Evolution of the landscape of Madeira Island: long-term vegetation dynamics

The aim of this thesis was to evaluate historical change of the landscape of Madeira Island and to assess spatial and temporal vegetation dynamics. In current research diverse “retrospective techniques”, such as landscape repeat photography, dendrochronology, and research of historical records were used. These, combined with vegetation relevés, aimed to gather information about landscape change, disturbance history, and vegetation successional patterns. It was found that landscape change, throughout 125 years, was higher in the last five decades manly driven by farming abandonment, building growth and exotic vegetation coverage increase. Pristine vegetation was greatly destroyed since early settlement and by the end of the nineteenth century native vegetation was highly devastated due to recurrent antropogenic disturbances. These actions also helped to block plant succession and to modify floristical assemblages, affecting as well as species richness. In places with less hemeroby, although significant growth of vegetation of lower seral stages was detected, the vegetation of most mature stages headed towards unbalance between recovery and loss, being also very vulnerable to exotic species encroachment. Recovery by native vegetation also occurred in areas formerly occupied by exotic plants and agriculture but it was almost negligible. Vegetation recovery followed the successional model currently proposed, attesting the model itself. Yet, succession was slower than espected, due to lack of favourable conditions and to recurrent disturbances. Probable tempus of each seral stage was obtained by growth rates of woody taxa estimated through dendrochronology. The exotic trees which were the dominant trees in the past (Castanea sativa and Pinus pinaster) almost vanished. Eucalyptus globulus, the current main tree of the exotic forest is being replaced by other cover types as Acacia mearnsii. The latter, along with Arundo donax, Cytisus scoparius and Pittosporum undulatum are currently the exotic species with higher invasive behaviour. However, many other exotic species have also proved to be highly pervasive and came together with the ones referred above to prevent native vegetation regeneration, to diminish biological diversity, and to block early successional phases delaying native forest recovery.

Fragmentos da construção histórica do pensamento neo-empirista

O presente trabalho procura identificar as idéias principais na construção histórica do pensamento neo-empirista a partir da visão mecânica do mundo e do método hipotético-dedutivo de Descartes. O método indutivo moderno é apresentado por Bacon e os empiristas ingleses colaboram na questão do pensamento “a posteriori”. No século XIX surge o positivismo que exclui a metafísica e considera a explicação dos fatos apenas como relações de sucessão e similidade. É nesse âmbito que se constroem as bases do método experimental moderno. No início do século XX, se desenvolve a ciência neoempirista cujas principais proposições são (1) a idéia da verificabilidade como forma de conferir a veracidade das teorias a partir da indução e das probabilidades e (2) o crescimento contínuo e acumulativo do conhecimento científico. Popper apresenta a impossibilidade de se obter grandes teorias oriundas da indução e sugere a substituição da indução pela dedução e da verificabilidade pela falseabilidade. Kuhn afirma que o conhecimento científico depende de paradigmas convencionais e Lakatos explica que a ciência não é uma sucessão temporal de períodos normais e revoluções, e sim sua justaposição.

Ser do tempo em Bergson

O artigo apresenta a concepção bergsoniana de duração. Pretende-se mostrar que, segundo Bergson, o tempo dos filósofos e cientistas é um tempo fictício, um esquema espacial que oculta a natureza do tempo real, o qual não pode ser separado dos acontecimentos físicos e psicológicos. Para Bergson, o tempo real é sucessão, continuidade, mudança, memória e criação.

Influência de extratos aquosos de sorgo sobre a germinação e o desenvolvimento de plântulas de soja

Estudos conduzidos em laboratório ou em condições de campo demonstram o potencial alelopático da espécie Sorghum bicolor L., seja inibindo a germinação e o desenvolvimento de plantas daninhas ou até mesmo de plantas cultivadas em sucessão. Com o objetivo de avaliar os efeitos potencialmente alelopáticos de extratos aquosos das folhas, caules e raízes de cinco híbridos de sorgo (SARA, DKB860, DKB 599, XBG00478 e XBG06020), sobre a germinação e o desenvolvimento de plântulas de soja, cv. MG/BR 46 (Conquista), foram conduzidos dois bioensaios no período de março a junho de 2002. Foram estabelecidas como testemunhas: água destilada (com pH 8,0); água destilada com pH ajustado para 4,5; água destilada com pH ajustado para 6,0 e solução de polietilenoglicol (PEG) equivalente ao potencial osmótico de 0,1 MPa. Dentre as características avaliadas, houve efeito significativo apenas no comprimento de radícula das plântulas de soja, sendo que aquelas tratadas com os extratos de sorgo apresentaram menor radícula, diferindo significativamente das plântulas testemunhas. Observou-se que, com os extratos de raízes dos híbridos SARA, DKB860, XBG00478 e XBG06020 ocorreram os menores comprimentos de radículas de soja, diferindo do DKB 599. O extrato de folhas do XBG00478 resultou em menor média, não diferindo dos extratos de DKB860, DKB599 e XBG06020. No entanto, para o extrato de caule, o SARA resultou em menor radícula, diferindo apenas do XBG00478. Verificou-se, também, que, para os extratos de DKB860 e XBG00478, os extratos de folhas proporcionaram menor média, diferindo dos extratos de raiz e caule, enquanto para DKB599, XBG06020 e SARA, não houve diferença significativa entre os extratos de folha e caule.

