Effects of reduced-impact logging on medium and large-bodied forest vertebrates in eastern Amazonia

Standard line-transect census techniques were deployed to generate a checklist and quantify the abundance of medium and large-bodied vertebrate species in forest areas of eastern Amazonia with and without a history of reduced-impact logging (RIL). Three areas were allocated a total of 1,196.9 km of line-transect census effort. Sampling was conducted from April to June 2012 and from April to August 2013, and detected 29 forest vertebrate species considered in this study belonging to 15 orders, 20 families and 28 genera. Additionally, eight species were recorded outside census walks through direct and indirect observations. Of this total, six species are considered vulnerable according to IUCN (Ateles paniscus, Myrmecophaga tridactyla, Priodontes maximus, Tapirus terrestris, Tayassu peccary, Chelonoidis denticulata). Observed species richness ranged from 21 to 24 species in logged and unlogged areas, and encounter rates along transects were highly variable between treatments. However, the relative abundance of species per transect did not differ between transects in logged and unlogged forests. Of the species  detected during censuses, only three showed different relative abundance between the two treatments (Saguinus midas, Tinamus spp. and Dasyprocta leporina). Our results show that the effect of RIL forest management was a relatively unimportant determinant of population abundance for most medium and large vertebrates over the time period of the survey

Seleção de materiais de informação para as unidades hospitalares da Secretaria de Estado da Saúde

TCC (especialização). Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Secretaria de Estado da Saúde de Santa Catarina. Gerência de Especialização e Projetos Especiais. Curso de Especialização em Gestão HospitalarA presente monografia destina-se à conclusão do Curso de Especialização em Gestão Hospitalar, realizado em convênio com a Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina e a Secretaria de Estado da Saúde de Santa Catarina, no período de março a novembro de 1998. A pesquisa seguinte aborda o tema Seleção de Materiais de Informação para as Unidades Hospitalares da Secretaria de Estado da Saúde de Santa Catarina - SES. Nas instituições de saúde existem profissionais que recebem a incumbência de definir as parcelas do universo do conhecimento que estarão acessíveis para uma comunidade especifica, que muitas vezes estas dispõem somente da Biblioteca como fonte de informação, ainda mais na área de ciência da saúde , especialidade tão complexa e em constantes mutações, iniciamos este trabalho, julgando ser de estrema relevância para os profissionais de informação em saúde. Ë de fundamental importância a presença de Bibliotecas e Centros de Informações nas unidades hospitalares, haja vista que os respectivos serviços têm como missão servir de suporte informacional para todos os profissionais que atuam nas unidades da Secretaria de Estado da Saúde assim como também todas as demais instituições que desejar se valer, direta ou indiretamente de seus subsídios, também contribuir para a melhoria do atendimento, fomentar o ensino, a pesquisa e, singularmente, à saúde, oportunizando assim a disseminação da informação. Esta monografia visa normatizar princípios e ações no processo de seleção de materiais bibliográficos e de multimeios com o intuito de atingir uma melhor qualidade e racionalização da coleção dos Serviços de Informação das Unidades Hospitalares da SES. Para que qualquer biblioteca ou serviço de informação estabeleça uma política de seleção, isto é, uma legislação interna para nortear o trabalho dos responsáveis pela seleção, é necessários que os profissionais que atuam nesta áreas conheçam claramente os objetivos, os quais propõe se alcançar, fundamentados na coleção, existente ou que ira desenvolver, e de acordo com a instituição a qual está servindo ou deverá servir. Considerando que o processo atualmente existente para a seleção de materiais de informação da Secretaria de Estado da Saúde, compõe-se de processos totalmente aleatório e individualizado, logo, recuperamos referencial bibliográfico relevante ao tema, no Brasil e no exterior através de pesquisa bibliográfica nos Banco de Dados Medline e Lilacs1. Neste contexto descreveremos a seguir, detalhadamente cada fase deste complexo processo, tendo certeza que este trabalho não será estático, pois face a explosão de informações qual vivenciamos, produções como esta necessitarão de constante atualização, amplificações e reflexõe

Marked decline in forest-dependent small mammals following habitat loss and fragmentation in an Amazonian deforestation frontier

