Influence of gene dispersal and environmental heterogeneity on spatial and genetic patterns of the understory herb Heliconia acuminata across a fragmented landscape in central Amazon, Brazil

Understanding how plants are spatially and genetically distributed in the environment can be a challenging task given the difficulty to characterize ecological processes, such as gene flow, and to disentangle the relative importance of multiple factors underlying the generation of distinct patterns. In this dissertation, I study different populations of the understory plant Heliconia acuminata L.C. Richard (Heliconiaceae) distributed across 1-ha fragments and continuous forest sites in the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project (BDFFP), an experimentally fragmented landscape in central Amazonia. I characterize a set of ten microsatellite markers developed for Heliconia acuminata to first evaluate gene flow, which is one of the main processes influencing genetic structure and spatial patterns of plants, and second to assess the potential influence of endogenous (e.g., seed dispersal) and environmental factors on spatial patterns of plants and genetic relatedness distribution. I combine genetic and ecological data in a novel and comprehensive Bayesian model to estimate parentage to more fully characterize the contribution of pollen and seed dispersal to H. acuminata gene flow. I then compare metrics of gene flow between fragments and continuous forest, while taking in consideration the variation in abundance of reproductive plants in each population. I tested the conservation genetics prediction that gene flow is interrupted in fragmented landscapes. Contrary to this hypothesis, I found that that both fragmentation and low population densities were associated with greater immigration rates and longer pollination and seed dispersal distances. My results are one example of how fragmentation does not limit gene dispersal. I suggest that conservation genetics predictions are reformulated by taking in consideration the variation in the behavior of pollinators and seed dispersers across heterogeneous landscapes in response to habitat configuration and to the spatial and temporal availability of food resources. To investigate the influence of endogenous factors (plant - plant interactions) and environmental covariates (light, slope and soil characteristics) on spatial patterns of seedlings and adults, I use a new statistical methodology to model marked point patterns. Using this flexible approach, I also evaluate whether local spatial genetic structure is associated to spatial distribution of plants. The results show that H. acuminata seed dispersal is contagious, but not distance - restricted or genetically structured (presence of highly related plants). The absence of an association between spatial pattern and local genetic structure for adults also suggest the absence of genetic structuring in seedlings over time. Light and zinc availability are positively associated with spatial patterns of seedlings and adults, which may indicate carryover effects of seedlings on recruits over time. Carbon is negatively associated with adults, which may be evidence of competition with large dominant trees. I finally propose a new mechanistic framework to the studies of frugivore - mediated seed dispersal. I conduct a qualitative analysis of existent studies explicitly linking frugivores, fruiting plants and seed shadows and propose a frugivore - centered, process-based view of seed dispersal that integrates animal movement and seed dispersal ecology across multiple spatio - temporal scales. This critical analysis provides the empirical foundation over which we can build a more comprehensive, multi-scaled, research approach to the study of seed dispersal, process which is known to play a crucial role in the dynamics and evolution of plant populations

Lectura de contexto y abordaje psicosocial desde los enfoques narrativos Dosquebradas.

Se analiza el relato 4, donde el joven Edison Medina, permite que se conozca un poco sobre un caso donde además de víctima fue victimario del conflicto armado de Colombia, con el propósito de comprender un poco los motivos y las circunstancias en las que un joven puede tomar una decisión equivocada. La atención psicosocial, se concentra en el reconocimiento de los recursos individuales con los que cuentan las personas y las comunidades afectadas por hechos de victimización y la implementación de estrategias colectivas de trabajo, en las que se privilegia el restablecimiento de valores comunitarios con el propósito de que sus resultados generen el bienestar de la población afectada, así como también para el interés general de nuestro país.The story 4 is analyzed, where the young Edison Medina, allows to know a little about a case where as well as victim was the victim of the armed conflict in Colombia, with the purpose of understanding a little the reasons and circumstances in which a young man You can make a wrong decision. Psychosocial care focuses on the recognition of the individual resources available to people and communities affected by acts of victimization and the implementation of collective work strategies, in which the re-establishment of community values is privileged for the purpose of that its results generate the welfare of the affected population, as well as for the general interest of our country

Temporal variation in the abundance of two species of thrushes in relation to fruiting phenology in the Atlantic rainforest

