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

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

Anatomical characterisation of mycorrhizal fungi in neotropical orchids.

The mycorrhizas are fungi associations considered to be a requirement for the survival of orchids that live naturally in ecosystems, since this group of plants depends on the fungi to germinate, as well as for their establishment. The knowledge of mycorrhizical fungi biodiversity of Brazilian orchids and characteristics of this interaction are of great importance for further reintroduction programs, conservation and handling of these vegetal species. Thus, in this work, we present the anatomical characterisation of mycorrhizas in Neotropical orchids by using a simple staining method. Moreover, unusual hyphae colonisation was also observed

The relationship between buman adenovirus and metals and semimetals in the waters of the Rio Doce, Brazil.

The 2015 rupture of the Fund?o dam near the district of Bento Rodrigues in Mariana, Minas Gerais, Brazil, released around 50 million m3 of iron ore tailings. The first tributary of the Rio Doceto receive this waste was the Gualaxo do Norte River. Many groups in Brazil and from around the world have studied the environmental and social impacts of this disaster. However, relationships between the introduction of mining waste, the geological complexity of the area, and the presence of pathogenic organisms have not yet been investigated. The present study aimed to measure the concentrations of enteric pathogens along the Gualaxo do Norte River after the environmental disaster and to correlate their abundance with the presence of metals and semimetals coming from both mining tailings and geological sources. For this purpose, we collected water samples from 27 stations along the entire basin during a hydrological year. The concentrations of metals and semimetals measured in this study were generally within limits established by national and international legislation, except for those of iron and manganese. Positive correlations between the human adenovirus (HAdV) and arsenic, barium, iron, lead, manganese, and nickel were confirmed, allowing us to observe that there is an abundance of the potentially infectious virus present in the studied sites containing metal/semimetal concentrations. These studies indicate the importance of investigations that consider viral enteric pathogens complexed with metals and may favor the stability and prolongation of the infectivity of such pathogens in water destined for human and animal usage

Molecular identification of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli in the watershed of Xopot? River, in Alto do Rio Doce, Brazil.

Esta pesquisa cient?fica teve como principal objetivo identificar pat?tipos de Escherichia coli diarreiog?nica nas ?guas superficiais da Bacia Hidrogr?fica do Rio Xopot?, na regi?o do Alto Rio Doce, Minas Gerais. Os estudos referentes ?s estirpes diarreiog?nicas de E. coli no meio ambiente no Brasil s?o escassos. A bacia hidrogr?fica escolhida para o estudo sofre intensa degrada??o ambiental devido ao lan?amento de esgoto in natura em seus corpos d??gua e ?s atividades antr?picas, como a agropecu?ria. As coletas de ?gua nos 13 pontos amostrais foram realizadas em duas ?pocas do ano de 2015 (abril e julho). Para identifica??o dos genes de E. coli diarreiog?nica, utilizou?se o m?todo de rea??o em cadeia da polimerase (PCR). A bacia hidrogr?fica apresentou contamina??o diarreiog?nica de pat?tipos E. coli produtora de toxina Shiga (STEC), E. coli enteropatog?nica (EPEC) e E. coli enterotoxig?nica (ETEC), tal ocorr?ncia foi constante em ambas as campanhas. Os genes de virul?ncia observados foram: na STEC, toxina Shiga (Stx1), respons?vel por causar doen?as renais graves, como a s?ndrome hemol?tico-ur?mica (SHU); j? a EPEC apresentou somente o gene virulento eae, caracter?stico do subgrupo at?pico (aEPEC); a ETEC apresentou toxinas termol?beis (LT). A presen?a desses pat?tipos representa potencial risco de doen?as diarreiog?nicas na popula??o que utiliza os recursos h?dricos, particularmente idosos e crian?as, e evidencia o comprometimento da qualidade microbiol?gica dos cursos d??gua constituintes da Bacia Hidrogr?fica do Rio Xopot?, decorrente principalmente da aus?ncia de esta??es de tratamento de esgoto (ETEs).The main purpose of this scientific research was to identify pathotypes of diarrheogenic Escherichia coli in the watershed of Xopot? River, in Alto do Rio Doce, Minas Gerais region, Brazil. The studies referring to the stirps diarrheagenics of E. coli in the environment in Brazil are scarce. The watershed chosen for the study suffers intense environmental degradation due the release of raw sewage into their water bodies and human activities, such as agriculture. The water collecting at 13 sampling points were held in two periods of the year 2015 (April and July). For the identification of the genes of diarrheagenic E. coli, the method of reaction polymerase chain (PCR) was used. The watershed presented pathogenic contamination of pathotypes Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), and enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) such a constant occurrence in both campaigns. The virulence genes observed were: STEC, Shiga toxin (Stx1), responsible for causing severe kidney disease as hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). Besides that, EPEC presented only the virulent gene eae, characteristic of the atypical subgroup (aEPEC), as well as thermolabile toxins (LT). The presence of these pathotypes represents potential risk of diarrheagenic diseases in the population that uses the water resources, particularly the elderly and children, and demonstrates the commitment of the microbiological quality of constituents watercourses of the watershed of Xopot? River, mainly because the lack of sewage treatment facilities

