Reaction of Bipolaris euphorbiae to environmental factors and its tolerance to solar and ultraviolet radiation

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Environmental adaptation of the source of the subbasin of Rico Stream, Monte Alto - SP, Brazil

Este trabalho teve como principal objetivo definir padrões fotográficos que representem o uso e a ocupação do solo da cabeceira de drenagem do Córrego Rico, localizada no Município de Monte Alto, Estado de São Paulo, para fins de adequação ambiental no que tange à legislação florestal brasileira. O mapeamento foi realizado utilizando técnicas de sensoriamento remoto e interpretação visual da imagem World View, seguida da digitalização da rede de drenagem e vegetações (naturais e agrícolas) no AutoCad, com auxílio de documentos e trabalho de campo. A área de estudo apresenta uma superfície de 2.141,53 ha, e os resultados permitiram constatar que a principal cultura é a cana-de-açúcar, com 546,34 ha, seguida de pastagens, com 251,22 ha, culturas perenes, com 191,71 ha, Eucalipto, com 57,31 ha, e a cebola, com 49,52 ha da área total, confirmando o avanço dos canaviais na região. A área possui 375,04 ha de áreas de preservação permanente (APPs), e desta superfície verificou-se que apenas 72,17 ha (19,24%) encontram-se compostos por vegetação arbórea ou mata, e destas 302,87 ha precisam ser enriquecidos e reflorestados com vegetação nativa da região, de acordo com legislação vigente. Os dados de área possibilitam futuras propostas de modelos de adequação ambiental para a microbacia, de acordo com a legislação ambiental vigente.

Repeated administration of caffeine induces either sensitization or tolerance of locomotor stimulation depending on the environmental context

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

Environmental management in ethanol and sugarcane plants in Brazil

There has been much discussion on the importance of Brazilian ethanol in promoting a more sustainable society. However, there is a lack of analysis of whether sugarcane plants/factories that produce this ethanol are environmentally suitable. Thus, the objective of this study was to analyse stages of environmental management at four Brazilian ethanol-producing plants, examining the management practices adopted and the factors behind this adoption. The results indicate that (1) only one of the four plants is in the environmentally proactive stage; (2) all plants are adopting operational and organisational environmental management practices; (3) all plants have problems in communicating environmental management practices; and (4) the plant with the most advanced environmental management makes intense use of communication practices and is strongly oriented towards a more environmentally aware international market. This paper is an attempt to explain the complex relationship between the evolution of environmental management, environmental practices and motivation using a framework. The implications for society, plant directors and scholars are described, as well as the study's limitations.

The relationship between environmental variation and species abundance in shrimp community (Crustacea : Decapoda : Penaeoidea) in south-eastern Brazil

The impact of shrimp fisheries in tropical regions has become comparable to the world's most intensively exploited temperate shed ecosystems. The increase in the fishing fleet in south-eastern Brazil and the decrease in landings of profitable shrimp species have contributed to the incorporation of additional species into those fisheries. The goal of the present study is to investigate the influence of environmental factors on the abundance patterns of shrimp communities on the south-eastern coast of Brazil, over a period of two years. Monthly collections were conducted in the Ubatuba and Caraguatatuba regions using a commercial shrimp fishing boat equipped with 'double-rig' nets. Each region was divided into 7 sampling stations up to 35 m deep. The relationship between the environmental factors and the abundance patterns in the shrimp communities was assessed using a canonical correlation analysis (CCorrA). The first set of variables used during the CCorrA included environmental characteristics and the second set of variables the abundance of the studied species. A total of 374,915 individuals were collected during the present study. Xiphopenaeus kroyeri showed the highest abundance (273,127), followed by Artemesia longinaris (73,422), and Pleoticus muelleri (15,262). In the first root, depth and temperature showed the highest factor loadings (0.9 and -0.7) and canonical weights (0.6 and -0.4). These environmental factors were strongly associated with the abundance of X. kroyeri (factor loading = - 0.9 and canonical weight = - 0.9). The second root demonstrated a positive relationship between abundance of P. muelleri and depth, and an inverse association with bottom temperature. The abundance patterns of X. kroyeri and P. muelleri were strongly affected by the water mass South Atlantic Central Water (cold waters =15 degrees C), which can lead to a temperature decrease in deeper areas (> 15 m). Thus, the opposite abundance trend for depth of these species might reflect bathymetric variation in temperature, a clear example of distinct behavioural differences of species of different origins, either tropical (X. kroyeri) or subantarctic (P. muelleri). The low overall association between environmental parameters and shrimp abundance patterns indicates that each studied species might have responded idiosyncratically to environmental variation, such that a general community-level response was not apparent. However, other confounding factors such as intraspecific migration patterns might have also played a role in generating the observed patterns.

