THE CONTRIBUTION OF CITIZEN SCIENCE TO THE KNOWLEDGE ON THE FEEDING HABITS OF ARA ARARAUNA IN AN URBAN AREA OF CENTRAL WESTERN BRAZIL

We aimed to analyze the food resources consumed by Ara ararauna (Linnaeus, 1758) in the urban area of Campo Grande, from the photographic records released on the WikiAves© platform by the professional and amateur photographers. We retrieved 36 records of A. ararauna feeding, while we identified 16 species of plants in the diet of A. ararauna. Fruits and seeds were the most consumed plant parts, and 75% of the species diet was composed of native plants. As there is no prior information available on the diet of this species in the urban area of Campo Grande, the records released on the WikiAves© platform helped us to answer several important questions regarding its feeding habits. We highlight the importance of planting native species in urban afforestation, as well as the maintenance of urban parks and green areas, to maintain the populations of A. ararauna in the city

Influence of sustainability reports on social and environmental issues: bibliometric analysis and the word cloud approach

The aim of the present study is to analyze how corporate sustainability reports address socio-environmental issues and business development through bibliometric analysis. The search led to 53 articles indexed in the ScienceDirect database between 2012 and 2017. A bibliometric analysis was applied to sustainability reports and to several topics, namely: “sustainability report” (SR) and “corporate sustainability” (CS), triple bottom line (TBL), eco-innovation in business (ECO), and “global reporting initiative” (GRI). The word cloud approach was applied to each keyword in the quantitative analysis. Annual publication frequency was applied to identify the year accounting for the largest number of publications. The target of the descriptive analysis applied to the sample was determined; it consists in metrically determining the frequency of each variable. The inferential analysis compared the means recorded for the subsets of the sample; it is a technique commonly used to investigate data. Friedman’s test was used to compare the behavior of the research groups. The keywords sustainability, business, reporting, environment, social, and performance were found. These words appeared in most of the analyzed articles; they represented the conceptual core of each topic involved in the “sustainability report” (SR). Based on the selected articles, companies surveyed over the years have incorporated sustainability concepts into their strategic planning to ensure the satisfaction and needs of future generations. The disclosure of information available in sustainability reports has become a marketing instrument that may clearly provide evidence of business activities or inactivity.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Maintenance of Trypanosoma cruzi, T. evansi and Leishmania spp. by domestic dogs and wild mammals in a rural settlement in Brazil-Bolivian border

Domestic dogs are considered reservoirs hosts for several vector-borne parasites. This study aimed to evaluate the role of domestic dogs as hosts for Trypanosoma cruzi, Trypanosoma evansi and Leishmania spp. in single and co-infections in the Urucum settlement, near the Brazil-Bolivian border. Additionally, we evaluated the involvement of wild mammals’ in the maintenance of these parasites in the study area. Blood samples of dogs (n = 62) and six species of wild mammals (n = 36) were collected in July and August of 2015. The infections were assessed using parasitological, serological and molecular tests. Clinical examination of dogs was performed and their feeding habits were noted. Overall, 87% (54/62) of sampled dogs were positive for at least one trypanosomatid species, in single (n = 9) and co-infections (n = 45). We found that 76% of dogs were positive for T. cruzi, four of them displayed high parasitemias demonstrated by hemoculture, including one strain types TcI, two TcIII and one TcIII/TcV. Around 73% (45/62) of dogs were positive to T. evansi, three with high parasitemias as seen by positive microhematocrit centrifuge technique. Of dogs sampled, 50% (31/62) were positive for Leishmania spp. by PCR or serology. We found a positive influence of (i) T. evansi on mucous pallor, (ii) co-infection by T. cruzi and Leishmania with onychogryphosis, and (iii) all parasites to skin lesions of sampled dogs. Finally, feeding on wild mammals had a positive influence in the Leishmania spp. infection in dogs. We found that 28% (5/18) coati Nasua nasua was co-infected for all three trypanosamatids, demonstrating that it might play a key role in maintenance of these parasites. Our results showed the importance of Urucum region as a hotspot for T. cruzi, T. evansi and Leishmania spp. and demonstrated that dogs can be considered as incidental hosts. Keywords: Canine, Neglected diseases, Pantanal, Sentinels hosts, Trypanosomatid

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