Sustainability as a dynamic organizational capability: A systematic review and a future agenda toward a sustainable transition

Sustainability is a managerial trend that plays an important role in the contemporary organizational strategy. A company's capability to make sustainability more dynamic and integrated with strategies, transforming it into a business asset, has yet to be studied. This process of adaptation is reflected through innovative practices. However, there is still a gap between these practices and the organization's strategies and capabilities. The aim of this work was to conduct a systematic literature review of the dynamic capabilities for sustainability. Afterward, it was possible to systematize the available knowledge, assessing the current lack of research integrating both themes. The mainstream literature was classified and coded, resulting in a framework for what has been done to date, with recommendations to guide future research. Results show that more research is needed on dynamic capabilities for sustainability, especially in emerging economies in general. Future studies should also consider mixed methodologies and comparative perspectives in multiples sectors or in the services sector. There's also space to discuss managerial innovations toward sustainability through research alliances between different institutions around the world. In short, there are few studies that connect both themes- corporate sustainability and dynamic capabilities-and for this reason there is an opportunity for future studies seeking to identify what kind of dynamic capabilities can be developed to more effectively overcome the emerging sustainability challenges

AÇÕES DE REDUÇÃO DE IMPACTO AMBIENTAL DAS EMPRESAS QUE COMPÕEM O ÍNDICE DE SUSTENTABILIDADE DA BM&FBOVESPA / ACTIONS TO REDUCE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF COMPANIES IN THE BM&FBOVESPA SUSTAINABILITY INDEX

A mudança de paradigmas enfrentada pelas empresas e as pressões feitas para que essas adotem os preceitos da sustentabilidade justificam a execução deste estudo. Dessa forma, o objetivo geral é verificar práticas de evidenciação e de gestão ambiental dos relatórios de sustentabilidade do conjunto de empresas listadas no índice de sustentabilidade empresarial (ISE) da BM&FBovespa do ano de 2014. Para isso, dois objetivos específicos foram criados: verificar se as empresas seguem as diretrizes do GRI para reportarem suas ações ambientais e identificar quais práticas de gestão ambiental são mais reportadas pelas empresas. A interpretação das informações se deu por meio da análise documental e da análise categórica temática, uma das técnicas da análise de conteúdo. Quanto à evidenciação das práticas, todas as empresas possuem sua própria maneira de reportar suas práticas de gestão ambiental, não encontrando a estrutura proposta pelo GRI em nenhum dos relatórios. Quanto às práticas de gestão ambiental mais evidenciadas, verificou-se que a preocupação está em adequar os processos produtivos aos preceitos da sustentabilidade por meio de seu redesenho e do uso eficiente dos recursos como água e energia elétrica. Contudo, nenhuma vez foi apresentada preocupação quanto ao o ciclo de vida do produto. Palavras-chave: Responsabilidade social corporativa. Gestão ambiental corporativa. GRI. Abstract The paradigm shift faced by companies, and the pressures on them to adopt the precepts of sustainability, justify the execution of this study. The overall objective is to verify disclosure and environmental management practices in the sustainability reports of the companies listed on the Corporate Sustainability Index (CSI) of BM&FBovespa in 2014. For this, two specific objectives were created: to determine whether these companies are following the GRI guidelines to report their environmental actions; and to identify which environmental management practices are most reported by the companies. The interpretation of the information was done through documentary analysis and thematic categorical analysis, one of the techniques of content analysis. In regard to the disclosure of practices, each company has its own way of reporting its environmental management practices, and the structure proposed by the GRI was not found in any of the reports. The most prevalent environmental management practices found were a concern to adapt the company’s industrial processes to the principles of sustainability, through their redesign and the efficient use of resources such as water and electricity. However, at no time was any concern presented in relation to the product life cycle. Keywords: Corporate social responsibility. Corporate environmental management. GRI

Vascular flora of the Legado das Águas, Reserva Votorantim, municipalities of Tapiraí, Miracatú and Juquiá, São Paulo, Brazil

