The Amazon rainforest represents the largest and most biodiverse tropical rainforest in the world, comprising over half of the planet’s remaining rainforests. In this study, we investigated the yeast distribution in the soils in a Brazilian Amazonian rainforest biome. The collection sites included two upland forests, a black-water floodplain forest, and an Amazonian dark earth site. Yeasts were isolated using both enrichment a...

Abandoned mine tailings, rich in potentially toxic elements (PTEs), can be redistributed in urban areas through atmospheric resuspension. This process serves as a dynamic geochemical compartment linking legacy contamination to human exposure. This study investigated the occurrence, oral bioaccessibility, ecological significance, and human health risks of PTEs in urban dust from Boquira, a former Pb–Zn mining district in northe...

Sipunculans are unsegmented marine annelids distributed from intertidal to deep sediments, playing important roles in nutrient cycling and ecosystem health. The Sipunculus nudus species complex is exploited as food and bait in several regions, yet reproductive data at the population level remain scarce, especially for Atlantic populations. Understanding morphological correlates of body size and reproduction is essential for su...

Aim The assembly of montane plant communities through time is underlain by historical and abiotic factors. However, the extent of evolutionary connectivity between ancient highland ecosystems and surrounding lowlands remains unclear. Here, we investigate the evolutionary connections between the campos rupestres , a hyperdiverse and fragmented montane vegetation complex in eastern South America, and lowland biomes surrounding i...

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered unparalleled political, economic, and social ramifications, exacerbating global food insecurity (FI). To understand the overall impact of the pandemic and how different socio-economic groups were affected, we assessed prevalence and severity of FI in a sample of 18,997 households across seven countries in South America. We employed the Food Insecurity Experience Scale developed by the FAO. Our r...

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is the leading inflammatory and non-traumatic cause of disability in young adults, with late-onset MS emerging in middle-aged patients often resulting in poorer treatment responses and worse prognoses. The calcium-binding protein S100B is elevated in MS patients, and its targeting has shown promise in reducing disease severity in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) models. However, most stud...