Invasive Species in the Amazon

One of the main reasons for environmental disturbances such as declination in pasture productivity and biodiversity losses is the high infestation of herbaceous weeds, generally referred to as “Juquira” in the Amazon region. If they are not adequately controlled, such infestation might lead to degradation of pasture, resulting in complete loss of productivity and subsequent abandonment of the area. In this sense, this chapter aims to describe the main invasive species present in the Amazon region, as well as to characterize both the old and innovative techniques of use in agriculture, in large and small scale, for the control of agricultural pests

Características de carcaça de ovinos em crescimento alimentados com rações contendo farelo de babaçu Carcass characteristics of growing sheep fed diets with different babassu meal levels

Avaliaram-se as características, os rendimentos e as medidas lineares de carcaça de 24 ovinos sem padrão racial definido (SPRD), não-castrados, com idade inicial de 4,6 ± 0,8 meses e peso vivo inicial de 20 ± 3,25 kg, confinados em baias individuais e alimentados com rações contendo 0, 10, 20 ou 30% de farelo de babaçu. Utilizou-se delineamento em blocos casualizados, com quatro tratamentos e seis repetições. Houve efeito linear decrescente dos níveis de farelo de babaçu sobre o peso de corpo vazio, o peso vivo ao abate e os pesos de carcaça quente e fria. Os pesos da meia-carcaça, de paleta, costelas (da 1ª a 5ª e da 6ª a 13ª), serrote, lombo e perna também decresceram de forma linear, enquanto o peso do pescoço foi influenciado de forma quadrática pelos níveis de farelo de babaçu. Os rendimentos dos cortes não foram influenciados pelos níveis do farelo de babaçu: as médias foram de 20,47; 8,65; 6,94; 9,71; 10,36; 9,11 e 33,07% para paleta, pescoço, costela (1ª a 5ª), costela (6ª a 13ª), serrote, lombo e perna, respectivamente. Entre as medidas biométricas na carcaça, houve efeito linear decrescente para compacidade da carcaça, área de olho-de-lombo, perímetro da garupa, comprimento de perna e comprimento interno da carcaça. Níveis de farelo de babaçu superiores a 10% na dieta afetam negativamente os pesos e rendimentos, bem como os cortes comerciais e as medidas lineares, de carcaças de ovinos sem padrão racial definido em terminação.<br>The carcass characteristics, yields and linear measurements of 24 non-castrated non defined breed lambs (SPDR) with 4.8 ± 0.8 months of age and mean initial live weight of 20.45 ± 3.25 were evaluated. The animals were kept in individual stalls and fed with diets containing 0, 10, 20 and 30% of babassu meal. A block randomized design, with six replicates and four treatments was used. A linear decreasing effect of the babassu meal on the empty-body-weight, live weight at slaughter, and cold and hot carcass weight was observed. The half-carcass weight, shoulder weight, ribs (from 1st to 5th and from 6th to 13th), braes, loin and leg, also showed decreasing linear effect with babassu meal levels. The neck weight presented quadratic effect. Dressing cuts were not influenced by babassu meal levels (averages of 20.47, 8.65, 6.94, 9.71, 10.36, 9.11 and 33.07% for shoulder, neck, ribs (from 1st to 5th), ribs (from 6th to 13th), breast, loin and leg, respectively). For the carcass measurement, there was linear decreasing effect for the carcass compactness, rib eye area, hind perimeter, leg length and carcass internal length. Diets with babassu meal levels higher than 10% affected negatively weights and yields, as well the commercial cuts and measurements of the carcass of sheep in feedlot

Giants of the Amazon: how does environmental variation drive the diversity patterns of large trees?

For more than three decades, major efforts in sampling and analyzing tree diversity in South America have focused almost exclusively on trees with stems of at least 10 and 2.5 cm diameter, showing highest species diversity in the wetter western and northern Amazon forests. By contrast, little attention has been paid to patterns and drivers of diversity in the largest canopy and emergent trees, which is surprising given these have dominant ecological functions. Here, we use a machine learning approach to quantify the importance of environmental factors and apply it to generate spatial predictions of the species diversity of all trees (dbh ≥ 10 cm) and for very large trees (dbh ≥ 70 cm) using data from 243 forest plots (108,450 trees and 2832 species) distributed across different forest types and biogeographic regions of the Brazilian Amazon. The diversity of large trees and of all trees was significantly associated with three environmental factors, but in contrasting ways across regions and forest types. Environmental variables associated with disturbances, for example, the lightning flash rate and wind speed, as well as the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation, tend to govern the diversity of large trees. Upland rainforests in the Guiana Shield and Roraima regions had a high diversity of large trees. By contrast, variables associated with resources tend to govern tree diversity in general. Places such as the province of Imeri and the northern portion of the province of Madeira stand out for their high diversity of species in general. Climatic and topographic stability and functional adaptation mechanisms promote ideal conditions for species diversity. Finally, we mapped general patterns of tree species diversity in the Brazilian Amazon, which differ substantially depending on size class

O Protagonismo Infantojuvenil nos Processos Educomunicativos

Neste volume “O protagonismo infantojuvenil nos processos educomunicativos”, reunimos 53 artigos que transitam sobre a temática do protagonismo infantojuvenil em diversas experiências e processos educomunicativos e para facilitar sua leitura e busca por temas de seu interesse, eles estão organizados em 8 capítulos que abordam a educomunicação a partir do fazer das crianças e da apropriação da produção midiática.&nbsp;Expressão artística, rádio, vídeo, jornalismo, cultura digital, redes sociais entre outros são os temas abordados pelos autores destes trabalhos. convidamos o leitor&nbsp;a mergulhar nesta jornada educomunicativa, vivendo e revivendo junto conosco essas experiências vividas por outros, refletindo em cada texto sobre como estamos, como evoluímos e como seguimos os passos daqueles que com sua ousadia, amor e luta elaboraram os fundamentos da educomunicação

NEOTROPICAL ALIEN MAMMALS: a data set of occurrence and abundance of alien mammals in the Neotropics

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal species that (1) transposed a geographical barrier and (2) were voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into the Neotropics. Our data set is composed of 73,738 historical and current georeferenced records on alien mammal species of which around 96% correspond to occurrence data on 77 species belonging to eight orders and 26 families. Data cover 26 continental countries in the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico and its frontier regions (southern Florida and coastal-central Florida in the southeast United States) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, and the 13 countries of Caribbean islands. Our data set also includes neotropical species (e.g., Callithrix sp., Myocastor coypus, Nasua nasua) considered alien in particular areas of Neotropics. The most numerous species in terms of records are from Bos sp. (n = 37,782), Sus scrofa (n = 6,730), and Canis familiaris (n = 10,084); 17 species were represented by only one record (e.g., Syncerus caffer, Cervus timorensis, Cervus unicolor, Canis latrans). Primates have the highest number of species in the data set (n = 20 species), partly because of uncertainties regarding taxonomic identification of the genera Callithrix, which includes the species Callithrix aurita, Callithrix flaviceps, Callithrix geoffroyi, Callithrix jacchus, Callithrix kuhlii, Callithrix penicillata, and their hybrids. This unique data set will be a valuable source of information on invasion risk assessments, biodiversity redistribution and conservation-related research. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using the data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us on how they are using the data