Challenging the Environmental History of the Cerrado: Science, Biodiversity and Politics on the Brazilian Agricultural Frontier

This article presents an overview of the environmental history of the Brazilian Cerrado, its environmental characteristics and the processes related to the historical change in the landscapes of this endangered ecosystem. It highlights competing classifications of the Cerrado, the role of politics in establishing them, and the environmental consequences of such classifications. More than just describing an environment, classifying an ecosystem is a political process that involves complex socio-environmental interactions. The sources used points out the different attempts to get to know and "conquered" the Cerrado, bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives from a variety of actors and institutions. Historiographic challenges go beyond environmental descriptions in that the socio-environmental interactions that made up this unique ecosystem are equally complex. This paper’s conclusions reinforce the interdisciplinary role of environmental history in the study of ecosystems and the complex relationship between culture and nature.This article presents an overview of the environmental history of the Brazilian Cerrado, its environmental characteristics and the processes related to the historical change in the landscapes of this endangered ecosystem. It highlights competing classifications of the Cerrado, the role of politics in establishing them, and the environmental consequences of such classifications. More than just describing an environment, classifying an ecosystem is a political process that involves complex socio-environmental interactions. The sources used points out the different attempts to get to know and "conquered" the Cerrado, bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives from a variety of actors and institutions. Historiographic challenges go beyond environmental descriptions in that the socio-environmental interactions that made up this unique ecosystem are equally complex. This paper’s conclusions reinforce the interdisciplinary role of environmental history in the study of ecosystems and the complex relationship between culture and nature.This article presents an overview of the environmental history of the Brazilian Cerrado, its environmental characteristics and the processes related to the historical change in the landscapes of this endangered ecosystem. It highlights competing classifications of the Cerrado, the role of politics in establishing them, and the environmental consequences of such classifications. More than just describing an environment, classifying an ecosystem is a political process that involves complex socio-environmental interactions. The sources used points out the different attempts to get to know and "conquered" the Cerrado, bringing together interdisciplinary perspectives from a variety of actors and institutions. Historiographic challenges go beyond environmental descriptions in that the socio-environmental interactions that made up this unique ecosystem are equally complex. This paper’s conclusions reinforce the interdisciplinary role of environmental history in the study of ecosystems and the complex relationship between culture and nature

Human Ecology and Public Policy: Overcoming the Hegemony of Economics

The thinking of those with the power to formulate and implement public policy is now almost totally dominated by the so-called science of economics. While efforts have been made to supplement or modify economics to make it less brutal or less environmentally blind, here it is suggested that economics is so fundamentally flawed and that it so completely dominates the culture of late modern capitalism (or postmodernity) that a new master human science is required to displace it and provide an alternative coordinating framework for research and for defining reality. This could then provide an alternative basis for formulating public policy. It is argued that if human ecology is to fill this role, it will must be developed on consistently anti-reductionist foundations, and that such a social science would totally reorient public policy from a domain for power elites to a domain for genuinely democratic societies to define and control their destinies

Avian diversification in the afrotropics

Widespread bird species endemic to the lowlands of the Guineo-Congolian rainforest of Africa have traditionally been thought to lack substantial intraspecific structure. This view owes largely to their widespread distributions coupled with the absence of discrete geographic variation in plumage. In the following chapters I examine the phylogeographic patterns of three such species using a combination of molecular and morphometric data. The three species investigated are the Green Hylia (Hylia prasina), the Red-tailed Bristlebill (Bleda syndactylus), and the Yellow-whiskered Greenbul (Andropadus latirostris). Using the phylogeographic patterns from these data, I assess 1) models of rainforest species diversification, 2) current taxonomy, and 3) implications for conservation of lowland rainforests. In contrast to the lack of discrete plumage variation in these species, phylogeographic analyses reveal a high degree molecular and morphological divergence. Furthermore, general patterns of geographical structure of the mtDNA data are largely congruent among the three species. Each species has unique mtDNA haplotype groups in Liberia, Ghana, Cameroon-Gabon, Central African Republic, and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Andropadus latirostris, which also occurs in montane forests, has unique haplotype groups in these montane regions. Taken together the patterns of geographic variation in molecular and morphological datasets from these three species suggest a history of allopatric divergence via genetic drift, consistent with predictions of refugial diversification. There is also some evidence for a potential role for divergent selection along a longitudinal temperature gradient in shaping the morphometric diversity in Andropadus latirostris. Despite their widespread distributions and the potential for high gene flow, these three species exhibit a remarkable level of geographic structure across the lowland rainforest. This contradicts the prevailing view of widespread lowland species as large panmictic populations. This significant geographic structure has important implications for species and habitat conservation in Africa, where lowland forest is typically viewed as a continuous block of homogeneous habitat. The implication is habitat loss in one area would not result in a substantial loss of biodiversity because many of the species are widely distributed. The geographic structure evident in these data suggests that that is not the case

