Raw water use charge reduction for the rural sector in the PCJ Watershed

The deficient environmental preservation on agricultural properties has reflected in great soil losses for erosion and the high rate of sedimentation. Therefore, this work brings the application of software to demonstrate that planters can get benefits by the conservationist practices. The benefits will be obtained from the environment aspect (erosion and sedimentation control), as well as economical aspect (financial incentives). A proposal has been created by the Technical Chamber of Rural Water Use and Conservation (CT-Rural) to estimate the reduction in raw water use charge for the rural water users of the PCJ Watershed - this reduction is being possible since January 2007, at the PCJ Committee. The software develops a simple relationship, so that if the rural conservationist action goes more efficient, such as if the conserved rural area goes larger, then the reduction value will bring better benefits for the rural water users. Within the purposes of this study, there is the idealization of mechanisms that may support specific management matters related to the water users of federal rivers from the rural sector of PCJ Watershed.

Uutta tietoa Kainuun soista : Kainuun suoselvitys -projektin tulosraportti

Raportissa esitellään Kainuun suoselvitys -projektin keskeisimpiä tuloksia ja niistä vedettyjä johtopäätöksiä. Vuosina 2010–2012 toteutetun projektin tarkoituksena on ollut parantaa tietopohjaa Kainuun soista, ja sitä kautta luoda edellytyksiä soiden eri käyttömuotojen yhteensovittamiselle ja samalla nostaa esille Kainuun soihin liittyviä mahdollisuuksia. Soiden käyttö nähtiin projektissa laajasti, sisältäen paitsi erilaiset taloudellisen hyödyntämisen muodot myös soiden merkityksen ihmisten virkistykselle ja hyvinvoinnille sekä luonnon monimuotoisuudelle ja monille sääteleville toiminnoille. Taustana projektille on samaan aikaan laadittu kansallinen suostrategia. Sen mukaan soiden luonnontilaa muuttavien toimintojen, maa-, metsä- ja turvetalouden, tulisi jatkossa toimia jo ojitetuilla tai muuten merkittävästi muuttuneilla soilla. Näin soiden luonnontilaisuudesta hyötyville soiden käytön muodoille ja ekosysteemipalveluille jää paremmin tilaa toimia. Kainuu on Suomen kolmanneksi soisin maakunta. Suot ovat keskeinen osa sen luontoa ja maisemaa ja myös monipuolinen luonnonvara. Valtaosa Kainuun suopinta-alasta on ojitettu. Uutta tietoa on projektissa tuotettu paikkatietomenetelmin ja kohdennetuin maastoselvityksin. Raportin aihepiirejä ovat Kainuun soiden käyttö, jäljellä olevat ojittamattomat suot, suojeltujen soiden vesitaloudellinen eheys, metsätalouden käytöstä poistuvat ojitetut suot, soiden merkitys virkistyksen ja matkailun kannalta sekä maastossa tutkittujen 143 suon arviointi turpeennoston ja luonnon monimuotoisuuden kannalta. Raportissa esitetään, että kansallisen suostrategian tavoite soiden kestävästä ja vastuullisesta käytöstä ja suojelusta on mahdollista saavuttaa eri toimijoiden yhteistyön ja maankäytön ohjauksen avulla. Se edellyttää sitoutumista suostrategian linjauksiin sekä tietopohjan parantamista soista ja eri toimintojen vaikutuksista. Kainuun suoselvitys -projektissa on osaltaan tuotettu tätä tietoa ja myös kehitelty menetelmiä sen hankkimiseksi.

Comparison of two methods for glucocorticoid evaluation in maned wolves

Analysis of faecal glucocorticoid metabolites provides a powerful noninvasive tool for monitoring adrenocortical activity in wild animals. However, differences regarding the metabolism and excretion of these substances make a validation for each species and sex investigated obligatory. Although maned wolves (Chrysocyon brachyurus) are the biggest canids in South America, their behaviour and physiology are poorly known and they are at risk in the wild. Two methods for measuring glucocorticoid metabolites in maned wolves were validated: a radio- and an enzyme immunoassay. An ACTH challenge was used to demonstrate that changes in adrenal function are reflected in faecal glucocorticoid metabolites. Our results suggest that both methods enable a reliable assessment of stress hormones in maned wolves avoiding short-term rises in glucocorticoid concentrations due to handling and restraint. These methods can be used as a valuable tool in studies of stress and conservation in this wild species.

