Biodiversidade e abundância da ictiofauna associada ao cultivo orgânico de Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931)

The expansion of shrimp farming has caused a series of environmental impacts, often as a result of lack of planning and adequate management. Organic aquaculture has emerged as an alternative to conventional shrimp farming, and differently, aims at the economical, ecological and farming potential of other organisms, such as fishes, oysters and seaweeds. The present study aimed at evaluating the biological diversity and abundance of the ichthyofauna associated to Litopenaeus vannamei organic culture at PRIMAR farm (Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil). The sampling period consisted of four culture cycles (1, 2, 3, and 4) accomplished in four grow-out ponds (V1, V7, V2, and V4) in 2005. The first two culture cycles were carried out during the rainy season, and the last two cycles, during the dry season. Environmental (temperature, salinity, transparency, and rainfall), biodiversity (diversity and uniformity and abundance indexes) of the ichthyofauna, and shrimp productivity data were collected throughout these four culture cycles. The results obtained for the environmental variables showed that both salinity and transparency oscillated in a significant way (p < 0.001) between culture cycles. In relation to the abundance of the ichthyofauna, fifty four species associated to the organic culture of Litopenaeus vannamei were collected and identified at PRIMAR. For the biodiversity criterion, larger species richness (S = 46) and uniformity (E = 0.59 ± 0.16) were observed during cycles 3 and 4 than in cycles 1 and 2 (S = 41 and E = 0.15 ± 0.12). A positive and significant correlation was obtained for the transparency with diversity and uniformity of fish species between cycles 1 and 2 (wet season) and cycles 3 and 4 (dry season) (p < 0.017 - Shannon Index; p < 0.008 - Pielou Index, respectively). A correlation could not be established between shrimp productivity and fish biomass. However, fish biomass decreased from cycles 1 and 2 to cycles 3 and 4, concomitant with an increase in shrimp productivity, most probably due to a higher (from 58.0% to 71.0%) shrimp survival. Regarding the culture potential of the ichthyofauna, three species (Mugil curema, Mugil liza and Chaetodipterus faber) were identified as potential farming alternatives, either singly or in consortium with Litopenaeus vannamei. A fourth species (Centropomus undecimalis) was indicated as an alternative for single culture or in consortium with other fish species. In conclusion, the large diversity of estuarine fishes associated to Litopenaeus vannamei farming observed at PRIMAR clearly indicated the ecological feasibility for organic aquaculture in northeastern Brazil

Aproveitamento da fibra do epicarpo do coco babaçu em compósito com matriz epóxi: estudo do efeito do tratamento da fibra

Nowadays the environmental issues are increasingly highlighted since the future of humanity is dependent on the actions taken by man. Major efforts are being expended in pursuit of knowledge and alternatives to promote sustainable development without compromising the environment. In recent years there has been a marked growth in the development of reinforced composite fiber plants, as an alternative for economic and ecological effects, especially in the substitution of synthetic materials such as reinforcement material in composites. In this current study the chemical- physical or (thermophysics )characteristics of the babassu coconut fiber, derived from the epicarp of the fruit (Orbignyda Phalerata), which the main constituents of the fiber: Klason lignin, insoluble, cellulose, holocellulose, hemicellulose and the content of ash and moisture will be determined. A study was conducted about the superficial modification of the fibers of the epicarp babassu coconut under the influence of chemical treatment by alkalinization, in an aqueous solution of NaOH to 2.5% (m/v) and to 5.0% to improve the compatibility matrix / reinforcement composite with epoxy matrix. The results of the changes occurred in staple fibers through the use of the techniques of thermogravimetric analyses (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results found on thermal analysis on samples of fiber without chemical treatment (alkalinities), and on fiber samples treated by alkalinization show that the proposed chemical treatment increases the thermal stability of the fibers and provides a growth of the surface of area fibers, parameters that enhance adhesion fiber / composite. The findings were evaluated and compared with published results from other vegetable fibers, showing that the use of babassu coconut fibers has technical and economic potential for its use as reinforcement in composites

Contribuição ao desenvolvimento de ontologias para processos petroquímicos : estudo de caso em uma planta DEA

