Synthesis and characterization of methylcellulose from cellulose extracted from mango seeds for use as a mortar additive

Methylcellulose was produced from the fibers of Mangifera indica L. Ubá mango seeds. MCD and MCI methylcellulose samples were made by heterogeneous methylation, using dimethyl sulfate and iodomethane as alkylating agents, respectively. The materials produced were characterized for their thermal properties (DSC and TGA), crystallinity (XRD) and Degree of Substitution (DS) in the chemical route. The cellulose derivatives were employed as mortar additive in order to improve mortar workability and adhesion to the substrate. These properties were evaluated by means of the consistency index (CI) and bond tensile strength (TS) tests. The methylcellulose (MCD and MCI) samples had CI increased by 27.75 and 71.54% and TS increased by 23.33 and 29.78%, respectively, in comparison to the reference sample. Therefore, the polymers can be used to produce adhesive mortars

Amazonia camtrap: A dataset of mammal, bird, and reptile species recorded with camera traps in the Amazon forest.

The Amazon forest has the highest biodiversity on earth. However, information on Amazonian vertebrate diversity is still deficient and scattered across the published, peer-reviewed and grey literature and in unpublished raw data. Camera traps are an effective non-invasive method of surveying vertebrates, applicable to different scales of time and space. In this study, we organized and standardized camera trap records from different Amazon regions to compile the most extensive dataset of inventories of mammal, bird and reptile species ever assembled for the area. The complete dataset comprises 154,123 records of 317 species (185 birds, 119 mammals and 13 reptiles) gathered from surveys from the Amazonian portion of eight countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela). The most frequently recorded species per taxa were: mammals - Cuniculus paca (11,907 records); birds - Pauxi tuberosa (3,713 records); and reptiles - Tupinambis teguixin (716 records). The information detailed in this data paper opens-up opportunities for new ecological studies at different spatial and temporal scales, allowing for a more accurate evaluation of the effects of habitat loss, fragmentation, climate change and other human-mediated defaunation processes in one of the most important and threatened tropical environments in the world. The dataset is not copyright restricted; please cite this data-paper when using its data in publications and we also request that researchers and educators inform us of how they are using this data. [Abstract copyright: This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.