Growth rings in cerrado woody species: occurrence and anatomical markers

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

Harmonised framework for ecological risk assessment of sediments from ports and estuarine zones of North and South Atlantic

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Development of site-specific sediment quality guidelines for North and South Atlantic littoral zones: Comparison against national and international sediment quality benchmarks

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Determination of fiber length and juvenile and mature wood zones from Hevea brasiliensis trees grown in Brazil

The aim of this study was to verify the average fiber length and the juvenile and mature wood zones from Hevea brasiliensis proveniences from a reforestation area in São Paulo, Brazil. For this purpose, five Hevea brasiliensis trees were randomly collected from a 50-year-old plantation, located in Balsamo, São Paulo, Brazil. The trees were cut and five flat sawn boards were obtained. The juvenile and mature wood zones were determined by fiber length measurement from the pith to the bark. The results showed that: (a) the juvenile wood of this species occurred approx. between 40 and 55 mm, from the pith, and from this point forward, the mature wood zone was found; (b) there was a significant difference between the average fiber length of juvenile wood (1.26 mm) and mature wood (1.51 mm).

Estimation and evaluation of dynamic properties as indicators of changes on soil structure in sugarcane fields of São Paulo State - Brazil

The indiscriminate management and use of soils without moisture control has changed the structure of it due to the increment of the traffic by agricultural machines through the years, causing in consequence, a soil compaction and yield reduction in the areas of intensive traffic. The purpose of this work was to estimate and to evaluate the performance of preconsolidation pressure of the soil and shear stress as indicators of changes on soil structure in fields cropped with sugarcane, as well as the impact of management processes in an Eutrorthox soil structure located in São Paulo State. The experimental field was located in Piracicaba's rural area (São Paulo State, Brazil) and has been cropped with sugarcane, in the second harvest cycle. The soil was classified by Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA) [Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA), 1999. Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Solos. Sistema Brasileiro de Classificao de Solos, Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA), Brasilia, 412 pp.] as an Eutrorthox. Undisturbed samples were collected and georeferenced in a grid of 60 m x 60 m from two depths: 0-0.10 m (superficial layer - SL) and in the layer of greatest mechanical resistance (LGMR), previously identified by cone index (CI). The investigated variables were pressure preconsolidation (sigma(p)), apparent cohesion (c) and internal friction angle (phi). The conclusions from the results were that the SLSC was predicted satisfactorily from up as a function of soil moisture; thus, decisions about machinery size and loading (contact pressures) can be taken. Apparent cohesion (c), internal friction angle (phi) and the Coulomb equation were significantly altered by traffic intensity. The sigma(p), c and phi maps were shown to be important tools to localize and visualize soil compaction and mechanical resistance zones. They constitute a valuable resource to evaluate the traffic impact in areas cropped with sugarcane in State of São Paulo, Brazil. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Benthic macroinvertebrates in the Paranapanema reservoir cascade (southeast Brazil)

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

Biochemical biomarkers and metals in Perna perna mussels from mariculture zones of Santa Catarina, Brazil

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Instability zones for satellites of asteroids: The example of the (87) Sylvia system

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

Historical land-cover/use in different slope and riparian buffer zones in watersheds of the state of São Paulo, Brazil

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

On the limit cycles of a class of piecewise linear differential systems in R-4 with two zones

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

Sm-Nd system in total rock open versus closed isotopic composition in zones of high deformation

High strain shear zones of Brasiliano age, developed in Paleoproterozoic basement gneiss of the Caicó region, Borborema Province, NE Brazil, were associated with medium- to low-grade metamorphism and deformational processes that transformed porphyritic augen gneiss into muscovite quartzite, modifying their original mineralogy and chemical properties. During the last hydrothermal event mobility of major, minor and trace elements was great, whereas the pattern of Rare Earth Elements was not changed. We carried out a Sm-Nd isotopic study in these rocks in order to understand the behavior of Nd isotopes during mylonite generation. TDM model ages at around 2.6 Ga and εNd (t) values for both protolith and transformed rock suggest that the Nd isotopic system remained closed, recording the original source rock signature, despite undergoing two superposed metamorphic events. These new Sm-Nd results provide important information on the geologic evolution of basement rocks in the central Rio Grande do Norte Terrane of the Borborema Province, NE Brazil.

Abundance of zooplankton from different zones (pelagic and littoral) and time periods (morning and night) in two Amazonian meandering lakes

The abundance of zooplankton in two lakes of Southwest Amazonia was studied for 10 months in different regions and at different periods of the day. The lakes were Lago Amapá, located at 10°02′36″S, 67°50′24″W, and Lago Pirapora, at 9°27′21″S, 67°31′39″. Both lakes are characterized as oxbow lakes. The aim of this study was to compare the pelagic and littoral regions, as well as to determine differences in the distribution of zooplankton in the water column in the morning and at night. Collections were made by filtering water through a 55μm zooplankton net into a 5L Van Dorn bottle, collecting 4L from the top and 5L from the middle and bottom layers, totaling 14L of water for each sampling location. In addition, physical and chemical parameters were measured, including transparency, temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity and turbidity. Anova (analysis of variance) and Tukey's test were used. There was no statistically significant difference between the regions studied, nor between the two time periods examined. The results of the Pearson correlation (p<0.05) demonstrated that the physical and chemical characteristics of the water correlated with the cladocerans Moina spp. (represented by M. minuta and M. reticulata) and Ceriodaphnia cornuta, and that Daphnia gessneri was associated with Chaoboridae.

