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Sample records for amazonia

  1. Catalogue of distribution of lizards (Reptilia: Squamata) from the Brazilian Amazonia. IV. Alopoglossidae, Gymnophthalmidae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ribeiro-Júnior, Marco A; Amaral, Silvana

    2017-05-22

    We present distribution data of all Alopoglossidae and Gymnophthalmidae lizards known from the Brazilian Amazonia, totaling 54 species-level taxa, belonging to 17 genera and two families. This represents 22 more species-level taxa than previously reported. Data were based on 17,431 specimens deposited in three North American and eight Brazilian museums, including the main collections harboring Amazonian material. Most species (~80%) are endemic to Amazonia; non-endemic species are mainly associated with open vegetation (savanna) enclaves or open dry (semideciduous) forest in Amazonia, with a few exceptions. As a whole, seven taxa (including one species complex) are widespread in Amazonia, six are restricted to eastern Amazonia, seven to western Amazonia, two to southwestern Amazonia, 11 to southern Amazonia, 11 to northern Amazonia (either in part of it or widespread in the Guiana region), and six to the southern peripheral portion of Amazonia. Besides, four species present unique distributions. Considering this study and the other three catalogues of distribution of lizards already published, the total number of lizard species from Brazilian Amazonia increased from 97 to 142 species-level tava. It represents an increase of 45 species from the region since the last revision.

  2. On the Relationship of Rainfall and Temperature across Amazonia

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    Ribeiro Lima, C. H.; AghaKouchak, A.

    2017-12-01

    Extreme droughts in Amazonia seem to become more frequent and have been associated with local and global impacts on society and the ecosystem. The understanding of the dynamics and causes of Amazonia droughts have attracted some attention in the last years and pose several challenges for the scientific community. For instance, in previous work we have identified, based on empirical data, a compounding effect during Amazonia droughts: periods of low rainfall are always associated with positive anomalies of near surface air temperature. This inverse relationship of temperature and rainfall appears at multiple time scales and its intensity varies across Amazonia. To our knowledge, these findings have not been properly addressed in the literature, being not clear whether there is a causal relationship between these two variables, and in this case, which one leads the other one, or they are just responding to the same causal factor. Here we investigate the hypothesis that high temperatures during drought periods are a major response to an increase in the shortwave radiation (due to the lack of clouds) not compensating by an expected increase in the evapotranspiration from the rainforest. Our empirical analysis is based on observed series of daily temperature and rainfall over the Brazilian Amazonia and reanalysis data of cloud cover, outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and moisture fluxes. The ability of Global Circulation Models (GCMs) to reproduce such compounding effect is also investigated for the historical period and for future RCP scenarios of global climate change. Preliminary results show that this is a plausible hypothesis, despite the complexity of land-atmosphere processes of mass and energy fluxes in Amazonia. This work is a step forward in better understanding the compounding effects of rainfall and temperature on Amazonia droughts, and what changes one might expect in a future warming climate.

  3. Two-year participatory monitoring of extractivism in Brazilian Amazonia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cámara-Leret, Rodrigo; Newton, Peter; Hawes, Joseph

    basin of western Brazilian Amazonia. We discuss the most important extractive activities for ~100 households, how socio-economic factors influence NTFP extractive patterns across households, and the benefits and constraints of using participatory approaches to monitor extractivism in Amazonia....

  4. The domestication of Amazonia before European conquest.

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    Clement, Charles R; Denevan, William M; Heckenberger, Michael J; Junqueira, André Braga; Neves, Eduardo G; Teixeira, Wenceslau G; Woods, William I

    2015-08-07

    During the twentieth century, Amazonia was widely regarded as relatively pristine nature, little impacted by human history. This view remains popular despite mounting evidence of substantial human influence over millennial scales across the region. Here, we review the evidence of an anthropogenic Amazonia in response to claims of sparse populations across broad portions of the region. Amazonia was a major centre of crop domestication, with at least 83 native species containing populations domesticated to some degree. Plant domestication occurs in domesticated landscapes, including highly modified Amazonian dark earths (ADEs) associated with large settled populations and that may cover greater than 0.1% of the region. Populations and food production expanded rapidly within land management systems in the mid-Holocene, and complex societies expanded in resource-rich areas creating domesticated landscapes with profound impacts on local and regional ecology. ADE food production projections support estimates of at least eight million people in 1492. By this time, highly diverse regional systems had developed across Amazonia where subsistence resources were created with plant and landscape domestication, including earthworks. This review argues that the Amazonian anthrome was no less socio-culturally diverse or populous than other tropical forested areas of the world prior to European conquest. © 2015 The Author(s).

  5. Carbon stock loss from deforestation through 2013 in Brazilian Amazonia.

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    Nogueira, Euler Melo; Yanai, Aurora M; Fonseca, Frederico O R; Fearnside, Philip Martin

    2015-03-01

    The largest carbon stock in tropical vegetation is in Brazilian Amazonia. In this ~5 million km(2) area, over 750,000 km(2) of forest and ~240,000 km(2) of nonforest vegetation types had been cleared through 2013. We estimate current carbon stocks and cumulative gross carbon loss from clearing of premodern vegetation in Brazil's 'Legal Amazonia' and 'Amazonia biome' regions. Biomass of 'premodern' vegetation (prior to major increases in disturbance beginning in the 1970s) was estimated by matching vegetation classes mapped at a scale of 1 : 250,000 and 29 biomass means from 41 published studies for vegetation types classified as forest (2317 1-ha plots) and as either nonforest or contact zones (1830 plots and subplots of varied size). Total biomass (above and below-ground, dry weight) underwent a gross reduction of 18.3% in Legal Amazonia (13.1 Pg C) and 16.7% in the Amazonia biome (11.2 Pg C) through 2013, excluding carbon loss from the effects of fragmentation, selective logging, fires, mortality induced by recent droughts and clearing of forest regrowth. In spite of the loss of carbon from clearing, large amounts of carbon were stored in stands of remaining vegetation in 2013, equivalent to 149 Mg C ha(-1) when weighted by the total area covered by each vegetation type in Legal Amazonia. Native vegetation in Legal Amazonia in 2013 originally contained 58.6 Pg C, while that in the Amazonia biome contained 56 Pg C. Emissions per unit area from clearing could potentially be larger in the future because previously cleared areas were mainly covered by vegetation with lower mean biomass than the remaining vegetation. Estimates of original biomass are essential for estimating losses to forest degradation. This study offers estimates of cumulative biomass loss, as well as estimates of premodern carbon stocks that have not been represented in recent estimates of deforestation impacts. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  6. Neogene Amazonia: Introduction to the special issue Journal of South American Earth Sciences, New contributions on Neogene geography and depositional environments in Amazonia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoorn, C.; Vonhof, H.B.

    2006-01-01

    The paleontological data presented in this special issue provide a new insight into species migration and radiation in Amazonia during the Miocene. At the time, Amazonia was characterized by a very extensive, long-lived, semi-isolated, freshwater wetland ecosystem that was supplied with water and

  7. Catalogue of distribution of lizards (Reptilia: Squamata) from the Brazilian Amazonia. III. Anguidae, Scincidae, Teiidae.

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    Ribeiro-Júnior, Marco A; Amaral, Silvana

    2016-12-09

    We present distribution data of all Anguidae, Scincidae, and Teiidae lizards known from the Brazilian Amazonia, totaling 29 species-level taxa, belonging to 14 genera. This represents 11 more species-level taxa than previously reported for these families in this area. Data were based on literature and 46,806 specimens deposited in three North American and eight Brazilian museums, including the main collections harboring Amazonian material. Most species (~55%) are endemic to Amazonia. Except for Ameiva ameiva, that is present in several environments and domains, non-endemic species are either associated with open dry (semideciduous) forest or open vegetation (savanna) enclaves in Amazonia, occupying similar environments outside Amazonia, gallery forests within the Cerrado, or present disjunct populations in the Atlantic Forest. As a whole, six taxa are widespread in Amazonia, four are restricted to eastern Amazonia, four to western Amazonia, three to southwestern Amazonia, one to northern Amazonia, and seven to the southern peripheral portion of Amazonia. Besides, two species present apparently more restricted, unique distributions. Only three species have a distribution that is congruent with one of the areas of endemism (AE) recognized for other organisms (birds and primates), of which two occur in AE Guiana and one in AE Inambari.

  8. Dynamics, patterns and causes of fires in Northwestern Amazonia.

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    Armenteras, Dolors; Retana, Javier

    2012-01-01

    According to recent studies, two widespread droughts occurred in the Amazon basin, one during 2005 and one during 2010. The drought increased the prevalence of climate-driven fires over most of the basin. Given the importance of human-atmosphere-vegetation interactions in tropical rainforests, these events have generated concerns over the vulnerability of this area to climate change. This paper focuses on one of the wettest areas of the basin, Northwestern Amazonia, where the interactions between the climate and fires are much weaker and where little is known about the anthropogenic drivers of fires. We have assessed the response of fires to climate over a ten-year period, and analysed the socio-economic and demographic determinants of fire occurrence. The patterns of fires and climate and their linkages in Northwestern Amazonia differ from the enhanced fire response to climate variation observed in the rest of Amazonia. The highest number of recorded fires in Northwestern Amazonia occurred in 2004 and 2007, and this did not coincide with the periods of extreme drought experienced in Amazonia in 2005 and 2010. Rather, during those years, Northwestern Amazonia experienced a relatively small numbers of fire hotspots. We have shown that fire occurrence correlated well with deforestation and was determined by anthropogenic drivers, mainly small-scale agriculture, cattle ranching (i.e., pastures) and active agricultural frontiers (including illegal crops). Thus, the particular climatic conditions for air convergence and rainfall created by proximity to the Andes, coupled with the presence of one of the most active colonisation fronts in the region, make this region differently affected by the general drought-induced fire patterns experienced by the rest of the Amazon. Moreover, the results suggest that, even in this wet region, humans are able to modify the frequency of fires and impact these historically well preserved forests.

  9. Catalogue of distribution of lizards (Reptilia: Squamata) from the Brazilian Amazonia. I. Dactyloidae, Hoplocercidae, Iguanidae, Leiosauridae, Polychrotidae, Tropiduridae.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ribeiro-Júnior, Marco A

    2015-07-08

    I present distribution data of all Dactyloidae, Hoplocercidae, Iguanidae, Leiosauridae, Polychrotidae and Tropiduridae lizards known from the Brazilian Amazonia, totaling 40 species-level taxa, belonging to 11 genera. This represents four more species-level taxa than previously reported for these families. Data were based on the direct examination of 41,243 specimens deposited in three North American and eight Brazilian musea, including the main collections harboring Amazonian material. Most species (62.5%) are endemic to the Amazonia; non-endemic species are mainly associated with open dry (semideciduous) forest or open vegetation (savanna) enclaves in Amazonia, with a few exceptions. As a whole, seven taxa are widespread in Amazonia, one is restricted to eastern Amazonia, three to western Amazonia, five to northern Amazonia (either in part of it or widespread in the Guiana region), two to northwestern Amazonia, one to southern Amazonia, nine to southwestern Amazonia, and seven to the southern peripheral portion of Amazonia. Five species have unique distributions and five species have a distribution that is congruent with one of the areas of endemism (AE) recognized for other organisms (birds and primates). The first herpetological gazetteer for the Brazilian Amazonia with about 3,600 georeferenced localities was also produced.

  10. The Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia: Analyzing Regional Land Use Change Effects.

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    Michael Keller; Maria Assunção Silva-Dias; Daniel C. Nepstad; Meinrat O. Andreae

    2004-01-01

    The Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) is a multi-disciplinary, multinational scientific project led by Brazil. LBA researchers seek to understand Amazonia in its global context especially with regard to regional and global climate. Current development activities in Amazonia including deforestation, logging, cattle ranching, and agriculture...

  11. Droughts in Amazonia: Spatiotemporal Variability, Teleconnections, and Seasonal Predictions

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    Lima, Carlos H. R.; AghaKouchak, Amir

    2017-12-01

    Most Amazonia drought studies have focused on rainfall deficits and their impact on river discharges, while the analysis of other important driver variables, such as temperature and soil moisture, has attracted less attention. Here we try to better understand the spatiotemporal dynamics of Amazonia droughts and associated climate teleconnections as characterized by the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI), which integrates information from rainfall deficit, temperature anomalies, and soil moisture capacity. The results reveal that Amazonia droughts are most related to one dominant pattern across the entire region, followed by two seesaw kind of patterns: north-south and east-west. The main two modes are correlated with sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the tropical Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The teleconnections associated with global SST are then used to build a seasonal forecast model for PDSI over Amazonia based on predictors obtained from a sparse canonical correlation analysis approach. A unique feature of the presented drought prediction method is using only a few number of predictors to avoid excessive noise in the predictor space. Cross-validated results show correlations between observed and predicted spatial average PDSI up to 0.60 and 0.45 for lead times of 5 and 9 months, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study in the region that, based on cross-validation results, leads to appreciable forecast skills for lead times beyond 4 months. This is a step forward in better understanding the dynamics of Amazonia droughts and improving risk assessment and management, through improved drought forecasting.

  12. Biogeochemistry and ecology of terrestrial ecosystems of Amazonia

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    Malhi, Yadvinder; Davidson, Eric A.

    The last decade of research associated with the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) has led to substantial advances in our understanding of the biogeochemistry and ecology of Amazonian forests and savannas, in particular in relation to the carbon cycle of Amazonia. In this chapter, we present a synthesis of results and ideas that are presented in more detail in subsequent chapters, drawing together evidence from studies of forest ecology, ecophysiology, trace gas fluxes and atmospheric flux towers, large-scale rainfall manipulation experiments and soil surveys, satellite remote sensing, and quantification of carbon and nutrient stocks and flows. The studies have demonstrated the variability of the functioning and biogeochemistry of Amazonian forests at a range of spatial and temporal scales, and they provide clues as to how Amazonia will respond to ongoing direct pressure and global atmospheric change. We conclude by highlighting key questions for the next decade of research to address.

  13. The environment and the hydroelectric in Amazonia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    La Rovere, E.L.

    1992-01-01

    Some aspects about social and environmental impacts due to the hydroelectric power plants constructed in Amazonia region are presented, including considerations of energy planning and management with international example. (C.G.C.)

  14. Biome-Scale Forest Properties in Amazonia Based on Field and Satellite Observations

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    Liana O. Anderson

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Amazonian forests are extremely heterogeneous at different spatial scales. This review intends to present the large-scale patterns of the ecosystem properties of Amazonia, and focuses on two parts of the main components of the net primary production: the long-lived carbon pools (wood and short-lived pools (leaves. First, the focus is on forest biophysical properties, and secondly, on the macro-scale leaf phenological patterns of these forests, looking at field measurements and bringing into discussion the recent findings derived from remote sensing dataset. Finally, I discuss the results of the three major droughts that hit Amazonia in the last 15 years. The panorama that emerges from this review suggests that slow growing forests in central and eastern Amazonia, where soils are poorer, have significantly higher above ground biomass and higher wood density, trees are higher and present lower proportions of large-leaved species than stands in northwest and southwest Amazonia. However, the opposite pattern is observed in relation to forest productivity and dynamism, which is higher in western Amazonia than in central and eastern forests. The spatial patterns on leaf phenology across Amazonia are less marked. Field data from different forest formations showed that new leaf production can be unrelated to climate seasonality, timed with radiation, timed with rainfall and/or river levels. Oppositely, satellite images exhibited a large-scale synchronized peak in new leaf production during the dry season. Satellite data and field measurements bring contrasting results for the 2005 drought. Discussions on data processing and filtering, aerosols effects and a combined analysis with field and satellite images are presented. It is suggested that to improve the understanding of the large-scale patterns on Amazonian forests, integrative analyses that combine new technologies in remote sensing and long-term field ecological data are imperative.

  15. Lizards of Brazilian Amazonia (Reptilia: Squamata)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Avila-Pires, T.C.S.

    1995-01-01

    Eighty-nine species of lizards, six of which polytypic (forming a total of 97 taxa), are presently known from Brazilian Amazonia. This number includes six species and one subspecies described as new to science in this paper: Stenocercus fimbriatus, Lepidoblepharis hoogmoedi, Leposoma osvaldoi, L.

  16. Nuevas especies de Axonopus (Poaceae: Panicoideae: Paniceae de la Amazonia Colombiana

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    Giraldo Cañas Diego

    1998-11-01

    Full Text Available Two new species of Axonopus, A. morronei (series Axonopus and A. zuloagae (series Barbigen are described. The new species are known only from the savannas and sandstone plateau of Colombian northwest Amazonia.Se describen dos nuevas especies de Axonopus, A. morronei y A. zuloagae, de las series Axonopus y Barbigeri, respectivamente. Las nuevas especies son conocidas únicamente de las sabanas y afloramientos rocosos de la Amazonia noroccidental colombiana.

  17. Paleoclimates of Amazonia: An ice-age view

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bush, M.B.; De Oliveira, P.E.; Raczka, M.F.; Gosling, W.D.; Mayle, F.E.; McMichael, C.H.; Urrego, D.H.; de Souza Carvalho, I.; Garcia, M.J.; Cunha Lana, C.; Strohschoen Jr., O.

    2014-01-01

    A growing body of evidence points to climatic complexity during the Ice-Ages. Amazonia does not respond uniformly to modern climatic forcing, and the same was true of the past. Although some climatic forcings were probably expressed everywhere, they were manifested differently. Consequently, climate

  18. The mitogenome of Onchocerca volvulus from the Brazilian Amazonia focus

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    James L Crainey

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available We report here the first complete mitochondria genome of Onchocerca volvulus from a focus outside of Africa. An O. volvulus mitogenome from the Brazilian Amazonia focus was obtained using a combination of high-throughput and Sanger sequencing technologies. Comparisons made between this mitochondrial genome and publicly available mitochondrial sequences identified 46 variant nucleotide positions and suggested that our Brazilian mitogenome is more closely related to Cameroon-origin mitochondria than West African-origin mitochondria. As well as providing insights into the origins of Latin American onchocerciasis, the Brazilian Amazonia focus mitogenome may also have value as an epidemiological resource.

  19. Miocene freshwater Mollusca from western Brazilian Amazonia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wesselingh, F.P.; Ranzi, A.; Räsänen, M.E.

    2006-01-01

    Thirteen species of fossil molluscs are reported from the Solimões Formation of western Brazilian Amazonia. Based on mammalian chronology of the Solimões Formation and radiometric ages reported from coeval deposits in adjacent Peru, the age of the fauna is established as Late Miocene. The fauna

  20. Hydro-climate and ecological behaviour of the drought of Amazonia in 2005.

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    Marengo, J A; Nobre, C A; Tomasella, J; Cardoso, M F; Oyama, M D

    2008-05-27

    In 2005, southwestern Amazonia experienced the effects of an intense drought that affected life and biodiversity. Several major tributaries as well as parts of the main river itself contained only a fraction of their normal volumes of water, and lakes were drying up. The consequences for local people, animals and the forest itself are impossible to estimate now, but they are likely to be serious. The analyses indicate that the drought was manifested as weak peak river season during autumn to winter as a consequence of a weak summertime season in southwestern Amazonia; the winter season was also accompanied by rainfall that sometimes reached 25% of the climatic value, being anomalously warm and dry and helping in the propagation of fires. Analyses of climatic and hydrological records in Amazonia suggest a broad consensus that the 2005 drought was linked not to El Niño as with most previous droughts in the Amazon, but to warming sea surface temperatures in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean.

  1. Age of depositional and weathering events in Central Amazonia

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    Sant'Anna, Lucy Gomes; Soares, Emílio Alberto do Amaral; Riccomini, Claudio; Tatumi, Sonia Hatsue; Yee, Marcio

    2017-08-01

    In the last three decades, several studies have been devoted to understanding the role of Late Pleistocene-Holocene climate changes in the Amazonia lowlands environment. However, most of these studies used data obtained from sedimentary deposits (lakes, swamps, and colluvium) located away from the central plain or on the edges of the Amazonia region. This article integrates optically stimulated luminescence and accelerated mass spectrometry 14C ages with sedimentological and geomorphological data obtained during this study or compiled from the literature for fluvial and lacustrine deposits of the central alluvial plain of the Solimões-Amazon River. The age data allow us to present a chronological framework for the Late Pleistocene-Holocene deposits and conclude that (i) the dryness of the LGM in central Amazonia lowlands is recorded by the formation of fluvial terraces and their weathering to pedogenic hematite between 25.3 ka and 17.7 ka; (ii) floodplain deposition was contemporaneous with terrace weathering and occurred in a context of decreased water volume in fluvial channels, lowering of river base level and sea level, and isostatic rebound of the continent; and (iii) lateral and mid-channel fluvial bars in the Solimões-Amazon River have a minimum age of 11.5 ± 1.5 ka, and their deposition responded to increased precipitation at the beginning of the Holocene.

  2. New Odostomia species (Gastropoda, Heterobranchia, Pyramidellidae) from the Miocene Pebas Formation of Western Amazonia (Peru, Colombia)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Aartsen, van J.J.; Wesselingh, F.P.

    2000-01-01

    Odostomia nuttalli spec. nov. and O. coluhensis spec. nov. are described from the Miocene Pebas Formation of Peruvian and Columbian Amazonia. A third pyramidellid snail is also diagnosed. These species are indicators for marine influence in the late Middle to early Late Miocence of Western Amazonia.

  3. Molluscan radiations and landscape evolution in Miocene Amazonia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wesselingh, F.P.

    2008-01-01

    This PhD study aims to exploit the rich archive provided by the Miocene mollusc fauna of the Pebas Formation and other inland Miocene Amazonian formations to reconstruct landscape evolution and biotic development in lowland Amazonia during the Neogene. Over 160 samples from more than 70 Pebas

  4. Small farmers and deforestation in Amazonia

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    Brondízio, Eduardo S.; Cak, Anthony; Caldas, Marcellus M.; Mena, Carlos; Bilsborrow, Richard; Futemma, Celia T.; Ludewigs, Thomas; Moran, Emilio F.; Batistella, Mateus

    This chapter discusses the relationship between small farmers' land use and deforestation, with particular attention paid to the past 30 years of Amazonian colonization in Brazil and Ecuador. Our analysis calls attention to common features uniting different social groups as small farmers (e.g., social identity, access to land and resources, technology, market, and credit), as well as the variability between small farmers in terms of time in the region (from native populations to recent colonists), contribution to regional deforestation, types of land use systems. At a regional level, small farmers contribute to the majority of deforestation events, but are responsible for only a fraction of the total deforested area in Amazonia. We discuss three misconceptions that have been used to define small farmers and their contribution to the regional economy, development, and deforestation: (1) small farmers have backward land use systems associated with low productivity and extensive deforestation and subsistence production, (2) small farmers contribute to Amazonian deforestation as much as large farmers, and (3) small farmers, particularly colonist farmers, follow an inexorable path of deforestation unless curbed by government action. We conclude the chapter discussing their growing regional importance and the need for more inclusive public policies concerning infrastructure and services and valorization of resources produced in rural areas of Amazonia.

  5. Neogene climate evolution in Amazonia and the Brazilian Northeast

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoorn, C.; Bernardes-de-Oliveira, M.E.C.; Dino, R.; Garcia, M.J.; Antonioli, L.; da Costa Casado, F.; Hooghiemstra, H.; de Souza Carvalho, I.; Garcia, M.J.; Strohschoen, O.; Cunha Lana, C.

    2014-01-01

    Climate change follows from the interaction between global atmospheric and oceanic processes with regional processes. In this chapter we review which factors determined climate evolution in Amazonia and the Brazilian Northeast and present a recompilation of Neogene palynological and paleobotanical

  6. Las palmeras en los valles principales de la Amazonia peruana

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    1992-01-01

    Full Text Available LES PALMIERS DES PRINCIPALES VALLEES DE L’AMAZONIE PERUVIENNE. La distribution géographique des espèces de palmiers de l’Amazonie péruvienne est présentée selon les principales vallées. Pour chaque affluent important est donnée la liste des espèces récoltées, et pour chaque espèce sont réunies les références des échantillons d’herbiers, collecteur(s et numéro de collection, ainsi que les herbiers de dépôt. Se presenta la distribución de las palmeras de la Amazonia en función de los valles principales. Por cada río de mayor importancia, se da la lista de las especies colectadas, las referencias de las muestras botánicas, colector(es y número de colección, y los herbarios de depósito de dichas muestras. PALMS OF THE MAJOR RIVER VALLEYS OF PERUVIAN AMAZONIA. Palm species distribution in Peruvian Amazonia is presented according to the major river valleys. The species collected are listed for each tributary valley. The collection references, collector(s and number of the specimen and the herbaria of deposit are given for each species.

  7. Evapotranspiration of deforested areas in central and southwestern Amazonia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Randow, von R.C.S.; Randow, C.; Hutjes, R.W.A.; Tomasella, J.; Kruijt, B.

    2012-01-01

    Considering the high rates of evapotranspiration of Amazonian forests, understanding the impacts of deforestation on water loss rates is important for assessing those impacts on a regional and global scale. This paper quantifies evapotranspiration rates in two different pasture sites in Amazonia and

  8. Soil and vegetation carbon stocks in Brazilian Western Amazonia: relationships and ecological implications for natural landscapes.

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    Schaefer, C E G R; do Amaral, E F; de Mendonça, B A F; Oliveira, H; Lani, J L; Costa, L M; Fernandes Filho, E I

    2008-05-01

    The relationships between soils attributes, soil carbon stocks and vegetation carbon stocks are poorly know in Amazonia, even at regional scale. In this paper, we used the large and reliable soil database from Western Amazonia obtained from the RADAMBRASIL project and recent estimates of vegetation biomass to investigate some environmental relationships, quantifying C stocks of intact ecosystem in Western Amazonia. The results allowed separating the western Amazonia into 6 sectors, called pedo-zones: Roraima, Rio Negro Basin, Tertiary Plateaux of the Amazon, Javari-Juruá-Purus lowland, Acre Basin and Rondonia uplands. The highest C stock for the whole soil is observed in the Acre and in the Rio Negro sectors. In the former, this is due to the high nutrient status and high clay activity, whereas in the latter, it is attributed to a downward carbon movement attributed to widespread podzolization and arenization, forming spodic horizons. The youthful nature of shallow soils of the Javari-Juruá-Purus lowlands, associated with high Al, results in a high phytomass C/soil C ratio. A similar trend was observed for the shallow soils from the Roraima and Rondonia highlands. A consistent east-west decline in biomass carbon in the Rio Negro Basin sector is associated with increasing rainfall and higher sand amounts. It is related to lesser C protection and greater C loss of sandy soils, subjected to active chemical leaching and widespread podzolization. Also, these soils possess lower cation exchangeable capacity and lower water retention capacity. Zones where deeply weathered Latosols dominate have a overall pattern of high C sequestration, and greater than the shallower soils from the upper Amazon, west of Madeira and Negro rivers. This was attributed to deeper incorporation of carbon in these clayey and highly pedo-bioturbated soils. The results highlight the urgent need for refining soil data at an appropriate scale for C stocks calculations purposes in Amazonia. There

  9. Forest productivity and water stress in Amazonia: observations from GOSAT chlorophyll fluorescence.

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    Lee, Jung-Eun; Frankenberg, Christian; van der Tol, Christiaan; Berry, Joseph A; Guanter, Luis; Boyce, C Kevin; Fisher, Joshua B; Morrow, Eric; Worden, John R; Asefi, Salvi; Badgley, Grayson; Saatchi, Sassan

    2013-06-22

    It is unclear to what extent seasonal water stress impacts on plant productivity over Amazonia. Using new Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) satellite measurements of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence, we show that midday fluorescence varies with water availability, both of which decrease in the dry season over Amazonian regions with substantial dry season length, suggesting a parallel decrease in gross primary production (GPP). Using additional SeaWinds Scatterometer onboard QuikSCAT satellite measurements of canopy water content, we found a concomitant decrease in daily storage of canopy water content within branches and leaves during the dry season, supporting our conclusion. A large part (r(2) = 0.75) of the variance in observed monthly midday fluorescence from GOSAT is explained by water stress over moderately stressed evergreen forests over Amazonia, which is reproduced by model simulations that include a full physiological representation of photosynthesis and fluorescence. The strong relationship between GOSAT and model fluorescence (r(2) = 0.79) was obtained using a fixed leaf area index, indicating that GPP changes are more related to environmental conditions than chlorophyll contents. When the dry season extended to drought in 2010 over Amazonia, midday basin-wide GPP was reduced by 15 per cent compared with 2009.