Physiologic parameters in female Red-billed curassows (Crax blumenbachii) in rehabilitation

Abstract: The present paper reports blood gas analysis, hematologic and micro bacteriologic information on four female Red-billed curassows, rescued from illegal wild animal trading, that were undergoing habilitation for reintroduction into the wild through Projeto Centrofauna/Botucatu-SP. There is a lack of physiological data on this species, endemic to the region of Atlantic Forest (Mata Atlântica), now under threat of extinction. This lack of information makes the clinical evaluation of these birds very difficult and has a direct and adverse effect on any of these birds received for medical treatment in hospitals, veterinary clinics and centers for research and conservation, as well as in reintroduction centers.

Tukeva tietopaketti pedoista

Kirjallisuusarvostelu

Mountain biodiversity in Brazil

The high species richness and diversity found in tropical montane habitats are often related to: 1) an effect of climatic and geological history on biotic evolution; 2) the various environmental impacts on species adaptation mechanisms; and 3) the continuous dispersal of fauna and flora in time. However, little is known about how these factors shaped species richness in Brazilian mountains. Official documents on biodiversity in Brazil make no explicit reference to mountains, even though there is a mountain work programme of the Convention on Biological Diversity, which Brazil is a signatory of. This paper discusses the importance of mountain ecosystems in Brazil to show the urgent need to include mountain biodiversity in the national agenda of biodiversity research and conservation.

Genetic variability of Prochilodus lineatus (Characiformes, Prochilodontidae) in the upper Paraná river

The genetic variability of the "curimba", Prochilodus lineatus, from three locations in the Paraná river basin, was investigated by starch gel electrophoresis. A total of 160 specimens were analyzed for 19 enzymes, 12 of which permitted successful interpretation of electrophoretic patterns. Eighteen loci were identified and six of them proved to be polymorphic (EST-1*, EST-2*, IDH-1*, PGM-1*, PGM-2*, LDH-2*). Mean heterozygosity was considered high (13%) by comparison with the literature. A low level of differentiation was found among subpopulations, with mean F ST = 0.018. Values of genetic distance and genetic identity suggest that, at least along this stretch of the river, P. lineatus comprises a single breed with high gene flow. This analysis has important implications for fishery management, aquaculture, and conservation of the stocks

Mitochondrial control region haplotypes of the South American sea lion Otaria flavescens (Shaw, 1800)

The South American sea lion, Otaria flavescens, is widely distributed along the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of South America. However, along the Brazilian coast, there are only two nonbreeding sites for the species (Refúgio de Vida Silvestre da Ilha dos Lobos and Refúgio de Vida Silvestre do Molhe Leste da Barra do Rio Grande), both in Southern Brazil. In this region, the species is continuously under the effect of anthropic activities, mainly those related to environmental contamination with organic and inorganic chemicals and fishery interactions. This paper reports, for the first time, the genetic diversity of O. flavescens found along the Southern Brazilian coast. A 287-bp fragment of the mitochondrial DNA control region (D-loop) was analyzed. Seven novel haplotypes were found in 56 individuals (OFA1-OFA7), with OFA1 being the most frequent (47.54%). Nucleotide diversity was moderate (π = 0.62%) and haplotype diversity was relatively low (67%). Furthermore, the median joining network analysis indicated that Brazilian haplotypes formed a reciprocal monophyletic clade when compared to the haplotypes from the Peruvian population on the Pacific coast. These two populations do not share haplotypes and may have become isolated some time back. Further genetic studies covering the entire species distribution are necessary to better understand the biological implications of the results reported here for the management and conservation of South American sea lions.

Bioimage informatics in STED super-resolution microscopy

Optical microscopy is living its renaissance. The diffraction limit, although still physically true, plays a minor role in the achievable resolution in far-field fluorescence microscopy. Super-resolution techniques enable fluorescence microscopy at nearly molecular resolution. Modern (super-resolution) microscopy methods rely strongly on software. Software tools are needed all the way from data acquisition, data storage, image reconstruction, restoration and alignment, to quantitative image analysis and image visualization. These tools play a key role in all aspects of microscopy today – and their importance in the coming years is certainly going to increase, when microscopy little-by-little transitions from single cells into more complex and even living model systems. In this thesis, a series of bioimage informatics software tools are introduced for STED super-resolution microscopy. Tomographic reconstruction software, coupled with a novel image acquisition method STED< is shown to enable axial (3D) super-resolution imaging in a standard 2D-STED microscope. Software tools are introduced for STED super-resolution correlative imaging with transmission electron microscopes or atomic force microscopes. A novel method for automatically ranking image quality within microscope image datasets is introduced, and it is utilized to for example select the best images in a STED microscope image dataset.