In the last decades, the oil, gas and petrochemical industries have registered a series of huge accidents. Influenced by this context, companies have felt the necessity of engaging themselves in processes to protect the external environment, which can be understood as an ecological concern. In the particular case of the nuclear industry, sustainable education and training, which depend too much on the quality and applicability of the knowledge base, have been considered key points on the safely application of this energy source. As a consequence, this research was motivated by the use of the ontology concept as a tool to improve the knowledge management in a refinery, through the representation of a fuel gas sweetening plant, mixing many pieces of information associated with its normal operation mode. In terms of methodology, this research can be classified as an applied and descriptive research, where many pieces of information were analysed, classified and interpreted to create the ontology of a real plant. The DEA plant modeling was performed according to its process flow diagram, piping and instrumentation diagrams, descriptive documents of its normal operation mode, and the list of all the alarms associated to the instruments, which were complemented by a non-structured interview with a specialist in that plant operation. The ontology was verified by comparing its descriptive diagrams with the original plant documents and discussing with other members of the researchers group. All the concepts applied in this research can be expanded to represent other plants in the same refinery or even in other kind of industry. An ontology can be considered a knowledge base that, because of its formal representation nature, can be applied as one of the elements to develop tools to navigate through the plant, simulate its behavior, diagnose faults, among other possibilities

Térmitas como bioindicadores de qualidade de habitat na caatinga, Brasil: há uma sintonia entre as variáveis estruturais dos habitats e as taxocenoses amostradas?

The composition of termite assemblages was analyzed at three Caatinga sites of the Seridó Ecological Station, located in the municipality of Serra Negra do Norte, in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. These sites have been subjected to selective logging, and cleared for pasture and farming. A standardized sampling protocol for termite assemblages (30h/person/site) was conducted between September 2007 and February 2009. At each site we measured environmental variables, such as soil granulometry, pH and organic matter, necromass stock, vegetation height, tree density, stem diameter at ankle height (DAH) and the largest and the smallest crown width. Ten species of termites, belonging to eight genera and three families, were found at the three experimental sites. Four feeding-groups were sampled: wood-feeders, soil-feeders, wood-soil interface feeders and leaf-feeders. The wood-feeders were dominant in number of species and number of encounters at all sites. In general, the sites were not significantly different in relation to the environmental variables measured. The same pattern was observed for termite assemblages, where no significant differences in species richness, relative abundance and taxonomic and functional composition were observed between the three sites. The agreement between the composition of assemblages and environmental variables reinforces the potential of termites as biological indicators of habitat quality

O gênero geastrum pers. (phallomycetidae, basidiomycota) em algumas áreas de Mata Atlântica e Caatinga no Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil

A taxonomic survey of representatives of the genus Geastrum took place during the rainy season from 2006 to 2009 in four districts in the state of Rio Grande do Norte: Parque Estadual Dunas do Natal (Atlantic Forest), Mata do Jiqui EMPARN (Atlantic Forest) and Estação Ecológica do Seridó (Caatinga). Fourteen species were recorded: G. entomophilum, G. fimbriatum, G. hirsutum, G. javanicum, G. lageniforme, G. lloydianum, G. minimum, G. morganii, G. ovalisporum, G. pectinatum, G. saccatum, G. schweinitzii, G. setiferum and G. triplex. Of these species, eleven occurred in the Atlantic Forest and six in the Caatinga. A new species has been recorded to science, G. entomophilum, other as a first record for Brazil, G. morganii, six new records for the Northeast, and ten new records for Rio Grande do Norte. The material was tumbled in the Herbarium UFRN. Additionally, a survey of the species of the genus deposited in the Herbarium UFRN was accomplished, resulting in 244 herbarium specimens belonging to thirty-three species. Of these ones, twenty-three were collected in Brazil and ten are from Czech Republic, Europe, as donation from the VZ Herbarium

Diversidade de invertebrados em cavernas calcárias do oeste potiguar : subsídios para a determinação de áreas prioritárias para conservação.

It is estimated that the Brazilian karst areas sum about 200.000 km2. The caves, one of the main components of karst, are important windows into the biological studies on hypogean environments. In Rio Grande do Norte are known 563 caves, and 476 of them are in the municipalities of Baraúna, Felipe Guerra, Governador Dix-Sept Rosado, Apodi and Mossoró, the Western region of the State. However, like in the rest of the country, the cave fauna of the State is still poorly understood. This study used data from invertebrates harvested in 47 caves and aimed to analyze the effect of environmental change between the dry and rainy seasons in the communities of cave invertebrates, characterize these communities and evaluate the relationships between morphological and biotic variables of the caves and surroundings, and to define priority areas for conservation of cave environments of the study area from biotic parameters. Strong effects were found in the community structure of cave invertebrates due environmental changes between seasons, with values of total richness, abundance, diversity and ecological complexity significantly higher in the rainy season. It was possible to assess how the morphology of the cave and the external environment variables affect the biotic system, so that the variety of resources, forest cover in the vicinity, the area of the cave and its entrance were the variables that best explained the structure communities of cave invertebrates in the region. High values of total richness of invertebrates (36,62 ± 14,04 spp / cave) and troglomorphic species (61 species, mean 1,77 ± 2,34 spp / cave) were found and, given the biological relevance in the context of the area national and the imminent anthropogenic pressures existing, we defined four priority areas for actions aiming cave biodiversity conservation in the region.

