Effect of environmental variables on the abundance of Amblyomma ticks, potential vectors of Rickettsia parkeri in central Brazil.

Amblyomma ticks are vectors of both Rickettsia rickettsii and R. parkeri in the Americas, where capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) are the main hosts in urban areas, thus contributing to the transmission of spotted fever. Herein, we studied: (i) the seasonal dynamics and abundance of ticks in areas where capybaras live, (ii) the effect of environmental variables on tick abundance, and (iii) the presence of Rickettsia-infected ticks.

ATLANTIC EPIPHYTES: a data set of vascular and non-vascular epiphyte plants and lichens from the Atlantic Forest.

Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), and lichen epiphyte species occurrence and abundance; (2) describe the epiphyte distribution in the Atlantic Forest, in order to indicate future sampling efforts.