RESUMO Poças temporárias são importantes ampliadores da biodiversidade local, sobretudo em áreas florestadas estacionais. Alterações na cobertura vegetal ao longo das margens desses corpos hídricos podem alterar a composição e estrutura da sua comunidade zooplanctônica. Nesse sentindo, testamos a hipótese de que a presença de mata ripária altera a estrutura da comunidade zooplanctônica encontrada em poças temporárias. Foram filtrados até 10 litros de água, em malha de 20 µm, em poças com (CM) e sem mata ripária (SM), e coletados dados de clorofila-α e as variáveis limnológicas. Todos os espécimes foram identificados com microscópio óptico em câmara de Sedgewick-Rafter. Os dados foram tratados quanto à composição e estrutura da comunidade (riqueza, frequência, abundância relativa e biomassa), sendo realizadas análises de diversidade (Série de Hill), de correspondência canônica (ACC) e de espécies indicadoras (IndVal). Diferenças significativas foram observadas entre as variáveis limnológicas nas duas condições, principalmente nos parâmetros de turbidez, sólidos totais dissolvidos e clorofila-α, as quais mostraram maior influência sobre a estrutura da comunidade. Embora a diversidade e biomassa de rotíferos tenham sido superiores nas poças SM, a riqueza e a biomassa de cladóceros foi superior nas poças CM. A análise de espécies indicadoras demonstrou que alguns rotíferos e microcrustáceos, como Ceriodaphinia cornuta G. O. Sars, 1885, Notodiaptomus cearenses Wright, 1936 e Ostracoda morf.2 são indicativos de poças CM, enquanto outras espécies indicam ambientes com maior turbidez (poças CM), por exemplo Polyarthra vulgaris Carlin, 1943 e Diaphanosoma spinulosum Herbst, 1975. Os resultados sugerem uma diferenciação expressiva entre os ambientes com e sem vegetação ripária, mostrando sua importância na estrutura da comunidade, reforçando a necessidade de medidas protetivas para ambientes temporários, visto que são essenciais para a manutenção da biodiversidade local.

ABSTRACT Temporary ponds are important magnifiers of local biodiversity, especially in seasonal forested areas. Changes in the vegetation cover may along the banks of these water bodies alter the composition and structure of the intrinsic zooplankton community. Thus, we evaluate the hypothesis that the presence of riparian vegetation changes the structure of the zooplankton community found in temporary pools. A volume up to ten litres of water, collected from pools with riparian vegetation (CM) and lacking riparian vegetation (SM), was filtered using a 20 μm-mesh size sieve. Data on chlorophyll-α and some limnological variables were also collected. All specimens were identified using a Sedgewick-Rafter chamber under an optical microscope. Moreover, the data were treated regarding the composition and structure of the community (richness, frequency of occurrence, abundance and biomass) via performing a diversity analysis (Hill Series), canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and an indicator species analysis (IndVal). There were observed significant differences for the limnological variables in both conditions, especially for turbidity, total dissolved solids and chlorophyll-α, which demonstrated greater influence on the community structure. Although the diversity and biomass of rotifers were higher in the SM pools, the richness and biomass of cladocerans showed a higher value in the CM pools. The indicator species analysis demonstrated that some rotifers and microcrustaceans, as Ceriodaphnia cornuta G. O. Sars, 1885, Notodiaptomus cearensis Wright, 1936 and Ostracoda morf.2 are indicative of CM pools, whereas other species indicate environments with higher turbidity (SM pools), for example Polyarthra vulgaris Carlin, 1943 and Diaphanossoma spinulosum Herbst, 1975. In conclusion these results suggest an impressive distinction between riparian vegetation environment and that without such vegetation, which point to the importance of the former environment to the community structure. This reinforces the need for protective policies regarding temporary environments, since they are essential environments for the maintenance of local biodiversity.

ABSTRACT Bioguided isolation to discriminate antimicrobial compounds from volatile oils is a time- and money-consuming process. Considering the limitations of the classical methods, it would be a great improvement to use chemometric techniques to identify putative biomarkers from volatile oils. For this purpose, antimicrobial assays of volatile oils extracted from different plant species were carried out against Streptococcus mutans. Eight volatile oils that showed different antimicrobial effects (inactive, weakly active, moderately active and very active) were selected in this work. The volatile oils' composition was determined by GC–MS-based metabolomic analysis. Orthogonal projection to latent structures discriminant analysis and decision tree were carried out to access the metabolites that were highly correlated with a good antimicrobial activity. Initially, the GC–MS metabolomic data were pretreated by different methods such as centering, autoscaling, Pareto scaling, level scaling and power transformation. The level scaling was selected by orthogonal projection to latent structures discriminant analysis as the best pretreatment according to the validation results. Based on this data, decision tree was also carried out using the same pretreatment. Both techniques (orthogonal projection to latent structures discriminant analysis and decision tree) pointed palmitic acid as a discriminant biomarker for the antimicrobial activity of the volatile oils against S. mutans. Additionally, orthogonal projection to latent structures discriminant analysis and decision tree predicted as "very active" the antimicrobial activity of volatile oils, which did not belong to the training group. This predicted result is in agreement with our experimental result (MIC = 31.25 µg ml−1). The present study can contribute to the development of useful strategies to help identifying antimicrobial constituents of complex oils.