Tolerância de perdas de solo na bacia do rio Itiquira, Mato Grosso, Brasil

The geographic area of the present study corresponds to the basin of the Itiquira river high course (Figure 1), in the portion that extends from the tributaries of its source, in the east of the plateau Correntes/Itiquira, in the neighbourhoods the city of Alto Garç as, to the scarp of the São Jerônimo mountain range, toward the west of Itiquira, in the state of Mato Grosso, totalizing 5,361 km 2. The area is placed in the eastern part of the Alto Paraguai basin, in the western portion of the Paraná Sedimentary Basin plateau. Through GIS techniques, it was possible to asses total soil losses from the Itiquira river basin, considering the years of 1966, 1985 and 1996, being based on the Universal Soil Loss Equation. Thus, in 1966 the basin lost 201,546.94 ton of soil, with an average loss of 0.37 ton/ha/year. Considering that the total area of the Itiquira river basin is of 536,100 ha, while in 1985 the soil losses had passed to 1,760,833.40 ton, with an increase of approximately 8.5 times. The average of soil losses in 1985 was of 3.28 ton/ha/year. In 1996 the basin lost 1,662,043.24 ton, with a reduction of only 9.4% in relation to 1985 but, in relation the 1966, the increase continued in the order of 8 times. The average losses per hectare in this year was in the order of 3.10 ton/ha/year (Chart 1). The map of potential of the laminar erosion for 1966 (Figure 3), shows to the highest values in small areas, situated in the northeast of the area, in Alto Garças, with values between 10 the 20 ton/ha/year and some spots in sources of the Itiquira and Ariranha rivers, with values between 1 the 5 ton/ha/year. In a general way, however, the area presents low soil loss for laminar erosion in this year, with inferior values to 1 ton/ha/year. The higher class of erosion, over 10 ton/ha/year, occupied 2,947 ha in 1966. In the year of 1985 (Figure 4), the erosive process spread over the entire studied area, and the class of erosion over of 10 ton/ha/year, already started to occupy 78,437 ha, implying an increase of approximately 27 times in 19 years. A strong increment in the erosive process was noticed in the western part of the area, to along the BR-163 road, exactly where great areas of natural vegetation (open pasture) had been transformed in culture and pasture areas. In the north-eastern part of the area it was also noticed an increment in the erosive process in agreement with the increase of culture areas and reduction of the natural areas, but it was not of so intense form as in the western portion of the area. In the year of 1996 (Figure 5), the class of erosion over of 10 ton/ha/year had diminished for a total of 53.499 ha noticing a retraction of the erosive process in the western part of the area, alongside the BR-163 road. On the other hand, it occurred a strong increment in the northern part of the area, in the neighbourhoods of the city of Alto Garças, alongside the BR-364 road and part of the MT-040 road. In a general way, in the outskirts of the city of Itiquira, in the central part of the area, it was verified an increase of the amount of zones with erosion between 0-1 ton/ha/year, passing to the immediately superior class, of 1-3 ton/ha/year; scarce data of hydrosedimentology in the UHE Itiquira (1999), shows good agreement with the values gotten for the EUPS (Chart 2). Based on the hydric classification proposal for FAO (1967) (Chart 3), it is noticed that areas with high degree of erosion (> 50) in the analysed area are very restricted, occupying 493 ha in 1985 and 332 ha in 1996 (Chart 4). In 1996 appeared as isolated spots in the north of Itiquira and Alto Garças, however beyond limits of the Itiquira river basin. These areas require special cares in its use as agricultural areas. Aiming at identifying and indicating the areas of potential risk of erosion and that need implementation of conservation practices, it was elaborated the map of limit of tolerance to the soil losses. In 1966 (Figure 6), areas with soil losses over of the tolerable were restricted to small spots located in the eastern part of the area, occupying 0.43% of the total of the area; already in 1985 (Figure 7), this percentage passed to 5.86%, spreading for all the area; in 1996 (Figure 8) it is observed a fast reduction of the areas with soil losses over of the tolerance limit, passing 5.43% of the total of the area. All the areas with losses over of the tolerable value must be considered as risk areas and were done in these areas studies for implementation of conservation practices.

Interploidy hybridization in sympatric zones: the formation of Epidendrum fulgens x E. puniceoluteum hybrids (Epidendroideae, Orchidaceae)

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

Increment of Antimycobaterial Activity on Lichexanthone Derivatives

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)