Research in animal reproduction: An analysis of the contribution made by Latin America

In an analysis carried out on the proceedings of the last two international congresses on animal reproduction and artificial insemination (1980 and 1984), a total of 944 papers presented were classified according to sex and species of the experimental animal, reproductive event studied, and country of origin. Latin America was found to be responsible for almost 10% of presentations, with Venezuela and Mexico making up half that total. The bovine species was the most studied both by Latin American countries (51.1%) and in general (42.7%). Approximately 15% of the Latin American contribution was concerned with goat studies versus 3.4% in general. Overall, the female was studied twice as much as the male. Fertility and estrous cycle were the reproductive events most studied both in general (36.3% and 31.6%, respectively) and by Latin American authors (27.2% and 33.3%, respectively). Latin American research concentrated on two main aspects: the effect of environment on reproduction and reproductive efficiency (25.8% and 13.7% of the total, respectively).     

Domestication, genomics and the future for banana

BACKGROUND: Cultivated bananas and plantains are giant herbaceous plants within the genus Musa. They are both sterile and parthenocarpic so the fruit develops without seed. The cultivated hybrids and species are mostly triploid (2n = 3x = 33; a few are diploid or tetraploid), and most have been propagated from mutants found in the wild. With a production of 100 million tons annually, banana is a staple food across the Asian, African and American tropics, with the 15 % that is exported being important to many economies. SCOPE: There are well over a thousand domesticated Musa cultivars and their genetic diversity is high, indicating multiple origins from different wild hybrids between two principle ancestral species. However, the difficulty of genetics and sterility of the crop has meant that the development of new varieties through hybridization, mutation or transformation was not very successful in the 20th century. Knowledge of structural and functional genomics and genes, reproductive physiology, cytogenetics, and comparative genomics with rice, Arabidopsis and other model species has increased our understanding of Musa and its diversity enormously. CONCLUSIONS: There are major challenges to banana production from virulent diseases, abiotic stresses and new demands for sustainability, quality, transport and yield. Within the genepool of cultivars and wild species there are genetic resistances to many stresses. Genomic approaches are now rapidly advancing in Musa and have the prospect of helping enable banana to maintain and increase its importance as a staple food and cash crop through integration of genetical, evolutionary and structural data, allowing targeted breeding, transformation and efficient use of Musa biodiversity in the future.     

Species distribution and antifungal susceptibility profile of Candida spp. bloodstream isolates from Latin American hospitals

From March 1999 to March 2000, we conducted a prospective multicenter study of candidemia involving five tertiary care hospitals from four countries in Latin America. Yeast isolates were identified by classical methods and the antifungal susceptibility profile was determined according to the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards microbroth assay method. During a 12 month-period we were able to collect a total of 103 bloodstream isolates of Candida spp. C. albicans was the most frequently isolated species accounting for 42% of all isolates. Non-albicans Candida species strains accounted for 58% of all episodes of candidemia and were mostly represented by C. tropicalis (24.2%) and C. parapsilosis (21.3%). It is noteworthy that we were able to identify two cases of C. lusitaniae from different institutions. In our casuistic, non-albicans Candida species isolates related to candidemic episodes were susceptible to fluconazole. Continuously surveillance programs are needed in order to identify possible changes in the species distribution and antifungal susceptibility patterns of yeasts that may occurs after increasing the use of azoles in Latin American hospitals.     

