Entre o mar e estrela, um lugar para se bem viver : a problemática da expansão urbana da Cidade de Baía Formosa/RN

The urban expansion problem of Baía Formosa, a southern edge city of de Rio Grande do Norte eastern coast, which has been presented in other coast Brazilian towns, specially on those with tourist activities increase. Therefore, this situation brings huge concerns to their inhabitants, to their technical /scientific community and to the governments, because of the conflicts of interest and of the growth of urban problems that this has been created. At Baía Formosa, the situation is aggravated because the city is confined, once around it, there are large private proprieties, environmental preservation area and the sea, at the eastern edge. The objectives of this study are the analyses of this city expansion process in order to obtain adequate alternatives and defining methodology to apply in other urban nucleus that are subjected to similar situations. Of course, presents social relations, environmental conditions and promoting local population insertion should be considered in order that enjoin this process and contributing to a better social balance. This case study has used bibliography research, field data, maps and soil occupation recorders and photographs of the area, besides the primary data gathering by surveys carried out with many social actors. The present analysis shows that the urban expansion observed today is featured by a recent unsustainable model, which attacks the environment and brings either farm conflicts. On the other hand, the ecological tourism can represent an alternative in order to achieve an adequate expansion form, without forgetting the several structural parameters necessary to support the sustainable activities

...Em busca da realidade... : a experiência da etnicidade dos Eleotérios (Catu/RN)

The south region of the Rio Grande do Norte has been historically recognized as a place of old indian villages. Inhabitants of the edges of the Catu River, border between the cities of Canguaretama and Goianinha, the Eleotérios in the threshold of 21st century had passed to be seen and self recognized as "remaining indians" of the RN. Their ethnic mobilizations, when becoming public had placed to the intellectual and political fields an old question to be reflected on: the asseverations concerning the "indian disappearing" in the State. This item brings with it other implications. Accessed by a para-oficial indigenism, the Eleotérios had started to establish political relations with the Potiguara indians of the Baía da Traição/PB and the Indian Movement, feeling stimulated to produce and to reproduce forms of social differentiation. In this context, this research is worried about elucidating the process of construction of the ethnicity among the Eleotérios, percepted from the social relations and politics kept with the amplest society, into a particular historical situation involving sugar cane fields owners, proprietaries, militants, researchers, ambiental agencies. The effects of these political and social relations had been extended, making Eleotérios appear to the society as susceptible social actors to the specific policies for the aboriginal populations

Dieta do ouriço-branco, Tripneustes ventricosus (Lamarck, 1816), no Arquipélago de Fernando de Noronha, PE

Sea urchins are benthic macroinvertebrates that inhabit shallow coastal waters in tropical and temperate zones. Urchins are usually classified as generalists or omnivores as they can adjust their diet according to the food resources available in the environment. Due to the strong grazing pressure they may exert, urchins have an important role in marine ecosystems, occupying different trophic levels and stimulating the intensification of the dynamics of communities where they occur. In 2004, a monitoring program focused on the population dynamics of the white sea urchin, Tripneustes ventricosus, has been initiated in the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago. At the same time, a surprisingly lack of information on the species biology has been noted, despite their wide geographical distribution and economic importance in many parts of its range. Hence, this work was developed to provide information on the feeding habits of T. ventricosus in the archipelago. Ten specimens were collected between December 2006 and July 2007 at two sites of the archipelago, Air France and Sueste Bay for biometrics and analysis of gut contents. Test diameters ranged from 9.19 cm (± 1.1) to 10.08 cm (± 0.58). Calculated stomach repletion index (IRE) was higher (p <0.05) in the Air France site and also during January and July. The IRE was not correlated to the gonad index. Fifteen different species of algae were detected in a total of 120 stomachs examined: 4 Chlorophytas, 4 Phaeophytas and 6 Rhodophytas. Food diversity (p <0.05) was higher in December 2006 and January 2007. Although several items had a high frequency of occurrence, they were low represented in terms of weight, and consequently, had a low level of relative importance. The brown algae Dictyopteris spp and Dictyota spp, followed by the green algae Caulerpa verticillata accounted for the greatest importance in T. ventricosus diet, comprising about 90% of the consumed items