Spatial-temporal variation of dissolved inorganic material in the Amazon basin

The Amazon River basin is important in the contribution of dissolved material to oceans (4% worldwide). The aim of this work was to study the spatial and the temporal variability of dissolved inorganic materials in the main rivers of the Amazon basin. Data from 2003 to 2011 from six gauging stations of the ORE-HYBAM localized in Solimões, Purus, Madeira and Amazon rivers were used for this study. The concentrations of Ca2+, Na+, K+, Mg2+, Cl-, SO4 -2, HCO3 - and SiO2 were analyzed. At the stations of Solimões and Amazon rivers, the concentrations of Ca2+, Mg2+, HCO3 - and SO4 -2 had heterogeneous distribution over the years and did not show seasonality. At the stations of Madeira river, the concentration of these ions had seasonality inversely proportional to water discharge (dilution-concentration effect). Similar behavior was observed for the concentrations of Cl- and Na+ at the stations of the Solimões, Amazon and Madeira rivers, indicating almost constant release of Cl- and Na+ fluxes during the hydrological cycle. K+ and SiO2 showed almost constant concentrations throughout the years and all the stations, indicating that their flows depend on the river discharge variation. Therefore, the temporal variability of the dissolved inorganic material fluxes in the Solimões and Amazon rivers depends on the hydro-climatic factor and on the heterogeneity of the sources. In the Madeira and Purus rivers there is less influence of these factors, indicating that dissolved load fluxes are mainly associated to silicates weathering. As the Solimões basin contributes approximately 84% of the total flux of dissolved materials in the basin and is mainly under the influence of a hydro-climatic factor, we conclude that the temporal variability of this factor controls the temporal variability of the dissolved material fluxes of the Amazon basin.

L'exploitation des eaux souterraines en Syrie centrale : construction de diagnostics et politiques d'intervention

Syrian dry areas have been for several millennia a place of interaction between human populations and the environment. If environmental constraints and heterogeneity condition the human occupation and exploitation of resources, socio-political, economic and historical elements play a fundamental role. Since the late 1980s, Syrian dry areas are viewed as suffering a serious water crisis, due to groundwater overdraft. The Syrian administration and international development agencies believe that groundwater overexploitation is also leading to a decline of agricultural activities and to poverty increase. Action is thus required to address these problems.However, the overexploitation diagnosis needs to be reviewed. The overexploitation discourse appears in the context of Syria's opening to international organizations and to the market economy. It echoes the international discourse of "global water crisis". The diagnosis is based on national indicators recycling old Soviet data that has not been updated. In the post-Soviet era, the Syrian national water policy seems to abandon large surface water irrigation projects in favor of a strategy of water use rationalization and groundwater conservation in crisis regions, especially in the district of Salamieh.This groundwater conservation policy has a number of inconsistencies. It is justified for the administration and also probably for international donors, since it responds to an indisputable environmental emergency. However, efforts to conserve water are anecdotal or even counterproductive. The water conservation policy appears a posteriori as an extension of the national policy of food self-sufficiency. The dominant interpretation of overexploitation, and more generally of the water crisis, prevents any controversary approach of the status of resources and of the agricultural system in general and thus destroys any attempt to discuss alternatives with respect to groundwater management, allocation, and their inclusion in development programs.A revisited diagnosis of the situation needs to take into account spatial and temporal dimensions of the groundwater exploitation and to analyze the co-evolution of hydrogeological and agricultural systems. It should highlight the adjustments adopted to cope with environmental and economic variability, changes of water availability and regulatory measures enforcements. These elements play an important role for water availability and for the spatial, temporal, sectoral allocation of water resource. The groundwater exploitation in the last century has obviously had an impact on the environment, but the changes are not necessarily catastrophic.The current groundwater use in central Syria increases the uncertainty by reducing the ability of aquifers to buffer climatic changes. However, the climatic factor is not the only source of uncertainty. The high volatility of commodity prices, fuel, land and water, depending on the market but also on the will (and capacity) of the Syrian State to preserve social peace is a strong source of uncertainty. The research should consider the whole range of possibilities and propose alternatives that take into consideration the risks they imply for the water users, the political will to support or not the local access to water - thus involving a redefinition of the economic and social objectives - and finally the ability of international organizations to reconsider pre-established diagnoses.

