To what degree are philosophy and the ecological niche concept necessary in the ecological theory and conservation?

Ecology as a field produces philosophical anxiety, largely because it differs in scientific structure from classical  physics. The hypothetical deductive models of classical physics are simple and predictive; general ecological models are predictably limited, as they refer to complex, multi-causal processes. Inattention to the conceptual  structure of ecology usually imposes difficulties for the application of ecological models. Imprecise descriptions of ecological niche have obstructed the development of collective definitions, causing confusion in the literature and complicating communication between theoretical ecologists, conservationists and decision and policy-makers. Intense, unprecedented erosion of biodiversity is typical of the Anthropocene, and knowledge of ecology may provide solutions to lessen the intensification of species losses. Concerned philosophers and ecologists have characterised ecological niche theory as less useful in practice; however, some theorists maintain that is has relevant applications for conservation. Species niche modelling, for instance, has gained traction in the literature; however, there are few examples of its successful application. Philosophical analysis of the structure, precision and constraints upon the definition of a ‘niche’ may minimise the anxiety surrounding ecology, potentially facilitating communication between policy-makers and scientists within the various ecological subcultures. The results may enhance the success of conservation applications at both small and large scales

Synchronisation of Weakly Coupled Oscillators

Funding Information: This work was partially supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) through the project UIDB/00297/2020 (Centro de Matemática e Aplicações). Publisher Copyright: © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.The synchronization phenomenon was reported for the first time by Christiaan Huygens, when he noticed the strange tendency of a couple of clocks to synchronise their movements. More recently this phenomena was shown to be ubiquitous in nature and it is broadly studied by its applications, for example in biological cycles. We consider the problem of synchronization of a general network of linearly coupled oscillators, not necessarily identical. In this case the existence of a linear synchronization space is not expected, so we present an approach based on the proof of the existence of a synchronization manifold, the so-called generalised synchronization. Based on some results developed by R. Smith and on Wazewski’s principle, a general theory on the existence of invariant manifolds that attract the solutions of the system that are bounded in the future, is presented. Applications and estimates on parameters for the existence of synchronization are presented for several examples: systems of coupled pendulum type equations, coupled Lorenz systems of equations, and oscillators coupled through a medium, among many others.authorsversionpublishe

Hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas) Nesting and Beach Selection at Príncipe Island, West Africa

Hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata) and green turtles (Chelonia mydas) are the predominant nesting sea turtle species on the beaches of Príncipe Island in the Gulf of Guinea. The extent of nesting has been largely unknown, but such information is essential for management and conservation. Our study is the first island-wide nesting assessment. Results from the survey, conducted from 1 December 2009 to 18 January 2010 (during peak nesting season), show that the potential suitable nesting area (10 km) is scattered around the island’s 50 beaches. Sea turtles nested on 32 of the beaches (hawksbills, 20; green turtles, 28) and used 7.5 km of the suitable nesting habitat (hawksbills, 5.8 km; green turtles, 7.0 km). We estimated that 101 (95% CI = 86–118) clutches were deposited by 17-29 hawksbills and 1088 (95% CI = 999–1245) clutches were deposited by 166-429 green turtles on Príncipe from November 2009 to February 2010 (nesting season). Long-term green turtle nest count data collected from 2007/08 to 2015/16 suggest a positive trend. Analyses of clutch densities in relation to beach characteristics suggested that both species preferred areas where human presence is lower, which coincided with the most sheltered areas. These findings should be used to inform coastal planning and minimize impacts on nesting beaches, as Príncipe is currently targeted for tourism development. Overall, results highlight that Príncipe beaches are very important for the conservation of West African hawksbill and green turtle populations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Spectral Synthesis of Star-forming Galaxies in the Near-Infrared

The near-infrared spectral region is becoming a very useful wavelength range to detect and quantify the stellar population of galaxies. Models are developing to predict the contribution of TP-AGB stars, that should dominate the NIR spectra of populations 0.3 to 2 Gyr old. When present in a given stellar population, these stars leave unique signatures that can be used to detect them unambiguously. However, these models have to be tested in a homogeneous database of star-forming galaxies, to check if the results are consistent with what is found from different wavelength ranges. In this work we performed stellar population synthesis on the nuclear and extended regions of 23 star-forming galaxies to understand how the star-formation tracers in the near-infrared can be used in practice. The stellar population synthesis shows that for the galaxies with strong emission in the NIR, there is an important fraction of young/intermediate population contributing to the spectra, which is probably the ionisation source in these galaxies. Galaxies that had no emission lines measured in the NIR were found to have older average ages and less contribution of young populations. Although the stellar population synthesis method proved to be very effective to find the young ionising population in these galaxies, no clear correlation between these results and the NIR spectral indexes were found. Thus, we believe that, in practice, the use of these indexes is still very limited due to observational limitations.Comment: Accepted for publication on MNRAS. 21 pages, 14 figures, 2 table