  10. Edaphic and light conditions of sympatric plant morphotypes in western Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julissa Roncal

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available Here I present a dataset of edaphic and light conditions associated with the occurrence of sympatric morphotypes of Geonoma macrostachys (Arecaceae/Palmae, a candidate case study from Amazonia hypothesized to have evolved under ecological speciation. Transects were established in three lowland rainforests in Peru, and the abundance of each local morphotype of this species was recorded in a total area of 4.95 hectares. Composite soil samples and hemispherical photographs were taken along the transects were the species occurred to obtain information on soil nutrients, soil texture, and indirect measurements of light availability. The raw and summary tables disclose the characteristics of each study site and habitats within them, which could be useful to soil scientists, ecologists, and conservationists engaged in similar research activities or meta-analyses in Amazonia.

  11. Environmental impact of geometric earthwork construction in pre-Columbian Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carson, John Francis; Whitney, Bronwen S; Mayle, Francis E; Iriarte, José; Prümers, Heiko; Soto, J Daniel; Watling, Jennifer

    2014-07-22

    There is considerable controversy over whether pre-Columbian (pre-A.D. 1492) Amazonia was largely "pristine" and sparsely populated by slash-and-burn agriculturists, or instead a densely populated, domesticated landscape, heavily altered by extensive deforestation and anthropogenic burning. The discovery of hundreds of large geometric earthworks beneath intact rainforest across southern Amazonia challenges its status as a pristine landscape, and has been assumed to indicate extensive pre-Columbian deforestation by large populations. We tested these assumptions using coupled local- and regional-scale paleoecological records to reconstruct land use on an earthwork site in northeast Bolivia within the context of regional, climate-driven biome changes. This approach revealed evidence for an alternative scenario of Amazonian land use, which did not necessitate labor-intensive rainforest clearance for earthwork construction. Instead, we show that the inhabitants exploited a naturally open savanna landscape that they maintained around their settlement despite the climatically driven rainforest expansion that began ∼2,000 y ago across the region. Earthwork construction and agriculture on terra firme landscapes currently occupied by the seasonal rainforests of southern Amazonia may therefore not have necessitated large-scale deforestation using stone tools. This finding implies far less labor--and potentially lower population density--than previously supposed. Our findings demonstrate that current debates over the magnitude and nature of pre-Columbian Amazonian land use, and its impact on global biogeochemical cycling, are potentially flawed because they do not consider this land use in the context of climate-driven forest-savanna biome shifts through the mid-to-late Holocene.

  12. Within-canopy sesquiterpene ozonolysis in Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jardine, K.; YañEz Serrano, A.; Arneth, A.; Abrell, L.; Jardine, A.; van Haren, J.; Artaxo, P.; Rizzo, L. V.; Ishida, F. Y.; Karl, T.; Kesselmeier, J.; Saleska, S.; Huxman, T.

    2011-10-01

    Through rapid reactions with ozone, which can initiate the formation of secondary organic aerosols, the emission of sesquiterpenes from vegetation in Amazonia may have significant impacts on tropospheric chemistry and climate. Little is known, however, about sesquiterpene emissions, transport, and chemistry within plant canopies owing to analytical difficulties stemming from very low ambient concentrations, high reactivities, and sampling losses. Here, we present ambient sesquiterpene concentration measurements obtained during the 2010 dry season within and above a primary tropical forest canopy in Amazonia. We show that by peaking at night instead of during the day, and near the ground instead of within the canopy, sesquiterpene concentrations followed a pattern different from that of monoterpenes, suggesting that unlike monoterpene emissions, which are mainly light dependent, sesquiterpene emissions are mainly temperature dependent. In addition, we observed that sesquiterpene concentrations were inversely related with ozone (with respect to time of day and vertical concentration), suggesting that ambient concentrations are highly sensitive to ozone. These conclusions are supported by experiments in a tropical rain forest mesocosm, where little atmospheric oxidation occurs and sesquiterpene and monoterpene concentrations followed similar diurnal patterns. We estimate that the daytime dry season ozone flux of -0.6 to -1.5 nmol m-2 s-1 due to in-canopy sesquiterpene reactivity could account for 7%-28% of the net ozone flux. Our study provides experimental evidence that a large fraction of total plant sesquiterpene emissions (46%-61% by mass) undergo within-canopy ozonolysis, which may benefit plants by reducing ozone uptake and its associated oxidative damage.

  13. Greenhouse gases study in Amazonia; Estudo de gases de efeito estufa na Amazonia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    D' Amelio, Monica Tais Siqueira

    2006-07-01

    The Amazon plays an important role on the global carbon cycle, as changing as carbon storage, since Amazon Basin is the biggest area of tropical forest, around 50% of global. Natural's process, deforestation, and use land are CO{sub 2} sources. The Amazon forest is a significant source of N{sub 2}O by soil process, and CH{sub 4} by anaerobic process like flooded areas, rice cultures, and others sources. This project is part of the LBA project (Large-Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia), and this project is 'Vertical profiles of carbon dioxide and other trace gas species over the Amazon basin using small aircraft'. Since December 2000 vertical profiles of CO{sub 2}, CH{sub 4}, CO, H{sub 2}, N{sub 2}O and SF{sub 6} have been measured above central Amazonia. The local sampling was over Tapajos National Forest, a primary forest in Para State, where had a CO{sub 2} flux tower and an east impact area with sources like animals, rice cultivation, biomass burning, etc, to compare the influence of an impact area and a preserved area in the profiles. The Reserva Biologica de Cuieiras, at Amazon State, is the other studied place, where there already exists a CO{sub 2} flux tower, and an east preserved area at this State, to compare with the Cuieiras. The sampling has been carried out on vertical profile from 1000 ft up to 12000 ft using a semi-automated sampling package developed at GMD/NOAA and a small aircraft. The analysis uses the MAGICC system (Multiple Analysis of Gases Influence Climate Change) which is installed at the Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory (LQA) in IPEN (Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares). The results showed that all gases studied, except H{sub 2} gas, has been following the global trend. At the Para State, for the studied years, the Amazonian Forest performed as small CO{sub 2} sink. To compare Wet and Dry Seasons, subtracted the Ascension concentration values in the period to remove the global influence. So that, in the 2004 and

  14. Greenhouse gases study in Amazonia; Estudo de gases de efeito estufa na Amazonia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    D' Amelio, Monica Tais Siqueira

    2006-07-01

    The Amazon plays an important role on the global carbon cycle, as changing as carbon storage, since Amazon Basin is the biggest area of tropical forest, around 50% of global. Natural's process, deforestation, and use land are CO{sub 2} sources. The Amazon forest is a significant source of N{sub 2}O by soil process, and CH{sub 4} by anaerobic process like flooded areas, rice cultures, and others sources. This project is part of the LBA project (Large-Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia), and this project is 'Vertical profiles of carbon dioxide and other trace gas species over the Amazon basin using small aircraft'. Since December 2000 vertical profiles of CO{sub 2}, CH{sub 4}, CO, H{sub 2}, N{sub 2}O and SF{sub 6} have been measured above central Amazonia. The local sampling was over Tapajos National Forest, a primary forest in Para State, where had a CO{sub 2} flux tower and an east impact area with sources like animals, rice cultivation, biomass burning, etc, to compare the influence of an impact area and a preserved area in the profiles. The Reserva Biologica de Cuieiras, at Amazon State, is the other studied place, where there already exists a CO{sub 2} flux tower, and an east preserved area at this State, to compare with the Cuieiras. The sampling has been carried out on vertical profile from 1000 ft up to 12000 ft using a semi-automated sampling package developed at GMD/NOAA and a small aircraft. The analysis uses the MAGICC system (Multiple Analysis of Gases Influence Climate Change) which is installed at the Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory (LQA) in IPEN (Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares). The results showed that all gases studied, except H{sub 2} gas, has been following the global trend. At the Para State, for the studied years, the Amazonian Forest performed as small CO{sub 2} sink. To compare Wet and Dry Seasons, subtracted the Ascension concentration values in the period to remove the global influence. So that

  15. Pre-Columbian agricultural landscapes, ecosystem engineers, and self-organized patchiness in Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKey, Doyle; Rostain, Stéphen; Iriarte, José; Glaser, Bruno; Birk, Jago Jonathan; Holst, Irene; Renard, Delphine

    2010-04-27

    The scale and nature of pre-Columbian human impacts in Amazonia are currently hotly debated. Whereas pre-Columbian people dramatically changed the distribution and abundance of species and habitats in some parts of Amazonia, their impact in other parts is less clear. Pioneer research asked whether their effects reached even further, changing how ecosystems function, but few in-depth studies have examined mechanisms underpinning the resilience of these modifications. Combining archeology, archeobotany, paleoecology, soil science, ecology, and aerial imagery, we show that pre-Columbian farmers of the Guianas coast constructed large raised-field complexes, growing on them crops including maize, manioc, and squash. Farmers created physical and biogeochemical heterogeneity in flat, marshy environments by constructing raised fields. When these fields were later abandoned, the mosaic of well-drained islands in the flooded matrix set in motion self-organizing processes driven by ecosystem engineers (ants, termites, earthworms, and woody plants) that occur preferentially on abandoned raised fields. Today, feedbacks generated by these ecosystem engineers maintain the human-initiated concentration of resources in these structures. Engineer organisms transport materials to abandoned raised fields and modify the structure and composition of their soils, reducing erodibility. The profound alteration of ecosystem functioning in these landscapes coconstructed by humans and nature has important implications for understanding Amazonian history and biodiversity. Furthermore, these landscapes show how sustainability of food-production systems can be enhanced by engineering into them follows that maintain ecosystem services and biodiversity. Like anthropogenic dark earths in forested Amazonia, these self-organizing ecosystems illustrate the ecological complexity of the legacy of pre-Columbian land use.

  16. UNA NUEVA ESPECIE DE COSTUS (COSTACEAE DE LA AMAZONIA COLOMBIANA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    SALINAS NELSON

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available Se describe e ilustra Costus fissicalyx N. R. Salinas, Clavijo & Betancur, una especienueva del sudeste de la Amazonia colombiana; además, se presenta información sobresus relaciones taxonómicas, distribución y hábitat. Costus fissicalyx se diferencia delas otras especies del género principalmente por la forma y el tipo de crecimientodel cáliz

  17. Ecological research in the large-scale biosphere-atmosphere experiment in Amazonia: early results

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Keller, M.; Alencar, A.; Asner, G.P.; Braswell, B.; Bustamante, M.; Davidson, E.; Feldpausch, T.; Fernandes, E.; Goulden, M.; Kabat, P.; Kruijt, B.; Luizão, F.; Miller, S.; Markewitz, D.; Nobre, A.D.; Nobre, C.A.; Priante Filho, N.; Rocha, da H.; Silva Dias, P.; Randow, von C.; Vourlitis, G.L.

    2004-01-01

    The Large-scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) is a multinational, interdisciplinary research program led by Brazil. Ecological studies in LBA focus on how tropical forest conversion, regrowth, and selective logging influence carbon storage,. nutrient dynamics, trace gas fluxes,

  18. Modeling fire-driven deforestation potential in Amazonia under current and projected climate conditions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Le Page, Y.; van der Werf, G.R.; Morton, D.C.; Pereira, J.M.C.

    2010-01-01

    Fire is a widely used tool to prepare deforested areas for agricultural use in Amazonia. Deforestation is currently concentrated in seasonal forest types along the arc of deforestation, where dry-season conditions facilitate burning of clear-felled vegetation. Interior Amazon forests, however, are

  19. Greenhouse gases study in Amazonia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    D'Amelio, Monica Tais Siqueira

    2006-01-01

    The Amazon plays an important role on the global carbon cycle, as changing as carbon storage, since Amazon Basin is the biggest area of tropical forest, around 50% of global. Natural's process, deforestation, and use land are CO 2 sources. The Amazon forest is a significant source of N 2 O by soil process, and CH 4 by anaerobic process like flooded areas, rice cultures, and others sources. This project is part of the LBA project (Large-Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia), and this project is 'Vertical profiles of carbon dioxide and other trace gas species over the Amazon basin using small aircraft'. Since December 2000 vertical profiles of CO 2 , CH 4 , CO, H 2 , N 2 O and SF 6 have been measured above central Amazonia. The local sampling was over Tapajos National Forest, a primary forest in Para State, where had a CO 2 flux tower and an east impact area with sources like animals, rice cultivation, biomass burning, etc, to compare the influence of an impact area and a preserved area in the profiles. The Reserva Biologica de Cuieiras, at Amazon State, is the other studied place, where there already exists a CO 2 flux tower, and an east preserved area at this State, to compare with the Cuieiras. The sampling has been carried out on vertical profile from 1000 ft up to 12000 ft using a semi-automated sampling package developed at GMD/NOAA and a small aircraft. The analysis uses the MAGICC system (Multiple Analysis of Gases Influence Climate Change) which is installed at the Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory (LQA) in IPEN (Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares). The results showed that all gases studied, except H 2 gas, has been following the global trend. At the Para State, for the studied years, the Amazonian Forest performed as small CO 2 sink. To compare Wet and Dry Seasons, subtracted the Ascension concentration values in the period to remove the global influence. So that, in the 2004 and 2005 wet seasons and 2004 dry season comparison it was

  20. Amazon forest dynamics under changing abiotic conditions in the early Miocene (Colombian Amazonia)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Salamanca, S.; van Soelen, E.E.; Teunissen van Manen, Milan L.; Flantua, Suzette G.A.; Ventura Santos, Roberto; Roddaz, M.; Dantas, Elton Luiz; van Loon, Emiel; Sinninghe Damsté, J.S.; Kim, J.H.; Hoorn, Carina

    2016-01-01

    Aim We analysed in detail a past marine incursion event in north-western Amazonia and measured its effect on the forest composition. We also determined the sediment provenance in the fluvio-estuarine system and reconstructed the overall floral composition of the Amazon lowland forest during the

  1. The Amazonian Craton and its influence on past fluvial systems (Mesozoic-Cenozoic, Amazonia)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoorn, C.; Roddaz, M.; Dino, R.; Soares, E.; Uba, C.; Ochoa-Lozano, D.; Mapes, R.; Hoorn, C.; Wesselingh, F.P.

    2010-01-01

    The Amazonian Craton is an old geological feature of Archaean/Proterozoic age that has determined the character of fluvial systems in Amazonia throughout most of its past. This situation radically changed during the Cenozoic, when uplift of the Andes reshaped the relief and drainage patterns of

  2. Amazon forest dynamics under changing abiotic conditions in the early Miocene (Colombian Amazonia)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Salamanca Villegas, S.; van Soelen, E.; Teunissen van Manen, M.L.; Flantua, S.G.A.; Santos, R.V.; Roddaz, M.; Dantas, E.L.; van Loon, E.; Sinninghe Damsté, J.S.; Kim, J.-H.; Hoorn, C.

    2016-01-01

    Aim We analysed in detail a past marine incursion event in north-westernAmazonia and measured its effect on the forest composition. We also deter-mined the sediment provenance in the ?uvio-estuarine system and recon-structed the overall ?oral composition of the Amazon lowland forest duringthe

  3. Geostationary satellite estimation of biomass burning in Amazonia during BASE-A

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Menzel, W.P.; Cutrim, E.C.; Prins, E.M.

    1991-01-01

    This chapter presents the results of using Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Visible Infrared Spin Scan Radiometer Atmospheric Sounder (VAS) infrared window (3.9 and 11.2 microns) data to monitor biomass burning several times per day in Amazonia. The technique of Matson and Dozier using two window channels was adapted to GOES VAS infrared data to estimate the size and temperature of fires associated with deforestation in the vicinity of Alta Floresta, Brazil, during the Biomass Burning Airborne and Spaceborne Experiment - Amazonia (BASE-A). Although VAS data do not offer the spatial resolution available with AVHRR data 97 km versus 1 km, respectively, this decreased resolution does not seem to hinder the ability of the VAS instrument to detect fires; in some cases it proves to be advantageous in that saturation does not occur as often. VAS visible data are additionally helpful in verifying that the hot spots sensed in the infrared are actually related to fires. Furthermore, the fire plumes can be tracked in time to determine their motion and extent. In this way, the GOES satellite offers a unique ability to monitor diurnal variations in fire activity and transport of related aerosols

  4. Ozone concentrations in the Brazilian Amazonia during BASE-A

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Setzer, A.W.; Kirchhoff, V.W.J.H.; Pereira, M.C.

    1991-01-01

    During the Biomass Burning Airborne and Spaceborne Experiment--Amazonia, thermal images of fires were made with the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) on board meteorological NOAA series satellites. The results of ozone measurements made on board the Brazilian Institute for Space Research (INPE) airplane during September of 1989 are presented and analyzed in relation to the temporal and geographical location of fires detected before and during the sampling. Results show that on a synoptic scale, concentrations of ozone rise sharply in regions of more intense burning

  5. An illustrated key to nymphs of Perlidae (Insecta, Plecoptera genera in Central Amazonia, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hamada Neusa

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available An illustrated key to nymphs of Perlidae collected in streams of Central Amazonia, Brazil is provided. Three genera are reported for this region: Macrogynoplax Enderlein, Anacroneuria Klapálek and Enderleina Jewett. Additional diagnostic characters are provided for Enderleina nymphs.

  6. Secondary Forests from Agricultural Abandonment in Amazonia 2000-2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morton, Douglas

    2010-01-01

    Ongoing negotiations to include reducing emissions from tropical deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) in a post-Kyoto climate agreement highlight the critical role of satellite data for accurate and transparent accounting of forest cover changes. In addition to deforestation and degradation, knowledge of secondary forest dynamics is essential for full carbon accounting under REDD+. Land abandonment to secondary forests also frames one of the key tradeoffs for agricultural production in tropical forest countries-whether to incentivize secondary forest growth (for carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation) or low-carbon expansion of agriculture or biofuels production in areas of secondary forests. We examined patterns of land abandonment to secondary forest across the arc of deforestation in Brazil and Bolivia using time series of annual Landsat and MODIS data from 2000-2009. Rates of land abandonment to secondary forest during 2002-2006 were less than 5% of deforestation rates in these years. Small areas of new secondary forest were scattered across the entire arc of deforestation, rather than concentrated in any specific region of the basin. Taken together, our analysis of the satellite data record emphasizes the difficulties of addressing the pool of new secondary forests in the context of REDD+ in Amazonia. Due to the small total area of secondary forests, land sparing through agricultural intensification will be an important element of efforts to reduce deforestation rates under REDD+ while improving agricultural productivity in Amazonia.

  7. Species richness and distribution of understorey bryophytes in different forest types in Colombian Amazonia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Benavides, J.C.; Duque, A.J.; Duivenvoorden, J.F.; Cleef, A.M.

    2006-01-01

    The first bryophyte survey results from Colombian Amazonia are presented. Bryophyte species, differentiated into mosses and liverworts, and further into four life-form classes, were sampled in 0.1-ha plots. These plots were distributed over four landscape units in the middle Caquetá area:

  8. LBA-ECO LC-04 Satellite/Census-Based 5-Minute Land Use Data, Amazonia: 1980 and 1995

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This data set contains 5-minute land use maps for agricultural activity in Amazonia. The data set was produced by the statistical fusion of agricultural census data...

  9. Dynamic Mesoscale Land-Atmosphere Feedbacks in Fragmented Forests in Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rastogi, D.; Baidya Roy, S.

    2011-12-01

    This paper investigates land-atmosphere feedbacks in disturbed rainforests of Amazonia. Deforestation along the rapidly expanding highways and road network has created the unique fishbone land cover pattern in Rondonia, a state in southwestern Amazonia. Numerical experiments and observations show that sharp gradients in land cover due to the fishbone heterogeneity triggers mesoscale circulations. These circulations significantly change the spatial pattern of local hydrometeorology, especially convection, clouds and precipitation. The primary research question now is can these changes in local hydrometeorology affect vegetation growth in the clearings. If so, that would be a clear indication that land-atmosphere feedbacks can affect vegetation recovery in fragmented forests. A computationally-efficient modeling tool consisting of a mesoscale atmospheric model dynamically coupled with a plant growth model has been specifically developed to identify the atmospheric feedback pathways. Preliminary experiments focus on the seasonal-scale feedbacks during the dry season. Results show that temperature, incoming shortwave and precipitation are the three primary drivers through which the feedbacks operate. Increasing temperature increases respiratory losses generating a positive feedback. Increased cloud cover reduces incoming PAR and photosynthesis, resulting in a positive feedback. Increased precipitation reduces water stress and promotes growth resulting in a negative feedback. The net effect is a combination of these 3 feedback loops. These findings can significantly improve our understanding of ecosystem resiliency in disturbed tropical forests.

  10. IKONOS imagery for the Large Scale Biosphere–Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA).

    Science.gov (United States)

    George Hurtt; Xiangming Xiao; Michael Keller; Michael Palace; Gregory P. Asner; Rob Braswell; Brond& #305; Eduardo S. zio; Manoel Cardoso; Claudio J.R. Carvalho; Matthew G. Fearon; Liane Guild; Steve Hagen; Scott Hetrick; Berrien Moore III; Carlos Nobre; Jane M. Read; S& aacute; Tatiana NO-VALUE; Annette Schloss; George Vourlitis; Albertus J. Wickel

    2003-01-01

    The LBA-ECO program is one of several international research components under the Brazilian-led Large Scale Biosphere–Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA). The field-oriented research activities of this study are organized along transects and include a set of primary field sites, where the major objective is to study land-use change and ecosystem dynamics, and a...

  11. ECOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN THE LARGE-SCALE BIOSPHERE–ATMOSPHERE EXPERIMENT IN AMAZONIA: EARLY RESULTS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    M. Keller; A. Alencar; G. P. Asner; B. Braswell; M. Bustamente; E. Davidson; T. Feldpausch; E. Fern ndes; M. Goulden; P. Kabat; B. Kruijt; F. Luizao; S. Miller; D. Markewitz; A. D. Nobre; C. A. Nobre; N. Priante Filho; H. Rocha; P. Silva Dias; C von Randow; G. L. Vourlitis

    2004-01-01

    The Large-scale Biosphere–Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) is a multinational, interdisciplinary research program led by Brazil. Ecological studies in LBA focus on how tropical forest conversion, regrowth, and selective logging influence carbon storage, nutrient dynamics, trace gas fluxes, and the prospect for sustainable land use in the Amazon region. Early...

  12. Biogeographic and diversification patterns of Neotropical Troidini butterflies (Papilionidae support a museum model of diversity dynamics for Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Condamine Fabien L

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The temporal and geographical diversification of Neotropical insects remains poorly understood because of the complex changes in geological and climatic conditions that occurred during the Cenozoic. To better understand extant patterns in Neotropical biodiversity, we investigated the evolutionary history of three Neotropical swallowtail Troidini genera (Papilionidae. First, DNA-based species delimitation analyses were conducted to assess species boundaries within Neotropical Troidini using an enlarged fragment of the standard barcode gene. Molecularly delineated species were then used to infer a time-calibrated species-level phylogeny based on a three-gene dataset and Bayesian dating analyses. The corresponding chronogram was used to explore their temporal and geographical diversification through distinct likelihood-based methods. Results The phylogeny for Neotropical Troidini was well resolved and strongly supported. Molecular dating and biogeographic analyses indicate that the extant lineages of Neotropical Troidini have a late Eocene (33–42 Ma origin in North America. Two independent lineages (Battus and Euryades + Parides reached South America via the GAARlandia temporary connection, and later became extinct in North America. They only began substantive diversification during the early Miocene in Amazonia. Macroevolutionary analysis supports the “museum model” of diversification, rather than Pleistocene refugia, as the best explanation for the diversification of these lineages. Conclusions This study demonstrates that: (i current Neotropical biodiversity may have originated ex situ; (ii the GAARlandia bridge was important in facilitating invasions of South America; (iii colonization of Amazonia initiated the crown diversification of these swallowtails; and (iv Amazonia is not only a species-rich region but also acted as a sanctuary for the dynamics of this diversity. In particular, Amazonia probably allowed

  13. Biogeographic and diversification patterns of Neotropical Troidini butterflies (Papilionidae) support a museum model of diversity dynamics for Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Condamine, Fabien L; Silva-Brandão, Karina L; Kergoat, Gael J; Sperling, Felix A H

    2012-06-12

    The temporal and geographical diversification of Neotropical insects remains poorly understood because of the complex changes in geological and climatic conditions that occurred during the Cenozoic. To better understand extant patterns in Neotropical biodiversity, we investigated the evolutionary history of three Neotropical swallowtail Troidini genera (Papilionidae). First, DNA-based species delimitation analyses were conducted to assess species boundaries within Neotropical Troidini using an enlarged fragment of the standard barcode gene. Molecularly delineated species were then used to infer a time-calibrated species-level phylogeny based on a three-gene dataset and Bayesian dating analyses. The corresponding chronogram was used to explore their temporal and geographical diversification through distinct likelihood-based methods. The phylogeny for Neotropical Troidini was well resolved and strongly supported. Molecular dating and biogeographic analyses indicate that the extant lineages of Neotropical Troidini have a late Eocene (33-42 Ma) origin in North America. Two independent lineages (Battus and Euryades+Parides) reached South America via the GAARlandia temporary connection, and later became extinct in North America. They only began substantive diversification during the early Miocene in Amazonia. Macroevolutionary analysis supports the "museum model" of diversification, rather than Pleistocene refugia, as the best explanation for the diversification of these lineages. This study demonstrates that: (i) current Neotropical biodiversity may have originated ex situ; (ii) the GAARlandia bridge was important in facilitating invasions of South America; (iii) colonization of Amazonia initiated the crown diversification of these swallowtails; and (iv) Amazonia is not only a species-rich region but also acted as a sanctuary for the dynamics of this diversity. In particular, Amazonia probably allowed the persistence of old lineages and contributed to the steady

  14. Eficiencia reproductiva de diferentes genotipos bovinos en la Amazonia Ecuatoriana

    OpenAIRE

    Ortiz Naveda, N. R.; Castro Guamán, W. E.; Marin, P. R.; Universidad de Cuenca; Dirección de Investigación de la Universidad de Cuenca; DIUC

    2015-01-01

    Los problemas reproductivos en el centro de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana, están condicionados por un sin número de factores, que directa e indirectamente conspiran para mejorar los parámetros productivos de la zona. Las condiciones ambientales, el manejo, la falta de energía en la dieta, la salud, la infraestructura y los genotipos utilizados influyen para no lograr una eficiente reproducción Lopez et al., 2014). El anestro posparto es el principal factor que afecta negativamente el desempeño repr...

  15. Carbon replacement and stability changes in short-term silvo-pastoralo experiments in Colombian Amazonia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mosquera Vidal, O.; Buurman, P.; Ramirez, B.L.; Amezquita, M.C.

    2012-01-01

    There is little information on the effects of land use change on soil Carbon stocks in Colombian Amazonia. Such information would be needed to assess the impact of this area on the global C cycle and the sustainability of agricultural systems that are replacing native forest. The aim of this study

  16. Maximizing Amazonia's Ecosystem Services: Juggling the potential for carbon storage, agricultural yield and biodiversity in the Amazon

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Connell, C. S.; Foley, J. A.; Gerber, J. S.; Polasky, S.

    2011-12-01

    The Amazon is not only an exceptionally biodiverse and carbon-rich tract of tropical forest, it is also a case study in land use change. Over the next forty years it will continue to experience pressure from an urbanizing and increasingly affluent populace: under a business-as-usual scenario, global cropland, pasture and biofuels systems will carry on expanding, while the Amazon's carbon storage potential will likely become another viable revenue source under REDD+. Balancing those competing land use pressures ought also take into account Amazonia's high - but heterogeneous - biodiversity. Knowing where Amazonia has opportunities to make efficient or optimal trade offs between carbon storage, agricultural production and biodiversity can allow policymakers to direct or influence LUC drivers. This analysis uses a spatially-explicit model that takes climate and management into account to quantify the potential agricultural yield of both the Amazon's most important agricultural commodities - sugar, soy and maize - as well as several that are going to come into increasing prominence, including palm oil. In addition, it maps the potential for carbon to be stored in forest biomass and relative species richness across Amazonia. We then compare carbon storage, agricultural yield and species richness and identify areas where efficient trade offs occur between food, carbon, and biodiversity - three critical ecosystem goods and services provided by the world's largest tropical forest.