Ecologia trófica em uma taxocenose de anfíbios: estrutura, filogenia e especialização individual

Historically, ever since the pre-Darwinian naturalists interspecific competition was considered the main force responsible for structuring ecological communities. This interpretation lost strength in the late 70s and throughout the 80s giving room for other views, which consider other factors such as predation, parasitism and the phylogenetic inertia more important. Studies on changes in the trophic niche of a species are still uncommon in general and especially in amphibians. Species considered generalist might actually be a group of individual specialists, or individuals that specialize in a particular category of prey during a period of scarcity of resources, thus reducing intraspecific competition. This work studied the community structure of litter amphibians and trophic variation along the dry and rainy seasons in a population of Leptodactylus macrosternum. Sixteen-litter frog species were studied for their diet. Two central assumptions were tested: 1a) if the community is structured in the niche trophic level, and 1b) if there is a significant difference in the use of food resources by different species (i.e. if the community is structured), the observed structure is the result of ecological interactions or just the current phylogenetic inertia of species. Finally, 2) if there is variation in food resource use between seasons for L. macrosternum. The community showed a structure with respect to the use of food resources, and this structure persisted after taking into account the phylogenetic relationships among species. The diet of Leptodactylus macrosternum varied with the seasons, with a significant degree of individual specialization for the dry season. Patterns of a local community are important to understand its dynamics, and this may play a role in larger- scale processes. Therefore, the studies in community ecology are fundamental to understand and eventually restoring degraded areas

Uso e disponibilidade da vegetação lenhosa em comunidades rurais no Rio Grande do Norte

The aim of this study was to test the Ecological Apparency Hypothesis comparing two rural communities in João Câmara (RN) and Remigio (PB), in the Northeast of Brazil. This hypothesis assumes that plants are perceived, known and used by human populations according to their local availability. The most used species would be the ones that are more available in the forest (apparent), and apparently suffer greater pressure of use. Communities were consulted through semi-structured interviews. In Remigio 42 people were interviewed, and 50 in João Câmara. The importance of each species was evaluated considering the distinction between citations from current and potential uses. The ethnobotanical information was associated with phytosociological parameters collected by the point-centered quarter method in forested areas, where 50 transects were distributed in each community, and 4,000 individuals sampled in total. Based on the interviews, 58 useful species were recorded, 42 genera and18 families. In the phytosociological study 30 species, 22 genera and 12 families in João Câmara, In Remígio were identified 34 species, 22 genera and nine families.The species were grouped into 11 categories of use. The ecological appearance was confirmed only in the João Câmara, which best explained the relationship between local availability and use of timber resources. Positive correlations were observed also between the technology category VUpotential and dominance. The point-centered quarter was efficient to test appearance, however, further studies through the point-centered quarter method are recommended

Acute and chronic toxicity of sediment samples from Guanabara Bay (RJ) during the rainy period

A Baía de Guanabara é um ambiente marinho-estuarino de grande relevância ecológica e sócio-econômica, e sujeita a uma ampla gama de impactos ambientais. O sedimento é o principal destino para a maioria das substâncias introduzidas nos corpos d'água, podendo fornecer uma medida integrada da qualidade ambiental, a qual pode ser avaliada por várias abordagens. Neste projeto, a qualidade de sedimentos da Baía de Guanabara foi por uma abordagem ecotoxicológica, por meio de testes de toxicidade aguda de sedimento integral, utilizando Tiburonella viscana, e testes de toxicidade crônica de água intersticial, elutriato e interface sedimento-água, utilizando embriões de Lytechinus variegatus. Os sedimentos foram coletados em 14 estações de amostragem. Nos testes crônicos houve efeitos significativos na maioria das amostras, enquanto os sedimentos coletados nas estações 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12 e 15 apresentaram também toxicidade aguda. Houve grande concordância entre os resultados dos diferentes testes, e sua integração mostrou que os sedimentos analisados encontram-se inadequados à vida aquática, indicando degradação ambiental na baía da Guanabara. Nesse contexto, o controle das fontes poluidoras e o gerenciamento dos múltiplos usos da baía devem ser implementados, no sentido da melhora da qualidade ambiental.

