Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Nesting and Beach Selection at Príncipe Island, West Africa

Hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata) and green turtles (Chelonia mydas) are the predominant nesting sea turtle species on the beaches of Príncipe Island in the Gulf of Guinea. The extent of nesting has been largely unknown, but such information is essential for management and conservation. Our study is the first island-wide nesting assessment. Results from the survey, conducted from 1 December 2009 to 18 January 2010 (during peak nesting season), show that the potential suitable nesting area (10 km) is scattered around the island’s 50 beaches. Sea turtles nested on 32 of the beaches (hawksbills, 20; green turtles, 28) and used 7.5 km of the suitable nesting habitat (hawksbills, 5.8 km; green turtles, 7.0 km). We estimated that 101 (95% CI = 86–118) clutches were deposited by 17-29 hawksbills and 1088 (95% CI = 999–1245) clutches were deposited by 166-429 green turtles on Príncipe from November 2009 to February 2010 (nesting season). Long-term green turtle nest count data collected from 2007/08 to 2015/16 suggest a positive trend. Analyses of clutch densities in relation to beach characteristics suggested that both species preferred areas where human presence is lower, which coincided with the most sheltered areas. These findings should be used to inform coastal planning and minimize impacts on nesting beaches, as Príncipe is currently targeted for tourism development. Overall, results highlight that Príncipe beaches are very important for the conservation of West African hawksbill and green turtle populations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impact of swordfish fisheries on sea turtles in the Azores.

The surface longline fishery around the Azores targets swordfish (Xiphias gladius). Bycatch from this fishery includes loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) and occasionally leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) that are either hooked or entangled in the lines. Hooks are generally set at depths of 15-50 m and baited with squid, mackerel, or sometimes with shark meat. The size classes of loggerhead sea turtles caught ranged from 41.3 to 65.4 cm curved carapace length and constitutes the largest size class of loggerheads occurring in the Azores. The impact on this size class affects the survival of the southeastern United States (SEUS) population of loggerheads because the loggerheads from the Azores are primarily from SEUS rookeries. For one commercial longline boat, we observed that the mean capture of turtles per 1000 hooks by month ranged between a minimum of 0.04 in May and a maximum of 0.79 in July with a weighted mean catch of 0.27. October and November also registered high catch rates. Of 60 turtles recorded, 54 were hooked in the mouth, 3 in the esophagus, 1 in the eye, 1 in the flipper, and one was undetermined. The turtles that were caught were physically strong, except one that was weak and another dead. Total capture of loggerhead sea turtles is estimated to be 4190 for the entire fleet fishing in the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Azores during the swordfish season (May to December) of 1998. We strongly recommend that observer programs be continued because capture rates may vary among years and among fishing boats

Feeding pattern and use of reproductive habitat of the Striped toad Rhinella crucifer (Anura: Bufonidae) from Southeastern Brazil

Diet composition, foraging mode, and using of reproductive habitat of Rhinella crucifer was studied in an artificial pond in Espírito Santo, Brazil. The favored substrate was leaf litter, followed by Cyperaceae/Poaceae. Calling sites, preferred for 23.3 % (n = 7) of the observed toads, were within the water, with only the head not submerged. We analyzed a total of 61 specimens, mainly males (98.5% male and 1.5% female). Seven categories of prey were found in the stomach contents: Coleoptera, Hymenoptera (Formicidae), Isoptera, Lepidoptera, Orthoptera, Gastropoda (Mollusca), Opilionida (Arachnida). Our studies indicate that the diet of Rhinella crucifer consists mainly of terrestrial colonial arthropods. Formicidae was the predominant food item in frequency of occurrence, number of prey and weight. Isoptera and Coleoptera were also relevant in terms of weight. Neither large ontogenetic dietary nor seasonal shifts were observed in the population studied. Our results suggest that no intraspecific food resource partitioning occurs in adult or juveniles. Rhinella crucifer adults avoid competition inhabiting different home range habitats and seem to be ant-specialist with a wide foraging mode

Ferramenta de simulação para análise espectral de redes de Bragg

As redes de Bragg (FBG) tornaram-se componentes importantes na redes de comunicações ópticas, pois permitem a realização de várias operações sem a necessidade de conversão opto-electrónica. Este artigo descreve uma ferramenta de software para simulação e caracterização de redes de Bragg por nós inteiramente concebida. A interface gráfica foi programada utilizando o ambiente GUIDE do Matlab. É assim possível analisar um leque variado de FBGs, tendo em consideração os efeitos secundários provocados pela variação do índice de refracção médio, durante o processo de fabrico

Adipose stem cell-derived osteoblasts sustain the functionality of endothelial progenitors from the mononuclear fraction of umbilical cord blood