  17. USOS DE LAS PALMAS EN LA AMAZONIA COLOMBIANA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    LAURA MESA

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Con el fin de obtener un diagnóstico del estado actual de conocimiento sobre usos de las palmas en la Amazonia colombiana, se revisaron las principales fuentes de información. Treinta y seis de las 41 etnias indígenas consideradas tuvieron registros de uso. Se registraron 82 especies de palmas usadas (78% de las potenciales y 165 usos distribuidos en ocho categorías; todos los usos se presentan de manera detallada en un catálogo. Las categorías de uso más importantes fueron: utensilios y herramientas, construcción, y alimentación humana. Las diez especies más importantes fueron Bactris gasipaes, Euterpe precatoria, Mauritia flexuosa, Oenocarpus bataua, Attalea maripa, Oenocarpus minor, Astrocaryum chambira, Iriartea deltoidea, Oenocarpus bacaba y Socratea exorrhiza; la mayoría de ellas también han sido registradas como las más importantes en otras partes del Neotrópico. No se encontró ninguna información sobre usos de palmas para varios grupos indígenas, especialmente para las etnias cocama, letuama, piaroa, pisamira y yurí, para las cuales se requieren investigaciones detalladas. Se concluye que a pesar de los vacíos de información, los resultados muestran que las palmas son un recurso muy importante con un gran potencial, y una pieza fundamental para la seguridad alimentaria y el desarrollo sustentable de la Amazonia colombiana. Sugerimos la inclusión de las especies más importantes en programas de manejo y agroforestales, al igual que la implementación y popularización de técnicas de cosecha no destructivas. Recomendamos además que las investigaciones futuras estén enfocadas en desarrollar estrategias de manejo que garanticen el uso sostenible de todas estas especies útiles.

  18. The expansion of intensive agriculture and ranching in Brazilian Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Robert; DeFries, Ruth; del Carmen Vera-Diaz, Maria; Shimabukuro, Yosio; Venturieri, Adriano

    Agriculture in Amazonia has often provoked controversy, given the tremendous ecological value of the region's environment. First with ranching, and now with the soybean boom, tractors and cattle have marched across lands that for millennia supported only closed moist forest, resident ecosystems, and dispersed indigenous peoples. The present chapter considers this expansion, focusing on the Brazilian portion of the basin. Its premise is that effective Amazonian policy must be grounded on an understanding of the region's agriculture. The chapter pursues its objectives by first addressing the development initiatives that created the preconditions for Amazonia's current agricultural economy. The region is remote and has therefore required sustained government intervention to release its potential. The policy discussion is followed by descriptions of cattle ranching and soy farming. For each, market settings and trajectories of expansion are presented. Although these sectoral descriptions are data rich, they do not provide a conceptual framework for analyzing the environmental impacts of evolving market conditions. To accomplish this, the chapter invokes the classical land use model of von Thünen to explain Amazonian land cover dynamics in relation to soy-cattle linkages. It addresses these dynamics with remote sensing data from Mato Grosso, Pará, and Rondônia, and then discusses scenarios of agricultural advances on the forest. Conclusions follow, considering possible policy responses to deforestation, and the social context of agricultural intensification, with special attention to the issues of land tenure security and distributional equity.

  19. Distance decay of tree species similarity in protected areas on terra firme forests in Colombian Amazonia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Duque, Á.; Phillips, J.F.; von Hildebrand, P.; Posada, C.A.; Prieto, A.; Rudas, A.; Suescún, M.; Stevenson, P.

    2009-01-01

    In this study, we investigated the pattern of floristic similarity as a function of geographical distances and environmental variability in well-drained uplands (terra firme) in Colombian Amazonia. The study site comprised three National Natural Parks, Tinigua, Chiribiquete, and Amacayacu, located

  20. Marine intervals in Neogene fluvial deposits of western Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boonstra, Melanie; Troelstra, Simon; Lammertsma, Emmy; Hoorn, Carina

    2014-05-01

    Amazonia is one of the most species rich areas on Earth, but this high diversity is not homogeneous over the entire region. Highest mammal and tree-alpha diversity is found in the fluvio-lacustrine Pebas system, a Neogene wetland associated with rapid radiation of species. The estuarine to marine origin of various modern Amazonian fish, plants, and invertebrates has been associated with past marine ingressions into this freshwater Pebas system. The exact nature and age of these invasions is, however, debated. Here we present new evidence from fluvial and fluvio-lacustrine deposits of Neogene age in southeast Colombia, that point to periods of widespread marine conditions in western Amazonia. Our evidence is based on an analysis of marine palynomorphs, such as organic linings of foraminifera and dinoflagellate cysts, present in dark sandy clay sediments that outcrop along the Caqueta and Amazon rivers. Characteristically, the foraminiferal linings can be assigned to three benthic morphotypes only, e.g. Ammonia, Elphidium and Trochammina. This low diversity assemblage is associated with estuarine/marginal marine conditions. No distinct marine elements such as shelf or planktonic species were encountered. The observed foraminiferal linings and dinocyst assemblages are typical for a (eutrophic) shallow marine environment, suggesting that the Pebas freshwater wetland system occasionally changed to (marginal) marine. Although some reworked elements are found, a typical Neogene dinocyst taxon is commonly found supporting in situ deposition. Sedimentological features typical for tidal conditions that are reported for sites in Peru and northeastern Brazil likely relate to these marine ingressions. Sea level changes as well as foreland basin development related to Andes formation may have facilitated the entry of marine water during the Neogene.

  1. Miocene fish faunas from the northwestern Amazonia basin (Colombia, Peru, Brazil) with evidence of marine incursions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Monsch, KA

    1998-01-01

    New evidence indicates marine influences during the Miocene in the northwestern Amazonia basin. This is the first major survey of the ichthyofauna from this area in the Miocene. Fossil fish remains from taxa such as the Dasyatoidea, Myliobatoidea, Characiformes, Siluriformes and Sciaenidae are

  2. New molecular identifiers for Simulium limbatum and Simulium incrustatum s.l. and the detection of genetic substructure with potential implications for onchocerciasis epidemiology in the Amazonia focus of Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conceição, Priscila A; Crainey, James L; Almeida, Tatiana P; Shelley, Anthony J; Luz, Sergio L B

    2013-08-01

    The Amazonia onchocerciasis focus of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil is the larger of the two remaining Latin American onchocerciasis foci where disease transmission still occurs and is often regarded as the most challenging of all the Latin American foci to eliminate onchocerciasis. The site is home to a population of over 20,000 semi-nomadic, hunter-gatherer Yanomami people and is made-up of a mosaic of rainforest and savannah ecologies, which are influenced by the area's undulating terrain and rich geological diversity. At least six blackfly vectors have been implicated in onchocerciasis transmission in this focus; however, because of the difficulty in their routine identification the relative importance of each has been obscured. Simulium limbatum and Simulium incrustatum s.l. have both been recorded as vectors in the Amazonia focus, but they are difficult to discriminate morphologically and thus the ecological range of these species, and indeed the presence of S. limbatum in the Amazonia focus at all, have remained controversial. In the work described here, we report 15 S. incrustatum s.l. CO1 sequences and 27 S. limbatum sequences obtained from field-caught adult female blackflies collected from forest and savannah localities, inside and just outside the Amazonia focus. Phylogenetic analysis with the sequences generated in this study, showed that both the S. limbatum and the S. incrustatum s.l. CO1 sequences obtained (even from specimens living in sympatry) all fell into discrete species-specific bootstrap-supported monophyletic groups and thus confirmed the utility of the CO1 gene for identifying both these species inside the Amazonia focus. As the S. limbatum-exclusive cluster included CO1 sequences obtained from forest-caught and morphologically identified specimens these results provide the clearest evidence yet of the presence of S. limbatum inside the Amazonia focus. The question, however, of whether S. limbatum is actually a vector in the focus

  3. Pre-Columbian Earthworks in Coastal Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stéphen Rostain

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available As in other parts of Amazonia, pre-Columbian Indians have profoundly modified the coast of the Guianas. Between 650 and 1650 AD, Arauquinoid people occupied a territory that was approximately 600 km long and used the raised field technique intensively before the European conquest. They erected thousands of raised fields of various shapes, dug canals, ditches, and pathways, and built artificial mounds to establish their villages. All these earthworks changed forever the face of the coastal flooded savannas and their ecology. Such labor was probably organized under the leadership of a central authority: it seems that Arauquinoid societies were organized in a chiefdom system. Statistical calculations, based on the known surface area of raised fields and on their estimated productivity, suggest a population density of 50 to 100 inhabitants per km2. Pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Guianas coast carefully organized, managed and “anthropisized” their territory following a specific pattern.

  4. Estimates of the height of the boundary layer using SODAR and rawinsoundings in Amazonia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fisch, G [Instituto de Aeronautica e Espaco (IAE/CTA), Sao Jose dos Campos, 12228-904 (Brazil); Santos, L A R dos [Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia (INMET), BrasIlia, 70680-900 (Brazil)], E-mail: gfisch@iae.cta.br, E-mail: landre@inmet.gov.br

    2008-05-01

    During the LBA campaign in Amazonia 2002, simultaneous measurements were made of the boundary layer using different instruments (rawinsoundings and SODAR). The profiles of potential temperature and humidity were used to estimates the height of the boundary layer using 3 different techniques. The SODAR's measurements did not capture the shallow morning boundary layer observed at the profiles.

  5. The Roles and Movements of Actors in the Deforestation of Brazilian Amazonia

    OpenAIRE

    Philip M. Fearnside

    2008-01-01

    Containing the advance of deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia requires understanding the roles and movements of the actors involved. The importance of different actors varies widely among locations within the region, and also evolves at any particular site over the course of frontier establishment and consolidation. Landless migrants have significant roles in clearing the land they occupy and in motivating landholders to clear as a defense against invasion or expropriation. Colonists in offic...

  6. A new species of phlebotomine, Trichophoromyia adelsonsouzai (Diptera: Psychodidae of Brazilian Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thiago Vasconcelos dos Santos

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The phlebotomine sandfly Trichophoromyia adelsonsouzai sp. nov. is described and illustrated based on the male and female morphological characteristics of specimens collected at Km 27 of the Trans-Amazonian Highway, municipality of Vitória do Xingu, state of Pará, Brazilian Amazonia. This is an area subject to the direct influence of Belo Monte hydroelectric system. With the description of this new species the number of Trichophoromyia sandflies recorded in Brazil is increased to 20.

  7. Hornborg, A. & Hill, J. D. (eds. 2011. Ethnicity in Ancient Amazonia: Reconstructing Past Identities from Archaeology, Linguistics and Ethnohistory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Phil Riris

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available Book review: Hornborg, A. & Hill, J. D. (eds. 2011. 'Ethnicity in Ancient Amazonia:' 'Reconstructing Past Identities from Archaeology, Linguistics and Ethnohistory.' Boulder: University Press of Colorado, £60

  8. Evaluating the effect of nutrient redistribution by animals on the phosphorus cycle of lowland Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Buendía

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Phosphorus (P availability decreases with soil age and potentially limits the productivity of ecosystems growing on old and weathered soils. Despite growing on ancient soils, ecosystems of lowland Amazonia are highly productive and are among the most biodiverse on Earth. P eroded and weathered in the Andes is transported by the rivers and deposited in floodplains of the lowland Amazon basin creating hotspots of P fertility. We hypothesize that animals feeding on vegetation and detritus in these hotspots may redistribute P to P-depleted areas, thus contributing to dissipate the P gradient across the landscape. Using a mathematical model, we show that animal-driven spatial redistribution of P from rivers to land and from seasonally flooded to terra firme (upland ecosystems may sustain the P cycle of Amazonian lowlands. Our results show how P imported to land by terrestrial piscivores in combination with spatial redistribution of herbivores and detritivores can significantly enhance the P content in terra firme ecosystems, thereby highlighting the importance of food webs for the biogeochemical cycling of Amazonia.

  9. Evaluating the effect of nutrient redistribution by animals on the phosphorus cycle of lowland Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buendía, Corina; Kleidon, Axel; Manzoni, Stefano; Reu, Björn; Porporato, Amilcare

    2018-01-01

    Phosphorus (P) availability decreases with soil age and potentially limits the productivity of ecosystems growing on old and weathered soils. Despite growing on ancient soils, ecosystems of lowland Amazonia are highly productive and are among the most biodiverse on Earth. P eroded and weathered in the Andes is transported by the rivers and deposited in floodplains of the lowland Amazon basin creating hotspots of P fertility. We hypothesize that animals feeding on vegetation and detritus in these hotspots may redistribute P to P-depleted areas, thus contributing to dissipate the P gradient across the landscape. Using a mathematical model, we show that animal-driven spatial redistribution of P from rivers to land and from seasonally flooded to terra firme (upland) ecosystems may sustain the P cycle of Amazonian lowlands. Our results show how P imported to land by terrestrial piscivores in combination with spatial redistribution of herbivores and detritivores can significantly enhance the P content in terra firme ecosystems, thereby highlighting the importance of food webs for the biogeochemical cycling of Amazonia.

  10. 'Formidable contagion': epidemics, work and recruitment in Colonial Amazonia (1660-1750).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chambouleyron, Rafael; Barbosa, Benedito Costa; Bombardi, Fernanda Aires; Sousa, Claudia Rocha de

    2011-12-01

    The text analyzes the extent to which smallpox and measles epidemics provoked transformations in the ways in which workforces were acquired and used in colonial Amazonia from the mid-seventeenth to mid-eighteenth century, with an increase in slave raids on the indigenous population and the attempt to organize a trade route in African slaves to the region. It also explores how indigenous mortality rates at the end of the seventeenth century led to a concern with the region's defence and prompted the recruitment of soldiers from the Madeira islands.

  11. Understorey fire frequency and the fate of burned forests in southern Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morton, D C; Le Page, Y; DeFries, R; Collatz, G J; Hurtt, G C

    2013-06-05

    Recent drought events underscore the vulnerability of Amazon forests to understorey fires. The long-term impact of fires on biodiversity and forest carbon stocks depends on the frequency of fire damages and deforestation rates of burned forests. Here, we characterized the spatial and temporal dynamics of understorey fires (1999-2010) and deforestation (2001-2010) in southern Amazonia using new satellite-based estimates of annual fire activity (greater than 50 ha) and deforestation (greater than 10 ha). Understorey forest fires burned more than 85 500 km(2) between 1999 and 2010 (2.8% of all forests). Forests that burned more than once accounted for 16 per cent of all understorey fires. Repeated fire activity was concentrated in Mato Grosso and eastern Pará, whereas single fires were widespread across the arc of deforestation. Routine fire activity in Mato Grosso coincided with annual periods of low night-time relative humidity, suggesting a strong climate control on both single and repeated fires. Understorey fires occurred in regions with active deforestation, yet the interannual variability of fire and deforestation were uncorrelated, and only 2.6 per cent of forests that burned between 1999 and 2008 were deforested for agricultural use by 2010. Evidence from the past decade suggests that future projections of frontier landscapes in Amazonia should separately consider economic drivers to project future deforestation and climate to project fire risk.

  12. Arsenic, manganese and aluminum contamination in groundwater resources of Western Amazonia (Peru).

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Meyer, Caroline M C; Rodríguez, Juan M; Carpio, Edward A; García, Pilar A; Stengel, Caroline; Berg, Michael

    2017-12-31

    This paper presents a first integrated survey on the occurrence and distribution of geogenic contaminants in groundwater resources of Western Amazonia in Peru. An increasing number of groundwater wells have been constructed for drinking water purposes in the last decades; however, the chemical quality of the groundwater resources in the Amazon region is poorly studied. We collected groundwater from the regions of Iquitos and Pucallpa to analyze the hydrochemical characteristics, including trace elements. The source aquifer of each well was determined by interpretation of the available geological information, which identified four different aquifer types with distinct hydrochemical properties. The majority of the wells in two of the aquifer types tap groundwater enriched in aluminum, arsenic, or manganese at levels harmful to human health. Holocene alluvial aquifers along the main Amazon tributaries with anoxic, near pH-neutral groundwater contained high concentrations of arsenic (up to 700μg/L) and manganese (up to 4mg/L). Around Iquitos, the acidic groundwater (4.2≤pH≤5.5) from unconfined aquifers composed of pure sand had dissolved aluminum concentrations of up to 3.3mg/L. Groundwater from older or deeper aquifers generally was of good chemical quality. The high concentrations of toxic elements highlight the urgent need to assess the groundwater quality throughout Western Amazonia. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. CHLOROCOCCALES DE LA AMAZONIA COLOMBIANA I: Chlorellaceae y Scenedesmaceae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ECHENIQUE RICARDO O.

    2004-06-01

    Full Text Available En este trabajo damos a conocer 41 taxones pertenecientes a las familias Chlorellaceaey Scenedesmaceae del orden Chlorococcales (Algae, Cholophyceae hallados entres cuencas de la Amazonia colombiana: Amazonas (Solimões, Putumayo (Içã yCaquetá (Japurá. Del total encontrado, 19 son nuevas citas para Colombia, nueveson nuevos registros para la cuenca en estudio y se propone una nueva entidadtaxonómica Tetraedron triangulare f. major Echenique nova forma. La mayor riquezase encontró en los lagos de inundación del río Amazonas, en particular en el lagoYahuarcaca que presenta amplio desarrollo de macrófitos y los mayores nivelestróficos de la región.

  14. First typology of cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) systems in Colombian Amazonia, based on tree species richness, canopy structure and light availability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suárez Salazar, Juan Carlos; Ngo Bieng, Marie Ange; Melgarejo, Luz Marina; Di Rienzo, Julio A; Casanoves, Fernando

    2018-01-01

    We present a typology of cacao agroforest systems in Colombian Amazonia. These systems had yet to be described in the literature, especially their potential in terms of biodiversity conservation. The systems studied are located in a post-conflict area, and a deforestation front in Colombian Amazonia. Cacao cropping systems are of key importance in Colombia: cacao plays a prime role in post conflict resolution, as cacao is a legal crop to replace illegal crops; cacao agroforests are expected to be a sustainable practice, promoting forest-friendly land use. We worked in 50 x 2000 m2 agroforest plots, in Colombian Amazonia. A cluster analysis was used to build a typology based on 28 variables characterised in each plot, and related to diversity, composition, spatial structure and light availability for the cacao trees. We included variables related to light availability to evaluate the amount of transmitted radiation to the cacao trees in each type, and its suitability for cacao ecophysiological development. We identified 4 types of cacao agroforests based on differences concerning tree species diversity and the impact of canopy spatial structure on light availability for the cacao trees in the understorey. We found 127 tree species in the dataset, with some exclusive species in each type. We also found that 3 out of the 4 types identified displayed an erosion of tree species diversity. This reduction in shade tree species may have been linked to the desire to reduce shade, but we also found that all the types described were compatible with good ecophysiological development of the cacao trees. Cacao agroforest systems may actually be achieving biodiversity conservation goals in Colombian Amazonia. One challenging prospect will be to monitor and encourage the conservation of tree species diversity in cacao agroforest systems during the development of these cropping systems, as a form of forest-friendly management enhancing sustainable peace building in Colombia.

  15. The snakes of the genus Atractus Wagler (Reptilia: Squamata: Colubridae) from the Manaus region, central Amazonia, Brazil

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Martins, M.; Oliveira, M.E.

    1993-01-01

    Taxonomic and natural history data are presented on eight species of Atractus from the Manaus region, central Amazonia, Brazil, namely: A. alphonsehogei, A. latifrons, A, major, A. poeppigi, A. schach, A. snethlageae, A. torquatus, and A. trilineatus. Four of these species are recorded for the first

  16. Pervasive Rise of Small-scale Deforestation in Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalamandeen, Michelle; Gloor, Emanuel; Mitchard, Edward; Quincey, Duncan; Ziv, Guy; Spracklen, Dominick; Spracklen, Benedict; Adami, Marcos; Aragão, Luiz E O C; Galbraith, David

    2018-01-25

    Understanding forest loss patterns in Amazonia, the Earth's largest rainforest region, is critical for effective forest conservation and management. Following the most detailed analysis to date, spanning the entire Amazon and extending over a 14-year period (2001-2014), we reveal significant shifts in deforestation dynamics of Amazonian forests. Firstly, hotspots of Amazonian forest loss are moving away from the southern Brazilian Amazon to Peru and Bolivia. Secondly, while the number of new large forest clearings (>50 ha) has declined significantly over time (46%), the number of new small clearings (<1 ha) increased by 34% between 2001-2007 and 2008-2014. Thirdly, we find that small-scale low-density forest loss expanded markedly in geographical extent during 2008-2014. This shift presents an important and alarming new challenge for forest conservation, despite reductions in overall deforestation rates.

  17. Fire as a Factor of Variation of Soil Respiration in Amazonia of Peru

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suarez, L.; Kruijt, B.

    2007-05-01

    Severe changes are affecting the role of Amazonia in the Earth system. One of these possible effects could be the modification of the relevance of soil in the carbon cycle. In this sense, fire is an important factor for mobilizing C from the soil to the atmosphere, mainly as CO2. This could have an important effect in the global warming. Our proposal will evaluate the variation of the soil respiration related to the seasonality and the fire effects on soils in the Amazonia of Peru and Brasil. In experimental parcels of four locations of Peru with different vegetation cover (forest and pasture), we will measure soil respiration along with the organic carbon and the microbial biomass of soils during campaigns of wet and dry seasons, with complementary measurements of soil temperature, water and nutrient content. Also, we will reproduce a fire experiment simulating local activity of "slash and burn" to evaluate fire effects. Measurements will be taken after the soil cooled and 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 days after the fire. Additionally, the carbon stock of the subparcels will be evaluated. Evaluation of the variations of CO2 fluxes and the capacity of adaptation to fire and water content will be done through the comparisons of the different locations, type of soils and concentration of available N as an indicator of nutrient content.

  18. Leporinus trimaculatus, a new species from Amazonia, Brazil, and redescription of the sympatric Leporinus aripuanaensis (Pisces, Characiformes, Anostomidae)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Garavello, Julio Cesar; Santos, dos Geraldo Mendes

    1992-01-01

    Leporinus trimaculatus n.sp. is described, and Leporinus aripuanaensis Garavello & Santos, 1981 is redescribed, both from the Aripuanã river basin, Mato Grosso state, Amazonia, Brazil. A colour pattern of two, three or more dark brown blotches on the lateral sides of the body in both species

  19. Effects of reduced-impact logging on fish assemblages in central Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dias, Murilo S; Magnusson, William E; Zuanon, Jansen

    2010-02-01

    In Amazonia reduced-impact logging, which is meant to reduce environmental disturbance by controlling stem-fall directions and minimizing construction of access roads, has been applied to large areas containing thousands of streams. We investigated the effects of reduced-impact logging on environmental variables and the composition of fish in forest streams in a commercial logging concession in central Amazonia, Amazonas State, Brazil. To evaluate short-term effects, we sampled 11 streams before and after logging in one harvest area. We evaluated medium-term effects by comparing streams in 11 harvest areas logged 1-8 years before the study with control streams in adjacent areas. Each sampling unit was a 50-m stream section. The tetras Pyrrhulina brevis and Hemigrammus cf. pretoensis had higher abundances in plots logged > or =3 years before compared with plots logged fish composition did not differ two months before and immediately after reduced-impact logging. Temperature and pH varied before and after logging, but those differences were compatible with normal seasonal variation. In the medium term, temperature and cover of logs were lower in logged plots. Differences in ordination scores on the basis of relative fish abundance between streams in control and logged areas changed with time since logging, mainly because some common species increased in abundance after logging. There was no evidence of species loss from the logging concession, but differences in log cover and ordination scores derived from relative abundance of fish species persisted even after 8 years. For Amazonian streams, reduced-impact logging appears to be a viable alternative to clear-cut practices, which severely affect aquatic communities. Nevertheless, detailed studies are necessary to evaluated subtle long-term effects.

  20. First typology of cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) systems in Colombian Amazonia, based on tree species richness, canopy structure and light availability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suárez Salazar, Juan Carlos; Melgarejo, Luz Marina; Di Rienzo, Julio A.; Casanoves, Fernando

    2018-01-01

    Aim and background We present a typology of cacao agroforest systems in Colombian Amazonia. These systems had yet to be described in the literature, especially their potential in terms of biodiversity conservation. The systems studied are located in a post-conflict area, and a deforestation front in Colombian Amazonia. Cacao cropping systems are of key importance in Colombia: cacao plays a prime role in post conflict resolution, as cacao is a legal crop to replace illegal crops; cacao agroforests are expected to be a sustainable practice, promoting forest-friendly land use. Material and methods We worked in 50 x 2000 m2 agroforest plots, in Colombian Amazonia. A cluster analysis was used to build a typology based on 28 variables characterised in each plot, and related to diversity, composition, spatial structure and light availability for the cacao trees. We included variables related to light availability to evaluate the amount of transmitted radiation to the cacao trees in each type, and its suitability for cacao ecophysiological development. Main results We identified 4 types of cacao agroforests based on differences concerning tree species diversity and the impact of canopy spatial structure on light availability for the cacao trees in the understorey. We found 127 tree species in the dataset, with some exclusive species in each type. We also found that 3 out of the 4 types identified displayed an erosion of tree species diversity. This reduction in shade tree species may have been linked to the desire to reduce shade, but we also found that all the types described were compatible with good ecophysiological development of the cacao trees. Main conclusions and prospects Cacao agroforest systems may actually be achieving biodiversity conservation goals in Colombian Amazonia. One challenging prospect will be to monitor and encourage the conservation of tree species diversity in cacao agroforest systems during the development of these cropping systems, as a form of

  1. First typology of cacao (Theobroma cacao L. systems in Colombian Amazonia, based on tree species richness, canopy structure and light availability.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Carlos Suárez Salazar

    Full Text Available We present a typology of cacao agroforest systems in Colombian Amazonia. These systems had yet to be described in the literature, especially their potential in terms of biodiversity conservation. The systems studied are located in a post-conflict area, and a deforestation front in Colombian Amazonia. Cacao cropping systems are of key importance in Colombia: cacao plays a prime role in post conflict resolution, as cacao is a legal crop to replace illegal crops; cacao agroforests are expected to be a sustainable practice, promoting forest-friendly land use.We worked in 50 x 2000 m2 agroforest plots, in Colombian Amazonia. A cluster analysis was used to build a typology based on 28 variables characterised in each plot, and related to diversity, composition, spatial structure and light availability for the cacao trees. We included variables related to light availability to evaluate the amount of transmitted radiation to the cacao trees in each type, and its suitability for cacao ecophysiological development.We identified 4 types of cacao agroforests based on differences concerning tree species diversity and the impact of canopy spatial structure on light availability for the cacao trees in the understorey. We found 127 tree species in the dataset, with some exclusive species in each type. We also found that 3 out of the 4 types identified displayed an erosion of tree species diversity. This reduction in shade tree species may have been linked to the desire to reduce shade, but we also found that all the types described were compatible with good ecophysiological development of the cacao trees.Cacao agroforest systems may actually be achieving biodiversity conservation goals in Colombian Amazonia. One challenging prospect will be to monitor and encourage the conservation of tree species diversity in cacao agroforest systems during the development of these cropping systems, as a form of forest-friendly management enhancing sustainable peace building in

  2. Ecological adaptation of wild peach palm, its in situ conservation and deforestation-mediated extinction in southern Brazilian Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clement, Charles R; Santos, Ronaldo P; Desmouliere, Sylvain J M; Ferreira, Evandro J L; Neto, João Tomé Farias

    2009-01-01

    The Arc of Fire across southern Amazonia seasonally attracts worldwide attention as forests are cut and burned for agricultural expansion. These forests contain numerous wild relatives of native South American crops, such as peach palm. Our prospecting expeditions examined critical areas for wild peach palm in the Arc of Fire in Mato Grosso, Pará, Maranhão and Tocantins, as well as areas not previously examined in Amazonas and Amapá states. Recent digitization of the RADAM Brasil project permitted comparison among RADAM's parataxonomists' observations, previous botanical collections and our prospecting. Mapping on soils and vegetation types enabled us to hypothesize a set of ecological preferences. Wild peach palm is best adapted to Ultisols (Acrisols) in open forests across the Arc of Fire and westward into the more humid western Amazonia. Populations are generally small (fewer than 10 plants) on slopes above watercourses. In northern Mato Grosso and southern Pará soybean fields and pastures now occupy numerous areas where RADAM identified wild peach palm. The controversial BR-163 Highway is already eroding wild peach palm as deforestation expands. Many of these populations are now isolated by increasing forest fragmentation, which will lead to decreased reproduction via inbreeding depression and eventual extinction even without complete deforestation. Federal conservation areas are less numerous in the Arc of Fire than in other parts of Brazilian Amazonia, although there are indigenous lands; these conservation areas contain viable populations of wild peach palm and require better protection than they are currently receiving. Ex situ conservation of these populations is not viable given the relative lack of importance of domesticated peach palm and the difficulty of maintaining even economically interesting genetic resources.

