Organic residues from agricultural and forest companies in Brazil as useful substrates for cultivation of the edible mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus

We investigated whether highly available organic residues in Brazil can be used as substrates for the production of the oyster mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus, instead of the conventional cultivation using the eucalyptus sawdust substrate. We assessed the mushroom yield on 13 substrates, of which 12 were formulated with different concentrations of organic residues and one with pure eucalyptus sawdust, and verified whether the raw material used in the substrate formula and the concentration of such alternative residues influenced their biological efficiencies. Substrates containing eucalyptus bark resulted in higher mushroom yield than those containing eucalyptus sawdust, which generally resulted in similar mushroom yield to the remaining formulas. Moreover, the raw material and the concentration of each residue affected the biological efficiency of the substrates. We show that the conventional substrate for P. ostreatus can be replaced by substrates easily accessible to producers without loss in productivity. Furthermore, that the concentration of these mixtures affects the mushroom productivity and should be considered when formulating the growth medium.Peer reviewe

Trait interactions effects on tropical tree demography depend on the environmental context

Although functional traits are defined based on their impact on demographic parameters, trait-demography relationships are often reported as weak. These weak relationships might be due to disregarding trait interactions and environmental contexts, which should modulate species trait-demography relationships. We applied different models, including boosted regression tree (BRT) models, to investigate changes in the relationship between traits and demographic rates of tropical tree species in plots along an elevational gradient and among time intervals between censuses, analyzing the effect of a strong drought event. Based on a large dataset of 18,000 tree individuals from 133 common species, distributed among twelve 1-ha plots (habitats) in the Atlantic Forest (Brazil), we evaluated how trait interactions and the environmental context influence the demographic rates (growth, mortality, and recruitment). Functional traits, trait-trait, and trait-habitat interactions predicted demography with a good fit through either BRTs or linear mixed-models. Changes in growth rates were best related to size (diameter), and mortality rates to habitats, while changes in recruitment rates were best related to the specific leaf area. Moreover, the influence of traits differed among time intervals, and for demographic parameters, habitat affected growth and mortality by interacting with diameter. Here, we provide evidence that trait-demography relationships can be improved when considering the environmental context (space and time) and trait interactions to cope with the complexity of changes in the demography of tropical tree communities. Thus, to expand predictions of demography based on functional traits, we show that it is useful to fully incorporate the concept of multiple trait-fitness optima, resulting from trait interactions in different habitats and growth conditions.We thank the Brazilian National Research Council (CNPq) and the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) for the scholarships conceded to the first author (CNPq 141781/2016-5 and CAPES 88881.189491/2018-01) and for the productivity fellowship to FAMS (CNPq 310168/2018-0). This study was financed by research funding of the projects: “Functional Gradient” (Biota/FAPESP 03/12595-7), “PELD/BIOTA” and “ECOFOR” (Processes 2012/51509-8 and 2012/51872-5, within the BIOTA/FAPESP Program), “EcoSpace” (Edital Universal CNPq 459941/2014-3), “Sustainable Landscapes Brazil” project (US Forest Service, USAID, US Department of State and EMBRAPA), and “Sustainable Landscapes” (NASA-Goddard). This study was also supported by CNPq (PELD CNPq 403710/2012-0), British Natural Environment Research Council/NERC (NE/K016431/1) and FAPESP as part of a doctoral fellowship (FAPESP 11/11604-0). CPC was financed by the Estonian Research Council (PSG293)