Astyanax ajuricaba: a new species from the Amazon basin in Brazil (Characiformes: Characidae)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Hisonotus piracanjuba, a new species of Hypoptopomatinae (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from the rio Paranaiba, upper rio Parana system, central Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Influence of forest cover and mesohabitat types on functional and taxonomic diversity of fish communities in Neotropical lowland streams

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A fish-based biotic integrity index for assessment of lowland streams in southeastern Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A New Species of Hypostomus (Siluriformes: Loricariidae) from the Upper Rio Paraguay Basin, Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

A new Hemigrammus Gill from upper rio Parana system, Southeastern Brazil (Characiformes : Characidae)

Hemigrammus parana is described from the upper rio Parana system, in the area of influence of the Ilha Solteira reservoir in states of Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais and São Paulo, southeastern Brazil. The new species differs from all congeners by the combination of the following characters: absence of humeral spot; presence of a roughly triangular or rectangular conspicuous black caudal spot, extending from base to tip of middle caudal-fin rays, its greatest depth at base of caudal-fin rays; and anal-fin rays iii-iv, 18-23.

Ecology of a stream from upper Paraná River basin inhabited by Aspidoras fuscoguttatus Nijssen & Isbrüker, 1976 (Siluriformes, Callichthyidae)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Fluvial transport of lead, zinc and copper contents in polluted mining regions

Ore mines installed in the lower-middle portion of Ribeira de Iguape River (São Paulo State, southeastern Brazil), together with the Panelas Plant are responsible for the contamination of the Iguape-Cananeia-Paranagua lagoon-estuarine complex. The lower-middle portion of Grande Creek Basin, located in the district of Adrianopolis (Parana State, southern Brazil) is under environmental impact because of mining activities. The mines of Perau, at Perau Creek, Canoas at Canoas Creek, and Barrinha at Barrinha Creek and Laranjal Creek have been paralyzed. The transport of lead in fluvial sediments is mainly associated with organic matter, carbonates, the residual fraction, and adsorbables, whereas the transport of zinc is associated with the organic and residual fraction, oxides and hydroxides of iron and manganese, carbonate, and adsorbables. The transport of copper is associated with the residual fraction and oxides and hydroxides of iron and manganese, organic matter, carbonate, and adsorbables.

Stable isotopes (H-2, O-18 and C-13) in groundwaters from the northwestern portion of the Guarani Aquifer System (Brazil)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Detecção de cavidades em arenitos utilizando gravimetria, eletrorresistividade e GPR

Este trabalho mostra os resultados obtidos com a realização de ensaios geofísicos na em áreas de lavra de areia, no município de Descalvado, SP. O objetivo dos ensaios é o de detectar cavidades no interior de arenitos, pertencentes às Formações Pirambóia e Botucatu. Estas cavidades formaram-se com o rebaixamento do lençol freático, necessário para as operações de extração da areia. As técnicas geofísicas utilizadas foram: gravimetria, eletrorresistividade (caminhamento elétrico dipolo-dipolo) e radar de penetração no solo (GPR). Na primeira etapa dos trabalhos foram utilizados a gravimetria e a eletrorresistividade em uma bancada onde ocorreu um desmoronamento devido ao abatimento do teto de uma cavidade. Os resultados obtidos com estas duas técnicas foram coerentes pois a gravimetria mostrou baixos gravimétricos indicando uma ausência de massa na área de influência da cavidade e o caminhamento detectou um esperado aumento de resistividade elétrica nesta mesma área. Na segunda etapa, com a realização dos ensaios de GPR em uma bancada próxima à anterior, foi possível detectar cavidades por meio das feições hiperbólicas detectadas nos radargramas.

Radon in groundwaters from Guarany aquifer, South America: environmental and exploration implications

Groundwater and sandstone samples were analyzed for radon in Guarany aquifer, Parana sedimentary basin, South America. The dissolved radon ranged between 3 and 3303 pCi/l, being lognormally distributed, with a modal value of 1315 pCi/l, and a median value of 330 pCi/l. Rn-222 leakage experiments for sandstones yielded a theoretical value of 1390 pCi/l for Rn-222 in water, showing that theoretical modeling can reliably be used to interpret laboratory and field data. (C) 2002 Elsevier B.V. Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nitrification processes in groundwaters evidenced by modification on the U contents and U-234/U-238 activity ratios

Groundwaters from the Botucatu-Piramboia aquifer system located at the Parana sedimentary basin in Brazil and sampled at Ribeirao Preto city, São Paulo State, were chemically and isotopically analysed, with the aim of evaluating how uranium isotopes U-234 and U-238 can be utilized to monitor the progress of nitrate, the main indicator of agrichemical pollution into an aquifer. Based on the isotope dilution analysis, the U-234/U-238 activity ratio and U content data in the groundwaters were utilized to deduce their proportions in a mixture, suggesting that the water not affected significantly by nitrification still dominates the exploitation system involving the studied wells.

Mercury in Amazonian fish from Madeira River basin, Rondonia state, Brazil

This investigation was carried out at the Madeira River basin, located in the state of Rondonia, Brazilian Amazon. Fish from Madeira, Jaciparana, and Jamari rivers between 7 and 11 degrees parallels south and between 62 and 65 degrees meridians west in Rondonia state, Brazil, were sampled and chemically analyzed for mercury in order to evaluate if the inputs of this metal into the food-chain is occurring in levels reaching values above those recommended by the World Health Organization. This is because such an element is very dangerous when ingested by humans and its presence was extensively identified some years ago in the area, since it was utilized as an amalgam in processes for recovering alluvial gold.