Agricultural frontier expansion into the Amazon over the last four decades has created million hectares of fragmented forests. While many species undergo local extinctions within remaining forest patches, this may be compensated by native species from neighbouring open-habitat areas potentially invading these patches, particularly as forest habitats become increasingly degraded. Here, we examine the effects of habitat loss, fragmentation and degradation on small mammal assemblages in a southern Amazonian deforestation frontier, while accounting for species-specific degree of forest-dependency. We surveyed small mammals at three continuous forest sites and 19 forest patches of different sizes and degrees of isolation. We further sampled matrix habitats adjacent to forest patches, which allowed us to classify each species according to forest-dependency and generate a community-averaged forest-dependency index for each site. Based on 21,568 trap-nights, we recorded 970 small mammals representing 20 species: 12 forest-dependents, 5 matrix-tolerants and 3 open-habitat specialists. Across the gradient of forest patch size, small mammal assemblages failed to show the typical species-area relationship, but this relationship held true when either species abundance or composition was considered. Species composition was further mediated by community-averaged forest-dependency, so that smaller forest patches were occupied by a lower proportion of forest-dependent rodents and marsupials. Both species richness and abundance increased in less isolated fragments surrounded by structurally simplified matrix habitats (e.g. active or abandoned cattle pastures). While shorter distances between forest patches may favour small mammal abundances, forest area and matrix complexity dictated which species could persist within forest fragments according to their degree of forest-dependency. Small mammal local extinctions in small forest patches within Amazonian deforestation frontiers are therefore likely offset by the incursion of open-habitat species. To preclude the dominance of those species, and consequent losses of native species and associated ecosystem functions, management actions should limit or reduce areas dedicated to pasture, additionally maintaining more structurally complex matrix habitats across fragmented landscapes

Evaluating the use of local ecological knowledge to monitor hunted tropicalforest wildlife over large spatial scales

Monitoring the distribution and abundance of hunted wildlife is critical to achieving sustainable resource use, yet adequate data are sparse for most tropical regions. Conventional methods for monitoring hunted forest-vertebrate species require intensive in situ survey effort, which severely constrains spatial and temporal replication. Integrating local ecological knowledge (LEK) into monitoring and management is appealing because it can be cost-effective, enhance community participation, and provide novel insights into sustainable resource use. We develop a technique to monitor population depletion of hunted forest wildlife in the Brazilian Amazon, based on the local ecological knowledge of rural hunters. We performed rapid interview surveys to estimate the landscape-scale depletion of ten large-bodied vertebrate species around 161 Amazonian riverine settlements. We assessed the explanatory and predictive power of settlement and landscape characteristics and were able to develop robust estimates of local faunal depletion. By identifying species specific drivers of depletion and using secondary data on human population density, land form, and physical accessibility, we then estimated landscape- and regional-scale depletion. White-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari), for example, were estimated to be absent from 17% of their putative range in Brazil’s largest state (Amazonas), despite 98% of the original forest cover remaining intact. We found evidence that bushmeat consumption in small urban centers has far-reaching impacts on some forest species, including severe depletion well over 100 km from urban centers. We conclude that LEK-based approaches require further field validation, but have significant potential for community-based participatory monitoring as well as cost-effective, large-scale monitoring of threatened forest specie

Sampling design may obscure species–area relationships in landscape-scale field studies

We investigated 1) the role of area per se in explaining anuran species richness on reservoir forest islands, after controlling for several confounding factors. We also assessed 2) how sampling design affects the inferential power of island species–area relationships (ISARs) aiming to 3) provide guidelines to yield reliable estimates of area-induced species losses in patchy systems. We surveyed anurans with autonomous recording units at 151 plots located on 74 islands and four continuous forest sites at the Balbina Hydroelectric Reservoir landscape, central Brazilian Amazonia. We applied semi-log ISAR models to assess the effect of sampling design on the fit and slope of species–area curves. To do so, we subsampled our surveyed islands following both a 1) stratified and 2) non-stratified random selection of 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 islands covering 1) the full range in island size (0.45–1699 ha) and 2) only islands smaller than 100 ha, respectively. We also compiled 25 datasets from the literature to assess the generality of our findings. Island size explained ca half of the variation in species richness. The fit and slope of species–area curves were affected mainly by the range in island size considered, and to a very small extent by the number of islands surveyed. In our literature review, all datasets covering a range of patch sizes larger than 300 ha yielded a positive ISAR, whereas the number of patches alone did not affect the detection of ISARs. We conclude that 1) area per se plays a major role in explaining anuran species richness on forest islands within an Amazonian anthropogenic archipelago; 2) the inferential power of island species–area relationships is severely degraded by sub-optimal sampling designs; 3) at least 10 habitat patches spanning three orders of magnitude in size should be surveyed to yield reliable species–area estimates in patchy systems