Reproductive phenology of a northeast Brazilian mangrove community: Environmental and biotic constraints

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Dependence of anuran diversity on environmental descriptors in farmland ponds

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

Polymorphisms of DNA repair genes XRCC1 and XRCC3, interaction with environmental exposure and risk of chronic gastritis and gastric cancer

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

A Biophysical Evaluation of a MSW-to-energy System

A biophysical understanding of the MSW-to-energy facility located at the Sao Joao landfill in São Paulo is performed using emergy synthesis. The implementation of a plan for environmental compensation in fulfillment of State's requirements was also assessed. Emergy based indices are calculated to assess the environmental pressure and sustainability status of the biogas project. The study was conducted by combining the study of emergy indicators and the net emergy yield ratio to determine long-term sustainability and measure global environmental stress. The Emergy investment to the use of biogas is relatively low and profitable. The implementation of the project for environmental compensation does not change the Emergy investment significantly, but the energy recovery is high. The conclusions justify the effort invested in developing MSW-to-energy plants and are applicable for policy makers in a highly sensitive sector to achieve sustainability goals - recovery of energy.

Barriers to environmental management in clusters of small businesses in Brazil and Japan: from a lack of knowledge to a decline in traditional knowledge

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

Biodiversity, Species Interactions and Ecological Networks in a Fragmented World

Biodiversity is organised into complex ecological networks of interacting species in local ecosystems, but our knowledge about the effects of habitat fragmentation on such systems remains limited. We consider the effects of this key driver of both local and global change on both mutualistic and antagonistic systems at different levels of biological organisation and spatiotemporal scales.There is a complex interplay of patterns and processes related to the variation and influence of spatial, temporal and biotic drivers in ecological networks. Species traits (e.g. body size, dispersal ability) play an important role in determining how networks respond to fragment size and isolation, edge shape and permeability, and the quality of the surrounding landscape matrix. Furthermore, the perception of spatial scale (e.g. environmental grain) and temporal effects (time lags, extinction debts) can differ markedly among species, network modules and trophic levels, highlighting the need to develop a more integrated perspective that considers not just nodes, but the structural role and strength of species interactions (e.g. as hubs, spatial couplers and determinants of connectance, nestedness and modularity) in response to habitat fragmentation.Many challenges remain for improving our understanding: the likely importance of specialisation, functional redundancy and trait matching has been largely overlooked. The potentially critical effects of apex consumers, abundant species and supergeneralists on network changes and evolutionary dynamics also need to be addressed in future research. Ultimately, spatial and ecological networks need to be combined to explore the effects of dispersal, colonisation, extinction and habitat fragmentation on network structure and coevolutionary dynamics. Finally, we need to embed network approaches more explicitly within applied ecology in general, because they offer great potential for improving on the current species-based or habitat-centric approaches to our management and conservation of biodiversity in the face of environmental change.

