Fire behaviour in different periods and configurations of a landscape in Northeastern Portugal

Neste trabalho aborda-se a importância do planejamento do uso e ocupação do solo, e do manejo dos sistemas florestais na redução do perigo de incêndio, analisando-se o comportamento do fogo em relação às alterações na paisagem da Deilão, nordeste de Portugal. Foram utilizadas cadeias de Markov e modelos de autômatos celulares como metodologia para projetar a paisagem no futuro. FlamMap foi utilizado para simular o comportamento do fogo. De acordo com as métricas da paisagem obtidas no Fragstats, observou- se que os cenários e projeções em Deilão têm uma tendência à simplificação da paisagem, o que pode facilitar a ocorrência de incêndios maiores e mais graves. A análise dos resultados indicou uma tendência ao aumento do perigo de incêndios na região, em grande parte, ocasionado pela expansão de plantações contínuas de florestas. Para evitar tais impactos, o manejo florestal e ordenamento da paisagem devem ser modificados a fim de se reduzir o acúmulo de materiais combustíveis.In this study, we discuss the importance of land use, land cover planning and forest stand management in fire hazard reduction, through the analysis of fire behavior in relation to landscape changes in Deilão, northeastern Portugal. Markov chains and cellular automata model were used to project future landscapes whose structures were quantified by landscape metrics. The FlamMap model was used to simulate fire behavior. According to landscape metrics from Fragstats, we observed that scenarios and projections in Deilão have a trend towards landscape simplification, which may facilitate the occurrence of larger, more severe fires. The analyses indicate an increased fire hazard trend in the region, largely caused by the continuity of forest cover. To avoid such impacts, forest management and landscape plannig should be modified in order to reduce the accumulation of combustible materials.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Brazilian solar saltworks - ancient uses and future possibilities

Coastal solar saltworks of Brazil are exploited for sea salt, which becomes progressively concentrated by evaporation. This study aimed to review the current and new potential uses of these systems, in order to provide more dynamic for this activity. The first evaporation ponds are also used for artisanal fisheries, ensuring the livelihood of many families. All the brine rich in secondary salts (bittern) can be widely used by the chemical industry, while the Brazil shows an incipient production of "flower of salt", a salt with distinct characteristics with higher market value than sodium chloride. On the other hand, the saltponds have a high potential for management and obtaining of large populations of Artemia spp., purifying the brine through the action as biological filter. This microcrustacean occurs naturally in intermediate salinity ponds, being commonly used in aquaculture. Species of microalgae and halobacteria found in the saltworks are employed for extraction of beta-carotene and glycerol, used in an extensive list of products with high commercial value. These ecosystems represent refuge zones for many species of migratory birds, becoming imperative to promote the conservation of these hypersaline wetlands

Pervasive hybridization with local wild relatives in Western European grapevine varieties

Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) diversity richness results from a complex domestication history over multiple historical periods. Here, we used whole-genome resequencing to elucidate different aspects of its recent evolutionary history. Our results support a model in which a central domestication event in grapevine was followed by postdomestication hybridization with local wild genotypes, leading to the presence of an introgression signature in modern wine varieties across Western Europe. The strongest signal was associated with a subset of Iberian grapevine varieties showing large introgression tracts. We targeted this study group for further analysis, demonstrating how regions under selection in wild populations from the Iberian Peninsula were preferentially passed on to the cultivated varieties by gene flow. Examination of underlying genes suggests that environmental adaptation played a fundamental role in both the evolution of wild genotypes and the outcome of hybridization with cultivated varieties, supporting a case of adaptive introgression in grapevine.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Improving the in silico assessment of pathogenicity for compensated variants

