Scarabaeoidea (Insecta : Coleoptera) in the Brazilian Cerrado : current state of knowledge

Besouros pertencentes à superfamília Scarabaeoidea ocupam habitats variados, possuem hábitos alimentares diversifi cados, desempenham importante papel ecológico e diversas espécies apresentam importância agrícola. No entanto, estudos com esse grupo na região do Cerrado são escassos. Nesta revisão realizou-se um levantamento dos artigos publicados nos últimos 30 anos a respeito dos Scarabaeoidea no Cerrado. Foram recuperados 64 artigos, realizados em nove unidades da federação, que focavam quatro temas principais espécies praga, aspectos bioecológicos, biodiversidade e importância ecológica, e técnicas e metodologias de coleta de Scarabaeoidea. Os resultados desta revisão indicam que poucos estudos foram realizados com os Scarabaeoidea no Cerrado brasileiro nas últimas décadas frente à importância e diversidade desse grupo de insetos.Beetles belonging to the superfamily Scarabaeoidea occupy different habitats, present feeding habits diversifi ed, play an important ecological role and several species have agricultural importance. However, studies with this group in the Brazilian Cerrado are scarce. In this review we carried out a survey of scientifi c articles published in the past 30 years concerning Scarabaeoidea in the Cerrado. Were found 64 studies in nine Brazilian states. The studies focused on four main topics: pest species, bioecology, biodiversity and ecological importance, techniques and methodologies for collecting Scarabaeoidea. The results of this review indicate that few studies have been conducted with Scarabaeoidea in the Cerrado in recent decades compared to the importance and diversity of this group of insects

Multimedia Material to Help Photosynthesis Teaching in Regular and Distance Classes

The  difficulties  related  to  the  understanding of biochemistry  concepts  and  processes  observed during  regular  classes using  only schemes  and  static  pictures  have  raised  the  interest of professors towards  multimedia material.   In  the  few last  decades  we could  notice the  development of many computational tools that are helping this  process.  This  work presents a software  elaborated to show the  phases  of Photosynthesis (both  light-dependent  and  independent  processes).   FLASH  software was used to  make  regular  classes more attractive with schemes,  interactivity and  animations to  be projected.   An intuitive navigation system  was elaborated using ActionScript programming, so that students can  use the  same class material  for reviewing the major  topics.   The  students will benefit from characteristics like text boxes, summarizing  the  concepts  displayed  on each screen,  the  guided study  mode that suggests to the student the next  navigation step and the automatic navigation that gives a general look about the theme,  yet keeping the freedom for choosing any available  topic

Evaluating the impacts and conservation value of exotic and native tree afforestation in Cerrado grasslands using dung beetles

. 1. Although plantation forests are being established at an increasing rate, their effects on biodiversity are still debated. 2. Native candeias [Eremanthus erythropappus (DC.) Mac Leish] and exotic eucalyptus (Eucalyptus spp.) have recently been planted on Cerrado grasslands. The Cerrado is the second largest biome of Brazil and one of the most threatened savanna ecosystems. 3. Here, we use dung beetles (Scarabaeinae) to investigate the effects of the land-use changes associated to afforestation on Cerrado insect biodiversity. We sampled dung beetles in candeia (4- and 6-year-old) and eucalyptus plantations (1- and 4-year-old), natural candeia formations (candeiais), native grasslands and natural forests. 4. Dung beetle diversity in plantations was lower than in grasslands and forests, but was not different from diversity in natural candeiais. Candeia and 1-year-old eucalyptus plantations, grasslands and natural candeiais all had similar community composition, distinct from natural forests. Four-year-old eucalyptus plantations were intermediate between those two groups. Overall, afforestation was detrimental for dung beetles. 5. Differences between exotic and native plantations were only apparent in older plantations, and seemed to be due to differences associated to canopy openness rather than to the origin of the planted species. Candeia plantations were of better conservation value for open-area species (62% species shared between grasslands and candeia plantation) whereas eucalyptus plantations were so for forest species (26% species shared between forests and eucalyptus plantations). We recommend considering this result before deciding where to plant which species