Climate change causes increasingly longer periods of drought, often causing the death of plants, especially when they are in the early stages of development. Studying the benefits provided by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi to plants in different water regimes is an efficient and sustainable strategy to face climate change. Thus, this study investigated the influence of AM fungi on Handroanthus serratifolius seedlings under different water regimes, based on biochemical, and nutritional growth parameters. The experiment was carried out in H. serratifolius seedlings cultivated with mycorrhizas (+AMF) and without mycorrhizas (-AMF) in three water regimes; a severe water deficit (SD), a moderate water deficit (MD), and a well-watered (WW) condition. AM fungi provided greater osmoregulation under water deficit conditions through the accumulation of soluble sugars, total free amino acids, and proline, as well as by reducing sugar. The increase in the absorption of phosphorus and nitrate was observed only in the presence of fungi in the well-watered regimen. A higher percentage of colonization was found in plants submitted to the well-watered regimen. Ultimately, AM fungi promoted biochemical, nutritional, and growth benefits for H. serratifolius seedlings under the water deficit and well-hydrated conditions, proving that AMF can be used to increase the tolerance of H. serratifolius plants, and help them to survive climate change.

Identification of individuals of Biomphalaria is a challenging task, since morphological aspects alone are not sufficient to distinguish between species, which share many similar characteristics. However, the accurate identification of species of Biomphalaria is crucial for monitoring of schistosomiasis, since these species are intermediate hosts of the parasite Schistosoma mansoni, which causes the disease, which is prevalent in the north region of Brazil. In this context, the objective of this study was to identify specimens of Biomphalaria that occur in Mapiri Lake, in the lower Amazon region, in Santarém, Pará, Brazil. An integrated approach was used for identification of specimens of Biomphalaria, which included embryological and morphological analyses (comparison of diagnostic characteristics between species of the genus), as well as molecular assays using the Sanger sequencing method with dideoxy chain termination, as a method to reinforce the precision of species identification. The results establish the first record of B. amazonica in the state of Pará. This species has a development cycle consistent with that observed for other species of the genus Biomphalaria but possesses morphological characteristics that make accurate identification at the species level difficult, which reinforces the need for the molecular analyses. The first record of B. amazonica in the state of Pará in this study enlarges the distribution area of this species in Brazil, which demonstrates the importance of research focused on the identification of species of Amazonian mollusks as an auxiliary tool that can be used to combat schistosomiasis.