Spatial and temporal scale issues in determining biomass burning regimes in Bolivia and Peru

ATSR-2 active fire data from 1996 to 2000, TRMM VIRS fire counts from 1998 to 2000 and burn scars derived from SPOT VEGETATION ( the Global Burnt Area 2000 product) were mapped for Peru and Bolivia to analyse the spatial distribution of burning and its intra- and inter-annual variability. The fire season in the region mainly occurs between May and October; though some variation was found between the six broad habitat types analysed: desert, grassland, savanna, dry forest, moist forest and yungas (the forested valleys on the eastern slope of the Andes). Increased levels of burning were generally recorded in ATSR-2 and TRMM VIRS fire data in response to the 1997/1998 El Nino, but in some areas the El Nino effect was masked by the more marked influences of socio-economic change on land use and land cover. There were differences between the three global datasets: ATSR-2 under-recorded fires in ecosystems with low net primary productivities. This was because fires are set during the day in this region and, when fuel loads are low, burn out before the ATSR-2 overpass in the region which is between 02.45 h and 03.30 h. TRMM VIRS was able to detect these fires because its overpasses cover the entire diurnal range on a monthly basis. The GBA2000 product has significant errors of commission (particularly areas of shadow in the well-dissected eastern Andes) and omission (in the agricultural zone around Santa Cruz, Bolivia and in north-west Peru). Particular attention was paid to biomass burning in high-altitude grasslands, where fire is an important pastoral management technique. Fires and burn scars from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) data for a range of years between 1987 and 2000 were mapped for areas around Parque Nacional Rio Abiseo (Peru) and Parque Nacional Carrasco (Bolivia). Burn scars mapped in the grasslands of these two areas indicate far more burning had taken place than either the fires or the burn scars derived from global datasets. Mean scar sizes are smaller and have a smaller range in size between years the in the study area in Peru (6.6-7.1 ha) than Bolivia (16.9-162.5 ha). Trends in biomass burning in the two highland areas can be explained in terms of the changing socio-economic environments and impacts of conservation. The mismatch between the spatial scale of biomass burning in the high-altitude grasslands and the sensors used to derive global fire products means that an entire component of the fire regime in the region studied is omitted, despite its importance in the farming systems on the Andes.

The effect of supplementing maize stover with cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) haulms on the intake and growth performance of Ethiopian sheep

This study compared the effect of supplementing maize stover (MS) with cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) haulms or commercial concentrate (CC) on feed intake, nutrient digestibility, live weight gain and carcass yield of male Ethiopian Highland sheep. Two cowpea genotypes, 12688 (forage) and IT96D-774 (dual-purpose), were used. A randomised block design was applied with groups of eight sheep, blocked by weight, allocated to one of six treatments; MS ad libitum either unsupplemented or supplemented daily with 150 or 300g dry matter (DM) of either cowpea or CC. MS contained more neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and lignin than either cowpeas or CC Crude protein (CP) content of the forage-type cowpeas was higher than either dual-purpose or CC, while MS had the lowest CP content Relative to the negative control group, cowpea at either level significantly (P < 0.01) increased both MS intake and total NDF and lignin. Supplementation significantly (P < 0.01) increased nitrogen (N) intakes relative to the negative control, with N intake for CC and dual-purpose cowpea (high level) being similar to the intakes for cowpeas at 150g. N intake with the forage-type cowpea offered at higher levels was significantly (P < 0.01) greater than the other groups. No significant differences (P > 0.01) in MS intake were identified between cowpeas at either level or CC and, although intake level of CC increased, it did not differ significantly from the negative control group. Supplementation significantly (P < 0.01) improved average daily gain, with the negative control group losing weight over the experimental period, and increased final live weight, carcass cold weight and dressing percentage. Supplementation significantly improved the apparent digestibility of DM, organic matter and NDF, with no significant difference found between cowpeas at either level. N retention was negative for sheep offered only MS, but positive with all supplements, with cowpeas improving N retention to a greater extent than CC. Interestingly, N retention/N intake was higher with cowpeas offered at the lower level suggesting an improvement in utilisation efficiency. The results indicate that the supplementation of MS with cowpea enhanced ruminant production through improvements in digestibility and intake. Further, as production improvements associated with the two levels of supplementation did not differ significantly, it is suggested that where limited quantities of cowpea are available, it may be of greater nutritional benefit to offer smaller quantities over an increased number of animal days.