We present  a list of vascular plants found in Legado das Águas, Reserva Votorantim, a private reserve having an area of approximately 35,000 ha that spans the municipalities of Tapiraí, Miracatú, and Juquiá, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The reserve is part of a complex of state-protected areas including Alto Ribeira Touristic State Park, Intervales State Park , Carlos Botelho State Park, Jurupará State Park, and Serra do Mar State Park. Together, these form an important and large area of continuous and well-preserved forest. Our study, which involved two main floristic surveys in March/April 2013 and April 2014, recorded 768 species, representing 131 families and 432 genera. The majority of species were angiosperms (619) representing 106 families and 370 genera. There were also two species of gymnosperms belonging to two genera in separate families; 147 species of ferns and lycophytes belonging to 23 families and 60 genera. In demonstrating the presence of almost 800 species of plants, of which 16 are threatened, our study highlights the importance of floristic surveys and the critical role of private protected areas in managing and preserving native flora

ATLANTIC EPIPHYTES: a data set of vascular and non-vascular epiphyte plants and lichens from the Atlantic Forest

Epiphytes are hyper-diverse and one of the frequently undervalued life forms in plant surveys and biodiversity inventories. Epiphytes of the Atlantic Forest, one of the most endangered ecosystems in the world, have high endemism and radiated recently in the Pliocene. We aimed to (1) compile an extensive Atlantic Forest data set on vascular, non-vascular plants (including hemiepiphytes), and lichen epiphyte species occurrence and abundance; (2) describe the epiphyte distribution in the Atlantic Forest, in order to indicate future sampling efforts. Our work presents the first epiphyte data set with information on abundance and occurrence of epiphyte phorophyte species. All data compiled here come from three main sources provided by the authors: published sources (comprising peer-reviewed articles, books, and theses), unpublished data, and herbarium data. We compiled a data set composed of 2,095 species, from 89,270 holo/hemiepiphyte records, in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, recorded from 1824 to early 2018. Most of the records were from qualitative data (occurrence only, 88%), well distributed throughout the Atlantic Forest. For quantitative records, the most common sampling method was individual trees (71%), followed by plot sampling (19%), and transect sampling (10%). Angiosperms (81%) were the most frequently registered group, and Bromeliaceae and Orchidaceae were the families with the greatest number of records (27,272 and 21,945, respectively). Ferns and Lycophytes presented fewer records than Angiosperms, and Polypodiaceae were the most recorded family, and more concentrated in the Southern and Southeastern regions. Data on non-vascular plants and lichens were scarce, with a few disjunct records concentrated in the Northeastern region of the Atlantic Forest. For all non-vascular plant records, Lejeuneaceae, a family of liverworts, was the most recorded family. We hope that our effort to organize scattered epiphyte data help advance the knowledge of epiphyte ecology, as well as our understanding of macroecological and biogeographical patterns in the Atlantic Forest. No copyright restrictions are associated with the data set. Please cite this Ecology Data Paper if the data are used in publication and teaching events. © 2019 The Authors. Ecology © 2019 The Ecological Society of Americ

Secondary forests in agricultural landscapes with sugarcane matrix : floristic diversity and implications for biodiversity conservation strategies