Nuclear and Extended Spectra of NGC 1068 - II: Near-Infrared Stellar Population Synthesis

We performed stellar population synthesis on the nuclear and extended regions of NGC 1068 by means of near-infrared spectroscopy to disentangle their spectral energy distribution components. This is the first time that such a technique is applied to the whole 0.8 - 2.4 micron wavelength interval in this galaxy. NGC 1068 is one of the nearest and probably the most studied Seyfert 2 galaxy, becoming an excellent laboratory to study the interaction between black holes, the jets that they can produce and the medium in which they propagate. Our main result is that traces of young stellar population are found at ~ 100 south of the nucleus. The contribution of a power-law continuum in the centre is about 25%, which is expected if the light is scattered from a Seyfert 1 nucleus. We find peaks in the contribution of the featureless continuum about 100 - 150 pc from the nucleus on both sides. They might be associated with regions where the jet encounters dense clouds. Further support to this scenario is given by the peaks of hot dust distribution found around these same regions and the H2 emission line profile, leading us to propose that the peaks might be associate to regions where stars are being formed. Hot dust also has an important contribution to the nuclear region, reinforcing the idea of the presence of a dense, circumnuclear torus in this galaxy. Cold dust appears mostly in the south direction, which supports the view that the southwest emission is behind the plane of the galaxy and is extinguished very likely by dust in the plane. Intermediate age stellar population contributes significantly to the continuum, specially in the inner 200 pc.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication at MNRA

O desenvolvimento da ecologia no Brasil

Four shortcomings prevent the improvement of ecology in Brazil: 1. Brazilian ecologists are not contributing significativelly to theoretical ecology; 2. Members and students of gratuate programs in ecology have difficulties to recognize the identity of ecology; 3. Non-ecologists working on environmental problems lack fundamental knowledge in ecology; 4. Ecologists do not recognize interdisciplinarity as essencial to solve environmental problems

Práticas de diversificação/diferenciação curricular no contexto das políticas educativas para o ensino básico