The nutritive value of forage sorghum genotypes developed for the dry tropical highlands of Kenya as feed source for ruminants

in vitro studies were conducted on five sorghum genotypes developed for the dry tropical highland climate of Kenya and which can be fed to ruminants fresh or as silage. The five sorghum genotypes consisted of two normal white mid-rib (WMR) genotypes, coded E1291 and E65181, and three brown-midrib (BMR) genotypes, coded Lan-5, Lan-6 and Lan-12. Whole mature plants (herbage plus grain) and silage made from E 1291 were used in the study. An in vitro manual gas production technique was used to compare the nutritive characteristics of these genotypes for ruminants. These sorghums differed significantly in true organic matter degraded (OMDeg), which ranged from 520 to 678 g/kg after 24 h incubation and 706 to 805 g/kg after 72 h incubation. All the BMR sorghums had a higher degradability than the WMR genotype, E6518, and the silage, with Lan-5 having the highest degradability. Methane produced per g OMDeg ranged from 40.6 to 46.4 mL/g after 24 h incubation and from 53.1 to 62.6 mL/g after 72 h incubation. It was similar for all genotypes after 24 h incubation but Lan-12 had the highest methane production after 72 h incubation. After 24 h and 72 h incubation all the genotypes produced a similar total amount of gas per OMDeg (293 to 309 and 357 to 385 mL/g, respectively) with similar total short chain fatty acid concentrations in the liquid digesta (7.8 to 10.4 and 9.5 to 10.3 mmol, respectively) and acetate to propionate ratios of 2.16 to 2.49 and 2.35 to 2.87, respectively. The sorghums showed great potential as ruminant feed sources in the region.

A new species of lizard genus Gymnodactylus Spix, 1825 (Squamata: Gekkota: Phyllodactylidae) from Serra do Sincora, northeastern Brazil, and the status of G. carvalhoi Vanzolini, 2005

A new species of gekkonid lizard genus Gymnodactylus Spix, 1825 is described on the basis of material collected in the ""campos rupestres"" (open rocky communities) of Mucuge municipality, northeastern Brazil. G. vanzolinii sp. nov. differs from its congeners in the number of transverse and longitudinal rows of dorsal tubercles and color pattern. It is thought to be closer to G. guttulatus which also occurs and is restricted to the rocky communities from highland open areas in the Espinhaco mountain range. The discovery leads to a reevaluation of the taxonomic status of G. carvalhoi Vanzolini, 2005, which is here considered a synonym of G. amarali Barbour, 1925.

Processos produtivos e trabalho-educação: a incorporação do caboclo catarinense na indústria madeireira

The object theme of the present study is a population of caboclos that absorbed as manual workers in the saw-mills which were mounted in the highland region of Santa Catarina since 1950. The abundance of araucaria (native kind of pine) the opening of markets, and the corroboration of other industrial exploration conditions encouraged a great crowd of small en.- trepreneurs, coming basically from the state of Rio Grande do Sul, to migrate and settle down, building up a lot of saw-mills near rich forests and fields. The saw-mills started aprosperous production of timber sawn in planks. The process of industriali zation was so intensive, the destruction of pine woods soviolent that, in less than three decades, the forests ran out of tree reserves. The caboclos, absorbed as manual workers in production of timber, lived traditionally in an system of subsistense, either from the cultivation of pine the economic their land (planter caboclo) or as labourers in cattle-growing farms (farm hand caboclos). Nevertheless, the 'advantages' that were offered them by the new-comer entrepreneurs (a salary paid in money, a new house in a village, and other favours) helped the great majority of caboclos to abandon their traditional work and enlist as "workmen" in saw-mills. The new job, besides being a novelty, was an opportunity for a change in status. Subsequently, the running out of forests of araucaria and the resultant progressive shut-down of saw-mills caused the crowd of workmen to be out of imployment and to form to form a migratory flood toward the most important town of the region, Lages. The town of Lages, however, having made of the timber i ts main economic support wi thout the implantation of an alternative industry, was unable to offer the migrantssufficient 'work places'. In this way, the 'marginal crowd' began to settle down in the suburbs of the city. This study, in the context of the object theme, analyses two main questions related to the reality 'WOlLQ' and to the economic exploitation forms: ~) the relations of production in the economic regime of subsistence and in the capitalist regime of industrial production with the consequent 'positions' of the workman in the productive processj ~~) the deriving educative effects of the productive process, either in the economic regime of subsistence, or in the capitalist industrial regime. The two questions are theoretically debated andconfro~ ted with the proposed reality, giving origin to conclusions that, in a general formulation, can be summarized as follows: a) the caboclos of the highland region of Santa Catari na, when under an economic regime of subsistence, held in fee the productive processj there was a social division of the work and aclimate of freedom which made possible the development of knowledge from their life and work experience, the production of most of their tools, and the making of necessary manufactures adapted to their own surrounding ditionsi -- - --- other con- ------ b) however, these same caboclos, when absorbed by the capitalist industrial process of production - tipified by the work in saw-mills - lost the control of the productive processj this was caused by the technologic division of the work, since each man began to perform a dull and repeti tive action, directed by the speed of the 'major-saw' j man resigned form his skill and inventive power and surrendered to an executive authority which turned him into a 'collective worker'j the new productive process, besides rnaking each rnan a copy of a pattern, put the caboclos in a situation in which the daily work experiencedidn't add anything in terrns of autogenesis of knowledgei and even the environrnental educative rneans were reduced to new forrns of adaptation to the productive process, relegating rnan's inventive power to inertia.

