Dieta do ouriço-branco, Tripneustes ventricosus (Lamarck, 1816), no Arquipélago de Fernando de Noronha, PE

Sea urchins are benthic macroinvertebrates that inhabit shallow coastal waters in tropical and temperate zones. Urchins are usually classified as generalists or omnivores as they can adjust their diet according to the food resources available in the environment. Due to the strong grazing pressure they may exert, urchins have an important role in marine ecosystems, occupying different trophic levels and stimulating the intensification of the dynamics of communities where they occur. In 2004, a monitoring program focused on the population dynamics of the white sea urchin, Tripneustes ventricosus, has been initiated in the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago. At the same time, a surprisingly lack of information on the species biology has been noted, despite their wide geographical distribution and economic importance in many parts of its range. Hence, this work was developed to provide information on the feeding habits of T. ventricosus in the archipelago. Ten specimens were collected between December 2006 and July 2007 at two sites of the archipelago, Air France and Sueste Bay for biometrics and analysis of gut contents. Test diameters ranged from 9.19 cm (± 1.1) to 10.08 cm (± 0.58). Calculated stomach repletion index (IRE) was higher (p <0.05) in the Air France site and also during January and July. The IRE was not correlated to the gonad index. Fifteen different species of algae were detected in a total of 120 stomachs examined: 4 Chlorophytas, 4 Phaeophytas and 6 Rhodophytas. Food diversity (p <0.05) was higher in December 2006 and January 2007. Although several items had a high frequency of occurrence, they were low represented in terms of weight, and consequently, had a low level of relative importance. The brown algae Dictyopteris spp and Dictyota spp, followed by the green algae Caulerpa verticillata accounted for the greatest importance in T. ventricosus diet, comprising about 90% of the consumed items

Heavy metal concentrations in soils from a remote oceanic island, Fernando de Noronha, Brazil

This paper examines the role of parent rock, pedogenetic processes and airborne pollution in heavy metal accumulation in soils from a remote oceanic island, Fernando de Noronha, Brazil. We studied five soil profiles developed from different volcanic rocks. Mineralogical composition and total concentrations of major and trace elements were determined in 43 samples. The obtained concentrations range for heavy metals were: Co: 26-261 ppm; Cu: 35-97 ppm; Cr: 350-1446 ppm; Ni: 114-691 ppm; Zn: 101-374 ppm; Hg: 2-150 ppb. The composition of soils is strongly affected by the geochemical character of the parent rock. Pedogenesis appears to be responsible for the accumulation of Zn, Co, and, to a lesser extent, of Ni and Cu, in the upper, Mn- and organic carbon-enriched horizons of the soil profiles. Pedogenic influence may also explain the relationship observed between Cr and the Fe. Hg is likely to have been added to the soil profile by long-range atmospheric transport. Its accumulation in the topsoil was further favoured by the formation of stable complexes with organic matter. Clay minerals do not appear to play an important role in the fixation of heavy metals.

A geochemical and lead isotopic record from a small pond in a remote equatorial island, Fernando de Noronha, Brazil

A 72 cm long core was collected from Lagoa da Viracao (LV), a small poind in the Fernando de Noronha island, northern Brazil. Sediments from the lower section of the core (20-72 cm depth) contain essentially mineral matter, while in the upper section (0-20 cm depth) mineral matter is mixed with organic matter. Lithogenic conservative elements - Si, Al, Fe, Ti, Co, Cr, Cu, Ba, Ga, Hf, Nb, Ni, Y, V, Zn, Zr and REE - exhibit remarkably constant values throughout the core, with concentrations similar to those of the bedrock. The vertical distribution of soluble elements - Ca, Mg, Na, K, P, Mn and Sr - is also homogeneous, but these elements are systematically depleted in relation to the bedrock. LOI, TOC, Br, Se, Hg and Pb, although showing nearly constant values in the lower section of the core, are significantly enriched in the upper section. The concentration profiles of Br and Se suggest that they may be accounted for by natural processes, related to the slight affinity of these elements for organic matter. On the other hand, the elevated levels of Hg and Pb in recent sediments may be explained by their long-range atmospheric transport and deposition. Furthermore, the isotopic composition of Pb clearly indicates that anthropogenic sources contributed to the Pb burden in the uppermost pond sediments.