No contexto de cada comunidade, onde a escola está inserida, a definição de políticas educativas e curriculares assume maior pertinência, podendo contemplar componentes locais e regionais do currículo, valorizando as características de cada região e, sobretudo, permitindo um maior envolvimento e responsabilização dos diversos actores, que representando a comunidade educativa participam ao nível das tomadas de decisão. A escola, como espaço de reflexão e participação dos vários actores, favorece a emergência de uma nova cultura, marcada pelas dimensões do ser, do estar, do fazer, do conviver, do comunicar, do aprender e do fazer aprender. É este novo entendimento da escola, preconizado nos princípios e nos normativos orientadores da política educativa actual, que se deseja ver instituído na organização escolar e nas práticas pedagógicas, com vista à melhoria da qualidade da educação tornando as aprendizagens mais significativas. A reflexão realizada, a partir deste novo entendimento da escola e das políticas educativas actuais, deu origem a uma questão central: Como é que os professores diversificam/diferenciam o currículo no contexto das políticas educativas e curriculares definidas para o 1º, 2º e 3º ciclo do ensino básico? Para este estudo definimos os seguintes objectivos: conhecer a oferta educativa do agrupamento; identificar as razões que justificam a oferta educativa; conhecer as representações dos professores do ensino básico sobre diferenciação curricular; identificar práticas de diferenciação curricular nos 1º, 2º e 3º ciclo do ensino básico; analisar documentos do ensino básico relacionados com a diferenciação curricular; analisar as representações dos professores sobre o conceito de currículo; articular as representações dos professores no ensino básico com questões que se prendem com a discussão teórica do currículo. A pesquisa seguiu um estudo de caso e centrou-se na análise documental do Projecto Educativo do Agrupamento, do Projecto Curricular do Agrupamento, do relatório da Inspecção-geral da Educação sobre a avaliação externa; entrevistas ao Director do Agrupamento, Coordenadores de Departamento, Coordenador do Curso de Educação e Formação, representante no Conselho Pedagógico dos serviços de psicologia e orientação e nas respostas aos inquéritos por questionário respondidos pelos professores dos 1º, 2º e 3º com turma atribuída. Pela análise dos resultados, identificamos as razões que fundamentam as opções e o percurso bem como a sua concretização e concluímos que as tomadas de decisão, resultam muitas vezes de opções que apesar de tomadas em nome dos interesses dos alunos, se referem a questões de natureza organizativa, relacionadas com decisões de política educativa definidas pela administração central que obviamente condicionam as opções do agrupamento. As decisões são muitas vezes transformadas em opções de momento, influenciadas pela oferta possível, e não a necessária, num contexto de decisão que se considera centralizador. Em relação às práticas de diferenciação curricular, a partir de um conjunto de questões e analisados todos os dados disponíveis concluímos que os professores embora concordem com o conceito de diferenciação curricular entendido como a adequação dos objectivos, dos conteúdos, das metodologias e da avaliação às capacidades dos alunos continuam a exercer práticas pedagógicas direccionadas para o grupo de alunos, diversificam actividades mas não metodologias e estratégias de ensino e aprendizagem.In the context of each community where the school is inserted, the definition of educational and curriculum policies assumes greater relevance, which can contemplate local and regional components of the curriculum highlighting the characteristics of each region and, above all, allowing greater involvement and accountability of the various actors that represent the educational community that participate at the level of decisionmaking. The school as a space of reflection and participation of various actors, favours the emergence of a new culture, marked by the dimensions of being, doing, socializing, communicating, learning and make learn. It is this new understanding of the school, advocated in the guiding principles and normatives in current educational policy that is wanted to see established in the school organization and pedagogical practices with a view to improving the quality of education making the learning more meaningful. The reflection carried out from this new understanding of the school and current educational policies, gave rise to a central question: How do the teachers diversify/differentiate the curriculum in the context of educational policies defined for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycle of basic education. For this study we defined the following objectives: to know the group educational offering; to identify the reasons for the educational offer; to know the representations of the basic education teachers on curriculum differentiation; to identify curriculum differentiation practices in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd cycle of basic education; to analyse documents of basic education curriculum differentiation related; to analyze the representations of the teachers concerning the concept of curriculum; to articulate representations of teachers in basic education with issues concerning the theoretical discussion of the curriculum. The research was inspired by a case study and was focused on documentary analysis of the group educational project, the group curriculum project, the report of the general inspection of education on the external evaluation; interviews to the Group Director, Coordinators of the Department, course Coordinator of education and Training, Council representative on the Pedagogical Psychology and guidance services and in the responses to the surveys by questionnaire answered by teachers of 1st, 2nd and 3rd with class assigned. By the analysis of the results we identify the reasons that support the choices and the course to his achievement and concluded that the decisions, result of the options although taken on behalf of the student interests, refer to the organizational matters relating to educational policy decisions established by the central administration that obviously affect the grouping options. Decisions are often transformed into options of the moment, influenced by the options that are offered in that moment, and not the necessary, in the context of the decision that is considered centralist. Regarding the practice of curriculum differentiation, from a set of questions and analyzed all available data, we conclude that the teachers, while agreeing with the concept of curriculum differentiation understood as the appropriateness of the content, objectives, methodologies and evaluation on the student capacities, continue to engage in educational practices geared towards the group of students, diversify activities but not methodologies and strategies for teaching and learning

Origem, evolução e manutenção do comportamento moral

À medida que estudos sobre o comportamento social de primatas avançam, cada vez mais aumenta a probabilidade que o comportamento moral tenha base evolutiva, apesar da discordância de certos antropólogos e cientistas sociais. Estes acreditam que o comportamento moral originou-se a partir da formação das culturas e evoluiu por meio do aprendizado. Todavia, há indícios de comportamento moral especialmente em chimpanzés e chimpanzés pigmeus (bonobos); estes têm parentesco genético muito próximo aos humanos e vivem em sociedades constituídas por pequeno número de indivíduos interagentes. As regras morais cumpridas pelos indivíduos diminuem a incidência de conflitos e intensificam os laços sociais. O comportamento moral surgiu por meio de mutações e os indivíduos que as portam seriam selecionados pela sua capacidade de interagir e formar laços sociais mais duradouros. Estes além de reduzir a intensidade de conflitos, favoreceriam a estabilidade da estrutura social. Para certos filósofos, antropólogos culturais e cientistas sociais, o comportamento moral surge com a cultura, atributo que consideram pertencer exclusivamente ao humano. Nietzsche traça a origem dos conceitos bom e mau a partir da influência de nobres e sacerdotes que exerciam o poder sobre os pobres e ignorantes. Os primeiros eram os bons, os últimos os maus. Cientistas e filósofos, que admitem ser o comportamento moral específico do humano partem do homem já evoluído; estudam a manutenção do comportamento moral no tempo histórico de sua existência como espécie, mas ignoram a influência de sua história evolutiva no estabelecimento de regras morais