{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.033407336927793636, 'fraction_numerical': 0.016809387884554394, 'mean_word_length': 5.11901681759379, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Parasitic density and ornithochoric potential of wild birds: preliminary results of a research and extension project carried out in a reforestation area at IFRJ Campus, Pinheiral, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This publication aims to disseminate to the scientific community and society in general, the project of the same title of this publication that is under development by the collaboration of the Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia do Rio de Janeiro (IFRJ) and the Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de 2 | Parasitic density and ornithochoric potential of wild birds: Preliminary results of a research... Ci. e Nat., Santa Maria, v.43, e13, 2021 Janeiro (UFRRJ). Briefly, this project aims to quantify and identify parasites of the body surface (ectoparasites) and intestinal parasites (enteroparasites) of wild birds, which should be related to their biological and ecological conditions, and to evaluate the dispersal seed process performed by birds (ornithocoria), the viability and development of these seeds and thus establish the degree of importance of ornithocoria in reforestation at the IFRJ campus of Pinheiral, RJ. The project includes the integration of five doctoral professors, a laboratory technician doctor, as well as a postdoctoral student, four doctoral students, one master student, two undergraduate students and four technical high school students. To date, six expeditions have been made in the reforestation area of the Espaço Ecológico Educativo (EEcoE) of the IFRJ campus in Pinheiral, RJ, where a total of 196 wild birds have been captured, evaluated, ringed and recorded at the Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação de Aves Silvestres (CEMAVE), of which 29 were recaptured for revaluations. Four articles were published on the themes of parasitology and ornithochory in wild birds. Two practical short courses in the area of study were taught in September 2018 and February 2019 to IFRJ students, but open to the scientific community and society at large. Currently the project is not expected to end, since there are plenty of unpublished and relevant results in both the area of parasitology and ornithochory of wild birds.


INTRODUCTION
The Atlantic Forest is a highly diverse biome and is also one of the most endangered on the planet and, therefore, considered one of the five most S.;Franco,H. A.;Jorge,E. N. L. F.;Oliveira,M. S.;Oliveira,J. L. G.;Andrade,L. A. S.;Ferreira,C. N. O.;Abreu,S. T.;Maronezi,C.;Oliveira,Á. A.;Lima,V. M.;Ferreira,I.;Berto,B. P. | 3 Ci. e Nat., Santa Maria, v.43, e13, 2021 important biodiversity hotspots (MYERS et al. 2000;CARVALHO et al., 2005). In the state of Rio de Janeiro, it is estimated that the Atlantic Forest originally covered around 98% of its territory, considering its different forest formations and associated ecosystems, such as mangroves, restingas and altitude fields (IEF, 2007).
Currently the original cover is restricted to less than 20%, being quite fragmented and disconnected, represented almost entirely by small scattered forest patches, in hard-to-reach, isolated and impacted areas, surrounded by extensive pasture matrices, monocultures and urban áreas (FUNDAÇÃO SOS MATA ATLÂNTICA, 2002).
The drastic elimination of riparian forests and forest fragmentation, verified in Brazil and accelerated in the last decades, have caused a significant increase of soil erosion processes, damaging the regional hydrology, evident biodiversity reduction and the degradation of huge areas subjected to to these anthropic actions (BARBOSA, 2001). Fragmentation was defined by Lord & Norton (1990) as a process of disruption in the spatial continuity of natural habitats and which often causes disruption of gene flows between populations present in these habitats.
The negative effects of fragmentation on the environment depend on factors such as: shape of the fragment, dominant features in the vicinity, level of degradation of these features, among others (MARTINS et al., 2002). In some of the anthropized environments, the process of natural regeneration can be observed occurring slowly and dependent on factors such as: environmental conditions (climate and slope), type and intensity of disturbance and distance and source of propagules (VENTUROLI et al., 2011 such as preserved, urbanized, cultivated areas and, mainly, in reforestation. In this sense, we can observe the preliminary results of this project, which are the identification and quantification of ecto-and endo-parasites in wild birds related to the capture sites, as well as the role of wild birds in seed dispersal and, consequently, the maintenance of forests and reforestation.

