Análise do endotélio corneano de jibóias (Boa constrictor) utilizando a microscopia eletrônica de varredura

10

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Giardia spp. Cysts and Cryptosporidium spp. Oocysts removal in high turbid drinking water using polyaluminum chloride: a bench scale study and analytical challenges

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o desempenho da remoção de cistos deGiardia spp. e oocistos de Cryptosporidium parvum, em águas de abastecimento com turbidez elevada, em experimentos em escala de bancada (coagulação, floculação, decantação e filtração). Para tanto, empregou-se o coagulante cloreto de polialumínio – PAC. O método de filtração em membranas foi adotado para a concentração de protozoários, seguido ou não da etapa de purificação por separação imunomagnética – IMS. Os métodos foram avaliados em experimentos de controle de qualidade analítica e o método sem IMS apresentou as seguintes porcentagens de recuperação, 80% ±16,32% para cistos de Giardia spp. e 5% ±10,00% para oocistos de C. parvum. O método com IMS apresentou 31,5%±7,55% de recuperação para cistos de Giardia spp. e 5,75%±3,20% de recuperação para oocistos de C. parvum. Os experimentos demonstraram que não houve melhora na remoção de ambos os protozoários na condição de maior dosagem de coagulante (65 mg.L-1 de PAC e pH 7,29). A condição de menor dosagem de coagulante (25 mg.L-1 de PAC e pH 6,76) apresentou um desempenho melhor, ao contrário de uma expectativa de que a maior dosagem de coagulante pudesse favorecer a remoção destes microrganismos. A condição de menor dosagem apresentou, na água filtrada, 50 e 75% de ausência de identificação de cistos de Giardia e oocistos de C. parvum, respectivamente. A condição de maior dosagem apresentou (oo)cistos na água filtrada de todas amostras analisadas. Estes resultados indicam a importância do controle da coagulação na remoção de protozoários.The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of Giardia spp. cysts and Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts removal in a bench scale experiment. The coagulant polyaluminium chloride – PACl was used in this research. The protozoa concentration tests were performed by applying the Membrane Filtration method, with and without Immunomagnetic Separation assay-IMS. The methods were evaluated using control experiments and the method without IMS had the following percentage recovery, 80% ± 16.32% and 5% ±10.00% for Giardia cysts and C. parvum oocysts, respectively. The method with IMS presented 31.5% ± 7.55% and 5.75% ± 3.20% of percentage recovery for Giardia cysts and C. parvum oocysts, respectively. Bench scale experimental results have clearly shown that there was no improvement in protozoa removal using the superior dosage of coagulant. The inferior dosage condition (25 mg.L-1 of PACl and pH 6,76) performed better, which was contrary to what was expected in which a superior dosage of coagulant could favour when removing microorganisms. The inferior dosage condition presented 50% and 75% of absence of Giardia cysts and C. parvum oocysts in the final water, respectively. The second coagulation condition (65 mg.L-1 of PACl and pH 7,29) presented protozoa (oo)cysts in the final water of all the samples examined. These results indicate the importance of coagulation control in protozoa removal

Household slow sand filtration as a water treatment alternative in isolated communities: efficiencies with and without water level control and ripening acceleration

A falta de água potável é um agravo que atinge populações em nível mundial e nacional e as pequenas comunidades isoladas são as que estão mais suscetíveis à essa vulnerabilidade. Essas localidades demandam soluções descentralizadas, como o filtro lento domiciliar (FLD). Nesse contexto, nesta tese propõe-se a construção de FLD com materiais de PVC, de fácil aquisição e montagem simples. Na Fase 1 do trabalho, compararam-se FLDs com regime de fluxo intermitente, com (FI) e sem (FIS) controle do nível da água por boia; e contínuo, com (FC) e sem (FCS) boia, tratando mistura de água subterrânea com caulinita. Analisaram-se turbidez remanescente, redução de Escherichia coli, tempo de amadurecimento e duração das carreiras de filtração para investigar o efeito da boia nos dois regimes. Na Fase 2, estudou-se a aceleração do amadurecimento nos dois regimes, usando como acelerador o pó de cacto Opuntia cochenillifera, tratando água natural. Compararam-se unidades intermitentes com (FIA) e sem (FI) acelerador, e unidades contínuas com (FCA) e sem (FC) acelerador. Nessa fase consideraram-se também a redução de coliformes totais, consumo de oxigênio dissolvido e remoção de cistos de Giardia e oocistos de Cryptosporidium além das variáveis consideradas na Fase 1. Nas duas fases estudaram-se as correlações de variáveis operacionais (taxa de filtração, perda de carga dividida por espessura de meio filtrante, tempo de operação, tempo após a manutenção) com eficiências para redução de bactérias e turbidez remanescente. O custo dos FLDs em PVC foi estimado em cerca de R$420,00. Os resultados indicaram que na Fase 1, FI demonstrou maiores carreiras de filtração que FIS, sem diferenças para as outras variáveis. FC apresentou turbidez remanescente média menor que FCS (1,24 ± 0,91 versus 1,90 ± 1,36 NTU). Na Fase 2, FIA apresentou melhor eficiência para redução de E. coli (2,32 ± 0,79 versus 1,936 ± 0,61 log) e menor turbidez remanescente média que FI, entre os contínuos, não houve diferença de eficiências (p.e. 2,51 ± 0,60 e 2,60 ± 0,56 log de E. coli), no entanto, FCA apresentou carreiras de filtração mais curtas que FC (33 ± 13 versus 60 ± 14 dias). A variável perda de carga nos primeiros 2 cm foi a com maior correlação com a redução de bactérias na Fase 1, enquanto que na Fase 2, a redução de bactérias se correlacionou melhor com turbidez remanescente. No estudo sobre de remoção de (oo)cistos de protozoários, 92$ 420.00. The results indicated that in Phase 1, FI had larger filtration runs than FIS, with no differences for the other variables. FC had turbidity remaining mean lower than FCS (1.24 ± 0.91 versus 1.90 ± 1.36 NTU). In Phase 2, FIA had a better efficiency to reduce E. coli (2.32 ± 0.79 versus 1.936 ± 0.61 log) and lower average remaining turbidity than FI, there were no differences in efficiencies (e.g. 2, 51 ± 0.60 and 2.60 ± 0.56 log of E. coli), however, FCA had shorter filtration runs than FC (33 ± 13 versus 60 ± 14 days). The variable head loss in the first 2 cm was the one with the highest correlation with E. coli reductions in Phase 1, while in Phase 2, the bacterial reduction correlated better with remaining turbidity. In the study on the removal of protozoa (oo)cysts, 92% of 30 samples did not present the parasites, however, in two samples the presence of a Cryptosporidium oocyst was detected. Despite high bacterial reductions by HSSFs, there were no filtered samples with absence of coliforms; therefore, sodium hypochlorite tests were performed, which resulted in no bacteria in the treated water. The float control extended the filtration run in the intermittent regime and improved the turbidity filtered in the continuous stream. The use of the ripening accelerator was effective for FLD efficiencies only in the intermittent flow. Between the studied models of filters, FC was the one with the better results of efficiencies and duration of filters run

Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network

International audienceThe shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora

Núcleos de Ensino da Unesp: artigos 2008

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq