Enhancing sampling design in mist-net bat surveys by accounting for sample size optimization

The advantages of mist-netting, the main technique used in Neotropical bat community studies to date, include logistical implementation, standardization and sampling representativeness. Nonetheless, study designs still have to deal with issues of detectability related to how different species behave and use the environment. Yet there is considerable sampling heterogeneity across available studies in the literature. Here, we approach the problem of sample size optimization. We evaluated the common sense hypothesis that the first six hours comprise the period of peak night activity for several species, thereby resulting in a representative sample for the whole night. To this end, we combined re-sampling techniques, species accumulation curves, threshold analysis, and community concordance of species compositional data, and applied them to datasets of three different Neotropical biomes (Amazonia, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado). We show that the strategy of restricting sampling to only six hours of the night frequently results in incomplete sampling representation of the entire bat community investigated. From a quantitative standpoint, results corroborated the existence of a major Sample Area effect in all datasets, although for the Amazonia dataset the six-hour strategy was significantly less species-rich after extrapolation, and for the Cerrado dataset it was more efficient. From the qualitative standpoint, however, results demonstrated that, for all three datasets, the identity of species that are effectively sampled will be inherently impacted by choices of sub-sampling schedule. We also propose an alternative six-hour sampling strategy (at the beginning and the end of a sample night) which performed better when resampling Amazonian and Atlantic Forest datasets on bat assemblages. Given the observed magnitude of our results, we propose that sample representativeness has to be carefully weighed against study objectives, and recommend that the trade-off between logistical constraints and additional sampling performance should be carefully evaluated

Reuse Of Whey Cheese For Lipase Production By Candida Lipolytica

This work evaluated the use of cheese whey for lipase production by Candida lipolytica under submerged cultivation. A 2(3) factorial design with four replications at the center point was carried out to investigate the production of the enzyme. Assays were performed in Erlenmeyer flasks at 10 % v /v inoculum (standardized to 106 CFU /mL), useful volume of 100 mL, 150 rpm and at 28 degrees C in the presence of cheese whey, olive oil and Tween - 80, initial pH 5.0. The centrifuged samples were used to determine pH and enzyme activity. The maximum lipase activity reached 118 U/mL at 24 h of culture with different concentrations of the production medium in the presence of the whey at 100 to 99.8 %, independent of olive oil at 0.2 % and Tween-80, 0.2 % and pH 5.0-5.3. The micro-organism studied produced lipase in first 24 h of cultivation, using whey cheese as substrate, with great environmental potential for be applied in effluent treatment of this type4333133