Differential responses of amphibians and reptiles to land-use change in the biodiversity hotspot of north-eastern Madagascar

Large expanses of tropical rainforest have been converted into agricultural land- scapes cultivated by smallholder farmers. This is also the case in north-eastern Madagascar; a region that retains significant proportions of forest cover despite slash-and-burn shifting hill rice cultivation and vanilla agroforestry expansion. The region is also a global hotspot for herpetofauna diversity, but how amphibians and reptiles are affected by land-use change remains largely unknown. Using a space- for-time study design, we compared species diversity and community composition across seven prevalent land uses: unburned (old-growth forest, forest fragment, and forest-derived vanilla agroforest) and burned (fallow-derived vanilla agroforest, woody fallow, and herbaceous fallow) land-use types, and rice paddy. We con- ducted six comprehensive, time-standardized searches across at least 10 replicates per land-use type and applied genetic barcoding to confirm species identification. We documented an exceptional diversity of herpetofauna (119 species; 91% endemic). Observed plot-level amphibian species richness was significantly higher in old-growth forest than in all other land-use types. Plot-level reptile species rich- ness was significantly higher in unburned land-use types compared with burned land-use types. For both amphibians and reptiles, the less-disturbed land-use types showed more uneven communities and the species composition in old-growth for- est differed significantly from all other land-use types. Amphibians had higher for- est dependency (38% of species occurred exclusively in old-growth forest) than reptiles (26%). Our analyses thus revealed that the two groups respond differently to land-use change: we found less pronounced losses of reptile species richness especially in unburned agricultural habitats, suggesting that reptiles are less suscep- tible to land-use change than amphibians, possibly due to their ability to cope with hotter and drier microclimates. In conclusion, our findings emphasize existing con- servation opportunities – especially for reptiles – in extensive agricultural land- scapes while highlighting the precarious situation of amphibians in disappearing old-growth forest

Parasitosis zoonóticas en un asentamiento a orillas del Río de La Plata

El barrio “El Molino”, alberga una población precarizada con conductas higiénico-sanitarias inadecuadas para la salud. El equipo de trabajo integra proyectos de Voluntariado Universitario, Extensión Universitaria e Incentivos docentes destinados a contribuir en la prevención, diagnóstico y mejora sanitaria del lugar, integrados por docentes y alumnos de 4 Facultades de la UNLP. Objetivo Diagnosticar parasitosis zoonóticas en la población de un área de riesgo sanitario y analizar su relación con diversos factores de riesgo.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

Parasitosis zoonóticas en un asentamiento a orillas del Río de La Plata

El barrio “El Molino”, alberga una población precarizada con conductas higiénico-sanitarias inadecuadas para la salud. El equipo de trabajo integra proyectos de Voluntariado Universitario, Extensión Universitaria e Incentivos docentes destinados a contribuir en la prevención, diagnóstico y mejora sanitaria del lugar, integrados por docentes y alumnos de 4 Facultades de la UNLP. Objetivo Diagnosticar parasitosis zoonóticas en la población de un área de riesgo sanitario y analizar su relación con diversos factores de riesgo.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

Parasitosis zoonóticas en un asentamiento a orillas del Río de la Plata

El barrio “El Molino”, alberga una población precarizada con conductas higiénico-sanitarias inadecuadas para la salud. El equipo de trabajo integra proyectos de Voluntariado Universitario, Extensión Universitaria e Incentivos docentes destinados a contribuir en la prevención, diagnóstico y mejora sanitaria del lugar, integrados por docentes y alumnos de 4 Facultades de la UNLP. Objetivo: Diagnosticar parasitosis zoonóticas en la población de un área de riesgo sanitario y analizar su relación con diversos factores de riesgo.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

Multidimensional Characterization and Differentiation of Neurons in the Anteroventral Cochlear Nucleus

Multiple parallel auditory pathways ascend from the cochlear nucleus. It is generally accepted that the origin of these pathways are distinct groups of neurons differing in their anatomical and physiological properties. In extracellular in vivo recordings these neurons are typically classified on the basis of their peri-stimulus time histogram. In the present study we reconsider the question of classification of neurons in the anteroventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN) by taking a wider range of response properties into account. The study aims at a better understanding of the AVCN's functional organization and its significance as the source of different ascending auditory pathways. The analyses were based on 223 neurons recorded in the AVCN of the Mongolian gerbil. The range of analysed parameters encompassed spontaneous activity, frequency coding, sound level coding, as well as temporal coding. In order to categorize the unit sample without any presumptions as to the relevance of certain response parameters, hierarchical cluster analysis and additional principal component analysis were employed which both allow a classification on the basis of a multitude of parameters simultaneously. Even with the presently considered wider range of parameters, high number of neurons and more advanced analytical methods, no clear boundaries emerged which would separate the neurons based on their physiology. At the current resolution of the analysis, we therefore conclude that the AVCN units more likely constitute a multi-dimensional continuum with different physiological characteristics manifested at different poles. However, more complex stimuli could be useful to uncover physiological differences in future studies

Morphological characterization of bushy cells and their inputs in the laboratory mouse (Mus musculus) anteroventral cochlear nucleus.

PMC3753269Spherical and globular bushy cells of the AVCN receive huge auditory nerve endings specialized for high fidelity neural transmission in response to acoustic events. Recent studies in mice and other rodent species suggest that the distinction between bushy cell subtypes is not always straightforward. We conducted a systematic investigation of mouse bushy cells along the rostral-caudal axis in an effort to understand the morphological variation that gives rise to reported response properties in mice. We combined quantitative light and electron microscopy to investigate variations in cell morphology, immunostaining, and the distribution of primary and non-primary synaptic inputs along the rostral-caudal axis. Overall, large regional differences in bushy cell characteristics were not found; however, rostral bushy cells received a different complement of axosomatic input compared to caudal bushy cells. The percentage of primary auditory nerve terminals was larger in caudal AVCN, whereas non-primary excitatory and inhibitory inputs were more common in rostral AVCN. Other ultrastructural characteristics of primary auditory nerve inputs were similar across the rostral and caudal AVCN. Cross sectional area, postsynaptic density length and curvature, and mitochondrial volume fraction were similar for axosomatic auditory nerve terminals, although rostral auditory nerve terminals contained a greater concentration of synaptic vesicles near the postsynaptic densities. These data demonstrate regional differences in synaptic organization of inputs to mouse bushy cells rather than the morphological characteristic of the cells themselves.JH Libraries Open Access Fun