Vascularization is the most pressing issue in tissue engineering (TE) since ensuring that engineered constructs are adequately perfused after in vivo transplantation is essential for the construct’s survival. The combination of endothelial cells with current TE strategies seems the most promising approach but doubts persist as to which type of endothelial cells to use. Umbilical cord blood (UCB) cells have been suggested as a possible source of endothelial progenitors. Osteoblasts obtained from human adiposederived stem cells (hASCs) were co-cultured with the mononuclear fraction of human UCB for 7 and 21 days on carrageenan membranes. The expression of vWF and CD31, and the DiI-AcLDL uptake ability allowed detection of the presence of endothelial and monocytic lineages cells in the co-culture for all culture times. In addition, the molecular expression of CD31 and VE-cadherin increased after 21 days of coculture. The functionality of the system was assessed after transplantation in nude mice. Although an inflammatory response developed, blood vessels with cells positive for human CD31 were detected around the membranes. Furthermore, the number of blood vessels in the vicinity of the implants increased when cells from the mononuclear fraction of UCB were present in the transplants compared to transplants with only hASC-derived osteoblasts. These results show how endothelial progenitors present in the mononuclear fraction of UCB can be sustained by hASC-derived osteoblast co-culture and contribute to angiogenesis even in an in vivo setting of inflammatory response.Financial support through the Ph.D. Grant SFRH/BD/44893/2008 to R.P. P. by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and through the European Union NoE EXPERTISSUES (NMP3-CT-2004-500283) is acknowledged

Identification of Sinorhizobium (Ensifer) medicae based on a specific genomic sequence unveiled by M13-PCR fingerprinting

A collection of nodule isolates from Medicago polymorpha obtained from southern and central Portugal was evaluated by M13-PCR fingerprinting and hierarchical cluster analysis. Several genomic clusters were obtained which, by 16S rRNA gene sequencing of selected representatives, were shown to be associated with particular taxonomic groups of rhizobia and other soil bacteria. The method provided a clear separation between rhizobia and co-isolated non-symbiotic soil contaminants. Ten M13-PCR groups were assigned to Sinorhizobium (Ensifer) medicae and included all isolates responsible for the formation of nitrogen-fixing nodules upon re-inoculation of M. polymorpha test-plants. In addition, enterobacterial repetitive intergenic consensus (ERIC)-PCR fingerprinting indicated a high genomic heterogeneity within the major M13-PCR clusters of S. medicae isolates. Based on nucleotide sequence data of an M13-PCR amplicon of ca. 1500 bp, observed only in S. medicae isolates and spanning locus Smed_3707 to Smed_3709 from the pSMED01 plasmid sequence of S. medicae WSM419 genome’s sequence, a pair of PCR primers was designed and used for direct PCR amplification of a 1399-bp sequence within this fragment. Additional in silico and in vitro experiments, as well as phylogenetic analysis, confirmed the specificity of this primer combination and therefore the reliability of this approach in the prompt identification of S. medicae isolates and their distinction from other soil bacteria. [Int Microbiol 2009; 12(4):215-225

Sea turtles : University of Florida – University of the Azores connection 1984 – present. A review

The loggerhead (Caretta caretta) is the most common sea turtle in the Azores. Since they do not nest in the area, a tagging program was started in the 1980’s to try to discover their origin. The result based on size distribution, suggested that they mainly are coming from beaches in SE United States. A collaboration between University of Florida and the University of the Azores began in 1984 in order to proceed with further research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

First report of anthracnose of Capsicum Chinense in Brazil caused by Colletotrichum brevisporum

