Endotherms dissipate heat to the environment to maintain a stable body temperature at high ambient temperatures, which requires them to maintain a balance between heat dissipation and water conservation. Birds are relatively small, contain a large amount of metabolically expensive tissue, and are mostly diurnal, making them susceptible to physiological challenges related to water balance and heat dissipation. We compiled total evaporative water loss (TEWL) measurements for 174 species of birds exposed to different temperatures and used comparative methods to examine their relationships with body size, ambient temperature, precipitation, diet, and diel activity cycle. TEWL in the thermoneutral zone (TNZ) was associated primarily with body mass and activity phase. Larger and more active-phase birds, with their higher metabolic rates, lost more water through evaporation than smaller, resting-phase birds, particularly at higher thermal exposures. However, maximum temperature of the natural habitat became an important determinant of TEWL when birds were exposed to temperatures exceeding the TNZ. Species from hotter climates exhibited higher TEWL. Adaptation to arid climates did not restrict evaporative water loss at thermal conditions within the TNZ, but promoted evaporative water loss at exposures above the TNZ. The TEWL of granivores, which ingest food with low water content, differed little from species with other food habitats under all thermal conditions. The effects of environmental covariates of TEWL were dissimilar across thermal exposures, suggesting no evidence for a tradeoff between water conservation in the TNZ and heat dissipation at exposure to higher temperatures. Thus, birds may be able to acclimate when climate change results in the need to increase heat dissipation due to warming, except perhaps in hot, arid environments where species will need to depend heavily upon evaporative cooling to maintain homeothermy.

O presente estudo foi conduzido procurando-se analisar os efeitos da disponibilidade de luz e da água no desempenho fotossintético, nas relações hídricas e no metabolismo do carbono em plantas de Coffea arabica L. cv. Catuaí Vermelho IAC 44 cultivadas sob condições contrastantes de luz (pleno sol e sombra) e de disponibilidade de água no solo (35 e 100 % de água disponível), durante o inverno. Acredita-se que o sombreamento permitiria uma melhor aclimatação do cafeeiro face às condições de inverno na Zona da Mata mineira, onde as temperaturas noturnas são baixas e os dias ensolarados. As plantas cultivadas ao sol apresentaram maior altura, área foliar, número de folhas e diâmetro do ramo ortotrópico em relação àquelas sombreadas, embora a taxa fotossintética (A), a concentração de pigmentos e a área foliar específica tenham sido maiores nas plantas à sombra. Verificaram-se, ainda, limitações fotoquímicas (redução na razão entre as fluorescências variável e inicial) e bioquímicas (redução das atividades da rubisco, da sintase de sacarose-fosfato e da pirofosforilase da ADP-glicose, e maior razão amido-sacarose) à fotossíntese. Por sua vez, o déficit hídrico (DH), nos dois ambientes lumínicos, acarretou decréscimos em A, sendo a diferença entre as plantas de sol e de sombra de 75 e de 55%, respectivamente. Estas mudanças foram acompanhadas por reduções na condutância estomática, na taxa de transpiração e na condutância hidráulica, enquanto os níveis de glicose, frutose, sacarose e aminoácidos foram aumentados. Não houve variações significativas na eficiência quântica do transporte de elétrons do fotossistema II (FSII), no rendimento quântico não fotoquímico, no rendimento quântico da dissipação não regulada de energia, na capacidade fotoquímica do FSII e na taxa de transporte de elétrons sob DH, nos dois ambientes luminicos. Enzimas-chave envolvidas no metabolismo do carbono, como a cinase da frutose-6-fosfato dependente de ATP e a fosfatase da frutose-1-6-bisfosfato também não variaram significativamente, enquanto as atividades das invertases ácida e alcalina aumentaram, em resposta ao DH, independentemente dos ambientes lumínicos. | This study aimed to explore the effects of water and light availability on photosynthesis, water relations and carbon metabolism in Coffea arabica L. cv. Catuaí Vermelho IAC 44 plants subjected to a combination of contrasting light (shade and full sun) conditions combined with two levels of available soil water (drought and field capacity, here defined as 30% and 100% available soil water, respectively), under winter conditions. It was hypothesized that shading would allow a better acclimation of coffee plants in response to winter conditions in southeastern Brazil, where the nights are relatively cool followed by sunny, warm days. Compared to shade grown plants, sun-grown plants were taller with larger leaf area and stem diameter. In contrast, sun-grown individuals showed lower photosynthetic rate (A), chlorophyll levels and specific leaf area. The decrease in the variable-to-initial chlorophyll fluorescence ratio suugests that photochemical events played a role in limitating photosynthesis, whilst lower rubisco, sucrose-phosphate synthase and ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase activities are indicative of biochemical limitations to the photosynthetic apparatus. Increased starch-to-sucrose ratio was also detected. Decreases in photosynthetic rates were found in droughted plants grown in both the shade (55%) and full sun (75%). These changes were accompanied by decreases in stomatal conductance, transpiration rate and hydraulic conductance, while the levels of glucose, fructose, sucrose and amino acids increased. There were no differences in the quantum efficiency of electron transport by photosystem II (PSII), non-photochemical quenching, non-regulated non-photochemical energy loss in PSII, photochemical quenching and electron transport rate under water deficit in sun and shade plants. Key enzymes associated with carbon metabolism, such as phosphofructokinase and fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase did not differ significantly in response to varying light and water availabilities. | Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico

