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

Lagochilascaris minor: antibody production in experimentally infected mice Lagochilascaris minor: produção de anticorpos em camundongos experimentalmente infectados

Lagochilascaris minor is the causative agent of lagochilascariosis, a disease that affects the neck region and causes festering abscesses, with eggs, adult parasites and L3/L4 larvae within the purulent exudates. Today, mice are considered to be intermediate hosts for the parasite. C57BL/6 mice produce immunoglobulin IgM, IgA and IgG against the crude extract of the parasite; on the other hand, antibodies produced against the secreted/excreted antigens of Lagochilascaris minor present lower levels of IgM, IgA and IgG. This is the first description of antibody detection against different antigens of Lagochilascaris minor.<br>Lagochilascaris minor é o agente etiológico da lagochilascariose, uma doença que afeta a região do pescoço causando abscessos exudativos com presença de ovos, parasitos adultos e larvas nos de exudatos purulentos. Hoje em dia, camundongos são considerados os hospedeiros intermediários para o parasita. Camundongos C57BL/6 produziram imunoglobulinas IgM, IgA e IgG contra o extrato bruto do parasita; por outro lado, anticorpos produzidos contra os antígenos secretados/excretados de Lagochilascaris minor apresentaram níveis mais baixos de IgM, IgA e IgG. Esta é a primeira descrição da detecção de anticorpos contra diferentes antígenos de Lagochilascaris minor

Perfil hematológico, bioquímico sérico e sorológico de Felis domesticus com lagochilascariose experimental Hematological, serum biochemical and serological profile of Felis domesticus with experimental lagochilascariosis

No presente trabalho, avaliou-se o hemograma, diversas proteínas e enzimas séricas ou plasmáticas e a produção de anticorpos específicos em Felis domesticus, experimentalmente infectados por Lagochilascaris minor. Verificou-se nos animais infectados aumento de leucócitos totais, principalmente eosinófilos; queda do número de plaquetas; aumento de aspartato-aminotransferase e alanina-aminotransferase; e principalmente a presença de anticorpos IgG específicos para antígenos do parasita. A reação com extrato bruto de parasitas adultos mostrou-se mais específica, permitindo a discriminação de soros de animais: não infectados, com infecção por outros parasitas, e com lagochilascariose. Esta é a primeira descrição da padronização de uma reação sorológica para diagnóstico da lagochilascariose em Felis domesticus.<br>The present study evaluated the hemogram, different proteins, plasma enzymes, serum enzymes and specific antibody production of Felis domesticus experimentally infected by Lagochilascaris minor. The infected animals were seen to present increased total leukocytes (particularly eosinophils), decreased platelet counts, increased aspartate-aminotransferase and alanine-aminotransferase and, especially, the presence of specific IgG antibodies against antigens of the parasite. The reaction with crude extract of adult parasites was shown to be more specific, thereby enabling serum discrimination between the animals: non-infected, infected with other parasites and infected with lagochilascariosis. This is the first description of the standardization of a serological reaction for diagnosing lagochilascariosis in Felis domesticus