  3. Economically important species dominate aboveground carbon storage in forests of southwestern Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Galia Selaya

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Tree species in tropical forests provide economically important goods and ecosystem services. In submontane forests of southwestern Amazonia, we investigated the degree to which tree species important for subsistence and trade contribute to aboveground carbon storage (AGC. We used 41 1-hectare plots to determine the species abundance, basal area, and AGC of stems > 10 cm diameter at breast height (dbh. Economically important taxa were classified using ethnobotanical studies and according to their stem density. These taxa (n = 263 accounted for 45% of total stems, 53% of total basal area, and 56% of total AGC, significantly more than taxa with minor or unknown uses (Welch test at p 40 cm and few stems in regeneration classes of dbh < 10 to 20 cm (e.g., Bertholletia excelsa, Cariniana spp., Cedrelinga spp., Ceiba spp., Dipteryx spp., whereas dominant Tetragastris spp., and Pseudolmedia spp. had most stems in low diameter classes and a median diameter of < 30 cm. Bertholletia excelsa, with 1.5 stems per hectare, showed the highest basal area of any species and accounted for 9% of AGC (11 Mg/ha, twice that of the second-ranking species. Our study shows that economic importance and carbon stocks in trees are closely linked in southwestern Amazonia. Unplanned harvests can disrupt synergistic dual roles altering carbon stocks temporally or permanently. Precautionary measures based on species ecology, demography, and regeneration traits should be at the forefront of REDD+ to reconcile maximum harvesting limits, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable forest management.

  4. Outstanding insecurities concerning the use of an Ov16-based ELISA in the Amazonia onchocerciasis focus

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    Sérgio Luiz Bessa Luz

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available In a recent issue of Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, published in Rio de Janeiro in February 2014 (109: 87-92, Adami et al. have published a survey reporting Mansonella parasite prevalence in the Amazon Region. This report makes a useful contribution to the existing knowledge of filarial parasite distribution within the Amazon area, parasite prevalence rates in relation to age and occupation and provides observations on the possible clinical impact of Mansonella ozzardi. Their publication also provides an account of what appears to be a novel ELISA that has recently been used in the Simuliidae and Onchocerciasis Laboratory of the Oswaldo Cruz Institute, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We are concerned that the publication of this ELISA may have created an excessively positive impression of the effectiveness of the onchocerciasis recrudescence serological surveillance tools that are presently available for use in the Amazonia onchocerciasis focus. In this letter we have, thus, sought to highlight some of the limitations of this ELISA and suggest how continuing insecurities concerning the detection of antibodies to Onchocerca volvulus within the Amazonia onchocerciasis focus might be minimised.

  5. Soil-vegetation relationships on a banded ironstone 'island', Carajás Plateau, Brazilian Eastern Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nunes, Jaquelina A; Schaefer, Carlos E G R; Ferreira Júnior, Walnir G; Neri, Andreza V; Correa, Guilherme R; Enright, Neal J

    2015-01-01

    Vegetation and soil properties of an iron-rich canga (laterite) island on the largest outcrop of banded-iron formation in Serra de Carajás (eastern Amazonia, Brazil) were studied along a topographic gradient (738-762 m asl), and analyzed to test the hypothesis that soil chemical and physical attributes play a key role in the structure and floristic composition of these plant communities. Soil and vegetation were sampled in eight replicate plots within each of the four vegetation types. Surface (0-10 cm) soil samples from each plot were analyzed for basic cations, N, P and plant species density for all species was recorded. CCA ordination analysis showed a strong separation between forest and non-forest sites on the first axis, and between herbaceous and shrubby campo rupestre on the second axis. The four vegetation types shared few plant species, which was attributed to their distinctive soil environments and filtering of their constituent species by chemical, physical and hydrological constraints. Thus, we can infer that Edaphic (pedological) factors are crucial in explaining the types and distributions of campo rupestre vegetation associated with ferruginous ironstone uplands (Canga) in Carajás, eastern Amazonia, therefore the soil properties are the main drivers of vegetation composition and structure on these ironstone islands.

  6. Land-use in Amazonia and the Cerrado of Brazil: State of Knowledge and GIS Database

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nepstad, Daniel C.

    1997-01-01

    We have assembled datasets to strengthen the LargeScale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA). These datasets can now be accessed through the Woods Hole Research Center homepage (www.whrc.org), and will soon be linked to the Pre-LBA homepages of the Brazilian Space Research Institute's Center for Weather and Climate Prediction (Instituto de Pesquisas Espaciais, Centro de Previsao de Tempo e Estudos Climaticos, INPE/CPTEC) and through the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Distributed Active Archive Center (ORNL/DMC). Some of the datasets that we are making available involved new field research and/or the digitization of data available in Brazilian government agencies. For example, during the grant period we conducted interviews at 1,100 sawmills across Amazonia to determine their production of sawn timber, and their harvest intensities. These data provide the basis for the first quantitative assessment of the area of forest affected each year by selective logging (Nepstad et al, submitted to Nature). We digitized the locations of all of the rural households in the State of Para that have been mapped by the Brazilian malaria combat agency (SUCAM). We also mapped and digitized areas of deforestation in the state of Tocantins, which is comprised largely of savanna (cerrado), an ecosystem that has been routinely excluded from deforestation mapping exercises.

  7. Co-Evolution and Bio-Social Construction: The Kichwa Agroforestry Systems (Chakras in the Ecuadorian Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Coq-Huelva

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Polycultured agrarian systems in Ecuadorian Amazonia (also called chakras or swollen gardens are characterised by a market-oriented crop for the generation of monetary income, for example, cocoa, other agricultural products (e.g., banana and cassava, and livestock for family farm consumption. Moreover, a chakra is an outstanding example of agroforestry production, in which ecological, social and economic elements co-evolve from a set of close and strong connections. In this context, the conservation and transformation of their biological subsystems can be understood as the result of complex interactions between anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic factors. In turn, such interactions are essential to provide food and monetary income to the indigenous community. Relevant agency capabilities exist that could cause an agroforestry system to take a different path of co-evolution, that is, towards greater or lesser sustainability associated with different levels of complexity. In conclusion, chakras have key ecological features that can mitigate the impact of human population growth in Amazonia. Additionally, chakras have their own processes of social self-regulation which enhance the possibilities of adaptation of Kichwa communities to changing environmental conditions, being essential elements in local food sovereignty, equitable gender relations and the respect of ancestral wisdom.

  8. Molecular composition of organic aerosols in central Amazonia: an ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometry study

    OpenAIRE

    Kourtchev, I; Godoi, RHM; Connors, S; Levine, JG; Archibald, AT; Godoi, AFL; Paralovo, SL; Barbosa, CGG; Souza, RAF; Manzi, AO; Seco, R; Sjostedt, S; Park, J-H; Guenther, A; Kim, S

    2016-01-01

    The Amazon Basin plays key role in atmospheric chemistry, biodiversity and climate change. In this study we applied nanoelectrospray (nanoESI) ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHRMS) for the analysis of the organic fraction of PM$_{2.5}$ aerosol samples collected during dry and wet seasons at a site in central Amazonia receiving background air masses, biomass burning and urban pollution. Comprehensive mass spectral data evaluation methods (e.g. Kendrick mass defect, Van Krevelen diagr...

  9. Bryophyte diversity patterns in flooded and tierra firme forests in the Araracuara Region, Colombian Amazonia

    OpenAIRE

    Benavides, Juan C.; Idarraga, Alvaro; Alvarez, Esteban

    2004-01-01

    We investigated patterns of bryophyte species richness and composition in two forest types of Colombian Amazonia, non-flooded tierra firme forest and floodplain forest of the Caquetá River. A total of 109 bryophyte species were recorded from 14 0.2 ha plots. Bryophyte life forms and habitats were analyzed, including the canopy and epiphylls. Bryophyte species did not show significant differences between landscapes but mosses and liverworts were different and with opposite responses balancing ...

  10. Ecological adaptation of wild peach palm, its in situ conservation and deforestation-mediated extinction in southern Brazilian Amazonia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charles R Clement

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The Arc of Fire across southern Amazonia seasonally attracts worldwide attention as forests are cut and burned for agricultural expansion. These forests contain numerous wild relatives of native South American crops, such as peach palm. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Our prospecting expeditions examined critical areas for wild peach palm in the Arc of Fire in Mato Grosso, Pará, Maranhão and Tocantins, as well as areas not previously examined in Amazonas and Amapá states. Recent digitization of the RADAM Brasil project permitted comparison among RADAM's parataxonomists' observations, previous botanical collections and our prospecting. Mapping on soils and vegetation types enabled us to hypothesize a set of ecological preferences. Wild peach palm is best adapted to Ultisols (Acrisols in open forests across the Arc of Fire and westward into the more humid western Amazonia. Populations are generally small (fewer than 10 plants on slopes above watercourses. In northern Mato Grosso and southern Pará soybean fields and pastures now occupy numerous areas where RADAM identified wild peach palm. The controversial BR-163 Highway is already eroding wild peach palm as deforestation expands. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Many of these populations are now isolated by increasing forest fragmentation, which will lead to decreased reproduction via inbreeding depression and eventual extinction even without complete deforestation. Federal conservation areas are less numerous in the Arc of Fire than in other parts of Brazilian Amazonia, although there are indigenous lands; these conservation areas contain viable populations of wild peach palm and require better protection than they are currently receiving. Ex situ conservation of these populations is not viable given the relative lack of importance of domesticated peach palm and the difficulty of maintaining even economically interesting genetic resources.

  11. Application of the Forhyd model to simulate net precipitation and intercepted water evaporation in forest canopies in Colombian amazonia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tellez Guio, Patricia; Boschell Villamarin, Francisco; Tobon Marin, Conrado

    2005-01-01

    Hydrologic simulation is a technique, which allows us to understand the relationships among hydrological, biological and ecological variables in an ecosystem. In this research, the FORHYD model is used to simulate the net precipitation and the water intercepted by the canopies of a mature forest, a 30-year old secondary forest, an 18-year old secondary forest, a 5-year old secondary forest, and a shifting cultivation plot, all located in Colombia's amazonia. The model calculates the water budget of the canopy by using the precipitation rates, canopy drainage and evaporation of the water intercepted by the canopy. This paper is the second one in a series of papers reporting the results of the research on the simulation of the hydrological fluxes in three different land use types of Colombian amazonia. The research was carried out in middle Caqueta of Colombian amazonia (northwest amazon basin). The FORHYD model was calibrated and validated by using field observations of the climate, net precipitation (PT), thoughtful (TH) and stem flow (ST), which were monitored during a period of 15 months from March 2001 to June 2002. These observations were used as both input variables and diagnostic variables to probe the model's precision to simulate field observations. Results showed that FORHYD simulates with a good precision the net precipitation and the evaporation of the water intercepted by the canopy. However, the model's precision depends on a good parameterization, which in turn depends on a good database of field observations. The model is a good tool for simulating the hydrological cycle and can be used to simulate critical scenarios of climate variability

  12. Multi year aerosol characterization in the tropical Andes and in adjacent Amazonia using AERONET measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pérez-Ramírez, Daniel; Andrade-Flores, Marcos; Eck, Thomas F.; Stein, Ariel F.; O'Neill, Norman T.; Lyamani, Hassan; Gassó, Santiago; Whiteman, David N.; Veselovskii, Igor; Velarde, Fernando; Alados-Arboledas, L.

    2017-10-01

    This work focuses on the analysis of columnar aerosol properties in the complex geophysical tropical region of South America within 10-20° South and 50-70° West. The region is quite varied and encompasses a significant part of Amazonia (lowlands) as well as high mountains in the Andes (highlands,∼4000 m a.s.l.). Several AERONET stations were included to study the aerosol optical characteristics of the lowlands (Rio Branco, Ji Parana and Cuiaba in Brazil and Santa Cruz in Bolivia) and the highlands (La Paz, Bolivia) during the 2000-2014 period. Biomass-burning is by far the most important source of aerosol in the lowlands, particularly during the dry season (August-October). Multi-annual variability was investigated and showed very strong burning activity in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010. This resulted in smoke characterized by correspondingly strong, above-average AODs (aerosol optical depths) and homogeneous single scattering albedo (SSA) across all the stations (∼0.93). For other years, however, SSA differences arise between the northern stations (Rio Branco and Ji Parana) with SSAs of ∼0.95 and the southern stations (Cuiaba and Santa Cruz) with lower SSAs of ∼0.85. Such differences are explained by the different types of vegetation burned in the two different regions. In the highlands, however, the transport of biomass burning smoke is found to be sporadic in nature. This sporadicity results in highly variable indicators of aerosol load and type (Angstrom exponent and fine mode fraction) with moderately significant increases in both. Regional dust and local pollution are the background aerosol in this highland region, whose elevation places it close to the free troposphere. Transported smoke particles were generally found to be more optical absorbing than in the lowlands: the hypothesis to explain this is the significantly higher amount of water vapor in Amazonia relative to the high mountain areas. The air-mass transport to La Paz was investigated using

  13. Aspectos agronómicos sobre el cultivo del arazá (eugenia stipitata me vaugh Frutal promisorio de la amazonia colombiana

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Quevedo Garcia Enrique

    1995-06-01

    Full Text Available

    En este trabajo se presenta un estudio del manejo agronómico del cultivo del arazá (Eugenia slipitata Mc. Vaugh en la Amazonia colombiana y una revisión del manejo del arazá en la Amazonia del Brasil y Perú. Se concluye que esta es una especie en vía de domesticación que puede ser cultivada en otras regiones de Colombia y que podría ser un sustituto para los cultivos ilícitos. Si somos hábiles en logra establecer el cultivo del arazá. En reglones con características ecológicas adecuadas para esta especie en corto tiempo, obtendremos un fruto para el consumo humano y su usa extensivo en Colombia.

  14. Interactions between rainfall, deforestation and fires during recent years in the Brazilian Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aragão, Luiz Eduardo O C; Malhi, Yadvinder; Barbier, Nicolas; Lima, Andre; Shimabukuro, Yosio; Anderson, Liana; Saatchi, Sassan

    2008-05-27

    Understanding the interplay between climate and land-use dynamics is a fundamental concern for assessing the vulnerability of Amazonia to climate change. In this study, we analyse satellite-derived monthly and annual time series of rainfall, fires and deforestation to explicitly quantify the seasonal patterns and relationships between these three variables, with a particular focus on the Amazonian drought of 2005. Our results demonstrate a marked seasonality with one peak per year for all variables analysed, except deforestation. For the annual cycle, we found correlations above 90% with a time lag between variables. Deforestation and fires reach the highest values three and six months, respectively, after the peak of the rainy season. The cumulative number of hot pixels was linearly related to the size of the area deforested annually from 1998 to 2004 (r2=0.84, p=0.004). During the 2005 drought, the number of hot pixels increased 43% in relation to the expected value for a similar deforested area (approx. 19000km2). We demonstrated that anthropogenic forcing, such as land-use change, is decisive in determining the seasonality and annual patterns of fire occurrence. Moreover, droughts can significantly increase the number of fires in the region even with decreased deforestation rates. We may expect that the ongoing deforestation, currently based on slash and burn procedures, and the use of fires for land management in Amazonia will intensify the impact of droughts associated with natural climate variability or human-induced climate change and, therefore, a large area of forest edge will be under increased risk of fires.

  15. Sources of water vapor to economically relevant regions in Amazonia and the effect of deforestation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pires, G. F.; Fontes, V. C.

    2017-12-01

    The Amazon rain forest helps regulate the regional humid climate. Understanding the effects of Amazon deforestation is important to preserve not only the climate, but also economic activities that depend on it, in particular, agricultural productivity and hydropower generation. This study calculates the source of water vapor contributing to the precipitation on economically relevant regions in Amazonia according to different scenarios of deforestation. These regions include the state of Mato Grosso, which produces about 9% of the global soybean production, and the basins of the Xingu and Madeira, with infrastructure under construction that will be capable to generate 20% of the electrical energy produced in Brazil. The results show that changes in rainfall after deforestation are stronger in regions nearest to the ocean and indicate the importance of the continental water vapor source to the precipitation over southern Amazonia. In the two more continental regions (Madeira and Mato Grosso), decreases in the source of water vapor in one region were offset by increases in contributions from other continental regions, whereas in the Xingu basin, which is closer to the ocean, this mechanism did not occur. As a conclusion, the geographic location of the region is an important determinant of the resiliency of the regional climate to deforestation-induced regional climate change. The more continental the geographic location, the less climate changes after deforestation.

  16. Tiempos afroindígenas en la Amazonia brasileña. Primera mitad del siglo XIX

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruiz-Peinado Alonso, José Luis

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available During the first half of the nineteenth century, the Brazilian Amazonia was marked by extraordinary political-military instability: its belated support of Brazil’s independence (1823, the discussion on slavery and the explosion of the Cabanagem. During this period the leading figures were not only the Portuguese-Brazilian political elites, but also the different groups of fugitive slaves and natives who operated along the vast and complicated border areas, alert to revolutionary ideas coming from abroad, and who played an essential role in the construction of the specificity of northern Brazil.

    La Amazonia brasileña durante la primera mitad del siglo XIX estuvo marcada por una extraordinaria inestabilidad político-militar. Su adhesión tardía a la independencia de Brasil (1823, el debate sobre la esclavitud y la explosión de la Cabanagem fueron procesos que tuvieron como protagonistas no sólo a las elites políticas lusobrasileñas, sino también a diferentes grupos cimarrones e indígenas que actuaban desde amplios e intrincados espacios de frontera, atentos a las ideas revolucionarias que provenían del exterior y que jugaron un papel fundamental en la construcción de la especificidad del norte de Brasil.

  17. Food niche overlap between two sympatric leaf-litter frog species from Central Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leandro Talione Sabagh

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available We studied the feeding habits and similarities in the diet of two sympatric and syntopic Amazonian frog species, Anomaloglossus stepheni (Aromobatidae and Leptodactylus andreae (Leptodactylidae in a forested area in Central Amazonia. The breadth of the trophic niche of these species was 5.89 and 3.75, respectively, and approximately 85% of their diets were similar. Ants were main food item in the diets of both frog species. The coexistence between these frog species may be facilitated by the significant differences in the size of their mouths. This difference allows them to consume preys items of different sizes.

  18. Interpreting seasonal changes in the carbon balance of southern Amazonia using measurements of XCO2 and chlorophyll fluorescence from GOSAT

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Parazoo, Nicholas C.; Bowman, Kevin; Frankenberg, Christian; Lee, Jung-Eun; Fisher, Joshua B.; Worden, John; Jones, Dylan B. A.; Berry, Joseph; Collatz, G. James; Baker, Ian T.; Jung, Martin; Liu, Junjie; Osterman, Gregory; O'Dell, Chris; Sparks, Athena; Butz, Andre; Guerlet, Sandrine; Yoshida, Yukio; Chen, Huilin; Gerbig, Christoph

    2013-01-01

    Amazon forests exert a major influence on the global carbon cycle, but quantifying the impact is complicated by diverse landscapes and sparse data. Here we examine seasonal carbon balance in southern Amazonia using new measurements of column-averaged dry air mole fraction of CO2 (XCO2) and solar

  19. Prediction of rainfall anomalies during the dry to wet transition season over the Southern Amazonia using machine learning tools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shan, X.; Zhang, K.; Zhuang, Y.; Fu, R.; Hong, Y.

    2017-12-01

    Seasonal prediction of rainfall during the dry-to-wet transition season in austral spring (September-November) over southern Amazonia is central for improving planting crops and fire mitigation in that region. Previous studies have identified the key large-scale atmospheric dynamic and thermodynamics pre-conditions during the dry season (June-August) that influence the rainfall anomalies during the dry to wet transition season over Southern Amazonia. Based on these key pre-conditions during dry season, we have evaluated several statistical models and developed a Neural Network based statistical prediction system to predict rainfall during the dry to wet transition for Southern Amazonia (5-15°S, 50-70°W). Multivariate Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) Analysis is applied to the following four fields during JJA from the ECMWF Reanalysis (ERA-Interim) spanning from year 1979 to 2015: geopotential height at 200 hPa, surface relative humidity, convective inhibition energy (CIN) index and convective available potential energy (CAPE), to filter out noise and highlight the most coherent spatial and temporal variations. The first 10 EOF modes are retained for inputs to the statistical models, accounting for at least 70% of the total variance in the predictor fields. We have tested several linear and non-linear statistical methods. While the regularized Ridge Regression and Lasso Regression can generally capture the spatial pattern and magnitude of rainfall anomalies, we found that that Neural Network performs best with an accuracy greater than 80%, as expected from the non-linear dependence of the rainfall on the large-scale atmospheric thermodynamic conditions and circulation. Further tests of various prediction skill metrics and hindcasts also suggest this Neural Network prediction approach can significantly improve seasonal prediction skill than the dynamic predictions and regression based statistical predictions. Thus, this statistical prediction system could have

  20. Remote sensing of selective logging in Amazonia Assessing limitations based on detailed field observations, Landsat ETM+, and textural analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregory P. Asner; Michael Keller; Rodrigo Pereira; Johan C. Zweede

    2002-01-01

    We combined a detailed field study of forest canopy damage with calibrated Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) reflectance data and texture analysis to assess the sensitivity of basic broadband optical remote sensing to selective logging in Amazonia. Our field study encompassed measurements of ground damage and canopy gap fractions along a chronosequence of...

  1. Drug tourism or spiritual healing? Ayahuasca seekers in Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Winkelman, Michael

    2005-06-01

    This research addresses the question of whether Westerners who seek traditional spiritual medicine known as ayahuasca can be best characterized as "drug tourists" or as people pursuing spiritual and therapeutic opportunities. Participants in an ayahuasca retreat in Amazonia were interviewed regarding their motivations for participation and the benefits they felt that they received. These findings from the interviews were organized to reveal common motivations and benefits. Contrary to the characterization as "drug tourists", the principal motivations can be characterized as: seeking spiritual relations and personal spiritual development; emotional healing; and the development of personal self-awareness, including contact with a sacred nature, God, spirits and plant and natural energies produced by the ayahuasca. The motivation and perceived benefits both point to transpersonal concerns, with the principal perceived benefits involving increased self awareness, insights and access to deeper levels of the self that enhanced personal development and the higher self, providing personal direction in life.

  2. Widespread Forest Vertebrate Extinctions Induced by a Mega Hydroelectric Dam in Lowland Amazonia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maíra Benchimol

    Full Text Available Mega hydropower projects in tropical forests pose a major emergent threat to terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity worldwide. Despite the unprecedented number of existing, under-construction and planned hydroelectric dams in lowland tropical forests, long-term effects on biodiversity have yet to be evaluated. We examine how medium and large-bodied assemblages of terrestrial and arboreal vertebrates (including 35 mammal, bird and tortoise species responded to the drastic 26-year post-isolation history of archipelagic alteration in landscape structure and habitat quality in a major hydroelectric reservoir of Central Amazonia. The Balbina Hydroelectric Dam inundated 3,129 km2 of primary forests, simultaneously isolating 3,546 land-bridge islands. We conducted intensive biodiversity surveys at 37 of those islands and three adjacent continuous forests using a combination of four survey techniques, and detected strong forest habitat area effects in explaining patterns of vertebrate extinction. Beyond clear area effects, edge-mediated surface fire disturbance was the most important additional driver of species loss, particularly in islands smaller than 10 ha. Based on species-area models, we predict that only 0.7% of all islands now harbor a species-rich vertebrate assemblage consisting of ≥80% of all species. We highlight the colossal erosion in vertebrate diversity driven by a man-made dam and show that the biodiversity impacts of mega dams in lowland tropical forest regions have been severely overlooked. The geopolitical strategy to deploy many more large hydropower infrastructure projects in regions like lowland Amazonia should be urgently reassessed, and we strongly advise that long-term biodiversity impacts should be explicitly included in pre-approval environmental impact assessments.

  3. Widespread Forest Vertebrate Extinctions Induced by a Mega Hydroelectric Dam in Lowland Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benchimol, Maíra; Peres, Carlos A

    2015-01-01

    Mega hydropower projects in tropical forests pose a major emergent threat to terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity worldwide. Despite the unprecedented number of existing, under-construction and planned hydroelectric dams in lowland tropical forests, long-term effects on biodiversity have yet to be evaluated. We examine how medium and large-bodied assemblages of terrestrial and arboreal vertebrates (including 35 mammal, bird and tortoise species) responded to the drastic 26-year post-isolation history of archipelagic alteration in landscape structure and habitat quality in a major hydroelectric reservoir of Central Amazonia. The Balbina Hydroelectric Dam inundated 3,129 km2 of primary forests, simultaneously isolating 3,546 land-bridge islands. We conducted intensive biodiversity surveys at 37 of those islands and three adjacent continuous forests using a combination of four survey techniques, and detected strong forest habitat area effects in explaining patterns of vertebrate extinction. Beyond clear area effects, edge-mediated surface fire disturbance was the most important additional driver of species loss, particularly in islands smaller than 10 ha. Based on species-area models, we predict that only 0.7% of all islands now harbor a species-rich vertebrate assemblage consisting of ≥80% of all species. We highlight the colossal erosion in vertebrate diversity driven by a man-made dam and show that the biodiversity impacts of mega dams in lowland tropical forest regions have been severely overlooked. The geopolitical strategy to deploy many more large hydropower infrastructure projects in regions like lowland Amazonia should be urgently reassessed, and we strongly advise that long-term biodiversity impacts should be explicitly included in pre-approval environmental impact assessments.

  4. High genetic diversity among and within bitter manioc varieties cultivated in different soil types in Central Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alessandro Alves-Pereira

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Although manioc is well adapted to nutrient-poor Oxisols of Amazonia, ethnobotanical observations show that bitter manioc is also frequently cultivated in the highly fertile soils of the floodplains and Amazonian dark earths (ADE along the middle Madeira River. Because different sets of varieties are grown in each soil type, and there are agronomic similarities between ADE and floodplain varieties, it was hypothesized that varieties grown in ADE and floodplain were more closely related to each other than either is to varieties grown in Oxisols. We tested this hypothesis evaluating the intra-varietal genetic diversity and the genetic relationships among manioc varieties commonly cultivated in Oxisols, ADE and floodplain soils. Genetic results did not agree with ethnobotanical expectation, since the relationships between varieties were variable and most individuals of varieties with the same vernacular name, but grown in ADE and floodplain, were distinct. Although the same vernacular name could not always be associated with genetic similarities, there is still a great amount of variation among the varieties. Many ecological and genetic processes may explain the high genetic diversity and differentiation found for bitter manioc varieties, but all contribute to the maintenance and amplification of genetic diversity within the manioc in Central Amazonia.

  5. The stratigraphy and regional structure of Miocene deposits in western Amazonia (Peru, Colombia and Brazil), with implications for late Neogene landscape evolution

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wesselingh, F.P.; Hoorn, M.C.; Guerrero, J.; Räsänen, M.E.; Romero Pittmann, L.; Salo, J.A.

    2006-01-01

    A biozonation based on molluscs is proposed for Miocene deposits of western Amazonia (Peru, Colombia and Brazil), commonly referred to as the Pebas Formation. The new zonation refines existing pollen zonations and provides a key for the quick assessment of the stratigraphic position of Neogene

  6. Extreme seasonal droughts and floods in Amazonia: causes, trends and impacts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marengo, J. A.

    2015-12-01

    J. A. Marengo * and J. C. Espinoza** * Centro Nacional de Monitoramento e Alerta de Desastres Naturais, Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação, Sao Paulo, Brazil ** Subdirección de Ciencias de la Atmósfera e Hidrósfera (SCAH), Instituto Geofísico del Perú, Lima, Peru This paper reviews recent progress in the study and understanding of extreme seasonal events in the Amazon region, focusing on drought and floods. The review includes a history of droughts and floods in the past, in the present and some discussions on future extremes in the context of climate change and its impacts on the Amazon region. Several extreme hydrological events, some of them characterized as 'once in a century', have been reported in the Amazon region during the last decade. While abundant rainfall in various sectors of the basin has determined extreme floods along the river's main stem in 1953, 1989, 1999, 2009, 2012-2015, deficient rainfall in 1912, 1926, 1963, 1980, 1983, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2005 and 2010 has caused anomalously low river levels, and an increase in the risk and number of fires in the region, with consequences for humans. This is consistent with changes in the variability of the hydrometeorology of the basin and suggests that extreme hydrological events have been more frequent in the last two decades. Some of these intense/reduced rainfalls and subsequent floods/droughts were associated (but not exclusively) with La Niña/El Niño events. In addition, moisture transport anomalies from the tropical Atlantic into Amazonia, and from northern to southern Amazonia alter the water cycle in the region year-to-year. We also assess the impacts of such extremes on natural and human systems in the region, considering ecological, economic and societal impacts in urban and rural areas, particularly during the recent decades. In the context of the future climate change, studies show a large range of uncertainty, but suggest that drought might intensify through the 21st

  7. Ostracods biostratigraphy of the Oligocene-Miocene carbonate platform in the Northeastern Amazonia coast and its correlation with the Caribbean region

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nogueira, Anna Andressa Evangelista; Nogueira, Afonso César Rodrigues

    2017-12-01

    Oligocene-Miocene ostracods biozones are proposed for the ∼65 m-thick platform carbonate succession exposed in the Northeastern Amazonia coast, Brazil. Previous biostratigraphic studies based on planktonic foraminifera, nannofossils and palynomorphs are poorly age constrained and have hindered the correlation with other units of the Atlantic Equatorial margin. Tectonic stability of the Northeastern Amazonia coast during Neogene, associated with reduced riverine inflow and continuous sea level rise, allowed the establishment of lagoon/mangroves, tidal channel and shallow platform settings favoring massive proliferation of benthic ostracods. The recurrence of these depositional systems along of entire Oligocene-Miocene succession contributed mainly for the preservation of typical assemblages of lagoonal ostracods. Among thirty-two ostracods genera identified, the most of them are generally polyhalines associated with a mesohaline genus as Perissocytheridea. Rare ostracods genera typical of offshore zone indicate limited oceanic connection with lagoon. Additionally, the rare presence of Cyprideis indicates a relatively stable salinity degree suggesting change in the lagoon dynamic until estuarine conditions. The ostracods comprise more than 100 species, ranging from Upper Oligocene to Lower Miocene with five index species correspondent to a single zone called the Cytherella stainforthi Zone that was subdivided in four sub-biozones: 1) Jugosocythereis pannosa, 2) Quadracythere brachypygaia, 3) Triebelina crumena and 4) Neocaudites macertus. This new zonation was calibrated with the Blow's and Wade's planktonic foraminifers zones (N.3 to N.7 zones corresponding to O6 to M4b of Wade) and with van den Bold's zonation in the Neogene Caribbean region. Ostracod assemblages described here provide an excellent biostragraphic framework for local, intrabasinal and regional correlation for the Oligocene-Miocene deposits of the Northeastern Amazonia coast and Caribbean regions

  8. Use of MODIS Sensor Images Combined with Reanalysis Products to Retrieve Net Radiation in Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Oliveira, Gabriel; Brunsell, Nathaniel A.; Moraes, Elisabete C.; Bertani, Gabriel; dos Santos, Thiago V.; Shimabukuro, Yosio E.; Aragão, Luiz E. O. C.