Fruit of “yellow lantern” chili pepper (Capsicum chinense L.) with typical symptoms of anthracnose were observed in the city of Manaus in 2008 and Manacapuru in 2014, in Amazonas state, Brazil. The symptoms initially consisted of small dark-brown lesions, circular, depressed, with defined edges, progressing to the center and becoming gray to black, with concentric circles. Losses of up to 100% have occurred in some plantings. Isolation of the fungus was carried out from masses of spores present on the fruit lesions. Colonies were grown on potato dextrose agar (PDA) at 25°C and 12-h photoperiod. Monosporic cultures were obtained and the isolates were deposited in the Microorganisms Culture Collection of the National Institute of Amazonian Research, Manaus, Brazil (INPA 1858 and INPA 2800). After 7 days on PDA, single spore colonies had a cottony appearance and the color ranged from white to brownish, with orange-colored masses of conidia. Conidia were hyaline, aseptate, cylindrical with rounded ends, and measured 10.2 to 17.7 µm in length × 3.3 to 5.6 µm in width. Appressoria formed were dark-brown in color, irregularly shaped or lobate, and measured 5.9 to 12.0 µm in length and 5.5 to 8.9 µm in width. Partial sequences of actin (ACT) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) genes were amplified and comparted to GenBank accession nos. KU315567 and KX878886 for ACT and KU315572 and KX878887 for GAPDH. Bayesian inference analyses performed with concatenated gene sequences showed that the isolate INPA 1858 and INPA 2800 clustered with the ex-type specimen of Colletotrichum brevisporum (BCC 38876) in a clade with high support (posterior probability = 1). Pathogenicity tests with isolates INPA 1858 and INPA 2800 were conducted on healthy chili peppers using the wound inoculation method by droplet (106 conidia/ml) on the fruit surface (Lin et al. 2002). Pathogenicity tests were done with 10 fruit per isolate (INPA 1858 and INPA 2800) replicated three times. The controls were inoculated with sterile water. Typical symptoms of anthracnose were observed 7 days post inoculation, while the controls did not show any symptoms. The fungus C. brevisporum was recovered from the inoculated chili peppers, thereby confirming Koch’s postulates. C. brevisporum was described in Thailand causing symptoms in Neoregalia sp. and in Pandanus pygmaeus (Noireung et al. 2012), in Korea in Lycium chinense (Paul et al. 2014), and in Brazil in Carica papaya and Sechium edule (Bezerra et al. 2016; Vieira et al. 2013). To our knowledge, this is the first report of C. brevisporum on C. chinense fruits in Brazil. © 2017, American Phytopathological Society. All rights reserved

Interdisciplinary teaching of photosynthesis : interfaces between critical meaningful learning and research communities

A divisão dos conceitos e das noções teóricas por componentes disciplinares diferentes é um dos desafios no processo de ensino e aprendizagem nas escolas. Este trabalho explora uma abordagem interdisciplinar na implementação didática do estudo do processo de fotossíntese nas escolas ou nos cursos técnicos integrados ao ensino médio. A proposta deste estudo é demonstrar como a interdisciplinaridade pode ser incorporada na sequência didática nas aulas presenciais e também nas aulas do ensino remoto – este sem perda de dinâmica e eficácia no processo de ensino e aprendizagem. A sequência didática e a atividade de ensino remoto foram baseadas nos conceitos principais das teorias psicológicas de Ausubel, Moreira e Vygotsky e das teorias educacionais de Moreira e Lipman para construção de aprendizagem significativa crítica. Para organização e avaliação do processo de aprendizagem, foi selecionado e aplicado o mapa conceitual, de Novak. Os resultados obtidos mostram nível suficiente de aprendizagem dos conceitos estudados do processo de fotossíntese e também a adaptação dos alunos ao método de ensino e aprendizagem na perspectiva da interdisciplinaridade, bem como foi indicado a adesão positiva à ferramenta do mapa conceitual. Com esses resultados, espera-se que a abordagem apresentada nesta pesquisa seja útil para outros profissionais da área educacional, permitindo sua aplicação nos diferentes componentes disciplinares e distintos espaços da educação formal.The attribution of concepts and theoretical notions to different disciplinary areas is one of the challenges in the teaching and learning processes in schools. This work explores an interdisciplinary approach in the didactic implementation of the study of the photosynthesis process in high schools or in technical courses integrated with high schools. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate how interdisciplinarity can be incorporated into the didactic sequence for in-class teaching, as well as for remote teaching, without the loss of dynamics and efficiency in the teaching and learning process. The didactic sequence and the remote learning activity were based on the main concepts of the psychological theories of Ausubel, Moreira and Vygotsky as well as the educational theories of Moreira and Lipman proposed for the construction of critical meaningful learning. To organize and evaluate the learning process, Novak's conceptual map was selected and applied. The obtained results show a sufficient level of learning of the studied concepts of photosynthesis and also the students' adaptation to the teaching and learning method from the perspective of interdisciplinarity, as well as positive adherence to the conceptual map tool. With these results, it is expected that the approach presented in this research will be useful for other professionals of education, allowing for its application in different disciplinary areas and distinct spaces of formal education

Diet of juveniles of the venomous frog Aparasphenodon brunoi (Amphibia: Hylidae) in southeastern Brazil

Seventy juvenile individuals of Aparasphenodon brunoi were collected on the low parts of tree trunks in an Atlantic Forest remnant. Arthropods were the dominant prey found in their stomachs. Coleoptera (adult and larvae) was the most important prey regarding prey frequency, number, weight, and index of relative importance. Secondary preys included Hymenoptera that was important regarding number of prey and Hemiptera that was important regarding prey weight. Trophic ontogeny was detected. The diversity of prey suggests A. brunoi is an opportunistic sit-and-wait predator