The countries and languages that dominate biological research at the beginning of the 21st century

Traditionally, studies of scientific productivity are biased in two ways: they are based on Current Contents, an index centered in British and American journals, and they seldom correct for population size, ignoring the relative effort that each society places in research. We studied national productivity for biology using a more representative index, the Biological Abstracts, and analyzed both total and relative productivity. English dominates biological publications with 87% (no other individual language reaches 2%). If the USA is considered a region by itself, it occupies the first place in per capita production of biology papers, with at least twice the productivity of either Asia or Europe. Canada, Oceania and Latin America occupy an intermediate position. The global output of scientific papers is dominated by Europe, USA. Japan, Canada, China and India. When corrected for population size, the countries with the greatest productivity of biology papers are the Nordic nations, Israel, Switzerland, Netherlands, Australia, Saint Lucia and Montserrat. The predominance of English as the language of biological research found in this study shows a continuation of the trend initiated around the year 1900. The large relative productivity of the USA reflects the importance that American society gives to science as the basis for technological and economic development, but the USA's share of total scientific output has decreased from 44% in 1983 to 34% in 2002, while there is a greater growth of science in India, Japan and Latin America, among others. The increasing share obtained by China and India may reflect a recent change in attitude towards funding science. The leadership of Nordic nations, Israel, Switzerland, Netherlands and Australia can be explained by cultural attitude. Apparently, a positive trend is emerging in Latin America, where Chile improved its ranking in per capita productivity but Argentina, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Brazil and Cuba fell. Nevertheless, the most productive countries in total number of papers are Brazil, Mexico and Argentina: large countries with a long tradition of funding scientific research.     

Amphibian Declines in Latin America: Widespread Population Declines,Extinctions, and Impacts1

Amphibian populations are in decline throughout Latin America; all families of frogs have experienced declines, but the species associated with aquatic habitats in upland areas have been most affected. Declines in Latin America were most common during the 1980s, but new declines continue to be reported. The causes of declines are varied, but they have most often been associated with habitat loss, a pathogenic fungus, and climate change. Scientists are just beginning to grasp the ethical and biological implications of losses of this magnitude. In this Special Section, we provide a general summary of the phenomenon and introduce five contributed papers that provide new data and new insights into Latin American declines.     

A treasure house of comparative embryology

The Embryo Collection of the Hubrecht Laboratory is a treasure house of comparative embryology. It is the largest and most important collection of its kind in the world, and consists of thousands of vertebrate embryos stored in alcohol, or prepared as histological sections. Many elusive species are included in the collection, some represented by complete developmental series. The accompanying archives offer a remarkable insight into the methods used to collect embryos form wild animals, as well as the motives behind the founders of the collection. Carefully maintained, documented and catalogued, the collection is available for study by all interested scientists. We argue that this collection is one of the greatest biodiversity resources in existence.     

The species survival plan and the conference on reproductive strategies for endangered wildlife

The application of advanced reproduction technology to the breeding of vanishing species in captivity, as planned by the Species Survival Plan (SSP) of the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, may be crucial to practical longterm propagation of some species. However, current techniques are usually specific to domestic animals and man. Major modifications and new approaches, on a species-specific basis, will be required for broad application to specialized wild animals. Prerequisites include basic studies of unique species' physiology and basic care requirements. The current SSP program needs a major research component.     

Wildlife in the life of local people of the semi-arid Argentine Chaco

The semi-arid Argentine Chaco is inhabited by mestizo people, who live on an economy of subsistence based on the use of natural resources and livestock ranching. I investigated the dietary and economic importance of wildlife for local people. Through interviews and participant observation, I found that wildlife is used primarily as food, providing about a third of the total meat consumed by local peasants. Local people use at least 26 species of wildlife although they concentrate on few species. Small species, Chacoan cavies and armadillos, are consumed most, representing 48% of the total wild meat consumed. Consumption of wild meat follows seasonal patterns determined by hunting methods, preferences for meat quality and species activity patterns. The consumptive value of wild meat is high in comparison with wages, but lower in comparison with forest exploitation. Illegal commercialization of wildlife is practiced mainly by villagers and by outsiders and it affects endangered species. Patterns of use of wildlife by local people differ from other Latin American groups in terms of the range of species hunted and the role that hunting plays in local people’ livelihoods. The first steps towards conservation of this increasingly threatened region should involve decreasing hunting by local people of the more vulnerable species and controlling all illegal commercial hunting.     