Enteric viruses as contaminants and bioindicators in environmental samples

Submitted by Luciana Ferreira ([email protected]) on 2018-08-28T12:21:29Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Artigo - Gislaine Fongaro - 2015.pdf: 280159 bytes, checksum: ef6ff60369c5c487e0dfedbdd6be497d (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira ([email protected]) on 2018-08-28T12:24:51Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Artigo - Gislaine Fongaro - 2015.pdf: 280159 bytes, checksum: ef6ff60369c5c487e0dfedbdd6be497d (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-28T12:24:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Artigo - Gislaine Fongaro - 2015.pdf: 280159 bytes, checksum: ef6ff60369c5c487e0dfedbdd6be497d (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-12Gastroenteritis, diarrhea, and other diseases can be caused by enteric viruses transmitted by fecal-oral route. Human adenoviruses (HAdV), rotavirus A and C (RVA and RVC, respectively), hepatitis A and E virus (HAV and HEV, respectively), human astroviruses (HAstV), human noroviruses (HuNV) and enteroviruses (EV) are, among the enteric viruses, the most frequently detected in environment samples. These viruses are usually introduced into aquatic environments by human, industrial, or agricultural activities and are widely distributed all over the world. They have the common characteristics to be structurally stable and can also absorb to solid particles and biofilms, thereby protecting themselves from inactivating factors. This revision aimed to present and discuss: i) most relevant enteric viruses for human and animal health; ii) enteric viruses as contaminants and bioindicators in environmental samples; iii) molecular and cell culture methods for enteric virus detection; iv) use of enteric viruses for microbial risk assessment. Impacts of enteric viruses on environment and the potential use as bioindicators of the sanitary security, such as presence and infectivity studies were discussed as development of new tools for disinfection, monitoring, risk modeling and management, among other studies

Morphological and molecular characterization of the Poxvirus BeAn 58058.

BeAn 58058 virus (BAV) was isolated from an Oryzomis rodent in Brazil. BAV was shown to be antigenically related to another poxvirus also isolated in Brazil, the Cotia virus, but it remained ungrouped. Electron microscopy revealed that BAV has a typical poxvirus morphology. The Hind III DNA profile of BAV genome was similar with that of VV WR and Lister, but some differences in the profile were detected. We have also detected the presence of genes homologous to vaccinia virus (VV WR) genes in the genome of BAV. Genes related to vaccinia thymidine kinase (TK) gene and vaccinia growth factor (VGF) gene were found. The patterns of TK and VGF mRNA transcripts described for vaccinia virus infected cells were observed in BAV infected cells. Nucleotide sequence of BAV VGF homologous gene was similar to VVWRVGF sequences. This similarity was further seen when cross-hybridization of total genomes of BAV and VV was done. Polypeptide synthesis of BAV and vaccinia in infected cells also showed similar profiles. The genetic data was used to construct a phylogenetic tree where BAV and VV were placed at the same cluster. Based on our findings we propose that BAV is a vaccinia virus variant

Mineral waste containing high levels of iron from an environmental disaster (Bento Rodrigues, Mariana, Brazil) is associated with higher titers of enteric viruses.

Although the effects of heavy metals on the behavior, including infectivity, of bacteria have been studied, little information is available about their effects on enteric viruses. We report an investigation of effects on the biosynthesis of human adenoviruses (HAdV) and hepatitis A (HAV) of waters contaminated with mineral waste following an environmental disaster in Mariana City, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The study area was affected on November 5, 2015, by 60 million m3 of mud (containing very high concentrations of iron salts) from a mining reservoir (Fund?o), reaching the Gualaxo do Norte River (sites evaluated in this study), the ?Rio Doce? River and finally the Atlantic Ocean. We found substantial counts of infectious HAdV and HAV (by qPCR) in all sampled sites from Gualaxo do Norte River, indicating poor basic sanitation in this area. The effects of iron on viral infection processes were evaluated using HAdV-2 and HAV-175, as DNA and RNA enteric virus models, respectively, propagated in the laboratory and exposed to this contaminated water. Experiments in field and laboratory scales found that the numbers of plaque forming units (PFU) of HAdV and HAV were significantly higher in contaminated water with high iron concentrations than in waters with low iron concentration (<?20 ?g/L of iron). These findings indicate that iron can potentiate enteric virus infectivity, posing a potential risk to human and animal health, particularly during pollution disasters such as that described here in Mariana, Brazil