Temporary Natural Resource Cartels

We analyze the behavior of a nonrenewable resource cartel that anticipates being forced, at some date in the future, to break-up into an oligopolistic market in which its members will then have to compete as rivals. Under reasonable assumptions about the value function of the individual firms in the oligopolistic equilibrium that follows the break-up, we show that the cartel will then produce more over the same interval of time than it would if there were no threat of dissolution, and that its rate of extraction is a decreasing function of the cartel's life; that there are circumstances under which the cartel will attach a negative marginal value to the resource stocks, in which case the rate of depletion will be increasing over time during the cartel phase; that, for a given date of dissolution, the equilibrium stocks allocated to the post-cartel phase will increase as a function of the total initial stocks, whereas those allocated to the cartel phase will increase at first, but begin decreasing beyond some level of the total initial stocks.

On Limits to the Use of Linear Markov Strategies in Common Property Natural Resource Games

We derive conditions that must be satisfied by the primitives of the problem in order for an equilibrium in linear Markov strategies to exist in some common property natural resource differential games. These conditions impose restrictions on the admissible form of the natural growth function, given a benefit function, or on the admissible form of the benefit function, given a natural growth function.

Toward a Political Theory of Environmental Policy.

This paper makes some steps toward a formal political economy of environmental policy. Economists' quasi-unanimous preferences for sophisticated incentive regulation is reconsidered. First, we recast the question of instrument choice in the general mechanism literature and provide an incomplete contract approach to political economy. Then, in various settings, we show why constitutional constraints on the instruments of environmental policy may be desirable, even though they appear inefficient from a purely standard economic viewpoint.

On the Optimal Order of Natural Resource Use When the Capacity of the Inexhaustible Substitute is Limited.

Consider a general equilibrium framework where the marginal cost of extraction from several deposits of an exhaustible resource is constant in terms of an inexhaustible perfect substitute and differs between deposits. the instantaneous rate of production form the inexhaustible resource is subject to a capacity constraint.

Private Storage of Common Property

This paper examines a characteristic of common property problems unmodeled in the published literature: Extracted common reserves are aften stored privately rather than immediately. We examine the positive and normative effects of such storage.

Évaluation de l'intégration de l'énergie de fonctionnement dans la pratique patrimoniale au Québec

Problèmes d'approvisionnement et de consommation d'énergie, de démographie et d’urbanisation, la conservation du patrimoine bâti se trouve, en ce début de 21e siècle, face à de nombreux défis. Cela d'autant plus que la façon de percevoir le patrimoine bâti a considérablement évolué depuis le début du 20e siècle (chapitre 1) changeant ainsi les raisons qui mènent à l'appropriation d'un bâtiment patrimonial. Face à l'importance accordée aujourd'hui à l'énergie en général et plus particulièrement à celle consommée par les bâtiments (chapitre 2), comment les enjeux liés à la conservation patrimoniale et ceux liés à l'énergie - via son utilisation et sa production - se confrontent-ils ? Si selon les principes du développement durable (chapitre 3) la conservation du patrimoine bâti associée à une gestion efficace de ses besoins énergétiques semble apparaître comme une évidence, qu’en est-il dans la pratique ? Comment les professionnels du patrimoine bâti intègrent-ils les aspects de l'énergie consommée par les bâtiments ? Comment envisagent-ils l'installation et l'utilisation d'énergies renouvelables dans les bâtiments patrimoniaux ? Afin de trouver des réponses issues de la réalité de la pratique patrimoniale québécoise, ce mémoire - en se limitant à des professionnels avec une formation d'architecte (chapitre 4) - cherche à évaluer, d'une part, dans quelle mesure les chartes et lois appliquées au Québec considèrent les questions énergétiques (chapitre 5) et, d'autre part, à définir l'état d'esprit avec lequel les professionnels de la conservation du patrimoine bâti au Québec approchent, dans leur pratique, les questions liées à l'énergie consommée ainsi que l'utilisation d'énergies renouvelables (chapitre 6).