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Chagas disease is caused by Trypanosoma cruzi. This study aimed to determine the effects of T. cruzi infection on fertility rate and health of the newborn pups in pregnant mice. Female mice were challenged with T. cruzi and mated at 21-days (acute parasitemic phase) or 90-days (chronic parasite persistence phase) post-infection. Pups were examined for growth up to 20-days post-birth and parasite burden in brain, heart, skeletal muscle, and intestine was measured by qPCR. The inflammatory infiltrate, necrosis, and fibrosis in pups' heart and brain tissues were evaluated by histology. It was found that T. cruzi infection in dams delayed the onset of pregnancy, decreased the fertility rate, and led to vertical transmission of parasite to the pups. Further, infected dams delivered pups that exhibited decreased survival rate, decreased birth weight, and decreased growth rate. Significantly increased inflammation, necrosis, and fibrosis of cardiac and brain tissues were noted in pups born to infected dams. Initial challenge with higher parasite dose had more detrimental effects on fertility rate and pups' health in both acutely and chronically infected dams. In conclusion, mice offer a promising model to evaluate the efficacy of new vaccines and therapeutic drugs in controlling the acute and chronic maternal T. cruzi infection and congenital transmission to newborns, and in improving the fertility rate and pups' health outcomes.

Habitat loss is widely recognized as the main driver of biodiversity loss around the globe, yet the effects of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity have been extensively debated in recent years. We used a robust dataset of medium and large-sized mammals to test (a) the Habitat Amount Hypothesis, which postulates that species richness can be mainly predicted by the total amount of habitat surrounding the sampling site, and (b) the effects of habitat fragmentation per se, which may be expected to be weak or mainly positive on species richness. We compiled information on the occurrence of mammal species in 166 forest fragments across the Atlantic Forest. For each forest fragment, we extracted information on patch size, percentage of forest cover (a proxy for habitat amount), and edge density and number of fragments (fragmentation metrics). We related these metrics to mammalian richness considering separately for all species, forest-dependent species, disturbance-tolerant species, and different trophic guilds. All richness measures strongly declined with decreasing forest cover, yet were unaffected by patch size, number of patches and edge density. The only exception occurred with herbivore richness, which was affected by number of patches. However, we found fragmentation per se effects only for herbivore richness. Our results show that mammal richness increased with habitat amount at the landscape, whereas habitat fragmentation per se had significant negative impacts on herbivores only. We therefore recommend maintaining highly forested landscapes and restoring severely deforested areas, being essential for ensuring high richness of mammals.

Large ground-dwelling Neotropical gamebirds are highly threatened by habitat loss and hunting, but conservationists rarely attempt to distinguish between these two threats in the management of populations. We used three different types of species records to determine the status (i.e. persistence level) of the Endangered red-billed curassow Crax blumenbachii in 14 forest remnants in north-east Brazil, as either persistent, precarious or extirpated. We related these persistence levels to variables measured in a 2-km buffer radius, including variables associated with habitat quality (proportion of forest cover, length of rivers, patch density, distance from rivers) and hunting pressure (proportion of cacao agroforests and farmlands, length of roads, total area occupied by settlements, distance from roads and from settlements). Curassows were more persistent in forest patches located (1) more distant from settlements, (2) in landscapes with few settlements, (3) in landscapes with a high incidence of roads, (4) in a mosaic with a high proportion of forest, shaded cacao agroforest and farmland, and (5) more distant from other forest patches. Hunting pressure potentially exerts more influence on persistence than habitat quality: (1) hunting pressure submodels had a higher explanatory power than habitat quality submodels, (2) final models comprised four hunting pressure variables but only two habitat quality variables, and (3) hunting pressure variables appeared in all models whereas habitat quality variables appeared in only one final model. If hunting pressure is driving declines in curassows, regions with low human presence and a high proportion of forest cover are recommended for establishing new reserves.