Produção, acúmulo e decomposição da serrapilhadeira e repartição da precipitação pluviométrica por espécies da caatinga

This study aimed to establish patterns of dynamics of litter and redistribution of rainfall of Caatinga vegetation. Sampling was done monthly for twenty three months in four areas: degraded, successional primary stage, secondary stage and late stage. We installed 72 collectors of 1.0 mx 1.0 m, with nylon fabric background in three areas. Litter deposited was fractionated into leaves, twigs, reproductive structures and miscellaneous, dried and weighed. To assess the stock of accumulated litter we used metal frame with dimensions of 0.5 mx 0.5 m, thrown randomly and collected monthly, taken to the laboratory for oven drying and weighed. To evaluate the decomposition, 40g of litter were placed in nylon bags (litterbags) mesh 1 mm ², dimensions 20.0 x 20.0 cm, being distributed on the soil surface and removed monthly, cleaned, dried and weighed. To evaluate the contribution of rainfall we used interceptometers installed 1.0 m above the ground surface, distributed under the canopy of six species of the caatinga, which evaluated the stemflow through collecting system installed around the stems of these species. The deposition of litter in the primary stage was 2.631,26 kg ha-1; 3.144,89 kg ha-1 in the secondary stage; 3.144,89 kg ha-1 in the late stage. The fraction of leaves was the largest contributor to the formation of litter in three stages. The degraded area showed greater accumulation of litter and decomposition has been sluggish during the dry period. We conclude that occurred greater litterfall in later stages. The late successional stage showed faster decomposition of litter, the evidence that is a better use of litter in nutrient cycling processes and incorporation of organic matter to the soil. The time required to decompose 50 % of the litter in the later stages of succession was lower indicating greater speed of release and reuse of nutrients by the vegetation. The specie jurema preta with less leaf area and consists of leaflets, showed greater internal precipitation in rain events of greater magnitude. The stemflow was not influenced by DAP and basal area. The water lost by trapping represented the largest proportion of total rainfall in all species studied

Desenvolvimento da cultura do feijoeiro submetida a dois sistemas de manejo de irrigação e de cultivo

A cultura do feijoeiro apresenta elevada importância no contexto agrícola nacional. Além de ser uma cultura que atende às características da agricultura familiar, também é cultivada em áreas extensivas com alta tecnologia. Pesquisas relacionadas ao desenvolvimento do feijoeiro frente às variantes edafoclimáticas regionais vêm assumindo papel de destaque, principalmente por se tratar de uma planta sensível tanto ao déficit quanto ao excesso hídrico. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a cultura do feijoeiro de 'inverno' submetida a dois métodos de manejo de irrigação, em pivô central, um via solo por meio de tensiômetros, outro via clima por meio do tanque Classe 'A', em dois sistemas de plantio, convencional e direto, no primeiro ano. Foram avaliados o índice de área foliar (IAF), massa seca total (MS) de plantas e a variação do potencial mátrico de água no solo. Concluiu-se que os manejos de irrigação e os sistemas de plantio não resultaram em diferenças no IAF e nem no acúmulo de matéria seca total ao longo do ciclo da cultura; o manejo da irrigação por tensiometria acarretou maior variação no potencial mátrico de água no solo do que o método via clima por meio do tanque Classe 'A'.

Efeitos de geada no desenvolvimento do feijoeiro em sucessão a espécies vegetais e adubação nitrogenada

O objetivo deste trabalho foi verificar o efeito de geada no desenvolvimento do feijoeiro em experimentação de cultivo em sucessão a espécies de cobertura e adubação nitrogenada, em delineamento experimental de blocos ao acaso em esquema de parcelas subdivididas, com quatro repetições. As parcelas foram constituídas pelas espécies Sorghum bicolor tipo guinea, Canavalia brasiliensis, Sorghum bicolor, Crotalaria juncea, Pennisetum glaucum e uma testemunha mantida no limpo, enquanto as subparcelas por doses de nitrogênio em cobertura (0, 25, 50 e 75 kg ha-1 de N), utilizando-se como fonte a uréia. Menores danos e severidade da geada foram constatados em plantas de feijão cultivadas após as espécies Canavalia brasiliensis e Crotalaria juncea, devido à menor quantidade de massa seca residual em relação à das culturas de gramíneas. Produtividades superiores de grãos de feijoeiro após geada foram obtidas na sucessão com Crotalária juncea e C. brasiliensis e com a aplicação de doses entre 44,5 e 52,0 kg ha-1 de N, em cobertura.

