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

Drogas em áreas de risco: o que dizem os jovens Drugs in risk areas: what young people say

A pesquisa teve como ponto de partida um planejamento comunitário para discussão da situação de saúde de uma das principais áreas de risco de Fortaleza-Ceará, no qual o tema das drogas ganhou destaque. Pretendeu-se entrar em contato com o que os adolescentes da área percebiam como fatores de risco e de proteção para consumo de drogas em sua comunidade. Trata-se de um estudo qualitativo em que foi usado o grupo focal como técnica para obtenção de informações. O tratamento dos dados foi o de sistematizar temas comuns, dividindo-os em duas categorias de análise: fatores de risco e de proteção para o envolvimento com drogas. Nas falas dos adolescentes, percebeu-se que coexistem múltiplos fatores que se relacionam, ora aparecendo como aspectos de influência, ora como protetores, entre eles: família, grupo social, escola, vida em área de risco e mídia. Por outro lado, as redes sociais de apoio apareceram essencialmente como protetoras. Também percebeu-se que alguns assuntos foram levantados de forma transversal aos temas centrais, como as perspectivas de vida desses jovens e a necessidade de políticas públicas, importantes no apoio às redes sociais, à família e na atuação em áreas de risco. Assim, o que se põe em questão é a impossibilidade de consenso sobre os fatores exclusivos de risco ou de proteção. A partir disso, destaca-se a importância de potencializar a discussão e provocar reflexões a respeito da possibilidade de modos de vida fora do circuito das drogas.<br>The research has as starting point a community planning to discuss the health status of one of the key risk areas of Fortaleza, Ceará state, in which the theme of drugs was highlighted. It was intended to get in touch with what young people perceive as factors of risk and protection for drug abuse in their community. It is a qualitative study in which the focus group was used as technique for obtaining information. Data processing systematized common themes, dividing them into two categories of analysis: risk factors and protection factors for involvement with drugs. In the speech of adolescents, it was noted that multiple related factors coexist, sometimes as aspects of influence, sometimes as protectors, such as: family, social group, school, life in the danger zone and the media. On the other hand, the social support networks appeared essentially as protective. We also realized that some issues were raised transversely to the central theme, as life chances of those young people and the need for public policies that are important in supporting social networks, family and work in hazardous areas. So what is put into question is the impossibility of consensus on the unique factors of risk or protection. From this, we highlight the importance of enhancing the discussion and provoking thoughts about possible ways of life outside the circuit of drugs