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Aim of the study: To evaluate the effects of a mega-fire on the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) community and parameters in soils under Cerrado vegetation. Study area: Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park, Goiás, Brazil. This site suffered the biggest fire in its history on October 10, 2017, with an affected area of 66,000 ha. Material and methods: We analyzed AMF spore density, roots’ mycorrhizal colonization rate, easily extractable glomalin (EEG), as well as the AMF genera present. These parameters were evaluated in burned and unburned areas of five common phytophysiognomies of the region. Main results: Fire presence immediately influenced the mycorrhizal community parameters in Cerrado soils, which tended to increase afterwards. The presence of AMF genera did not differ between burned and unburned areas, with Acaulospora, Claroideglomus, Diversispora, Glomus, Funneliformis, Sclerocystis, and Gigaspora being present. The recovery of AMF community conditions in the Cerrado after fire events could also be observed in the mycorrhizal parameters evaluated, as the values of spore density, roots’ mycorrhizal colonization rate, and EEG were similar in the burned and unburned areas. Research highlights: AMF diversity, and especially their community parameters, show great recovery after fire events, since they are crucial in processes like nutrient cycling and soil aggregation.

We study an entanglement transfer protocol in a two-leg ladder spin-1/2 chain in the presence of disorder. In the regime where on-site energies and the intrachain couplings follow aproximately constant proportions locally, we set up a scheme for high-fidelity state transfer via a disorder-protected subspace wherein fluctuations in the parameters do not depend on the global disorder of the system, accounted by $W$. Moreover, we find that the leakage of information from that subspace is actually suppressed upon increasing $W$ and thus the transfer fidelity, evaluated through the entanglement concurrence at the other end of the chain, builds up with the disorder strength., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures; comments welcome

This work aims to incorporate Mgbee clay, vegetal fibre ( Costus afer ) in recycled low density polyethylene (rLDPE). The incorporation of clay and vegetal fibre in rLDPE was carried out using a twin screw extruder machine and the nano composites were obtained. The nano composites were characterized by the Young’s modules test, tensile tests, bending test, XRD, SEM, DSC, and TG and other properties evaluated. The results of morphological and thermal properties showed a good interaction between the clay, and rLDPE as compared to neat rLDPE.

Moringa oleifera is a fast-growing hygrophilic tree native to a humid sub-tropical region of India, now widely planted in many regions of the Southern Hemisphere characterized by low soil water availability. The widespread cultivation of this plant worldwide may have led to populations with different physiological and biochemical traits. In this work, the impact of water stress on the physiology and biochemistry of two M. oleifera populations, one from Chaco Paraguayo (PY) and one from Indian Andhra Pradesh (IA) region, was studied in a screenhouse experiment where the water stress treatment was followed by re-watering. Through transcriptome sequencing, 2201 potential genic simple sequence repeats were identified and used to confirm the genetic differentiation of the two populations. Both populations of M. oleifera reduced photosynthesis, water potential, relative water content and growth under drought, compared to control well-watered plants. A complete recovery of photosynthesis after re-watering was observed in both populations, but growth parameters recovered better in PY than in IA plants. During water stress, PY plants accumulated more secondary metabolites, especially β-carotene and phenylpropanoids, than IA plants, but IA plants invested more into xanthophylls and showed a higher de-epoxidation state of xanthophylls cycle that contributed to protect the photosynthetic apparatus. M. oleifera demonstrated a high genetic variability and phenotypic plasticity, which are key factors for adaptation to dry environments. A higher plasticity (e.g. in PY plants adapted to wet environments) will be a useful trait to endure recurrent but brief water stress episodes, whereas long-term investment of resources into secondary metabolism (e.g. in IA plants adapted to drier environments) will be a successful strategy to cope with prolonged periods of drought. This makes M. oleifera an important resource for agro-forestry in a climate change scenario.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-01T20:28:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 tese_11504_Dissertação_Karla Verônica Alvarado Hernandez.pdf: 2395403 bytes, checksum: bb58ddc781f0156477077fd71ee45e26 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-13 O mamão, Carica papaya L., é uma das frutas mais consumidas no mundo devido as suas características nutricionais, farmacêuticas e uso na indústria alimentícia e cosmética. No Brasil, segundo produtor de mamão no mundo, a produção vem sendo afetada severamente pela doença da meleira, provocada pelo complexo Papaya meleira virus (PMeV e PMeV2). Com o objetivo de analisar as alterações na atividade fotossintética em folhas de mamoeiro Golden, com infecção do PMeV e diferentes cargas virais do PMeV2, realizou-se um experimento onde foram avaliados três grupos de plantas de Carica papaya cv. Golden: Controle, sem inocular; inoculadas com tampão fosfato de sódio (Tratamento = ↓[PMeV2]) e inoculadas com tampão fosfato de sódio e látex colhido de plantas com sintomas da meleira (Tratamento = ↑[PMeV2]). A técnica da fluorescência da clorofila a foi usada como ferramenta de avaliação. Houve um aumento significativo na produção quântica de conversão de energia fotoquímica no fotossistema II (Y (II)) e um aumento do rendimento quântico da perda de energia não-fotoquímica regulada (Y (NPQ)) nas plantas infectadas. Simultaneamente, curvas OJIP de fluorescência, evidenciaram maior eficiência na redução dos aceptores primários (Quinona A) e secundários (Quinona B) de elétrons no fotossistema II e maior eficiência de redução do pool de plastoquinonas e, consequente, maior eficiência na redução dos aceptores de elétrons do complexo Citb6f. O diagnóstico da meleira nas plantas, usando a técnica de RT-PCR, confirmou a presença de dois vírus PMeV e PMeV2. Foi verificado maior índice de desempenho fotoquímico (PItotal) nas plantas com maior carga viral a partir do 35º dia após a inoculação (DAI) e, aos 49 DAI, observou-se aumento na atividade redutora do fotossistema I e no PItotal nas plantas com maior carga viral e valores intermediários nas plantas com menor carga viral. Estes resultados sugerem uma resposta de defesa do mamoeiro cv. Golden à infecção e comprovam a presença dos dois vírus, PMeV e PMeV2. Portanto, esta técnica mostrou-se uma ferramenta com grande potencial como um método simples e rápido para estudar a interação planta x patógeno, bem como os mecanismos de infecção de vírus em plantas podendo ser também usado para detecção das alterações na atividade fotossintética no mamoeiro infectado pelo complexo PMeV e PMeV2.