Consorciação de braquiárias com milho outonal em plantio direto sob pivô central

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

Itinerário educacional de uma aluna cega e a busca pela imagem adaptada

The scope of this study directs an investigation in search of how the blind person learns knowledge at school mediated by the image in context of an inclusive education and how it can be (or is) triggered by the adaptation of images to the tactile seizure of the blind person and his correlative process of reading. To achieve this intent we choose a qualitative approach of research and opted for the modality of case study, based on the empirical field of a public school in the city of Cruzeta, RN and as a the main subject a congenitally blind female student enrolled in high school there, focusing, often, on the discipline of geography in its words mapping. Our procedures for construction of data are directly involved to the documentary analysis of open reflective interview and observation. The base guiding theory of our assessments is located in the current understanding about the human psychological development of its educational process inside an inclusive perspective, of contemporary conceptions about the visual disability as well of image as a cultural product. Accordingly, the human person is a concrete subject, whose development is deeply marked by the culture, historically built by human society. This subject regardless of his specific features, grasping the world in an interactive and immediate way, internalising and producing culture. In this thinking, we believe that the blind person perceives in multiple senses the stimuli of his environment and acts in the world toward his integration into the social environment. The image as a product of culture, historically and socially determined, appears as a sign conventionally used as an icon that in itself concentrates knowledge of which the student who does not realize visually himself and his surroundings cannot be excluded. In this direction, the inclusive educational process must build conditions of access to knowledge for all students without distinction, including access to the interpretation of the images originally intended for the seizure strictly visual to other perceptive models. Based in this theory and adopting principles of content analysis, we circulated inside the interpretation of the data constructed from the analysis of documents, from the subject speeches, from records of the observation made in the classroom and other notes of the field daily. In the search for pictures on the school contents, adapted to the tactile seizure of blind student, was seen little and not systematic in practice and teaching at the school. It showed us the itinerary of the student life marked by a succession of supports, most of the time inappropriate and pioneers in cooling the construction of her autonomy. It also showed us the tensions and contradictions of a school environment, supposedly inclusive, that stumbles in search of its intent, in the attitudinal and cumulative barriers brought, because of its aggravating maintenance. These findings arose of crossing data around of a categorization that gives importance to 1) Concepts regarding the school inclusion, 2) Elements of the school organization, educational proposal and teaching practice, 3) Meaning of the visual image as the object of knowledge, 4) Perception in multiple senses and 5) Development and learning of the blind person before impositions of the social environment. In light of these findings we infer that it must be guaranteed to the disabled person removal of the attitudinal barriers that are against his full development and the construction of his autonomy. In that sense, should be given opportunity to the student with visual disability, similarly to all students, not only access to school, but also the dynamics of a school life efficient, that means the seizure of knowledge in all its modalities, including the imagery. To that end, there is a need of the continued training of teachers, construction of a support network in response to all needs of students, and the opportunity to development of reading skills beyond a perspective eminently focused in the sight

De solutione problematum diophanteorum per números integros : o primeiro trabalho de Euler sobre equações diofantinas

The present dissertation analyses Leonhard Euler´s early mathematical work as Diophantine Equations, De solutione problematum diophanteorum per números íntegros (On the solution of Diophantine problems in integers). It was published in 1738, although it had been presented to the St Petersburg Academy of Science five years earlier. Euler solves the problem of making the general second degree expression a perfect square, i.e., he seeks the whole number solutions to the equation ax2+bx+c = y2. For this purpose, he shows how to generate new solutions from those already obtained. Accordingly, he makes a succession of substitutions equating terms and eliminating variables until the problem reduces to finding the solution of the Pell Equation. Euler erroneously assigns this type of equation to Pell. He also makes a number of restrictions to the equation ax2+bx+c = y and works on several subthemes, from incomplete equations to polygonal numbers

Chemical attributes of a degraded soil after application of water treatment sludges

Mining is an activity that tends to degrade the environment. The restoration of mining areas, aims to accelerate and improve the succession process according to its future use. The objective of this work was to rehabilitate a soil degraded by tin mining activities in the Amazon Basin (Jamari National Forest, State of Rondonia) with the application of water treatment sludge (WTS), and verify the effect of Sludge on Values of pH (CaCl2 0.01 mol L-1), organic matter, P, Ca, Mg, K, H+Al, and soil micronutrient contents when Cultivated with native plants, legumes, and grass species. A factorial (3 x 5) experimental design was used to optimize the rehabilitation of these areas including three N rates (100, 200, and 300 mg N ka(-1) soil supplied by WTS), five plant species (grasses, legumes, and native plants), and two controls (degraded soil with no fertilizer and degraded soil fertilized with mineral fertilizers), with four replications. WTS increased pH values. The chemical products used to treat the water contributed, in greater extension, to increase soil Ca and Fe contents. The use of WTS as fertilizer proved viable, since it contains nutrients for plants; however, nitrogen Should not be used as a criterion to define the rate of Sludge application, because it is present at small amounts in the WTS.

Efeito da temperatura e da luz na germinação de sementes de Acacia polyphylla DC.

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