Orientadores: Ricardo Ribeiro Rodrigues, Flavio Antonio Maës dos SantosTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de BiologiaResumo: A aceleração do processo de fragmentação na região tropical em decorrência da expansão das atividades agrícolas provoca alterações na dinâmica dos ecossistemas e o rearranjo dos recursos naturais nas paisagens, ameaçando a biodiversidade. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a diversidade florística em 16 florestas secundárias de paisagens agrícolas em uma região com menos de 15% de cobertura florestal no estado de São Paulo, a fim de verificar a sua contribuição para a conservação da diversidade vegetal regional. No Capítulo 1, a partir do mapeamento da região estudo caracterizamos o uso do solo em paisagens circulares com 1km de raio nos anos de 1962 e 2015, para identificar as mudanças na quantidade e distribuição da cobertura florestal em paisagens agrícolas no período de 53 anos. Observamos incremento de hábitat florestal nas paisagens em 53 anos, devido à substituição das pastagens por cana-de-açúcar e aos avanços na legislação ambiental, que impulsionaram iniciativas de restauração florestal nas propriedades agrícolas possibilitando a regeneração natural em trechos de menor aptidão agrícola. No Capítulo 2, considerando conjuntamente as 16 florestas, avaliamos a estrutura das comunidades com foco na riqueza, distribuição das abundâncias, frequência de ocorrência e composição de espécies nos componentes arbóreo, regenerante arbóreo e regenerante não arbóreo. A decomposição multiplicativa da diversidade revelou baixa diversidade alfa e elevada diversidade beta, com maior contribuição do turnover nas duas escalas espaciais (entre e intra fragmentos), para todos os componentes vegetais, indicando diferenciação florística na região. Isso evidencia o valor conjunto dessas florestas, que ultrapassa a sua contribuição individual para a conservação da diversidade vegetal regional em paisagens agrícolas. No Capítulo 3, avaliamos de que maneira a estrutura de paisagens agrícolas e sua dinâmica espaço-temporal se relacionam com a diversidade alfa (riqueza e abundância) dos componentes arbóreo, regenerante arbóreo e regenerante de trepadeiras, utilizando modelos generalizados aditivos e seleção de modelos. A riqueza de árvores apresentou relação positiva com a distância atual da borda, e a riqueza de regenerantes arbóreos, com a distância atual da borda e quantidade de cobertura florestal atual. O modelo nulo melhor explicou a diversidade de trepadeiras. A quantidade de cobertura vegetal na paisagem de entorno e distância em relação à borda, assim como a variação destes no tempo, foram preponderantes para explicar a diversidade dos diferentes grupos vegetais nas florestas secundárias, indicando que a história das paisagens deve ser considerada nos planos de ação na esfera da conservação. Com este trabalho concluímos que, apesar das perturbações recorrentes em paisagens agrícolas com matriz de cana-de-açúcar, as florestas secundárias apresentam potencial de regeneração e possuem papel essencial para a manutenção da diversidade vegetal em regiões intensamente fragmentadas, sendo complementares às Unidades de Conservação. A conservação da biodiversidade em paisagens agrícolas fragmentadas depende de políticas públicas que considerem a contribuição das florestas secundárias para o incremento da diversidade beta regional, e que ressaltem o papel fundamental dos proprietários rurais para a manutenção de comunidades vegetais que ocorre via adequação agrícola e ambiental das propriedadesAbstract: The progress of fragmentation process in the tropical region due to the expansion of agricultural activities changes the ecosystems¿ dynamics and the arrangement of natural resources in the landscapes, threatening biodiversity. The main goal of this study was to evaluate floristic diversity in 16 secondary forests of agricultural landscapes in a region with less than 15% of forest cover in São Paulo state, in order to verify their contribution to regional plant diversity conservation. In Chapter 1, based on the mapping of the study region we described land-use and land-cover in circular landscapes with 1km radius for the years 1962 and 2015 to identify changes in the quantity and distribution of forest cover in agricultural landscapes in the 53-year period. We observed an increase in forest habitat in the period, due to matrix shift from pastures to sugarcane plantations and advances in environmental legislation, which promoted initiatives for forest restoration in agricultural properties and natural regeneration in areas of lower agricultural productivity. In Chapter 2, considering the 16 forests together, we evaluated communities¿ structure focusing on richness, abundance distribution, occurrence frequency and species composition in the arboreal, regenerating arboreal and regenerating non-arboreal components. The multiplicative decomposition of diversity revealed low alpha diversity and high beta diversity, with higher turnover contribution at the two spatial scales (between and within fragments), for all plant components, indicating floristic differentiation in the region. This result emphasizes the joint value of these forests, which surpass their individual contribution, to regional plant diversity conservation in agricultural landscapes. In Chapter 3, we evaluated how landscapes¿ structure and its spatio-temporal dynamics are related to alpha diversity (richness and abundance) of trees, regenerating trees and regenerating climbers, using generalized additive models and model selection. Trees¿ richness presented a positive relation with the current edge distance, and regenerating trees¿ richness with the current edge distance and current forest cover. The null model best explained regenerating climbers¿ diversity. Forest cover in the surrounding landscape and distance from the edge, as well as their variation in time, were preponderant to explain the diversity of the different plant groups in the secondary forests, indicating that landscape history should be considered in conservation plans for agricultural landscapes. Our results highlight that, despite the disturbances that occur in agricultural landscapes with sugarcane matrix, secondary forests have potential for regeneration and play an essential role in the maintenance of plant diversity in intensely fragmented regions, being complementary to public protected areas. Biodiversity conservation in fragmented agricultural landscapes depends on public policies that consider the contribution of secondary forests to the increase of regional beta diversity, and which emphasize the fundamental role of landowners for the maintenance of plant communities through agricultural and environmental planning in the propertiesDoutoradoBiologia VegetalDoutora em Biologia Vegetal159843/2013-82013/50718-5CNPQFAPES