Epidemiological study of sporotrichosis and histoplasmosis in captive Latin American wild mammals,São Paulo,Brazil

Sporotrichosis and histoplasmosis are deep mycosis with a high incidence in human beings in Brazil. In domestic animals histoplasmosis has been described only in dogs, but the occurence of sporotrichosis among domestic animals in Brazil has been described in dogs, cats, mules and asses. There is also a case of this disease reported in a chimpanzee (Pan troglodites). The purpose of this research was to perform an epidomiological study of these mycoses using delayed hypersensitivity tests (histoplasmin and sporotrichin) in Latin American wild mammals. This research was assayed using 96 healthy animals at Parque Zoológico de São Paulo, Brazil: Primates: 33Cebus apella — weeping-capuchin and 16Callithrix jacchus — marmoset; Procyonidae: 37Nasua nasua — coatimundi and 10 Felidae (Panthera onca — jaguar;Felis pardalis — ocelotFelis wiedii — margay;Felis tigrina — wild cat). For intradermic tests, the following antigens were used:Sporothrix schenkii cell suspension (sporotrichin, histoplasmin-filtrate),Histoplasma capsulatum cell suspension (histoplasmin), andHistoplasma capsulatum (polysaccharide). The positivity to histoplasmin was 44.79% (Cebidae 15.15%; Callithricidae 6.25%; Procyonidae 86.49% and Felidae 50.00%, respectively). With respect to sporotrichin, 30.21% (Cebidae 6.06%, Callithricidae 0.0%; Procyonidae 64.86% and Felidae 30.00% respectively). The pattern of infection is similar to that shown by human beings and this may suggest that these animals could be involved in the epidemiologic chain of sporotrichosis and histoplasmosis, the second most prevalent human deep mycoses in Brazil. It is important to point out the absence of similar studies in Latin American wild animals.     

Laboratory maintenance does not alter ecological and physiological patterns among species: a Drosophila case study

Large comparative studies in animal ecology, physiology and evolution often use animals reared in the laboratory for many generations; however, the relevance of these studies hinges on the assumption that laboratory populations are still representative for their wild living conspecifics. In this study, we investigate whether laboratory‐maintained and freshly collected animal populations are fundamentally different and whether data from laboratory‐maintained animals are valid to use in large comparative investigations of ecological and physiological patterns. Here, we obtained nine species of Drosophila with paired populations of laboratory‐maintained and freshly collected flies. These species, representing a range of ecotypes, were assayed for four stress‐tolerance, two body‐size traits and six life‐history traits. For all of these traits, we observed small differences in species‐specific comparisons between field and laboratory populations; however, these differences were unsystematic and laboratory maintenance did not eclipse fundamental species characteristics. To investigate whether laboratory maintenance influence the general patterns in comparative studies, we correlated stress tolerance and life‐history traits with environmental traits for the laboratory‐maintained and freshly collected populations. Based on this analysis, we found that the comparative physiological and ecological trait correlations are similar irrespective of provenience. This finding is important for comparative biology in general because it validates comparative meta‐analyses based on laboratory‐maintained populations.     

Prevalence of ectoparasitic arthropods on wild animals and cattle in the Las Merindades area (Burgos, Spain)

This paper reports the prevalence of ectoparasitic arthropods in sampled groups of wild (n = 128; 16 species) and domestic (n = 69; 3 species) animals in the Las Merindades area of the Province of Burgos, Spain. The study revealed that wild animals were more infested and with a wider variety of ectoparasites than domestic animals. The parasitic prevalence was 67% for wild animals and 48% for livestock. In this way, 39% of animals were infected by ticks. Ixodes ricinus and Ixodes hexagonus were the most prevalent species whereas Dermacentor reticulatus showed affinity for the fox and wolf. The overall prevalence of parasitisation by fleas was 27%. Ctenophthalmus spp. showed the wider range host in wild animals, while Pulex irritans was the most frequent specie found. The parasitic prevalences by lice (Trichodectes melis, Trichodectes canis and Trichodectes mustelae) and by mite (Neotrombicula spp., Laelaps agilis and Sarcoptes scabiei) were 4% and 12%, respectively. In both cases only wild animals were found parasited.     

