Boto cinza (Sotalia guianensis, Van Benédén, 1864) (Cetacea, Delphinidae): Atividade aérea, forrageio e interações inter-específicas, na Praia de Pipa (Tibau do Sul RN) e estudo comparativo entre duas populações do Nordeste do Brasil

Sotalia guianensis is a small cetacean of the Delphinidae family, with coastal habits and whose area of distribution ranges from Florianópolis (27º35'S, 48º34'W), in Brazil, to Honduras (15º58'N, 85º42'W). At Pipa beach, on the south coast of RN state, in Brazil, the species occur throughout the year. The present study was carried out in two bays, which are bordered by cliffs. The animals were monitored from vantage points, using the "Ad libitum" and "all the occurrences" methods; during the years of 1999 and 2004. The study was divided in 4 chapters: Behavioral standards of two populations of gray dolphin, (Sotalia guianensis, Van Benédén, 1864) in the northeast of Brazil; Aerial activity of the gray dolphin: its possible function and the influence of environmental and behavioral factors; The influence of daily and monthly variation of the tides, of the period of the day and group size on the gray dolphin forage activity; kleptoparasitism interactions of frigatebird (Fregata magnificens, Mattheus, 1914) during the gray dolphin forage activity. The results have shown that the gray dolphin has a varied and complex behavioral repertoire. The leap is the most frequent behavior; the aerial activity is diffuse during daylight and is influenced by some factors, such as the level of the tide and social factors. The gray dolphin, when in the bay, most frequently feeds isolate or in small groups. The forage is diffuse during daylight; however, being more frequent in the morning and is influenced by the daily and monthly variation of the tide. At Pipa beach, kleptoparasitarian interactions were registered between the gray dolphin and the frigatebird (Fregata magnificens). The frigatebird forage strategy consists basically of two ways: to fly over great extensions searching for dead fish and to steal food (kleptoparasitism). These interactions were predominantly carried out between immature and female adult birds and adult and immature dolphins, and occurred during daylight. The present study can be considered an initial landmark to a better knowledge on the gray dolphin surface behavior, especially regarding the aerial behavioral repertoire and forage strategy of this species. However, it is necessary to continue these studies, so that we can understand better the complex social life of these animals and thus create effective measures for its conservation

Comportamento social de botos-cinza, sotalia guianensis, na praia de Pipa, RN, Brasil: dinâmica, sequência, sincronia e respostas ao turismo de observação

Social behavior of Guiana dolphins, Sotalia guianensis, at Pipa Beach, RN, Brazil: dynamics, sequence, breathing synchrony, and responses to dolphin watching. Social animals form groups that can range from temporary to permanent. Depending on the nature of the social relationships developed between individuals, groups present a particular social organization and the effect of these interactions shapes the activity patterns of these animals. This study investigates: (i) fission-fusion dynamics of Guiana dolphins, through the analysis of three dimensions of the social system (variation in spatial cohesion, variation in size and composition of groups), (ii) sequence, routine and behavioral stability, (iii) breathing intervals in synchronized groups and (iv) behavioral responses of the animals to dolphin watching. Systematic observations of Guiana dolphins were made from a platform located in cliffs about 25 m above sea level that surround Madeiro Bay, Pipa Beach. Sampling occurred from December 2007 to February 2009 between 0600 h and 1600 h, and the groups of Guiana dolphins were investigated according to their size (alone and group) and composition (adults, adults and juveniles, and adults and calves). According to the analysis of fission-fusion dynamics, Guiana dolphin groups frequently changed their composition, modifying their patterns of spatial grouping and cohesion every 20 minutes on average. More than 50% of the individuals maintained a distance of up to 2 m from other group members and new individuals were attracted to the group, especially during feeding, leaving it for foraging. Large groups were more unstable than small, while groups containing only adults were more stable than groups of adults and juveniles. According to the Z-score analysis to investigate the sequence and behavioral routine, lone individuals were more ! .7! ! involved in foraging and feeding, while resting was more common in groups. Foraging and feeding were more common in homogeneous groups (individuals of the same age class), while heterogeneous groups (different age classes) were often involved in socialization, displaying a broader behavioral repertoire. Foraging and resting behavior presented higher stability (continuous duration in minutes) than the other behaviors. The analysis of breathing intervals in synchronized groups showed significant differences depending on type of behavior, composition and area preference. During resting, breathing intervals were of longer duration, and groups with calves showed shorter breathing intervals than groups without calves. Lone individuals also preferred areas called corral , often used for the entrapment of fishes. The Markov chain analysis revealed behavioral changes in the presence of boats, according to the type of group composition. Groups composed of adults presented decreased resting and increased in traveling during the presence of boats. Groups of adults and juveniles showed a massive reduction of socialization, while the behavior transition probability traveling-traveling was higher in groups of adults and calves. In the presence of the boats, stability of resting was reduced by one third of its original duration and traveling more than doubled. The behavioral patterns analyzed are discussed in light of socio-ecological models concerning costs and benefits of proximity between individuals and behavioral optimization. Furthermore, significant changes in behavioral patterns indicate that Guiana dolphins, at Pipa Beach, have suffered the effects of tourism as a result of violation of rules of conduct established for the study area

