TRADITIONAL MEDICINES AMONGST INDIGENOUS GROUPS IN RORAIMA, BRAZIL: A RETROSPECTIVE

Surveys of medicinal plants and fungi among five indigenous groups in Roraima, Brazil, were identified in the 1990s but not published.  Most of the 52 species reported here were unknown in the literature for the same medicinal purpose when the data were collected, but 25 years later this has changed. Some of the ‘repeated’ data were collected in Roraima, but most were recorded elsewhere. It is likely that some of the traditional knowledge will have been lost by now, with old informants not passing their knowledge to younger generations. More work should be done on recording indigenous knowledge in Roraima, preferably by indigenous people. Efforts to recuperate traditional knowledge will benefit indigenous culture health and livelihoods.Surveys of medicinal plants and fungi among five indigenous groups in Roraima, Brazil, were identified in 1993-95 in 11 communities by the author, but not published.  Most of the 52 species reported here were unknown in the literature for the same medicinal purpose when the data were collected and have not been published due to intellectual property rights. However, 25 years later this has changed due to increased ethnobotanical surveys in Latin America. Some of the ‘repeated’ data were collected in Roraima, but most have been registered elsewhere in Amazonia. Most likely, some of the traditional ethnomedicine is already lost within the communities by now, with old informants not passing down their knowledge to younger generations. More work should be done on recording indigenous knowledge in Roraima about medicinal plants, preferably by indigenous people. Efforts to retrieve traditional knowledge through real participation from local communities will benefit culture, health, and means of subsistence amongst indigenous communities

Individual Transferable Fishing Quotas And Antitrust Law

Around the world, the allocation of individual rights in the fisheries has proved to be a successful fisheries management tool. To date, the Individual Transferable Quota [ITQ] approach has been adopted for only a few fisheries in the U.S., although there is strong support for extending the approach to others. The basic goal of the ITQ approach is to create well-defined, exclusive property rights in a fishery, giving holders of those rights the incentive to fish efficiently and manage the resource for long-term sustainable yield. The property rights allocated are often percentage shares of the total annual allowable harvest or quota for the particular fishery. The transferability of these shares is key to the ITQ approach-being marketable, the shares will come to be owned by those who will most efficiently utilize them. Analysis of the ITQ approach, however, gives rise to the question of whether ITQ programs will have effects resulting in violations of U.S. antitrust law. The Sherman Antitrust Act, the Clayton Act, and the Federal Trade Commission Act all serve to protect consumers from anticompetitive activity. Once shares in a fishery are placed on the market, will trading result in single-owner accumulation of shares approaching monopoly in violation of these statutes? Will impermissible domination of competition and pricing result from concentrations of shares in the hands of a few? This Article examines the legal implications of ITQs with regard to antitrust law. It begins by identifying the benefits of the ITQ approach and considering the potential anticompetitive effects of an ITQ system. It then discusses the legal requirements for finding of monopoly, illegal price restraints and other impermissible restraints on competition. The Article concludes that ITQ systems can be designed to avert the possibility of excessive accumulation of shares in the hands of a few, and that such ITQ systems are unlikely to have effects that will result in antitrust violations

Individual Transferable Fishing Quotas And Antitrust Law

Around the world, the allocation of individual rights in the fisheries has proved to be a successful fisheries management tool. To date, the Individual Transferable Quota [ITQ] approach has been adopted for only a few fisheries in the U.S., although there is strong support for extending the approach to others. The basic goal of the ITQ approach is to create well-defined, exclusive property rights in a fishery, giving holders of those rights the incentive to fish efficiently and manage the resource for long-term sustainable yield. The property rights allocated are often percentage shares of the total annual allowable harvest or quota for the particular fishery. The transferability of these shares is key to the ITQ approach-being marketable, the shares will come to be owned by those who will most efficiently utilize them. Analysis of the ITQ approach, however, gives rise to the question of whether ITQ programs will have effects resulting in violations of U.S. antitrust law. The Sherman Antitrust Act, the Clayton Act, and the Federal Trade Commission Act all serve to protect consumers from anticompetitive activity. Once shares in a fishery are placed on the market, will trading result in single-owner accumulation of shares approaching monopoly in violation of these statutes? Will impermissible domination of competition and pricing result from concentrations of shares in the hands of a few? This Article examines the legal implications of ITQs with regard to antitrust law. It begins by identifying the benefits of the ITQ approach and considering the potential anticompetitive effects of an ITQ system. It then discusses the legal requirements for finding of monopoly, illegal price restraints and other impermissible restraints on competition. The Article concludes that ITQ systems can be designed to avert the possibility of excessive accumulation of shares in the hands of a few, and that such ITQ systems are unlikely to have effects that will result in antitrust violations

Comparative Efficiency Assessment of Primary Care Models Using Data Envelopment Analysis

This paper compares the productive efficiencies of four models of primary care service delivery in Ontario, Canada, using the data envelopment analysis (DEA) method. Particular care is taken to include quality of service as part of our output measure. The influence of the delivery model on productive efficiency is disentangled from patient characteristics using regression analysis. Significant differences are found in the efficiency scores across models and within each model. In general, the fee-for-service arrangement ranks the highest and the community-health-centre model the lowest in efficiency scoring. The reliance of our input measures on costs and number of patients, clearly favours the fee-for-service model. Patient characteristics contribute little to explaining differences in the efficiency ranking across the models.Productive Efficiency; DEA; Primary Health Care

Application of fluvial scaling relationships to reconstruct drainage-basin evolution and sediment routing for the Cretaceous and Paleocene of the Gulf of Mexico

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.Fluvial systems represent a key component in source-to-sink analysis of ancient sediment-dispersal systems. Modern river channels and channel-related deposits possess a range of scaling relationships that reflect drainage-basin controls on water and sediment flux. For example, channel-belt sand-body thicknesses scale to bankfull discharge, and represent a reliable first-order proxy for contributing drainage-basin area, a proxy that is more robust if climatic regimes can be independently constrained. A database of morphometrics from Quaternary channel belts provides key modern fluvial system scaling relationships, which are applied to Cretaceous- to Paleocene-age fluvial deposits. This study documents the scales of channel-belt sand bodies within fluvial successions from the northern Gulf of Mexico passive-margin basin fill from well logs, and uses scaling relationships developed from modern systems to reconstruct the scale of associated sediment-routing systems and changes in scale through time. We measured thicknesses of 986 channel-belt sand bodies from 248 well logs so as to estimate the scales of the Cretaceous (Cenomanian) Tuscaloosa-Woodbine, Paleocene–early Eocene Wilcox, and Oligocene Vicksburg-Frio fluvial systems. These data indicate that Cenozoic fluvial systems were significantly larger than their Cenomanian counterparts, which is consistent with Cretaceous to Paleocene continental-scale drainage reorganization that routed water discharge and sediment from much of the continental United States to the Gulf of Mexico. At a more detailed level, Paleocene–early Eocene Wilcox fluvial systems were larger than their Oligocene counterparts, which could reflect decreases in drainage-basin size and/or climatic change within the continental interior toward drier climates with less runoff. Additionally, these data suggest that the paleo–Tennessee River, which now joins the Ohio River in the northernmost Mississippi embayment of the central United States, was an independent fluvial system, flowing southwest to the southern Mississippi embayment, or directly to the Gulf of Mexico, through the early Eocene. Changes in scaling relationships through time, and interpreted changes in the scales of contributing drainage basins, are generally consistent with previously published regional paleogeographic maps, as well as with newly published maps of paleodrainage from detrital-zircon provenance and geochronological studies. As part of a suite of metrics derived from modern systems, scaling relationships make it possible to more fully understand and constrain the scale of ancient source-to-sink systems and their changes through time, or cross-check interpretations made by other means

Channel-belt scaling relationship and application to early Miocene source-to-sink systems in the Gulf of Mexico basin

