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

Desenvolvimento e avaliação tecnológica, sensorial e físicoquímica de produto cárneo, tipo hambúrguer, com substituição de gordura por farinha desengordurada de gergelim

Nowadays there is an increase of obesity among Brazilians, which demonstrates the need for more healthful low-fat products. Beef burgers participate in the eating habits of large populations due to its easy preparation and sensory characteristics.Objective: This study aimed to develop a meat product, type beef burgers, with substitution of animal fat by defatted sesame flour (DSF) in proportions of 0.0% (F0), 6.5% (F1), 13.0% (F2) and 20.0% (F3).Material and methods: After preparation and molding of the beef burgers, the samples were frozen and then subjected to physical, chemical, sensory acceptability (appearance, flavor, texture, colour) and purchasing intent evaluation. The results were evaluated by analysis of variance and multiple comparison of average by Tukey's test (p<0.05). Results: Beef burgers containing DSF showed increase of 28% in yield and decrease in diameter reduction from 29% in comparison with control (F0). The affective preference test, F1 and F2 presented values equal to like regularly (around 7), and obtained 4 (possibly buy) in the test of intent to purchase, and they did not differ from the control (F0). In F2 was possible to reduce the fat by 32%, showing that the product can be considered as low-fat and a fiber source as it showed 4.21% of total dietary fiber.Conclusion: The use of up to 13% of defatted sesame flour as a fat substitute in meat products can provide more healthy features to these products

Efeitos dos rejeitos da indústria de zinco na anatomia e crescimento de plantas jovens de Salix humboldtiana Willd: (salgueiro)

A poluição por metais pesados, gerada principalmente pelas atividades de mineração e industrial, exige estudos que possibilitem a recuperação de áreas contaminadas. Foram estudadas respostas de crescimento e características anatômicas de plantas jovens de salgueiro cultivadas em solo multicontaminado por metais pesados. As plantas foram cultivadas em três níveis de misturas de solo contaminado: 0%; 15% e 30% (v/v), durante 60 dias. No maior nível de contaminação foi observado menor produção de matéria seca das raízes e da parte aérea e menor crescimento das raízes. Nesta condição, as raízes apresentaram maior espessura da epiderme, exoderme e endoderme e menor número de elementos condutores de xilema. As folhas apresentaram modificações no número de elementos condutores de xilema, na densidade e diâmetro dos estômatos, e na espessura da epiderme, endoderme, colênquima e do mesofilo

Efeitos dos rejeitos da indústria de zinco na anatomia e crescimento de plantas jovens de Salix humboldtiana Willd: (salgueiro)

A poluição por metais pesados, gerada principalmente pelas atividades de mineração e industrial, exige estudos que possibilitem a recuperação de áreas contaminadas. Foram estudadas respostas de crescimento e características anatômicas de plantas jovens de salgueiro cultivadas em solo multicontaminado por metais pesados. As plantas foram cultivadas em três níveis de misturas de solo contaminado: 0%; 15% e 30% (v/v), durante 60 dias. No maior nível de contaminação foi observado menor produção de matéria seca das raízes e da parte aérea e menor crescimento das raízes. Nesta condição, as raízes apresentaram maior espessura da epiderme, exoderme e endoderme e menor número de elementos condutores de xilema. As folhas apresentaram modificações no número de elementos condutores de xilema, na densidade e diâmetro dos estômatos, e na espessura da epiderme, endoderme, colênquima e do mesofilo

Ecophysiological and anatomical changes due to uptake and accumulation of heavy metal in Brachiaria decumbens

The growth and developmental characteristics of grasses and their high biodiversity make such plants suitable for remediation of areas contaminated by heavy metals. Nevertheless, heavy metal toxic effect on the plants may cause alteration in their metabolic pathways, such as photosynthesis, respiration, and growth, modifying plant anatomy. This work aimed to evaluate the effect of levels of soil contamination (0, 7.5 % and 15 % m³ m-3) on biomass production, on photosynthetic characteristics and on anatomical changes in roots and leaves of brachiaria (Brachiaria decumbens Stapf.). After seeds were planted, seedlings were uprooted and replanted in vases containing soil at different contamination levels, being left to rest for 120 days. At the end of that time, plants presented reduced yield of root and shoot dry matter, contents of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll and potential photosynthesis with increased of soil contamination. The cell layers of endodermis and exodermis in the root tissues and the cell walls of the xylem and cortical parenchyma all thickened as contamination increased. In the leaf tissues, the adaxial and abaxial epidermis presented increased thickness while the leaf blade presented reduced thickness as contamination increased with consequent change in the root growth rate. In general, the effects of heavy metal increased with the metal concentration. Some results indicate that B. decumbens seems to have some degree of heavy metal tolerance