Análise dos parâmetros físicos e isotópicos do carbono e nitrogênio no solo como indicadores ambientais para uma microbacia rural em Bauru-SP

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Civil e Ambiental - FEB

Análise da paisagem para o planejamento e a gestão da conservação da Mata Atlântica

Landscape is dynamic, having complex nature, with tangible and intangible dimensions, presenting a continuous evolution process. The aim of this research were based on the identification and classification of landscapes in units and subunits, from the ownership by individuals; the development of a methodology to assist in the planning and management, conciliating conservation of natural areas with anthropic activities; and, from the information gathered, evaluate the different social groups aiming to design a landscape from the sustainable development perspective; thus better understanding both cultural and forest fragmentation processes, in the city of Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais. The research analyzed the current landscape and its historical evolution, distinguishing between material and immaterial dimensions. Information was raised from field trips, soil types, relief, slope, drainage, conservation units, administrative zoning, urban areas, natural resources, economy, tax raising, transport and building infrastructure, satellite images, types of management applied to the preservation or conservation of forests and fields, and semi-structured interviews with the various actors that modify and transform the territory, thus making a balance between the built landscape and the demands of the society and ecosystems. Results were composed by a map of land use in 2011; a map of landscape units and their subunits, with their appropriate definitions; a map with five levels of activities intensity, with their respective descriptions; and raising barriers to improving the welfare of the actors and the integrity of ecosystems. The number of generated ecosystem services are difficult to measure, but its benefits are useful for everyone. The physical changes are a reflection of the economy, which caused environmental impacts, mainly related to mining activities, tourism, agriculture and conservation of natural areas, all requiring ideally a shared management. In this sense, the landscape needs a management to create sustainable alternatives to anthropic activities. The dynamics of the landscape has been shaped by a slow evolution, set by mining activities due to the high financial revenues, there were areas of revegetation after clearcuts in the past, and now tourism lacks structure. The city has great potential for development projects with payments for environmental services, however, gaps for shared management exists.

Network for Cooperation in Integrated Water Resource Management for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean N° 41

• Editorial remarks.-- Open discussion: Tariffs and subsidies: the current situation and trends in the region ; State-owned utilities and the flight from public law: challenges and trends ; Challenges and opportunities in access to water and sanitation in rural areas.-- Meetings: Proposals based on the Water and Environment Initiative consensuses.-- News of the Network: Peru’s Compensation Mechanisms for Ecosystem Services Act ; Ecuador’s Act on Water Resources and Water Use and Exploitation ; The environmental dynamics of groundwater in Mexico ; The Water Citizenship Programme in the province of Mendoza, Argentina.-- Internet and WWW News

Cenários de desmatamento para a Amazônia

A AMAZÔNIA está entrando em uma era de rápidas mudanças impulsionadas pela previsão de asfaltamento de rodovias que estimularão a expansão da fronteira agrícola e de exploração madeireira. O declínio do custo de transporte tem importantes implicações para a biodiversidade, emissão de gases que contribuem para o efeito estufa e prosperidade da sociedade da Amazônia a longo prazo. Para analisar esse contexto, foi desenvolvido um modelo de simulação de desmatamento na bacia Amazônica, sensível a diferentes cenários de políticas públicas frente à expansão da infra-estrutura de transporte pela região. Resultados do modelo indicam que, dentro de um cenário pessimista, o desmatamento projetado pode eliminar, até meados deste século, 40% dos atuais 5,4 milhões de km2 de florestas da Amazônia, liberando o equivalente a 32 Pg (109 toneladas) de carbono para atmosfera. A modelagem de cenários alternativos aponta que a expansão de uma rede de áreas protegidas, efetivamente implementadas, poderia reduzir em até 1/3 as perdas florestais projetadas. Contudo, outras medidas de conservação são ainda necessárias para se manter a integridade funcional das paisagens e bacias hidrográficas amazônicas. Atuais experimentos em conservação florestal em propriedades privadas, mercados de serviços ambientais e zoneamento agro-ecológico devem ser refinados e multiplicados a fim de se buscar uma conservação extensiva.

Composição e riqueza de Odonata (Insecta) em riachos com diferentes níveis de conservação em um ecótone Cerrado-Floresta Amazônica

A retirada ou a substituição da vegetação ripária provoca uma alteração no ambiente físico, no fluxo sazonal e na qualidade química da água. Essas modificações podem causar a diminuição da riqueza pela extinção local de espécies. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o efeito do distúrbio da integridade ambiental sobre a riqueza e composição de espécies de Odonata adultos em córregos com diferentes níveis de conservação, na Bacia do Rio Suiá-Missu, Mato Grosso, Brasil. As modificações nos sistemas aquáticos afetaram a comunidade de Odonata, provavelmente devido às exigências ecofisiológicas e comportamentais relacionadas a adultos e larvas. Anisoptera, que necessitam de ambientes com maior incidência de sol devido ao tamanho do corpo, apresentaram maior riqueza de espécies em ambientes com menor cobertura vegetal. Por outro lado, os Zygoptera geralmente habitam riachos com cobertura vegetal mais densa, e por isso, apresentaram um decréscimo de sua riqueza em locais alterados, devido à maior entrada de luz e/ou variação do calor. Assim, para as duas subordens, as alterações ambientais não precisam ser severas para produzir modificações significativas na composição, indicando que os serviços ecossistêmicos poderiam ser perdidos, mesmo com alterações parciais do meio físico.

