Imidacloprid: Impact on Africanized Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) workers and honey contamination.

Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) is fundamental in the production chain, ensuring food diversity through the ecosystem service of pollination. The aim of this work was to evaluate the impact of imidacloprid, orally, topically, and by contact, on A.

Structure and species composition of diatom community during the wet season in three floodplain lakes of Brazilian Pantanal.

In order to access environmental conditions, the use of bioindicators that have a close relationship with environmental stressors is a largely common practice, but when evaluating environmental inferences, the individual dominant taxa need to be interpreted. Humid regions such as the marshlands are fragile ecosystems and sustain communities of microalgae, often used as bioindicators, of which diatoms are a good example. Although they provide an excellent response to chemical and physical changes in water, diatom studies in surface sediments in wetlands are scarce worldwide.

Evaluation of the antioxidant system and neurotoxic effects observed in Rhamdia branneri (Teleostei: Heptapteridae) sampled from streams of the lower Iguazu River basin.

The use of multiple biomarkers has been shown to be an efficient method for evaluating environmental contamination. In this work, we evaluate neurotoxic effects and the antioxidant system responses of the R. branneri collected in two streams of lower Iguazu River basin, relating them with different percentage of vegetation coverture, presence of pesticides and fall and winter seasons.

Statistical equivalence of prediction models of the soil sorption coefficient obtained using different log P algorithms.

The soil sorption coefficient normalized to the organic carbon content (K) is a physicochemical parameter used in environmental risk assessments and in determining the final fate of chemicals released into the environment. Several models for predicting this parameter have been proposed based on the relationship between log K and log P. The difficulty and cost of obtaining experimental log P values led to the development of algorithms to calculate these values, some of which are free to use.

Decomposition rate and enzymatic activity of composted municipal waste and poultry manure in the soil in a biofuel crops field.

Background: Biofuel crops are gaining importance because of the need to replace non-renewable sources. Also, due to the increasing amounts of wastes generated, there is the need to recycle them to the soil, both to fertilize crops and to improve soil physical properties through organic matter increase and microbiological changes in the rhizosphere. We therefore studied the influence of six biofuel crops (elephant grass, giant cane, sugarcane, blue gum, black cottonwood, willow) on the decomposition rate and enzymatic activity of composted municipal solid waste and poultry manure.

Environmental, economic and social impact of aviation biofuel production in Brazil.

The Brazilian aviation industry is currently developing biofuel technologies that can maintain the operational and energy demands of the sector, while reducing the dependence on fossil fuels (mainly kerosene) and greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of the current research was to identify the major environmental, economic and social impacts arising from the production of aviation biofuels in Brazil. Despite the great potential of these fuels, there is a significant need for improved routes of production and specifically for lower production costs of these materials.

An alternative approach for the use of water solubility of nonionic pesticides in the modeling of the soil sorption coefficients.

The collection of data to study the damage caused by pesticides to the environment and its ecosystems is slowly acquired and costly. Large incentives have been established to encourage research projects aimed at building mathematical models for predicting physical, chemical or biological properties of environmental interest. The organic carbon normalized soil sorption coefficient (K(oc)) is an important physicochemical property used in environmental risk assessments for compounds released into the environment.

The effect of different log P algorithms on the modeling of the soil sorption coefficient of nonionic pesticides.

Collecting data on the effects of pesticides on the environment is a slow and costly process. Therefore, significant efforts have been focused on the development of models that predict physical, chemical or biological properties of environmental interest. The soil sorption coefficient normalized to the organic carbon content (Koc) is a key parameter that is used in environmental risk assessments.

The cloning, expression, purification, characterization and modeled structure of Caulobacter crescentus β-Xylosidase I.

The xynB1 gene (CCNA 01040) of Caulobacter crescentus that encodes a bifunctional enzyme containing the conserved β-Xylosidase and α-L-Arabinofuranosidase (β-Xyl I-α-L-Ara) domains was amplified by PCR and cloned into the vector pJet1.2Blunt. The xynB1 gene was subcloned into the vector pPROEX-hta that produces a histidine-fused translation product.

Effects of the organic matter from swine wastewater on the adsorption and desorption of alachlor in soil.

The application of swine wastewater to the soil for agricultural purposes results in the addition of total and dissolved organic matter to the soil, which may interfere with the dynamics of pesticides in the soil. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the application of total and dissolved organic matter from a biodigester and a treatment lagoon of swine wastewater in the adsorption and desorption of alachlor [2-chloro-2,6-diethyl-N(methoxymethyl acetamide)]. The assay was performed by the batch equilibrium method, and the results were fitted to the Freundlich model.