Abstract:1. Pollination is an important ecosystem service as many agricultural crops such as fruit trees are pollinated by insects. Agricultural intensification, however, is one of the main drivers resulting in a serious decline of pollinator populations worldwide. 2. In this study pollinator communities were examined in twelve apple orchards surrounded by either homogeneous or heterogeneous landscape in Hungary. Pollinators (honey bees, wild bees, hoverflies) were surveyed in the flowering period of apple trees. Landscape heterogeneity was characterized in circles of 300, 500 and 1000 m radius around each orchard using Shannon's diversity and Shannon's evenness indices. 3. We found that pollination success of apple was significantly related to the species richness of wild bees, regardless the dominance of honey bees. 4. Diversity of the surrounding landscape matrix had a marginal positive effect on the species richness of hoverflies at 300m, positive effect on the species richness of wild bees at 500m radius circle, while evenness of the surrounding landscape enhanced the abundance of wild bees at 500m radius circle. Flower resources in the groundcover within the orchards supported honey bees. 5. Therefore maintenance of semi-natural habitats within 500m around apple orchards is highly recommended to enhance wild pollinator communities and apple production. Apple is one of the most important insect pollinated crops in the European Union, accounting 51 for 16% of the EU's total economic gains attributed to insect (particularly bee) pollination 52 (Leonhardt et al., 2013). Most apple varieties are cross-pollinated and insect pollination not 53 only affects the quantity of apple production, but can also have marked impacts on the quality 54 of the fruits, influencing size, shape and their market price (Garratt et al., 2014a). The most 55 common insect pollinator of apple is the honey bee (Apis mellifera); however, it is not the bees (Bosch & Blas, 1994). Hoverflies (Syrphidae) have also been observed with pollen loads 63 containing a high proportion of compatible fruit pollen (Kendall, 1973). Agricultural and Forest Entomology 64In the temperate zone, pollinator insects are under threat from a number of limiting 65 factors, such as climate change (Rader et al., 2013), human disturbance (Goulson et al., 66 2008), agricultural intensification (Kearns et al., 1998; Steffan-Dewenter et al., 2005; 67 Fitzpatrick et al., 2006; Memmott et al., 2007), and landscape fragmentation (Aizen & 68 Feisinger, 2003; Diekötter & Crist, 2013), which leads to less effective pollination and 69 reduces agricultural production (Floyd, 1992; Garibaldi et al., 2011a Garibaldi et al., , 2013 (Kremen et al., 2002; Brittain et al., 2013). Maintaining diverse communities, 94Apple is the most important fruit tree in Hungary, as it provides 60 % of the total 95Hungarian fruit production, and currently amounts to 400-600 thousand tons annually on We constructed generalized linear mixed models (GLMM) for each response variab...

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Leishmaniasis is a "neglected tropical disease" and serious public health issue in Brazil. While dogs are recognized as particularly important reservoirs, recent reports of domestic cats infected with Leishmania sp. in urban areas suggest their participation in the epidemiological chain of the parasite in endemic areas. The aim of this study was to screen domestic cats for Leishmania sp. infection in an area where human and canine visceral leishmaniasis are endemic, followed by the identification of the species circulating in cats. We collected peripheral blood, lymph-node aspirates and bone marrow from 100 adult animals, both male and female, and analyzed the samples using cytological and molecular (PCR) detection techniques. We detected Leishmania in 6% of animals, which were then analyzed by RFLP-PCR to identify the species. Leishmania infantum (synonym: L. chagasi), a species responsible for visceral leishmaniasis in humans and other animals, was identified from all six samples. Amastigotes were observed in the peripheral blood, bone marrow and lymph-node aspirates in 4 of the 6 PCR-positive animals. The presence of infected cats in endemic areas should not be neglected, because it demonstrates the potential role of these animals in the biological cycle of the pathogen.

Located in southwestern Brazil, the Pantanal is a Wetland of International Importance and Biosphere reserve. It is composed of several subregions, each with distinct vegetation, and hosts diverse bat fauna. The goal of this study was to compare the bat communities between different subregions of the Pantanal, especially poorly sampled areas. From February 2008 to November 2009, we surveyed bats using mist nets at five sites with different vegetation structure and hydrology, over an area of 30,000 km2. Fecal samples were also collected. We captured 254 bats belonging to six families and 37 species: Phyllostomidae (19), Vespertilionidae (8), Molossidae (8), Noctilionidae (1), Emballonuridae (1) and Natalidae (1). The most abundant species wasArtibeus planirostris(32%). The species reported in this study represent 60% of bat species recorded in Mato Grosso do Sul and 71% of species known from the Pantanal region of the state. We also highlight important records for the Pantanal, includingEumops patagonicus,Eptesicus diminutusandMicronycteris sanborni. The most common plant species in the feces of bats were from the generaCecropiaandFicus. The community of bats in the Pantanal proved rich and diverse, with differences among subregions, possibly reflecting their complex landscape and different habitats.