Fire is an important agent of disturbance in tropical savannas, but relatively few studies have analyzed how soil-and-litter dwelling arthropods respond to fire disturbance despite the critical role ...these organisms play in nutrient cycling and other biogeochemical processes. Following the incursion of a fire into a woodland savanna ecological reserve in Central Brazil, we monitored the dynamics of litter-arthropod populations for nearly two years in one burned and one unburned area of the reserve. We also performed a reciprocal transplant experiment to determine the effects of fire and litter type on the dynamics of litter colonization by arthropods. Overall arthropod abundance, the abundance of individual taxa, the richness of taxonomic groups, and the species richness of individual taxa (Formiciade) were lower in the burned site. However, both the ordinal-level composition of the litter arthropod fauna and the species-level composition of the litter ant fauna were not dramatically different in the burned and unburned sites. There is evidence that seasonality of rainfall interacts with fire, as differences in arthropod abundance and diversity were more pronounced in the dry than in the wet season. For many taxa the differences in abundance between burned and unburned sites were maintained even when controlling for litter availability and quality. In contrast, differences in abundance for Collembola, Formicidae, and Thysanoptera were only detected in the unmanipulated samples, which had a lower amount of litter in the burned than in the unburned site throughout most of our study period. Together these results suggest that arthropod density declines in fire-disturbed areas as a result of direct mortality, diminished resources (i.e., reduced litter cover) and less favorable microclimate (i.e., increased litter desiccation due to reduction in tree cover). Although these effects were transitory, there is evidence that the increasingly prevalent fire return interval of only 1-2 years may jeopardize the long-term conservation of litter arthropod communities.
Wildland fires are increasingly becoming a major concern for many European countries, affecting ecosystems and societies, and they are expected to become more prevalent in future due to climate ...change. Forests provide various ecosystem services not valued by traditional markets, such as carbon sequestration. Recently, Portugal has created new environmental policies that address climate change, fire management, and biodiversity conservation through payment for ecosystem services schemes. In this context, this study’s objective is to evaluate the newly established carbon taxation in Portugal to incentivize forest restoration and fire management measures. Using publicly available data, this is done by comparing the carbon emissions savings by avoided fires and the income of the carbon taxation with the costs of the payment for ecosystem services scheme and prescribed burning. The results indicate that investing in forest management to avoid fires repays itself regarding carbon storage and economically. The ecosystem services payment scheme’s incentives are in the order of 5–20 euros per hectare, while the carbon sequestration benefits can vary between 75 and 671 euros per hectare. The National Prescribed Burning Program policy is able to reduce overall wildfire emissions, which can correspond to a benefit in the order of 134–2476 euros per hectare, while its costs are in the order 120 euros per hectare. Finally, the results have shown that these policies can work synergistically, both economically and environmentally, as development agendas, such as the Sustainable Development Goals, recommend. This analysis framework might be useful for other countries, especially in the Mediterranean Basin.
The use of subterranean traps is a relatively novel method to sample ants, and few studies have evaluated its performance relative to other methods. We collected ants in forests, savannas, and crops ...in central Brazil using subterranean pitfall traps and conventional pitfall traps placed on the soil surface. Sampling duration, soil depth, and sprinkling vegetal oil around traps all tended to affect the number of species found in subterranean traps. Sixteen percent of the species collected in subterranean traps were unique, and most of these had cryptobiotic morphology (i.e., were truly hypogaeic species). Surprisingly, however, subterranean and conventional traps were similarly efficient at capturing cryptobiotic species. Furthermore, subterranean traps captured far fewer species in total than conventional traps (75 versus 220 species), and this was true in all three habitats sampled. Sampling completeness increased very little using a combination of conventional and subterranean traps than using just conventional traps.
Originality / Relevance: Since the 1970s, the United Nations has recognized the role of higher education in promoting sustainability. Universities have aimed to promote it in all their dimensions ...i.e. education, research, planning and operations (i.e., energy and water consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, solid waste generation, food purchase, transport among others). Metodologia/Abordagem: Utilizou-se o STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System), que tem sido amplamente empregado por universidades e em pesquisas científicas para a análise da sustentabilidade de processos organizacionais. Metodología / enfoque: Se utilizó el STARS, que ha sido ampliamente empleado por universidades y en investigaciones científicas para el análisis de la sostenibilidad de procesos organizacionales.
There is a growing recognition that spatial scale is important for understanding ecological processes shaping community membership, but empirical evidence on this topic is still scarce. Ecological ...processes such as environmental filtering can decrease functional differences among species and promote functional clustering of species assemblages, whereas interspecific competition can do the opposite. These different ecological processes are expected to take place at different spatial scales, with competition being more likely at finer scales and environmental filtering most likely at coarser scales. We used a comprehensive dataset on species assemblages of a dominant ant genus, Pheidole, in the Cerrado (savanna) biodiversity hotspot to ask how functional richness relates to species richness gradients and whether such relationships vary across spatial scales. Functional richness of Pheidole assemblages decreased with increasing species richness, but such relationship did not vary across different spatial scales. Species were more functionally dissimilar at finer spatial scales, and functional richness increased less than expected with increasing species richness. Our results indicate a tighter packing of the functional volume as richness increases and point out to a primary role for environmental filtering in shaping membership of Pheidole assemblages in Neotropical savannas.