An extracellular alpha-glucuronidase was purified and characterized from a commercial Aspergillus preparation and from culture filtrate of Aspergillus tubingensis. The enzyme has a molecular mass of 107 KDa as determined by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and 112 kDa as determined by mass spectrometry, has a determined pI just below 5.2, and is stable at pH 6.0 for prolonged times. The pH optimum for the enzyme is between 4.5 and 6.0, and the temperature optimum is 70 degrees C. The alpha-glucuronidase is active mainly on small substituted xylo-oligomers but is also able to release a small amount of 4-O-methylglucuronic acid from birchwood xylan. The enzyme acts synergistically with endoxylanases and beta-xylosidase in the hydrolysis of xylan. The enzyme is N glycosylated and contains 14 putative N-glycosylation sites. The gene encoding this alpha-glucuronidase (aguA) was cloned from A. tubingensis. It consists of an open reading frame of 2,523 bp and contains no introns. The gene codes for a protein of 841 amino acids, containing a eukaryotic signal sequence of 20 amino acids. The mature protein has a predicted molecular mass of 91,790 Da and a calculated pI of 5.13. Multiple copies of the gene were introduced in A. tubingensis, and expression was studied in a highly overproducing transformant. The aguA gene was expressed on xylose, xylobiose, and xylan, similarly to genes encoding endoxylanases, suggesting a coordinate regulation of expression of xylanases and alpha-glucuronidase. Glucuronic acid did not induce the expression of aguA and also did not modulate the expression on xylose. Addition of glucose prevented expression of aguA on xylan but only reduced the expression on xylose.

To investigate the effect of recharge water temperature on bioclogging processes and mechanisms during seasonal managed aquifer recharge (MAR), two groups of laboratory percolation experiments were conducted: a winter test and a summer test. The temperatures were controlled at ~5±2 and ~15±3 °C, and the tests involved bacterial inoculums acquired from well water during March 2014 and August 2015, for the winter and summer tests, respectively. The results indicated that the sand columns clogged ~10 times faster in the summer test due to a 10-fold larger bacterial growth rate. The maximum concentrations of total extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in the winter test were approximately twice those in the summer test, primarily caused by a ~200 μg/g sand increase of both loosely bound EPS (LB-EPS) and tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS). In the first half of the experimental period, the accumulation of bacteria cells and EPS production induced rapid bioclogging in both the winter and summer tests. Afterward, increasing bacterial growth dominated the bioclogging in the summer test, while the accumulation of LB-EPS led to further bioclogging in the winter test. The biological analysis determined that the dominant bacteria in experiments for both seasons were different and the bacterial community diversity was ~50% higher in the winter test than that for summer. The seasonal inoculums could lead to differences in the bacterial community structure and diversity, while recharge water temperature was considered to be a major factor influencing the bacterial growth rate and metabolism behavior during the seasonal bioclogging process.