Aliança estratégica como forma de incrementar o poder de mercado de agrodistribuidores

As mudanças de mercado incentivam os agrodistribuidores a experimentarem novas configurações e fazem da cooperação uma necessidade para o agronegócio. Um comportamento esperado é a formação de alianças com concorrentes para ampliar a atuação no mercado. Diante disso, este artigo teve como objetivo analisar a fusão empresarial entre dois agrodistribuidores situados no Estado de Minas Gerais do ponto de vista do posicionamento e poder de mercado aplicando a matriz SWOT. Para tanto, optou-se por um estudo de caso de caráter qualitativo, bibliográfico e descritivo que teve como fonte de dados entrevistas e documentos. Após realizar o diagnóstico com a matriz SWOT os dados das revendas foram interpretados com a análise relacional. Os resultados demonstram que a aliança é uma estratégia importante para conservar recursos, dividir riscos, disponibilizar novas informações, aumentar o poder de negociação com fornecedores e aumentar o acesso a clientes por segmento. Além disso, ficou claro que não explorar o mercado de silagem pode ser uma ameaça e o posicionamento dos fornecedores em relação a nova constituição do grupo uma oportunidade. Destacaram-se ainda o potencial das ferramentas gerenciais e a necessidade de desenvolver indicadores para o processo de fusão, com o objetivo de antecipar novas aquisições no setor

Ecological restoration increases conservation of taxonomic and functional beta diversity of woody plants in a tropical fragmented landscape

Ecological restoration can re-establish plant species populations, enhance forested habitats extension, improve landscape connectivity, and enable biodiversity persistence within a landscape. However, the potential benefits of ecological restoration on beta diversity have never been explored. Here we use field data to investigate, for the first time, if restoration plantings enhance the taxonomic and functional plant beta diversity in a fragmented landscape of the threatened Atlantic forest. Woody species were evaluated for 320 plots established in 18 forest fragments and 14 restoration plantings within a sugarcane production landscape with low forest cover, in southeastern Brazil. Diversity metrics were assessed using the multiple incidence-data version of Hill numbers and were compared among three sets of study sites: fragments, restoration plantings and the two combined. Fragments showed higher levels of alpha diversity and proportional abundance of non-pioneer and animal-dispersed species than restoration plantings. Exotic, pioneer and non-zoochoric species were more abundant in restoration plantings, an expected result considering sites still be in the early or mid-successional stages of development. Taxonomic and functional beta diversity of trees was greatest when both areas were combined. For regenerating plants, however, beta diversity results varied according to species incidence-based frequencies. Although restoration plantings do not result in full recovery of alpha diversity, they can all together complement diversity of forest fragments at the landscape level. The findings indicate two key ecological implications for biodiversity conservation: the critical importance of forest fragments as biodiversity repositories and the positive effect of restoration efforts on landscape-scale diversity in degraded regions. These novel results highlight the importance of species selection for restoration initiatives toward species and functional attributes recognized as significantly reduced or locally rare. Overall, forest fragments and restoration plantings can act synergistically to promote recovery of plant diversity in heavily deforested agricultural landscapes451CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQCOORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESFUNDAÇÃO DE AMPARO À PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO - FAPESPnão tem88881.064976/2014-01; 88882.305844/2018-012012/24118-8; 2013/50718-

