Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro

About: Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro is a education organization based out in Seropédica, Brazil. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Species richness. The organization has 6405 authors who have published 9852 publications receiving 105911 citations.

Sustained mass coral bleaching (2016–2017) in Brazilian turbid-zone reefs: taxonomic, cross-shelf and habitat-related trends

Abstract: Between 2014 and 2017, an unprecedented heat stress accumulated and propagated across the tropical oceans and resulted in the so-called Third Global Bleaching Event (TGBE). Information about the effects of the TGBE in marginal coral reef provinces are still scarce, but can be relevant to understand the trajectories of coral reefs as climate changes intensify. Akin to deep mesophotic reefs and reefs in thermally stressed regions, low diversity, turbid-zone reefs may exhibit high bleaching tolerance due to local adaptations and conditions (e.g., shading by turbidity). Here, we summarize previous bleaching events in the tropical Western South Atlantic Ocean and explore taxonomic, cross-shelf and habitat-related bleaching trends in the Abrolhos reefs in February, May, June and October 2016, and March 2017. Fire corals (Millepora spp.) were the most affected, but all scleractinian species and several octocorals and zoanthids also bleached. Bleaching prevalence was higher in shallow coastal and offshore reef arcs than in deeper mesophotic reefs. All coral species bleached, but there were taxonomic and habitat-related trends in bleaching prevalence. Several species bleached less in the sites and habitats where their abundance was lower. As of March 2017, coral mortality was overall low across the region (< 3% of total coral cover). Our results add to the recent evidence that deep reefs provide partial refugia for a few coral species, and that turbid-zone reefs may be less susceptible to climate stress due to shading, higher heterotrophy levels, and local adaptations.

Community ecology of the metazoan parasites of grey mullets, Mugil platanus (Osteichthyes: Mugilidae) from the littoral of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Abstract: One hundred and fifty specimens of grey mullets, Mugil platanus Gunther, collected from the littoral of the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between June 1984 to August 1988, were necropsied to study their infracommunities of metazoan parasites. Twenty-five species of metazoan parasites were collected. One hundred and forty-nine (99.3%) fishes were parasitized by one or more metazoan species. According to their importance values, 13 species were considered dominant, 7 species codominant and 2 species subordinate (digeneans were the majority of the total number of parasite specimens collected, with 63.7%). The presence of larval stages of digeneans and cestodes suggest that M. platanus is at an intermediate level in the marine trophic web. The Simpson index for all parasite species was low (0.059) indicating lack of dominance by a particular species in the parasite community. The parasites of M. platanus showed a typical overdispersed pattern of distribution. The capture localities of the hosts were consolidated into 3 groups and its parasite communities showed high qualitative and quantitative similarity, with high values for the Sorenson similarity coefficient and Percent similarity coefficient. Six species had a positive correlation between the host's total body length and parasite intensity, while three species had a negative correlation. Four species had a positive correlation between the host's total body length and parasite prevalence and one species had negative correlation. Five parasite species had differences in prevalence and intensity in relation to sex of host, but these differences were confounded with the total length of male and female fishes. The mean diversity in the infracommunities of M. platanus was H' = 0.936 +/- 0.477, without correlation with the host's total length and without significant difference between male and female fishes. In the ectoparasites, the infracommunities showed overall positive association, 6 pairs of copepod species had a significant positive association. One pair of species showed a negative covariation between parasite intensities. Infracommunities of endoparasites also showed overall positive association, and four species pairs of digeneans had a significant positive association. Only one had a negative association. The specialist components with low prevalence values predominated in the parasite community, which, based on these factors, was considered closer to the isolationist type.

Flora visitada pelas abelhas eussociais (Hymenoptera, Apidae) na Serra da Capivara, em caatinga do Sul do Piauí

Abstract: Estudou-se a flora explorada por Apis mellifera L. (abelhas africanizadas) e meliponineos, em vegetacao de caatinga, no Parque Nacional da Serra da Capivara, PI. Durante um ano foram feitas amostragens mensais em dois locais, utilizando-se redes entomologicas para a coleta das abelhas eussociais em visita as plantas. Coletaram-se 69 especies de angiopermas de 28 familias nos dois locais amostrados. Leguminosae foi a familia com maior numero de especies florais e de maior visitacao pelas abelhas eussociais, como ocorreu com outras localidades de caatinga, mas ha poucas especies melitofilas em comum. As plantas coletadas foram visitadas por 12 especies de meliponineos e, ou pelas abelhas africanizadas. A. mellifera visitou 32 especies florais e os meliponineos 58 especies, destes destacou-se Trigona spinipes Fabr. com maior espectro de plantas visitadas. O comportamento oportunista foi aparente em A. mellifera, mas nao foi observado em todas as especies de meliponineos coletadas. A fenologia da flora e da fauna de abelhas foi similar a relatada em outros estudos regionais de mesma formacao floristica: abundância e heterogeneidade floral durante a estacao chuvosa, favorecendo o forrageamento das abelhas, e escassez de recursos florais durante a seca, quando a ocorrencia das abelhas se reduz.