Late Winter Dietary Overlap among Greater Rheas and Domestic Herbivores on the Argentinean Flooding Pampa

This study evaluates the dietary overlap among greater rheas (Rhea americana L.) sheep and cattle in the Flooding Pampa, Buenos Aires, Argentina during late winter, when is observed the lowest forage availability. The work was carried out with the following forage classes (FC): warm and cool season grasses and forbs (legumes and no-legumes). Diet botanical composition was estimated by microanalysis of faeces. Principal Component Analysis and Kulcyznsky´s index of similarity were used for data analysis. Rhea populations selected diets with higher forb percentages. On the contrary, vegetation structure and their own morpho-physiology conditioned cattle to diets almost exclusively gramineous. Although forbs were more consumed by sheep than by cattle, they do not represent a major portion of sheep diets. In the Flooding Pampa grasslands, the probability of competition for forage between greater rheas and sheep is intermediate, and that between rheas and cattle is low

Leaf Blade Selection by Sheep in Kleingrass (\u3ci\u3ePanicum coloratum\u3c/i\u3e L.) Pastures with Different Deferment Periods

The winter use of standing dead biomass produced by warm season grasses during the previous growing season may be an alternative to grazing systems in the semi-arid Pampean Region of Argentina. This study evaluated: 1) the effect of different deferment periods on the leaf blade percentage and quality of ‘kleingrass’ (Panicum coloratum L.), a warm season specie recently introduced to that region, and 2) whether rams grazing the vegetation accumulated during these different periods are able to select leaf blades to maintain the quality of their diets. It was generated three treatments by deferment of the forage produced after harvesting in mid December 1987 (T1), and in early January (T2) and early February (T3), 1998. Length of the deferment reduced (P\u3c 0.05) the percentages of leaf blade from 42.2±0.01 % to 30.5±2.40%. However, the percentage of blades in ram diets remained stable (62±5.4%; P\u3e 0.05). The percentage of crude protein (CP) in the vegetation was not affected by the length of the deferment period (P\u3e 0.05), however CP contents in the blades were twice higher than in the rest of the vegetation (4.13±0.9 vs 1.82±0.34). Rams actively selected leaf blades in all the treatments (P\u3e 0.05), but selection effort was stronger in those with longer deferment. These results indicated that rams are able to made an effort to select the plant part of highest quality, and suggest that this effort is restricted by the vegetation structure

Microhistological Estimation of Leaf Blade Percentage in Diets from Monoespecific Pastures

Although a decrease in the leaf-stem ratio affects the nutritive value of pastures, herbivores can reinforce selection for leaf blades to maintain the quality of their diets. This study evaluated whether the percentage of fragments with furrows in blades could be used to estimate the relative intake of this part of the leaves by herbivores grazing monoespecific pastures. It was worked with vegetation of kleingrass (Panicum coloratum L.) from paddocks with three deferment periods. Blade samples, and different plant part mixtures hand compounded were in vitro digested. The digestion residues were microhistological analyzed determining the number of fragment with furrows (#FWF), and the total number of fragments (T#F). The blade percentages in mixtures was computed as: Estimated %Blademixtures = ((#FWFmixtures*100/ %FWFblades)/ T#Fmixtures))*100. The %FWF in blade samples (19+ 1.5%) was not affected (P\u3e 0.05) by changes in plant maturity determined by the length of the deferment period. The relationship between the actual blade percentages (y), and those determined by microanalysis (x) in mixtures was 1:1. This suggests that the microanalysis of feces or digestive contents could be used to estimate the percentages of blades in the diet of herbivores grazing monoespecific pastures

Slowly and non-digestible tissues in Elytrigia scabrifolia y E. Scabriglumis

The estimation of the percentages of slowly and non-digestible tissues allows the prediction 01the nutritive value of forages. In this study, the percentages of tissues in sheaths and blades of two species natives of the Salado Basin and abundant in the Pampas range pastures (Elytrigia scabrifolia y E. scabriglumis) were determined as a primary evaluation of their forage qualily. The estimations were done in the vegetative and reproductive stages. A split-plots design in space and time, with species as main plot, plant part (sheath or blade) as secondary plots, and three replications was used. Percentages of all leaf tissues were estimated by microscopic analysis of cross section and were grouped in rapidly and slowly plus non-digestible tissues. The variation of all leaf tissues between species, plant parts and growth stage, and the percentages variation of slowly and non-digestible tissues were analysed by principal components and by ANOVA, respectively. In all cases, the percentages of sclerenchyma were lower than 10% and those of slowly plus non-digestible tissues were lower than 45%. The percentages of slowly and non-digestible tissues did not differ (P<0.05) either between species (P<0.05) or plant parts, but increased 34% with the advancement of growth from the vegetativa to the reproductive stage. Although the percentage of slowly and nondigestible tissues suggest that both species have an acceptable nutritive value, this rating could be altered by the degree of forage lignification.Resúmenes de Trabajos presentados en otras publicaciones (por docentes de la UNLPam.) Publicado en Archivos latinoamericanos de producción animal, 5(Supl. 1): 118-121, 1997

Bibliografia sobre artrópodes associados ao cajueiro (Anacardium occidentale L.) na literatura brasileira.