Do Community-Managed Forests Work? A Biodiversity Perspective

Community-managed reserves (CMRs) comprise the fastest-growing category of protected areas throughout the tropics. CMRs represent a compromise between advocates of nature conservation and advocates of human development. We ask whether CMRs succeed in achieving the goals of either. A fixed reserve area can produce only a finite resource supply, whereas human populations exploiting them tend to expand rapidly while adopting high-impact technologies to satisfy rising aspirations. Intentions behind the establishment of CMRs may be admirable, but represent an ideal rarely achieved. People tied to the natural forest subsist on income levels that are among the lowest in the Amazon. Limits of sustainable harvesting are often low and rarely known prior to reserve creation or respected thereafter, and resource exhaustion predictably follows. Unintended consequences typically emerge, such as overhunting of the seed dispersers, pollinators, and other animals that provide services essential to perpetuating the forest. CMRs are a low priority for governments, so mostly operate without enforcement, a laxity that encourages illegal forest conversion. Finally, the pull of markets can alter the “business plan” of a reserve overnight, as inhabitants switch to new activities. The reality is that we live in a hyperdynamic world of accelerating change in which past assumptions must continually be re-evaluated

Gamebird responses to anthropogenic forest fragmentation and degradation in a southern Amazonian landscape

Although large-bodied tropical forest birds are impacted by both habitat loss and fragmentation, their patterns of habitat occupancy will also depend on the degree of forest habitat disturbance, which may interact synergistically or additively with fragmentation effects. Here, we examine the effects of forest patch and landscape metrics, and levels of forest disturbance on the patterns of persistence of six gamebird taxa in the southern Brazilian Amazon. We use both interview data conducted with long-term residents and/or landowners from 129 remnant forest patches and 15 continuous forest sites and line-transect census data from a subset of 21 forest patches and two continuous forests. Forest patch area was the strongest predictor of species persistence, explaining as much as 46% of the overall variation in gamebird species richness. Logistic regression models showed that anthropogenic disturbance—including surface wildfires, selective logging and hunting pressure—had a variety of effects on species persistence. Most large-bodied gamebird species were sensitive to forest fragmentation, occupying primarily large, high-quality forest patches in higher abundances, and were typically absent from patches 10,000 ha), relatively undisturbed forest patches to both maximize persistence and maintain baseline abundances of large neotropical forest birds

EXPANSIÓN DE LA EDUCACIÓN SUPERIOR EN LA ARGENTINA: DESAFÍOS Y PROPUESTAS PARA PENSAR LAS POLÍTICAS DE ACCESO.

Desde la sanción de la Ley Nacional de Educación (Ley Nº 26206/06) la enseñanza secundaria reviste carácter obligatorio. Consecuente con el mandato legal, el Ministerio de Educación comenzó a trabajar en pos de producir las condiciones para su cumplimiento de modo de garantizar la universalización de la enseñanza secundaria. También por iniciativa del Ministerio de Educación, durante el año 2009 se presentó el Programa de Expansión de la Educación Superior con la finalidad de incrementar las oportunidades de acceso a la educación superior extendiendo la cobertura territorial preservando la calidad y la pertinencia de las ofertas educativas. Nos proponemos en esta comunicación realizar un análisis de los desafíos que implica la obligatoriedad del nivel secundario y la promoción de la expansión del sistema con relación a las políticas de acceso a la educación superior. Para ello, en primer término presentamos los modos y las lógicas que ha adoptado la expansión de las ofertas de carreras universitarias y las lógicas que han presidido las decisiones del Ministerio de Educación y las universidades respecto del acceso a la educación superior, para luego comparar ambas con el propósito de observar su relación o la falta de ellas. Es decir, observar si las lógicas de expansión de las ofertas de educación superior incorporaban, de manera sistemática o no, mecanismos o dispositivos orientados a dar respuesta a los problemas diagnosticados sobre el acceso a la educación superior. En un segundo momento se describen los desarrollos en países de América Latina sobre políticas de expansión de la educación superior para dar un marco de entendimiento a las nuevas concepciones que sobre el tema están vigentes. Es en ese marco que cobran relevancia las principales características del “Programa de regionalización” que desde la Secretaría Ejecutiva de los CPRES se implementa con el propósito de expandir los servicios de educación superior. En este apartado se describe, también, el marco sobre el que se implementa la obligatoriedad del nivel secundario. Ambas estrategias tienen en común el hecho de que promueven una democratización del acceso a sus niveles respectivos, propiciando la incorporación de nuevos públicos, tradicionalmente excluidos de uno u otro nivel o de ambos. Finalmente, se realiza un cierre del trabajo estableciendo un conjunto de recomendaciones de política que den cuenta del desafío que implica para el sistema de educación superior garantizar, en condiciones de calidad y con criterio de pertinencia social, la satisfacción de una demanda creciente por educación superior que incorporará, por lo menos hasta un mediano plazo, no solo una mayor cantidad de aspirantes sino nuevos públicos que estarán expectantes por las oportunidades que abren la obligatoriedad del secundario y la expansión de las ofertas

