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A survey to investigate the occurrence of cassava anthracnose disease (CAD) and distribution of Colletotrichum spp. in cassava plantations in different eco-zones of the Reconcavo Region in Bahia, Brazil, investigated during the rainy season of 2014. A total of 50 cassava fields distributed among 18 municipalities were visited and intensity of anthracnose evaluated. The highest disease incidence (DI) (83.3%) was in samples collected in São Félix, and the lowest (34.4%), in Varzedo. Municipalities that presented the highest values for DI were located within the 'Af' Köppen–Geiger eco-zone, also presenting the highest values for the estimated McKinney disease index. Based on previous studies of multilocus phylogeny, seven different species of Colletotrichum were identified (Colletotrichum fructicola, Colletotrichum tropicale, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides s.s, Colletotrichum theobromicola, Colletotrichum siamense, Colletotrichum brevisporum and Colletotrichum plurivorum) and a new approach based on ERIC-PCR was used aiming to group the 82 isolates according to these findings. The highest percentage of genetic variance (> 78%) was among isolates within fields. Based on the survey and genetic analysis, C. fructicola is probably the main causal agent of cassava anthracnose in the Recôncavo Region, since this species was present with highest incidence in all eco-zones, 47.61, 42.86 and 57.14% for Af (tropical rainforest climate), As (tropical dry savanna climate) and Aw (tropical wet savanna climate), respectively. This study is the first report of C. fructicola lineages as the most likely pathogen causing anthracnose disease of cassava in Brazil, and these findings may be used to guide the selection of resistant varieties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen of fossil specimens are widely used for paleoecological and paleoenvironmental inferences, and there has been an effort to better understand the isotopic paleoecology and chronology of herbivores that inhabited the Brazilian Intertropical Region during the late Quaternary. In the present work, new radiocarbon datings and carbon and oxygen isotopes data for Eremotherium laurillardi , Notiomastodon platensis , Tapirus terrestris , Tayassu pecari, and Mazama gouazoubira are presented, from specimens that lived on Iuiu county (Toca Fria and Jatobá caves), state of Bahia, in the Brazilian Intertropical Region. E. laurillardi was dated as of ∼32 ka BP, representing the oldest direct dating for this species in the Brazilian Intertropical Region, while N. platensis was dated as of ∼25 ka BP. Fossils of the extant species T. pecari , M. gouazoubira, and T. terrestris presented radiocarbon ages of ∼23 ka BP, ∼21 ka BP, and ∼15 ka BP, respectively, showing that some of these species lived in Iuiu during the Last Glacial Maximum. According to our analyses, T. terrestris was the only specialist (δ 13C = −11.0‰; p i C 3 = 0.76; B A = 0.49), whereas the remaining taxa were generalists mixed-feeders (δ 13C = −1.3 to −10.0‰; p i C 3 = 0.24 to 0.69; B A > 0.58). The paleoenvironment reconstruction in Iuiu and other localities in BIR, during ∼32 ka BP to ∼15 ka BP, allow us to suggest that the dry arboreal to open Savanna habitats (rich in grass and shrubs) were the most common environment. • Radiocarbon datings for extant and extinct taxa from Brazilian Intertropical Region. • Unpublished isotopic data for Pleistocenic mammals from Bahia, Brazil. • Paleoenvironmental reconstruction for six late Pleistocene localities from BIR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]