How much leaf area do insects eat? A data set of insect herbivory sampled globally with a standardized protocol

Herbivory is ubiquitous. Despite being a potential driver of plant distribution and performance, herbivory remains largely undocumented. Some early attempts have been made to review, globally, how much leaf area is removed through insect feeding. Kozlov et al., in one of the most comprehensive reviews regarding global patterns of herbivory, have compiled published studies regarding foliar removal and sampled data on global herbivory levels using a standardized protocol. However, in the review by Kozlov et al., only 15 sampling sites, comprising 33 plant species, were evaluated in tropical areas around the globe. In Brazil, which ranks first in terms of plant biodiversity, with a total of 46,097 species, almost half (43%) being endemic, a single data point was sampled, covering only two plant species. In an attempt to increase knowledge regarding herbivory in tropical plant species and to provide the raw data needed to test general hypotheses related to plant–herbivore interactions across large spatial scales, we proposed a joint, collaborative network to evaluate tropical herbivory. This network allowed us to update and expand the data on insect herbivory in tropical and temperate plant species. Our data set, collected with a standardized protocol, covers 45 sampling sites from nine countries and includes leaf herbivory measurements of 57,239 leaves from 209 species of vascular plants belonging to 65 families from tropical and temperate regions. They expand previous data sets by including a total of 32 sampling sites from tropical areas around the globe, comprising 152 species, 146 of them being sampled in Brazil. For temperate areas, it includes 13 sampling sites, comprising 59 species

Cultura do maracujazeiro amarelo.

O maracujazeiro é uma cultura de fácil manejo, entretanto para a obtenção de produções elevadas e de frutos de alta qualidade, faz-se necessário o emprego de técnicas corretas e adequadas à cultura. Este capítulo, portanto, objetiva descrever, de forma simplificada, as recomendações técnicas para o cultivo do maracujazeiro nas condições dos tabuleiros costeiros do Piauí

Apocynaceae tóxicas e medicinais ocorrentes nos Estados de Pernambuco e Paraíba, Brasil

É apresentada uma lista de 37 espécies da família Apocynaceae de Pernambuco e da Paraíba, Brasil, pela análise de dados da literatura e dos exemplares existentes nos herbários destes Estados. São fornecidas informações etnofarmacológicas de 14 espécies, bem como uma lista dos constituintes com atividades farmacológicas de 12 espécies.<br>In this paper are listed 37 Apocynaceae species from Pernambuco and Paraiba, Brazil. The informations were obtained from herbarium sheets. Ethnopharmacological uses of 14 species and the results of a literature review are also reported. Medical uses, known constituents and pharmalogical are presented for 12 species

Causalidade entre crédito bancário e nível de atividade econômica na região metropolitana de São Paulo: algumas evidências empíricas

Este artigo contribui para o entendimento da causalidade entre crédito bancário e atividade econômica na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo (RMSP). Questões têm sido levantadas quanto à direção da causalidade, à Granger, prevalecente em economias nacionais, e uma ênfase local ainda não contemplada na literatura é dada aqui. Analisa-se a relação entre diferentes modalidades de crédito bancário e um indicador de atividade econômica na RMSP entre janeiro de 1992 e dezembro de 2003, com um modelo de Vetores Auto-regressivos bivariado tendo detectado uma causalidade bidirecional.<br>This study contributes to the understanding of the causality between banking credit and economic activity in the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo (MRSP). Questions have been raised as to the prevailing Granger-causality for national economies, and a local approach that has not yet been followed in the empirical literature is pursued here. It is dealt with the relationship between several banking credit modalities and an indicator of economic activity in the MRSP from January 1992 to December 2003, with a bivariate Autoregressive Vector model having found a birectional causality