Does fertilization with dehydrated sewage sludge affect Terminalia argentea (Combretaceae) and associated arthropods community in a degraded area?

Nutrients from dehydrated sewage sludge play an essential role in the development of many plants such as Terminalia argentea, in the recovery of degraded areas. The aims were to assess the abundance, diversity and species richness of phytophagous, pollinators and predators arthropods, as well as the percentage of defoliation of T. argentea trees, fertilized (or not) with dehydrated sewage sludge in a degraded area. The abundance, diversity and species richness of phytophagous Coleoptera and total predators (predator insects + protocooperating ants + spiders); abundance and species richness of Diptera, pollinator insects, spiders, and predators (predator insects + spiders) were higher on trees fertilized with dehydrated sewage sludge. The abundance of phytophagous Coleoptera declined with the presence of phytophagous Hemiptera and protocooperating ants; population of phytophagous Orthoptera declined in response to phytophagous Coleoptera and total predators; the numbers of the leafminer Lyriomyza sp. directly increased with the numbers of spiders. The ecological indices of phytophagous, pollinators, and predator arthopods increased on Terminalia argentea trees fertilized with dehydrated sewage sludge; such a better ecological indices in fertilized than in unfertilized trees, show it more suitable for the recovery of degraded areas. We discuss the competition between phytophagous insects groups as well as herbivory reduction by predators.

A new species of Tenuipalpus sensu stricto (Acari: Tenuipalpidae) from Brazil, with ontogeny and a key to the known species.

The Cerrado is the second largest Brazilian biome, and is considered to be a "hotspot" due the great concentration of endemic species and high rate of deforestation. Surveys of the mite fauna present in this biome have revealed a great number of new species. In this paper, we describe Tenuipalpus spinosaurus sp. nov. (Acari: Tenuipalpidae), a new species of Tenuipalpus sensu stricto, from adult females, deutonymphs, protonymphs, larvae and eggs, collected on Terminalia argentea (Combretaceae), from the Cerrado in Brazil. Females of this new species bear a prominent longitudinal crest on the opisthosoma. The ontogenetic changes in the idiosoma and leg chaetotaxy of all stages are presented. A key to the world species of Tenuipalpus sensu stricto is provided.

High-resolution mapping and chromosome landing at the root-know nematode resistance locus Ma from Myrobalan plum using a large-insert BAC DNA library.

The Ma gene for root-knot nematode (RKN)resistance from Myrobalan plum (Prunus cerasifera L.)confers a complete-spectrum and a heat-stable resistance to Meloidogvne spp., conversely to Mi-I from tomato,which has a more restricted spectrum and a reduced efficiency at high temperature. This gene was identified from a perennial self-incompatible near-wild rootstock species and lies in cosegregation with the SCAR marker SCAFLP2 on the Prunus linkage group 7 in a 2.3 cM interval between the SCAR SCAL19 and SSR pchgms6 markers. We initiated a map-based cloning of Ma and report here the strategy that rapidly led to fine mapping and direct chromosome landing at the locus. Three pairs of bulks, totaling 90 individuals from half-sibling progenies derived from the Ma-heterozygous resistant accession P.2175, were constructed using mapping data, and saturation of the Ma region was performed by bulked segregant analysis (BSA) of 320 AFLP primer pair combinations. The closest three AFLP markers were transformed into codominant SCARs or CAPS designatedSCAFLP3, SCAFLP4 and SCAFLP5. By completing the mapping population up to 1,332 offspring from P.2175,Ma and SCAFLP2 were mapped in a 0.8 cM interval between SCAFLP3 and SCAFLP4. A large-insert bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) DNA library of P.2175,totaling 30,720 clones with a mean insert size of 145 kb and a 14-15x Prunus haploid genome coverage was constructed and used to land on the Ma spanning interval with few BAC clones. As P.2175 is heterozygous for the gene, we constructed the resistant and susceptible physical contigs by PCR screening of the library with codominant markers. Additional microsatellite markers were then designed from BAC subcloning or BAC end sequencing. In the resistant contig, a single 280 kb BAC clone was shown to carry the Ma gene; this BAC contains two flanking markers on each side of the gene as well as two cosegregating markers. These results should allow future cloning of the Ma gene in this perennial species.