Diversity in Paracoccidioides brasiliensis . The PbGP43 gene as a genetic marker

Paracoccidioides brasiliensis is a temperature-dependent dimorphic fungus and the agent of paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM), which is prevalent in rural workers of Latin American countries. Until a decade ago, most of the studies involving P. brasiliensis used clinical isolates, since environmental samples from soil are difficult to obtain. More recently, P. brasiliensis has been isolated from infected wild and domestic animals, especially from the nine-banded armadillo Dasypus novemcinctus in Brazil. Over the years, diversity within the species has been observed at several phenotypic levels. The present review will discuss the reports focusing on genetic polymorphism, which culminated with the detection of P. brasiliensis phylogenetic species as a result of a multilocus study. Polymorphism in the PbGP43 gene is detailed. This gene encodes fungal glycoprotein gp43, a dominant P. brasiliensis antigen largely studied in the last two decades for its importance in diagnosis, immune protection, and adhesive properties to extracellular matrix-associated proteins. Fungal traits associated with genetic groups are discussed.     

Phylogeny of the riodinid butterfly subtribe Theopeina (Lepidoptera: Riodinidae: Nymphidiini)

Abstract The almost exclusively Neotropical butterfly family Riodinidae is poorly represented in both ecological and systematic studies of Lepidoptera. A comparative morphological study of all seventy-five species in subtribe Theopeina (tribe Nymphidiini) yielded 104 characters, predominantly from wing pattern, male and female genitalia, and abdominal structures. All morphological characters and adults representing the range of wing pattern variation are illustrated. Phylogenetic analysis of the data produced a large number of most parsimonious cladograms, but the strict consensus of these, both when using equal weights and after successive weighting, is well resolved and the majority of terminal clades have high character and branch support. Theopeina is found to consist of five monophyletic genera, Protonymphidia , Archaeonympha , Calicosama , Behemothia and Theope (=  Parnes and Dinoplotis ), with the largest genus Theope containing thirteen monophyletic species groups, which are delineated to facilitate a discussion of broad evolutionary patterns in this morphologically diverse subtribe.     

Isolation and identification of Streptomyces spp. from Venezuelan soils: morphological and biochemical studies. I

The genus Streptomyces is represented in nature by the largest number of species and varieties among the family Actinomycetaceae. They differ greatly in their morphology, physiology, and biochemical activities, producing the majority of known antibiotics. The morphological and biochemical characteristics of 71 Streptomyces spp. isolated from soil samples collected at different places of Venezuela, are presented. A comparative analysis using the statistical software Minitab shows that 67 of these isolates are presumably new strains, since they possess a very low percentage of similarity with other reported species. Only four isolates shared 100% identity with one, two or three reported Streptomyces spp.     

长江流域鸟类的初步分析

对长江流域范围内有关动物调查报告和研究资料进行全面、系统地收集和整理,建立了鸟类分布数据库,初步查明在长江流域分布的鸟类共有762种,隶属20目、66科、291属,约占全国鸟类种数的61．2％。其中拥有中国特有鸟及主要分布鸟类72种,国家一级重点保护动物26种,国家二级重点保护动物92种。     

中国红豆属植物生物与生态学特征研究现状

红豆属(Ormosia)隶属豆科(Fabaceae),全属约130种,均为木本植物,我国有37种,广东、广西、云南、海南为主要分布区。该属野外自然更新能力较差,对生存环境要求严格。由于该属大部分物种具有极高的经济价值和开发利用价值,因此人为干扰及盗伐现象严重,分布范围收缩且野外种群数量减少。本文在查阅文献的基础上,对红豆属植物的生态学特征、组织培养、生理生化、遗传、濒危现状与保护对策等方面的研究成果进行归纳总结并进行了展望,以期为深入研究红豆属植物、拯救红豆属物种提供参考。