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

Mediação nos cursos EFA : acompanhamento dos formandos e formadores

Trabalho de projecto de mestrado, Ciências da Educação (Formação de Adultos), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Educação, 2012Este trabalho de projecto, realizado no âmbito do Mestrado em Ciências da Educação na área de especialização de Formação de Adultos, tem como objectivo geral reflectir sobre o percurso profissional e analisar um domínio específico da prática profissional, neste caso, as funções do mediador de um curso EFA, tendo por base os elementos teóricos da educação de adultos. Esta reflexão teve como ponto de partida a elaboração de uma narrativa autobiográfica centrada no meu percurso profissional enquanto professora de jovens e formadora de adultos e, posteriormente, a análise de elementos conceptuais do campo da educação de adultos. Procura-se entender qual o papel e as características pessoais e profissionais do mediador de um curso EFA, analisando documentos com informação sobre os formandos (ficha do participante) e as entrevistas realizadas aos mesmos no início da formação, traçando uma breve caracterização do grupo de formação em questão, e percepcionando as suas motivações relativas ao regresso à escola. Posteriormente, interpretam-se os questionários aplicados aos formandos relativos às suas expectativas sobre o mediador e os respondidos pelos formadores e/ou mediadores dos mesmos cursos relativamente às suas práticas profissionais. A análise crítica do meu desempenho profissional, permitiu compreender como me tornei a professora/formadora que hoje sou, evidenciando as práticas envolvidas na minha formação ao longo da carreira e a importância de todas as experiências vivenciadas em diferentes contextos e com intervenientes distintos. Do resultado deste trabalho de projecto conclui-se que a figura do mediador, sendo essencial na sua vertente de organizador e acompanhante dos formandos e formadores, pode ainda ter uma acção mais dinâmica e presente no decurso da formação.This project work, written in order to obtain the masters’ degree in Educational Science, specialization in the area of training adults, aims in general terms to reflect on my professional journey and analyse a specific domain of my professional practice which is the function of the mediator of EFA courses, based upon theoretical concepts of adult education. The starting point to this reflection was the development of an autobiographical narrative focusing on my career as a teacher of young people and as an adult trainer and, afterwards, the analysis of conceptual elements of the field of adult education. We aim to understand what the main personal and professional characteristics of the mediator of an EFA course are and what role he plays during the course. For this purpose, we started by analysing documents with information about the trainees to characterize the group and understand their motivations for coming back to school. Afterwards, we focused on the questionnaires answered by the trainees about what they expect from their mediator and on those answered by trainers and/or mediators about their professional practices. The critical analysis of my work performance, allowed me to understand how I became the teacher/trainer I am today, highlighting the practices involved in my lifelong career and the importance of all the experiences in different contexts and with different actors. From the outcome of this project work we conclude that the mediator is not only an organizer and support for the trainees and trainers, but also a dynamic and present figure throughout the training sessions

Growing knowledge: an overview of Seed Plant diversity in Brazil

Abstract An updated inventory of Brazilian seed plants is presented and offers important insights into the country's biodiversity. This work started in 2010, with the publication of the Plants and Fungi Catalogue, and has been updated since by more than 430 specialists working online. Brazil is home to 32,086 native Angiosperms and 23 native Gymnosperms, showing an increase of 3% in its species richness in relation to 2010. The Amazon Rainforest is the richest Brazilian biome for Gymnosperms, while the Atlantic Rainforest is the richest one for Angiosperms. There was a considerable increment in the number of species and endemism rates for biomes, except for the Amazon that showed a decrease of 2.5% of recorded endemics. However, well over half of Brazillian seed plant species (57.4%) is endemic to this territory. The proportion of life-forms varies among different biomes: trees are more expressive in the Amazon and Atlantic Rainforest biomes while herbs predominate in the Pampa, and lianas are more expressive in the Amazon, Atlantic Rainforest, and Pantanal. This compilation serves not only to quantify Brazilian biodiversity, but also to highlight areas where there information is lacking and to provide a framework for the challenge faced in conserving Brazil's unique and diverse flora