The effects of urbanization on bats are poorly understood, but published data suggests it might be detrimental to them. Even though urban parks provide refuge to native biota, the nature of the urban landscape exacerbates the insularization process. In order to evaluate if wooded streets in an urban landscape provide connectivity for bats, we compared bat community structure in three different types of habitats: urban parks, wooded streets and non-wooded streets. Sampling occurred monthly from August 2006 to July 2007 in the city of Vitória, southeastern Brazil. Richness, relative abundance and diversity were higher in urban parks and lower in non-wooded streets. Jaccard's similarity index showed that the wooded streets are more similar to non-wooded streets than to urban parks. Urbanization may benefit generalist species by providing new resources, but for specialist species critical resources may be lost and persistence endangered. There is evidence that wooded streets may provide some degree of connectivity for birds in urban landscapes, but our results suggest that this is not the case, with wooded streets being used by few individuals of a few species. Vegetation cover is important to maintain bat diversity in urban centers. Activities like landscape planning and gardening should include biodiversity data in their outputs in order to better design a landscape that improves the likelihood of persistence of bats.

No abstract

An important aspect of conservation is to understand the founding elements and characteristics of metacommunities in natural environments, and the consequences of anthropogenic disturbance on these patterns. In natural Amazonian environments, the interfluves of the major rivers play an important role in the formation of areas of endemism through the historical isolation of species and the speciation process. We evaluated elements of metacommunity structure for Zygoptera (Insecta: Odonata) sampled in 93 Amazonian streams distributed in two distinct biogeographic regions (areas of endemism). Of sampled streams, 43 were considered to have experienced negligible anthropogenic impacts, and 50 were considered impacted by anthropogenic activities. Our hypothesis was that preserved (“negligible impact”) streams would present a Clementsian pattern, forming clusters of distinct species, reflecting the biogeographic pattern of the two regions, and that anthropogenic streams would present random patterns of metacommunity, due to the loss of more sensitive species and dominance of more tolerant species, which have higher dispersal ability and environmental tolerance. In negligible impact streams, the Clementsian pattern reflected a strong biogeographic pattern, which we discuss considering the areas of endemism of Amazonian rivers. As for communities in human‐impacted streams, a biotic homogenization was evident, in which rare species were suppressed and the most common species had become hyper‐dominant. Understanding the mechanisms that trigger changes in metacommunities is an important issue for conservation, because they can help create mitigation measures for the impacts of anthropogenic activities on biological communities, and so should be expanded to studies using other taxonomic groups in both tropical and temperate systems, and, wherever possible, at multiple spatial scales.

Substrate complexity is strongly related to biodiversity in aquatic habitats. We illustrate a novel framework, based on Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry (SfM) and Multi-View Stereo (MVS) photogrammetry, to quantify habitat complexity in freshwater ecosystems from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and underwater photography. We analysed sites in the Xingu river basin, Brazil, to reconstruct the 3D structure of the substrate and identify and map habitat classes important for maintaining fish assemblage biodiversity. From the digital models we calculated habitat complexity metrics including rugosity, slope and 3D fractal dimension. The UAV based SfM-MVS products were generated at a ground sampling distance (GSD) of 1.20–2.38 cm while the underwater photography produced a GSD of 1 mm. Our results show how these products provide spatially explicit complexity metrics, which are more comprehensive than conventional arbitrary cross sections. Shallow neural network classification of SfM-MVS products of substrate exposed in the dry season resulted in high accuracies across classes. UAV and underwater SfM-MVS is robust for quantifying freshwater habitat classes and complexity and should be chosen whenever possible over conventional methods (e.g., chain-and-tape) because of the repeatability, scalability and multi-dimensional nature of the products. The SfM-MVS products can be used to identify high priority freshwater sectors for conservation, species occurrences and diversity studies to provide a broader indication for overall fish species diversity and provide repeatability for monitoring change over time.

