Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear un derstanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5–7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8–11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world’s most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepre sented in biodiversity databases.13–15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may elim inate pieces of the Amazon’s biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological com munities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple or ganism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region’s vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most ne glected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lostinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time,1,2 and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space.3,4 While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes,5,6,7 vast areas of the tropics remain understudied.8,9,10,11 In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity,12 but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases.13,14,15 To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications16,17 may eliminate pieces of the Amazon's biodiversity puzzle before we can use them to understand how ecological communities are responding. To increase generalization and applicability of biodiversity knowledge,18,19 it is thus crucial to reduce biases in ecological research, particularly in regions projected to face the most pronounced environmental changes. We integrate ecological community metadata of 7,694 sampling sites for multiple organism groups in a machine learning model framework to map the research probability across the Brazilian Amazonia, while identifying the region's vulnerability to environmental change. 15%–18% of the most neglected areas in ecological research are expected to experience severe climate or land use changes by 2050. This means that unless we take immediate action, we will not be able to establish their current status, much less monitor how it is changing and what is being lost

Educational software and improvement of first grade school students’ knowledge about prevention of overweight and obesity

To evaluate the effects of educational softwareto improve first grade school students’ knowledge aboutprevention of overweight and obesity. Methods. Thisnon-controlled trial with a before-and-after evaluationwas carried out in an school located in the municipalityof Divinópolis (Brazil) among 71 students aged 6 to10 years. The educational software about preventionof overweight and obesity was designed and thenvalidated. The educational intervention comprised theuse of the software. Before and after of the interventionwe applied a questionnaire based on the Ten Steps toHealthy Eating for Children, proposed by the BrazilianMinistry of Health. Results. Comparing the times beforeand after application of the educational software,we observed statistically significant differences inproportion of questions answered correctly by firstgrade school students, mainly concerning daily eatingof healthy and unhealthy food, adequate preparationof food and importance of exercise. Conclusion. Thisstudy highlights the importance of educational actionsusing software to build knowledge of first grade schoolstudents about prevention of overweight and obesity.Objetivo. Avaliar os efeitos da utilização de um software educativo na melhoria de conhecimento dos escolares sobre prevenção de sobrepeso e obesidade. Métodos. Ensaio não controlado com avaliação antes e depois, realizada em uma escola municipal de Divinópolis (Brasil). Participaram 71 escolares com idade entre 6 e 10 anos. O software educativo sobre prevenção de sobrepeso e obesidade foi construído e validado. A intervenção educativa foi constituída pela utilização deste software. Antes e depois da intervenção foi aplicado um questionário baseado nos Dez Passos da Alimentação Saudável da Criança, proposta pelo Ministério da Saúde. Resultados. Comparando os momentos antes e depois da utilização do software educativo se observaram diferenças estatisticamente significativas na proporção de perguntas respondidas corretamente pelos escolares, especialmente no que se refere à ingesta diária de alimentos saudáveis e não saudáveis, preparação adequada de alimentos e importância da atividade física. Conclusão. O presente estudo ressalta a importância das ações educativas por meio de um software na construção de conhecimento dos escolares acerca da prevenção de sobrepeso e obesidadeObjetivo. Evaluar los efectos de la utilización de un software educativo en el mejoramiento del conocimiento de los escolares sobre la prevención del sobrepeso y la obesidad. Métodos. Ensayo no controlado con evaluaciones antes y después, realizado en una escuela municipal de Divinópolis (Brasil). Participaron 71 escolares con edades entre 6 y 10 años. El software educativo sobre prevención del sobrepeso y la obesidad se construyó y validó. La intervención educativa estuvo constituida por la utilización del software. Antes y después de la intervención se aplicó un cuestionario basado en los Diez pasos de la alimentación saludable de los niños, propuesta por el Ministerio da Salud. Resultados. Comparando los momentos antes y después de la utilización del software educativo, se observaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas en la proporción de preguntas contestadas correctamente por los escolares, en especial, en lo que se refiere a ingesta diaria de alimentos saludables y no saludables, preparación adecuada de alimentos y la importancia de la actividad física. Conclusión. El presente estudio resalta la importancia de las acciones educativas mediante la utilización de un software en la construcción de conocimiento en los escolares acerca de la prevención del sobrepeso y de la obesidad

Educational software and improvement of first grade school students' knowledge about prevention of overweight and obesity

Objective.To evaluate the effects of educational software to improve first grade school students' knowledge about prevention of overweight and obesity. Methods. This non-controlled trial with a before-and-after evaluation was carried out in an school located in the municipality of Divinópolis (Brazil) among 71 students aged 6 to 10 years. The educational software about prevention of overweight and obesity was designed and then validated. The educational intervention comprised the use of the software. Before and after of the intervention we applied a questionnaire based on the Ten Steps to Healthy Eating for Children, proposed by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. Results. Comparing the times before and after application of the educational software, we observed statistically significant differences in proportion of questions answered correctly by first grade school students, mainly concerning daily eating of healthy and unhealthy food, adequate preparation of food and importance of exercise. Conclusion. This study highlights the importance of educational actions using software to build knowledge of first grade school students about prevention of overweight and obesity

Brazilian Flora 2020: Leveraging the power of a collaborative scientific network

International audienceThe shortage of reliable primary taxonomic data limits the description of biological taxa and the understanding of biodiversity patterns and processes, complicating biogeographical, ecological, and evolutionary studies. This deficit creates a significant taxonomic impediment to biodiversity research and conservation planning. The taxonomic impediment and the biodiversity crisis are widely recognized, highlighting the urgent need for reliable taxonomic data. Over the past decade, numerous countries worldwide have devoted considerable effort to Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), which called for the preparation of a working list of all known plant species by 2010 and an online world Flora by 2020. Brazil is a megadiverse country, home to more of the world's known plant species than any other country. Despite that, Flora Brasiliensis, concluded in 1906, was the last comprehensive treatment of the Brazilian flora. The lack of accurate estimates of the number of species of algae, fungi, and plants occurring in Brazil contributes to the prevailing taxonomic impediment and delays progress towards the GSPC targets. Over the past 12 years, a legion of taxonomists motivated to meet Target 1 of the GSPC, worked together to gather and integrate knowledge on the algal, plant, and fungal diversity of Brazil. Overall, a team of about 980 taxonomists joined efforts in a highly collaborative project that used cybertaxonomy to prepare an updated Flora of Brazil, showing the power of scientific collaboration to reach ambitious goals. This paper presents an overview of the Brazilian Flora 2020 and provides taxonomic and spatial updates on the algae, fungi, and plants found in one of the world's most biodiverse countries. We further identify collection gaps and summarize future goals that extend beyond 2020. Our results show that Brazil is home to 46,975 native species of algae, fungi, and plants, of which 19,669 are endemic to the country. The data compiled to date suggests that the Atlantic Rainforest might be the most diverse Brazilian domain for all plant groups except gymnosperms, which are most diverse in the Amazon. However, scientific knowledge of Brazilian diversity is still unequally distributed, with the Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado being the most intensively sampled and studied biomes in the country. In times of “scientific reductionism”, with botanical and mycological sciences suffering pervasive depreciation in recent decades, the first online Flora of Brazil 2020 significantly enhanced the quality and quantity of taxonomic data available for algae, fungi, and plants from Brazil. This project also made all the information freely available online, providing a firm foundation for future research and for the management, conservation, and sustainable use of the Brazilian funga and flora