We present evidence of plasticity in habitat use and range extension of the striped hog-nosed skunk (Conepatus semistriatus) in Brazil. We first compiled literature records of C. semistriatus across its known distribution (N = 390), added new records from primary data (N = 10), and compared the main landscape composition (forest, savannah, grassland, agriculture) among these occurrence sites (N = 400). We unveil that landscape composition among occurrence sites varied widely within and among biomes in Brazil (Caatinga, Cerrado and Atlantic Forest), indicating C. semistriatus presence from dense forested habitats to grasslands and anthropogenic areas (especially agricultural landscapes). Almost 30% of the occurrence records of C. semistriatus are outside of the species known distribution, including records in ecotones between Cerrado-Amazonia biomes, extending its occurrence area in 449,118 km2. We conclude that habitat modification is a driver for the occurrence of C. semistriatus in dense forested habitats, facilitating its distribution expansion to previously unexpected areas.

Made available in DSpace on 2022-04-28T19:42:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2021-07-01 Universidade Estadual do Sudoeste da Bahia Idea Wild Fundação Grupo Boticário de Proteção à Natureza Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia National Geographic Society The Brazilian Atlantic Forest of Southern Bahia is a megadiverse region given its remarkable number of species and endemism. Despite being a priority region for biodiversity conservation, the role of protected and unprotected forest remnants for long-term species conservation is unknown. Here, we unveil the main patterns of occurrence and distribution of medium- and large-sized mammals in remnants of the Atlantic Forest of Southern Bahia, to generate subsidies for applied conservation strategies. We recorded mammals using camera-traps, active search, and/or line-transect surveys and complemented our species list with literature data. We thus obtained information on richness attributes, relative abundance, and biomass of mammal species per forest remnant, compared assemblages in protected and unprotected areas, and finally investigated both species-area and biomass-area relationships. From 72 forest remnants assessed, we recorded 45 mammal species, including 19 threatened locally. Protected areas were richer in species, especially concerning threatened ones, and concentrated most of the mammal biomass, which presented consistently low values for most areas. The positive and significant species-area and biomass-area relationships further corroborate these patterns since protected areas are larger in size. Despite the historic anthropogenic pressures, we conclude that Southern Bahia still harbors an expressive mammal diversity, with protected areas being critical to maintain most of the species' richness and biomass across the entire region. Nevertheless, small unprotected remnants (

RESUMO Avaliar os efeitos das mudanças no uso da terra sobre a biodiversidade se tornou uma questão-chave para conservação das espécies. Para isso, é necessário analisar a configuração e composição da paisagem em que determinada espécie ocorre. O objetivo foi traçar um perfil dos remanescentes florestais de Mata Atlântica localizados no sul da Bahia que apresentam registros atuais e históricos de Crax blumenbachii. Analisaram-se quatorze áreas utilizando diferentes escalas espaciais (escala de mancha, 500 m, 1 e 2 km) para calcular a quilometragem total e a distância mais próxima de estradas e rios até a borda da mancha, porcentagem de área ocupada por: floresta, floresta com cabrucas, pastagem e agricultura; densidade de fragmentos e a proximidade desses fragmentos até a borda de cada mancha, a área ocupada por casas e a distância dessas até a borda da mancha. Selecionou-se a escala de 2 km por melhor descrever a configuração e composição da paisagem. Há dois perfis de áreas com registros de mutum: (1) áreas com paisagens mais florestadas, com mais rios e estradas, pouca pastagem/agricultura e casas próximas, e (2) áreas distantes de casas, com estradas e fragmentos florestais próximos. Estas são caracteristicas de áreas com registros recentes ou históricos de mutum, e não necessariamente refletem qualidade de habitat para a espécie. ABSTRACT Assessing the effects of land use change on biodiversity has become a key issue for species conservation. Thus, it is necessary to analyze the configuration and composition of the landscape where a species occurs. The objective was to draw a profile of the forest remnants of the Atlantic Forest located in the south of Bahia state that present current and historical records of Crax blumenbachii. We analyzed fourteen areas using different spatial scales (patch scale, 500 m, 1 and 2 km) to calculate the total distance and distance from roads and rivers to the edge of the patch, percentage of area occupied by: forest, forest with cabrucas, cabrucas, pasture and agriculture; density of fragments and the proximity of these fragments to the edge of each patch, the area occupied by houses and their distance to the edge of the patch. We selected the 2 km scale to best describe the configuration and composition of the landscape. There are two profiles of areas with records of red-billed curassows: (1) areas with more forested landscapes, rivers and roads, low pasture/agriculture, and near human settlements, and (2) areas distant from houses, near roads and forest fragments. These features are related to areas with recent or historic records of red-billed curassows, and do not necessarily reflect habitat quality for the species.