Understanding the functional sequelae of amino-acid replacements is of fundamental importance in medical genetics. Perhaps, the most intuitive way to assess the potential pathogenicity of a given human missense variant is by measuring the degree of evolutionary conservation of the substituted amino-acid residue, a feature that generally serves as a good proxy metric for the functional/structural importance of that residue. However, the presence of putatively compensated variants as the wild-type alleles in orthologous proteins of other mammalian species not only challenges this classical view of amino-acid essentiality but also precludes the accurate evaluation of the functional impact of this type of missense variant using currently available bioinformatic prediction tools. Compensated variants constitute at least 4% of all known missense variants causing human-inherited disease and hence represent an important potential source of error in that they are likely to be disproportionately misclassified as benign variants. The consequent under-reporting of compensated variants is exacerbated in the context of next-generation sequencing where their inappropriate exclusion constitutes an unfortunate natural consequence of the filtering and prioritization of the very large number of variants generated. Here we demonstrate the reduced performance of currently available pathogenicity prediction tools when applied to compensated variants and propose an alternative machine-learning approach to assess likely pathogenicity for this particular type of variant

Trophic position of dolphins tracks recent changes in the pelagic ecosystem of the Macaronesian region (NE Atlantic)

14 pages, 6 figures, 1 table.-- Open accessDolphins play a key role in marine food webs as predators of mid-trophic-level consumers. Because of their mobility and relatively long life span, they can be used as indicators oflarge-scale changes in the ecosystem. In this study, we calculated the trophic position (TP) of 5 dolphin species from the Canary, Madeira and Azores Islands using bulk and compound-specific stable isotope ratios from muscle tissue to assess trophic adaptations to recent changes in the availability of feeding resources. Dolphin TP values were then compared with those of 7 other species of cetaceans from this region. Analysis of stable nitrogen isotopes in amino acids of the common dolphin indicated non-significant effects of changes in the basal resources of the food web and thus supported the use of bulk samples for TP estimations. Dolphins occupied an intermediate TP (mean: 3.91 to 4.20) between fin (3.25) and sperm whales (4.95). Species-specific TP were equivalent among islands. However, TP increased for the common dolphin and decreased for the bottlenose dolphin (the latter also becoming more oceanic) between 2000 and 2018 in the Canary Islands. These results suggest different impacts of recent changes in the oceanography and in the pelagic food web of the Macaronesian region on the trophic ecology of dolphin speciesThis study was supported in part by the projects QLOCKS (PID2020-115620RB-I00), funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (Spain), MISTIC SEAS 2 (‘Applyinga subregional coherent and coordinated approach to the monitoring and assessment of marine biodiversity in Macaronesia for the second cycle of the MSFD’), funded by the Directorate General Environment of the European Commission (Grant Agreement No. 11.0661/2017/750679/SUB/ENV.C2), MISTIC SEAS 3 (‘Developing a coordinated approach for assessing Descriptor 4 via its linkages with D1 and other relevant descriptors in the Macaronesian subregion’), funded by the Directorate General Environment of the European Commission (Grant Agreement No. 110661/2018/794676/SUB/ENV.C2), RACAM (Rede de Arrojamentos de Cetáceos do Arquipélago da Madeira), implemented by the Madeira Whale Museum and funded by the Machico Municipality and projects MARCET (MAC/1.1b/149) and MARCET II (MAC/2.6c/392), both co-financed by EU Programme INTERREG MAC 2014−2020, and through the Commission (28-5307) for ‘Technical scientific advice for the protection of the marine environment: assessment and monitoring of marine strategies, monitoring of marine protected areas of state competence (2018−2021)’ of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness Demographic Challenge (MITECO). Data collection in the Azores was supported by FCT and FRCT through TRACE-PTDC/MAR/74071/2006, MAPCET-M2.1.2/F/012/2011, IF/00943/2013/CP1199/CT0001 (FEDER, COMPETE, QREN, POPH, ESF, Portuguese Ministry for Science and Education, Azores 2020 Operational Programme). M.A.S. was funded by SUMMEREU-H2020 GA 817806. M.A.S. and R.P. were funded by OP AZORES 2020, through the EU Fund 01-0145-FEDER-000140. Okeanos is funded by FCT (UIDB/05634/2020) and by the Regional Government of the Azores (M1.1.A/REEQ.CIENTÍFICO UI&D/2021/010). J.G. was supported by the Spanish National Programme Juan de la Cierva-Formación (MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 FJC2019-040016-I). This work acknowledges the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S) to the Institute of Marine Science (ICM-CSIC)Peer reviewe