Diversidade de cefalópodes e o seu papel no nicho trófico de seus principais predadores nos Arquipélagos de Fernando de Noronha e São Pedro e São Paulo

This study aims, to characterize the diversity of cephalopods by analyzing the stomach contents of fishes caught in the islands of St. Peter and St. Paul (ASPSP) and Fernando de Noronha (AFN). Also, verify the participation of cephalopods in the diet of their main predators. A total of 723 stomachs were collected, from 8 species of fish, caught by the fishery, 471 stomachs were from ASPSP and 252 were from the AFN. It was recorded the occurrence of food items (fish, cephalopods and crustaceans) and the cephalopods were identified to the lowest taxa possible, according to specialized literature. The Ommastrephidae family represented 84.46% of occurrence in the ASPSP and 63.48% in the AFN, confirming the importance of this family in the area studied and also in the diet of their predators. Among the species with greatest occurrence Ornitoteuthis antillarum was the most representative in both regions. This species had an average mantle length of 54.25 mm, thus demonstrating that the majority of this population is in the juvenile stage of development. The smallest species found was Argonauta nodosa with a mantle length of 4.06 mm and the largest was Ommastrephes bartrami, with 223.33 mm. In the AFN, the species richness (d) was 2.318, the diversity index (H ') was 1.454 and the measure of evenness (J) was 0.585. In the ASPSP, the species richness (d) was 2.66, the Shannon diversity index (H ') was 1.013 and the measure of evenness (J) was 0.373. AFN has a greater cephalopod diversity than ASPSP, confirming the pattern suggested by the Theory of Island Biogeography. Among the occurrence of prey items for all predators, the cephalopods are secondary preys. The most important cephalopod species in the diet of Thunnus albacares and Acantocybium solandri was Ornithoteuthis antillarum. These predators have different niche width the diet of Thunnus albacares is more specialized, but they have an overlap of 84.684% in the trophic niche, suggesting that in the ASPSP these two species may use similar niches

Um enfoque psicológico da educação ambiental no contexto da gestão: uma experiência de Fernando de Noronha

Currently, many companies pay attention to the necessities of change of attitude in relation to the use of the natural resources and the environment quality of its products, mainly to keep a positive and competitive image in the market. This new concept of management associates the productive activities to the care with environment using the education of environment as a tool of programs of qualification directed toward the promotion of pro-environment behaviors. For effectiveness of this management it is essential the attachment of the employees and the major understanding of the importance of the preservation of the environment. This was the objective of the qualification process carried out in a lodge in Fernando de Noronha island. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to verify the power of this management system which fulfills the objectives of the environmental education. It was applied questionnaires to employees of three Inns and carried out a interview, in one Inn, with the participants of the program of qualification. The analysis of the data showed that the actions as care with the environment are strongly associates to the management system, which includes garbage control, as well water economy. It was observed that the environment accomplishment (EcoAntro) of the employees with environment decreases in proportion to their qualification. In the same way, as higher the instruction level, of the speaker and/or of the father, less is the apathy for environmental questions. It was also noticed that the knowledge about the development sustainability was very poorly used by the interviewed. The pro-environment behavior mentioned before, is not necessarily related to a local autonomy posture that could express a behavior related to job but not to environment it self. Therefore, a complete understanding about the reverberation of environment information an all the placed factors in a life stile facing a construction of sustainability remains as a question to be studied in future researches

Historic and recent occurrences of pinnipeds in the Archipelago of the Azores

The Archipelago of the Azores (Portugal) is located between 378 and 418N and 258 and 318W and crosses the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It is the most isolated archipelago in the Atlantic, situated 1600 km west of mainland Portugal and 3500 km from the eastern coast of the United States of America. At present, the only population of seals occurring in the Portuguese territory is found on Desertas Islands, Archipelago of Madeira, where a colony of 24 Mediterranean monk seals, Monachus monachus (Hermann, 1779), still persists (Pires and Neves 2001). Nonetheless, historical accounts reported by Frutuoso (1983) dating from the early to late 1500s mention sightings of ‘‘sea wolves’’ (the old Portuguese folk term for the Mediterranean monk seal) at several sites along the Azorean Island of Santa Maria. Little is known about the occurrence of monk seals in this area over the past five centuries, but the species certainly did not escape deliberate killing by the first settlers. While the early monk seal reports by Frutuoso (1983) are the only reports referring to the presence of colonies of seals in the Azores, more recently several sightings and strandings of vagrant seals of other species have been noted.

