Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso

About: Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso is a education organization based out in Cuiabá, Brazil. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Species richness. The organization has 7748 authors who have published 10181 publications receiving 89994 citations.

Rickettsial infection in ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) collected on birds in southern Brazil.

Abstract: The aim of the study was to evaluate rickettsial infection in ticks from wild birds of the Semidecidual and Atlantic Rainforest remnants of three municipalities of the State of Parana, southern Brazil. Overall, 53 larvae and nymphs collected from birds were checked for the presence of Rickettsia DNA by molecular tests. Five tick species were tested: Amblyomma aureolatum (Pallas), Amblyomma calcaratum Neumann, Amblyomma longirostre (Koch), Amblyomma ovale Koch, and Amblyomma parkeri Fonseca and Aragao. A. longirostre ticks were infected with the spotted fever group agents Rickettsia amblyommii strain AL (32.3% infection rate) and Rickettsia parkeri strain NOD (5.9% infection rate). A new rickettsial genotype was detected in the tick A. parkeri (50% infection rate), which had never been reported to be infected by rickettsiae. Through phylogenetic analysis, this new genotype, here designated as strain ApPR, grouped in a cluster composed by different strains of Rickettsia africae, Rickettsia sibirica, and R. parkeri. We consider strain ApPR to be a new genotype of R. parkeri. This study reports for the first time rickettsial infection in ticks from birds in southern Brazil. The role of migrating birds in the dispersal of these rickettsial strains should be considered in ecological studies of spotted fever group agents in Brazil.

Is environmental legislation conserving tropical stream faunas? A large-scale assessment of local, riparian and catchment-scale influences on Amazonian fish.

Abstract: 1. Agricultural expansion and intensification are major threats to tropical biodiversity. In addition to the direct removal of native vegetation, agricultural expansion often elicits other human-induced disturbances, many of which are poorly addressed by existing environmental legislation and conservation programmes. This is particularly true for tropical freshwater systems, where there is considerable uncertainty about whether a legislative focus on protecting riparian vegetation is sufficient to conserve stream fauna. 2. To assess the extent to which stream fish are being effectively conserved in agricultural landscapes, we examined the spatial distribution of assemblages in river basins to identify the relative importance of human impacts at instream, riparian and catchment scales, in shaping observed patterns. We used an extensive dataset on the ecological condition of 83 low-order streams distributed in three river basins in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. 3. We collected and identified 24,420 individual fish from 134 species. Multiplicative diversity partitioning revealed high levels of compositional dissimilarity (DS) among stream sites (DS = 0.74 to 0.83) and river basins (DS = 0.82), due mainly to turnover (77.8% to 81.8%) rather than nestedness. The highly heterogeneous fish faunas in small Amazonian streams underscore the vital importance of enacting measures to protect forests on private lands outside of public protected areas. 4. Instream habitat features explained more variability in fish assemblages (15%-19%) than riparian (2%-12%), catchment (4%-13%) or natural covariates (4%-11%). Although grouping species into functional guilds allowed us to explain up to 31% of their abundance (i.e. for nektonic herbivores), individual riparian - and catchment- scale predictor variables that are commonly a focus of environmental legislation explained very little of the observed variation (partial R-2 values mostly 5. Policy implications. Current rates of agricultural intensification and mechanization in tropical landscapes are unprecedented, yet the existing legislative frameworks focusing on protecting riparian vegetation seem insufficient to conserve stream environments and their fish assemblages. To safeguard the species-rich freshwater biota of small Amazonian streams, conservation actions must shift towards managing whole basins and drainage networks, as well as agricultural practices in already-cleared land.

Priorities and Interactions of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with Focus on Wetlands

Abstract: Wetlands are often vital physical and social components of a country’s natural capital, as well as providers of ecosystem services to local and national communities. We performed a network analysis ...

Phylogenetic Relationships of Mouse Opossums (Didelphidae, Marmosa) with a Revised Subgeneric Classification and Notes on Sympatric Diversity

Abstract: To resolve phylogenetic relationships among species of Marmosa we analyzed DNA sequences from one mitochondrial and three nuclear genes for every member of the nominotypical subgenus and from four species of the subgenus Micoureus. As reported in previous studies, the subgenus Marmosa was found to be paraphyletic, whereas Micoureus was recovered as a robustly supported clade. Species currently referred to the subgenus Marmosa form four strongly supported and morphologically diagnosable groups. Based on these results we recognize a total of five subgenera: Marmosa Gray, 1821 (for macrotarsus, murina, tyleriana, and waterhousei); Micoureus Lesson, 1842 (for alstoni, constantiae, demerarae, paraguayana, phaea, and regina); Stegomarmosa Pine, 1972 (for andersoni and lepida); Eomarmosa, new subgenus (for rubra); and Exulomarmosa, new subgenus (for isthmica, mexicana, robinsoni, simonsi, xerophila, and zeledoni). The best-supported hypothesis of relationships among these clades is ((Stegomarmosa (Marmo...