In past decades, numerous studies have focused on the alluvial sedimentary record of basin fill. Paleo–drainage basin characteristics, such as drainage area or axial river length, have received little attention, mostly because the paleo–drainage system underwent erosion or bypass, and its record is commonly modified and overprinted by subsequent tectonism or erosional processes. In this work, we estimate the drainage areas of early Miocene systems in the Gulf of Mexico basin by using scaling relationships between drainage area and river channel dimensions (e.g., depth) developed in source-to-sink studies. Channel-belt thickness was used to estimate channel depth and was measured from numerous geophysical well logs. Both lower channel-belt thickness and bankfull thickness were measured to estimate the paleo–water depth at low and bankfull stages. Previous paleogeographic reconstruction using detrital zircon and petrographic provenance analysis and continental geomorphic synthesis constrains independent estimates of drainage basin extent. Comparison of results generated by the two independent approaches indicates that drainage basin areas predicted from channel-belt thickness are reasonable and suggests that bankfull thickness correlates best with drainage basin area. The channel bankfull thickness also correlates with reconstructed submarine fan dimension. This work demonstrates application to the deep-time stratigraphic archive, where records of drainage basin characteristics are commonly modified or lost

Validation of empirical source-to-sink scaling relationships in a continental-scale system: The Gulf of Mexico basin Cenozoic record

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.Empirical scaling relationships between known deepwater siliciclastic submarine fan systems and their linked drainage basins have previously been established for modern to submodern depositional systems and in a few ancient, small-scale basins. Comprehensive mapping in the subsurface Gulf of Mexico basin and geological mapping of the North American drainage network facilitates a more rigorous test of scaling relationships in a continental-size system with multiple mountain source terranes, rivers, deltas, slopes, and abyssal plain fan systems formed over 65 m.y. of geologic time. An immense database of drilled wells and high-quality industry seismic data in this prolific hydrocarbon basin provide the independent measure of deepwater fan distribution and dimensions necessary to test source-to-sink system scaling relationships. Analysis of over 40 documented deepwater fan and apron systems in the Gulf of Mexico, ranging in age from Paleocene to Pleistocene, reveals that submarine-fan system scales vary predictably with catchment length and area. All fan system run-out lengths, as measured from shelf margin to mapped fan termination, fall in a range of 10%–50% of the drainage basin length, and most are comparable in scale to large (Mississippi River–scale) systems although some smaller fans are present (e.g., Oligocene Rio Bravo system). For larger systems such as those of the Paleocene Wilcox depositional episodes, fan run-out lengths generally fall in the range of 10%–25% of the longest river length. Submarine fan widths, mapped from both seismic reflection data and well control, appear to scale with fan run-out lengths, though with a lower correlation (R2 = 0.40) probably due to uncertainty in mapping fan width in some subsalt settings. Catchment area has a high correlation (R2 = 0.85) with river length, suggesting that fluvial discharge and sediment flux may be primary drivers of ancient fan size. Validation of these first-order source-to-sink scaling relationships provides a predictive tool in frontier basins with less data. Application to less-constrained early Eocene fan systems of the southern Gulf of Mexico demonstrates the utility for exploration as well as paleogeographic reconstructions of ancient drainage systems. This approach has considerable utility in estimating dimensions of known but poorly constrained submarine fans in the subsurface or exposed in outcrop

Detrital-zircon records of Cenomanian, Paleocene, and Oligocene Gulf of Mexico drainage integration and sediment routing: Implications for scales of basin-floor fans

This paper uses detrital zircon (DZ) provenance and geochronological data to reconstruct paleodrainage areas and lengths for sediment-routing systems that fed the Cenomanian Tuscaloosa-Woodbine, Paleocene Wilcox, and Oligocene Vicksburg-Frio clastic wedges of the northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM) margin. During the Cenomanian, an ancestral Tennessee-Alabama River system with a distinctive Appalachian DZ signature was the largest system contributing water and sediment to the GoM, with a series of smaller systems draining the Ouachita Mountains and discharging sediment to the western GoM. By early Paleocene Wilcox deposition, drainage of the southern half of North America had reorganized such that GoM contributing areas stretched from the Western Cordillera to the Appalachians, and sediment was delivered to a primary depocenter in the northwestern GoM, the Rockdale depocenter fed by a paleo–Brazos-Colorado River system, as well as to the paleo–Mississippi River in southern Louisiana. By the Oligocene, the western drainage divide for the GoM had migrated east to the Laramide Rockies, with much of the Rockies now draining through the paleo–Red River and paleo–Arkansas River systems to join the paleo–Mississippi River in the southern Mississippi embayment. The paleo–Tennessee River had diverted to the north toward its present-day junction with the Ohio River by this time, thus becoming a tributary to the paleo-Mississippi within the northern Mississippi embayment. Hence, the paleo-Mississippi was the largest Oligocene system of the northern GoM margin. Drainage basin organization has had a profound impact on sediment delivery to the northern GoM margin. We use paleodrainage reconstructions to predict scales of associated basin-floor fans and test our predictions against measurements made from an extensive GoM database. We predict large fan systems for the Cenomanian paleo–Tennessee-Alabama, and especially for the two major depocenters of the early Paleocene paleo–Brazos-Colorado and late Paleocene–earliest Eocene paleo-Mississippi systems, and for the Oligocene paleo-Mississippi. With the notable exception of the Oligocene, measured fans reside within the range of our predictions, indicating that this approach can be exported to other basins that are less data rich

