%), followed by primary (6.29%) and secondary (2.15%) ones. Most PFs were morphologically normal (94.4%), and only a few were atretic (5.6%). At histology assessment, amounts of lipid droplets were observed into the oocyte cytoplasm, which was confirmed through ultrastructural analysis. This work characterizes for the first time the ovarian population of preantral follicles, total and per category, in collared peccaries (Tayassu tajacu). The general follicles featured at primordial, primary and secondary categories are very similar to those described for other species.     

Experimental evaluation of four airway devices in anaesthetized New Zealand White rabbits

Objective

To compare airway management during induction of anaesthesia, spontaneous ventilation (SV) and controlled mechanical ventilation (CMV), using an endotracheal tube (ETT), laryngeal mask (LM), rabbit-specific supraglottic airway device (v-gel) or facemask (FM).

Effect of shade on biomass accumulation and partitioning for Eucalyptus camaldulensis sprouts

ABSTRACT

Eucalyptus is widely cultivated in homogeneous monocultures throughout the world alongside plants of the same age. Furthermore, the productivity of forest stands is highly dependent on how solar radiation is intercepted and used. Meanwhile, it is possible to consider cultivating trees of different ages in the same area, and thus under different regimes of available solar radiation, creating a sequence of plantings and harvestings and to develop Eucalyptus-based agroforestry systems. We have examined biomass accumulation of Eucalyptus camaldulensis along a shade gradient. Eucalyptus trees presented power-law responses to increasing irradiance for biomass, indicating it has low plasticity and is unable to maintain growth under lower irradiance levels. Biomass partitioning showed no dependence on available irradiation. Leaf density presented very little increase toward sunnier places meaning that an increment in Eucalyptus biomass would be mostly due to its increase in size and thus higher radiation interception. Careful management of shade will be a key consideration for the integration of Eucalyptus into agroforestry. With knowledge of the growth habits of different species, we will have the potential to propose more perennial ways in which to manage land and reduce anthropogenic disturbances by avoiding clear-cuts of areas that removes all plant structures.