ETSC News: uma proposta educativa através de sítios digitais / ETSC News: an educational proposal through digital sites

O projeto ETSC News teve por objetivo a ampliação dos meios de aprendizagem  e divulgação científica através da criação de um sítio eletrônico, no qual um  conteúdo diverso das Ciências exatas foi postado – o sitio foi desenvolvido pela  equipe do projeto, que era composta de alunos do Ensino Médio. O já citado site  abrangeu diversas maneiras de fazer com que o conteúdo chegue até o usuário, tais  como: exposição de curiosidades científicas, compartilhamento de links para  plataformas científicas; vídeo aulas de diversos conteúdos das Ciências Exatas,  divulgação de eventos científicos locais e assuntos relacionados à Escola Técnica  de Saúde de Cajazeiras (ETSC), instituição precursora do projeto, entre outras  formas de aumentar a aquisição de conhecimento e auxílio à pesquisa daqueles que  frequentam o sítio. Devido à natureza do projeto, o método utilizado foi pesquisas de  cunho documental, pesquisas em bancos de dados, livros didáticos, e demais meios  de divulgação científica que apoiaram a apresentação de investigações e  informações exatas. Em suma, esse projeto, realizado em um ano, desenvolveu nos  pesquisadores a base da criticidade e o cuidado na realização de pesquisas e na  veracidade das informações. Além disso, o projeto auxiliou o processo de  aprendizado dos estudantes que estavam envolvidos nele. Nesse sentido, o projeto  ETSC News foi de relevância social e contribuiu para com o sistema de divulgação  científica, já que incluiu a audiência do site ETSC News e das outras plataformas do  projeto em um universo de fatos e experimentos revelados pela ciência

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data

Growing knowledge: an overview of Seed Plant diversity in Brazil

Abstract An updated inventory of Brazilian seed plants is presented and offers important insights into the country's biodiversity. This work started in 2010, with the publication of the Plants and Fungi Catalogue, and has been updated since by more than 430 specialists working online. Brazil is home to 32,086 native Angiosperms and 23 native Gymnosperms, showing an increase of 3% in its species richness in relation to 2010. The Amazon Rainforest is the richest Brazilian biome for Gymnosperms, while the Atlantic Rainforest is the richest one for Angiosperms. There was a considerable increment in the number of species and endemism rates for biomes, except for the Amazon that showed a decrease of 2.5% of recorded endemics. However, well over half of Brazillian seed plant species (57.4%) is endemic to this territory. The proportion of life-forms varies among different biomes: trees are more expressive in the Amazon and Atlantic Rainforest biomes while herbs predominate in the Pampa, and lianas are more expressive in the Amazon, Atlantic Rainforest, and Pantanal. This compilation serves not only to quantify Brazilian biodiversity, but also to highlight areas where there information is lacking and to provide a framework for the challenge faced in conserving Brazil's unique and diverse flora