Influence of Land Use and Coverage Change on Continental Surface Temperature in the Urban Area of Belem-PA

The objective of this work is to examine the spatial distribution of Continental Surface Temperature (CST) of the urban area of Belem / PA and the influence of the change of use and soil cover from remote sensing techniques. Products from Thematic Mapper (TM) and Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) sensors coupled, respectively, to Landsat 5 and 8 satellites were used. The images acquired from the years 1994, 2008 and 2017 were processed, resampled (spatial resolution of 120 meters) and, finally, centroids were extracted with a total of 1252 points, using the Quantum GIS software. Subsequently, spectral indices, NDVI, NDBI and albedo were calculated, which represent, respectively, the presence of vegetation, exposed soil or built area and reflectivity rate. The results showed that CST showed an increase in all sectors of the study area, mainly between the years 2008 and 2017. The sector with the highest elevation of the CST was the urban center, as it presented values below 25.0 ºC in the image of 1994 and above 35.0 ºC in the 2017 image. In contrast, the ecological park sector showed the lowest increase in CST, from 20.0 ºC (1994) to 25.0 ºC (2017). According to the analysis of the spectral indices, the intensification of CST is directly associated with the strong territorial expansion, since from the NDVI values the degradation of the vegetation cover was noted. This degradation is observed in the comparisons of the images, in which it is possible to verify the decrease in the NDVI values in the entire study area, whose values represent the decrease in the vegetation cover. The sector with the greatest withdrawal of green areas was the northern zone, as it showed a drop in NDVI values, from 0.7 in 1994 to 0.3 in the 2017 image. It was also observed that the density of the constructed area was intensified, presenting increasing values of NDBI. Added to these NDVI and NDBI values, higher reflectivity rate values were noted, whose values in the urban center of Belem in 1994 were 0.1% and which exceeded 0.5% in the image for the year 2017, ratifying the impact of changes in land cover and the direct association between changes in the environment and CST. In general, the results indicate that the uncontrolled expansion of the urban process and the change in land cover cause the intensification of CST

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