Use of Bioscreen C for growth of Mucor hiemalis in different carbon and nitrogen sources

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

Tecendo Papéis:viagem pelos saberes e práticas do ensino de arte

Nowdays, recycling became a relevant social and educational aim among many other factors, which involve balance between man and nature. This study relates the experiences with the production of recycled handmade paper directed at the teaching in Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte UFRN, and through workshops of carnauba recycled handcrafts papers as a pioneer activity accomplished at the Felix Rodrigues Foundation, in the city of Pendências, Açu Valley, Rio Grande do Norte. A bibliographic review was done about the history of handmade paper and a discussion about carnauba´s paper artistic possibilities in art-education. Analyses within the context of art teaching, accordingly to Ana Mae Barbosa´s triangle propose and, also, Buoro, Ostrower and Nachmanovitch´s pedagogy of art. It deals with a group of artisans in order to establish the nature of their relationship and the possibilities of achieving more ecological awareness. Finally, we intend to realize a dialogue with Morin and other authors

Empreendedorismo ambiental e preservacionismo compensatório: o turismo e as unidades de conservação Parque Estadual das Dunas e Área de Proteção Ambiental Jenipabu-RN

This doctoral thesis addresses the environmental issues and its vinculum with the tourism through the protected natural areas, in particular the conservation units, which consists in territorial areas created and demarcated by the government in order to protect ecosystems that have a high ecological and scenic-landscaped representativeness designed to the contemplation and controlled public visitation. In regard to its use for the touristic activities, are conceived while socio-environmental and symbolic materiality built around an imagery view of a nature-show, designed to attract visitors, aiming ensure the maintenance and reproduction of the capital in an entrepreneurial and preservationist way in the Metropolitan Region of Natal. It s a study about the Dunes State Park Jornalista José Maria Alves and the Jenipabu Environmental Protected Area, both created with the purpose of favor the implantation and empowerment of the touristic area through the State intervention as the main articulator agent of a new process of urbanization that uses the city marketing and the ideological discuss of environmental sustainability to recreate the imaginary of lost paradise and incorporate into the daily universe of tourists visiting the state of Rio Grande do Norte. The unveiling of this empirical reality made possible the construction and defense of the terms environmental entrepreneurship and compensatory preservationism, to explain how the formatting and idealization of this paradisiacal scenarios produce the commoditization of nature in an efficient and competitive way

O papel de interações positivas entre plantas na regeneração de áreas degradadas na caatinga

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico

Padrões de coexistência e utilização do hábitat por duas espécies de Herpsilochmus (Aves: Thamnophilidae)

How ecologically similar species are able to coexist has always generated great interest in the scientific community. Classical niche theory predicts that species coexistence is only possible when they segregate in at least one dimension of the ecological niche, thus leading to ecological differentiation among species. However, recent work has shown that species that are more similar in some ecological traits are the ones more prone to be able to coexist (environmental filter). The knowledge of how these forces act shaping ecological communities can reveal co-existence strategies, providing important information for management and conservation of the species. This study tested these hypotheses using a pair of coexisting species of Herpsilochmus, H. pectoralis and H. sellowi. In this study I use high resolution (50 x 50 m) ecological niche models to Identify which environmental factors best predict species occurrence. Next, I calculate the overlap in habitat use by species and build null models to test the hypothesis of spatial niche segregation. In addition, I obtain the selectivity parameters of habitat use to test whether the species H. pectoralis (larger body size) is less selective than H. sellowi (smaller body size) as stated in the literature for other species. The results reject the ecological equivalence among species, revealing that the species of Herpsilochmus explore the habitat differently, having different environmental niches. The hypothesis of environmental filter was not observed in my analysis, the observed overlap in habitat use among species was lower than expected by chance. Evidence that Herpsilochmus are spatially segregating reinforces the hypothesis of interspecific competition as the predominant force in the selection of microhabitat of the species. However, more data and experiments are necessary to state categorically that the observed pattern is a result of current or past competition

Dunas costeiras de Jenipabu: Status de conservação e diretrizes para restauração da vegetação

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior