Bee-mediated pollination greatly increases the size and weight of tomato fruits. Therefore, distinguishing between the local set of bees-those that are efficient pollinators-is essential to improve ...the economic returns for farmers. To achieve this, it is important to know the identity of the visiting bees. Nevertheless, the traditional taxonomic identification of bees is not an easy task, requiring the participation of experts and the use of specialized equipment. Due to these limitations, the development and implementation of new technologies for the automatic recognition of bees become relevant. Hence, we aim to verify the capacity of Machine Learning (ML) algorithms in recognizing the taxonomic identity of visiting bees to tomato flowers based on the characteristics of their buzzing sounds. We compared the performance of the ML algorithms combined with the Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) and with classifications based solely on the fundamental frequency, leading to a direct comparison between the two approaches. In fact, some classifiers powered by the MFCC-especially the SVM-achieved better performance compared to the randomized and sound frequency-based trials. Moreover, the buzzing sounds produced during sonication were more relevant for the taxonomic recognition of bee species than analysis based on flight sounds alone. On the other hand, the ML classifiers performed better in recognizing bees genera based on flight sounds. Despite that, the maximum accuracy obtained here (73.39% by SVM) is still low compared to ML standards. Further studies analyzing larger recording samples, and applying unsupervised learning systems may yield better classification performance. Therefore, ML techniques could be used to automate the taxonomic recognition of flower-visiting bees of the cultivated tomato and other buzz-pollinated crops. This would be an interesting option for farmers and other professionals who have no experience in bee taxonomy but are interested in improving crop yields by increasing pollination.
Over 50 genera of bees release pollen from flower anthers using thoracic vibrations, a phenomenon known as buzz‐pollination. The efficiency of this process is directly affected by the mechanical ...properties of the buzzes, namely the duration, amplitude, and frequency. Nonetheless, although the effects of the former two properties are well described, the role of buzz frequency on pollen release remains unclear. Furthermore, nearly all of the existing studies describing vibrational properties of natural buzz‐pollination are limited to bumblebees (Bombus) and carpenter bees (Xylocopa) constraining our current understanding of this behavior and its evolution. Therefore, we attempted to minimize this shortcoming by testing whether flower anthers exhibit optimal frequency for pollen release and whether bees tune their buzzes to match these (optimal) frequencies. If true, certain frequencies will trigger more pollen release and lighter bees will reach buzz frequencies closer to this optimum to compensate their smaller buzz amplitudes. Two strategies were used to test these hypotheses: (i) the use of (artificial) vibrational playbacks in a broad range of buzz frequencies and amplitudes to assess pollen release by tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and (ii) the recording of natural buzzes of Neotropical bees visiting tomato plants during pollination. The playback experiment indicates that although buzz frequency does affect pollen release, no optimal frequency exists for that. In addition, the recorded results of natural buzz‐pollination reveal that buzz frequencies vary with bee genera and are not correlated with body size. Therefore, neither bees nor plants are tuned to optimal pollen release frequencies. Bee frequency of buzz‐pollination is a likely consequence of the insect flight machinery adapted to reach higher accelerations, while flower plant response to buzz‐pollination is the likely result of its pollen granular properties.
Some species of bees restrict foraging to the twilight period before sunrise or after sunset. Among the plants sought by these nocturnal bees are species described as chiropterophilous, such as
...Caryocar brasiliense
. The flowers of this species open in the evening and provide resources until dawn. We determined the pattern of flower visitation by nocturnal bees and their role in pollination and fruit set of
C. brasiliense
and evaluated its importance as floral resource for nocturnal bees. We analyzed the pollen composition of cell provisions of nocturnal bees of
Ptiloglossa
(Colletidae) and compared its scent with floral scent compounds of
C. brasiliense
. Moreover, we conducted a pollinator exclusion experiment to determine the contribution of nocturnal bees to its fruit set. Disregarding bats,
Ptiloglossa latecalcarata
and two species of
Megalopta
(Halictidae) were consistent nectar and pollen gathering visitors, along with some social diurnal bees. The visitor exclusion experiment revealed that bee visits do not result in fruit set, which only occurs through visits by bats. The flowers supply a significant amount of pollen for nocturnal bees, as demonstrated through pollen analysis of brood cells and scopa loads. This interaction, therefore, is only beneficial to the commensalist bees. The scent collected from brood cells was dominated by hexanoic acid and 1-hexanol and differed strongly from the floral scent of
C. brasiliense
. These results substantiate that bat-pollinated flowers are an important part of the food niche of nocturnal bees, which implies that they are sensorially equipped to recognize floral traits shaped by bats.
