Predator and pollinator? An invasive hornet alters the pollination dynamics of a native plant

Invasive vespids are able to disrupt native species assemblages, modify ecological dynamics, and degrade ecosystem services. However, it is often difficult to quantify such effects within invaded ranges, principally due to the complexity of interactions, and a lack of comparative pre-invasion controls. In this study, we thus examine the effects of an invasive hornet, Vespa velutina, upon native species densities and pollination in a major food plant, Hedera hibernica. Using the highly heterogeneous distribution of V. velutina in a coastal area of the northwestern Iberian Peninsula, we assessed the impact of differing hornet abundance on insect diversity, flower visitation frequency, and predator-prey interactions. We then examined resultant effects upon the pollination success of H. hibernica, in the form of fruit and seed set. Our results demonstrated that in areas with high V. velutina abundance, the floral visitation frequencies and durations of insect pollinators were significantly altered. Effects varied widely across insect families, reflected in the differing predation success rates of V. velutina upon various native pollinators, in tandem with competitive exclusion. Interestingly, V. velutina was itself a frequent floral visitor, becoming the most common nectar forager in areas where it was abundant. In spite of this, H. hibernica reproductive success was significantly degraded in these areas, resulting in reduced seed set. As such, V. velutina appears to have multidirectional effects upon pollination services, first as an insect predator, and second as a nectar competitor and pollinator. Crucially, our findings suggest that V. velutina is an inferior pollinator when compared to the native species that it displaces, resulting in a net reduction in pollination efficacy, and hence reproductive success in H. hibernica. This study thus reveals the profound effects of an invasive vespid on native species through both competitive and predatory interactions

Rehabilitation of Post-COVID Patients: A Virtual Reality Home-Based Intervention Including Cardio-Respiratory Fitness Training

The post-COVID syndrome is emerging as a new chronic condition, characterized by symptoms of breathlessness, fatigue, and decline of neurocognitive functions. Rehabilitation programs that include physical training seem to be beneficial to reduce such symptoms and improve patients' quality of life. Given this, and considering the limitations imposed by the pandemic on rehabilitation services, it emerged the need to integrate telerehabilitation programs into clinical practice. Some telerehabilitation solutions, also based on virtual reality (VR), are available in the market. Still, they mainly focus on rehabilitation of upper limbs, balance, and cognitive training, while exercises like cycling or walking are usually not considered. The presented work aims to fill this gap by integrating a VR application to provide cardio-respiratory fitness training to post-COVID patients in an existing telerehabilitation platform. The ARTEDIA application allows patients to perform a cycling exercise and a concurrent cognitive task. Patients can cycle in a virtual park while performing a "go/no-go" task by selecting only specific targets appearing along the way. The difficulty of the practice can be adjusted by the therapists, while the physiological response is continuously monitored through wearable sensors to ensure safety. The application has been integrated into the VRRS system by Khymeia. In the next months, a study to assess the feasibility of a complete telerehabilitation program based on physical and cognitive training will take place. Such a program will combine the existing VRRS exercises and the cardio-respiratory fitness exercise provided by the ARTEDIA application. Feasibility, acceptance, and usability will be assessed from both the patients' and the therapists' sides

Quantifying the impact of an invasive hornet on Bombus terrestris colonies

The invasive hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax is considered a proliferating threat to pollinators in Europe and Asia. While the impact of this species on managed honey bees is well-documented, effects upon other pollinator populations remain poorly understood. Nonetheless, dietary analyses indicate that the hornets consume a diversity of prey, fuelling concerns for at-risk taxa. Here, we quantify the impact of V. velutina upon standardised commercially-reared colonies of the European bumblebee, Bombus terrestris terrestris. Using a landscape-scale experimental design, we deploy colonies across a gradient of local V. velutina densities, utilising automated tracking to non-invasively observe bee and hornet behaviour, and quantify subsequent effects upon colony outcomes. Our results demonstrate that hornets frequently hunt at B. terrestris colonies, being preferentially attracted to those with high foraging traffic, and engaging in repeated—yet entirely unsuccessful—predation attempts at nest entrances. Notably however, we show that B. terrestris colony weights are negatively associated with local V. velutina densities, indicating potential indirect effects upon colony growth. Taken together, these findings provide the first empirical insight into impacts on bumblebees at the colony level, and inform future mitigation efforts for wild and managed pollinators

Target Region Selection Is a Critical Determinant of Community Fingerprints Generated by 16S Pyrosequencing

Pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes allows for in-depth characterization of complex microbial communities. Although it is known that primer selection can influence the profile of a community generated by sequencing, the extent and severity of this bias on deep-sequencing methodologies is not well elucidated. We tested the hypothesis that the hypervariable region targeted for sequencing and primer degeneracy play important roles in influencing the composition of 16S pyrotag communities. Subgingival plaque from deep sites of current smokers with chronic periodontitis was analyzed using Sanger sequencing and pyrosequencing using 4 primer pairs. Greater numbers of species were detected by pyrosequencing than by Sanger sequencing. Rare taxa constituted nearly 6% of each pyrotag community and less than 1% of the Sanger sequencing community. However, the different target regions selected for pyrosequencing did not demonstrate a significant difference in the number of rare and abundant taxa detected. The genera Prevotella, Fusobacterium, Streptococcus, Granulicatella, Bacteroides, Porphyromonas and Treponema were abundant when the V1–V3 region was targeted, while Streptococcus, Treponema, Prevotella, Eubacterium, Porphyromonas, Campylobacer and Enterococcus predominated in the community generated by V4–V6 primers, and the most numerous genera in the V7–V9 community were Veillonella, Streptococcus, Eubacterium, Enterococcus, Treponema, Catonella and Selenomonas. Targeting the V4–V6 region failed to detect the genus Fusobacterium, while the taxa Selenomonas, TM7 and Mycoplasma were not detected by the V7–V9 primer pairs. The communities generated by degenerate and non-degenerate primers did not demonstrate significant differences. Averaging the community fingerprints generated by V1–V3 and V7–V9 primers providesd results similar to Sanger sequencing, while allowing a significantly greater depth of coverage than is possible with Sanger sequencing. It is therefore important to use primers targeted to these two regions of the 16S rRNA gene in all deep-sequencing efforts to obtain representational characterization of complex microbial communities

Diversity of 23S rRNA Genes within Individual Prokaryotic Genomes

The concept of ribosomal constraints on rRNA genes is deduced primarily based on the comparison of consensus rRNA sequences between closely related species, but recent advances in whole-genome sequencing allow evaluation of this concept within organisms with multiple rRNA operons. was the only species in which intragenomic diversity >3% was observed among 4 paralogous 23S rRNA genes.These findings indicate tight ribosomal constraints on individual 23S rRNA genes within a genome. Although classification using primary 23S rRNA sequences could be erroneous, significant diversity among paralogous 23S rRNA genes was observed only once in the 184 species analyzed, indicating little overall impact on the mainstream of 23S rRNA gene-based prokaryotic taxonomy

A contabilidade ambiental em empresas certificadas pelas normas ISO 14001 na região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte-MG

As empresas que adotaram um Sistema de Gestão Ambiental necessitam cumprir as normas ISO 14001 e ter o controle dos recursos para tomar decisões. A contabilidade exerce importante papel no fornecimento de informações aos gestores, possibilitando-lhes maior eficiência na gestão do meio ambiente. Assim, este estudo teve como propósito analisar a utilização do conceito e instrumentos da Contabilidade Ambiental nas empresas certificadas pela ISO 14001. Os dados foram obtidos por meio da aplicação de questionários semiestruturados aos contadores e gestores ambientais de 10 empresas da região metropolitana de Belo Horizonte. Constatou-se que as empresas estudadas não utilizam os instrumentos de Contabilidade Ambiental para tomar as decisões relacionadas ao meio ambiente e, sim, a contabilidade tradicional. Quanto à ocorrência de mudanças na contabilidade após a obtenção da certificação ambiental, verificou-se que não houve mudança nas demonstrações contábeis tradicionais. Algumas empresas apenas incluíram contas específicas em seus planos de contas, destinadas à contabilização de eventos ambientais. Destaca-se, ainda, a falta de conhecimento, por parte de alguns contadores e gestores entrevistados, dos benefícios que a utilização da Contabilidade Ambiental pode trazer para os negócios da empresa

Pollinator-flower interactions in gardens during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of 2020

During the main COVID-19 global pandemic lockdown period of 2020 an impromptu set of pollination ecologists came together via social media and personal contacts to carry out standardised surveys of the flower visits and plants in gardens. The surveys involved 67 rural, suburban and urban gardens, of various sizes, ranging from 61.18° North in Norway to 37.96° South in Australia, resulting in a data set of 25,174 rows, with each row being a unique interaction record for that date/site/plant species, and comprising almost 47,000 visits to flowers, as well as records of flowers that were not visited by pollinators, for over 1,000 species and varieties belonging to more than 460 genera and 96 plant families. The more than 650 species of flower visitors belong to 12 orders of invertebrates and four of vertebrates. In this first publication from the project, we present a brief description of the data and make it freely available for any researchers to use in the future, the only restriction being that they cite this paper in the first instance. The data generated from these global surveys will provide scientific evidence to help us understand the role that private gardens (in urban, rural and suburban areas) can play in conserving insect pollinators and identify management actions to enhance their potential