Spondias tuberosa trees grown in tropical, wet environments are more susceptible to drought than those grown in arid environments.

In this study, we investigated the different responses of Spondias tuberosa (umbu) trees, which grow in two different ecological life zones in northeast Brazil: tropical wet and tropical arid ecosystems. We evaluated the responses of plants grown under humid and dry conditions by measuring the photosynthesis, water status, fluorescence parameters, carbon isotopes and antioxidant system activity. The higher net photosynthesis values were recorded contemporaneously with the lower VPD values. The highest internal-to-ambient CO2 concentration and the absence of typical changes in the fluorescence parameters suggested an onset of a nonstomatal limitation in the photosynthesis. Our results showed that umbu plants can adjust their antioxidant activity during the dry season as a defensive strategy against the deleterious effects of water stress. This evidence is supported by the observed modifications in the pigment concentrations, increased accumulation of hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde, high levels of electrolyte leakage, increased antioxidant activity, and decreased carbon isotope discrimination in the umbu trees during the dry season. Supported by multivariate analysis of variance, significantly effect of interaction between categorical months of collect and location predicts a strong ?dry season effect? on our dataset. Taken together, our data show that umbu trees grown in a wet tropical environment are more susceptible to drought, as compared with their tropical arid counterparts.

Álgebra de mapas de atributos de solos para estimativa da aptidão agrícola das terras.

The land suitability evaluation is used to establish land zonings for agriculture activities. Geographic information systems (GIS) are useful for integrating different attributes necessaries to define apt and not apt lands. The present study had as main objective to describe procedures to define land suitability using GIS tools, soils maps and data soils profiles data, emphasizing procedures to define soil atributes. The area studied was the watershed of Córrego Espraiado, Ribeirão Preto-SP, located on the recharging area of the Guarani Aquifer, with approximately 4,130 ha and predominance of sugar cane culture. The database project was developed using the GIS Idrisi 32. The land suitability evaluation was done considering the intensive agricultural production system predominant in the watershed, adjusted for the vulnerability of the areas of recharge and for the methodology of GIS tools. Numerical terrain models (NTM) had been constructed for cation exchange capacity, basis saturation, clay content and silt+clay content using kriging (geostatistical interpolator), and for aluminum saturation using the inverse-square-distance. Boolean operations for handling geographic fields (thematic maps and NTM) to produce information plans are described and a land suitability map obtained by GIS tools is presented, indicating that 85% of watershed lands are apt to annual cultures.

Índices de vegetação SAVI, NDVI e temperatura de brilho na caracterização da cobertura vegetativa do Distrito de Irrigação dos Tabuleiros Litorâneos do Piauí - DITALPI.

O uso de imagens de satélite é um dos caminhos mais econômicos e representativos do comportamento agrícola de uma propriedade, pois as informações contidas nas imagens orbitais fornecem respostas rápidas, confiáveis e essenciais para o mapeamento eficiente dessas áreas. Dentre as informações obtidas pelas imagens estão os índices de vegetação (IV), geralmente, a vegetação em bom desenvolvimento vegetativo absorve a radiação na região do visível para a realização a fotossíntese. A intensidade da resposta é mais relevante quanto mais desenvolvida estiver a planta, portanto, o IV reflete o estado de desenvolvimento da cultura, bem como a probabilidade de rendimento. Dentre os índices mais utilizados atualmente destaca-se o Índice de Vegetação por Diferença Normalizada (NDVI), bastante utilizado nos estudos de caracterização e monitoramento da vegetação. Possui uma escala de variação linear entre ? 1 e 1, é indicador da quantidade e condição da vegetação, estando ligado diretamente ao tipo, a densidade e umidade da superfície. Huete (1988) propôs uma modificação do NDVI com intuito de minimizar os efeitos da variabilidade, do tipo e densidade da vegetação, criando assim o Índice de Vegetação ajustado ao Solo (SAVI). O objetivo do estudo é espacializar, gerar mapas temáticos, e verificar através dos IV?s as condições de cobertura vegetal dos solos no DITALPI, no ano de 2014, a partir de análises espectrais de imagens do satélite Landsat - 8, sensor OLI e TIRS, utilizando técnicas de sensoriamento remoto.

Manejo inadequado do solo e reflexo na qualidade dos recursos hídricos superficiais e subterrâneos em São José de Ubá/ Noroeste do Estado do RJ.

O objetivo do trabalho é avaliar como o manejo inadequado do solo e da água, principalmente nas atividades agrícolas, tem interferido na qualidade das águas superficiais e subterrâneas de São José de Ubá, município do Noroeste Fluminense. Foram realizadas cinco campanhas para monitorar 31 pontos de coleta de água, estes incluíram poços profundos e rasos, nascentes e pontos superficiais. Nas amostras coletadas foram analisados diversos cátions e ânions, materiais sólidos da água, alcalinidade total, nitrogênio total, fósforo total, parâmetros biológicos, temperatura, pH e Condutividade Elétrica. Os resultados das análises foram confrontados com os limites estabelecidos pelo CONAMA 357/05 (classe 2) para águas superficiais e CONAMA 396/08 para águas subterrâneas (consumo humano) e apontam para o comprometimento da qualidade das águas do município. Esta degradação está ligada as atividades antrópicas, principalmente as relacionadas a agropecuária. O uso excessivo de fertilizantes e pesticidas, excrementos de animais e esgotos domésticos estão entre as principais fontes poluidoras da área de estudo. Portanto, as águas de São José de Ubá devem continuar sendo monitoradas, para que a avaliação da qualidade de seus recursos hídricos continue sendo realizada, a fim de se evitar um maior comprometimento da diversidade dos sistemas aquáticos, bem como da saúde humana.

Aplicação de Sistema de Informações Geográficas na análise espacial de doenças do milho no Brasil.

This study presents an application of the geographical information system technology on plant disease involving a multidisciplinary teamwork of geoprocessing and physiopathology specialists. The spatial analysis tools in a GIS were used to evaluate the spatial distribution of two diseases of maize in Brazil: polysora rusl caused by Puccinia polysora and tropical rust caused by Physopella zeae. A database of cIimate variables (mean temperature. relative humidity. and leaf wetness duration) of cIimatological normal from 1961-1990 was obtained and then related it to a mathematical model of disease development (polysora rust) and to the cIimate intervals (tropical rust) in order to obtain the maps. The choice of the model or the favorable climate interval is the important chalIenge of the method because the difficulty of adequacy to the spatial and temporal scales for the specific application. The major incidence of both disease occurred in almost alI the North region from January to June. although this region has traditionalIy a low production of maize. Considering the biggest producers regions. for both the diseases, favorable areas are located in part of Mato Grosso, Tocanlins. Minas Gerais; Mato Grosso do Sul. and coastal areas of São Paulo, Paraná, and Santa Catarina. varying among the dilferent months from January to June. The method allowed making an adequate distinction of the states and the months considered.

Método de elaboração de mapas dos cenários climáticos futuros para o Brasil.

Human activities are altering greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere and causing global climate change. The issue of impacts of human-induced climate change has become increasingly important in recent years. The objective of this work was to develop a database of climate information of the future scenarios using a Geographic Information System (GIS) tools. Future scenarios focused on the decades of the 2020?s, 2050?s, and 2080?s (scenarios A2 and B2) were obtained from the General Circulation Models (GCM) available on Data Distribution Centre from the Third Assessment Report (TAR) of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The TAR is compounded by six GCM with different spatial resolutions (ECHAM4:2.8125×2.8125º, HadCM3: 3.75×2.5º, CGCM2: 3.75×3.75º, CSIROMk2b: 5.625×3.214º, and CCSR/NIES: 5.625×5.625º). The mean monthly of the climate variables was obtained by the average from the available models using the GIS spatial analysis tools (arithmetic operation). Maps of mean monthly variables of mean temperature, minimum temperature, maximum temperature, rainfall, relative humidity, and solar radiation were elaborated adopting the spatial resolution of 0.5° X 0.5° latitude and longitude. The method of elaborating maps using GIS tools allowed to evaluate the spatial and distribution of future climate assessments. Nowadays, this database is being used in studies of impacts of climate change on plant disease of Embrapa projects.

Dinâmica do desflorestamento e uso das terras na região dos formadores do rio Xingu.

Because of the occupation occurred in the last thirty years at Xingu river basin, this region has been suffering a large deforestation pressure, especially on its headwaters areas. This study aims to apply GIS techniques to evaluate how land use change has influenced the deforestation dynamics of Xingu water basin in Mato Grosso State. For that, a GIS based study was carried out were the deforestation data for the period between 2000 and 2005 was spatially integrated with settlement areas, indigenous lands, sites of mineral deposits and prospect areas. From this spatially integration, it was possible to analyze statistically how the deforestation has manifested on each kind of occupation, considering the original forest area. The techniques used, including inventory and database organization on GIS environment, and spatial analysis tools made it possible to analyze the deforestation in the Xingu basin in Mato Grosso State between the period of 2000 and 2005, and identify the most affected areas, considering different land uses.