In Brazil, restingas are under severe human-induced impacts resulting in habitat degradation and loss and remain one of the less frequently studied ecosystems. The main objectives of the present study are to describe the bat community in a restinga in Paulo Cesar Vinha State Park, Guarapari municipality, state of Espírito Santo, southeastern Brazil. Fieldwork was conducted twice a month from August 2004 to September 2005. A total sampling effort of 40,300 m 2 /h, represents the largest sampling effort for sampling bats in restingas to date. Bats were sampled in five different vegetational types in the area. Captured bats were processed recording information on species, sex, age, forearm length and weight. Shannon Diversity and Jaccard indexes were used to analyse diversity and similarity among habitats in the Park. A total of 554 captures belonging to 14 species and two families were obtained. Noctilio leporinus was recorded through direct observation and an ultra-sound detector also registered the presence of individuals from the family Molossidae, without being possible to distinguish it at specific level. Frugivores were the most representative guild. Richness was higher in Clusia shrubs (11 species) and Caraís lagoon (10 species). Shannon diversity index was estimated at H' = 1.43 for the overall sample, with Caraís lagoon representing the most diverse habitat (H' = 1.60). The greater similarity (J = 0.714) was observed for the two areas under high human influence.

ResumoO glúten pode determinar a qualidade da farinha de trigo, conferindo às massas características como elasticidade e capacidade de absorver água, o que torna a elaboração de produtos de panificação isentos de glúten um desafio. Desse modo, o presente estudo buscou avaliar as características físico-químicas e sensoriais de biscoitos elaborados com ingredientes sucedâneos ao trigo, como fécula de mandioca, farinha de soja, de quinoa e de amaranto. Para a caracterização física foram determinados: peso, diâmetro, espessura, fator de expansão e volume específico. Quanto à composição química foram determinados: umidade, cinzas, proteínas, lipídios, fibras alimentares, carboidratos totais, energia, além de pH e acidez. A aceitabilidade foi determinada por meio de uma escala hedônica de nove pontos. As formulações contendo farinhas sucedâneas ao trigo apresentaram bom rendimento, maior teor de cinzas, de proteínas, de lipídios e de fibras alimentares. Também, essas apresentaram percentuais de aceitabilidade superiores a 70%, exceto para a avaliação do sabor da amostra com maior teor de soja (40 g/100g). Conclui-se que as formulações contendo farinhas sucedâneas ao trigo podem ser consideradas promissoras, disponibilizando alternativas alimentares àqueles que almejam produtos com valor nutricional superior e posicionamento único no mercado, visto que os produtos disponíveis muitas vezes possuem baixo valor nutritivo ao serem elaborados com farinhas amiláceas. Palavras-chave: Composição química; Panificação; Fibra alimentar; Análise sensorial. SummaryGluten can determine the quality of wheat flour, providing elasticity and the water holding characteristics of the dough, which makes the preparation of gluten-free bakery products a challenge. Thus the aim of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical and sensory characteristics of cookies made with wheat flour substitutes such as cassava starch, soy, quinoa and amaranth flours. The physical characterization was determined according to the weight, diameter, thickness, expansion factor and specific volume. The chemical composition was determined according to the moisture, ash, protein, fat, dietary fibre and total carbohydrate contents, and also the energy, pH and acidity. Acceptability was determined using a nine-point hedonic scale. The formulations containing the wheat flour substitutes showed good yields, and higher ash, protein, lipid and dietary fibre contents. They also showed percentages of acceptability above 70%, except for the flavour of the sample with the highest soy content (40 g/100g). It was concluded that the formulations containing wheat flour substitutes could be considered promising alternatives for food products with superior nutritional value and a unique market opportunity, since the products available frequently have a low nutritional value due to the fact that they are elaborated with starchy flours.

No abstract

Ground Beetles (Carabidae) have been suggested to be used as indicators of ecological status under the effects of anthropogenic land use and land cover changes in highly biodiverse regions such as the Neotropics. In this study Ground Beetles' assemblages from a region in the Brazilian Amazon were investigated for evaluating their applicability as disturbance indicators. Differences in assemblages between ecosystems, discriminated by complimentary methodologies, demonstrate a sensitive reaction from the most pristine forests to increasingly disturbed systems. Besides capturing the influence of different prevailing conditions between ecosystems, Ground Beetles are easy to communicate and to link with the other components of the system, being effortless and routinely measurable using standard methodologies. This study represents a step forward in using Ground Beetles for the purposes of planning, management and public reporting on the ecological status of Neotropical ecosystems. Additionally, the methods depicted could support projections for trends of relevant ecosystem attributes under realistic social-ecological change scenarios, which can be used to guide effective conservation planning.