PRODUCTION OF ETHYLIC BIODIESEL FROM HYDROLYSIS AND ESTERIFICATION OF ACID ANIMAL FAT

Biodiesel is a fuel derived from the oils and fats of plants and animals. Some vegetable oils after extraction and seed storing may have high acidity due to the conversion of triglycerides into free faty acids. Transesterification of high acidic oils with basic catalyst will form a large amount of soap as residue. The objective of this work is to study hydrolysis of tallow fats estherification free fatty acids followed by estherification of free fatty acids with ethanol using homogeneous catalyst. Tallow fat was hydrolyzed by enzyme lipase extracted from Ricinius Communs seeds. Estherification was done in a pressurizes reactor, at temperatures from 70°C to 130°C, ethanol/oil ratio from 2:1 to 4:1, amount of sulfuric acid catalyst from 0.2 to 0.8%, during 60 minutes of reaction. A factorial experimental design was carried out with three variables, two levels and replicas at central point. Results show that hydrolysis with enzymes during 24 hours at 40 oC was very effective to convert triglycerides into free fatty acids (FFA). In the estherification reaction, the yield of esther increased with the increasing of temperature, ethanol/oil ratio and catalyst concentration. Best results was obtained at 130 oC and 0.8% of catalyst in either concentration of ethanol, 2:1 or 4:1. The mains effects on the FFA conversion was temperature, acid concentrations and cross effects temperate and acid concentration. Keywords: biodiesel, estherification, tallow, free fatty acid

Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil: setting the baseline knowledge on the animal diversity in Brazil

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classifications. In this context, the Brazilian megadiverse fauna is no exception, and the Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil (CTFB) (http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/), made public in 2015, represents a database on biodiversity anchored on a list of valid and expertly recognized scientific names of animals in Brazil. The CTFB is updated in near real time by a team of more than 800 specialists. By January 1, 2024, the CTFB compiled 133,691 nominal species, with 125,138 that were considered valid. Most of the valid species were arthropods (82.3%, with more than 102,000 species) and chordates (7.69%, with over 11,000 species). These taxa were followed by a cluster composed of Mollusca (3,567 species), Platyhelminthes (2,292 species), Annelida (1,833 species), and Nematoda (1,447 species). All remaining groups had less than 1,000 species reported in Brazil, with Cnidaria (831 species), Porifera (628 species), Rotifera (606 species), and Bryozoa (520 species) representing those with more than 500 species. Analysis of the CTFB database can facilitate and direct efforts towards the discovery of new species in Brazil, but it is also fundamental in providing the best available list of valid nominal species to users, including those in science, health, conservation efforts, and any initiative involving animals. The importance of the CTFB is evidenced by the elevated number of citations in the scientific literature in diverse areas of biology, law, anthropology, education, forensic science, and veterinary science, among others

REVALORIZANDO EL USO DE LA SELVA BAJA CADUCIFOLIA PARA LA PRODUCCIÓN DE RUMIANTES

La selva baja caducifolia (SBC) de Yucatán, México, es un recurso natural valioso que provee servicios ambientales y diferentes productos para beneficio de los humanos. El presente trabajo ofrece información acerca de la selva baja caducifolia (SBC) como un recurso natural que puede ser adecuado para la producción de rumiantes. Primeramente se describe las características de la SBC en particular a su riqueza de recursos botánicos. Se incluye la descripción de cómo es cosechada la vegetación por ovinos y caprinos para obtener alimento, así como una lista de los diferentes tipos de parásitos que infectan a los rumiantes que pastorean en la SBC. Finalmente, se enlistan los diferentes métodos que podrían emplearse para el control integrado de dichos parásitos, buscando hacer uso racional de la SBC. Este uso racional del recurso forrajero debe evitar la sobre-explotación de la vegetación, y al mismo tiempo favorecer la buena alimentación de los rumiantes que la utilizan. Para lograr una actividad ganadera rentable se requiere implementar una estrategia de suplementación energética que permita aprovechar el elevado contenido de proteína de la mayoría de las plantas consumidas por rumiantes en la SBC. Por otra parte, el consumo de plantas de la SBC puede aportar compuestos secundarios con efecto antiparasitario. En conclusión, la SBC puede formar parte del manejo nutricional de los rumiantes y pude ayudar a controlar sus parásitos internos mediante los compuestos secundarios que contienen algunas plantas de dicho ecosistema. Lo anterior permitirá a los ganaderos reducir su dependencia por insumos externos para la alimentación de rumiantes así como reducir el uso de drogas antihelmínticas

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data