When fruit resources in tropical forests are scarce, frugivorous birds might track fruiting by expanding their home-ranges or by moving. We tested whether the abundance of the Yellow-legged Thrush (Turdus flavipes) and White-necked Thrush (T. albicollis) is correlated with the fruiting of the dominant palm tree (Jucara Palm, Euterpe edulis) and fruiting within the tree community as a whole in three Atlantic rainforest types (restinga, lowland, and premontane forests) in south-eastern Brazil over 3 years. We monitored abundance of the two species of thrush and their consumption of fruit, and fruiting patterns of Jucara Palms and the tree community as a whole. Jucara Palms accounted for 45 and 28% of the feeding bouts of Yellow-legged Thrush and White-necked Thrush. The abundance of Yellow-legged Thrushes was positively correlated with fruiting of Jucara Palms, but not to fruiting of the tree community, in all forest types. White-necked Thrushes ate a greater diversity of fruits and its abundance was neither correlated with fruiting of Jucara Palms or to fruiting of the tree community. We suggest that fruits of Jucara Palms constitute a paramount food resource for Yellow-legged Thrushes and may influence movement and abundance of the species in different vegetation types and elevations in the Atlantic rainforest, whereas White-necked Thrushes employ other feeding strategies to persist in periods of fruit scarcity.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

The individual-based network structure of palm-seed dispersers is explained by a rainforest gradient

How species interactions change in space and time is a major question in ecology. In tropical forests, plant individuals share mutualistic partners (pollinators or seed dispersers), yet we have little understanding of the factors affecting these individual interaction patterns. We used a seed dispersal individual-based network describing interactions between individuals of a palm species and bird species to investigate how intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics of individual plants influence the network structure. We evaluated if average canopy height, number of fruits, distance to forest gap and habitat type influence the role of palm individuals in the network. From 102 palms, 62 individuals had their seeds dispersed at least once: 17 individual palms in the restinga, 15 in the lowland and 30 in the pre-montane habitat. Twelve bird species were recorded dispersing Euterpe edulis seeds. No palm characteristics influenced interaction patterns in the network, characterized by the level of centrality of each palm. At the network level, modularity with qualitative data was reproduced by the null models which consider the variation in the number and distribution across interactions. Three of the seven identified modules were associated with a particular habitat. Indeed, habitat type explained 50% of network modularity. Habitat association with modularity was driven by differences in species composition across habitats. Palm individuals did not differ greatly in central positions, indicating that bird species are not selecting palm individuals by their characteristics. When using the weighted network, modularity level was higher than expected by the number of interactions, and frequency of interactions was positively correlated with canopy height. Our results suggest that the organization of this individual-based network is mostly driven by habitat type. We hypothesize that extrinsic characteristics, such as habitat type, may affect the network organization of populations of sessile organisms with potentially unanticipated consequences to ecological and evolutionary dynamics

Are mobile phones part of the chain of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in hospital settings?

Mobile phones (MPs) have become an important work tool around the world including in hospitals. We evaluated whether SARS-CoV-2 can remain on the surface of MPs of first-line healthcare workers (HCW) and also the knowledge of HCWs about SARS-CoV-2 cross-transmission and conceptions on the virus survival on the MPs of HCWs. A cross-sectional study was conducted in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit of a teaching hospital. An educational campaign was carried out on cross-transmission of SARS-CoV-2, and its permanence in fomites, in addition to the proper use and disinfection of MPs. Herewith an electronic questionnaire was applied including queried conceptions about hand hygiene and care with MP before and after the pandemic. The MPs were swabbed with a nylon FLOQ Swab™, in an attempt to increase the recovery of SARS-CoV-2. All MP swab samples were subjected to SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR; RT-PCR positive samples were subjected to viral culture in Vero cells (ATCC® CCL-81™). Fifty-one MPs were swabbed and a questionnaire on hand hygiene and the use and disinfection of MP was applied after an educational campaign. Most HCWs increased adherence to hand hygiene and MP disinfection during the pandemic. Fifty-one MP swabs were collected and two were positive by RT-PCR (4%), with Cycle threshold (Ct ) values of 34-36, however, the cultures of these samples were negative. Although most HCWs believed in the importance of cross-transmission and increased adherence to hand hygiene and disinfection of MP during the pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 RNA was detected in MPs. Our results suggest the need for a universal policy in infection control guidelines on how to care for electronic devices in hospital settings

International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortiu (INICC) report, data summary of 43 countries for 2007-2012. Device-associated module

We report the results of an International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2007-December 2012 in 503 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. During the 6-year study using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) U.S. National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions for device-associated health care–associated infection (DA-HAI), we collected prospective data from 605,310 patients hospitalized in the INICC's ICUs for an aggregate of 3,338,396 days. Although device utilization in the INICC's ICUs was similar to that reported from ICUs in the U.S. in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals: the pooled rate of central line–associated bloodstream infection in the INICC's ICUs, 4.9 per 1,000 central line days, is nearly 5-fold higher than the 0.9 per 1,000 central line days reported from comparable U.S. ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was also higher (16.8 vs 1.1 per 1,000 ventilator days) as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (5.5 vs 1.3 per 1,000 catheter days). Frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas isolates to amikacin (42.8% vs 10%) and imipenem (42.4% vs 26.1%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (71.2% vs 28.8%) and imipenem (19.6% vs 12.8%) were also higher in the INICC's ICUs compared with the ICUs of the CDC's NHSN