Cerambycid Beetle Communities in Caatinga Dry Forests Are Structured by Seasonal Species Turnover.

Dry forests in the Caatinga biome of Brazil are seasonal ecosystems where diversity is driven by water availability. Understanding how the distribution of communities is driven by temporal climate changes has intrigued researchers for decades. However, temporal diversity patterns should be more evident in dry environments, since seasonality is characterized by being highly limiting to insect activities. Cerambycid beetles are considered good ecological indicators because they respond well to impacts of environmental changes. Thus, we asked two questions: (i) How do climatic changes affect the diversity of these insects across seasons? (ii) Are diversity components correlated with increasing air humidity, rainfall, and temperature? Our results showed a marked seasonality of cerambycid beetles, with higher abundance and richness in the wet season. The mean temperature and relative humidity were predictors of the composition of beetle assemblages. However, the variation of cerambycid assemblages between seasons is related mainly to species turnover. Our study demonstrates that the combined effect of temperature and humidity drives the temporal distribution of the cerambycids in dry forests. Although thermal sensitivity was low, the decrease in air moisture during the dry season was the limiting factor for these insects. Species turnover increased continuously with air moisture and temperature rise, creating temporal segregation among cerambycid species and maintaining the stability of the assemblage. Thus, our results are consistent with mechanisms invoking activity patterns, desiccation resistance, and physiologic constraints that predict a decrease in richness and abundance of the cerambycids from warmer and moister to colder and drier conditions.

Improving Sperm Viability After Spinal Cord Injury Using Hyperbaric Therapy.

BACKGROUND: Infertility is one of many complications of spinal cord injury (SCI) in male patients, who are often at the peak of their reproductive life. This study evaluated effects of hyperbaric therapy (HT) on quality of sperm of rats with SCI and correlated the findings with histologic analysis of the testicles. METHODS: This experimental study comprised 18 rats that were submitted to SCI with a MASCIS Impactor and randomly allocated to either a HT or a control group. Testicular biopsies were performed on the first and 28th day of the study; 4 parameters were evaluated: concentration of sperm per mL, number of round cells per field, number of inflammatory cells per field (peroxidase [Endtz] test), and sperm viability (hypo-osmotic swelling test). RESULTS: There was no difference in sperm concentration between the HT group (P = 0.41) and control group (P = 0.74) during 28 days. From day 1 to day 28, sperm viability decreased twice as much in the control group (P = 0.001) compared with the HT group (P = 0.017). There was no difference between the groups in mean sperm concentration and number of round and inflammatory cells. On the first day, there was no difference in sperm viability between groups. There was a significantly higher (P = 0.001) percentage of viable sperm in the HT group (86.8 ± 5.6) compared with the control group (48.8 ± 21.8) on day 28. CONCLUSIONS: SCI increased the number of round and inflammatory cells and diminished sperm viability in both groups. HT promoted greater sperm viability in rats with SCI.

Diversity and seasonality of Scarabaeinae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae) in forest fragments in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Scarabaeinae specimens were collected with the use of pitfall traps baited with human excrement, rotten meat and rotting banana, between May 2009 and April 2010, in three forest fragments in Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil: 'Morro do Elefante' (MOEL), 'Morro do Cerrito' (MOCE) and 'Campus da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria' (UFSM). A total of 19,699 individuals belonging to 33 species were collected. Canthidium aff. trinodosum Boheman, 1858, Canthon latipes Blanchard, 1845, Dichotomius assifer (Eschscholtz 1822), Eurysternus caribaeus (Herbst 1789), Canthidium sp. and Canthon lividus Blanchard, 1845, were the most abundant species. MOEL showed the greatest richness, MOCE the greatest abundance, while UFSM showed the lowest values of richness and abundance. The greatest similarity (qualitative and quantitative) was found between MOEL and MOCE, while the lowest occurred between MOCE and UFSM. Only 51% of the species were common to all three fragments. The richness and abundance of Scarabaeinae were positively correlated with the air temperature. The richness of the fragment decreased according to the smaller size and the greater degree of disturbance of vegetation structure.