Study of environmental burden of lead in children using teeth as bioindicator

The south region of São Paulo city hosts the Guarapiranga dam, responsible for water supply to 25% of the city population. Their surroundings have been subject to intense and irregular occupation by people from very low socioeconomics classes. Measurements undertaken on sediment and particulate materials in the dam revealed concentrations of lead. copper, zinc and cadmium above internationally accepted limits. Epidemiological and toxicological studies undertaken by the World Health Organization in individuals exhibiting lead concentrations in blood, near or below the maximum recommended (10 mu g dl(-1)), surprisingly revealed that toxic effects are more intense in individuals belonging to low socioeconomics classes. Motivated by these facts, we aimed at the investigation of chronic incorporation of lead. as well as the use of our BIOKINETICS code, which is based on an accepted ICRP biokinetics model for lead, in order to extrapolate the results from teeth to other organs. The focus of our data taking was children from poor families, living in a small, restrict and allegedly contaminated area in São Paulo city. Thus, a total of 74 human teeth were collected. The average concentration of lead in teeth of children 5 to 10 years old was determined by means of a high-resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). For standardization of the measurements, an animal bone certified material (H-Animal Bone), from the International Atomic Energy Agency, was analyzed. The amount of lead in children living in the surroundings of the dam, was approximately 40% higher than those from the control region, and the average lead concentration was equal to 1.3 mu g g(-1) approximately. Grouping the results in terms of gender, tooth type and condition, it was concluded that a carious molar of boys is a much more efficient contamination pathway for lead, resulting in concentrations 70% higher than in the control region. We also inferred the average concentrations of lead in other organs of these children, by making use of our BIOKINETIC code. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Performance of constructed wetland system for public water supply

The project is being conducted in the town of Analândia, São Paulo, Brazil. The constructed wetlands system for water supply consists of a channel with floating aquatic macrophytes, HDS system (Water Decontamination with Soil - Patent PI 850.3030), chlorinating system, filtering system and distribution. The project objectives include investigating the process variables to further optimize design and operation factors, evaluating the relation of nutrients and plants development, biomass production, shoot development, nutrient cycling and total and fecal coliforms removal, comparing the treatment efficiency among the seasons of the year; and moreover to compare the average values obtained between February and June 1998 (Salati et al., 1998) with the average obtained for the same parameters between March and June 2000. Studies have been developed in order to verify during one year the drinking quality of the water for the following parameters: turbidity, color, pH, dissolved oxygen, total of dissolved solids, COD, chloride, among others, according to the Ministry of Health's Regulation 36. This system of water supply projected to treat 15 L s-1 has been in continuous operation for 2 years, it was implemented with support of the National Environment Fund (FNMA), administered by the Center of Environmental Studies (CEA-UNESP), while the technical supervision and design were performed by the Institute of Applied Ecology. The actual research project is being supported by FAPESP.

Polymorphisms of DNA repair genes XRCC1 and XRCC3, interaction with environmental exposure and risk of chronic gastritis and grastic cancer

Aim: To evaluate the association between polymorphisms XRCC1 Arg194Trp and Arg399Gln and XRCC3 Thr241Met and the risk for chronic gastritis and gastric cancer, in a Southeastern Brazilian population. Methods: Genotyping by PCR-RFLP was carried out on 202 patients with chronic gastritis (CG) and 160 patients with gastric cancer (GC), matched to 202 (C1) and 150 (C2) controls, respectively. Results: No differences were observed among the studied groups with regard to the genotype distribution of XRCC1 codons 194 and 399 and of XRCC3 codon 241. However, the combined analyses of the three variant alleles (194Trp, 399Gln and 241Met) showed an increased risk for chronic gastritis when compared to the GC group. Moreover, an interaction between the polymorphic alleles and demographic and environmental factors was observed in the CG and GC groups. XRCC1 194Trp was associated with smoking in the CG group, while the variant alleles XRCC1 399Gln and XRCC3 241Met were related with gender, smoking, drinking and H pylori infection in the CG and GC groups. Conclusion: Our results showed no evidence of a rela-tionship between the polymorphisms XRCC1 Arg194Trp and Arg399Gln and XRCC3 Thr241Met and the risk of chronic gastritis and gastric cancer in the Brazilian population, but the combined effect of these variants may interact to increase the risk for chronic gastritis, considered a premalignant lesion. Our data also indicate a gene-environment interaction in the susceptibility to chronic gastritis and gastric cancer. © 2005 The WJG Press and Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Latin America and the Caribbean in the World Economy 1998

Includes bibliography