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Copyright of Cuadernos del CILHA is the property of Universidad Nacional de Cuyo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

True meritocracy is only fair when a leveled playing field is guaranteed. Scientists with caregiving responsibilities, often women, carry a heavy burden of unpaid labour, and therefore suffer downfalls in performance. Centered on an online survey that circulated among Argentinean ecologists between March and June 2020, we explored some of the mechanisms that may be behind differential performance and perception of performance in scientific tasks between genders. Based on 437 responses, we found that caregiving relays more on women than men, and that women dedicate less uninterrupted time to paid work, and more to unpaid domestic labour, especially when working from home. Women seem to start their careers younger than, but promote to higher categories older than men. Women value their own work more poorly than men. Both female and male researchers seem to choose more male referents and advisers, especially among older generations. The interaction between family and work is perceived negatively by women in early career stages, yet women and men felt supported by their advisers with respect to family-related issues. After the COVID pandemic, home-office has become an acceptable work practice adopted in different work places. However, our results show that at least in some fields of science, this may be inequitably productive for men and women. Public policies must help relieve all scientists, but especially women, from heavy unpaid caregiving labour and facilitate leaving their home space to detach from tasks related to domestic issues during work hours. Greater peer recognition of women's research should increase their participation as advisers and referents, and improve perception of their own work and those of other women. Public policies should aim at a fairer and more equitable working environment for women. • Unpaid caregiving work disrupts careers; women's greater load impacts scientific work. • Women juggle caregiving and home-office stressing the need for friendly workplaces. • Women judge themselves harshly; both genders value male researchers' work higher. • Policies needed for fair and inclusive work environments, mainly supporting women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Baseline soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil texture were the most important explanatory variables to describe geographical variation of SOC in forest plantations of Argentina. • On average, baseline SOC stock was higher than in the paired forest plantations (65.7 and 61.8 Mg ha−1, respectively). • Eucalyptus plantations induce a decrease in soil carbon in places with >49 Mg ha−1 of original SOC. • 98% of forest plantations showed soil carbon saturation deficit estimated from soil texture. Forest plantations (through afforestation or reforestation) have been proposed as a valuable option to mitigate carbon (C) emissions. However, high spatiotemporal variation has been observed in soil organic carbon (SOC) pools associated to these systems. It has been proposed that SOC stock (Mg/ha) changes under forest plantations (ΔSOC) are related to the SOCstock in the natural system being replaced with positive ΔSOC in the sites with lowest initial SOCstock and negative ΔSOC in sites with initially high SOCstock. Although there is some debate related with statistical artifacts, the slope of this relationship may depend on environmental, biological and anthropic variables. In this context, we took advantage of a recent effort to quantify soil organic C stocks in forest plantations and contiguous land uses along 136 sites across a wide climatic and edaphic gradient in Argentina, South-America, to explore the patterns and drivers of SOC change due to this land-use change. We also added 183 data from a systematic bibliographic survey. Average ΔSOC of all the studied paired sites was low (average of −3.85 ± 29.97 Mg ha−1), with 57 % of the paired sites showing a negative change. After applying a diagnosis method to detect statistical regression-to-the-mean bias and considering the pooled data and the different forest plantation groups (Pinus spp., Eucalyptus spp., Salicaceae spp, and native species), only Eucalyptus plantations showed a negative relationship between ΔSOC and SOCstock in the control situation (i.e. a significant and negative impact on SOC in high-C soils). In general, most of the sites where forest plantations were introduced in Argentina have a relatively low baseline SOC (SOCstock < 200 Mg ha−1), and 98 % of the studied sites showed SOC deficit (Csat-def) estimated as the difference between the observed vs. the theoretical maximal C storage potential based on silt and clay content. SOCstock and the Csat-def variation in forest plantations across regions were explained mainly by the SOCstock of the natural situation where the plantation was installed, followed by edaphic and some climatic variables. Within the silvicultural variables evaluated, only the forest species cultivated had a significant effect at the scale evaluated and within the range of stand densities (medium to high) and ages (close to rotation period in each region) considered. Our results indicate that -along a broad range of environmental situations but within a limited set of silvicultural conditions- in average forests plantations decrease soil carbon stock. However, there are situations -that could be coarsely predicted with a model with multiple variables and their interactions- where the change is positive bringing opportunities to increase the C sequestration service of planted forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Archivos de Medicina Veterinaria is the property of Universidad Austral de Chile, Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We conducted a small mammal trapping study to investigate temporal variation in prevalence of infection in hantavirus reservoir populations in the Patagonian Andes mountain range, Rio Negro province, Argentina. Rodent blood samples collected in natural and periurban habitats and at the home of an hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) case patient were analysed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Organ tissue samples were tested by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and nucleotide sequence analysis. Eight species of 1032 rodents were captured in 15 551 trap nights, giving an overall trap success of 6.6%. Hantavirus antibody was detected in 30 of 555 Oligoryzomys longicaudatus (reservoir of Andes virus), three of 411 Abrothrix longipilis, and one of 10 Loxodontomys micropus. Antibody prevalences in O. longicaudatus were 13.7% in spring 1996, 59.3% in summer 1996, 2.1% in autumn 1997, 12.4% in winter 1997 and 3.1% in spring 1997. A much higher antibody prevalence (33%) was found during trapping around the residence of an HPS case patient. Higher prevalences were found in older male O. longicaudatus. There was no apparent correlation of antibody prevalence with rodent population density, or of rodent population density or antibody prevalence with numbers of human cases. For an HPS case that occurred in our study area in 1997, we identified the probable rodent reservoir and likely site of exposure by matching the genetic sequences of virus obtained from a rodent and the HPS case patient.