Vivendo em uma paisagem defaunada: fatores determinantes nas relações espaciais de grandes mamíferos

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Perceptions of environmental change and use of traditional knowledge to plan riparian forest restoration with relocated communities in Alcantara, Eastern Amazon

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Emergetic ternary diagrams: five examples for application in environmental accounting for decision-making

In a recent paper, "A combined tool for environmental scientists and decision makers: ternary diagrams and emergy accounting." [Giannettti BF, Barrella FA, Almeida CMVB. A combined tool for environment scientists and decision makers: ternary diagrams and emergy accounting. J Clean Prod, in press http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2004.09.002] Ternary diagrams were proposed as a graphical tool to assist emergy analysis. The graphical representation of the emergy accounting data makes it possible to compare processes and systems with and without ecosystem services, to evaluate improvements and to follow the system performance over time. The graphic tool is versatile and adaptable to represent products, processes, systems, countries, and different periods of time.The use and the versatility of ternary diagrams for assisting in performing emergy analyses are illustrated by means of five examples taken from the literature, which are presented and discussed. It is shown that emergetic ternary diagram's properties assist the assessment of the system of the system efficiency, its dependance upon renewable and non-renewable inputs and the environmental support for dilution and abatement of process emissions. With the aid of ternary diagrams, details such as the interaction between systems and between systems and the environment are recognized and evaluated. Such a tool for graphical analysis allows a transparent presentation of the results and can serve as an interface between emergy scientists and decision makers, provided the meaning of each line in the diagram is carefully explained and understood. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using ecological thresholds to evaluate the costs and benefits of set-asides in a biodiversity hotspot

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Diverse urban plantings managed with sufficient resource availability can increase plant productivity and arthropod diversity

Buildings structures and surfaces are explicitly being used to grow plants, and these "urban plantings" are generally designed for aesthetic value. Urban plantings also have the potential to contribute significant "ecological values" by increasing urban habitat for animals such as arthropods and by increasing plant productivity. In this study, we evaluated how the provision of these additional ecological values is affected by plant species richness; the availability of essential resources for plants, such as water, light, space; and soil characteristics. We sampled 33 plantings located on the exterior of three buildings in the urban center of Brisbane, Australia (subtropical climatic region) over 2, 6 week sampling periods characterized by different temperature and rainfall conditions. Plant cover was estimated as a surrogate for productivity as destructive sampling of biomass was not possible. We measured weekly light levels (photosynthetically active radiation), plant CO2 assimilation, soil CO2 efflux, and arthropod diversity. Differences in plant cover were best explained by a three-way interaction of plant species richness, management water regime and sampling period. As the richness of plant species increased in a planter, productivity and total arthropod richness also increased significantly likely due to greater habitat heterogeneity and quality. Overall we found urban plantings can provide additional ecological values if essential resources are maintained within a planter such as water, light and soil temperature. Diverse urban plantings that are managed with these principles in mind can contribute to the attraction of diverse arthropod communities, and lead to increased plant productivity within a dense urban context.

Pagamento por serviços ambientais: estudo de caso: simulação da aplicação do programa do “Produtor de Água” na bacia do Rio Pirajibu

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Diagnóstico da pesquisa em biodiversidade no Brasil

Biodiversity is a result of millions of years of biological evolution, and is the component of the system which supports life on our planet. Besides the intrinsic value of each species, all of them as a whole, as well as of the interactions among the species, and their interaction with the physical and chemical environment, result in ecosystem services vital for supporting life on Earth. Because of that, the science of biodiversity is largely recognized as a priority area of scientific investigation both in developed and developing countries. In Brazil, the research on biodiversity can be divided in three parts: 1) discovery and characterization of biodiversity – including marine and human-altered landscapes – systematics and taxonomy; 2) understanding the functioning of ecosystems and environmental services, including in marine and human-altered landscapes; 3) bioprospecting of the chemical diversity of the Brazilian biota.

Beyond species loss: the extinction of ecological interactions in a changing world

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Theoretical approaches to liana management: a search for a less harmful method

Lianas can change forest dynamics, slowing down forest regeneration after a perturbation. In these cases, it may be necessary to manage these woody climbers. Our aim was to simulate two management strategies: (1) focusing on abundant liana species and (2) focusing on the largest lianas, and contrast them with the random removal of lianas. We applied mathematical simulations for liana removal in three different vegetation types in southeastern Brazil: a Rainforest, a Seasonal Tropical Forest, and a Woodland Savanna. Using these samples, we performed simulations based on two liana removal procedures and compared them with random removal. We also used regression analysis with quasi-Poisson distribution to test whether larger lianas were aggressive, i.e., if they climbed into many trees. The procedure of cutting larger lianas was as effective as cutting them randomly and proved not to be a good method for liana management. Moreover, most of the lianas climbed into one or two trees, i.e., were not aggressive. Cutting the most abundant lianas proved to be a more effective method than cutting lianas randomly. This method could maintain liana richness and presumably should accelerate forest regeneration.

Multifuncionalidade da paisagem em assentamentos rurais nos entornos de usina canavieira e do Parque Estadual Morro do Diabo (SP)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)