Accident caused by Rhopalurus agamemnon (Koch, 1839) (Scorpiones, Buthidae)

Acidentes escorpiônicos constituem um sério problema de saúde pública no Brasil. Rhopalurus agamemnon é um grande escorpião do bioma Cerrado, muito abundante em diversas localidades do Brasil Central. A espécie utiliza ambientes campestres e savânicos, sendo comum no interior de cupinzeiros. Entretanto, desaparece de locais onde o cerrado é removido. Os acidentes relatados apresentam sintomas de envenenamentos moderados, mas são baseados em identificações discutíveis. Aqui apresentamos o relato de um acidente seguramente causado por esta espécie. Concluímos que os poucos relatos disponíveis não permitem avaliar a gravidade dos acidentes e o eventual risco deste escorpião para a saúde pública. _________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTAccidents caused by scorpions are a serious public health problem in Brazil. Rhopalurus agamemnon is a large scorpion found in the Cerrado (savanna) biome, and it is very abundant in many localities in central Brazil. The species inhabits open savanna environments, and is common inside termite mounds. However, it disappears from places where the native vegetation has been removed. The accidents reported present moderate symptoms of envenoming, but are based on questionable identifications. Here, we present a report on an accident that was certainly caused by Rhopalurus agamemnon. We conclude that the few reports available do not make it possible to evaluate the severity of such accidents and the possible risk to public health from this scorpion

The Custodial Randall-Sundrum Model: From Precision Tests to Higgs Physics

We reexamine the Randall-Sundrum (RS) model with enlarged gauge symmetry SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R x U(1)_X x P_LR in the presence of a brane-localized Higgs sector. In contrast to the existing literature, we perform the Kaluza-Klein (KK) decomposition within the mass basis, which avoids the truncation of the KK towers. Expanding the low-energy spectrum as well as the gauge couplings in powers of the Higgs vacuum expectation value, we obtain analytic formulas which allow for a deep understanding of the model-specific protection mechanisms of the T parameter and the left-handed Z-boson couplings. In particular, in the latter case we explain which contributions escape protection and identify them with the irreducible sources of P_LR symmetry breaking. We furthermore show explicitly that no protection mechanism is present in the charged-current sector confirming existing model-independent findings. The main focus of the phenomenological part of our work is a detailed discussion of Higgs-boson couplings and their impact on physics at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. For the first time, a complete one-loop calculation of all relevant Higgs-boson production and decay channels is presented, incorporating the effects stemming from the extended electroweak gauge-boson and fermion sectors.Comment: 74 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables. v2: Matches version published in JHE

Consequences of replacing native savannahs with acacia plantations for the taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic α- and β-diversity of bats in the northern Brazilian Amazon

Across the globe, millions of hectares of native vegetation have been replaced by commercial plantations, with negative consequences for biodiversity. The effects of the replacement of native vegetation with commercial plantations on the functional and phylogenetic diversity of bat assemblages remain understudied, and most studies have focused exclusively on the taxonomic component of diversity. Here, we investigate how the replacement of natural savannahs by acacia plantations affects the α- and β-diversity of bat assemblages. We sampled bats, using mist-nets at ground level, in natural forest, savannah areas and acacia plantations, in the Lavrados de Roraima in the northern Brazilian Amazon. Our results show that, in general, acacia is less diverse than native forests in terms of taxonomic and functional diversity, and is also less taxonomically diverse than the savannah matrix which it substitutes. The observed patterns of α- and β-diversity found in the present study are in large part driven by the superabundance of one generalist and opportunistic species, Carollia perspicillata, in the acacia plantations. Taken together, our results show that the replacement of areas of natural savannah by acacia plantations causes a regional loss in diversity across all diversity dimensions: taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic. However, further studies are required to fully understand the ecological and conservation implications of this landscape change

Membranes by the Numbers

Many of the most important processes in cells take place on and across membranes. With the rise of an impressive array of powerful quantitative methods for characterizing these membranes, it is an opportune time to reflect on the structure and function of membranes from the point of view of biological numeracy. To that end, in this article, I review the quantitative parameters that characterize the mechanical, electrical and transport properties of membranes and carry out a number of corresponding order of magnitude estimates that help us understand the values of those parameters.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figure

Bat conservation and zoonotic disease risk: a research agenda to prevent misguided persecution in the aftermath of COVID-19

Letter to the EditorCOVID-19 has spread around the globe, with massive impacts on global human health, national economies and conservation activities. In the timely editorial about conservation in the maelstrom of COVID-19, Evans et al. (2020) urged the conservation community to collaborate with other relevant sectors of society in the search for solutions to the challenges posed by the current pandemic, as well as future zoonotic outbreaks. Considering the association of COVID 19 with bats (Zhou et al., 2020), bat conservationists will undoubtedly be key actors in this dialogue, and thus an action plan on how best to adjust bat conservation to this new reality, alongside a transdisciplinary research agenda, are clear prioritiesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

TRY plant trait database - enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives