Climatic and local stressor interactions threaten tropical forests and coral reefs

Tropical forests and coral reefs host a disproportionately large share of global biodiversity and provide ecosystem functions and services used by millions of people. Yet, ongoing climate change is leading to an increase in frequency and magnitude of extreme climatic events in the tropics, which, in combination with other local human disturbances, is leading to unprecedented negative ecological consequences for tropical forests and coral reefs. Here, we provide an overview of how and where climate extremes are affecting the most biodiverse ecosystems on Earth and summarize how interactions between global, regional and local stressors are affecting tropical forest and coral reef systems through impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. We also discuss some key challenges and opportunities to promote mitigation and adaptation to a changing climate at local and global scales. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Climate change and ecosystems: threats, opportunities and solutions'

Insight into aquaculture's potential of marine annelid worms and ecological concerns: a review

Polychaetes are marine annelid worms that can contribute to aquaculture diversification. Its culture has been viable, and commercially attempted, but intensive production has progressed only in few countries around the world. In the countries with no production, marine polychaetes are imported or harvested. A strong and sustained research investment provided to a better understanding of the nutritional requirements and reproduction of some species. Recent studies showed new technical improvements, which can lead to an important progress in productivity and give a new impetus to the polychaete production. Some marine worm species were identified as good candidates for integrated multitrophic aquaculture. The development of cost-effective aquaculture techniques for marine annelid worms is essential to ensure a balance between commercial interests and the preservation of ecosystems. The influence of polychaete aquaculture on the environment and vice versa raise important concerns related to ecological security and sustainability of this activity. This review focus on the main technical improvements and advances that have been made in areas as diverse as: aquaculture potential of polychaetes, reared species, main species used worldwide, and highlights biological and ecological concerns, important challenges and recommendations.This study was supported by the FCT (Portuguese National Board of Scientific Research), through the MARE (Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre) (UID/MAR/04292/2013) strategic programme and through strategic project PEst-OE/MAR/UI0199/2014, granted to MARE. This study has also the financial support of PROMAR Program through the project 31-03-05-FEP42: LIVE BAIT – Annelid polychaetes as live bait in Portugal: harvesting, import and rearing management.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Exposure of Phosphatidylserine on Leishmania amazonensis Isolates Is Associated with Diffuse Cutaneous Leishmaniasis and Parasite Infectivity

Diffuse cutaneous leishmaniasis (DCL) is a rare clinical manifestation of leishmaniasis, characterized by an inefficient parasite-specific cellular response and heavily parasitized macrophages. In Brazil, Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis is the main species involved in DCL cases. In the experimental model, recognition of phosphatidylserine (PS) molecules exposed on the surface of amastigotes forms of L. amazonensis inhibits the inflammatory response of infected macrophages as a strategy to evade the host immune surveillance. In this study, we examined whether PS exposure on L. amazonensis isolates from DCL patients operated as a parasite pathogenic factor and as a putative suppression mechanism of immune response during the infection. Peritoneal macrophages from F1 mice (BALB/c×C57BL/6) were infected with different L. amazonensis isolates from patients with localized cutaneous leishmaniasis (LCL) or DCL. DCL isolates showed higher PS exposure than their counterparts from LCL patients. In addition, PS exposure was positively correlated with clinical parameters of the human infection (number of lesions and time of disease) and with characteristics of the experimental infection (macrophage infection and anti-inflammatory cytokine induction). Furthermore, parasites isolated from DCL patients displayed an increased area in parasitophorous vacuoles (PV) when compared to those isolated from LCL patients. Thus, this study shows for the first time that a parasite factor (exposed PS) might be associated with parasite survival/persistence in macrophages and lesion exacerbation during the course of DCL, providing new insights regarding pathogenic mechanism in this rare chronic disease

Measles outbreak: preliminary report on a case series of the first 8,070 suspected cases, Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, February to November 2018

We report an ongoing measles outbreak in Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil. As at 3 November 2018, 1,631 cases were confirmed corresponding to an incidence of 75.3 per 100,000 inhabitants; all five sanitary districts presented confirmed cases. Reintroduction of measles virus in Manaus is likely related to the current outbreak in Venezuela and due to recent decline in measles vaccine coverage. Given the current scenario, prevention and control measures should target individuals aged 15-29 years

Ancient fires enhance Amazon forest drought resistance

This is the final version. Available on open access from Frontiers Media via the DOI in this recordData availability statement: The datasets presented in this article are not readily available but the raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be available under reasonable request to the authors. Requests to access the datasets should be directed to TF, [email protected] and fire reduce productivity and increase tree mortality in tropical forests. Fires also produce pyrogenic carbon (PyC), which persists in situ for centuries to millennia, and represents a legacy of past fires, potentially improving soil fertility and water holding capacity and selecting for the survival and recruitment of certain tree life-history (or successional) strategies. We investigated whether PyC is correlated with physicochemical soil properties, wood density, aboveground carbon (AGC) dynamics and forest resistance to severe drought. To achieve our aim, we used an Amazon-wide, long-term plot network, in forests without known recent fires, integrating site-specific measures of forest dynamics, soil properties and a unique soil PyC concentration database. We found that forests with higher concentrations of soil PyC had both higher soil fertility and lower wood density. Soil PyC was not associated with AGC dynamics in non-drought years. However, during extreme drought events (10% driest years), forests with higher concentrations of soil PyC experienced lower reductions in AGC gains (woody growth and recruitment), with this drought-immunizing effect increasing with drought severity. Forests with a legacy of ancient fires are therefore more likely to continue to grow and recruit under increased drought severity. Forests with high soil PyC concentrations (third quartile) had 3.8% greater AGC gains under mean drought, but 33.7% greater under the most extreme drought than forests with low soil PyC concentrations (first quartile), offsetting losses of up to 0.68 Mg C ha–1yr–1 of AGC under extreme drought events. This suggests that ancient fires have legacy effects on current forest dynamics, by altering soil fertility and favoring tree species capable of continued growth and recruitment during droughts. Therefore, mature forest that experienced fires centuries or millennia ago may have greater resistance to current short-term droughts.Coordination of Improvement of Personnel in Higher Education, Brazil (CAPES)Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)FAPESPRoyal SocietyNational Council for Science and Technology Development of Brazil (CNPq

Estimating retention benchmarks for salvage logging to protect biodiversity

S.T. was supported by the Humboldt-Foundation and by the MOST (Ministry of Science and Technology) Taiwan Research Fellowship to work with A.C. at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan. S.T. received funds from the Gregor Louisoder Environmental Foundation. A.B.L. received funds from the Humboldt-Foundation.Forests are increasingly affected by natural disturbances. Subsequent salvage logging, a widespread management practice conducted predominantly to recover economic capital, produces further disturbance and impacts biodiversity worldwide. Hence, naturally disturbed forests are among the most threatened habitats in the world, with consequences for their associated biodiversity. However, there are no evidence-based benchmarks for the proportion of area of naturally disturbed forests to be excluded from salvage logging to conserve biodiversity. We apply a mixed rarefaction/extrapolation approach to a global multi-taxa dataset from disturbed forests, including birds, plants, insects and fungi, to close this gap. We find that 75 ± 7% (mean ± SD) of a naturally disturbed area of a forest needs to be left unlogged to maintain 90% richness of its unique species, whereas retaining 50% of a naturally disturbed forest unlogged maintains 73 ± 12% of its unique species richness. These values do not change with the time elapsed since disturbance but vary considerably among taxonomic groups.Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEA