Indicators to support an ecosystem approach to fisheries

Indicators are needed to support the implementation of an ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF), by providing information on the state of the ecosystem, the extent and intensity of effort or mortality and the progress of management in relation to objectives. Here, I review recent work on the development, selection and application of indicators and consider how indicators might support an EAF. Indicators should guide the management of fishing activities that have led to, or are most likely to lead to, unsustainable impacts on ecosystem components or attributes. The numbers and types of indicators used to support an EAF will vary among management regions, depending on resources available for monitoring and enforcement, and actual and potential fishing impacts. State indicators provide feedback on the state of ecosystem components or attributes and the extent to which management objectives, which usually relate to state, are met. State can only be managed if the relationships with fishing (pressure) and management (response) are known. Predicting such relationships is fundamental to developing a management system that supports the achievement of objectives. In a management framework supported by pressure, state and response indicators, the relationship between the value of an indicator and a target or limit reference point, reference trajectory or direction provides guidance on the management action to take. Values of pressure, state and response indicators may be affected by measurement, process, model and estimation error and thus different indicators, and the same indicators measured at different scales and in different ways, will detect true trends on different timescales. Managers can use several methods to estimate the effects of error on the probability of detecting true trends and/or to account for error when setting reference points, trajectories and directions. Given the high noise to signal ratio in many state indicators, pressure and response indicators would often guide short-term management decision making more effectively, with state indicators providing longer-term policy-focused feedback on the effects of management action

Seed research for improved technologies Pesquisa para o aprimoramento de tecnologia de sementes

The production of high-quality seed is the basis for a durable a profitable agriculture. After production, seed is processed, conditioned, stored, shipped and germinated. For quality assurance, seed quality has to be controlled at all steps of the production chain. Seed functioning is accompanied by programmed transitions from cell proliferation to quiescence upon maturation and from quiescence to reinitiation of cellular metabolism upon imbibition. Despite the obvious importance of these control mechanisms, very little information is available at the molecular level concerning those elements that regulate seed germination. In the present study, the induction of cell cycle activity and the regulation of ß-tubulin expression is related to the water content and other physical properties of the seed.<br>A produção de sementes de alta qualidade é a base para uma agricultura produtiva. Após a colheita, a semente é beneficiada, embalada, armazenada, transportada e semeada. Para maior segurança, tanto dos produtores como dos consumidores, a qualidade da semente deve ser mantida sob controle em todas as fases do processo de produção. O desempenho da semente é resultado de transições programadas desde a divisão celular até a quiescência, durante a maturação, e da quiescência até o reinicio do metabolismo celular, durante a embebição. Apesar da importância destes mecanismos de controle, há pouca informação disponível, a nível molecular, no que diz respeito aos elementos que regulam a germinação da semente. No presente trabalho, a indução do ciclo de atividade celular e a regulação da expressão de ß-tubulina são relacionadas ao grau de umidade e a outras propriedades físicas da semente