“Lagoa Santa, contribuição para a geografia fitobiológica” e a construção acadêmica do (os) cerrado (s): discussões de Peter Lund e Eugenius Warming sobre a origem do cerrado/ “Lagoa Santa, et Bidrag til den biologiske Plantegeografi” and the academic construction of (the) cerrado (s): Peter Lund and Eugenius Warming discussions on the cerrado origin

No século XIX, Peter Lund, médico pela Universidade de Copenhague, fez duas viagens ao Brasil. A segunda viagem de Peter Lund, através de São Paulo, Goiás e Minas Gerais, também seria importante para a definição do cerrado como uma formação vegetal complexa, que apresenta fitofisionomias de campos e de vegetação arbórea-arbustiva diferenciada das florestas tropicais. Lund também escreveu um tratado sobre vegetação “Bemaekninger over Vegetationen paa de indre Höisletter af Brasilien, isaer i plantehistorik Henseende”. Outra grande contribuição de Lund para a fitogeografia do cerrado brasileiro, foi a viagem de Eugenius Warming para o Brasil (1863-1866). Estudante da Universidade de Copenhague, Warming é indicado por Johannes Theodor Reinhardt (1816-1882), para trabalhar em Lagoa Santa auxiliando na organização das coleções de fósseis de Lund. Warming tem como área de estudos um raio de 15 km no entorno de Lagoa Santa (área central de Minas Gerais), e a Serra da Piedade (extremo nordeste do Quadrilátero Ferrífero, na atual cidade de Caeté, Minas Gerais), o livro Lagoa Santa, et Bidrag til den biologiske Plantegeografi publicado na Dinamarca em 1892, ainda se mostra útil para a composição de um diálogo com os autores do século XX e XXI, pois as suas observações da origem da vegetação ainda são sensatas e pertinentes. O tratado de Peter Lund ainda é um dos primeiros documentos que discutem as alterações antrópicas no cerrad

“Lagoa Santa, contribuição para a geografia fitobiológica” e a construção acadêmica do (os) cerrado (s): discussões de Peter Lund e Eugenius Warming sobre a origem do cerrado/ “Lagoa Santa, et Bidrag til den biologiske Plantegeografi” and the academic construction of (the) cerrado (s): Peter Lund and Eugenius Warming discussions on the cerrado origin

No século XIX, Peter Lund, médico pela Universidade de Copenhague, fez duas viagens ao Brasil. A segunda viagem de Peter Lund, através de São Paulo, Goiás e Minas Gerais, também seria importante para a definição do cerrado como uma formação vegetal complexa, que apresenta fitofisionomias de campos e de vegetação arbórea-arbustiva diferenciada das florestas tropicais. Lund também escreveu um tratado sobre vegetação “Bemaekninger over Vegetationen paa de indre Höisletter af Brasilien, isaer i plantehistorik Henseende”. Outra grande contribuição de Lund para a fitogeografia do cerrado brasileiro, foi a viagem de Eugenius Warming para o Brasil (1863-1866). Estudante da Universidade de Copenhague, Warming é indicado por Johannes Theodor Reinhardt (1816-1882), para trabalhar em Lagoa Santa auxiliando na organização das coleções de fósseis de Lund. Warming tem como área de estudos um raio de 15 km no entorno de Lagoa Santa (área central de Minas Gerais), e a Serra da Piedade (extremo nordeste do Quadrilátero Ferrífero, na atual cidade de Caeté, Minas Gerais), o livro Lagoa Santa, et Bidrag til den biologiske Plantegeografi publicado na Dinamarca em 1892, ainda se mostra útil para a composição de um diálogo com os autores do século XX e XXI, pois as suas observações da origem da vegetação ainda são sensatas e pertinentes. O tratado de Peter Lund ainda é um dos primeiros documentos que discutem as alterações antrópicas no cerrad

Record books as a strategy in ecology education: fundations historical in Brazil

The article brings a bibliographic review about the historical bases of Ecology with a didactic activity, demonstrating the importance of Brazil for the development of Ecology, based on the History and Philosophy of Biology. The activity was accomplished with students of the last year of high school in a public school in Goiânia, Goiás. We used three biology classes to organize the activity in three different moments: (1) classes-dialogue about naturalist journeys; (2) practical activity about what nineteenth-century naturalists did. We provided to each student a “log book” to make notes about the activity; and (3) class about the “log books” of Eugen Warming, nineteenth-century naturalist, comparing with the students works. The analysis of student’s log books showed that, although Warming’s method (texts, illustrations and collections) had not been detailed, they followed similar principles. Therefore, we realized this type of approach is specific and exact, avoiding generalizations. The HFB can help the future teacher to understand better the science that teaches, from epistemological aspects to the social and historical relations

