Pervasive gaps in Amazonian ecological research

Biodiversity loss is one of the main challenges of our time, and attempts to address it require a clear understanding of how ecological communities respond to environmental change across time and space. While the increasing availability of global databases on ecological communities has advanced our knowledge of biodiversity sensitivity to environmental changes, vast areas of the tropics remain understudied. In the American tropics, Amazonia stands out as the world's most diverse rainforest and the primary source of Neotropical biodiversity, but it remains among the least known forests in America and is often underrepresented in biodiversity databases. To worsen this situation, human-induced modifications 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, 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

Estimativa de carbonato de cálcio aplicado via água de irrigação nas regiões da Chapada do Apodi e Baixo Açu, RN Estimate of the calcium carbonate applied through irrigation water in Chapada do Apodi and Baixo Açu regions of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil

A aplicação de água com elevados teores de carbonato e bicarbonato pela irrigação, pode contribuir para o aumento do pH dos solos após alguns anos de cultivo. Esse trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a água de irrigação quanto a seu teor de carbonato e bicarbonato, baseado no conceito do equivalente carbonato de cálcio (E CACO3) da água de irrigação nas regiões da Chapada do Apodi e Baixo Açu no Estado do Rio Grande do Norte. Considerando uma lâmina de irrigação de 400 mm, os resultados mostraram que as águas da região da Chapada do Apodi apresentaram maiores valores de E CACO3 quando comparadas com as água da região do Baixo Açu. Na região da Chapada do Apodi os maiores valores de E CACO3 independente da origem foram para as águas da região de Mossoró, com média de 765 kg ha-1 e o menor valor foi para a região de Grossos e Upanema com 626 kg ha-1. Para a região do Baixo Açu, verifica-se que, independente da origem das águas, a região de Ipanguassu apresentou os maiores valores de E CACO3 com média de 654 kg ha-1, e o menor valor foi para a região de Carnaubais com 580 kg ha-1.<br>The application of irrigation water with high contents of carbonate and bicarbonate can contribute to pH elevation of the soils after some years of cultivation. This study had as its objective the evaluation of the irrigation water with respect to its carbonate and bicarbonate content, based on the concept of the Equivalent Calcium Carbonate (E CACO3) in the region of the Chapada do Apodi and Baixo Açu in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. Considering an irrigation water depth of 400 mm, the results showed that the waters of the region of the Chapada do Apodi presented larger values of E CACO3 compared to those of the region of Baixo Açu. In the region of the Chapada do Apodi, independent of the origin, largest values of E CACO3 were found for the waters of the region of Mossoró, with an average of 765 kg ha-1 and the smallest value was observed for Grossos and Upanema with 626 kg ha-1. For the region of Baixo Açu, independent of the origin of the waters, the region of Ipanguassu presented the highest values of E CACO3 with an average of 654 kg ha-1 whereas the smallest values were found for the region of Carnaubais, with 580 kg ha-1