Propagules removal in fragments of native forest and in reforested areas in an Araucaria Forest region of Paraná State <br> Remoção de propágulos em fragmento de floresta nativa e reflorestamentos numa região de Floresta Ombrófila Mista do estado do Paraná

A question that has been discussed is the role that reforestations with exotic species in native fauna and several studies have shown that removal of propagules is lower in these environments. This study compared the removal rate of propagules (araucaria seeds, peanuts, corn) from areas of native forest (FN), reforestations of Pinus taeda L. (RP), Eucalyptus saligna Sm. (RE) and Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol) Kuntze (RA). In FN all propagules were removed. There was no difference in the removal of araucaria seeds between FN and RA, and removal rate in both areas differ from the removal rate in the RP and RE. In RP there was high removal of peanuts, while the RE showed the lowest value of removal of the three propagules. The low removal rates in reforestation of pine and eucalyptus reflect the decreased exploitation of these habitats for wildlife, which may be related to a poorly structured understory. <p><p> Uma questão que tem sido discutida é o papel das monoculturas florestais exóticas na manutenção da fauna nativa e vários estudos têm mostrado que a remoção de propágulos é menor nesses ambientes. O presente trabalho comparou a taxa de remoção de propágulos (pinhão, amendoim, milho) entre áreas de Floresta Nativa (FN), Reflorestamentos de Pinus taeda L. (RP), de Eucalyptus saligna Sm. (RE) e Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol) Kuntze (RA). Na FN, todos os propágulos foram removidos e não houve diferença significativa na remoção de pinhão entre a FN e o RA. A remoção de propágulos nessas áreas diferiu da remoção no RP e RE. No RP, houve alta remoção de amendoim, enquanto que o RE apresentou os menores valores de remoção dos três propágulos. As baixas taxas de remoção nos reflorestamentos de pinus e eucalipto refletem a menor exploração desses habitas pela fauna, o que pode estar relacionado com um subosque pouco estruturado

Administration of Human MSC-Derived Extracellular Vesicles for the Treatment of Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis: Preclinical Data in MDR2 Knockout Mice.

Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC) is a progressive liver disease for which there is no effective medical therapy. PSC belongs to the family of immune-mediated biliary disorders and it is characterized by persistent biliary inflammation and fibrosis. Here, we explored the possibility of using extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from human, bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) to target liver inflammation and reduce fibrosis in a mouse model of PSC. Five-week-old male FVB.129P2-Abcb mice were intraperitoneally injected with either 100 µL of EVs (± 9.1 × 10 particles/mL) or PBS, once a week, for three consecutive weeks. One week after the last injection, mice were sacrificed and liver and blood collected for flow cytometry analysis and transaminase quantification. In FVB.129P2-Abcb4 mice, EV administration resulted in reduced serum levels of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), bile acid (BA), and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), as well as in decreased liver fibrosis. Mechanistically, we observed that EVs reduce liver accumulation of both granulocytes and T cells and dampen VCAM-1 expression. Further analysis revealed that the therapeutic effect of EVs is accompanied by the inhibition of NFkB activation in proximity of the portal triad. Our pre-clinical experiments suggest that EVs isolated from MSCs may represent an effective therapeutic strategy to treat patients suffering from PSC