Modelling of Oxygen and Nitrogen Cycling as a Function of Macrophyte Community in the Thau Lagoon.

Abstract not availableJRC.H-Institute for environment and sustainability (Ispra

Uma nova disciplina: o direito sanitário A new (Brazilian) academic discipline: health law

A reivindicação da saúde como direito tem levado o Estado a assumir responsabilidades crescentes pela promoção, proteção e recuperação da saúde do povo. A atuação do Estado contemporâneo - de Direito - é orientada por normas jurídicas. O conhecimento das normas que regulam a ação estatal no campo da saúde é indispensável ao sanitarista, profissional designado pela sociedade para trabalhar especificamente pela elevação de seu nível de saúde. Nessa linha, foram analisadas experiências estrangeiras com o ensino do direito sanitário, juntamente com as recomendações dos organismos internacionais de saúde. Conclui-se que a implementação do ensino do direito sanitário, no Brasil, é urgente.<br>The demand for health seen as the citizen's right, has led the State to accept increasing responsabilities regarding the health of the people, as evidenced by policies of health promotion, protection and recovery. The activity of a modern State ("State of law") is exercised according to juridical principles. It is highly advisable, therefail, that health workers-those professionals that society has appointed to work on its behalf for the raising of its health levels should have knowledge of the rules which guide the State's performance in the health area. Thus, foreign experiences in teaching health law as well as the recommendations of International Health Agencies, analysed in this paper, lead us to conclude that the teaching of health law is a must among the Brazilian academic priorities

Pollen limitation may be a common Allee effect in marine hydrophilous plants: implications for decline and recovery in seagrasses

International audiencePollen limitation may be an important factor in accelerated decline of sparse or fragmented populations. Little is known whether hydrophilous plants (pollen transport by water) suffer from an Allee effect due to pollen limitation or not. Hydrophilous pollination is a typical trait of marine angiosperms or seagrasses. Although seagrass flowers usually have high pollen production, floral densities are highly variable. We evaluated pollen limitation for intertidal populations of the seagrass Zostera noltei in The Netherlands and found a significant positive relation between flowering spathe density and fruit-set, which wassuboptimal at <1200 flowering spathes m−2 (corresponding to <600 reproductive shoots m−2). A fragmented population had ≈35 % lower fruit-set at similar reproductive density than a continuous population. 75 % of all European populations studied over a large latitudinal gradient had flowering spathe densities below that required for optimal fruitset, particularly in Southern countries. Literature review of the reproductive output of hydrophilous pollinated plants revealed that seed- or fruit-set of marine hydrophilous plants is generally low, as compared to hydrophilous freshwater and wind-pollinated plants. We conclude that pollen limitation as found in Z. noltei may be a common Allee effect for seagrasses, potentially accelerating decline and impairing recovery even after environmental conditions have improved substantially