Drausio Honorio Morais

O Cerrado é reconhecido como um hotspot global de biodiversidade e um dos biomas mais ameaçados do Brasil. Identificou áreas florestais suscetíveis à degradação ecológica e avaliou seus potenciais impactos sobre a fauna, em Monte Carmelo, Minas Gerais. Foram registradas seis espécies de mamíferos, incluindo quatro espécies generalistas não ameaçadas e duas espécies vulneráveis, bem como duas espécies de aves classificadas como Least Concern (LC), de acordo com as avaliações de conservação da IUCN e da lista oficial brasileira de espécies ameaçadas. A versão beta do Módulo de Degradação do MapBiomas, combinada com uma Análise Multicritério (AMC) baseada em técnicas de sobreposição espacial em um Sistema de Informações Geográficas (SIG), foi utilizada para identificar áreas críticas e avaliar o tamanho mínimo de habitat disponível para a fauna. Aproximadamente 5.550,32 hectares (34,6% do município) foram identificados como áreas com alta suscetibilidade à degradação ecológica. Esses resultados contribuem para as avaliações da conservação de ecossistemas e habitats e fornecem suporte científico para o planejamento e a priorização de iniciativas de restauração florestal. O estudo está alinhado aos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento Sustentável (ODS) das Nações Unidas, especialmente ao ODS 13 (Ação Contra a Mudança do Clima) e ao ODS 15 (Vida Terrestre).

Environmental education plays an essential role in shaping ecological awareness and promoting sustainability. This article analyzes environmental education from a critical perspective, considering environmental rationality, citizen participation, and socio-environmental impacts. To this end, it is grounded in classical authors such as Rachel Carson, Enrique Leff, Paulo Freire, and Carlos Frederico Bernardo Loureiro, as well as contemporary references including Isabel Cristina de Moura Carvalho, Pedro Roberto Jacobi, and Lucie Sauvé. The methodology adopted is based on the analysis of educational projects focused on sustainability in the region of the Carajás National Forest. As Freire (1987) emphasizes, education should be a liberating and transformative process, and environmental education cannot be an exception to this principle. It is concluded that critical and participatory environmental education is fundamental to transforming the society–nature relationship and fostering sustainable practices; thus, the programs analyzed play a key role in environmental education in Parauapebas, but they face structural challenges that compromise their effectiveness.

The inclusion of parasites in inventories has provided relevant information on the knowledge of biodiversity. Integrating accurate taxonomy and species identity of both hosts and parasites can result in valuable insights into the association’s evolutionary relationships, geographic distribution, and dynamics. Besides the risk of diseases related with some parasites, herein we also highlighted the great diversity revealed in parasite communities associated with amphibians and reptiles, varying from unicellular to metazoan organisms occupying numerous tissues throughout the host’s body. To be aware of this diversity, the first step is to implement taxonomic studies performing appropriate methods for collecting and preserving specimens. Here, we aim to provide a useful hands-on guide to parasitological data collection from amphibians and reptiles. We write especially for those aiming to include parasitological data in their sampling, and for herpetologists and naturalists who already collaborate with parasitologists. We also provide some fundamental knowledge on the morphology and life cycle of the main parasites associated with herps, as well as protocols and tips for better collecting and preserving each type of parasite.

Este estudio caracteriza la estructura de las comunidades de endoparásitos asociadas a lagartos de seis áreas de vegetación de Caatinga, Brasil, y proporciona una revisión detallada de la ocurrencia y distribución geográfica de las especies de endoparásitos encontradas. Se examinaron 451 especímenes de 16 especies de lagartos de seis localidades de muestreo dentro del dominio de Caatinga. Se estudiaron los endoparásitos del aparato digestivo, los pulmones, el corazón, el hígado, los riñones y la cavidad torácica. Se recogió un total de 1648 en 196 hospedadores, lo que arrojó una prevalencia global del 43,46% y una intensidad media de la infección de 8,41 (amplitud: 1-80). La comunidad parasitaria estaba compuesta por Acanthocephala, Cestoda, Nematoda y Pentastomida. Se identificaron 21 especies de parásitos, siendo Parapharyngodon alvarengai Freitas, 1957, Physaloptera sp. y Physalopteroides venancioi Lent, Freitas & Proença, 1946 los más generalistas en cuanto a especies hospedadoras infectadas, mientras que Centrorhynchus sp., Parapharyngodon largitor Albo & Rodrigues, 1963, Skrjabinellazia galiardi Chabaud, 1973, Spauligodon sp. fueron los parásitos más especializados encontrados. Este estudio aporta 19 nuevos registros de hospedadores junto con sus correspondientes áreas geográficas. Los datos presentados amplían nuestra comprensión de los endoparásitos en la región semiárida más poblada por el hombre en el mundo, avanzando en el conocimiento de la distribución de las especies parásitas en la Caatinga y reduciendo las lagunas en la información parasitológica relacionada con los lagartos de la región semiárida del Nordeste de Brasil.

Aplectana membranosa is a cosmocercid nematode that shows affinity with various amphibian and reptile hosts, being considered a generalist species. To date, no studies have investigated the influence of host and locality in the morphological variation of this species. Thus, we analysed morphological and morphometric characters of 260 specimens of A. membranosa collected from 9 host species and 7 different localities. To complement the metric studies, we conducted phylogenetic analyses using the ribosomal genes 28S and internal transcript spacer 1 ( ITS1 ) to determine the phylogenetic position of the species and its divergence. In the present study, it was possible to observe the cloacal papillae pattern of the species through scanning electron microscopy, and we found no morphological variation in the specimens of A. membranosa from various hosts in different localities in Brazil. The study showed low variation in all data. However, despite the low variation, we found that external environmental conditions, such as climate and latitude, influence its variation. Molecular analyses highlighted that the separation of Cosmocercidae members may be related to geographic distribution and population genetic divergence. Thus, the results illustrated in this study reiterate the importance of using integrative data to better elucidate the family’s taxonomic and evolutionary history.

Biological inventories are essential tools for understanding parasite diversity. In this study, we describe the helminth parasite communities associated with anuran amphibians from five localities within the Caatinga domain of Northeastern Brazil. A total of 1,198 individuals, belonging to 22 species and six anuran families (Bufonidae, Hylidae, Leptodactylidae, Microhylidae, Odontoprhynidae, and Phyllomedusidae), were examined. Of these, 629 specimens (52.5%) were parasitized, and 27,004 helminths were recovered. The helminths represented 34 taxa, including 24 Nematoda, 7 Digenea, 1 Cestoda, and 2 Acanthocephala. We present parasitological descriptors such as prevalence, abundance range, infection site, and life stage. Additionally, we report 18 new host-parasite records and provide updated data on geographical occurrence. Our findings emphasize the importance of regional surveys in expanding knowledge on host-parasite interactions and in highlighting hidden components of biodiversity within the Caatinga biome.

We report a new locality for the endemic glassfrog Vitreorana franciscana Santana, Barros, Pontes & Feio, 2015 from Brazilian Cerrado, from the municipality of Nova Ponte, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Field visits were conducted in 2023 at Fazenda Brejão and resulted in the fourth record of this species, which expands this species’ geographic distribution by 150 km to the east. With the new record, the minimum convex polygon for the species is now 18,210 km².