Produtividade e qualidade fisiológica de sementes de feijão em função de sistemas de manejo de solo e adubação nitrogenada

O fator climático exerce grande influência na produção de sementes de feijão, porém outros fatores como a ação do ambiente solo, conseqüência de seu manejo, associado à nutrição adequada da planta, principalmente de nitrogênio, podem levar a resultados expressivos tanto no ganho de produtividade como na obtenção de produto de qualidade superior. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a influência de dois sistemas de manejo de solo (preparo convencional e plantio direto) e da adubação nitrogenada de cobertura (0, 40, 80, 120 e 160kg.ha-1 de N) sobre a produtividade e qualidade fisiológica de sementes de feijão, num delineamento experimental em blocos ao acaso em esquema de parcelas subdivididas, com quatro repetições. Verificou-se que a produtividade de sementes é influenciada positivamente pela adubação nitrogenada de cobertura, tanto no sistema de preparo convencional de solo quanto no plantio direto. Nas doses de nitrogênio em cobertura utilizadas, o sistema de preparo convencional de solo apresenta maior produtividade de sementes. Aumento nas doses de nitrogênio em cobertura possibilitam acréscimos na germinação e no vigor das sementes de feijão. O sistema de preparo convencional de solo promove sementes de maior qualidade fisiológica, expressos pelo testes de germinação e envelhecimento acelerado.

Efeitos da previdência rural na agricultura familiar da microrregião Serra de São Miguel - RN

The objective of the present work is to verify the effects of Rural Social welfare in the family agriculture of the microrregião Serra de São Miguel-RN. The study based on available bibliography on the theme, in secondary data and in a rising amostral accomplished in three municipal districts (Encanto, São Miguel and Riacho de Santana) of the microrregião. The universe of the study was the establishments of the family agriculture appeared in the Agricultural Census of 2006, in those municipal districts. The unit of considered analysis was the rural family, with the interviews being applied close to the farmers' families with and without retired rural. The sample was of 94 present families in the family establishments. The results demonstrate that the Rural Precaution reaches a significant covering degree in the rural area of the researched municipal districts, with an average of 1,57 beneficiaries for home in the families with retired. The data of the research attest that the family agriculture in the microrregião Serra de São Miguel-RN it has few favorable conditions for his/her development, once, besides the shortage of lands and of the climatic factor of the area, the returned public politics the family farmers' totality - like PRONAF and PAA -, it has been unable to give effective answers for the improvement of the life conditions in the rural way, have seen the minimum amount of families reached by those politics, be in function of the drawing or of the atmosphere where they are done. In this context, he/she stands out the importance of the Rural Precaution that, in function of the application of the constitutional devices that you/they guaranteed his/her universalization, it has been the only relevant public politics that, in fact, it has been reaching her/it all their beneficiary potentials. Given the general situation of the family agriculture of the microrregião and of the specific characteristics of the researched family establishments, the hypothesis was corroborated that the rural retirement doesn't contribute directly to the increase / making possible of the family agriculture. In spite of 57,4% of the families with retired have declared to use resources of the retirement in the costing of the rural activity carried out by the family, the annual medium value of the expense just located around 7,02% of the annual value of the retirements gained by the families in the year of 2010. Data the low levels in that the social reproduction of the great majority of the family establishments of the microrregião, the maintenance of the families is operated represents the main destiny of the resources precautions. It was also confirmed the hypothesis that the Rural Precaution constitutes the main monetary contribution of the families with retired. For more than 93% of the families with retired, the retirements doing 50% or more of the total of the family monetary income, and in the composition of the rural income of the families with retired and pensioners, the originating from income the rural retirements are equal to 65,24% of the total of the annual income obtained by the families. It is ended, because, that the rural precaution, given to the adversities for the development of the family agriculture, of the operational inefficacy of the public politics and of the few opportunities of generation of existent income in the local savings, it is the main responsible for the reduction of the poverty and, consequently, for the improvements of the conditions of life of the families of and with seniors in the rural way of the microrregião Serra de São Miguel-RN

Clima e saúde: contribuição ao estudo das condições atmosféricas e relação com as doenças respiratórias: subsídio às políticas públicas locais

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Declining pine growth in Central Spain coincides with increasing diurnal temperature range since the 1970s

Growing evidence suggests environmental change to be most severe across the semi-arid subtropics, with past, present and projected drying of the Mediterranean Basin posing a key multidisciplinary challenge. Consideration of a single climatic factor, however, often fails to explain spatiotemporal growth dynamics of drought-prone ecosystems. Here, we present annually resolved and absolutely dated ring width measurements of 871 Scots pines (Pinus sylvestris) from 18 individual plot sites in the Central Spanish Pinar Grande forest reserve. Although comprising tree ages from 6 to 175 years, this network correlates surprisingly well with the inverse May–July diurnal temperature range (r = 0.84; p < 0.00011956–2011). Ring width extremes were triggered by pressure anomalies of the North Atlantic Oscillation, and the long-term growth decline coincided with Iberian-wide drying since the mid-1970s. Climate model simulations not only confirm this negative trend over the last decades but also project drought to continuously increase over the 21st century. Associated ecological effects and socio-economic consequences should be considered to improve adaptation strategies of agricultural and forest management, as well as biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service.

