Impact Assessment of Information and Communication Technologies in Agriculture: : Application of The Ambitec-TICs Method

An extraordinary moment of agricultural modernization is currently underway due to innovations in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). In this process, management precepts are renewed, fostering significant gains in efficiency, productivity, and sustainable use of natural resources and the environment. The growing supply of ICTs and the extension of connectivity in rural areas, with their transforming roles in productive practices and economic relations, bring about questions regarding their impacts. These technologies include precision positioning systems and large volume databases, electronic sensors of site-specific production and environmental conditions, repositories of relational data, statistical and crop forecasting software, methodologies and processes; web-based information services, among others. The assessment of impacts focused on ICTs for agriculture needs innovative approaches, due to the peculiarities of their applications, the different scales of their socioenvironmental scopes and, at the same time, the verification of effectiveness of institutional investments on research, development, and innovation (RD&I). Based on these premises, the objectives of this work are to present a ‘module of impact indicators for Information and Communication Technologies (Ambitec-TICs)’, and assess its application to six typical technology adoption cases resulting from agricultural RD&I projects. The results detail critical analyses of the contributions of the proposed module for the registration, interpretation, and communication of impacts, with recommendations for technology transfer and accountability in institutional Social Balance documentation

Monitoramento em programas e políticas de pagamentos por serviços ambientais em atividade no Brasil

Pagamentos por serviços ambientais (PSA) vêm sendo amplamente adotados no Brasil. O monitoramento de seus impactos é de relevante importância nos programas e políticas de PSA (PPPSAs), mas ainda é pouco praticado. Este trabalho teve como objetivo levantar os PPPSAs em atividade no Brasil e analisar estratégias de monitoramento utilizadas por eles. Foi conduzida uma busca na literatura recente sobre PSA, em sítios eletrônicos e normas. Foram encontrados 42 PPPSAs em atividade. A classe de indicadores mais monitorada (71%) é a área com cobertura florestal. Indicadores de qualidade hídrica, carbono, de biodiversidade, socioeconômicos e de produção agropecuária sustentável são utilizados por menos de 30% dos PPPSAs. Apenas 21% estimam ou determinam seus custos de transação e 36% mencionam empregar alguma forma de gestão participativa. Melhorias nessas características acima citadas contribuiriam para consolidar PPPSAs como políticas efetivas para promoção das várias dimensões da sustentabilidade

Concordance between Phylogeographical and Biogeographical Patterns in the Brazilian Cerrado: Diversification of the Endemic Tree <i>Dalbergia miscolobium</i> (Fabaceae)

<div><p>Few studies have addressed the phylogeography of species of the Cerrado, the largest savanna biome of South America. Here we aimed to investigate the phylogeographical structure of <i>Dalbergia miscolobium</i>, a widespread tree from the Cerrado, and to verify its concordance with plant phylogeographical and biogeographical patterns so far described. A total of 287 individuals from 32 populations were analyzed by sequencing the <i>trnL</i> intron of the chloroplast DNA and the internal transcribed spacer of the nuclear ribosomal DNA. Analysis of population structure and tests of population expansion were performed and the time of divergence of haplotypes was estimated. Twelve and 27 haplotypes were identified in the cpDNA and nrDNA data, respectively. The star-like network configuration and the mismatch distributions indicated a recent spatial and demographic expansion of the species. Consistent with previous tree phylogeographical studies of Cerrado trees, the cpDNA also suggested a recent expansion towards the southern Cerrado. The diversity of <i>D. miscolobium</i> was widespread but high levels of genetic diversity were found in the Central Eastern and in the southern portion of Central Western Cerrado. The combined analysis of cpDNA and nrDNA supported a phylogeographic structure into seven groups. The phylogeographical pattern showed many concordances with biogeographical and phylogeographical studies in the Cerrado, mainly with the Cerrado phytogeographic provinces superimposed to our sampling area. The data reinforced the uniqueness of Northeastern and Southeastern Cerrados and the differentiation between Eastern and Western Central Cerrados. The recent diversification of the species (estimated between the Pliocene and the Pleistocene) and the ‘genealogical concordances’ suggest that a shared and persistent pattern of species diversification might have been present in the Cerrado over time. This is the first time that an extensive ‘genealogical concordance’ between phylogeographic and phytogeographic patterns is shown for the Cerrado biome.</p></div

Analyses of molecular variance (AMOVA) of cpDNA and nrDNA data among clusters identified by Bayesian Analysis of Population Structure (BAPS) with cpDNA, nrDNA and concatenated data, as well as with the population clusters established by BAPS in the analysis with prior of 4 and 5 clusters.

a<p><i>P</i>-value<0.0001 for all analyses.</p><p>See methods and results for more details about the clusters.</p

Median-joining networks depicting the relationships among haplotypes of <i>Dalbergia miscolobium</i> based on cpDNA (A) and nrDNA (B) data.

<p>Geographic distribution of the cpDNA (C) and nrDNA (D) haplotypes across sampled populations. Population and haplotype codes correspond to those in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0082198#pone-0082198-t001" target="_blank">Table 1</a> and <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0082198#pone-0082198-t002" target="_blank">Table 2</a>. The network colours are equivalent to those at the maps for the respective genomes. The full circles are proportional to the number of individuals. The numbers inside the circles correspond to number of haplotypes found in that population.</p

Geographic distribution of <i>Dalbergia miscolobium</i> (dots) across the Brazilian Cerrado biome (grey) in Eastern Tropical South America.

<p>Each dot represents a record of <i>D. miscolobium</i> and each red asterisk a sampled population. The geographic distribution of <i>D. miscolobium</i> was estimated through field trips, herbarium records and databases of floristic checklists. The six phytogeographical provinces proposed by Ratter et al. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0082198#pone.0082198-Ratter1" target="_blank">[11]</a> have been delimited: ‘S’, Southern, ‘C & SE’, Central and southeastern, ‘N & NE’, North and northeastern, ‘CW’, Central-western, ‘FWM’, Far western mesotrophic sites and ‘DA’, Disjunct Amazonian. The codes of the provinces are the same of the original publication.</p

Genetic diversity indices for the phylogeographic groups of <i>Dalbergia miscolobium</i> based on chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) and nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) data.

a<p>The phylogeographic groups are composed by following populations: <b>CE1</b> = DAL, GMO, ICA, PER, RPE,UNA,VPA; <b>CE2</b> = BDE, COR, DEL, SAL, SJO, DFE; <b>CW1</b> = GAR, CGU; <b>CW</b>2 = AGU, BAT, NIO, NHA, AVA; <b>CC</b> = BGA, PNO, PJO, TUP; <b>SC</b> = ANA, EMA, IPE, PIR, PAL; <b>NC</b> = MUC, PRA, RCO. See also the <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0082198#pone-0082198-g003" target="_blank">Figure 3D</a>.</p>b<p>Twenty-seven individuals were excluded in PHASE analysis due to unresolved genotypes.</p>c<p>Allelic richness after rarefaction to 29 and 20 for cpDNA and nrDNA, respectively.</p

Mismatch distribution analysis (parameters of demographic and spatial expansion) for phylogeographic groups of <i>Dalbergia miscolobium</i> based on chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) and nuclear ribosomal DNA (nrDNA) data.

a<p>The population composition of the phylogeographic groups are detailed in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0082198#pone-0082198-t002" target="_blank">Table 2</a> and in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0082198#pone-0082198-g003" target="_blank">Figure 3D</a>.</p>b<p>p-value>0.05, which means that the population set (either groups or the whole species) mismatch distribution did not differ significantly from a sudden-expansion model.</p