Phrynops geoffroanus (Testudines, Chelidae) in anthropogenic environment: blood profile and oral microbiota

Phrynops geoffroanus é uma espécie de quelônio com ampla distribuição na América do Sul, ocupando diversos tipos de habitat, inclusive rios urbanos poluídos. Com o objetivo de se conhecer aspectos ecológicos da espécie em ambientes antropizados, durante os anos de 2006 e 2007 foi realizado um estudo na bacia do rio Piracicaba, tendo como sítios amostrais o rio Piracicaba e seu afluente o ribeirão Piracicamirim. Um dos temas deste estudo foi à avaliação de aspectos sanitários da espécie. Foi investigado o perfil hematológico dos cágados no rio Piracicaba e ribeirão Piracicamirim, e avaliado um índice de estresse (razão heterófilo/linfócito), que além dos dois corpos d\'água foi adicionado um grupo de animais provenientes de cativeiro, da Fundação Parque Zoológico de São Paulo. A diferença entre um rio de maior volume, Piracicaba, e seu afluente Piracicamirim, ambos poluídos e com diferentes históricos de ocupação do solo, pouco influenciaram nas variações dos dados hematológicos dos cágados e os animais não apresentaram nenhum sinal de enfermidade através dos resultados obtidos no hemograma. Estas análises foram o tema do primeiro capítulo desta dissertação. Outro aspecto sanitário avaliado foi a microbiota bacteriana oral dos cágados em ambos os corpos d\'água, abordado no segundo capítulo. As amostras foram incubadas a 25 e 37ºC. Avaliou-se a patogenicidade das bactérias tanto para os cágados quanto para seres humanos. Houve crescimento de bactérias patogênicas para o homem e para os animais e a bactéria mais prevalente a 37ºC foi a Escherichia coli. Apesar disso, os cágados não apresentaram sinal aparente de infecção. Estudos de longo prazo são recomendados para animais residentes em ambientes antropizados, monitorando-se o estado sanitário e aspectos ecológicos e demográficos.Phrynops geoffroanus is a freshwater turtle species, with a wide distribution in South America, living in many types of habitats, including polluted urban rivers. During 2006 and 2007, aiming to study ecological aspects of the species in anthropogenic environments, it was conducted an investigation at Piracicaba River Basin, in two sample sites, the Piracicaba river and its tributary, Piracicamirim stream. One of the topics studied was a health assessment of the turtles. It was examined the blood profile in Piracicaba and Piracicamirim turtles and evaluated a measure of stress (heterophil/lymphocyte ratio), that had another study group besides the animals from the rivers, turtles in captivity from Sao Paulo Zoo Park Foundation. The difference between a large river, Piracicaba and its tributary Piracicamirim, both polluted and with different soil use and occupation had a little influence on turtles\' hematological variation, and the animals did not show any sign of disease through the blood profile examination. These evaluations were the subject of the thesis\' first chapter. Another part of the health assessment study, subject of the second chapter, was the oral microbiota investigation, performed in Piracicaba and Piracicamirim turtles. The samples were incubated at 25 and 37º Celsius, aiming to check the bacterium\'s pathogenicity for the animals and for humans. The results showed growth of pathogenic bacterium for both and the most prevalent bacteria at 37ºC was Escherichia coli. Although, the turtles did not show any sign of infection. Long-term studies are suggested for turtles living in anthropogenic environments to monitor their health status, demography and ecological issues

The turtle Trachemys scripta elegans (Testudines, Emydidae) as an invasive species in a polluted stream of southeastern Brazil

The north American freshwater turtle Trachemys scripta elegans has been recently reported as an exotic species in several regions of the world. During an investigation on the ecology of the Chelid turtle Phrynops geoffroanus in a Brazilian anthropogenically altered stream, we captured four T. s. elegans (two males and two females) and observed several other individuals basking. Reproduction was recorded for captive individuals. The occurrence of feral T. s. elegans in southeastern Brazil is considered and aspects that could favor the long term persistence of T. s. elegans at the study site are discussed.Fil: Ferronato, Bruno O.. Universidade do Sao Paulo. Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz; BrasilFil: Marques, Thiago Simon. Universidade do Sao Paulo. Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz; BrasilFil: Guardia, Isabela. Universidade do Sao Paulo. Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz; BrasilFil: Longo, Ana L. B.. Universidade do Sao Paulo. Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz; BrasilFil: Piña, Carlos Ignacio. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; Argentina. Universidade do Sao Paulo. Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz; BrasilFil: Bertoluci, Jaime. Universidade do Sao Paulo. Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz; BrasilFil: Verdade, Luciano Martins. Universidade do Sao Paulo. Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz; Brasi

Profiling a possible rapid extinction event in a long-lived species

Infectious disease is a contributing factor to species extinction or endangerment. Extinction is most likely to occur when a pathogen is evolutionarily novel, or when it utilizes an alternate reservoir, or when hosts have small pre-epidemic populations. Here we focus on such a case where a mystery disease almost drove the range restricted, Bellinger River Snapping Turtle (Myuchelys georgesi), in north-eastern NSW, Australia, to extinction in less than a month. The disease did not affect other turtle species, and the juvenile population of M. georgesi appears unaffected. The cause of the disease remains unknown, but may be a novel virus and whether the species can recover with or without human intervention is currently unknown. Here, we review the biology of M. georgesiand explore the epidemiology of the disease. We highlight circumstantial evidence of the potential role of recent environmental change in the susceptibility of M. georgesi. We show that long-term regional warming and localised drying reduced both water levels in the river and the number of flooding events that occurred prior to the disease outbreak. We also provide evidence that the food web may have been disrupted, possibly causing malnutrition and reduced immunocompetence of sub-adult and adult turtles. We hypothesize that these factors may have exacerbated the virulence and contagiousness of a novel, but as-yet unidentified pathogen, and must be also mitigated in any future recovery actions. The identity of the pathogen is necessary for managing the recovery of the species, however, understanding the processes that rendered the species susceptible to infection is of equal importance for planning the recovery of the species from the brink of extinction