The impact of long dry periods on the aboveground biomass in a tropical forest: 20 years of monitoring

Background Long-term studies of community and population dynamics indicate that abrupt disturbances often catalyse changes in vegetation and carbon stocks. These disturbances include the opening of clearings, rainfall seasonality, and drought, as well as fire and direct human disturbance. Such events may be super-imposed on longer-term trends in disturbance, such as those associated with climate change (heating, drying), as well as resources. Intact neotropical forests have recently experienced increased drought frequency and fire occurrence, on top of pervasive increases in atmospheric CO2 concentrations, but we lack long-term records of responses to such changes especially in the critical transitional areas at the interface of forest and savanna biomes. Here, we present results from 20 years monitoring a valley forest (moist tropical forest outlier) in central Brazil. The forest has experienced multiple drought events and includes plots which have and which have not experienced fire. We focus on how forest structure (stem density and aboveground biomass carbon) and dynamics (stem and biomass mortality and recruitment) have responded to these disturbance regimes. Results Overall, the biomass carbon stock increased due to the growth of the trees already present in the forest, without any increase in the overall number of tree stems. Over time, both recruitment and especially mortality of trees tended to increase, and periods of prolonged drought in particular resulted in increased mortality rates of larger trees. This increased mortality was in turn responsible for a decline in aboveground carbon toward the end of the monitoring period. Conclusion Prolonged droughts influence the mortality of large trees, leading to a decline in aboveground carbon stocks. Here, and in other neotropical forests, recent droughts are capable of shutting down and reversing biomass carbon sinks. These new results add to evidence that anthropogenic climate changes are already adversely impacting tropical forests

Revisão sistemática da produção acadêmica brasileira sobre causas externas e violências contra a pessoa idosa Systematic review of the Brazilian academic production about external causes and violence against the elderly

Apresenta-se revisão sistemática sobre violência contra a pessoa idosa no período de 2000 a 2009. A base de dados para a pesquisa é o acervo de artigos, livros, capítulos de livros, manuais e planos de ação da Biblioteca Virtual em Violência e Saúde. Foram categorizados e analisados 115 documentos segundo os subtemas: quedas; causas externas e violência em geral; estudos epidemiológicos e socioepidemiológicos; prevenção da violência; violência e acidentes no contexto familiar; revisão conceitual e metodológica; ordem legal e denúncias; violência sob o olhar de quem a vivencia; serviços de saúde, profissionais e cuidadores; e construção e revalidação de instrumentos de pesquisa. Os resultados mostram relevante aumento da produção e aprimoramento metodológico nas áreas de saúde pública, serviço social, direito, fisioterapia, enfermagem, psicologia, otorrinolaringologia e na formulação de políticas e planos de ação. No entanto, há temas pouco aprofundados como acidentes de trânsito, homicídios, suicídios, afogamentos e sufocações.<br>This article presents a review about violence against the elderly, covering the period of 2000 to 2009. The database used in this research was the collection of articles, books, book chapters, manuals and plans of action of the Virtual Library on Violence and Health. We analyzed 115 documents divided into the following categories: falls; external causes and violence in general; epidemiological and socio-epidemiological studies; prevention of violence; violence and accidents in the family; conceptual and methodological review; legal order and denunciation; violence from the elderly's point of view; health services, professionals and caretakers; and construction and validation of research instruments. The results show a relevant increase in production and methodological improvement in public health, social work, law, physiotherapy, nursing, psychology and otorhinolaryngology. However, there are issues that have not been sufficiently approached such as traffic accidents, homicides, suicides, drowning and suffocation