    2016-01-01

    In the Amazon region, the estimation of radiation fluxes through remote sensing techniques is hindered by the lack of ground measurements required as input in the models, as well as the difficulty to obtain cloud-free images. Here, we assess an approach to estimate net radiation (Rn) and its components under all-sky conditions for the Amazon region through the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) model utilizing only remote sensing and reanalysis data. The study period comprised six years, between January 2001–December 2006, and images from MODIS sensor aboard the Terra satellite and GLDAS reanalysis products were utilized. The estimates were evaluated with flux tower measurements within the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) project. Comparison between estimates obtained by the proposed method and observations from LBA towers showed errors between 12.5% and 16.4% and 11.3% and 15.9% for instantaneous and daily Rn, respectively. Our approach was adequate to minimize the problem related to strong cloudiness over the region and allowed to map consistently the spatial distribution of net radiation components in Amazonia. We conclude that the integration of reanalysis products and satellite data, eliminating the need for surface measurements as input model, was a useful proposition for the spatialization of the radiation fluxes in the Amazon region, which may serve as input information needed by algorithms that aim to determine evapotranspiration, the most important component of the Amazon hydrological balance. PMID:27347957

  9. Use of MODIS Sensor Images Combined with Reanalysis Products to Retrieve Net Radiation in Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Oliveira, Gabriel; Brunsell, Nathaniel A; Moraes, Elisabete C; Bertani, Gabriel; Dos Santos, Thiago V; Shimabukuro, Yosio E; Aragão, Luiz E O C

    2016-06-24

    In the Amazon region, the estimation of radiation fluxes through remote sensing techniques is hindered by the lack of ground measurements required as input in the models, as well as the difficulty to obtain cloud-free images. Here, we assess an approach to estimate net radiation (Rn) and its components under all-sky conditions for the Amazon region through the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL) model utilizing only remote sensing and reanalysis data. The study period comprised six years, between January 2001-December 2006, and images from MODIS sensor aboard the Terra satellite and GLDAS reanalysis products were utilized. The estimates were evaluated with flux tower measurements within the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) project. Comparison between estimates obtained by the proposed method and observations from LBA towers showed errors between 12.5% and 16.4% and 11.3% and 15.9% for instantaneous and daily Rn, respectively. Our approach was adequate to minimize the problem related to strong cloudiness over the region and allowed to map consistently the spatial distribution of net radiation components in Amazonia. We conclude that the integration of reanalysis products and satellite data, eliminating the need for surface measurements as input model, was a useful proposition for the spatialization of the radiation fluxes in the Amazon region, which may serve as input information needed by algorithms that aim to determine evapotranspiration, the most important component of the Amazon hydrological balance.

  10. Dental remains of cebid platyrrhines from the earliest late Miocene of Western Amazonia, Peru: Macroevolutionary implications on the extant capuchin and marmoset lineages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marivaux, Laurent; Adnet, Sylvain; Altamirano-Sierra, Ali J; Pujos, François; Ramdarshan, Anusha; Salas-Gismondi, Rodolfo; Tejada-Lara, Julia V; Antoine, Pierre-Olivier

    2016-11-01

    Undoubted fossil Cebidae have so far been primarily documented from the late middle Miocene of Colombia, the late Miocene of Brazilian Amazonia, the early Miocene of Peruvian Amazonia, and very recently from the earliest Miocene of Panama. The evolutionary history of cebids is far from being well-documented, with notably a complete blank in the record of callitrichine stem lineages until and after the late middle Miocene (Laventan SALMA). Further documenting their evolutionary history is therefore of primary importance. Recent field efforts in Peruvian Amazonia (Contamana area, Loreto Department) have allowed for the discovery of an early late Miocene (ca. 11 Ma; Mayoan SALMA) fossil primate-bearing locality (CTA-43; Pebas Formation). In this study, we analyze the primate material, which consists of five isolated teeth documenting two distinct Cebidae: Cebus sp., a medium-sized capuchin (Cebinae), and Cebuella sp., a tiny marmoset (Callitrichinae). Although limited, this new fossil material of platyrrhines contributes to documenting the post-Laventan evolutionary history of cebids, and besides testifies to the earliest occurrences of the modern Cebuella and Cebus/Sapajus lineages in the Neotropics. Regarding the evolutionary history of callitrichine marmosets, the discovery of an 11 Ma-old fossil representative of the modern Cebuella pushes back by at least 6 Ma the age of the Mico/Cebuella divergence currently proposed by molecular biologists (i.e., ca. 4.5 Ma). This also extends back to > 11 Ma BP the divergence between Callithrix and the common ancestor (CA) of Mico/Cebuella, as well as the divergence between the CA of marmosets and Callimico (Goeldi's callitrichine). This discovery from Peruvian Amazonia implies a deep evolutionary root of the Cebuella lineage in the northwestern part of South America (the modern western Amazon basin), slightly before the recession of the Pebas mega-wetland system (PMWS), ca. 10.5 Ma, and well-before the subsequent

  11. Preservación ambiental de la amazonia colombiana: retos para la política fiscal

    OpenAIRE

    Francisco Azuero; Jorge Armando Rodríguez

    2016-01-01

    Este artículo explora los retos encarados por la política fiscal en la preservación de la Amazonia colombiana. Se discuten algunos sesgos en contra del gasto público ambiental y se examinan las modalidades de financiación de la función estatal de protección del ambiente en la región. Los autores arguyen que muchas de las herramientas fiscales empleadas en Colombia para el efecto generan incentivos contrarios a los objetivos de conservación. Además de que las externalidades ambientales rebasan...

  12. Impact of the Education Continues in Teachers of the UNAE Amazonia, Equator

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    Madelin Rodríguez Rensoli

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available The objective of the present study is to socialize the research results obtained in the evaluation of attitudes, values and emotional states in teachers who went through the Continued Education Program developed by UNAE Amazonia. Semantic Differential Tables (TDS were used to identify the positive changes that were taking place in them during the implementation of innovative methodological strategies in teaching and learning. To achieve a positive change of the teacher to be involved in processes of changes in their pedagogical practice implied a permanent accompaniment in the identification of the problems that were faced, as well as in the design and implementation of alternative solutions according to the requirements of the new Curriculum oriented by the Ministry of Education in the country.

  13. Carbon and nutrient stocks of three Fabaceae trees used for forest restoration and subjected to fertilization in Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaquetti, Roberto K; Gonçalves, José Francisco C

    2017-01-01

    Amazonia is crucial to global carbon cycle. Deforestation continues to be one of the main causes of the release of C into the atmosphere, but forest restoration plantations can reverse this scenario. However, there is still diffuse information about the C and nutrient stocks in the vegetation biomass. We investigated the carbon and nutrient stocks of Fabaceae trees (Inga edulis, Schizolobium amazonicum and Dipteryx odorata) subjected to fertilization treatments (T1 - no fertilization; T2 - chemical; T3 - organic; and T4 - organic and chemical fertilization) in a degraded area of the Balbina Hydroelectric Dam, AM - Brazil. As an early successional species, I. edulis stocked more C and nutrients than the other two species independent of the fertilization treatment, and S. amazonicum stocked more C than D. odorata under T1 and T4. The mixed species plantation had the potential to stock 4.1 Mg C ha-1 year-1, while I. edulis alone could stock 9.4 Mg C ha-1 year-1. Mixing species that rapidly assimilate C and are of significant ecological and commercial value (e.g., Fabaceae trees) represents a good way to restore degraded areas. Our results suggest that the tested species be used for forest restoration in Amazonia.

  14. Carbon and nutrient stocks of three Fabaceae trees used for forest restoration and subjected to fertilization in Amazonia

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    ROBERTO K. JAQUETTI

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Amazonia is crucial to global carbon cycle. Deforestation continues to be one of the main causes of the release of C into the atmosphere, but forest restoration plantations can reverse this scenario. However, there is still diffuse information about the C and nutrient stocks in the vegetation biomass. We investigated the carbon and nutrient stocks of Fabaceae trees (Inga edulis, Schizolobium amazonicum and Dipteryx odorata subjected to fertilization treatments (T1 - no fertilization; T2 - chemical; T3 - organic; and T4 - organic and chemical fertilization in a degraded area of the Balbina Hydroelectric Dam, AM - Brazil. As an early successional species, I. edulis stocked more C and nutrients than the other two species independent of the fertilization treatment, and S. amazonicum stocked more C than D. odorata under T1 and T4. The mixed species plantation had the potential to stock 4.1 Mg C ha-1 year-1, while I. edulis alone could stock 9.4 Mg C ha-1 year-1. Mixing species that rapidly assimilate C and are of significant ecological and commercial value (e.g., Fabaceae trees represents a good way to restore degraded areas. Our results suggest that the tested species be used for forest restoration in Amazonia.

  15. Epidemiology of Disappearing Plasmodium vivax Malaria: A Case Study in Rural Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lima, Nathália F.; Batista, Camilla L.; Bastos, Melissa da Silva; Nicolete, Vanessa C.; Fontoura, Pablo S.; Gonçalves, Raquel M.; Viana, Susana Ariane S.; Menezes, Maria José; Scopel, Kézia Katiani G.; Cavasini, Carlos E.; Malafronte, Rosely dos Santos; da Silva-Nunes, Mônica; Vinetz, Joseph M.; Castro, Márcia C.; Ferreira, Marcelo U.

    2014-01-01

    Background New frontier settlements across the Amazon Basin pose a major challenge for malaria elimination in Brazil. Here we describe the epidemiology of malaria during the early phases of occupation of farming settlements in Remansinho area, Brazilian Amazonia. We examine the relative contribution of low-density and asymptomatic parasitemias to the overall Plasmodium vivax burden over a period of declining transmission and discuss potential hurdles for malaria elimination in Remansinho and similar settings. Methods Eight community-wide cross-sectional surveys, involving 584 subjects, were carried out in Remansinho over 3 years and complemented by active and passive surveillance of febrile illnesses between the surveys. We used quantitative PCR to detect low-density asexual parasitemias and gametocytemias missed by conventional microscopy. Mixed-effects multiple logistic regression models were used to characterize independent risk factors for P. vivax infection and disease. Principal Findings/Conclusions P. vivax prevalence decreased from 23.8% (March–April 2010) to 3.0% (April–May 2013), with no P. falciparum infections diagnosed after March–April 2011. Although migrants from malaria-free areas were at increased risk of malaria, their odds of having P. vivax infection and disease decreased by 2–3% with each year of residence in Amazonia. Several findings indicate that low-density and asymptomatic P. vivax parasitemias may complicate residual malaria elimination in Remansinho: (a) the proportion of subpatent infections (i.e. missed by microscopy) increased from 43.8% to 73.1% as P. vivax transmission declined; (b) most (56.6%) P. vivax infections were asymptomatic and 32.8% of them were both subpatent and asymptomatic; (c) asymptomatic parasite carriers accounted for 54.4% of the total P. vivax biomass in the host population; (d) over 90% subpatent and asymptomatic P. vivax had PCR-detectable gametocytemias; and (e) few (17.0%) asymptomatic and subpatent P

  16. Ocurrencia de hongos formadores de micorriza arbuscular asociados a ají (Capsicum sp.) en la Amazonia colombiana

    OpenAIRE

    Cardona, Gladys; Peña-Venegas, Clara Patricia; arcos, Adriana

    2008-01-01

    Capsicum sp. es una especie nativa de América de gran importancia por su diversidad de usos. La Amazonia colombiana es considerada uno de los centros de origen y alberga una gran riqueza de morfoespecies. A pesar de su importancia para el crecimiento y supervivencia de plantas bajo condiciones limitantes de nutrientes, son escasos los trabajos relacionados con la dinámica de los hongos formadores de micorriza arbuscular (HFMA) en Capsicum. Se estudió la ocurrencia de HFMA, a partir de colecta...

  17. Heterotrophic components of soil respiration in pastures and forests in southwestern Amazonia, Acre, Brazil

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    Eric Atlas Davidson

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we present data on soil microbial biomass and heterotrophic respiration in pastures, mature and secondary forests, in order to elucidate their contribution to total CO2 flux from soil to atmosphere. The research was conducted in Southwestern Amazonia, Acre State, Brazil. Microbial biomass was estimated using a variation of the traditional fumigation-extraction method and heterotrophic respiration was measured using respirometry flasks attached to an infrared gas analyzer. Soil microbial biomass and heterotrophic respiration did not differ statistically among pastures, mature and secondary forests. These laboratory results indicate that higher CO2 fluxes from pasture soils measured in situ are probably due to higher root respiration by pasture grasses.

  18. Anuran amphibians of the urban region of Altamira (Oriental Amazonia, state of Pará, Brazil.

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    Flávio Bezerra Barros

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available The present study aimed to take stock of the species of anurans in three localities of the urban region of Altamira, a municipal district in the west of the state of Pará (Oriental Amazonia. Collections were made between January and June of 2004. Fifteen species were recorded during the study. The family Hylidae was the most represented, with eight species. The data was compatible with the degree of conservation of the collection areas. The necessity of making new fauna inventories in all Brazilian biomes is of extreme urgency, particularly in the Amazon, given its vast extension and lack of inventories.

  19. Astrocaryum (palmae in Amazonia a preliminary treatment

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    1992-01-01

    Full Text Available ASTROCARYUM (PALMAE EN AMAZONIE. TRAITEMENT PRÉLIMINAIRE. Le genre Astrocaryum est composé de 24 espèces amazoniennes: cinq appartiennent au sous-genre Pleiogynanthus et 19 au sous-genre Monogynanthus (3 à la section Munbaca et 16 à la section Ayri. Une clé d’identification est proposée, ainsi que la description de chaque espèce, complétée par de nouvelles observations et suivie de notes sur la distribution géographique, l’écologie et les utilisations. Six espeses nouvelles sont décrites. ASTROCARYUM (PALMAE EN LA AMAZONIA. TRATAMIENTO PRELIMINAR. Astrocaryum consta de 24 especies amazónicas, 5 de las cuales pertenecen al subgénero Pleiogynanthus y 19 al subgénero Monogynanthus (3 a la sección Munbaca, 16 a la sección Ayri. Se presenta una clave para diferenciar las especies, y para cada una, su descripción con nuevos datos, así como notas sobre la distribución geográfica, la ecología y los usos. Se describen seis especies nuevas. In the Amazon, Astrocaryum includes 24 species of which five belong to the subgenus Pleiogynanthus and 19 to the subgenus Monogynanthus - three in the section Munbaca and 16 in the section Ayri. A key to these 24 species is presented followed by description based on new data, and notes on their distribution, ecology and uses. Six new species are described.

  20. Meteorological context of the onset and end of the rainy season in Central Amazonia during the GoAmazon2014/5

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    J. A. Marengo

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The onset and demise of the rainy season in Amazonia are assessed in this study using meteorological data from the GoAmazon experiment, with a focus on the 2014–2015 rainy season. In addition, global reanalyses are also used to identify changes in circulation leading to the establishment of the rainy season in the region. Our results show that the onset occurred in January 2015, 2–3 pentads later than normal, and the rainy season during the austral summer of 2015 contained several periods with consecutive dry days in both Manacapuru and Manaus, which are not common for the wet season, and resulted in below-normal precipitation. The onset of the rainy season has been strongly associated with changes in large-scale weather conditions in the region due to the effect of the Madden–Julian Oscillation (MJO. Regional thermodynamic indices and the height of the boundary layer did not present a significant difference between the onset and demise of the wet season of 2015. This suggests that local changes, such as those in the regional thermodynamic characteristics, may not have influenced its onset. Thus, variability of the large-scale circulation was responsible for regional convection and rainfall changes in Amazonia during the austral summer of 2014–2015.

  1. Electric systems failures produced by CG lightning in Eastern Amazonia

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    Ana Paula Paes dos Santos

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Operational records of power outages of the electric energy distribution systems in eastern Amazonia presented a large number of events attributed to lightning strikes, during the 2006 to 2009 period. The regional electricity concessionary data were compared to actual lightning observations made by SIPAM's LDN system, over two areas where operational sub systems of transmission lines are installed. Statistical relations were drawn between the monthly lightning occurrence density and the number of power outages of the electric systems for both areas studied. The results showed that, although with some delays between these variables peaks, the number of power disruptions has a tendency to follow the behavior of the lightning occurrence densities variations. The numerical correlations were positive and may be useful to the transmission lines maintenance crews at least for the Belém-Castanhal electricity distribution sub system. Evidence was found, that the SST's over certain areas of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, influence convection over the area of interest, and may help to prognosticate the periods of intense electric storms, requiring repair readiness for the regional electric systems.

  2. Biodiversidad en espacios productivos y los aspectos sociales de las comunidades ribereñas de la Amazonia Occidental

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    Williane Maria de Oliveira Martins

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Los sistemas agrícolas ribereño representan una alternativa de producción sustentable para las comunidades tradicionales de la Amazonia, especialmente en cuanto a la diversidad de productos y la generación de ingresos. Por lo tanto, teniendo en cuenta las funciones ecológicas y sociales el propósito de este estudio fue analizar las áreas productivas y aspectos etnosociais de las comunidades ribereñas de la lejano Amazonia Occidental, Acre, Brasil. La recolección de datos se realizó a través de entrevistas participativas, formales e inductivo después de un cuestionario semi-estructurado. Toda la información recogida se transfiere a una base de datos electrónica, que sistematizado y procesado. Los sistemas agrícolas en estas comunidades son los cultivos y quintales. Los cultivos tienen una especie agrodiversidad en la misma zona, el producto principal es el cultivo de la yuca. Los quintales tienen arreglos espaciales de especies frutales, medicinales y sobre todo los cultivos de hortalizas. Así, tanto los astilleros como los claros son responsables de la sostenibilidad de las familias ribereñas de esta comunidad, sirviendo de subsistencia y asistencia económica.Por otra parte, se trata de ser una alternativa adaptada a las condiciones de los ecosistemas agrícolas llanura de inundación en la región.

  3. Santarém, entre la Amazonia de los ríos y la Amazonia de las carreteras Santarém, entre l’Amazonie des fleuves et l’Amazonie des routes

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    Ruben Valbuena

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available La gran región septentrional de Brasil, la Amazonia, que por varios siglos ha representado un enorme vacío y una potencial fuente de riqueza, ha sido objeto durante el último medio siglo de un acelerado proceso de ocupación y puesta en explotación de forma intensiva. Una dinámica de apropiación apreciable, especialmente, en las tres últimas décadas, cuando la materialización de la red terrestre que ha articulado la margen derecha del gran río facilitó la incursión de los recursos humanos y financieros en el hinterland amazónico.Una red que ha reestructurado el espacio regional, al que daba sentido la malla fluvial y la débil red de lugares, configurada por los núcleos de población surgidos en las orillas de los cauces. Santarém, una ciudad histórica con una localización estratégica entre los dos mayores centros urbanos amazónicos, ha sido palco de enormes transformaciones desde la construcción de las carreteras, pues ligada mediante la Cuibá-Santarém al Centro Oeste de Brasil y a través de la Transamazônica al Nordeste brasileño y a la Amazonia Occidental ha pasado a desempeñar un importante papel como nexo articulador en la región Norte. Al mismo tiempo, se erige como el principal asentamiento humano de esta vasta región central, dirigiendo un proceso emergente de construcción regional.La grande région septentrionale du Brésil, l'Amazonie, qui durant plusieurs siècles n’a représenté qu’un énorme vide et une source de richesse potentielle, a fait l'objet pendant le dernier demi-siècle d'un processus accéléré d’occupation et d’une mise en exploitation intensive. Une forte dynamique d'appropriation a facilité l'incursion de nouvelles ressources humaines et financières dans l’hinterland amazonien, spécialement au cours des trois dernières décennies, quand la réalisation d’un réseau terrestre a articulé la rive droite de la grande rivière.Ce réseau a restructuré l'espace r

  4. Deforestation and climate feedbacks threaten the ecological integrity of south-southeastern Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coe, Michael T; Marthews, Toby R; Costa, Marcos Heil; Galbraith, David R; Greenglass, Nora L; Imbuzeiro, Hewlley M A; Levine, Naomi M; Malhi, Yadvinder; Moorcroft, Paul R; Muza, Michel Nobre; Powell, Thomas L; Saleska, Scott R; Solorzano, Luis A; Wang, Jingfeng

    2013-06-05

    A mosaic of protected areas, including indigenous lands, sustainable-use production forests and reserves and strictly protected forests is the cornerstone of conservation in the Amazon, with almost 50 per cent of the region now protected. However, recent research indicates that isolation from direct deforestation or degradation may not be sufficient to maintain the ecological integrity of Amazon forests over the next several decades. Large-scale changes in fire and drought regimes occurring as a result of deforestation and greenhouse gas increases may result in forest degradation, regardless of protected status. How severe or widespread these feedbacks will be is uncertain, but the arc of deforestation in south-southeastern Amazonia appears to be particularly vulnerable owing to high current deforestation rates and ecological sensitivity to climate change. Maintaining forest ecosystem integrity may require significant strengthening of forest conservation on private property, which can in part be accomplished by leveraging existing policy mechanisms.

  5. Treating leishmaniasis in Amazonia: A review of ethnomedicinal concepts and pharmaco-chemical analysis of traditional treatments to inspire modern phytotherapies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Odonne, Guillaume; Houël, Emeline; Bourdy, Geneviève; Stien, Didier

    2017-03-06

    Cutaneous and mucocutaneous leishmaniasis are neglected tropical diseases that occur in all intertropical regions of the world. Amazonian populations have developed an abundant knowledge of the disease and its remedies. Therefore, we undertook to review traditional antileishmanial plants in Amazonia and have developed new tools to analyze this somewhat dispersed information. A literature review of traditional remedies for cutaneous/mucocutaneous leishmaniasis in the Amazon was conducted and the data obtained was used to calculate distribution indexes designed to highlight the most relevant uses in Amazonia. The cultural distribution index represents the distribution rate of a given taxon among different cultural groups and was calculated as the ratio of the number of groups using the taxon to the total number of groups cited. The geographical distribution index allowed us to quantify spatial distribution of a taxon's uses in Amazonia and was calculated geometrically by measuring the average distance between the points where uses have been reported and the barycenter of those points. The general distribution index was defined as an arithmetic combination of the previous two and provides information on both cultural and spatial criteria. 475 use reports, concerning 291 botanical species belonging to 83 families have been gathered depicted from 29 sources. Uses concern 34 cultural groups. While the use of some taxa appears to be Pan-Amazonian, some others are clearly restricted to small geographical regions. Particular attention has been paid to the recipes and beliefs surrounding treatments. Topical application of the remedies dominated the other means of administration and this deserves particular attention as the main treatments against Neotropical leishmaniasis are painful systemic injections. The data set was analyzed using the previously defined distribution indexes and the most relevant taxa were further discussed from a phytochemical and pharmacological point

  6. Notes on the insect fauna on two species of astrocaryum (palmae, cocoeae, bactridinae in peruvian amazonia, with emphasis on potential pests of cultivated palms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    1992-01-01

    Full Text Available NOTES SUR LA FAUNE ENTOMOLOGIQUE DE DEUX ESPÈCES D'ASTROCARYUM (PALMAE, COCOEAE, BACTRIDINAE DE L'AMAZONIE PÉRUVIENNE, ET MISE EN ÉVIDENCE DE RAVAGEURS POTENTIELS DES PALMIERS CULTIVÉS. La faune entomologique des palmiers Astrocaryum chanta et Astrocaryum carnosum a été étudiée dans deux sites différents de l'Amazonie péruvienne : région de Jenaro Herrera sur le bas Ucayali pour la première espèce, et région d'Uchiza sur le haut Huallaga pour la seconde. Cette faune est extrêmement diversifiée. Elle comprend de nombreuses espèces d'insectes connues comme ravageurs des palmiers cultivés, ainsi que d'autres espèces de phytophages dont les plantes hôtes n'étaient pas encore connues. De nombreuses autres espèces d'insectes, prédateurs ou de niveau trophique mal défini, font aussi partie de la biocénose des palmiers étudiés. Astrocaryum chanta et Astrocaryum carnosum sont considérés comme foyers d'infestation en ravageurs pour les plantations industrielles de palmiers en Amazonie péruvienne. NOTAS SOBRE LA FAUNA DE INSECTOS DE DOS ESPECIES DE ASTROCARYUM (PALMAE, COCOEAE, BACTRIDINAE EN LA AMAZONIA PERUANA, CON ÉNFASIS EN LAS PLAGAS POTENCIALES DE LAS PALMERAS CULTIVADAS. La fauna de insectos de las palmas Astrocaryum chonta y Astrocaryum carnosum se ha estudiado en dos lugares diferentes de la Amazonia peruana: en la región de Jenaro Herrera, bajo Ucayali para la primera especie, y en la región de Uchiza, alto Huallaga para la segunda. Esta fauna es extremadamente diversificada. Incluye numerosas especies de insectos conocidos como depredadores de las palmas cultivadas, así como otras especies de fitófagos cuyas plantas hospedantes aún no eran conocidas. Numerosas especies de otros insectos, depredadores o de un nivel trófico mal definido, forman parte también de la biocenosis de las palmas estudiadas. Astrocaryum chonta y Astrocaryum carnosum son considerados como focos de infestación de depredadores para las

  7. Convergent adaptations: bitter manioc cultivation systems in fertile anthropogenic dark earths and floodplain soils in Central Amazonia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James Angus Fraser

    Full Text Available Shifting cultivation in the humid tropics is incredibly diverse, yet research tends to focus on one type: long-fallow shifting cultivation. While it is a typical adaptation to the highly-weathered nutrient-poor soils of the Amazonian terra firme, fertile environments in the region offer opportunities for agricultural intensification. We hypothesized that Amazonian people have developed divergent bitter manioc cultivation systems as adaptations to the properties of different soils. We compared bitter manioc cultivation in two nutrient-rich and two nutrient-poor soils, along the middle Madeira River in Central Amazonia. We interviewed 249 farmers in 6 localities, sampled their manioc fields, and carried out genetic analysis of bitter manioc landraces. While cultivation in the two richer soils at different localities was characterized by fast-maturing, low-starch manioc landraces, with shorter cropping periods and shorter fallows, the predominant manioc landraces in these soils were generally not genetically similar. Rather, predominant landraces in each of these two fertile soils have emerged from separate selective trajectories which produced landraces that converged for fast-maturing low-starch traits adapted to intensified swidden systems in fertile soils. This contrasts with the more extensive cultivation systems found in the two poorer soils at different localities, characterized by the prevalence of slow-maturing high-starch landraces, longer cropping periods and longer fallows, typical of previous studies. Farmers plant different assemblages of bitter manioc landraces in different soils and the most popular landraces were shown to exhibit significantly different yields when planted in different soils. Farmers have selected different sets of landraces with different perceived agronomic characteristics, along with different fallow lengths, as adaptations to the specific properties of each agroecological micro-environment. These findings open

  8. Convergent Adaptations: Bitter Manioc Cultivation Systems in Fertile Anthropogenic Dark Earths and Floodplain Soils in Central Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fraser, James Angus; Alves-Pereira, Alessandro; Junqueira, André Braga; Peroni, Nivaldo; Clement, Charles Roland

    2012-01-01

    Shifting cultivation in the humid tropics is incredibly diverse, yet research tends to focus on one type: long-fallow shifting cultivation. While it is a typical adaptation to the highly-weathered nutrient-poor soils of the Amazonian terra firme, fertile environments in the region offer opportunities for agricultural intensification. We hypothesized that Amazonian people have developed divergent bitter manioc cultivation systems as adaptations to the properties of different soils. We compared bitter manioc cultivation in two nutrient-rich and two nutrient-poor soils, along the middle Madeira River in Central Amazonia. We interviewed 249 farmers in 6 localities, sampled their manioc fields, and carried out genetic analysis of bitter manioc landraces. While cultivation in the two richer soils at different localities was characterized by fast-maturing, low-starch manioc landraces, with shorter cropping periods and shorter fallows, the predominant manioc landraces in these soils were generally not genetically similar. Rather, predominant landraces in each of these two fertile soils have emerged from separate selective trajectories which produced landraces that converged for fast-maturing low-starch traits adapted to intensified swidden systems in fertile soils. This contrasts with the more extensive cultivation systems found in the two poorer soils at different localities, characterized by the prevalence of slow-maturing high-starch landraces, longer cropping periods and longer fallows, typical of previous studies. Farmers plant different assemblages of bitter manioc landraces in different soils and the most popular landraces were shown to exhibit significantly different yields when planted in different soils. Farmers have selected different sets of landraces with different perceived agronomic characteristics, along with different fallow lengths, as adaptations to the specific properties of each agroecological micro-environment. These findings open up new avenues for

  9. [The fleas of mammals from the Ucayali River basin (the Peruvian Amazonia)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darskaia, N F; Malygin, V M

    1996-01-01

    The material collected from 57 specimens of 9 mammalian species in two localities of the Peruvian Amazonia includes 212 specimens of fleas belonging to four species (Polygenis klagesi, Ropalopsyllus lugubris, Rh. australis and Rothschildopsylla noctilionis). This is the first record of fleas in the Ucayali River basin. The majority of flea specimens were collected form three morphologically similar but karyotypically and electrophoretically distinct species of spiny rats of the genus Proechimys. These fleas belong to the species P. klagesi. The subspecies P. k. samuelis was collected from 32-chromosome spiny rats nearby Pucallpa (8 degrees 22' S, 74 degrees 43' W), whereas in the locality nearby the village Jenaro Errera (4 degrees 52' S, 73 degrees 39' W) only the nominative subspecies P. k. klagesi were collected from all three species of spiny rats. Other species of fleas have relatively less abundance. Six fleas Rh. l. lugubris were found on one specimen of Cuniculus paca; a single Rh. australis--on one specimen of Myoprocta pratti; and a single R. noctilionis--on one specimen of Eptesicus brasiliensis.