OPEN RESEARCH BADGES
This article has been awarded Open Materials, Open Data, Preregistered Research Designs Badges. All materials and data are publicly accessible via the Open Science Framework at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.31201jg
Pheidole ant assemblages from Neotropical savannas are more functionally similar at coarser than finer spatial scales. Our findings point out to a tighter packing of the functional volume of ant assemblages as richness increases, suggesting the primary role of environmental filtering in shaping membership of Pheidole assemblages in Neotropical savannas.
Introduction: Rhabdomyosarcoma is the most common soft tissue sarcoma in childhood. However, primary bone rhabdomyosarcoma is a rare entity with some few cases reported. Case Report: We present a ...case of a 19-year-old female patient referred from another service with three months history of a bone tumor on the femur. The first anatomopathological study was consistent with high-grade osteogenic sarcoma. After revision exams and analysis of surgically resected tumor, the primary osseous rhabdomyosarcoma was confirmed. The patient had undergone tumor resection and reconstruction with mega prosthesis. After surgery, she received chemotherapy following rhabdomyosarcoma protocol. Conclusion: Primary osseous rhabdomyosarcoma is a rare but important differential diagnosis to be thought on atypical presentation of primary bone sarcomas.
Como forma de gerar um diagnóstico para gestores da educação básica do município de Arraial do Cabo, o presente estudo objetivou o acompanhamento temporal de 30 parâmetros relativos às quantidades de ...matrículas e às condições de infraestrutura das escolas por meio da consulta aos resultados dos Censos Escolares de 2011 a 2018. Para isto, foi realizada a extração de dados no portal https://www.qedu.org.br de seis variáveis relacionadas à quantidade de matrículas e outros 24 relacionados às condições de infraestrutura nas escolas. Neste estudo, foram investigadas 22 escolas em atividade no município. Em relação à quantidade de matrículas, o Centro de Estudos de Jovens e Adultos apresentou papel de destaque. Nove variáveis relacionadas à infraestrutura das escolas estiveram presentes em mais de 75% dos estabelecimentos estudados. Espera-se que este estudo sirva de base para gestores públicos e dirigentes da rede privada para a melhoria das condições de infraestrutura das escolas e, por conseguinte, para a melhoria do processo de ensino-aprendizagem e da formação global dos estudantes, sendo estes capazes de ter um posicionamento crítico frente a uma sociedade cada vez mais complexa e repleta de desafios.
Fire has major impacts on forest ecosystems, with heightened relevance in a Mediterranean country such as Portugal, which within Europe features the highest number of wildfires and the second larger ...burnt area. After each significant wildfire, the Portuguese Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) assesses the main environmental impacts and proposes emergency stabilisation measures following specific regulations. This study seeks to improve such assessments by using a data triangulation approach to characterise the impacts of wildfires on ecosystem services in the country. First, a systematic literature review is performed to identify the scientific studies that address the issue. Next, a document analysis of all the emergency stabilisation reports and technical reports available on ICNF’s website is performed. Finally, a survey of experts’ perceptions on the topic completes the analysis. The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity definitions of ecosystem services were employed to compare the different findings. The results indicate that the experts perceive wildfires to significantly impact all ecosystem services, even though the literature has so far only focused on 12 of them, and ICNF has so far only focused on 7 in its reports. The potential underlying motives are discussed. In particular, some important impacts identified in the literature, as is the case of Climate regulation, a topic of the highest priority in the European environmental agenda, have not so far been a topic of focus in ICNF’s reports, which suggests relevant opportunities for enhancing its reporting process in the future.
•Post-wildfire policies help in registering the environmental impacts and directing funds to their recovery.•The literature has not yet addressed the complexity of wildfire impacts on ecosystem services.•Forest experts indicate that the legislation does not tackle all ecosystem services impacted by wildfires.
Primary germ cell tumor of the liver Amorim Fanelli, Mayara Caroline; Barros Duarte, Alexandre Alberto; Marques de Souza, Fernanda Kelly ...
Journal of pediatric surgery case reports,
12/2019, Letnik:
51
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Germ cell tumors may present in various forms and sites, that may be gonadal or extragonadal. Extragonadal tumors are more frequent in children and can occur in the sacrococcygeal region, ...retroperitoneum, mediastinum, neck and pineal gland. Primary germ cell tumors of the liver are extremely rare. Currently, there are few cases described in the literature, without consensus proposals for treatment.
To describe the case of a patient with a primary germ cell tumor (GCT) of the liver associated associated with Primary Sclerosin Cholangitis (PSC), discuss the diagnosis and surgical challenges, and to perform a comparative analysis with similar cases already published in the literature.
13-year-old female with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) was diagnosed with an hepatic tumor and had a mixed GCT with components of an endodermal sinus tumor and an embryonal carcinoma in the histological analysis. The patient was treated surgically, followed by systemic chemotherapy.
GCT primary of the liver must be considered in the differential diagnosis of liver tumors.
•Primary germ cell tumors of the liver are extremely rare.•Primary germ cell tumor primary of the liver must be considered in the differential diagnosis of liver tumors.•Little is known about the association between Primary Sclerosin Cholangitis and primary germ cell tumor of the liver.•The option for surgical treatment was made prior to the final diagnosis of a germ cell tumor.
Over a period of 7 months, 151 consecutive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus blood isolates were evaluated. None was community acquired. Twenty (13%) were susceptible to four or more ...antimicrobials, and 95% of these isolates were identified as SCCmec type IV. Molecular typing demonstrated four patterns, with one predominant pattern. Although usually community acquired, SCCmec type IV in our setting is clearly nosocomial.
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