Hydrological influence on the evolution of a subtropical mangrove ecosystem during the late Holocene from Babitonga Bay, Brazil

Mangroves are key ecosystems which respond to global changes in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. We describe late Holocene mangroves that established close to the southernmost limit (28°S) for this type of ecosystem in South America. Our findings are based on a C dated core obtained from Babitonga Bay, Santa Catarina State, Brazil (26°12′S, 48°33′W). Analysis of palynology, sedimentary facies, isotopic and elemental data shows that mangrove establishment took place ~500 yrs. B.C.E., following an increase in humidity, and expanded further during the Roman Warm Period and at the end of Dark Age Cold Period. Mangrove and precipitation proxies records appear to be sensitive to rainfall patterns imposed both by the expansion/retraction of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and also the interaction with the South Atlantic Subtropical Anticyclone which affects coastal region due to sea surface temperature variations.The authors thank the Coastal Dynamic Laboratory (LADIC-UFPA) , C-14 Laboratory of the Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture (CENA-USP) , University of Joinville (UNIVILLE) and Radiocarbon Laboratory (LAC-UFF) for all infrastructure and support. We also thank three anonymous Reviewers and Prof. H. Falcon-Lang for their constructive comments. The first and third author thanks Brazilian Council for Technology and Science-CNPq for fellowship (process 131813/2016-1 , 165911/2015-8 and 305074/2017-2 ). This study was financed by CNPq ( 445111/2014-3 , 405060/2013- 0 ) and FAPESP ( 2011/00995-7 , 2017/03304-1, and 2020/13715-1 ). This study also was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal Nível Superior – Brazil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001

Zero-inflated Poisson regression models for QTL mapping applied to tick-resistance in a Gyr × Holstein F2 population

Now a days, an important and interesting alternative in the control of tick-infestation in cattle is to select resistant animals, and identify the respective quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and DNA markers, for posterior use in breeding programs. The number of ticks/animal is characterized as a discrete-counting trait, which could potentially follow Poisson distribution. However, in the case of an excess of zeros, due to the occurrence of several noninfected animals, zero-inflated Poisson and generalized zero-inflated distribution (GZIP) may provide a better description of the data. Thus, the objective here was to compare through simulation, Poisson and ZIP models (simple and generalized) with classical approaches, for QTL mapping with counting phenotypes under different scenarios, and to apply these approaches to a QTL study of tick resistance in an F2 cattle (Gyr × Holstein) population. It was concluded that, when working with zero-inflated data, it is recommendable to use the generalized and simple ZIP model for analysis. On the other hand, when working with data with zeros, but not zero-inflated, the Poisson model or a data-transformation-approach, such as square-root or Box-Cox transformation, are applicable

Desenvolvimento de uma Tecnologia Educacional: o Jogo Sério para o Ensino de Curativos / Development of an Educational Technology: The Serious Game for Teaching Dressings

O presente estudo busca descrever o desenvolvimento de um jogo sério, bem como sua aplicabilidade como ferramenta de ensino da semiotécnica relacionada à realização de curativos entre discentes do curso de enfermagem. Trata-se de um relato de experiência para o desenvolvimento de um Jogo Sério denominado de “Injury Care Simulator” em cinco etapas adaptadas do proposto por Roger (2014). Apresenta como cenário principal uma enfermaria em âmbito hospitalar, com ícones cujo objetivo é a correta seleção de materiais para a realização de curativos conforme cada fase e temas abordados. É constituído por casos clínicos de níveis crescentes de dificuldade composto por um layout simples contendo no canto superior da tela o Prontuário, o Leito, e a Seringa