Abstract
The shift in flight activity from daylight to twilight in crepuscular bees is assumed to have evolved to escape competitors, but quantitative confirmation of this hypothesis has never been ...demonstrated clearly. Pseudobombax longiflorum is a chiropterophilous plant, with flowers presenting large amounts of pollen throughout anthesis, thus attracting not only nocturnal visitors, but also crepuscular and diurnal bees. In this dynamic system, the fraction of pollen that flows to different visitors and the putative role of bees in pollination remain unknown. We analysed floral biology, the frequency of visitors in periods with different light intensities and the rate of pollen removal by each visitor group. A pollinator-exclusion experiment showed that bees were not pollinators of Pseudobombax longiflorum, although they collected > 60% of the pollen from their flowers. Crepuscular bees gained the greatest amount of pollen in the few minutes when they foraged without either nocturnal or diurnal competitors, confirming the advantage of foraging under low light. During the short twilight period, these bees foraged alone and removed 26.5 and 15 times more pollen per minute than nocturnal and diurnal visitors, respectively. Therefore, pollen removal by crepuscular bees is particularly efficient when they forage in the brief period while competitors are absent.
The literature in the field of health management mentions a concept called new public management (NPM), introduced in Brazil and France at the end of the 20th century. The objective of the study was ...to analyze the repercussions of the work of nurses in primary health care in Brazil and France under the influence of NPM. This is an excerpt of a double-titled thesis, which is a research intervention with nurses from two Brazilian states and five French departments. Data were produced between February 2019 and July 2021. The public policy Health on the Hour acted as an institutional transducer, provoking a reduction in access and producing effects on professional practices. In both countries, NPM amplified the predominance of technical and quantifiable acts, the focus on individual care, and the loss of autonomy. Nurses reported insurmountable situations, using the metaphor "Sophie's choice". The results showed that making dilemmatic decisions has been the daily routine of nurses, which has not resulted in debureaucratization and higher quality of care.
A promoção da saúde consiste em capacitar a população para melhorar suas condições de saúde e aumentar o seu controle sobre as mesmas. Além disso, é definida como uma combinação de apoios ...educacionais e ambientais que visam a divulgação de informações acerca de hábitos de vida saudáveis, repassando conhecimentos e habilidades para o autocuidado da saúde. Este estudo tem por finalidade descrever as atividades teóricas e práticas desenvolvidas na disciplina “Atenção Integral à Saúde”, pelos acadêmicos de Enfermagem, Medicina e Odontologia, da Universidade do Estado do Amazonas, enfatizando o trabalho interdisciplinar a serviço da comunidade. A disciplina do 1º período almeja inserir o discente na realidade da saúde regional e nacional, isto é, fazendo-o ser capaz de compreender o Sistema Único de Saúde-SUS/Estratégia Saúde da Família. A parte teórica baseou-se em aulas expositivas, investigação científica, problematização e debate de diversos temas relacionados à saúde pública. Quanto à prática, houve apresentação dos discentes em escolas da rede pública de ensino, preparada sob orientação, divisão dos grupos, discussão das temáticas e confecção de recursos didáticos contextualizados para as respectivas faixas etárias e temáticas. As equipes apresentaram atividades didáticas-lúdicas para cerca de 360 alunos de diferentes séries, permitindo a interação e integralidade dos cursos. O foco principal apoiou-se na orientação educacional e prevenção de doenças e agravos. Após as práticas, as equipes entregam um relatório descrevendo suas reflexões e sugestões acerca da atividade executada, introduzindo, desta maneira, o senso crítico-científico nos acadêmicos participantes. Nota-se que esta metodologia configura uma forma de praticar a interdisciplinaridade - discentes, aprendem a trabalhar de forma humanizada e em grupo; docentes, porque se vêem compelidos a ampliar o conhecimento; a instituição de ensino, por se inserir na proposta pedagógica da disciplina; a comunidade infanto-juvenil, por oportunizar e integrar-se as dinâmicas educacionais em prol da promoção da saúde, tornando-se multiplicadores.