Do Community-Managed Forests Work? A Biodiversity Perspective

Community-managed reserves (CMRs) comprise the fastest-growing category of protected areas throughout the tropics. CMRs represent a compromise between advocates of nature conservation and advocates of human development. We ask whether CMRs succeed in achieving the goals of either. A fixed reserve area can produce only a finite resource supply, whereas human populations exploiting them tend to expand rapidly while adopting high-impact technologies to satisfy rising aspirations. Intentions behind the establishment of CMRs may be admirable, but represent an ideal rarely achieved. People tied to the natural forest subsist on income levels that are among the lowest in the Amazon. Limits of sustainable harvesting are often low and rarely known prior to reserve creation or respected thereafter, and resource exhaustion predictably follows. Unintended consequences typically emerge, such as overhunting of the seed dispersers, pollinators, and other animals that provide services essential to perpetuating the forest. CMRs are a low priority for governments, so mostly operate without enforcement, a laxity that encourages illegal forest conversion. Finally, the pull of markets can alter the “business plan” of a reserve overnight, as inhabitants switch to new activities. The reality is that we live in a hyperdynamic world of accelerating change in which past assumptions must continually be re-evaluated

Determinants of population persistence and abundance of terrestrial and arboreal vertebrates stranded in tropical forest land-bridge islands

Megadams are among the key modern drivers of habitat and biodiversity loss in emerging economies. The Balbina Hydroelectric Dam of Central Brazilian Amazonia inundated 312,900 ha of primary forests and created approximately 3500 variable-sized islands that still harbor vertebrate populations after nearly 3 decades after isolation. We estimated the species richness, abundance, biomass, composition, and group size of medium- to large-bodied forest vertebrates in response to patch, landscape, and habitat-quality metrics across 37 islands and 3 continuous forest sites throughout the Balbina archipelago. We conducted 1168 km of diurnal censuses and had 12,420 camera-trapping days along 81 transects with 207 camera stations. We determined the number of individuals (or groups) detected per 10 km walked and the number of independent photographs per 10 camera-trapping days, respectively, for each species. We recorded 34 species, and patch area was the most significant predictor of vertebrate population relative abundance and aggregate biomass. The maximum group size of several group-living species was consistently larger on large islands and in continuous patches than on small islands. Most vertebrate populations were extirpated after inundation. Remaining populations are unlikely to survive further ecological disruptions. If all vertebrate species were once widely distributed before inundation, we estimated that approximately 75% of all individual vertebrates were lost from all 3546 islands and 7.4% of the animals in all persisting insular populations are highly likely to be extirpated. Our results demonstrate that population abundance estimates should be factored into predictions of community disassembly on small islands to robustly predict biodiversity outcomes. Given the rapidly escalating hydropower infrastructure projects in developing counties, we suggest that faunal abundance and biomass estimates be considered in environmental impact assessments and large strictly protected reserves be established to minimize detrimental effects of dams on biodiversity. Conserving large tracts of continuous forests represents the most critical conservation measure to ensure that animal populations can persist at natural densities in Amazonian forests