Nova Pesquisa Sobre as Coleções de Richard Spruce na Amazônia: uma Colaboração Brasil - Reino Unido

The Northwest Amazon comprises a large region of equatorial forest on the border of Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela, which has been inhabited by indigenous peoples since the pre-colonial period. Today they occupy 80% of its area. Travellers such as Richard Spruce, who visited the region in the 1850s-1860s, described the vitality and dynamics of these populations, demonstrated by the size of their longhouses, their extensive inter-communal ceremonies, and their rich material culture. The biocultural objects and associated information collected by Richard Spruce constitute a unique point of reference for the useful plants, ethnobotany, anthropology and environmental history of the region. Housed at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the British Museum, both in London, this under-researched collection incorporates indigenous plant-based artefacts, samples of useful plant products, detailed archival notes on the use of plants by inhabitants of the Amazon, and accompanying herbarium voucher collections. This paper focusses on an ongoing research programme aimed at building capacity in Brazil to research, cataloguing and mobilising data from these biocultural collections, and developing these important resources for improved understanding of the useful and cultural properties of plants. It aims to build collaborative relationships, making biocultural collections and associated data freely accessible online, and above all to strengthen capacity of indigenous communities on the Rio Negro for autonomous research into material culture and plant use. We present the activities we have developed in the first two years of the programme. Workshops at Kew, Rio de Janeiro and São Gabriel da Cachoeira have enabled the Spruce collections to be fully digitised and artefacts made available through the Reflora portal (reflora.jbrj.gov. br). Training has been given in collection and study of biocultural objects, both to museum staff and representatives of indigenous communities, and a research agenda developed that focuses on better understanding of the shifting relationships between people and natural resources over the last 200 years. We discuss how a broad collaboration has led to constructive, culturally appropriate engagement with local communities, providing a portal into the world of scientific knowledge and helping to mobilise both scientific and indigenous knowledge in a mutually beneficial manner

Browse from Three Tree Legumes Increases Forage Production for Cattle in a Silvopastoral System in the Southwest Amazon

Assessing the palatability of forage from locally adapted trees could improve the sustainability of livestock production systems. However, grasses continue to dominate livestock feed across the Amazon. We established a silvopastoral cattle farming system in Peru, comparing three different forage tree species with grass monocultures using a randomised block design. Trees were arranged in alleys of 0.5 × 7.5 m, planted alongside grass, and were directly browsed by cattle. Browse removal was estimated by three methods: destructive sampling, canopy measurements and leaf counts. We found that all three tree species were palatable to cattle. Plots containing trees and grass produced more available forage (mean > 2.2 Mg ha−1) for cattle than the grass monocultures (mean = 1.5 Mg ha−1). Destructive sampling below 1.6 m demonstrated that cattle consumed 99% of the available Erythrina berteroana forage, 75% of the available Inga edulis forage and 80% of the available Leucaena leucocephala forage in 8 days. This research demonstrates methodologies to estimate the intake of locally adapted browse species by cattle and highlights the potential benefits of silvopastoral systems in the Amazon. Planting trees could also benefit animal health and provide ecosystem services such as soil regeneration, enhanced nutrient cycling and carbon capture