Mercury-Based Gold Mining Haunts Peruvian Rain Forests

In Peru, gold mining harms rain forests and human health. Satellite data can now track forest recovery in protected areas and the migration of informal miners to less regulated areas.

Protecting Our Future: What Contribution Can I Make?

A)The crises related to climate and the economy endanger future and current generations, but altering the small impact or minimal emissions of an individual person is-because of the failure of political coordination-not the best way to overcome these crises. B) When we act as individuals to act as stopgaps for policy to minimise the mountain of problems, the following applies: We should not waste our energies on limited involvements in small, primarily symbolic collaborations but should instead endeavour to make the biggest difference of which we are capable with regard to improving the world. C) We make the biggest difference when our limited budget for improving the world is used against poverty, for example, and combatting poverty is precisely what brings positive side effects with regard to human rights and the protection of the climate, animals and species. For example, support for poor farmers in rain forests can save those rain forests. Every CO2 calculator demonstrates that commitment to the Third World is up to 50 times more efficient than personal emissions reductions.

Three new genera of large marsh beetles (Coleoptera: Scirtidae) from Valdivian temperate rain forests of southern South America

The present paper fills a gap in the knowledge of the largest marsh beetles in the Neotropics. Argelodes gen. nov., Solierodes gen. nov. and Mucronotus gen. nov. are described from Southern South America. Argelodes and Solierodes are monotypic, contain Argelodes magnificus sp. nov. and Solierodes rousseli (Solier, 1849) comb. nov., while Mucronotus contains five species: Mucronotus velutinus (Solier, 1849) comb. nov., M. schwabei (Pic, 1938) comb. nov., and three newly described ones—M. enigmaticus sp. nov., M. patagonicus sp. nov., and M. valdivianus sp. nov. Affinities of newly described genera with Australian taxa are briefly discussed. Pronotal modifications in marsh beetles are illustrated and discussed.

NMR and X-ray studies of apetalic acid isolated from Calophyllum brasiliense and of its chiral amides

The tropical tree Calophyllum brasiliense (Clusiaceae) grows in the rain forests from Brazil to Mexico. Its leaves, as well as those of other Calophyllum species, are rich sources of chromanone acids, such as apetalic acid, isoapetalic acid, and their derivatives. Apetalic acid has shown significant antimycobacterial activity. The biological activity of apetalic acid has been related to the configuration of three asymmetric centers and the stereochemistry of the molecule; however, the C-19 configuration in the acidic side chain has not been fully resolved. For this reason, the unequivocal determination of the absolute configuration by means of X-ray crystallography in a sample of unique homogeneous apetalic acid stereoisomer was the most important point to start this study. We prepared some chiral amides using the carboxyl group. We determined the C-19 stereochemistry of apetalic acid, and its specific chiral derivatives, using NMR, X-ray diffraction methods, and molecular mechanics. Finally, we observed that steric hindrance in the side chain of apetalic acid leads to restriction of rotation around the pivotal link C-10 and C-19 establishing chiral centers at C2(R), C3(S), and C19(R). We were able to separate derivatives of these two high-rotatory-barrier conformers of apetalic acid by forming diastereoisomeric amides with phenylglycine methyl ester having a chiral center at C-2’. Our results allowed the conclusion of the existence of atropisomerism in the apetalic acid molecule.

Photographic Records of Reptiles from Yala and Narathiwat Provinces Reveal Seven New Species for Thailand

We report seven new country records of species of reptiles on the basis of recent herpetological surveys between 2015 – 2019 in southern Thailand: Gekko (Ptychozoon) cicakterbang, Dasia grisea, and Sphenomorphus sungaicolus from Yala Province; Gonocephalus liogaster, Gekko (Sundagekko) browni, Oligodon signatus, and Xenochrophis maculatus from Narathiwat Province. Our recent findings bring the total number of reptiles recorded in Thailand to 452 species. Furthermore, our results suggest that further intensified herpetological research efforts and international collaborations are required to increase our knowledge on the herpetofaunal diversity in the tropical rain forests of southern Thailand near the border with peninsular Malaysia.