Factors determining lobe growth in foliose lichen thalli

This study investigates the relative importance of climate, lobe morphology and lobe interactions in determining the radial growth of individual lobes in foliose lichen thalli. The radial growth of 75 lobes from thalli of Parmelia conspersa (Ehrh. Ex Ach.) Ach. and Parmelia glabratula ssp. fuliginosa (Fr. ex Duby) Laund. was measured over 22 successive months in relation to climatic factors. Individual lobes showed a fluctuating pattern of radial growth with alternating periods of fast and slow growth. In 17/75 (23%) of lobes studied, monthly radial growth was correlated with a climatic factor, usually total rainfall or the frequency of sunshine hours. In addition, the radial growth of 54 lobes of P. conspersa was measured over four months in relation to lobe morphology and the radial growth and morphology of adjacent lobes. Radial growth was correlated with lobe length and with the radial growth of adjacent lobes. In addition, the pattern of lobe branching appeared to be related to lobe width and to a lesser extent to lobe length and the width of adjacent lobes. The radial growth in one year of exceptionally long lobes which had grown beyond the thallus margin was similar to more normal lobes, but experimentally bisected lobes had significantly reduced radial growth compared with control lobes. These results suggested that the fluctuating pattern of radial growth in individual lobes may be determined by climate and the pattern of lobe branching. In addition, the pattern of lobe branching was related to lobe width and may be influenced by adjacent lobes.

The influence of environment on foliose lichen growth and its ecological significance

This chapter considers various aspects of the influence of the environment on the growth of foliose lichens and its significance in determining the ecology of individual species. Radial growth (RaG) and growth in mass of foliose lichens is influenced by climate and microclimate and also by substratum factors such as rock and bark texture, substrate chemistry, and nutrient enrichment. Seasonal fluctuations in growth, as measured by radial growth rate (RaGR) per month, often correlate best with average or total rainfall, the number of rain days, or rainfall in a specific season. Temperature has also been identified to be an important climatic factor influencing growth in some studies. Interactions between microclimatic factors and especially light intensity, temperature, and moisture status are important in determining differences in growth in relation to aspect and slope of the substratum. The physical and chemical nature of the substratum has a profound influence on the growth of foliose lichens. Hence, the effects of texture, porosity, rate of drying, and the physical changes of the substratum on growth are likely to influence lichen distributions. Bird droppings may influence growth and survival by smothering the thalli, altering the pH, or adding inhibitory and stimulatory compounds. Nitrogen and phosphate availability may also influence growth. Chemical factors also have an important influence on lichens of maritime rocks, the effect of salinity and calcium ions being of particular importance. Effects of environmental factors on growth influence the competitive ability of a lichen and ultimately its ecology and distribution.

The influence of environment on foliose lichen growth and its biological significance

Radial growth and growth in mass of lichens is influenced by climatic and microclimatic factors and also by substratum factors such as rock and bark texture, chemistry, and nutrient enrichment. Seasonal fluctuations in growth, as measured by radial growth rate (RaGR) per month, often correlate best with average or total rainfall, the number of rain days, or rainfall in a specific season. Temperature is also considered to be an important climatic factor in some studies. Interactions between microclimatic factors and especially light intensity, temperature, and moisture are the most important in determining local annual growth rates. The physical and chemical nature of the substratum has a profound influence on the growth of foliose lichens. Hence, the effects of texture, porosity, rate of drying, and the physical changes of the substratum on growth are likely to influence lichen distributions. Bird droppings may influence growth and survival by smothering the thalli, altering the pH, or adding inhibitory and stimulatory compounds. Nitrogen and phosphate availability may also influence growth. Chemical factors may also have an important influence on lichens of maritime rocks, the effect of salinity and calcium ions being of particular importance. Zinc, copper, and mercury may also be important in lichen growth as they have been shown to affect the chlorophyll content of lichen algae. Effects of environmental factors on growth influence the competitive ability of lichens thus influencing their ecology and distribution.

The influence of environmental factors on the growth of lichens in the field

The majority of studies of the effects of environmental factors on lichen growth have been carried out in the field. Growth of lichens in the field has been measured as absolute growth rate (e.g., length growth, radial growth, diameter growth, area growth, or dry weight gain per unit of time) or as a relative growth rate, expressed per unit of thallus area or weight, e.g., thallus specific weight. Seasonal fluctuations in growth in the field often correlate best with changes in average or total rainfall or frequency of rain events through the year. In some regions of the world, temperature is also an important climatic factor influencing growth. Interactions between microclimatic factors such as light intensity, temperature, and moisture are particularly important in determining local differences in growth especially in relation to aspect and slope of rock surface, or height on a tree. Factors associated with the substratum including type, chemistry, texture, and porosity can all influence growth. In addition, growth can be influenced by the degree of nutrient enrichment of the substratum associated with bird droppings, nitrogen, phosphate, salinity, or pollution. Effects of environmental factors on growth can act directly to restrict species distribution or indirectly by altering the competitive balance among different species in a community.