Comportamento de mergulho do boto-cinza, Sotalia guianensis, na enseada do Curral, Praia de Pipa-RN, Brasil :possíveis adaptações cardíacas ao mergulho

The marine tucuxi, Sotalia guianensis, is one of the smallest known cetaceans, has coastal habits, and occurs from Hondures to Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil. The objective of this dissertation was to describe diving behavior of the marine tucuxi in three age classes and to analyze the cardiac capacity to dive through the examination of hearts of stranded specimens. Observations were made from October 2004 to November 2005 from a vantage point, in Curral Bay at Pipa beach-RN. We used Ad Libitum sampling and All occurrences to record the behaviors. The diving was characterized by the total exposition of the tail fluke for a few seconds, in 90° or 45° angles. Were recorded 131 dives in three behavioral contexts: foraging, traveling and socialization. The difference between juveniles and adults in dive time and fluke out at 45° or 90° to search and/or capture prey is probably influenced by the strategy used and ability to capture the prey. The frequency of fluke out at 90° for foraging in adults may be related to increased physiological efficiency of adults in comparison to juveniles. However, in the context of travel and socialization the dive time and fluke out were independent between the age classes. Dive in calves were frequent during socialization (play behavior) and traveling. This, associated with synchronic calve-adult diving suggests that a relationship of these behaviors and the acquisition of experience and foraging skills. As observed in other cetaceans, the heart (n=12) of the estuarine dolphin is broad and presents long ventricles which form a round apex. The right ventricle is long and narrow. The degree of dilatation of the aortic bulb may support the heart during diastole. The characteristic morphology of the heart and short dive duration < 2 min and depth ranged from 10m in the estuarine dolphin, can be likely at physiological adaptation for diving, typical de dolphins with coastal habits. The limitation of diving time in this specie may be influenced by anatomical and physiological restrictions

A percepção de suporte organizacional dos novos servidores da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte

This work deals with organizational support perception-OSP. This is done considering staff global beliefs, value of their contributions, care and well being related of individuals in an organization. These issues has been have been present in many researches since the 80s. It is important to analyze this matter considering all the changes that occurred nationally and internationally in the academic environment, characterized as being diversified in academic and managerial level. This occurs especially in Brazil since Federal Universities and their agents have suffered impact and restructuring. The research has emphasized the technical-managerial as well as professor staff level at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte aiming to deal with their unsatisfaction upon social political support. Thus, there was participation of 259 staff that were admitted from 2003 to 2005 in many sectors and units of the university. These subjects were submitted to a social and demographical query through an application of a scale of organizational support perception-OSP. Descriptive and multivariate analysis was done considering factors (management style of higher command), material support, wages, work overload, social support at work and ascending levels). Results show that there a hierarchy of the analyzed factors, the factor social support at work as being the first one with 3,31%, the factor management style of the higher command in second with 3,30%, then followed by the factor social support at work with 2,92%, in a sequence the factor material support, factor overload with 2,49% in the fourth position, and in the fifth place, the factor ascending with an average of 2,33% and in last the factor wages with 2,20%. It is concluded that the factors related to the more positive attributions of the OSP (social support at work), in a sequence material support opposing from the most negative factors of the OSP (wages, overload, ascending) reveal a reality that points out that the OSP is very much related to the individualized actions of the members of the organization (leader-member-group) rather than on structure and institutionalized actions carried out at UFRN

Psicologia e pobreza no Brasil: limites e perspectivas da produção de conhecimento e atuação do psicólogo

Poverty is a main theme in Brazil: according to official data, poverty reachs 70 million Brazilian people, and, between them, 20 million are unable to provide their basic needs. Psychology, as a welfare profession, and given its historical concerns with social actions, could not be away from this theme. Based on this, we ask: Which answers Psychology can provide, toward both the production of knowledge and the practice about social reality? The purpose of this paper is to investigate the psychological scientific production on poverty and the propositions, limits and impacts of psychological actions. We carried out a three stages documental based study analyzing Brazilian psychological literature: (1) online databases survey (312 papers identified); (2) 109 scientific abstracts accessed and coded; (3) selected 47 scientific papers read and analyzed. Results are presented in three sections: general description of the selected scientific production; characterization of the role of poverty in psychological literature; and themes presented at the papers. The academic production about the main theme (poverty) is dispersed, heterogeneous, and related to other fields of knowledge. Poverty is presented at these studies in many ways, such as: a criterium for sample design and the assessment of its psychological impacts; reports on professional experience with poor population; descriptions of this population group; relationship between poverty and others social themes; developmental and learning problems of poor children. In general, it appears that Psychology has improved the scientific production and experiences with poor population. However, it is necessary to build up theories and technical innovations and also to understand structural boundaries for professional practice with this population group