Automatic distinction of Fernando Pessoas’ heteronyms

Text Mining has opened a vast array of possibilities concerning automatic information retrieval from large amounts of text documents. A variety of themes and types of documents can be easily analyzed. More complex features such as those used in Forensic Linguistics can gather deeper understanding from the documents, making possible performing di cult tasks such as author identi cation. In this work we explore the capabilities of simpler Text Mining approaches to author identification of unstructured documents, in particular the ability to distinguish poetic works from two of Fernando Pessoas' heteronyms: Alvaro de Campos and Ricardo Reis. Several processing options were tested and accuracies of 97% were reached, which encourage further developments.

Sobre uma pequena coleção de ácaros (Arthropoda, Acari) do território federal de Fernando de Noronha, Brasil: II. Oribatídeos

O exame de uma coleta feita em setembro de 1987 na Ilha de Fernando de Noronha, revelou a presença de duas espécies de ácaros oribatí-deos filiados à família Phtiracaridae, a saber: Atropacarus (Hoplophorella) scapellus Aoki, 1965 e A. (H.) schauenbergi Mahunka, 1978, em matéria orgânica acumulada sobre o ramo de uma árvore, a 1,8 m de altura sobre o solo.

Ostracoda (Crustacea) from the Archipelago of São Pedro and São Paulo, Equatorial Atlantic, with emphasis on a new Hemicytheridae genus

The present study is a further contribution to the systematic knowledge of the shallow water marine ostracodes from the Brazilian oceanic islands. A total of 14 species belonging to 10 genera and eight families is herein identified. One new genus and species are described and illustrated: Berguecythere insularis gen. nov., sp. nov. In addition to this new taxon, the abundant species Loxocorniculum tricornatum Krutak, 1971, widely distributed in recent sediments in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, north and northeast of Brazil and the Rocas Atoll, along with the cosmopolitan tropical ostracode Triebelina sertata Triebel, 1948, were also identified at specific level. The remaining 11 species were left at the genus level, and should provide new species. Ecological, zoo- and paleozoogeographical aspects were also briefly discussed.

New species of Xestoleberididae (Crustacea, Ostracoda) from Archipelago of São Pedro and São Paulo, Equatorial Atlantic

Two new species of Xestoleberididae: Xestoleberis brasilinsularis sp. nov. and Xestoleberis machadoae sp. nov., both endemic to Archipelago of São Pedro and São Paulo, are described. The record of these shallow marine waters species from Brazilian oceanic islands represents an important contribution to the knowledge of the evolutionary history the species inhabit areas.

Ácaros em poeira domiciliar das capitais brasileiras e ilha Fernando de Noronha

O presente trabalho é um estudo taxinômico de ácaros admitidos ou não como alergizantes, encontrados em amostras de poeira domiciliar, colhidas em todas as capitais do Brasil e Território Fernando de Noronha por guardas da SUCAM e enviadas por essa entidade ao Professor Leonidas de Mello Deane. Foram classificadas dez espécies pertencentes a cinco famílias, cujas posições sistemáticas são determinadas por definições e chaves: Pyroglyphus africanus, Euroglyphus maynei, Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Dermatophagoides farinae, Dermatophagoides deanei, Sturnophagoides brasiliensis, Blomia tropicalis, Suidasia pontifica, Chortoglyphus arcuatus e Cheyletus malaccensis.

CHARACTERIZATION OF CLAYS USED FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES IN THE ARCHIPELAGO OF CAPE VERDE

Amostras de duas argilas comercializadas para fins medicinais (alívio de afecções do foro gastrointestinal, tratamento de abcessos, furúnculos e feridas, assim como para afecções da pele e aplicações cosméticas), e vendidas numa loja de produtos naturais no mercado público da cidade da Praia (capital do arquipélago de Cabo Verde) foram submetidas a vários estudos de carácter experimental: análise granulométrica, análise mineralógica, análise química, capacidade de troca catiónica e catiões de troca, e ainda plasticidade, tendo em vista encontrar justificação científica para o seu uso empírico nas aplicações referidas. Uma argila, em termos de minerais argilosos, é composta por ilite dioctaédrica, enquanto que outra argila é composta, em termos de minerais argilosos, por esmectite dioctaédrica, ilite dioctaédrica e caulinite. Estes e os outros dados analíticos abonam a favor das capacidades curativas das argilas estudadas. As argilas estudadas revelam características semelhantes às de outras argilas naturais reconhecidas como possuindo propriedades curativas de certas afecções e que são tradicionalmente usadas para desintoxicação interna (particularmente no sistema gastrointestinal), para o tratamento