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Previous issue date: 2016-06-02
Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico
Este estudo teve como objetivo descrever a fauna das abelhas visitantes do tomate tipo indústria, avaliar o efeito na polinização pelas espécies mais abundantes, e mensurar a importância delas na produção e qualidade dos frutos. Para avaliar o efeito da presença de abelhas foram definidos dois tratamentos: autopolinização espontânea (AU) e polinização aberta (PA), cada tratamento consistiu de 33 plantas. No tratamento de AU as flores foram protegidas na pré-antese e permaneceram assim até o início do desenvolvimento do fruto. Na PA as flores permaneceram todo o tempo abertas para a visitação. As abelhas que estavam visitando as flores foram coletadas com rede entomológica. Após a maturação, todos os frutos foram colhidos, pesados, contados e avaliados quanto à firmeza, ao pH da polpa e à cor. Para averiguar a eficiência entre diferentes espécies de abelhas, foi feito o teste de primeira visita com as duas espécies mais abundantes, Exomalopsis (Exomalopsis) analis Spinola, 1853 e Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758, e o número de sementes dos frutos obtidos no teste foi comparado com o dos frutos formados a partir de flores autopolinizadas espontaneamente. A presença das abelhas foi responsável pelo aumento de 27% na produtividade do tomateiro. A polinização das abelhas aumentou a massa, número de frutos e sementes, mas não foi constatada diferença na firmeza, pH e cor dos frutos. Mesmo não tendo a capacidade de vibrar as flores, A. mellifera é um polinizador mais eficiente que E. analis e o processo de autopolinização.
This study aimed to describe the fauna of bees of visitors tomato type industry, evaluate the effect on pollination by the most abundant species, and measure their importance in the production and quality of fruit. To evaluate the effect of the presence of bees defined two treatments: spontaneous self-pollination (AU) and open pollination (AP), each treatment consisted of 33 plants. In AU treatment the flowers were protected in the pre- anthesis and remained so until the early development of the fruit. In PA, the flowers remain open all the time for the visitation. The bees were visiting the flowers were collected with entomological net. After maturation, all the fruits were harvested, weighed, counted and evaluated for firmness, the pH of the pulp and color. To determine the efficiency among different species of bees, was made the first visit test with the two most abundant species, Exomalopsis (Exomalopsis) analis Spinola, 1853 and Apis mellifera Linnaeus, 1758, and the number of seeds of fruits obtained in the test was compared to the fruits formed from spontaneously self-pollinated flowers. The presence of bees was responsible for 27% increase in tomato yield. The pollination of bees increased mass, number of fruits and seeds, but no difference was found in the firmness, pH and fruit color. Although not having the capability of vibrating the flowers, A. mellifera is more efficient as a pollinator E. analis and spontaneous self- pollination.
Although forage cactus is a CAM plant capable of adjusting to adverse conditions, little is known about the regulation of the antioxidant defense system under typical growth conditions and even less ...under competitive environment such as intercropping system. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the regulation of the antioxidant defense system in three forage cactus genotypes grown in intercropping. The experimental design was in randomized blocks set up in a 3 × 2 factorial with three replications, consisting of three forage cactus genotypes (‘Orelha de Elefante Mexicana’—
Opuntia stricta
(Haw.), ‘Miúda’—
Nopalea cochenillifera
(L.) Salm. Dyck, and ‘Baiana’ –
N. cochenillifera
(L.) Salm. Dyck) and two cropping systems (monocropping and intercropping with
Gliricidia sepium
). Intercropping significantly affected the antioxidant metabolism of forage cactus genotypes. ‘Orelha de Elefante Mexicana’ in intercropping showed higher contents of photosynthetic pigments and H
2
O
2
, and activities of SOD (EC 1.15.1.1) and CAT (EC 1.11.1.6), and lower contents fresh mass, dry mass, and MDA, and activity of APX (EC 1.11.1.11), than under monocropping. ‘Miúda’ showed similar results except for dry mass, which was the same in both cropping systems. In turn, ‘Baiana’ in intercropping showed higher contents of fresh and dry mass, water, photosynthetic pigments, and H
2
O
2
, activities of SOD, CAT, and APX, and lower lipid peroxidation than under monocropping. Thus, intercropping favored the ‘Baiana’ as a function of the effective role of the antioxidant enzyme system, reducing lipid peroxidation, maintaining the stability of the photosynthetic process, and increasing growth.
Biogenic silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) were obtained throughout the fungal biosynthesis using extracellular filtrate of the epiphytic fungus
B. ochroleuca
and were incorporated in cotton and polyester ...fabrics by common impregnation procedure that was repeated once, twice or four times. Both fabrics were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the effectiveness of impregnation was determined using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES). The AgNPs loaded fabrics showed potent antimicrobial activity on
Staphylococcus aureus
and
Escherichia coli
as well as on clinically relevant
Candida albicans, Candida glabrata,
and
Candida parapsilosis
, indicating that the AgNPs impregnation of cotton and polyester fabrics was efficient. AgNPs effectively inhibited the biofilm formation by
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
and was not toxic to
Galleria mellonella
larvae indicating a promising probability of biotechnological application.
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