  10. Land cover change interacts with drought severity to change fire regimes in Western Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gutiérrez-Vélez, Víctor H; Uriarte, María; DeFries, Ruth; Pinedo-Vásquez, Miguel; Fernandes, Katia; Ceccato, Pietro; Baethgen, Walter; Padoch, Christine

    Fire is becoming a pervasive driver of environmental change in Amazonia and is expected to intensify, given projected reductions in precipitation and forest cover. Understanding of the influence of post-deforestation land cover change on fires in Amazonia is limited, even though fires in cleared lands constitute a threat for ecosystems, agriculture, and human health. We used MODIS satellite data to map burned areas annually between 2001 and 2010. We then combined these maps with land cover and climate information to understand the influence of land cover change in cleared lands and dry-season severity on fire occurrence and spread in a focus area in the Peruvian Amazon. Fire occurrence, quantified as the probability of burning of individual 232-m spatial resolution MODIS pixels, was modeled as a function of the area of land cover types within each pixel, drought severity, and distance to roads. Fire spread, quantified as the number of pixels burned in 3 × 3 pixel windows around each focal burned pixel, was modeled as a function of land cover configuration and area, dry-season severity, and distance to roads. We found that vegetation regrowth and oil palm expansion are significantly correlated with fire occurrence, but that the magnitude and sign of the correlation depend on drought severity, successional stage of regrowing vegetation, and oil palm age. Burning probability increased with the area of nondegraded pastures, fallow, and young oil palm and decreased with larger extents of degraded pastures, secondary forests, and adult oil palm plantations. Drought severity had the strongest influence on fire occurrence, overriding the effectiveness of secondary forests, but not of adult plantations, to reduce fire occurrence in severely dry years. Overall, irregular and scattered land cover patches reduced fire spread but irregular and dispersed fallows and secondary forests increased fire spread during dry years. Results underscore the importance of land cover

  11. A new species of Scinax from the Purus-Madeira interfluve, Brazilian Amazonia (Anura, Hylidae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miquéias Ferrão

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available A new tree frog species of the genus Scinax from the interfluve between the Purus and Madeira rivers, Brazilian Amazonia, is described and illustrated. The new species is diagnosed by medium body size, snout truncate in dorsal view, ulnar and tarsal tubercles absent, nuptial pads poorly developed, skin on dorsum shagreen, dorsum light brown with dark brown spots and markings, white groin with black spots, anterior and posterior surfaces of thighs black, and iris bright orange. The advertisement call consists of a single short note, with 16−18 pulses and dominant frequency at 1572−1594 Hz. Tadpoles are characterized by body ovoid in dorsal view and triangular in lateral view, tail higher than body, oral disc located anteroventrally and laterally emarginated, dorsum of body uniformly grey-brown with dark brown eye-snout stripe in preservative, fins translucent with small to large irregular diffuse dark brown spots.

  12. Seasonal variation of ozone deposition to a tropical rain forest in southwest Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    U. Rummel

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available Within the project EUropean Studies on Trace gases and Atmospheric CHemistry as a contribution to Large-scale Biosphere-atmosphere experiment in Amazonia (LBA-EUSTACH, we performed tower-based eddy covariance measurements of O3 flux above an Amazonian primary rain forest at the end of the wet and dry season. Ozone deposition revealed distinct seasonal differences in the magnitude and diel variation. In the wet season, the rain forest was an effective O3 sink with a mean daytime (midday maximum deposition velocity of 2.3 cm s−1, and a corresponding O3 flux of −11 nmol m−2 s−1. At the end of the dry season, the ozone mixing ratio was about four times higher (up to maximum values of 80 ppb than in the wet season, as a consequence of strong regional biomass burning activity. However, the typical maximum daytime deposition flux was very similar to the wet season. This results from a strong limitation of daytime O3 deposition due to reduced plant stomatal aperture as a response to large values of the specific humidity deficit. As a result, the average midday deposition velocity in the dry burning season was only 0.5 cm s−1. The large diel ozone variation caused large canopy storage effects that masked the true diel variation of ozone deposition mechanisms in the measured eddy covariance flux, and for which corrections had to be made. In general, stomatal aperture was sufficient to explain the largest part of daytime ozone deposition. However, during nighttime, chemical reaction with nitrogen monoxide (NO was found to contribute substantially to the O3 sink in the rain forest canopy. Further contributions were from non-stomatal plant uptake and other processes that could not be clearly identified.

    Measurements, made simultaneously on a 22 years old cattle pasture enabled the spatially and temporally direct comparison of O3

  13. CRECIMIENTO DEL MAÍZ EN VERTISOLES CON ALTO ALUMINIO EN LA BAIXADA MARANHENSE PRE-AMAZONIA, BRASIL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alessandro Costa da Silva

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Crecimiento del maíz en vertisoles con alto aluminio en la Baixada Maranhense pre-Amazonia, Brasil. El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el crecimiento del maíz en suelos con alto contenido de aluminio. Se midió el efecto del Al3+ en raíces y la cantidad de materia seca (raíz, hoja y tallo de maíz. Se efectuó la caracterización físico-química de cuatro muestras de suelo con alto aluminio colectadas del horizonte Ap, en tres municipios de la región conocida como Baixada Maranhense (Pre-Amazonia, Brasil: Santa Rita (SR, Arari (AR y Vitoria do Mearim (VM y un testigo colectado en el municipio de São Luís, Área del Núcleo de Tecnología Rural (T. El estudio, ejecutado en 2009, se llevó a cabo en invernadero y se utilizó 2 dm3 de suelo por maceta. Asimismo las muestras fueron divididas en muestras con y sin fertilización. La variación en la longitud de la raíz y de materia seca de las hojas difirió significativamente entre tratados con y sin fertilizante, excepto en la muestra de la localidad T. La producción de materia seca de raíz, tallo y hoja fue mayor en todos los suelos cuando se fertilizó. El suelo testigo también superó a todos los demás en cuanto a producción de materia seca en la raíz, posiblemente como resultado de una menor cantidad de Al3+ (1,2 cmolc/dm3 en comparación con los suelos SR, AR y VM (6,8; 8,0 y 7,0 cmolc/dm3 respectivamente. Se concluye la fertilización reduce el efecto detrimental del aluminio en la producción de maíz en la Baixada Maranhense.

  14. Environmental Costs of Government-Sponsored Agrarian Settlements in Brazilian Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schneider, Maurício; Peres, Carlos A

    2015-01-01

    Brazil has presided over the most comprehensive agrarian reform frontier colonization program on Earth, in which ~1.2 million settlers have been translocated by successive governments since the 1970's, mostly into forested hinterlands of Brazilian Amazonia. These settlements encompass 5.3% of this ~5 million km2 region, but have contributed with 13.5% of all land conversion into agropastoral land uses. The Brazilian Federal Agrarian Agency (INCRA) has repeatedly claimed that deforestation in these areas largely predates the sanctioned arrival of new settlers. Here, we quantify rates of natural vegetation conversion across 1911 agrarian settlements allocated to 568 Amazonian counties and compare fire incidence and deforestation rates before and after the official occupation of settlements by migrant farmers. The timing and spatial distribution of deforestation and fires in our analysis provides irrefutable chronological and spatially explicit evidence of agropastoral conversion both inside and immediately outside agrarian settlements over the last decade. Deforestation rates are strongly related to local human population density and road access to regional markets. Agrarian settlements consistently accelerated rates of deforestation and fires, compared to neighboring areas outside settlements, but within the same counties. Relocated smallholders allocated to forest areas undoubtedly operate as pivotal agents of deforestation, and most of the forest clearance occurs in the aftermath of government-induced migration.

  15. Environmental Costs of Government-Sponsored Agrarian Settlements in Brazilian Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-01-01

    Brazil has presided over the most comprehensive agrarian reform frontier colonization program on Earth, in which ~1.2 million settlers have been translocated by successive governments since the 1970’s, mostly into forested hinterlands of Brazilian Amazonia. These settlements encompass 5.3% of this ~5 million km2 region, but have contributed with 13.5% of all land conversion into agropastoral land uses. The Brazilian Federal Agrarian Agency (INCRA) has repeatedly claimed that deforestation in these areas largely predates the sanctioned arrival of new settlers. Here, we quantify rates of natural vegetation conversion across 1911 agrarian settlements allocated to 568 Amazonian counties and compare fire incidence and deforestation rates before and after the official occupation of settlements by migrant farmers. The timing and spatial distribution of deforestation and fires in our analysis provides irrefutable chronological and spatially explicit evidence of agropastoral conversion both inside and immediately outside agrarian settlements over the last decade. Deforestation rates are strongly related to local human population density and road access to regional markets. Agrarian settlements consistently accelerated rates of deforestation and fires, compared to neighboring areas outside settlements, but within the same counties. Relocated smallholders allocated to forest areas undoubtedly operate as pivotal agents of deforestation, and most of the forest clearance occurs in the aftermath of government-induced migration. PMID:26247467

  16. Evaluating the impact of distance measures on deforestation simulations in the fluvial landscapes of amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salonen, Maria; Maeda, Eduardo Eiji; Toivonen, Tuuli

    2014-10-01

    Land use and land cover change (LUCC) models frequently employ different accessibility measures as a proxy for human influence on land change processes. Here, we simulate deforestation in Peruvian Amazonia and evaluate different accessibility measures as LUCC model inputs. We demonstrate how the selection, and different combinations, of accessibility measures impact simulation results. Out of the individual measures, time distance to market center catches the essential aspects of accessibility in our study area. The most accurate simulation is achieved when time distance to market center is used in association with distance to transport network and additional landscape variables. Although traditional Euclidean measures result in clearly lower simulation accuracy when used separately, the combination of two complementary Euclidean measures enhances simulation accuracy significantly. Our results highlight the need for site and context sensitive selection of accessibility variables. More sophisticated accessibility measures can potentially improve LUCC models' spatial accuracy, which often remains low.

  17. The trophic role of microbial loop in an Amazonia central floodplain lake

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caraballo, Pedro; Forsberg, Bruce R; Leite, Rosseval G

    2012-01-01

    In order to evaluate the role of heterotrophic bacteria on carbon flow in food chains of an Amazonian floodplain lake, monthly collections of these organisms were made during the hydrological year from December 2007 to November 2008. Littoral, pelagic, and aquatic macrophyte regions of the Catalao Lake in central Amazonia were sampled and bacteria were multiplied in vitro, using dissolved organic carbon (COD) of each one of the regions studied as a substrate. The bacterial biomass obtained was used for stable isotope analyses of carbon and nitrogen. These data were confronted with COD values of the four hydrological periods of the lake (dry, rising, flood and fall). In general, it was found that the main source of carbon for heterotrophic bacteria was that of C4 origin, which presented a minimum contribution of 75% of bacterial biomass, to the extent that the bacteria D13C average value -17.72 Per Mille ± 2.25 was comparing this value with the D13C of zooplankton in the same period (-33.04 Per Mille ± 3.81) permit concludes that the contribution of heterotrophic bacteria in the carbon flow to higher trophic levels in the Catalao lake is minimal.

  18. Estimación de la oferta de frutos en el gradiente vertical de un bosque del medio Caquetá, Amazonia colombiana

    OpenAIRE

    Nicolás Castaño Arbleda; Julio Betancur Betancur

    2004-01-01

    Durante el año 2001 se estimó la oferta de frutos en un bosque de tierra firme de la Amazonia colombiana. Se muestrearon siete parcelas de 50 x 50 m cada una (1,75 ha), en las que se censaron todos los individuos fructificados. En total se encontraron 1.154 individuos en fruto, correspondientes a 196 especies y 57 familias. En cada ciclo de muestreo  se produjeron en promedio 15.212 frutos/ha y 16,1 kg/ha de peso seco de la cosecha. Para estimar la fructificación de cada especie y familia se ...

  19. Protocol for isolation of Moniliophthora roreri (Cif and Par Evans et al. from cacao fruits cv. `National' in the Ecuadorian Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karina Carrera-Sánchez

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Moniliophthora roreri is a pathogen of cocoa (Theobroma cacao L. that causes high economic losses in Ecuador. This paper is intended to present a protocol for the isolation of the pathogen from cocoa fruits cv. `National', showing signs and symptoms of disease. The fruits were collected on farms of Napo (Ecuador. By wet chamber, it was able to induce profusely, sporulation on the surface of selected lesions. The isolations were performed from conidia directly located on the surface of fruits with brown powdery appearance. Isolation procedures and suggested of possible applications are presented.   Key words: amazonia, basidiomycetes, fungi, moniliasis, Theobroma cacao L.

  20. Megafans and Trumpeter Bird Biodiversity-Psophia Phylogeography and Landscape Evolution in Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilkinson, Justin

    2014-01-01

    Based on geomorphic character and mapped geology, geologists have interpreted the landscape surrounding the Andes Mountains as becoming progressively younger to the East. These sedimentary materials filled the late Miocene swampland that formerly occupied central and western Amazonia. Apart from the ancient landscapes of the Guiana Highlands (top right, figure 1a), Zone Ac is the oldest, followed by Zone Aw, within which megafan Jw is older than megafan Je (figure 1a). DNA-based paleogeography of the trumpeters shows that younger clades diverge from parent lineages with increasing distance from the Andes chain. Thus, Psophia napensis diverges from the P. crepitans parent, and P. ochroptera diverges from P. napensis. The P. ochroptera population is confined solely to the Je megafan (figure 1a). The same trend is seen on the south side of the Amazon depression. Since the timing of the events seems to be of exactly the same order [post-Miocene for the land surfaces and trumpeter divergence within the last 3 million years (figure 1d)], it seems reasonable to think that the megafans provided the substrate on which new bird lineages could speciate. Such physical controls of evolution are becoming more important in the understanding of biodiversity.

  1. Scientific Collaboration Along the Trinational Frontier of Brazil-Bolivia-Peru: Implications for Regional Land-Use in the MAP Region of Southwestern Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, I.

    2002-12-01

    High-speed road systems are connecting southwestern Amazonia (~1.5 million km2) to Pacific and Atlantic ports as well as providing greater access to Brazilian, Bolivian and Peruvian urban markets. Coupled with this increased accessibility are ambitious governmental plans to expand production of timber, non-timber forest products, and beef, all of which are likely to modify human migrations in the region. The heart of southwestern Amazonia lies in the trinational frontier region of Madre de Dios Department/Peru, eastern Acre State/Brazil and Pando Department/Bolivia (MAP region: ~200,000 km2, ~500,000 inhabitants). The MAP region composes a global hot spot of terrestrial biodiversity and has become an axis of integration for the three countries. Faced with rapid change in socioeconomic trends, regional environmental scientists and professionals have promoted collaborative projects to analyze land use trends and their forcing functions and to supply these results to local and regional societies. In addition, they have begun to develop a regional scientific community that bridges different nationalities and specialties. The projects are both international - as they involve three countries - and local/regional as they involve institutions that are within a radius of 300 km of the border. In the past two years, LBA-sponsored activities have helped bring over 100 professionals together in the region in five MAP-oriented workshops. The research results are now influencing public policy and are being incorporated into the regional school systems with the objective of maximizing the benefits and minimizing the adverse impacts of the changing socio-economic trends on land-use and development in the MAP region.

  2. [Distribution patterns of canopy and understory tree species at local scale in a Tierra Firme forest, the Colombian Amazonia].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barreto-Silva, Juan Sebastian; López, Dairon Cárdenas; Montoya, Alvaro Javier Duque

    2014-03-01

    The effect of environmental variation on the structure of tree communities in tropical forests is still under debate. There is evidence that in landscapes like Tierra Firme forest, where the environmental gradient decreases at a local level, the effect of soil on the distribution patterns of plant species is minimal, happens to be random or is due to biological processes. In contrast, in studies with different kinds of plants from tropical forests, a greater effect on floristic composition of varying soil and topography has been reported. To assess this, the current study was carried out in a permanent plot of ten hectares in the Amacayacu National Park, Colombian Amazonia. To run the analysis, floristic and environmental variations were obtained according to tree species abundance categories and growth forms. In order to quantify the role played by both environmental filtering and dispersal limitation, the variation of the spatial configuration was included. We used Detrended Correspondence Analysis and Canonical Correspondence Analysis, followed by a variation partitioning, to analyze the species distribution patterns. The spatial template was evaluated using the Principal Coordinates of Neighbor Matrix method. We recorded 14 074 individuals from 1 053 species and 80 families. The most abundant families were Myristicaceae, Moraceae, Meliaceae, Arecaceae and Lecythidaceae, coinciding with other studies from Northwest Amazonia. Beta diversity was relatively low within the plot. Soils were very poor, had high aluminum concentration and were predominantly clayey. The floristic differences explained along the ten hectares plot were mainly associated to biological processes, such as dispersal limitation. The largest proportion of community variation in our dataset was unexplained by either environmental or spatial data. In conclusion, these results support random processes as the major drivers of the spatial variation of tree species at a local scale on Tierra Firme

  3. Regional-Scale Drivers of Forest Structure and Function in Northwestern Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Higgins, Mark A.; Asner, Gregory P.; Anderson, Christopher B.; Martin, Roberta E.; Knapp, David E.; Tupayachi, Raul; Perez, Eneas; Elespuru, Nydia; Alonso, Alfonso

    2015-01-01

    Field studies in Amazonia have found a relationship at continental scales between soil fertility and broad trends in forest structure and function. Little is known at regional scales, however, about how discrete patterns in forest structure or functional attributes map onto underlying edaphic or geological patterns. We collected airborne LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) data and VSWIR (Visible to Shortwave Infrared) imaging spectroscopy measurements over 600 km2 of northwestern Amazonian lowland forests. We also established 83 inventories of plant species composition and soil properties, distributed between two widespread geological formations. Using these data, we mapped forest structure and canopy reflectance, and compared them to patterns in plant species composition, soils, and underlying geology. We found that variations in soils and species composition explained up to 70% of variation in canopy height, and corresponded to profound changes in forest vertical profiles. We further found that soils and plant species composition explained more than 90% of the variation in canopy reflectance as measured by imaging spectroscopy, indicating edaphic and compositional control of canopy chemical properties. We last found that soils explained between 30% and 70% of the variation in gap frequency in these forests, depending on the height threshold used to define gaps. Our findings indicate that a relatively small number of edaphic and compositional variables, corresponding to underlying geology, may be responsible for variations in canopy structure and chemistry over large expanses of Amazonian forest. PMID:25793602

  4. Structuring of Milk Production Basins: Comparison between Brazilian Amazonia and Mali

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Poccard Chapuis

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available In Brazilian Amazonia, structuring of dairy basins is progressing fast. In Mali, these processes are not engaged, although the activity of cattle keeping is ancient and currently thriving. This difference covers essential stakes: fight against poverty, food production in the face of the demographic challenge, current debates on the theories of the development. The comparative analysis is based on a diachronic model of the successive phases of structuring of the Amazonian dairy basins. This model is then applied to dairy dynamics in Mali to identify blockages in the structuring of basins. Six phases are highlighted in the Amazonian model, from subsistence consumption of raw milk to basin specialization and establishment of an industrial monopoly. The application in Mali shows that the initial situations are similar (territory constraints. But two essential mechanisms are not working: transportation of finished products to distant markets, and fresh milk collection extended beyond the boundaries of the direct sale to urban consumers. These two aspects, essential to ensure the flow upstream and downstream of the products, address the question of dairy unit location as well as the distribution organization in Bamako. In spite of the limits of the comparative analysis, the model shows that the keys to a positive evolution in Mali are more to be found at the industry and distribution levels than at the production level. Public actions (State and collectivities could focus on these two points, notably through training activities and credit policies.

  5. Regional-scale drivers of forest structure and function in northwestern Amazonia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark A Higgins

    Full Text Available Field studies in Amazonia have found a relationship at continental scales between soil fertility and broad trends in forest structure and function. Little is known at regional scales, however, about how discrete patterns in forest structure or functional attributes map onto underlying edaphic or geological patterns. We collected airborne LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging data and VSWIR (Visible to Shortwave Infrared imaging spectroscopy measurements over 600 km2 of northwestern Amazonian lowland forests. We also established 83 inventories of plant species composition and soil properties, distributed between two widespread geological formations. Using these data, we mapped forest structure and canopy reflectance, and compared them to patterns in plant species composition, soils, and underlying geology. We found that variations in soils and species composition explained up to 70% of variation in canopy height, and corresponded to profound changes in forest vertical profiles. We further found that soils and plant species composition explained more than 90% of the variation in canopy reflectance as measured by imaging spectroscopy, indicating edaphic and compositional control of canopy chemical properties. We last found that soils explained between 30% and 70% of the variation in gap frequency in these forests, depending on the height threshold used to define gaps. Our findings indicate that a relatively small number of edaphic and compositional variables, corresponding to underlying geology, may be responsible for variations in canopy structure and chemistry over large expanses of Amazonian forest.

  6. Late Quaternary landscape evolution of northeastern Amazonia from pollen and diatom records

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    DARCILÉA F. CASTRO

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available The main goal of this study was to reconstruct the Late Pleistocene-Holocene floristic composition in an area of the northern Brazilian Amazonia, comparing the results with other Amazonian localities in order to discuss the factors that have influenced phytophysiognomic changes over this time period. The work in eastern Marajó Island at the mouth of the Amazonas River was approached based on analysis of 98 pollen and diatom samples from core data distributed along a proximal to distal transect of a paleoestuarine system. The results indicated high concentration of Rhizophora, associated with arboreal pollen grains typical of the modern Amazonian rainforest during the last 40,000 cal yrs BP. Pollen composition also included wetland herbs. Diatoms were dominated by marine and fresh water taxa. Wetland forest, mangrove and, subordinately herbs remained constant during most of the latest Pleistocene-early/middle Holocene. At 5,000 cal yrs BP, there was a distinguished change from forest and mangrove to wet grassland savanna due to sea level fluctuation. As marine influence decreased, the estuary gave rise to fresh water lacustrine and swamp environments, with establishment of herbaceous campos. A main conclusion from this study is that solely the occurrence of herbaceous savanna can not be used as a definitive indicator of past dry climates in Amazonian areas.

  7. Terrestrial mammal assemblages in protected and human impacted areas in Northern Brazilian Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rodolfo Burgos de Luna

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Mammal communities in the vicinity of human settlements are often subject to subsistence hunting and retaliatory killings. We used fourteen digital camera traps equipped with infrared triggers to sample the medium-sized and large mammal communities for ca. 34 (±1.64 days per site. Diversity was measured as both Shannon entropy and Fager´s number of moves (NMS, and dominance was quantified using the Berger-Parker index. We used Kruskall-Wallis tests to investigate if there were statistically significant differences in richness, diversity and dominance among the sites. At an overall sampling effort of 1,946 trap days we recorded 216 independent observations of a total of 20 species belonging to 17 genera and 15 families. Richness and diversity appeared to be determined by forest structure, since, independent of the level of human impact, the richest areas were those closest to the ombrophilous forests of southern Guyana shield, closest to central Amazonia, whereas the poorest were at those sites closest to the vegetation mosaics of central Guyana shield. The disappearance of Tayassu pecari from the impacted areas as well as higher relative abundances in the protected areas, albeit not significant, foresees a possible bleak future for the mammalian assemblages in the near future.

  8. Auditoría social en empresa brasileña transnacional del sector pecuario que actúa en Amazonia legal. (Axe II, Symposium 5) : Estudio de caso.

    OpenAIRE

    De Menezes Costa, Gislane; De L. Pinel, Maria,

    2010-01-01

    La ganadería es una actividad que utiliza gran cantidad de recursos escasos, ocupa mayor extensión de tierras en el mundo y contribuye considerablemente para el aumento del calentamiento global. Brasil, posee el mayor rebaño comercial del mundo, la crianza de ganado, se desloca cada vez más para la Amazonía Legal, generando deforestación además de profundos impactos ambientales y laborales. La opción por la empresa AmaOzonio, que actua en el sector frigorífico en Amazonia Legal, se justifica,...

  9. The significance of marine microfossils for paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Solimões Formation (Miocene), western Amazonia, Brazil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Linhares, Ana Paula; Gaia, Valber do Carmo de Souza; Ramos, Maria Inês Feijó

    2017-11-01

    Micropalaeontological studies of borehole cores 1AS-7D-AM and 1AS-8-AM, from Atalaia do Norte, Amazonas state, Brazil, support previous evidence for Miocene marine ingressions in Western Amazonia. Three marine incursion events are recorded: the first in the Early/early Middle Miocene (in both cores), the second in the late Middle/early Late Miocene (1AS-8-AM), and the third in the Late Miocene (1AS-7D-AM). The first event is characterized by exclusively mangrove taxa, and the last two present a mixture of marine, fresh, and brackish water taxa. However, at the end of the third event an increase of fluvial influence is demonstrated by the predominance of freshwater taxa. These marine incursions reached the study area through narrow and geographically limited connections, controlled by the tectonic setting, at a time between the Early/early Middle Miocene and late Middle/Late Miocene. Thereafter, fluvial conditions were reestablished before Pliocene times.