Flebotomíneos (Diptera: Psychodidae) em um sistema agroflorestal da Região Metropolitana de Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil

Sandflies stand out as important vectors of leishmaniasis. The females need to ingest blood meals, enabling them to transmit protozoa of the genus Leishmania, which may give rise to visceral leishmaniasis (VL) or American tegumentary leishmaniasis (ATL), in addition to transmitting other parasites. Leishmaniasis are important infirmities, distributed worldwide, whose infection results from the interaction of reservoir animals, the vector insect, parasitic protozoa and the healthy host. In the state of Rio Grande do Norte (RN), Brazil, these insects are important transmitters of VL, which usually presents in the most serious form. It occurs mainly in metropolitan areas, with the dog as its main reservoir and Lutzomyia longipalpis as the vector. ATL is most present in the highland areas of the state. In addition to hematophagia, engaged in by the females, both sexes need to ingest carbohydrates, which are essential to the sand flies energy requirements and may interfere in the development of Leishmania. The aim of this study was to determine the occurrence and abundance of sand flies in different environments on the farm belonging to the Empresa de Pesquisas Agropecuárias do RN (Institute of Agricultural Research of RN), in the municipality of Parnamirim, in order to relate this occurrence with climatological and biological references and eating habits. Three consecutive monthly collections were carried out with CDC traps in a fragment of the Atlantic Forest, in a residence, on a goat breeding farm and on cashew, dwarf and giant coconut, mango, banana, eucalyptus, acacia and bean plantations. A total of 1241 sandflies from eight species (Lutzomyia evandroi, Lutzomyia longipalpis, Lutzomyia shannoni, Lutzomyia sordellii Lutzomyia walkeri, Lutzomyia wellcomei, Lutzomyia whitmani, and Lutzomyia intermedia) were collected, most in the forest environment. L. longipalpis, the main VL transmitter, was confirmed as a species adapted to anthropic environments, whereas others such as L. wellcomei, the vector of ATL, occurred predominantly in forests. Carbohydrate characterization of the sand flies and plants of the region demonstrated that a number of exotic plants such as hay and eucalyptus may play some role in the adaptation of these species to modified environments. Breeding in laboratory showed a mean biological cycle of 53.5 days from egg to adulthood for L. shannoni and the possibility of diapause behavior in L. wellcomei. This study serves as a source of information that may contribute to the epidemiological vigilance of tegumentary and visceral leishmaniasis in the state, given that it analyzes the bioecology of transmitting species, as well as their potential to adapt to new environments

Efeito de escória de alto forno no crescimento radicular e na produtividade de arroz

A utilização agrícola de resíduos industriais como fertilizantes decorre da necessidade de diminuir o efeito nocivo do acúmulo de nutrientes nos centros de produção. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar os efeitos de escória de alto forno no crescimento radicular e na produtividade do arroz de terras altas irrigado por aspersão. O experimento foi realizado no campo, adotando-se o delineamento experimental de blocos casualizados, com cinco doses de escória de alto forno (0, 2.550, 5.100, 10.200 e 15.300 kg ha-1) com quatro repetições. A utilização de escória melhorou a condição química do solo, aumentou o crescimento e a superfície radicular, diminuiu o diâmetro das raízes e elevou os teores de silício no solo e na planta, resultando em aumento da produtividade.

Interação silício e alumínio em plantas de arroz de terras altas cultivadas em solo alumínico

Solos com altos teores de Al tóxico podem causar diversos danos às plantas e, como consequência, diminuir sua produtividade; assim, seu manejo torna-se imprescindível para obter maiores produtividades, e o Si pode ser alternativa para diminuir a toxidez por Al em plantas. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a interação entre Si e Al em plantas de arroz de terras altas cultivadas em solo naturalmente alumínico de textura média arenosa. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi o de blocos inteiramente casualizados, dispostos em esquema fatorial 2 x 5 com quatro repetições. Os tratamentos empregados foram dois cultivares de arroz de terras altas: BRS Talento (não tolerante ao Al, moderno) e Guarani (tolerante ao Al3+, tradicional), além de cinco doses de Si (0, 30, 60, 90 e 120 mg dm-3) adicionadas ao solo. O Si fornecido ao solo contribuiu amenizando a toxidez por Al em ambos os cultivares, porém só houve acréscimo em produtividade no cultivar BRS Talento. Houve correlação positiva para produtividade de grãos do cultivar BRS Talento e teor de Si nas folhas; já o teor de Al nas folhas correlacionou-se com a produtividade de forma negativa; e também houve correlação negativa entre os teores de Si e Al nas folhas, indicando que há interação entre Si e Al em plantas de arroz.

Distribuição de macroalgas lóticas de uma bacia de drenagem no Parque Nacional da Serra da Canastra, Minas Gerais, Brasil

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