Niche overlap analysis of a lizard assemblage from the Atlantic Rainforest, evaluation of arsenic toxicity in cladocerans, and molecular biology of mycoplasmas

Since last year, the Annals of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (AABC) has started to publish supplementary volumes with two main purposes in mind: to be able to put in print more manuscripts due to the increasing trend of submissions of good papers (estimated to reach over 1000 this year) and to allow the edition of volumes about one specific topic. The first one, entitled Hot topics in Biomedical Sciences (Cordeiro and Schuck 2015), was quite well received and more such collective papers are to follow.

Here we present the second supplementary volume of the AABC (88-2 Suppl). Differing from the first, this one presents a selection of contributions in Biological Sciences, dealing with a variety of topics, including ecology, toxicity of substances, antibodies for breast cancer and others, showing the increasing interdisciplinarity of scientific studies.

Among the interesting papers published here is a study regarding ecology of lizards. It should be noted that research on populations of these reptiles from coastal areas of Brazil has attracted lots of attention in the last years (e.g., Menezes and Rocha 2014), particularly concerning reproduction strategies of species living in restinga habitats of the northeastern part of the country (e.g., Dias and Rocha 2014, Zanchi-Silva et al. 2014). In the present volume of the AABC, Gisele Winck and colleagues have presented a study about a lizard community from a sand dune of a coastal area of Brazil situated in the Restinga de Jurubatiba National Park (Winck et al. 2016). This region is located within the Atlantic Rainforest, where ecological studies are comparatively scarce (e.g., Carvalho et al. 2007). As has been pointed out, the way sympatric species use available resources may be influenced by ecological and historical factors (e.g., Vitt and Pianka 2005), which are not always easy to determine.

Pollution is a main concern of modern societies, with metals being the most common pollutants, particularly in aquatic environments (e.g., Schneider et al. 2014). Although most of such substances are introduced to the environment due to anthropogenic activity, including industries and mining (e.g., Campaner et al. 2014), others can be quite common in nature, such as the metalloid arsenic (Wang and Mulligan 2006), whose more toxic form is usually present in groundwater (Sharma and Sohn 2009). The effects of arsenic on different organisms have been published (e.g., Norwood et al. 2007, Zou et al. 2013), but more studies on sensitive aquatic organisms are desired, particularly using an ecotoxicological approach (Miao et al. 2012). In the study published in this volume of the AABC, Sales et al. (2016) evaluated the potential arsenic toxicity in two species of cladocerans, a group of small crustaceans that are important organisms in ecotoxicological studies. They show that, under certain conditions, different cladocerans display more effective mechanisms to reduce arsenic toxicity (Sales et al. 2016).

Lastly I would like to call your attention to the paper of Cordova et al. (2016). These authors have presented a review of molecular biology of mycoplasmas, which comprise a large group of bacteria that lacks a cell wall (Dybvig and Voelker 1996). Several aspects of these interesting group were focused in this review, including the advances in the study of artificial cells, that passes through the minimum cell concept (Cordova et al. 2016).

REFERENCES

• CAMPANER VP, LUIZ-SILVA W AND MACHADO W. 2014. Geochemistry of acid mine drainage from a coal mining area and processes controlling metal attenuation in stream waters, southern Brazil. An Acad Bras Cienc 86: 539-554.
• CARVALHO ALG, ARAÚJO AFB AND SILVA HR. 2007. Lagartos da Marambaia, um remanescente insular de Restinga e Floresta Atlântica no Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Biota Neotr 7: 221-226.
• CORDEIRO Y AND SCHUCK PF. 2015. Hot topics in Biomedical Sciences. An Acad Bras Cienc 87: 1271-1272.
• CORDOVA CMM, HOELTGEBAUM DL, MACHADO LDPN AND SANTOS L. 2016. Molecular biology of mycoplasmas: from the minimum cell concept to the artificial cell. An Acad Bras Cienc 88: XXX.
• DIAS EJR AND ROCHA CFD. 2014. Habitat structural effect on Squamata Fauna of the restinga ecosystem in Northeastern Brazil. An Acad Bras Cienc 86: 359-371.
• DYBVIG K AND VOELKER LL. 1996. Molecular biology of mycoplasmas. Annu Rev Microbiol 50: 25-57.
• MENEZES VA ANDROCHA CFD . 2014. Clutch size in populations and species of cnemidophorines (Squamata: Teiidae) on the eastern coast of Brazil. An Acad Bras Cienc 86: 707-722.
• MIAO AJ, WANG NX, YANG LY AND WANG WX. 2012. Accumulation kinetics of arsenic in Daphnia magna under different phosphorus and food density regimes. Environ Toxicol Chem 31(6): 1283-1291.
• NORWOOD WP, BORGMANN U AND DIXON DG. 2007. Chronic toxicity of arsenic, cobalt, chromium and manganese to in relation to exposure and bioaccumulation. Environ Pollut 147: 262-272.
• SALES SCM, RIETZLER AC AND RIBEIRO MM. 2016. Arsenic toxicity to cladocerans isolated and associated with iron: implication for aquatic environments. An Acad Bras Cienc 88: XXX.
• SCHNEIDER IL, TEIXEIRA EC, RODRIGUES MLK AND ROLIM SBA. 2014. Metal content and distribution in surface of sediments in an industrial region. An Acad Bras Cienc 86: 1043-1061.
• SHARMA VK AND SOHN M. 2009. Aquatic arsenic: toxicity, speciation, transformations, and remediation. Environ Int 35: 743-759.
• VITT LJ AND PIANKA ER. 2005. Deep history impacts present day ecology and biodiversity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA102: 7877-7881.
• WANG S AND MULLIGAN CN. 2006. Effect of natural organic matter on arsenic release from soils and sediments into groundwater. Environ Geochem Hlth 28: 197-214.
• WINCK GR, HATANO F, VRCIBRADIC D, VAN SLYUS M ANDROCHA CFD . 2016. Lizard assemblage from a sand dune habitat from southeastern Brazil: a niche overlap analysis. An Acad Bras Cienc 88: XXX.
• ZANCHI-SILVA D, BORGES-NOJOSA DM AND GALDINO CAB. 2014. Reproduction of a whiptail lizard (Ameivula ocellifera, Teiidae) from a coastal area in northeastern Brazil. An Acad Bras Cienc 86: 1263-1271.
• ZOU XY, XU B, YU CP AND ZHANG HW. 2013. Combined toxicity of ferroferric oxide nanoparticles and arsenic to the ciliated protozoa Tetrahymena pyriformis Aquat Toxicol 134-135: 6-73.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  2016