Eugen Warming: um dinamarquês desvenda o cerrado brasileiro

O botânico Johannes Eugenius Bülow Warming (1841-1924) atuou como professor de botânica nas Universidades de Copenhagen e Estocolmo, sendo também reitor em ambas e diretor do Jardim Botânico de Copenhagen. Visitou vários países em expedições científicas e foi conferencista em eventos, inclusive o Brasil. Figura de destaque  na ecologia vegetal, Warming influenciou a geração de jovens botânicos e ecólogos que o sucederam, principalmente pela abordagem sistêmica ao cerrado. Alguns ecólogos atribuem a ele a expressão “fatores ecológicos”. O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar informações sobre a vida e obra de Warming destacando seus estudos sobre o cerrado e o seu papel na definição de linhas de pesquisa em ecologia vegetal. Warming, esteve no Brasil, mais precisamente em Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais, de 1863 a 1866. Nesse período, coletou, descreveu e registrou em desenhos e fotografias a vegetação e representantes da flora do cerrado daquela região. Ele não se limitou aos aspectos estéticos, mas associou   a vegetação e a flora do cerrado às características climáticas, edáficas e ocorrência de fogo.  A importância de sua obra reside na maneira como ele procedeu em sua pesquisa. Publicou o primeiro estudo sobre o cerrado brasileiro na língua dinamarquesa, que foi traduzido para o português como Lagoa Santa: coribuição para a geografia phytobiologica por Johan Albert Constantin Löfgren (1854-1918) em 1908.  The botanist Johannes Eugenius Bülow Warming (1841-1924) served as professor of botany at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Stockholm and was also dean at both and director of the Copenhagen Botanical Garden. He visited several countries on scientific expeditions and as a speaker at events, including Brazil. A prominent figure in the history of plant ecology, Warming influenced the generation of young botanists and ecologists who succeeded him, mainly due to the systemic approach to the “cerrado”. Some ecologists even consider that he coined the expression “ecological factors”. The purpose of this article is to present Warming’s biographical information highlighting his studies on the “cerrado” and his role in defining lines of research in plant ecology. Warming has been in Brazil, more precisely in Lagoa Santa, Minas Gerais, from 1863 to 1866. During this period, he collected, described and recorded in drawings and photos the vegetation and representatives of the “cerrado” flora of that region. He was not limited to the aesthetic aspects but associated the vegetation and flora of the “cerrado” with climatic and edaphic characteristics and the occurrence of fire. The importance of his work lies in the way he proceeded in his research. He published the first study on the Brazilian “cerrado” in the Danish language, which was translated into Portuguese as Lagoa Santa: contribution to phytobiologica geography by Johan Albert Constantin Löfgren (1854-1918) in 1908

Matter, Spirit, and Cosmogony: The Context and Meaning of Thomas Vaughan’s Alchemical Vitalism

During the seventeenth century in Europe, three major theories of matter were in contention for the dominant natural philosophy: the hylomorphism of the Aristotelian-Scholastic philosophy, the mechanism of the Cartesians and other mechanical philosophers, and the vitalism of the Hermeticists and alchemists. The debate over matter between these three views of the physical world, as well as the argument over their associated epistemologies, fueled the scientific revolution. The fact that alchemy was a viable contender for the dominant natural philosophy of the time—an era that is supposed to be marked by strides forward to a more “rational” and “scientific” view of nature and away from religion, pseudo-science, and “superstition”—is a difficult concept for the modern reader to reconcile. However, history has shown that not only was alchemy taken seriously by many thinkers important to the scientific revolution, but that it was also a crucial element in the developments leading up to the modern scientific paradigm. This study focuses on one of the alchemists of the seventeenth century, the Englishman Thomas Vaughan, showing how his alchemical writings detail, in the religious and philosophical language of early modern alchemy, the alchemical vitalist conception of matter, and that these works therefore constitute an alchemical natural philosophy. In the process, I show that his ideas, as well as the epistemological premises behind them, were products of the specific cultural and intellectual context in which Vaughan wrote, and that they therefore can only be properly understood in light of that contextual framework. This idea underlies both the methodological approach and layout of the research

Human Ecology, Process Philosophy and the Global Ecological Crisis

This paper argues that human ecology, based on process philosophy and challenging scientific materialism, is required to effectively confront the global ecological crisis now facing us