Frugivory and ornithochory
The geographical dispersion of seeds is an essential factor for the maintenance of plant species in nature, a fact that can be seen by the enormous variety of adaptive mechanisms that exist to guarantee the perpetuation of progenies, ranging from physical mechanisms to those dependent on ecological interactions. Thus, the biological weathering can be classified as: Anemochory; autochory; hydrochory; barocchory and zoochory (SARAVY et al., 2003).  As proposed by Janzen (1970) there is a natural tendency of the density of seeds and seedlings (young plants) to be larger in the vicinity of the parent plan t.
However, this fact is unfavorable for their survival. This is because agglomeration favors herbivory, dissemination of pathogens or pests and increases interspecific competition. This fact confirms the importance of the dispersion of the seeds, and especially of the ornitochory (BIZERRIL, 2000). In addition, birds exert another vital importance, the breakdown of seed dormancy. There are species of plants, for example, that essentially require the passage through the gastrointestinal tract of the animals to become suitable for germination (ANTONINI, 2007).

Parasites of wild birds
The parasites can affect the morphology, behavior and health of the Ci. e Nat., Santa Maria, v.43, e13, 2021

The project, its origin and integration
The Ci. e Nat.,

Sample processing
Fecal samples are transported in 15 ml centrifuge tubes containing the ratio of 1/6 feces to 5/6 of 2.5% K2Cr2O7 solution. This conservator prioritizes the development and identification of coccidian oocysts, but also allows the conservation and identification of cysts of flagellate and ameboid protozoa and larvae and eggs of helminths. In order for the oocysts to remain viable the centrifuge tubes are periodically opened and homogenized ensuring a constant presence of atmospheric oxygen.
The parasites and plant seeds are separated from the solution containing feces and K2Cr2O7 by the modified technique of flotation with sucrose solution (500g sucrose, 350ml water) by centrifugation (5min at 2000 rpm) described by Sheather (1923) and modified by Duszynski and Wilber (1997). The solution is suspended in distilled water in the centrifuge tubes repeatedly to remove excess K2Cr2O7. After this procedure, the material is suspended in sucrose solution and again centrifuged. After centrifugation, the contents of the centrifuge tube are raised with sucrose solution to the limit of the opening forming a converging meniscus, where a coverslip is deposited for 5 to 10 min. After this period, the coverslip is removed and carefully placed on the surface of a microscope slide.

Isolation and recovery of plant seeds
Vegetable seeds are collected in two moments: (1) the larger and easily identified seeds are collected visually after defecation of the birds; (2) the smaller and less dense seeds than the sucrose solution float and can be easily removed with the aid of tweezers. Smaller seeds, but denser than the sucrose solution settle in the centrifuge tube and can be recovered at the end of the processing for quantification and identification.

Identification of enteroparasites
Optical microscopy in magnification of 400X and 1000X is used to improve the visualization and, consequently, greater detail and identification of the forms of oocysts, cysts, eggs and larvae of parasites (DE CARLI, 2007).

Quantification of enteroparasites
Quantification of eggs, larvae, cysts and/or oocysts is conducted according to Dolnik et al. (2010), where the totality recovered from a defecation is counted on a microscopy slide. To avoid counting errors, which may be caused by agglomeration of enteroparasites, all fields of the slide are observed. These results confer the density of one or mores parasites from a host (BUSH et al., 1997).

Ecological study
The statistical study consists of correlating the densities of the ectoparasites and enteroparasites with the ecological, biological and biometric data of the hosts

Identification and evaluation of the vigor of forest seeds
The identification of the seeds follow de guidelines of the Manual de The data are submitted to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the means are compared by the Tukey test (COSTA NETO, 1977;MILLER;MILLER, 1993).

TECHNICAL PRODUCTION
Concomitantly with the research work of this project, there was concern about the dissemination and extension of activities and results. In this sense, two short courses have been developed in the field, at the IFRJ Pinheiral campus. The short courses were aimed to the technical high school students of the IFRJ -Pinheiral, as well to the scientific community and society at large, being widely disseminated through physical and digital media. The short course held on