Trypanosoma brucei gambiense in domestic livestock of Kogo and Mbini foci (Equatorial Guinea).

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate Trypanosoma brucei gambiense infection in peri-domestic livestock from Kogo and Mbini foci (Equatorial Guinea) in order to investigate its possible implication in the sleeping sickness transmission cycle in these hypoendemic foci. METHODS: Samples from 698 domestic animals (goats, sheep and pigs) from trypanosomiasis-endemic localities of Kogo and Mbini foci were tested for animal trypanosomes and T. b. gambiense (group I) by species-specific polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: Trypanosoma brucei s.l., the predominant trypanosome species, was detected in 182 (52.6%) samples from Mbini and in 127 (36.1%) samples from Kogo. T. b. gambiense was only identified in seven (2%) of the Mbini samples and one co-infection (with T. vivax) was observed. CONCLUSION: The occurrence of T. b. gambiense in peri-domestic livestock in Mbini and its absence in Kogo could explain the epidemiological differences between the two foci and could have significant implications for sleeping sickness control in Equatorial Guinea

Earthworm diversity in four land use systems in the region of Jaguapitã, Paraná State, Brazil.

Little infonnation is available on earthwonn distribution and diversity in the State of Paraná, southern Brazil, Earthwonn abundanee and species diversity was evaluated in four land use systems near [aguapítã, (Paraná); where pastures are being eonverted to soybean and sugarcane. Samples were taken during the rainy and dry seasons of 2004 and 2005 in eight sites: two old degraded pastures, an old pasture being eonverted to row eropping, two grain erop fields, two sugareane fields and a native forest fragmento Twentyfive 25 x 25 em soil bloeks were taken at eaeh síte, 20 of them to 10 em and five to 30 em depth. Earthwonns were manually sorted from the soil and preserved in fonnaldehyde. Earthwonn species found were: the exotics Pontoscolex corethrurus (Glossoscolecidae), Dichogaster affinis, D. bolaui and D. saliens (Acanthodrí- Iidae), Eukerria saltensis, E. eiseniana and Ocnerodrilus occidentalis (Ocnerodrilídae), and Amynthas sp. (Megascolecidae): the native species Glossoscolex n. sp. and Fimoscolex n. sp. (Glossoscolecidae), Belladrilus n. sp.l and an unidentifiable Oenerodrilidae n, sp.l (probably Belladrílus); and two unidentified Eukerria spp. (of unknown origin) (Oenerodrilidae). Pasture eonversion to row erops had a negative effect on earthwonn abundanee and diversity: fewer individuais and species were found in the eropping systems than the pastures. The forest was not a suitable referenee site, having low earthworm populations and diversity. Exotie species tended to predominate in the land use systems near [aguapítã, but native earthworm species still survived, even in degraded pastures and row erops, many years after deforestation

Soil macrofauna communities under integrated crop-livestock systems in a cerrado ferralsol, Brazil (2007).

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The cosmic evolution of the spatially-resolved star formation rate and stellar mass of the CALIFA survey

We investigate the cosmic evolution of the absolute and specific star formation rate (SFR, sSFR) of galaxies as derived from a spatially-resolved study of the stellar populations in a set of 366 nearby galaxies from the CALIFA survey. The analysis combines GALEX and SDSS images with the 4000 break, H_beta, and [MgFe] indices measured from the datacubes, to constrain parametric models for the SFH, which are then used to study the cosmic evolution of the star formation rate density (SFRD), the sSFR, the main sequence of star formation (MSSF), and the stellar mass density (SMD). A delayed-tau model, provides the best results, in good agreement with those obtained from cosmological surveys. Our main results from this model are: a) The time since the onset of the star formation is larger in the inner regions than in the outer ones, while tau is similar or smaller in the inner than in the outer regions. b) The sSFR declines rapidly as the Universe evolves, and faster for early than for late type galaxies, and for the inner than for the outer regions of galaxies. c) SFRD and SMD agree well with results from cosmological surveys. At z< 0.5, most star formation takes place in the outer regions of late spiral galaxies, while at z>2 the inner regions of the progenitors of the current E and S0 are the major contributors to SFRD. d) The inner regions of galaxies are the major contributor to SMD at z> 0.5, growing their mass faster than the outer regions, with a lookback time at 50% SMD of 9 and 6 Gyr for the inner and outer regions. e) The MSSF follows a power-law at high redshift, with the slope evolving with time, but always being sub-linear. f) In agreement with galaxy surveys at different redshifts, the average SFH of CALIFA galaxies indicates that galaxies grow their mass mainly in a mode that is well represented by a delayed-tau model, with the peak at z~2 and an e-folding time of 3.9 Gyr.Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures, 6 tables, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. *Abridged abstract

Basin-scale land use impacts on world deltas: Human vs natural forcings

A new global database of 86 deltas and river basins was analyzed to investigate the relative importance of deforestation and land use changes versus natural forcings in determining long-term total delta size. Results show that mean river flow and shelf slope were the most important variables, whereas population density and sediment load had a much lower importance. Deforestation and other variables related to land-use generally had a very small effect, but were more influential in a subset comprising Mediterranean and Black Sea deltas. As most deltas have developed over thousands of years, the much shorter-lived anthropogenic signals from deforestation and other landscape perturbations have had only secondary impact on the total area of deltas. Also, delta progradation is strongly influenced on sand deposition, whereas anthropogenic impacts on sediment load have more often impacted mostly the finer sediment being deposited offshore (prodelta deposits) or in the deltaic plain. These data disproves the hypothesis that delta size and growth is strongly influenced by human forcings, particularly for larger deltas, since Holocene delta building is mainly determined by natural forces. However, humans are influencing the geomorphology of deltas, particularly over the last century when the Anthropocene nature of deltas has become manifest. A more precise terminology is proposed to clarify concepts such as “human-made”, “human-engineered” or “human-influenced” deltas.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Resolving galaxies in time and space: II: Uncertainties in the spectral synthesis of datacubes

In a companion paper we have presented many products derived from the application of the spectral synthesis code STARLIGHT to datacubes from the CALIFA survey, including 2D maps of stellar population properties and 1D averages in the temporal and spatial dimensions. Here we evaluate the uncertainties in these products. Uncertainties due to noise and spectral shape calibration errors and to the synthesis method are investigated by means of a suite of simulations based on 1638 CALIFA spectra for NGC 2916, with perturbations amplitudes gauged in terms of the expected errors. A separate study was conducted to assess uncertainties related to the choice of evolutionary synthesis models. We compare results obtained with the Bruzual & Charlot models, a preliminary update of them, and a combination of spectra derived from the Granada and MILES models. About 100k CALIFA spectra are used in this comparison. Noise and shape-related errors at the level expected for CALIFA propagate to 0.10-0.15 dex uncertainties in stellar masses, mean ages and metallicities. Uncertainties in A_V increase from 0.06 mag in the case of random noise to 0.16 mag for shape errors. Higher order products such as SFHs are more uncertain, but still relatively stable. Due to the large number statistics of datacubes, spatial averaging reduces uncertainties while preserving information on the history and structure of stellar populations. Radial profiles of global properties, as well as SFHs averaged over different regions are much more stable than for individual spaxels. Uncertainties related to the choice of base models are larger than those associated with data and method. Differences in mean age, mass and metallicity are ~ 0.15 to 0.25 dex, and 0.1 mag in A_V. Spectral residuals are ~ 1% on average, but with systematic features of up to 4%. The origin of these features is discussed. (Abridged)Comment: A&A, accepte