A missão política do Supremo Tribunal Federal: análise de sua importância como corte constitucional para o controle do poder no Brasil

The following study proposes an analysis of the politic process which the brazilian constitutional justice faces, emphasizing the Supremo Tribunal Federal . For that purpose, we start by examining the intimate relationship between Politics and Law, in view of the most recent social systems theories, so that the political system is distinguished by the exclusiveness of using the physical force, intending to make coletive tying decisions, and the juridical system as a congruent generalization of the expectations towards the rules and principles, brought together under an interdependence by which both gather legitimacy and effectiveness. In this manner we can notice the political effects of the constitutional interpretation conducted by Judges as well as by other juridical professionals, because these ones decrease the overload of expectations which are pointed to the Judicature. Constitutional interpretation is democratized since the participative democracy arises and stablishes a permanent state of awareness around the exercise of power and favours the preservation of the pluralism (counter-majoritary principle) where we can find the origin of the democratic nature of constitutional courts, once, in most cases, their members are not elected by the people. After that, we analyse the historical posture of the Supremo Tribunal Federal as a constitutional court in Brazil, so we can realize the attempts to make it vulnerable to the appeals of governability and economical aims, agains which this court somehow has resisted, stressing its particularities. At the end, it s concluded that even the so-called acts of government, whose judiciary control is mostly repelled, are subjected to a constitutional analysis, last frontier to be explored by the Supremo Tribunal Federal in its role of exposing our republican Constitution

A diversidade de lagartos na Caatinga é mediada pelos térmitas?

Intending to explain the extraordinary lizard coexistence levels found in Australian deserts, Morton & James (1988) figured out a hypothesis which defends that the termite diversity would bring about lizard radiation. This study aims to verify the validation of that hypothesis in Caatinga lizard assemblages. This study also objectives verifying if the termite defense mechanisms influence their consuming levels by lizards and if this pattern differs between different lizard lineages. Termites were collected using a standardized sampling protocol of termites. Besides using haphazard sampling, we collect lizards with 108 pitfall traps in each area. Intending to check the linkage between the termite and lizard assemblages, the lizard stomach contents were analyzed and then a canonical correspondence analysis was performed. The presence of nonrandom patterns of diet overlap among the lizard species was also examined. Aiming to check if the defense mechanisms of termite influence their consuming pattern by lizards it was performed a laboratory experiment where termite with different defense mechanisms were offered to lizards of two different lineages. We verified that lizard assemblages do not consume termites according to termite abundance in ecosystems. Furthermore, mean niche overlap lizard species did not differ significantly from that expected by chance. We found that termite chemical defense mechanism does influence the termite s pattern consuming by lizards. These results do not corroborate premises which support Morton & James hypothesis (1988) and point out that lizard do not chose termites based on their abundance, but, trying to avoid consuming termites which exhibit chemical defense mechanisms. This defense mechanism, however, may not be the only explanation to patterns of termite s consuming by lizards.