RESUMO O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a sazonalidade hídrica no processo de concessão de outorga e o impacto da irrigação na Bacia do Rio Dourados. Para tanto, procedeu-se à análise do comportamento hidrológico na bacia. Foram obtidas as vazões mínimas de referência (Q7,10 e Q95), vazões de retirada pela irrigação (Qr), e variação percentual das vazões de outorga relativo ao período sazonal mensal em relação à vazão de retirada mensal. Os resultados permitiram constatar que a concessão de outorga de uso dos recursos hídricos quando adotada a escala mensal garante um plano melhor de utilização da água, à medida que permite seu uso no período em que há disponibilidade hídrica e restringe no período de escassez hídrica. A vazão média anual de retirada pela irrigação na bacia no período em estudo, foi da ordem de 2,99 m3 s-1, sendo a vazão de retirada no mês de maior demanda (agosto) de 5,95 m3 s-1.

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate water seasonality in the process of granting permits and the impact of irrigation in the Dourados River basin. For that, the hydrological behavior of the basin was analyzed. The minimal streamflows (Q7,10 and Q95), irrigation withdrawal flow (Qr) and the percent variation of the grant flows relative to monthly seasonal period in relation to the monthly withdrawal flow were obtained. The results allowed to verify that using criteria based on the monthly streamflow allows for better management of water use, because it allows for greater utilization of this resource in times with high water availability and imposes a realistic restriction during critical periods. The average annual water withdrawal for irrigation in the basin during the studied period was on the order of 2.99 m3 s-1, and the withdrawal flow in the month of highest demand (August) was 5.95 m3 s-1.

As elevadas concentrações de mercúrio em diferentes matrizes ambientais na Amazônia têm sido atribuídas a atividades mineradoras. Entretanto, altas concentrações de mercúrio também estão presentes no solo e na água em locais como a Bacia do médio Rio Negro, distantes de fontes emissoras antropogênicas. A região Amazônica é caracterizada por dois diferentes regimes sazonais, bem definidos em períodos de cheias e vazantes. O objetivo deste trabalho foi investigar as influências sazonais na interação entre mercúrio e substâncias húmicas aquáticas (AHS), que são os principais complexantes orgânicos naturais. Os resultados obtidos por análise estatística multivariada dos dados mostraram que as substâncias húmicas possuem diferentes características estruturais, dependendo do período sazonal. A capacidade das substâncias húmicas em formar complexos com Hg(II) não está diretamente relacionada ao seu teor de carbono, mas sim natureza e disponibilidade dos grupos funcionais presentes em sua estrutura. Os grupos funcionais carboxílicos e aromáticos estão diretamente relacionados maior capacidade de complexação de AHS por íons mercúrio.

High mercury concentrations in different environmental matrices in the Amazon have been attributed to mining activities. However, high concentrations of mercury are also present in the soil and water in places like in the middle of the Negro River Basin, which is far away from any anthropogenic emission sources. The Amazon region is characterized by two different regional seasons, with well-defined flood and low water periods. The objective of this work was to investigate the seasonal influences of the interaction between mercury and aquatic humic substances (AHS), which are the main agents of the natural organic complexation capacity. The results of the multivariate statistical analysis of the data showed that the humic substances had different structural characteristics, depending on each season. The ability of humic substances to form complexes with Hg(II) is not directly related to their carbon content, but to the nature and availability of the functional groups present in its structure. The functional groups are carboxylic and aromatic directly related to the higher complexation capacity of AHS by mercury ions.

Copper fractionation in plasma, muscle and liver of Nile tilapia was performed after protein separation by 2D-PAGE. SR XRF analysis indicated the presence of copper in three protein spots of plasma, and in two protein spots of muscle and liver, respectively. Copper ions were found to be distributed mostly in proteins that had a molar mass of less than 54 kDa and greater than 13 kDa and a pI in the 5.3-9.3 range. The copper concentration bound to these proteins was determined by GFAAS which showed concentrations in the 1.20-4.82 mg g-1 range.

The aim of the present work was to develop and optimize a method for determination of bioavailable phosphorus in samples of feces and fish feed using ultrasound extraction and subsequent quantification by visible spectrophotometry. Using as extractor solution HNO3 0.50 mol L-1, the great conditions of extraction established were: sample mass - 100 mg, samples granulometry - < 60 µm, sonification time - five cycles of 40 s and ultrasound potency - 136 W. The proposed method was applied in studies of digestibility of this nutrient in different feeds used in diets of juvenile of Nile tilapia.