  10. Impacts of Amazonia biomass burning aerosols assessed from short-range weather forecasts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. R. Kolusu

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available The direct radiative impacts of biomass burning aerosols (BBA on meteorology are investigated using short-range forecasts from the Met Office Unified Model (MetUM over South America during the South American Biomass Burning Analysis (SAMBBA. The impacts are evaluated using a set of three simulations: (i no aerosols, (ii with monthly mean aerosol climatologies and (iii with prognostic aerosols modelled using the Coupled Large-scale Aerosol Simulator for Studies In Climate (CLASSIC scheme. Comparison with observations show that the prognostic CLASSIC scheme provides the best representation of BBA. The impacts of BBA are quantified over central and southern Amazonia from the first and second day of 2-day forecasts during 14 September–3 October 2012. On average, during the first day of the forecast, including prognostic BBA reduces the clear-sky net radiation at the surface by 15 ± 1 W m−2 and reduces net top-of-atmosphere (TOA radiation by 8 ± 1 W m−2, with a direct atmospheric warming of 7 ± 1 W m−2. BBA-induced reductions in all-sky radiation are smaller in magnitude: 9.0 ± 1 W m−2 at the surface and 4.0 ± 1 W m−2 at TOA. In this modelling study the BBA therefore exert an overall cooling influence on the Earth–atmosphere system, although some levels of the atmosphere are directly warmed by the absorption of solar radiation. Due to the reduction of net radiative flux at the surface, the mean 2 m air temperature is reduced by around 0.1 ± 0.02 °C. The BBA also cools the boundary layer (BL but warms air above by around 0.2 °C due to the absorption of shortwave radiation. The overall impact is to reduce the BL depth by around 19 ± 8 m. These differences in heating lead to a more anticyclonic circulation at 700 hPa, with winds changing by around 0.6 m s−1. Inclusion of climatological or prognostic BBA in the MetUM makes a small but significant improvement in forecasts of temperature and relative humidity, but improvements were

  11. Evapotranspiration measurements in rainfed and irrigated cropland illustrate trade-offs in land and water management in Southern Amazonia's agricultural frontier

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lathuilliere, M. J.; Dalmagro, H. J.; Black, T. A.; Arruda, P. H. Z. D.; Hawthorne, I.; Couto, E. G.; Johnson, M. S.

    2017-12-01

    Southern Amazonia, Brazil, is home to a rapidly expanding agricultural frontier in which tropical forest and savanna landscapes have been increasingly replaced by agricultural land since the 1990s. One important impact of deforestation is the reduction in water vapour transferred to the atmosphere via evapotranspiration (ET) from rainfed agriculture landscapes compared to natural vegetation, leading to a reduction in regional precipitation recycling. Here, we discuss land and water management choices for future agricultural production in Southern Amazonia and their potential effects on the atmospheric water cycle. We illustrate these choices by presenting ET measurements on an agricultural landscape by eddy covariance (EC) between September 2015 and February 2017. Measurements were made for two fields adjacent to one micrometeorological EC tower: (1) one rainfed field containing a succession of soybean, maize, brachiara and soybean, and (2) one irrigated field with a succession of soybean, rice, beans, and soybean. Over the time period, total ET in the rainfed and irrigated fields was 1266 ± 294 mm and 1415 ± 180 mm, respectively for a total precipitation of 3099 mm. The main difference in ET between the fields was attributed to the application of 118 mm of surface water irrigated for bean production in the irrigated field between June and September 2016. In the rainfed field, soybean ET was 332 ± 82 mm (2015-2016) and 423 ± 99 mm (2016-2017) for 824 mm and 1124 mm of precipitation, respectively. In the irrigated field, soybean ET was 271 ± 38 mm (2015) and 404 ± 60 mm (2016-2017) with supplemental irrigation added in 2015. Our results illustrate how supplemental irrigation can favour early soybean planting while transferring additional water vapour to the atmosphere at levels similar to natural vegetation. We conclude by discussing our results in the context of future land and water trade-offs for agricultural intensification in Brazil's "arc-of-deforestation".

  12. VILLAGE’S HERDS: INVESTIGATING THE INTRODUCTION OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS AND PATTERNS OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AMONG INDIGENOUS PEOPLES IN AMAZONIA (RONDÔNIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Felipe Ferreira Vander Velden

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper discuss the introduction of European domestic animals in indigenous villages in the Amazon, with particular stress on groups in Rondonia, specially the Karitiana, a Tupi-Arikém-speaking people that lives in the north of that state. In what concerns the history of Brazilian territorial conquest, marked by the ‘frentes pastoris’’ great narrative, and the present expansion – material and also ideological – of husbandry throughout Amazonia, this article points to many questions about the position of these animals – above all cattle – in indigenous peoples’ symbolical and material universes. Suggests new investigative possibilities, that inquires not only implemented experiences with animal husbandry in indigenous villages, but also desires and projects designed to future implementations.

  13. Sedimentology and Palynostratigraphy of a Pliocene-Pleistocene (Piacenzian to Gelasian) deposit in the lower Negro River: Implications for the establishment of large rivers in Central Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soares, Emílio Alberto Amaral; D'Apolito, Carlos; Jaramillo, Carlos; Harrington, Guy; Caputo, Mario Vicente; Barbosa, Rogério Oliveira; Bonora dos Santos, Eneas; Dino, Rodolfo; Gonçalves, Alexandra Dias

    2017-11-01

    The Amazonas fluvial system originates in the Andes and runs ca. 6700 km to the Atlantic Ocean, having as the main affluent the Negro River (second largest in water volume). The Amazonas transcontinental system has been dated to the late Miocene, but the timing of origin and evolutionary processes of its tributaries are still poorly understood. Negro River alluvial deposits have been dated to the middle to late Pleistocene. Recently, we studied a number of boreholes drilled for the building of a bridge at the lower course of the Negro River. A thin (centimetric) sedimentary deposit was found, laterally continuous for about 1800 m, unconformably overlaying middle Miocene strata and unconformably overlain by younger Quaternary deposits. This deposit consists predominantly of brownish-gray sandstones cemented by siderite and with subordinate mudstone and conglomerate beds. Palynological, granulometric, textural and mineralogical data suggest that the initial Negro River aggradation took place in the deep incised valley under anoxic conditions and subsequently along the floodplain, with efficient transport of mixed origin particles (Andean and Amazonic). Angiosperm leaves, wood and pollen are indicative of a tropical continental palaeoenvironment. A well preserved palynoflora that includes Alnipollenites verus, Grimsdalea magnaclavata and Paleosantalaceaepites cingulatus suggests a late Pliocene to early Pleistocene (Piacenzian to Gelasian) age for this unit, which was an age yet unrecorded in the Amazon Basin. These results indicate that by the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene, large scale river activity was occurring in Central Amazonia linking this region with the Andean headwaters, and therefore incompatible with Central Amazonia barriers like the Purus arch.

  14. The distribution and amount of carbon in the largest peatland complex in Amazonia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Draper, Frederick C; Baker, Timothy R; Roucoux, Katherine H; Lawson, Ian T; Mitchard, Edward T A; Honorio Coronado, Euridice N; Zaráte, Ricardo; Lähteenoja, Outi; Torres Montenegro, Luis; Valderrama Sandoval, Elvis

    2014-01-01

    Peatlands in Amazonian Peru are known to store large quantities of carbon, but there is high uncertainty in the spatial extent and total carbon stocks of these ecosystems. Here, we use a multi-sensor (Landsat, ALOS PALSAR and SRTM) remote sensing approach, together with field data including 24 forest census plots and 218 peat thickness measurements, to map the distribution of peatland vegetation types and calculate the combined above- and below-ground carbon stock of peatland ecosystems in the Pastaza-Marañon foreland basin in Peru. We find that peatlands cover 35 600 ± 2133 km 2 and contain 3.14 (0.44–8.15) Pg C. Variation in peat thickness and bulk density are the most important sources of uncertainty in these values. One particular ecosystem type, peatland pole forest, is found to be the most carbon-dense ecosystem yet identified in Amazonia (1391 ± 710 Mg C ha −1 ). The novel approach of combining optical and radar remote sensing with above- and below-ground carbon inventories is recommended for developing regional carbon estimates for tropical peatlands globally. Finally, we suggest that Amazonian peatlands should be a priority for research and conservation before the developing regional infrastructure causes an acceleration in the exploitation and degradation of these ecosystems. (letter)

  15. Chemical characterization of ancient pottery from the southwest Amazonia using neutron activation analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carvalho, Patricia R.; Munita, Casimiro S.; Neves, Eduardo G.; Zimpel, Carlos A.; Universidade de Sao Paulo

    2017-01-01

    The analyzes carried out in this work aims to contribute to the discussion about the ceramic objects founded in Monte Castelo's sambaqui located at Southwest Amazonia. The first study accomplished by Miller in 1980 suggests that this archaeological site is inserted in the old contexts of production of ceramics in the Amazon. Until today, there are not any physical and chemical analysis studies in this ceramics and this kind of studies may help archaeological studies performed at the sambaqui. With this purpose, this work presents a preliminary study of chemical characterization of eighty-seven ceramic samples using the Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA). The analyzed elements were: As, K, La, Lu, Na, Nd, Sm, U, Yb, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Hf, Rb, Sc, Ta, Tb, Th. With the purpose to study the similarity/dissimilarity between the samples cluster and discriminant analysis were used. The results showed the existence of three different chemical groups that are in agreement with the archaeological studies made by Miller which found a sequence of cultural development, with three main occupational components whose dating ranging from 8.400 to 4.000 b.P. In this way, the results of this work are in agreement with miller's studies and suggest Bacabal's phase as the oldest ceramist culture in the Southwest of the Amazon. (author)

  16. Chemical characterization of ancient pottery from the southwest Amazonia using neutron activation analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carvalho, Patricia R.; Munita, Casimiro S.; Neves, Eduardo G.; Zimpel, Carlos A., E-mail: camunita@ipen.br, E-mail: edgneves@usp.br [Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN/CNEN-SP), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil); Universidade de Sao Paulo (MAE/USP), SP (Brazil). Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia

    2017-11-01

    The analyzes carried out in this work aims to contribute to the discussion about the ceramic objects founded in Monte Castelo's sambaqui located at Southwest Amazonia. The first study accomplished by Miller in 1980 suggests that this archaeological site is inserted in the old contexts of production of ceramics in the Amazon. Until today, there are not any physical and chemical analysis studies in this ceramics and this kind of studies may help archaeological studies performed at the sambaqui. With this purpose, this work presents a preliminary study of chemical characterization of eighty-seven ceramic samples using the Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA). The analyzed elements were: As, K, La, Lu, Na, Nd, Sm, U, Yb, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Eu, Fe, Hf, Rb, Sc, Ta, Tb, Th. With the purpose to study the similarity/dissimilarity between the samples cluster and discriminant analysis were used. The results showed the existence of three different chemical groups that are in agreement with the archaeological studies made by Miller which found a sequence of cultural development, with three main occupational components whose dating ranging from 8.400 to 4.000 b.P. In this way, the results of this work are in agreement with miller's studies and suggest Bacabal's phase as the oldest ceramist culture in the Southwest of the Amazon. (author)

  17. Brazilian Amazonia Deforestation Detection Using Spatio-Temporal Scan Statistics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vieira, C. A. O.; Santos, N. T.; Carneiro, A. P. S.; Balieiro, A. A. S.

    2012-07-01

    The spatio-temporal models, developed for analyses of diseases, can also be used for others fields of study, including concerns about forest and deforestation. The aim of this paper is to quantitatively check priority areas in order to combat deforestation on the Amazon forest, using the space-time scan statistic. The study area location is at the south of the Amazonas State and cover around 297.183 kilometre squares, including the municipality of Boca do Acre, Labrea, Canutama, Humaita, Manicore, Novo Aripuana e Apui County on the north region of Brazil. This area has showed a significant change for land cover, which has increased the number of deforestation's alerts. Therefore this situation becomes a concern and gets more investigation, trying to stop factors that increase the number of cases in the area. The methodology includes the location and year that deforestation's alert occurred. These deforestation's alerts are mapped by the DETER (Detection System of Deforestation in Real Time in Amazonia), which is carry out by the Brazilian Space Agency (INPE). The software SatScanTM v7.0 was used in order to define space-time permutation scan statistic for detection of deforestation cases. The outcome of this experiment shows an efficient model to detect space-time clusters of deforestation's alerts. The model was efficient to detect the location, the size, the order and characteristics about activities at the end of the experiments. Two clusters were considered actives and kept actives up to the end of the study. These clusters are located in Canutama and Lábrea County. This quantitative spatial modelling of deforestation warnings allowed: firstly, identifying actives clustering of deforestation, in which the environment government official are able to concentrate their actions; secondly, identifying historic clustering of deforestation, in which the environment government official are able to monitoring in order to avoid them to became actives again; and finally

  18. BRAZILIAN AMAZONIA DEFORESTATION DETECTION USING SPATIO-TEMPORAL SCAN STATISTICS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. A. O. Vieira

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available The spatio-temporal models, developed for analyses of diseases, can also be used for others fields of study, including concerns about forest and deforestation. The aim of this paper is to quantitatively check priority areas in order to combat deforestation on the Amazon forest, using the space-time scan statistic. The study area location is at the south of the Amazonas State and cover around 297.183 kilometre squares, including the municipality of Boca do Acre, Labrea, Canutama, Humaita, Manicore, Novo Aripuana e Apui County on the north region of Brazil. This area has showed a significant change for land cover, which has increased the number of deforestation's alerts. Therefore this situation becomes a concern and gets more investigation, trying to stop factors that increase the number of cases in the area. The methodology includes the location and year that deforestation’s alert occurred. These deforestation's alerts are mapped by the DETER (Detection System of Deforestation in Real Time in Amazonia, which is carry out by the Brazilian Space Agency (INPE. The software SatScanTM v7.0 was used in order to define space-time permutation scan statistic for detection of deforestation cases. The outcome of this experiment shows an efficient model to detect space-time clusters of deforestation’s alerts. The model was efficient to detect the location, the size, the order and characteristics about activities at the end of the experiments. Two clusters were considered actives and kept actives up to the end of the study. These clusters are located in Canutama and Lábrea County. This quantitative spatial modelling of deforestation warnings allowed: firstly, identifying actives clustering of deforestation, in which the environment government official are able to concentrate their actions; secondly, identifying historic clustering of deforestation, in which the environment government official are able to monitoring in order to avoid them to became

  19. Las palmas entre los grupos cazadores-recolectores de la Amazonia Colombiana

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morcote Ríos Gaspar

    1998-06-01

    Full Text Available We compare past and present systems of management of palms in the Colombian Amazon, based on archaeological studies of preceramic groups in the middle Caquetá region and ethnographic research on the nomadic Nukak people, who inhabit northeastern Guaviare department. Astrocaryum aculeatum, Attalea maripe, Mauritia flexuosa, Oenocarpus bataua, Oenocarpus bacaba y Oenocarpus mapora, have been used from the early Holocene through the present time. Among these, Oenocarpus bataua has remained the most important food species. We conclude that one of the mananging strategies of the tropical rain forest is the simultaneous improvement of ecological units, especially in the tertiary sedimentary plains, and that such management probably has a long history in the region.Se presenta una comparación sobre el manejo de las palmas en la Amazonia Colombiana, basado en los resultados de un estudio arqueológico de grupos precerámicos en la región del Medio Caquetá y uno etnográfico del pueblo nómada Nukak que habita la zona nororiental del departamento del Guaviare. Se encontró que Astrocaryum aculeatum, A ttalea maripa, Mauritia flexuosa, Oenocarpus bataua, Oenocarpus bacaba y Oenocarpus mapora son algunas de las palmas usadas desde el Holoceno temprano hasta el presente. Entre estas Oenocarpus bataua es la especie más importante como fuente de alimento. Así mismo, se concluye que una de las estrategias de manejo en el bosque húmedo tropical es el aprovechamiento simultáneo de diferentes unidades ecológicas, con predominio del plano sedimentario terciario. Es probable que este tipo de manejo tenga en la región una larga historia.

  20. Pueblos de tradición nómada de la Amazonia y la Orinoquía: Aprendizajes y proyecciones para afrontar el futuro. Memorias de un encuentro

    OpenAIRE

    2010-01-01

    Recopilación de las memorias del “Encuentro de pueblos de tradición nómada de la Amazonia y la Orinoquía. Aprendizajes y proyecciones para afrontar el futuro, realizado en San José del Guaviare (Departamento del Guaviare, Colombia), los días 2 y 3 de julio de 2009. Dicho Encuentro fue organizado y convocado por la Alcaldía de San José del Guaviare, la Defensoría del Pueblo seccional Guaviare, el Sistema de Naciones Unidas en Colombia, a través de ACNUR, OACNUDH, OCHA y PNUD, y la Universidad ...

  1. El mercurio en la amazonia boliviana : sintesis del conocimiento sobre la contaminacion por mercurio en aguas, sedimentos y peces del rio Beni y sus tributarios, impactos sobre las poblaciones riberenas; C 010057498

    OpenAIRE

    Maurice Bourgoin, Laurence; Quiroga, I. (collab.); Alanoca, L. (collab.); Flores, L. (collab.); Chincheros, J. (collab.)

    2001-01-01

    La contaminacion por mercurio de los rios constituye un problema cada vez mas preocupante en toda la cuenca amazonica. Este mercurio tiene origenes naturales como las emisiones volcanicas o termales, la disolucion de algunas rocas o la erosion de los suelos que, en esta zona del mundo, presentan concentraciones en metales pesados muy elevadas. El mercurio puede provenir tambien de las actividades de explotacion auriferas, cada vez mas numerosas en la Amazonia, region afectada por la "fiebre d...

  2. Brazil nut harvesting in Peruvian Amazonia from the perspective of ecosystem services

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Risto Kalliola

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Brazil nuts are harvested from the primary rainforests in the Amazonian lowlands as a direct form of sustainably using the region’s biological resources. We analyze the ecological economics of Brazil nut production in the Peruvian region of Madre de Dios where nut extraction occurs on hundreds of small-holder concessions operating under long-term agreements. This activity sustains locally important economies that suffer from small volumes and high seasonality. The size and the remoteness of the NTFP concession determine much of its profitability to concessionaires. Seasonality of the harvest generates short-term income peaks for the majority of collectors. The fragility of the Brazil nut economy in the region is compounded by volatile market prices and the overall development pressures in Amazonia, which usually involve deforestation. Although the current regulatory mechanisms in Peru encourage long-term Brazil nut production in concessions, the income level is seldom high enough to help concession-owners to rise from poverty. Auxiliary financial support based on compensations for the non-valued ecosystem services provided by the forest-covered Brazil nut concessions could change the picture. Funds for these could come from international instruments like those of carbon emission control or debt for nature swaps. Green marketing could be developed to consider payments supporting ecosystem values as well as mechanisms supporting indigenous communities working with Brazil nuts. Appropriate indicators are needed to optimize those management, policy and trading conditions that best help to preserve the invaluable ecosystem functions and services.

  3. A 6900-year history of landscape modification by humans in lowland Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bush, M. B.; Correa-Metrio, A.; McMichael, C. H.; Sully, S.; Shadik, C. R.; Valencia, B. G.; Guilderson, T.; Steinitz-Kannan, M.; Overpeck, J. T.

    2016-06-01

    A sedimentary record from the Peruvian Amazon provided evidence of climate and vegetation change for the last 6900 years. Piston cores collected from the center of Lake Sauce, a 20 m deep lake at 600 m elevation, were 19.7 m in length. The fossil pollen record showed a continuously forested catchment within the period of the record, although substantial changes in forest composition were apparent. Fossil charcoal, found throughout the record, was probably associated with humans setting fires. Two fires, at c. 6700 cal BP and 4270 cal BP, appear to have been stand-replacing events possibly associated with megadroughts. The fire event at 4270 cal BP followed a drought that caused lowered lake levels for several centuries. The successional trajectories of forest recovery following these large fires were prolonged by smaller fire events. Fossil pollen of Zea mays (cultivated maize) provided evidence of agricultural activity at the site since c. 6320 cal BP. About 5150 years ago, the lake deepened and started to deposit laminated sediments. Maize agriculture reached a peak of intensity between c. 3380 and 700 cal BP. Fossil diatom data provided a proxy for lake nutrient status and productivity, both of which peaked during the period of maize cultivation. A marked change in land use was evident after c. 700 cal BP when maize agriculture was apparently abandoned at this site. Iriartea, a hyperdominant of riparian settings in western Amazonia, increased in abundance within the last 1100 years, but declined markedly at c. 1070 cal BP and again between c. 80 and -10 cal BP.

  4. Deforestation drivers in Southwest Amazonia: Comparing smallholder farmers in Iñapari, Peru, and Assis Brasil, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Almeyda Zambrano Angelica

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Broad interpretation of land use and forest cover studies has been limited by the biophysical and socio-economic uniqueness of the landscapes in which they are carried out and by the multiple temporal and spatial scales of the underlying processes. We coupled a land cover change approach with a political ecology framework to interpret trends in multi-temporal remote sensing of forest cover change and socio-economic surveys with smallholders in the towns of Iñapari, Peru and Assis Brasil, Brazil in southwest Amazonia. These adjacent towns have similar biogeophysical conditions, but have undergone differing development approaches, and are both presently undergoing infrastructure development for the new Interoceanic highway. Results show that forest cover patterns observed in these two towns cannot be accounted for using single land use drivers. Rather, deforestation patterns result from interactions of national and regional policies affecting financial credit and road infrastructure, along with local processes of market integration and household resources. Based on our results we develop recommendations to minimise deforestation in the study area. Our findings are relevant for the sustainability of land use in the Amazon, in particular for regions undergoing large-scale infrastructure development projects.

  5. Juvenile tree growth correlates with photosynthesis and leaf phosphorus content in central Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ricardo Antonio Marenco

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Light and soil water availability may limit carbon uptake of trees in tropical rainforests. The objective of this work was to determine how photosynthetic traits of juvenile trees respond to variations in rainfall seasonality, leaf nutrient content, and opening of the forest canopy. The correlation between leaf nutrient content and annual growth rate of saplings was also assessed. In a terra firme rainforest of the central Amazon, leaf nutrient content and gas exchange parameters were measured in five sapling tree species in the dry and rainy season of 2008. Sapling growth was measured in 2008 and 2009. Rainfall seasonality led to variations in soil water content, but it did not affect leaf gas exchange parameters. Subtle changes in the canopy opening affected CO2 saturated photosynthesis (A pot, p = 0.04. Although A pot was affected by leaf nutrient content (as follows: P > Mg > Ca > N > K, the relative growth rate of saplings correlated solely with leaf P content (r = 0.52, p = 0.003. At present, reduction in soil water content during the dry season does not seem to be strong enough to cause any effect on photosynthesis of saplings in central Amazonia. This study shows that leaf P content is positively correlated with sapling growth in the central Amazon. Therefore, the positive effect of atmospheric CO2 fertilization on long-term tree growth will depend on the ability of trees to absorb additional amount of P

  6. Allometry and growth of six tree species in a terra firme forest in colombian amazonia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Giraldo Pamplona Wilson A; Dairon, Alvaro; Cardenas Montoya J, Duque

    2011-01-01

    In this study carried out in the Amacayacu National Park in the Colombian Amazonia, we assessed the allometric relationship among different tree structural variables and the growth in diameter and biomass of six species classified according to their wood specific gravity. The tree species chosen were Eschweilera rufolia, Eschweilera itayensis, Conceveiba guianensis, Otoba parvifolia, Pseudolmedia laevis, and Apeiba aspera. The dbh was the most important structural explanatory variable. Regarding the total height dbh model, the allometric coefficient b changed between species showing a trend to increase, and thus a taper decrease, proportional to. There were o significant differences in diameter growth between species (P=0.119, F=1.80) or functional groups (P=0.153, F= 1.19). Likewise, biomass growth did not show significant differences neither between species (P=0.0784, F=2.05) nor functional groups (P=0.0711, F=2.71). However, there was a positive trend between and diameter growth and a negative one between and biomass growth. The results of this study suggest that this forest is recovering in biomass at a constant rate independent of the patch age, which emphasizes on the importance of pioneer species and gap formation on the carbon dynamics and the species coexistence in Amazonian tierra firme forests.

  7. Open access to information bridges science and development in Amazonia: lessons of the SIAMAZONIA service

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kalliola, Risto; Toivonen, Tuuli; Miyakawa, Victor; Mavila, Manuel

    2008-01-01

    Access to and availability of accurate information has often been stated to play an important role in sustainable environmental management. There is a growing trend of setting up internet-based information services to support the availability of relevant information. The current initiatives that aim to facilitate such information sharing through the web are still, however, often premature and unable to ensure constant flow of data from producers to users. We examine these common challenges by using as an example a network-based facility of biodiversity and environmental information about the Peruvian Amazon region called SIAMAZONIA. Launched in 2001, the service includes data provided by 13 different nodes. The experiences of this initiative have been both encouraging and confusing. A good professional level has been reached, but participation by large information holders is impeded. Participation is obviously considered an additional task rather than an attractive option for enhanced performance at the individual or institutional levels. This dilemma reflects a genuine problem in the modern scientific community, which still lacks agreed ways to reward those who share their data and results through the web. If these problems are solved, internet-based information sharing may become a vital resource for environmental management in Amazonia and also elsewhere

  8. Open access to information bridges science and development in Amazonia: lessons of the SIAMAZONIA service

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kalliola, Risto [Department of Geography, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku (Finland); Toivonen, Tuuli [Department of Geography, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki (Finland); Miyakawa, Victor; Mavila, Manuel [Instituto de Investigaciones de la AmazonIa Peruana, Apartado Postal 784, Iquitos (Peru)

    2008-07-15

    Access to and availability of accurate information has often been stated to play an important role in sustainable environmental management. There is a growing trend of setting up internet-based information services to support the availability of relevant information. The current initiatives that aim to facilitate such information sharing through the web are still, however, often premature and unable to ensure constant flow of data from producers to users. We examine these common challenges by using as an example a network-based facility of biodiversity and environmental information about the Peruvian Amazon region called SIAMAZONIA. Launched in 2001, the service includes data provided by 13 different nodes. The experiences of this initiative have been both encouraging and confusing. A good professional level has been reached, but participation by large information holders is impeded. Participation is obviously considered an additional task rather than an attractive option for enhanced performance at the individual or institutional levels. This dilemma reflects a genuine problem in the modern scientific community, which still lacks agreed ways to reward those who share their data and results through the web. If these problems are solved, internet-based information sharing may become a vital resource for environmental management in Amazonia and also elsewhere.

  9. Environmental changes in the western Amazonia: morphological framework, geochemistry, palynology and radiocarbon dating data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horbe, Adriana M.C.; Behling, Hermann; Nogueira, Afonso C.R.; Mapes, Russell

    2011-01-01

    The sediments from the Coari lake, a 'terra firme' lake sculpted into Plio-Pleistocene deposits, and the Acara lake, a flooding-type lake developed on Quaternary sediments in the flood plain of the mid-Solimoes river, in the western Amazonia, Brazil, were studied to investigate the environmental condition of their developing. This study includes mineral composition, geochemistry, Pb isotope, palinology, radiocarbon-age and morphological framework of the lakes obtained from SRTM satellite images. The geological and the environmental conditions in the two lakes are highly variable and suggest that their evolution reflect autogenic processes under humid rain forest condition. Although kaolinite, quartz, muscovite, illite, and smectite are the main minerals in both lakes, the geochemistry indicates distinct source, the Acara lake sediments have higher concentrations of Al 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 , Fe O, Ca O, K 2 O, Mg O, Na 2 O, P 2 O 5 , Ba, V, Cu, Ni, Zn, Pb, Sr, Li, Y and La and have more radiogenic Pb than the Coari lake sediments. The radiocarbon ages suggest that at 10160 yr BP the Coari lake started to be developed due to avulsion of the Solimoes river, and the Acara lake was formed by the meander abandonment of Solimoes river retaining its grass dominated shore at ca. 3710 yr BP. (author)

  10. Dietary practices and nutritional status of 0-24-month-old children from Brazilian Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castro, T G; Baraldi, L G; Muniz, P T; Cardoso, M A

    2009-12-01

    To assess the nutritional status and dietary practices of 0-24-month-old children living in Brazilian Amazonia. Cross-sectional study. Information on children's dietary intakes was obtained from diet history data. Weight and length were measured for anthropometric evaluation. Fe status was assessed using fasting venous blood samples; Hb, serum ferritin and soluble transferrin receptor concentrations were measured. The towns of Assis Brasil and Acrelândia in the state of Acre, north-west Brazil. A total of sixty-nine randomly selected 0-24-month-old children. Of these children, 40.3 % were anaemic, 63.1 % were Fe-deficient, 28.1 % had Fe-deficiency anaemia and 11.6 % were stunted. Breast-feeding was initiated by 97.1 % of mothers, followed by early feeding with complementary foods. The dietary pattern reflected a high intake of carbohydrate-rich foods and cow's milk, with irregular intakes of fruit, vegetables and meat. All infants and 92.3 % of toddlers were at risk of inadequate Fe intakes. Fe from animal foods contributed on average 0.5 % and 14.3 % to total dietary Fe intake among infants and toddlers, respectively. Poor nutritional status and inadequate feeding practices in this study population reinforce the importance of exclusive breast-feeding during the first 6 months of life. Greater emphasis is required to improve the bioavailability of dietary Fe during complementary feeding practices.