Efeitos do relevo e da proximidade do mar na evapotranspiração de referência no Perímetro de Rega do Roxo,

O conhecimento da evapotranspiração de referência (ET0) é essencial para um adequado planeamento da rega. O seu cálculo requer dados climáticos não raras vezes insuficientes em quantidade ou com cobertura inadequada nas áreas sob estudo. O sistema de informação geográfico SAGA disponibiliza um conjunto de algoritmos que foram usados no cálculo da ET0 (a partir da fórmula de Hargreaves aplicada a um modelo digital do terreno com células de 25x25 m), no Perímetro de Rega do Roxo (8250 ha), distribuído pelos concelhos de Aljustrel, Ferreira do Alentejo e Santiago do Cacém. As estações meteorológicas da Barragem do Roxo (a leste do perímetro) e de Alvalade do Sado (a oeste) foram usadas como referência. As diferenças entre as ET0 mensais obtidas no perí- metro atingiram apenas 3 mm numa parte considerável do ano, mas foram superiores a 6 mm em Dezembro, reflectindo,em qualquer caso, as pequenas variações da topografia e do relevo, influentes factores climáticos no Alentejo. A duplicação de valores de ET0 decorrente do uso de duas estações meteorológicas revelou a influência da proximidade do mar na distribuição da ET0. O “factor oásis” resultante das superfícies aquáticas presentes no perímetro de rega não foi considerado, pelo que os resultados obtidos deverão ser corrigidos através de alterações nos algoritmos que permitam tê-lo em conta.

Climatic conditions as a risk factor in canine gastric dilatation-volvulus

Canine acute gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV) is a life-threatening condition of multifactorial origin. The risk of developing GDV is influenced by a variety of factors, including breed, age, gender, temperament, diet and management. A relationship between seasonal variations and the frequency of GDV has been previously documented although no association was found with any specific climatic event. Variables in weather conditions within a defined geographic region were investigated in a retrospective study of 287 client-owned dogs diagnosed with GDV between 1992 and 1999. Monthly incidences were evaluated and differences in atmospheric temperature, humidity and pressure between days in which GDV cases were observed and days in which no case was presented were examined. Although temperature was significantly associated with the occurrence of GDV, the difference in temperatures between days with and days without GDV cases was so small that it is unlikely to be of clinical relevance. Moreover, no significant association was found between GDV occurrence and atmospheric pressure or humidity, and a seasonal variation in GDV incidence was not observed.

Climate as the most important factor determining anti-fungal biocide performance in paint films

The effect of Pigment Volume Content (PVC) on fungal growth on acrylic paint formulations with and without biocide, exposed to weathering in three different climatic regions in Brazil for four years, was studied Latex paints. with PVC of 30%, 35% and 50%, were applied to autoclaved aerated concrete blocks pre-covered with acrylic sealer and acrylic plaster They were exposed to equatorial, tropical and temperate climates in north, south-east, and south Brazil Cladosporium was the most abundant fungal genus detected in the biofilm on the surfaces of all paint formulations at all sites after four years Heaviest fungal colonization occurred in the tropical south-east and lightest in the temperate south of the country, but more phototrophs, principally cyanobacteria, were detected in the equatorial region PVC and presence of biocides were shown to be of less importance than environmental conditions (irradiance, humidity and temperature) for biofilm formation and consequent discolouration These results have important implications for testing of paint formulations (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved

The influence of climatic parameters in the haematophagic daily activity of Cerqueirellum argentiscutum (Shelley & Luna Dias) (Diptera: Simuliidae) in Amazonas, Brazil

We studied the influence of climatic parameters in the daily haematophagic activity of Cerqueirellum argentiscutum from September/1999 to August/2000. The bite activity observed was different according to the annual rain precipitation (dry and rainy seasons). Humidity and temperature were the factors that most influenced it in both periods. During the dry season, it was greater in the beginning of the morning, showing a positive association with the humidity. However, during the rainy season, it was negatively related to that same factor. When wind speed was higher than 10 Km.h-1, it was reduced abruptly. Light intensity, atmospheric pressure and cloudiness seemed to act as secondary factors in the daily abundance of C. argentiscutum.