Foi efetuada uma revisão visando recuperar a bibliografia nacional sobre antrópodes associados ao cajueiro, referente ao período compreendido entre 1922 e 1995. Foram recuperados dois trabalhos da década de 20; três trabalhos da década de 50; seis trabalhos da decada de 60; 63 trabalhos da decada de 70; 20 trabalhos da decada de 80; e 26 trabalhos nos cinco anos da decada de 90. A grande maioria dos trabalhos foram relativos a ocorrencia de antropodes (43,44%). Em segundo lugar figuram os trabalhos sobre controle quimico (30,32%). Neste caso, foram agrupados os realizados em campo e em confinamento. Os trabalhos sobre biologia parcial ou total representaram 8,19%; o restante da bibliografia encontra-se distribuido em outros 16 assuntos. Os trabalhos publicados a partir de 1990 foram, na sua totalidade, desenvolvidos no Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Caju, hoje, CNPAT.bitstream/CNPAT-2010/4788/1/Dc-026.pd

Slowly and non-digestible tissues in Elytrigia scabrifolia y E. Scabriglumis

The estimation of the percentages of slowly and non-digestible tissues allows the prediction 01the nutritive value of forages. In this study, the percentages of tissues in sheaths and blades of two species natives of the Salado Basin and abundant in the Pampas range pastures (Elytrigia scabrifolia y E. scabriglumis) were determined as a primary evaluation of their forage qualily. The estimations were done in the vegetative and reproductive stages. A split-plots design in space and time, with species as main plot, plant part (sheath or blade) as secondary plots, and three replications was used. Percentages of all leaf tissues were estimated by microscopic analysis of cross section and were grouped in rapidly and slowly plus non-digestible tissues. The variation of all leaf tissues between species, plant parts and growth stage, and the percentages variation of slowly and non-digestible tissues were analysed by principal components and by ANOVA, respectively. In all cases, the percentages of sclerenchyma were lower than 10% and those of slowly plus non-digestible tissues were lower than 45%. The percentages of slowly and non-digestible tissues did not differ (P<0.05) either between species (P<0.05) or plant parts, but increased 34% with the advancement of growth from the vegetativa to the reproductive stage. Although the percentage of slowly and nondigestible tissues suggest that both species have an acceptable nutritive value, this rating could be altered by the degree of forage lignification.Resúmenes de Trabajos presentados en otras publicaciones (por docentes de la UNLPam.) Publicado en Archivos latinoamericanos de producción animal, 5(Supl. 1): 118-121, 1997

The Evolution of Helium and Hydrogen Ionization Corrections as HII Regions Age

Helium and hydrogen recombination lines observed in low-metallicity, extragalactic, HII regions provide the data used to infer the primordial helium mass fraction, Y_P. In deriving abundances from observations, the correction for unseen neutral helium or hydrogen is usually assumed to be absent; i.e., the ionization correction factor is taken to be unity (icf = 1). In a previous paper (VGS), we revisited the question of the icf, confirming a "reverse" ionization correction: icf < 1. In VGS the icf was calculated using more nearly realistic models of inhomogeneous HII regions, suggesting that the published values of Y_P needed to be reduced by an amount of order 0.003. As star clusters age, their stellar spectra evolve and so, too, will their icfs. Here the evolution of the icf is studied, along with that of two, alternate, measures of the "hardness" of the radiation spectrum. The differences between the icf for radiation-bounded and matter-bounded models are also explored, along with the effect on the icf of the He/H ratio (since He and H compete for some of the same ionizing photons). Particular attention is paid to the amount of doubly-ionized helium predicted, leading us to suggest that observations of, or bounds to, He++ may help to discriminate among models of HII regions ionized by starbursts of different ages and spectra. We apply our analysis to the Izotov & Thuan (IT) data set utilizing the radiation softness parameter, the [OIII]/[OI] ratio, and the presence or absence of He++ to find 0.95 < icf < 0.99. This suggests that the IT estimate of the primordial helium abundance should be reduced by Delta-Y = 0.006 +- 0.002, from 0.244 +- 0.002 to 0.238 +- 0.003.Comment: 27 double-spaced pages, 11 figures, 5 equations; revised to match the version accepted for publication in the Ap

The optical-ultraviolet continuum of Seyfert 2 galaxies

This paper aims to understand the continuum of Seyfert 2 galaxies. By fitting the single galaxies in the sample of Heckman et al. (1995) with composite models (shock+ photoionization from the active center), we show that five main components characterize the SED of the continuum. Shocks play an important role since they produce a high temperature zone where soft X-rays are emitted. We show that in the optical-UV range, the slope of the NLR emission reproduces the observed values, and may be the main component of the featureless continuum. The presence of star forming regions cannot be excluded in the circumnuclear region of various Seyfert galaxies. An attempt is made to find their fingerprints in the observed AGN spectra. Finally, it is demonstrated that multi-cloud models are necessary to interpret the spectra of single objects, even in the global investigation of a sample of galaxies.Comment: 26 pages, LaTeX (including 5 Tables) + 17 PostScript figures. To appear in "The Astrophysical Journal

Long Term Variability of SDSS Quasars

We use a sample of 3791 quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Early Data Release (EDR), and compare their photometry to historic plate material for the same set of quasars in order to study their variability properties. The time base-line we attain this way ranges from a few months to up to 50 years. In contrast to monitoring programs, where relatively few quasars are photometrically measured over shorter time periods, we utilize existing databases to extend this base-line as much as possible, at the cost of sampling per quasar. Our method, however, can easily be extended to much larger samples. We construct variability Structure Functions and compare these to the literature and model functions. From our modeling we conclude that 1) quasars are more variable toward shorter wavelengths, 2) their variability is consistent with an exponentially decaying light-curve with a typical time-scale of ~2 years, 3) these outbursts occur on typical time-scales of ~200 years. With the upcoming first data release of the SDSS, a much larger quasar sample can be used to put these conclusions on a more secure footing.Comment: 16 pages, accepted for publication in AJ, Sept issu