Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Environmental and economic assessment of a pilot stormwater infiltration system for flood prevention in Brazil

Green and grey stormwater management infrastructures, such as the filter, swale and infiltration trench (FST), can be used to prevent flooding events. The aim of this paper was to determine the environmental and economic impacts of a pilot FST that was built in São Carlos (Brazil) using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC). As a result, the components with the greatest contributions to the total impacts of the FST were the infiltration trench and the grass cover. The system has a carbon footprint of 0.13 kg CO2 eq./m3 of infiltrated stormwater and an eco-efficiency ratio of 0.35 kg CO2 eq./USD. Moreover, the FST prevented up to 95% of the runoff in the area. Compared to a grey infrastructure, this system is a good solution with respect to PVC stormwater pipes, which require a long pipe length (1070 m) and have a shorter lifespan. In contrast, concrete pipes are a better solution, and their impacts are similar to those of the FST. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the changes in the impacts with the varying lifespan of the system components. Thus, the proper management of the FST can reduce the economic and environmental impacts of the system by increasing its durability.Peer Reviewe

Two new begomoviruses that infect non-cultivated malvaceae in Brazil

A high diversity of begomoviruses that infect non-cultivated plants has been noted in Brazil. Here, we report the complete sequences of two new species of bipartite begomoviruses from Sida sp. plants collected in the state of Piauí, northeastern Brazil. The genomes of these viruses show a genomic organization that is typical of New World begomoviruses. In phylogenetic analysis, two closely related viruses (sida angular mosaic virus, SiAMV and sida chlorotic vein virus, SiCVV) clustered with other begomoviruses described in tomato and Sida plants in Brazil. Evidence of recombination is shown among isolates of the species described

Novas Diretrizes Curriculares Nacionais para a formação de professores e algumas novas ficções na leitura da escola Nuevas Directrices Curriculares Nacionales para la formación de profesores y algunas nuevas ficciones en la lectura de la escuela New National Curricula Guidelines to Teacher's Training and some new fictions on the reading of the school

Apresenta-se investigação sobre o perfil dos egressos de licenciaturas da Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa (UEPG), formados a partir dos novos currículos em consonância com a legislação pós-LDB (BRASIL, 1996). Seus currículos estão adaptados às novas Diretrizes para a formação de professores. O texto usa referências da teoria crítica e freiriana para a perspectiva do letramento entendido como aquisição dos conhecimentos para a docência e da capacidade de recontextualização em situações escolares, no contexto da leitura de mundo. Utiliza procedimentos metodológicos qualitativos e quantitativos em instrumento aplicado aos concluintes de 2008. A análise indica uma tendência adaptativa e não transformadora do contexto escolar. Não se pode afirmar que as alterações promovidas nos cursos tenham logrado, em geral, gerar docentes comprometidos e identificados com a Educação Básica, ou leitores competentes e dialogantes com a realidade escolar.<br>Este texto presenta estudio sobre el perfil de egresados de la licenciatura de la UEPG - Universidad Estadual de Ponta Grossa (ciudad de Paraná, provincia brasileña), graduados a partir de los nuevos currículos según la legislación posterior a la LDB (Ley de Directrices y Bases de la educación nacional brasileña) (BRASIL, 1996). Sus currículos están adaptados a las nuevas directrices para la formación de profesores. El texto utiliza referencias de la teoría crítica y también de Paulo Freire para la perspectiva del letramiento entendido como adquisición de los conocimientos para la actividad docente y de la capacidad de recontextualización en situaciones escolares, en el ámbito de la lectura de mundo. Utiliza procedimientos metodológicos cualitativos y cuantitativos en el instrumento aplicado a los concluyentes de 2008. El análisis señala una tendencia adaptativa y no transformadora del contexto escolar. No se puede afirmar que las alteraciones promovidas en los cursos hayan podido generar, en términos generales, profesores comprometidos e identificados con la Educación Básica o Primaria, o lectores competentes y capaces de dialogar con la realidad escolar.<br>This paper presents an investigation on the profile of the graduated students of teachers training courses of the State University at Ponta Grossa (UEPG). These graduated students had their curricula based on the new statements from the Guidelines National Curriculum for Teachers' Training for the Basic Education. This text is based on references to the critical theory and Freire's theory to compose the literacy, understood as acquisition of knowledge to teach and the ability of applying it in school situations, in the context of world's reading. It uses qualitative and quantitative methodological procedures driven to teachers graduated in 2008. The analysis indicates an adaptive and conservative tendency of the respondents about the school context. It isn't possible to affirm that the changes on teachers' training curricula allowed making committed teachers, identified with the Basic Education, not even competent readers and dialoguers according with the school's reality

In vitro and in vivo activity of a new unsymmetrical dinuclear copper complex containing a derivative ligand of 1,4,7-triazacyclononane : catalytic promiscuity of [Cu2(L)Cl3][Cu_{2}(L)Cl_{3}]

Here we present the synthesis of the dinuclear complex $[Cu_{2}^{II}(L)Cl_{3}]$ (1), where L is the deprotonated form of the 3-[(4,7-diisopropyl-1,4,7-triazacyclononan-1-yl)methyl]-2-hydroxy-5-methylbenzaldehyde ligand. The complex was characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, potentiometric titration, mass spectrometry, electrochemical and magnetic measurements, EPR, UV-Vis and IR. Complex 1 is able to increase the hydrolysis rate of the diester bis-(2,4-dinitrophenyl)phosphate (2,4-BDNPP) by a factor of 2700, and also to promote the plasmidial DNA cleavage at pH 6 and to inhibit the formazan chromophore formation in redox processes at pH 7. Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae (BY4741) as a eukaryotic cellular model, we observed that 1 presents reduced cytotoxicity. In addition, treatment of wild-type and mutant cells lacking Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase (Sod1) and cytoplasmic catalase (Ctt1) with 1 promotes increased survival after $H_{2}O_{2}$ or menadione ($O_{2} ^{\cdot}$ -generator) stress, indicating that 1 might act as a Sod1 and Ctt1 mimetic. Considered together, these results support considerations regarding the dynamic behaviour of an unsymmetrical dinuclear copper(II) complex in solid state and in aqueous pH-dependent solution