Pequenos mamíferos do Parque Estadual da Serra do Brigadeiro, Minas Gerais, Sudeste do Brasil: composição de espécies e distribuição altitudinal

The Serra do Brigadeiro State Park represents one of the few remnants of Atlantic forest in a mountainous region of the State of Minas Gerais. The terrestrial small mammal fauna of the park within a 1200- 1800m altitudinal interval was inventoried from 1996 to 2004 to generate estimates about taxonomic composition, richness, abundance, and altitudinal distribution of species. Cytogenetic analyses were carried out for selected species as an additional tool for taxonomic identifications and diversity estimates. A sampling effort of 4620 trapping-nights resulted in 21 species of rodents (families Cricetidae and Echimyidae) and marsupials (family Didelphidae) recorded, of which seven have their karyotypes described. Cumulative curves and non-parametric estimators suggest that the overall inventory is 81% complete and that at least five species are likely to be recorded with additional sampling. Species composition and diversity varied significantly across elevational belts with the lower altitudes characterized by both forest restricted and habitat-generalist species, while the upper altitudes are exclusively characterized by elevationally widespread and habitat-generalist species. Species diversity peaked at middle elevations (1300-1400m) and the putative factors responsible for this pattern are discussed.O Parque Estadual da Serra do Brigadeiro é um dos poucos remanescentes de Mata Atlântica, na Zona da Mata de Minas Gerais, localizado em região montanhosa. No período entre 1996 e 2004, foi empreendido um esforço de captura de 4620 armadilhas-noite, amostrando o intervalo altitudinal 1200-1800m, com o objetivo de inventariar a fauna de pequenos mamiferos terrestres, produzir estimativas sobre a composição taxonômica, riqueza, abundância e distribuição altitudinal das espécies desse grupo no parque. Análises citogenéticas foram realizadas em algumas espécies para auxiliar a identificação taxonômica. Foram registradas 21 espécies de roedores e marsupiais (famílias Cricetidae, Echimyidae e Didelphidae), sete das quais tiveram seus cariótipos descritos. O padrão de diversidade revelado pelas curvas cumulativas de espécie e estimadores não-paramétricos sugere que aproximadamente 81% da riqueza de espécies foi amostrada e que pelo menos cinco espécies possam ser adicionadas à listagem com esforço de captura adicional. A riqueza e composição de espécies variaram significativamente entre as cotas altimétricas, sendo as áreas mais baixas caracterizadas pela presença simultânea de espécies restritas à mata e espécies generalistas, enquanto a comunidade das áreas mais elevadas foi composta exclusivamente por espécies com ampla distribuição altitudinal e generalistas com relação ao hábitat. A maior riqueza de espécies foi detectada nas altitudes intermediárias (1300-1400m), sendo discutidos os fatores possivelmente responsáveis por esse padrão

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

Nontuberculous mycobacteria in milk from positive cows in the intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin test: implications for human tuberculosis infections

ABSTRACT Although the tuberculin test represents the main in vivo diagnostic method used in the control and eradication of bovine tuberculosis, few studies have focused on the identification of mycobacteria in the milk from cows positive to the tuberculin test. The aim of this study was to identify Mycobacterium species in milk samples from cows positive to the comparative intradermal test. Milk samples from 142 cows positive to the comparative intradermal test carried out in 4,766 animals were aseptically collected, cultivated on Lowenstein-Jensen and Stonebrink media and incubated for up to 90 days. Colonies compatible with mycobacteria were stained by Ziehl-Neelsen to detect acid-fast bacilli, while to confirm the Mycobacterium genus, conventional PCR was performed. Fourteen mycobacterial strains were isolated from 12 cows (8.4%). The hsp65 gene sequencing identified M. engbaekii (n=5), M. arupense (n=4), M. nonchromogenicum (n=3), and M. heraklionense (n=2) species belong to the Mycobacterium terrae complex. Despite the absence of M. tuberculosis complex species in the milk samples, identification of these mycobacteria highlights the risk of pathogen transmission from bovines to humans throughout milk or dairy products, since many of mycobacterial species described here have been reported in pulmonary and extrapulmonary diseases both in immunocompetent and immunocompromised people

NEOTROPICAL ALIEN MAMMALS: a data set of occurrence and abundance of alien mammals in the Neotropics

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal species that (1) transposed a geographical barrier and (2) were voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into the Neotropics. Our data set is composed of 73,738 historical and current georeferenced records on alien mammal species of which around 96% correspond to occurrence data on 77 species belonging to eight orders and 26 families. Data cover 26 continental countries in the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico and its frontier regions (southern Florida and coastal-central Florida in the southeast United States) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, and the 13 countries of Caribbean islands. Our data set also includes neotropical species (e.g., Callithrix sp., Myocastor coypus, Nasua nasua) considered alien in particular areas of Neotropics. The most numerous species in terms of records are from Bos sp. (n = 37,782), Sus scrofa (n = 6,730), and Canis familiaris (n = 10,084); 17 species were represented by only one record (e.g., Syncerus caffer, Cervus timorensis, Cervus unicolor, Canis latrans). Primates have the highest number of species in the data set (n = 20 species), partly because of uncertainties regarding taxonomic identification of the genera Callithrix, which includes the species Callithrix aurita, Callithrix flaviceps, Callithrix geoffroyi, Callithrix jacchus, Callithrix kuhlii, Callithrix penicillata, and their hybrids. This unique data set will be a valuable source of information on invasion risk assessments, biodiversity redistribution and conservation-related research. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using the data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us on how they are using the data