State University of Santa Cruz

About: State University of Santa Cruz is a education organization based out in Ilhéus, Brazil. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Species richness. The organization has 3266 authors who have published 4642 publications receiving 51876 citations. The organization is also known as: Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz.

Etiology of bacterial leaf blight of eucalyptus in Brazil

Abstract: Bacterial leaf blight of eucalyptus is initially characterized by water soaked, angular, amphigenous and interveinal lesions, concentrated along the main vein, at the edges or scattered on the leaf blade. As the disease progresses, the lesions become brown to pale, and when young leaves are infected leaf cut areas at the edges or perforations at the center of the lesions may appear due to abortion of the necrotic area. Eventually, necrosis may be found on petiole and twigs. Leaf fall commonly occurs on highly susceptible genotypes due to the early senescence of diseased leaves. Precise diagnosis is accomplished by bacterial exudation from leaf sections placed in a water drop under light microscope (200 x). Twenty-five bacterial isolates from Amapa (2), Bahia (4), Minas Gerais (2), Sao Paulo (9), Para (3), Mato Grosso do Sul (1), and Rio Grande do Sul (4) States, which induced hypersensitive reaction (HR) in non-host plants and were pathogenic to eucalyptus, when inoculated by inoculum injection, were identified by biochemical assays, using carbon sources (MicroLogTM BIOLOG) and sequence analysis (16S rDNA). Ten isolates were identified as Xanthomonas axonopodis, four as X. campestris, four as Pseudomonas syringae, two as P. putida, two as P. cichorii, one as Erwinia sp., and two were similar to bacterial genera of Rhizobiaceae. When spray inoculated on intact plants of eucalyptus, only X. axonopodis, P. cichorii and isolates of the Rhizobiaceae family induced typical symptoms of the disease and were considered pathogenic. In Brazil, X. axonopodis seems to be the most widespread species causing the bacterial leaf blight of Eucalyptus spp.

Functional traits explain amphibian distribution in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

Abstract: Aim Species distributions are one of the most important ways to understand how communities interact through macroecological relationships. The functional abilities of a species, such as its plasticity in various environments, can determine its distribution, species richness and beta diversity patterns. In this study, we evaluate how functional traits influence the distribution of amphibians, and hypothesize which functional traits explain the current pattern of amphibian species composition. Location Atlantic Forest, Brazil. Taxon Amphibia (Anura and Gymnophiona). Methods Using potential distributions of Brazilian amphibians from Atlantic Forest based on their functional traits, we analysed the influence of biotic and abiotic factors on species richness, endemism (with permutation multivariate analysis) and beta diversity components (i.e. total, turnover and nestedness dissimilarities). Results Environmental variables explained 59.5% of species richness, whereas functional traits explained 15.8% of species distribution (geographical species range) for Anuran and 88.8% for Gymnophiona. Body size had the strongest correlation with species distribution. Results showed that species with medium to large body size, and species that are adapted to living in open areas tended to disperse from west to east direction. Current forest changes directly affected beta diversity patterns (i.e. most species adapted to novel environments increase their ranges). Beta diversity partitioning between humid and dry forests showed decreased nestedness and increased turnover by increasing altitude in the south-eastern region of the Atlantic Forest. Main Conclusions Our study shows that functional traits directly influence the ability of the species to disperse. With the alterations of the natural environment, species more apt to these alterations have dispersed or increased their distribution, which consequently changes community structure. As a result, there are nested species distribution patterns and homogenization of amphibian species composition throughout the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.

Correlações genéticas e fenotípicas entre características de conformação e produção de leite em bovinos da raça Pardo-Suíça no Brasil

Abstract: Foram avaliados dados de classificacao para tipo fornecidos pela Associacao Brasileira de Criadores de Gado Pardo-Suico com o objetivo de avaliar os efeitos de fatores nao-geneticos, estimar a herdabilidade e as correlacoes geneticas e fenotipicas das caracteristicas lineares de tipo, caracteristicas de classificacao e a classificacao final, bem como avaliar as correlacoes das caracteristicas de tipo com a producao de leite. Para o estudo dos fatores nao-geneticos foi utilizado o metodo dos quadrados minimos, utilizando-se o procedimento GLM do SAS, e, para a estimativa da herdabilidade e correlacoes geneticas e fenotipicas, foi utilizado um modelo animal. Os componentes de variância e (co)variância foram obtidos com o programa MTDFREML (Multiple Trait Derivative Free Restricted Maximum Likelihood), utilizando a metodologia de maxima verossimilhanca restrita livre de derivadas. Os efeitos nao-geneticos influenciaram a avaliacao da maioria das caracteristicas de tipo, devendo ser considerados nas avaliacoes de conformacao de bovinos desta raca. As estimativas de herdabilidade obtidas sugerem a possibilidade de ganhos geneticos moderados advindos da selecao para caracteristicas de tipo. Devido as altas correlacoes geneticas entre as caracteristicas lineares de tipo, programas de melhoramento para caracteristicas de conformacao podem ser implementados sem a necessidade de inclusao de todas as caracteristicas. As correlacoes geneticas observadas entre algumas caracteristicas de tipo e a producao de leite sugerem a participacao destas na formacao de indices de selecao para animais desta raca.

Feeds and Nutrition of Farmed Capybaras

Abstract: The capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) is, potentially, an excellent source of meat and leather (Gonzalez-Jimenez 1995) due to its fecundity and other characteristics: it is robust, docile, and adapts easily to captive conditions. The main factor usually considered when domesticating any new species for meat production, however, is the animal’s diet, both from the economic and the biological point of view (Emmons 1987). Most domestic species that are widely used for meat production feed on grasses and/or grain crops, as well as agricultural by-products that can be mass-produced at low cost. Capybaras consume mainly grass (Ojasti 1973; Alho et al. 1987; Barreto and Quintana 2012), converting it into high-quality animal protein for human consumption (Murphey et al. 1985; Emmons 1987; Frasson and Salgado 1990; Gonzalez-Jimenez 1995). This is one of the notable advantages to farming capybaras compared to other neotropical wild species, such as peccaries (Pecari tajacuand Tayassu pecari) and pacas (Cuniculus paca). In this chapter we examine the capybara’s nutritional requirements and describe the feeds and feeding practices used in scientific and commercial breeding centers.

Cytogenetic characterization of the ant Trachymyrmex fuscus Emery, 1934 (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: Attini) with the description of a chromosomal polymorphism

Abstract: SummaryThe genus Trachymyrmex is a key group in the tribe Attini because of its close phylogenetic relationship to leaf-cutter ants, Acromyrmex and Atta. Cytogenetic data are only available for five taxa of Trachymyrmex, with chromosome numbers of 2n = 12, 18, 20 and 22, and morphology with predominantly metacentric chromosomes. The aim of the present study was to characterize the karyotype of the ant Trachymyrmex fuscus Emery, 1934, by means of the number and morphology of its chromosomes, heterochromatin pattern, CMA3 and DAPI fluorochromes in the population of two nests collected at Paraopeba, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Nineteen females presented 2n = 18 chromosomes (16m + 2sm) and a single male presented n = 9 (8m + 1sm). A size chromosomal polymorphism involving the short arm of the submetacentric pair was confirmed by statistical analysis, with three character conditions: heterozygous SB (with a difference in size between the short arms), standard SS (smaller short arms) and homozygote BB (bigge...