  11. Continuous soil carbon storage of old permanent pastures in Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stahl, Clément; Fontaine, Sébastien; Klumpp, Katja; Picon-Cochard, Catherine; Grise, Marcia Mascarenhas; Dezécache, Camille; Ponchant, Lise; Freycon, Vincent; Blanc, Lilian; Bonal, Damien; Burban, Benoit; Soussana, Jean-François; Blanfort, Vincent

    2017-08-01

    Amazonian forests continuously accumulate carbon (C) in biomass and in soil, representing a carbon sink of 0.42-0.65 GtC yr -1 . In recent decades, more than 15% of Amazonian forests have been converted into pastures, resulting in net C emissions (~200 tC ha -1 ) due to biomass burning and litter mineralization in the first years after deforestation. However, little is known about the capacity of tropical pastures to restore a C sink. Our study shows in French Amazonia that the C storage observed in native forest can be partly restored in old (≥24 year) tropical pastures managed with a low stocking rate (±1 LSU ha -1 ) and without the use of fire since their establishment. A unique combination of a large chronosequence study and eddy covariance measurements showed that pastures stored between -1.27 ± 0.37 and -5.31 ± 2.08 tC ha -1  yr -1 while the nearby native forest stored -3.31 ± 0.44 tC ha -1  yr -1 . This carbon is mainly sequestered in the humus of deep soil layers (20-100 cm), whereas no C storage was observed in the 0- to 20-cm layer. C storage in C4 tropical pasture is associated with the installation and development of C3 species, which increase either the input of N to the ecosystem or the C:N ratio of soil organic matter. Efforts to curb deforestation remain an obvious priority to preserve forest C stocks and biodiversity. However, our results show that if sustainable management is applied in tropical pastures coming from deforestation (avoiding fires and overgrazing, using a grazing rotation plan and a mixture of C3 and C4 species), they can ensure a continuous C storage, thereby adding to the current C sink of Amazonian forests. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  12. Meso-scale effects of tropical deforestation in Amazonia: preparatory LBA modelling studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. J. Dolman

    1999-08-01

    Full Text Available As part of the preparation for the Large-Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia, a meso-scale modelling study was executed to highlight deficiencies in the current understanding of land surface atmosphere interaction at local to sub-continental scales in the dry season. Meso-scale models were run in 1-D and 3-D mode for the area of Rondonia State, Brazil. The important conclusions are that without calibration it is difficult to model the energy partitioning of pasture; modelling that of forest is easier due to the absence of a strong moisture deficit signal. The simulation of the boundary layer above forest is good, above deforested areas (pasture poor. The models' underestimate of the temperature of the boundary layer is likely to be caused by the neglect of the radiative effects of aerosols caused by biomass burning, but other factors such as lack of sufficient entrainment in the model at the mixed layer top may also contribute. The Andes generate patterns of subsidence and gravity waves, the effects of which are felt far into the Rondonian area The results show that the picture presented by GCM modelling studies may need to be balanced by an increased understanding of what happens at the meso-scale. The results are used to identify key measurements for the LBA atmospheric meso-scale campaign needed to improve the model simulations. Similar modelling studies are proposed for the wet season in Rondonia, when convection plays a major role.Key words. Atmospheric composition and structure (aerosols and particles; biosphere-atmosphere interactions · Meterology and atmospheric dynamics (mesoscale meterology

  13. Meso-scale effects of tropical deforestation in Amazonia: preparatory LBA modelling studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. J. Dolman

    Full Text Available As part of the preparation for the Large-Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia, a meso-scale modelling study was executed to highlight deficiencies in the current understanding of land surface atmosphere interaction at local to sub-continental scales in the dry season. Meso-scale models were run in 1-D and 3-D mode for the area of Rondonia State, Brazil. The important conclusions are that without calibration it is difficult to model the energy partitioning of pasture; modelling that of forest is easier due to the absence of a strong moisture deficit signal. The simulation of the boundary layer above forest is good, above deforested areas (pasture poor. The models' underestimate of the temperature of the boundary layer is likely to be caused by the neglect of the radiative effects of aerosols caused by biomass burning, but other factors such as lack of sufficient entrainment in the model at the mixed layer top may also contribute. The Andes generate patterns of subsidence and gravity waves, the effects of which are felt far into the Rondonian area The results show that the picture presented by GCM modelling studies may need to be balanced by an increased understanding of what happens at the meso-scale. The results are used to identify key measurements for the LBA atmospheric meso-scale campaign needed to improve the model simulations. Similar modelling studies are proposed for the wet season in Rondonia, when convection plays a major role.

    Key words. Atmospheric composition and structure (aerosols and particles; biosphere-atmosphere interactions · Meterology and atmospheric dynamics (mesoscale meterology

  14. Acción gubernamental e institucionalismo en la Amazonia brasileña. El conflicto entorno a las infraestructuras hidroeléctricas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Josep Pont Vidal

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Este escrito es el fruto de la investigación basada en el conflicto social originado por el proyecto de construcción de la hidroeléctrica de Belo Monte en el río Xingu (estado de Pará, Amazonia oriental y del diagnóstico del "Plano de Desarrollo Regional Sostenible de la Región de Xingú". Se parte de un marco analítico conceptual más amplio que combina los postulados de la corriente sociológica del Nuevo Institucionalismo y la teoría de la acción de Jürgen Habermas. A partir del análisis de la acción instrumental y estratégica de los actores políticos, sociales y económicos de esta región caracterizada de periférica, se establecen una serie de variables.

  15. Optical and geometrical properties of cirrus clouds in Amazonia derived from 1 year of ground-based lidar measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gouveia, Diego A.; Barja, Boris; Barbosa, Henrique M. J.; Seifert, Patric; Baars, Holger; Pauliquevis, Theotonio; Artaxo, Paulo

    2017-03-01

    Cirrus clouds cover a large fraction of tropical latitudes and play an important role in Earth's radiation budget. Their optical properties, altitude, vertical and horizontal coverage control their radiative forcing, and hence detailed cirrus measurements at different geographical locations are of utmost importance. Studies reporting cirrus properties over tropical rain forests like the Amazon, however, are scarce. Studies with satellite profilers do not give information on the diurnal cycle, and the satellite imagers do not report on the cloud vertical structure. At the same time, ground-based lidar studies are restricted to a few case studies. In this paper, we derive the first comprehensive statistics of optical and geometrical properties of upper-tropospheric cirrus clouds in Amazonia. We used 1 year (July 2011 to June 2012) of ground-based lidar atmospheric observations north of Manaus, Brazil. This dataset was processed by an automatic cloud detection and optical properties retrieval algorithm. Upper-tropospheric cirrus clouds were observed more frequently than reported previously for tropical regions. The frequency of occurrence was found to be as high as 88 % during the wet season and not lower than 50 % during the dry season. The diurnal cycle shows a minimum around local noon and maximum during late afternoon, associated with the diurnal cycle of precipitation. The mean values of cirrus cloud top and base heights, cloud thickness, and cloud optical depth were 14.3 ± 1.9 (SD) km, 12.9 ± 2.2 km, 1.4 ± 1.1 km, and 0.25 ± 0.46, respectively. Cirrus clouds were found at temperatures down to -90 °C. Frequently cirrus were observed within the tropical tropopause layer (TTL), which are likely associated to slow mesoscale uplifting or to the remnants of overshooting convection. The vertical distribution was not uniform, and thin and subvisible cirrus occurred more frequently closer to the tropopause. The mean lidar ratio was 23.3 ± 8.0 sr. However, for

  16. Functional diversity of bacterial genes associated with aromatic hydrocarbon degradation in anthropogenic dark earth of Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariana Gomes Germano

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this work was to evaluate the catabolic gene diversity for the bacterial degradation of aromatic hydrocarbons in anthropogenic dark earth of Amazonia (ADE and their biochar (BC. Functional diversity analyses in ADE soils can provide information on how adaptive microorganisms may influence the fertility of soils and what is their involvement in biogeochemical cycles. For this, clone libraries containing the gene encoding for the alpha subunit of aromatic ring-hydroxylating dioxygenases (α-ARHD bacterial gene were constructed, totaling 800 clones. These libraries were prepared from samples of an ADE soil under two different land uses, located at the Caldeirão Experimental Station - secondary forest (SF and agriculture (AG -, and the biochar (SF_BC and AG_BC, respectively. Heterogeneity estimates indicated greater diversity in BC libraries; and Venn diagrams showed more unique operational protein clusters (OPC in the SF_BC library than the ADE soil, which indicates that specific metabolic processes may occur in biochar. Phylogenetic analysis showed unidentified dioxygenases in ADE soils. Libraries containing functional gene encoding for the alpha subunit of the aromatic ring-hydroxylating dioxygenases (ARHD gene from biochar show higher diversity indices than those of ADE under secondary forest and agriculture.

  17. The spatial distribution of Hymenoptera parasitoids in a forest reserve in Central Amazonia, Manaus, AM, Brazil

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    RB. Querino

    Full Text Available Parasitoids are of great importance to forest ecosystems due to their ecological role in the regulation of the population of other insects. The species richness and abundance of parasitoids in the forest canopy and understory, both on the borders and in the interior of a tropical forest reserve in Central Amazonia were investigated. For a 12-month period, specimen collections were made every 15 days from suspended traps placed in the forest canopy and in the understory strata, both on the border and in the interior of forest areas. A total of 12,835 Hymenoptera parasitoids from 23 families were acquired. Braconidae, Diapriidae, Mymaridae, Eulophidae, and Scelionidae were the most represented in the area and strata samples. The results indicate that there were no significant differences in the species richness or abundance of Hymenoptera between the forest borders and the inner forest. The data does show that the presence of Hymenoptera is significantly greater in the understory in both the border and interior areas than in the canopy (vertical stratification. Aphelinidae and Ceraphronidae were significantly associated with the inner forest, while the other seven families with the border of the reserve. The abundance of Hymenoptera parasitoids presented seasonal variations during the year related to the rainy and dry seasons.

  18. Population Development of Zabrotes subfasciatus (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) in Landrace Bean Varieties Occurring in Southwestern Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopes, L M; Araújo, A E F; Santos, A C V; Santos, V B; Sousa, A H

    2016-02-01

    The common bean, Phaseolus vulgaris (L.), is one of the most important sources of protein worldwide, and Latin America is one of the recognized centers of diversity of this species. However, storage of this product after harvest is not feasible because of bruchid attacks. This study determined the accumulated normalized rate of emergence and the daily emergence rate of Zabrotes subfasciatus (Boheman) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae:Bruchinae) in five landrace varieties of common bean (BRL 01, SNA 01, RDR 01, RBC 01, and RBC 13) that occurin southwestern Amazonia. These varieties were selected for this study because they are well-distributed throughout the Amazonian communities. Beans of each variety were infested with 50 unsexed adults, and the insects were removed 13 d after beginning the bioassays. The adult progeny obtained from the feeding substrate were counted and removed every other day after the first emergence, until the end of the emergence period. Differences were observed in the calculated rates of development; however, the time required for development and emergence of the insects was independent. Of the five varieties of bean investigated, we observed that the RDR 01, BRL 01, and SNA 01 cultivars are resistant to Z. subfasciatus; the results indicate that the use of these three varieties can reduce problems associated with bruchid attacks and enable storage of the product after harvesting.

  19. Urban Forest and Rural Cities: Multi-sited Households, Consumption Patterns, and Forest Resources in Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christine Padoch

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available In much of the Amazon Basin, approximately 70% of the population lives in urban areas and urbanward migration continues. Based on data collected over more than a decade in two long-settled regions of Amazonia, we find that rural-urban migration in the region is an extended and complex process. Like recent rural-urban migrants worldwide, Amazonian migrants, although they may be counted as urban residents, are often not absent from rural areas but remain members of multi-sited households and continue to participate in rural-urban networks and in rural land-use decisions. Our research indicates that, despite their general poverty, these migrants have affected urban markets for both food and construction materials. We present two cases: that of açaí palm fruit in the estuary of the Amazon and of cheap construction timbers in the Peruvian Amazon. We find that many new Amazonian rural-urban migrants have maintained some important rural patterns of both consumption and knowledge. Through their consumer behavior, they are affecting the areal extent of forests; in the two floodplain regions discussed, tree cover is increasing. We also find changes in forest composition, reflecting the persistence of rural consumption patterns in cities resulting in increased demand for and production of açaí and cheap timber species.

  20. Microbial diversity of an anoxic zone of a hydroelectric power station reservoir in Brazilian Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graças, Diego A; Miranda, Paulo R; Baraúna, Rafael A; McCulloch, John A; Ghilardi, Rubens; Schneider, Maria Paula C; Silva, Artur

    2011-11-01

    Microbial diversity was evaluated in an anoxic zone of Tucuruí Hydroelectric Power Station reservoir in Brazilian Amazonia using a culture-independent approach by amplifying and sequencing fragments of the 16S rRNA gene using metagenomic DNA as a template. Samples obtained from the photic, aphotic (40 m) and sediment (60 m) layers were used to construct six 16S rDNA libraries containing a total of 1,152 clones. The sediment, aphotic and photic layers presented 64, 33 and 35 unique archaeal operational taxonomic units (OTUs). The estimated richness of these layers was evaluated to be 153, 106 and 79 archaeal OTUs, respectively, using the abundance-based coverage estimator (ACE) and 114, 83 and 77 OTUs using the Chao1 estimator. For bacterial sequences, 114, 69 and 57 OTUs were found in the sediment, aphotic and photic layers, which presented estimated richnesses of 1,414, 522 and 197 OTUs (ACE) and 1,059, 1,014 and 148 OTUs (Chao1), respectively. Phylogenetic analyses of the sequences obtained revealed a high richness of microorganisms which participate in the carbon cycle, namely, methanogenic archaea and methanotrophic proteobacteria. Most sequences obtained belong to non-culturable prokaryotes. The present study offers the first glimpse of the huge microbial diversity of an anoxic area of a man-made lacustrine environment in the tropics.

  1. Implicações biogeográficas de novos registros ornitológicos em um enclave de vegetação de campina no sudoeste da Amazônia brasileira Biogeographic implications of new avian records from a patch of white-sand forest in southwestern Brazilian Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabíola Poletto

    2005-12-01

    growing on bleached sandy soils throughout Amazonia; despite their widespread distribution, WSF occur predominantly in the upper Rio Negro drainage (NW Brazil, SE Colombia, and S Venezuela. Smaller and isolated WSF patches located in SW. Brazilian Amazonia have not been studied systematically by ornithologists; therefore, some important ornithological results obtained during a field-trip to a WSF patch in the extreme SW. corner of the state of Amazonas, centered at 7º22'33.2"S and 73º00'42.5"W, are presented here. The first records of Hemitriccus striaticollis (Lafresnaye, 1853 (Aves, Tyrannidae and Xenopipo atronitens Cabanis, 1847 (Aves, Pipridae for SW. Brazilian Amazonia are presented, along with additional records of the following little known or rare species inhabiting this region: Formicivora grisea (Boddaert, 1783 (Aves, Thamnophilidae, Conopias parvus (Pelzeln, 1868 (Aves, Tyrannidae, and Heterocercus linteatus (Strickland, 1850 (Aves, Pipridae. As verified in WSF patches distributed throughout N. Peru, the WSF avifauna occurring in SW. Brazilian Amazonia is also highly influenced by species closely associated with the upper Rio Negro drainage. However, a second distinct biogeographic influence was also noted: that of species whose distribution's strongholds are located in central and E. Amazonia, S. of the Amazon river. The WSF avifauna of SW. Brazilian Amazonia is still poorly known; future ornithological surveys of isolated WSF patches in this region could lead to new range extensions and even to the discovery of unnamed taxa.

  2. Neotropics provide insights into the emergence of New World monkeys: New dental evidence from the late Oligocene of Peruvian Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marivaux, Laurent; Adnet, Sylvain; Altamirano-Sierra, Ali J; Boivin, Myriam; Pujos, François; Ramdarshan, Anusha; Salas-Gismondi, Rodolfo; Tejada-Lara, Julia V; Antoine, Pierre-Olivier

    2016-08-01

    Recent field efforts in Peruvian Amazonia (Contamana area, Loreto Department) have resulted in the discovery of a late Oligocene (ca. 26.5 Ma; Chambira Formation) fossil primate-bearing locality (CTA-61). In this paper, we analyze the primate material consisting of two isolated upper molars, the peculiar morphology of which allows us to describe a new medium-sized platyrrhine monkey: Canaanimico amazonensis gen. et sp. nov. In addition to the recent discovery of Perupithecus ucayaliensis, a primitive anthropoid taxon of African affinities from the alleged latest Eocene Santa Rosa locality (Peruvian Amazonia), the discovery of Canaanimico adds to the evidence that primates were well-established in the Amazonian Basin during the Paleogene. Our phylogenetic results based on dental evidence show that none of the early Miocene Patagonian taxa (Homunculus, Carlocebus, Soriacebus, Mazzonicebus, Dolichocebus, Tremacebus, and Chilecebus), the late Oligocene Bolivian Branisella, or the Peruvian Canaanimico, is nested within a crown platyrrhine clade. All these early taxa are closely related and considered here as stem Platyrrhini. Canaanimico is nested within the Patagonian Soriacebinae, and closely related to Soriacebus, thereby extending back the soriacebine lineage to 26.5 Ma. Given the limited dental evidence, it is difficult to assess if Canaanimico was engaged in a form of pitheciine-like seed predation as is observed in Soriacebus and Mazzonicebus, but dental microwear patterns recorded on one upper molar indicate that Canaanimico was possibly a fruit and hard-object eater. If Panamacebus, a recently discovered stem cebine from the early Miocene of Panama, indicates that the crown platyrrhine radiation was already well underway by the earliest Miocene, Canaanimico indicates in turn that the "homunculid" radiation (as a part of the stem radiation) was well underway by the late Oligocene. These new data suggest that the stem radiation likely occurred in the Neotropics

  3. Synergistic impacts of deforestation, climate change and fire on the future biomes distribution in Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sampaio, G.; Cardoso, M. F.; Nobre, C. A.; Salazar, L. F.

    2013-05-01

    Several studies indicate future increase of environmental risks for the ecosystems in the Amazon region as a result of climate and land-use change, and their synergistic interactions. Modeling studies (e.g. Oyama and Nobre 2004, Salazar et al. 2007, Malhi et al. 2008) project rapid and irreversible replacement of forests by savannas with large-scale losses of biodiversity and livelihoods for people in the region. This process is referred to as the Amazon Dieback, where accelerated plant mortality due to environmental changes lead to forest collapse and savannas expansion after "tipping points" in climate and land surface changes are achieved. In this study we performed new analyses to quantify how deforestation, climate change and fire may combine to affect the distribution of major biomes in Amazonia. Changes in land use consider deforestation scenarios of 0%, 20%, 40%, and 50% (Sampaio et al., 2007), with and without fires (Cardoso et al., 2008), under the two greenhouse gases scenarios B1 and A2 and three "representative concentration pathways" (RCPs): 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5, for years 2015-2034 and 2040-2059 ("2025" and "2050" time-slices), from IPCC AR4 and CMIP5. The results show that the area affected in scenarios A2 and RCP 8.5 is larger than in the climate scenario B1 and RCP 2.6, and in both cases the effect is progressively higher in time. Most important changes occur in the East and South of the Amazon, with replacement of tropical forest by seasonal forest and savanna. The effect of fire in this region is important in all scenarios. The Northwest Amazon presents the smallest changes in the area of tropical forest, indicating that even for substantial land-use modifications and global climate change, the resulting atmospheric conditions would still support tropical forest in the region. In summary, we conclude that the synergistic combination of deforestation, climate change resulting from global warming, and the potential for higher fire occurrence may lead

  4. Time Resolved Measurements of Primary Biogenic Aerosol Particles in Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wollny, A. G.; Garland, R.; Pöschl, U.

    2009-04-01

    Biogenic aerosols are ubiquitous in the Earth's atmosphere and they influence atmospheric chemistry and physics, the biosphere, climate, and public health. They play an important role in the spread of biological organisms and reproductive materials, and they can cause or enhance human, animal, and plant diseases. Moreover, they influence the Earth's energy budget by scattering and absorbing radiation, and they can initiate the formation of clouds and precipitation as cloud condensation and ice nuclei. The composition, abundance, and origin of biogenic aerosol particles and components are, however, still not well understood and poorly quantified. Prominent examples of primary biogenic aerosol particles, which are directly emitted from the biosphere to the atmosphere, are pollen, bacteria, fungal spores, viruses, and fragments of animals and plants. During the Amazonian Aerosol Characterization Experiment (AMAZE-08) a large number of aerosol and gas-phase measurements were taken on a remote site close to Manaus, Brazil, during a period of five weeks in February and March 2008. This presented study is focused on data from an ultraviolet aerodynamic particle sizer (UVAPS, TSI inc.) that has been deployed for the first time in Amazonia. In this instrument, particle counting and aerodynamic sizing over the range of 0.5-20 µm are complemented by the measurement of UV fluorescence at 355 nm (excitation) and 420-575 nm (emission), respectively. Fluorescence at these wavelengths is characteristic for reduced pyridine nucleotides (e.g., NAD(P)H) and for riboflavin, which are specific for living cells. Thus particles exhibiting fluorescence signals can be regarded as "viable aerosols" or "fluorescent bioparticles" (FBAP), and their concentration can be considered as lower limit for the actual abundance of primary biogenic aerosol particles. Data from the UVAPS were averaged over 5 minute time intervals. The presence of bioparticles in the observed size range has been

  5. Impact of Biomass Burning Aerosols on the Biosphere over Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malavelle, F.; Haywood, J.; Mercado, L.; Folberth, G.; Bellouin, N.

    2014-12-01

    Biomass burning (BB) smoke from deforestation and the burning of agricultural waste emit a complex cocktail of aerosol particles and gases. BB emissions show a regional hotspot over South America on the edges of Amazonia. These major perturbations and impacts on surface temperature, surface fluxes, chemistry, radiation, rainfall, may have significant consequent impacts on the Amazon rainforest, the largest and most productive carbon store on the planet. There is therefore potential for very significant interaction and interplay between aerosols, clouds, radiation and the biosphere in the region. Terrestrial carbon production (i.e. photosynthesis) is intimately tied to the supply of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR - i.e. wavelengths between 300-690 nm). PAR in sufficient intensity and duration is critical for plant growth. However, if a decrease in total radiation is accompanied by an increase in the component of diffuse radiation, plant productivity may increase due to higher light use efficiency per unit of PAR and less photosynthetic saturation. This effect, sometimes referred as diffuse light fertilization effect, could have increased the global land carbon sink by approximately one quarter during the global dimming period and is expected to be a least as important locally. By directly interacting with radiation, BB aerosols significantly reduce the total amount of PAR available to plant canopies. In addition, BB aerosols also play a centre role in cloud formation because they provide the necessary cloud condensation nuclei, hence indirectly altering the water cycle and the components and quantity of PAR. In this presentation, we use the recent observations from the South American Biomass Burning Analysis (SAMBBA) to explore the impact of radiation changes on the carbon cycle in the Amazon region caused by BB emissions. A parameterisation of the impact of diffuse and direct radiation upon photosynthesis rates and net primary productivity in the

  6. Territorio y Poder: La reivindicación territorial de los indígenas de la amazonia boliviana

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gabriela Canedo Vásquez

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available El artículo pretende mostrar la centralidad que tiene el territorio y la demanda territorial para los grupos indígenas de la amazonia boliviana. El territorio tiene un papel importante en la reproducción cultural y en la organización política. La investigación se llevó a cabo en la provincia Mojos del departamento del Beni, y muestra que el manejo territorial itinerante y la percepción del territorio que tenían los grupos indígenas se ha transformado a partir del marco estatal –concretamente desde la ley INRA–. Hoy en día los indígenas demandan títulos de propiedad de los espacios ocupados, ante el avasallamiento de los blancos/karayanas. Es así que aquella concepción ilimitada del territorio, propio de los pueblos panindios, se ha transformado, pues en la actualidad los indígenas perciben un territorio limitado, cercado por propiedades privadas. Sin embargo, el territorio al convertirse en una de las demandas centrales de la organización indígena, es el elemento que les permite posicionarse políticamente en un escenario local y nacional.

  7. Ecofunctional Traits and Biomass Production in Leguminous Tree Species under Fertilization Treatments during Forest Restoration in Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberto K. Jaquetti

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Background: Choosing the correct species and fertilization treatments is a determining factor in the success of forest restoration. Methods: A field study was conducted in a degraded area near the Balbina hydroelectric dam in Amazonas State (AM, Brazil, to evaluate two hypotheses: (i leguminous tree species exhibit differences in growth, leaf nutrient content, and photosynthetic nutrient use efficiencies; and (ii differences in these characteristics depend on the fertilization treatments to which the species have been subjected. Dipteryx odorata, Inga edulis and Schizolobium amazonicum were subjected to the following treatments: (T1 unfertilized control; (T2 post-planting chemical fertilization; (T3 post-planting organic fertilization and (T4 combined chemical and organic post-planting fertilization. Results: In general, I. edulis had the highest absolute growth rate of biomass under all of the fertilization treatments. I. edulis and S. amazonicum showed the highest growth rates under the T4 treatment. D. odorata showed the greatest responses under the T2 and T4 treatments. Native leguminous trees with higher photosynthetic performance and better nutrient use efficiency exhibited greater growth and biomass production. Conclusion: The results suggest that an adequate balance between leguminous species selection and fertilization will aid in the success of forest restoration in Amazonia.

  8. Lipid Oxidation Inhibitory Effects and Phenolic Composition of Aqueous Extracts from Medicinal Plants of Colombian Amazonia

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    José Ignacio Ruiz-Sanz

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Diverse plants of ethnobotanic interest in Amazonia are commonly used in traditional medicine. We determined the antioxidant potential against lipid peroxidation, the antimicrobial activity, and the polyphenol composition of several Amazonian plants (Brownea rosademonte, Piper glandulosissimum, Piper krukoffii, Piper putumayoense, Solanum grandiflorum, and Vismia baccifera. Extracts from the plant leaf, bark, and stem were prepared as aqueous infusions, as used in folk medicine, and added to rat liver microsomes exposed to iron. The polyphenolic composition was detected by reverse-phase HPLC coupled to diode-array detector and MS/MS analysis. The antimicrobial activity was tested by the spot-on-a-lawn method against several indicator microorganisms. All the extracts inhibited lipid oxidation, except the P. glandulosissimum stem. The plant extracts exhibiting high antioxidant potential (V. baccifera and B. rosademonte contained high levels of flavanols (particularly, catechin and epicatechin. By contrast, S. grandiflorum leaf, which exhibited very low antioxidant activity, was rich in hydroxycinnamic acids. None of the extracts showed antimicrobial activity. This study demonstrates for the first time the presence of bioactive polyphenolic compounds in several Amazonian plants, and highlights the importance of flavanols as major phenolic contributors to antioxidant activity.

  9. DISTRIBUTION OF ORGANIC CARBON IN DIFFERENT SOIL FRACTIONS IN ECOSYSTEMS OF CENTRAL AMAZONIA

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    Jean Dalmo de Oliveira Marques

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Organic matter plays an important role in many soil properties, and for that reason it is necessary to identify management systems which maintain or increase its concentrations. The aim of the present study was to determine the quality and quantity of organic C in different compartments of the soil fraction in different Amazonian ecosystems. The soil organic matter (FSOM was fractionated and soil C stocks were estimated in primary forest (PF, pasture (P, secondary succession (SS and an agroforestry system (AFS. Samples were collected at the depths 0-5, 5-10, 10-20, 20-40, 40-60, 60-80, 80-100, 100-160, and 160-200 cm. Densimetric and particle size analysis methods were used for FSOM, obtaining the following fractions: FLF (free light fraction, IALF (intra-aggregate light fraction, F-sand (sand fraction, F-clay (clay fraction and F-silt (silt fraction. The 0-5 cm layer contains 60 % of soil C, which is associated with the FLF. The F-clay was responsible for 70 % of C retained in the 0-200 cm depth. There was a 12.7 g kg-1 C gain in the FLF from PF to SS, and a 4.4 g kg-1 C gain from PF to AFS, showing that SS and AFS areas recover soil organic C, constituting feasible C-recovery alternatives for degraded and intensively farmed soils in Amazonia. The greatest total stocks of carbon in soil fractions were, in decreasing order: (101.3 Mg ha-1 of C - AFS > (98.4 Mg ha-1 of C - FP > (92.9 Mg ha-1 of C - SS > (64.0 Mg ha-1 of C - P. The forms of land use in the Amazon influence C distribution in soil fractions, resulting in short- or long-term changes.

  10. Chemical composition of the fruit mesocarp of three peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) populations grown in central Amazonia, Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuyama, Lúcia K O; Aguiar, Jaime P L; Yuyama, Kaoru; Clement, Charles R; Macedo, Sonja H M; Fávaro, Deborah I T; Afonso, Claudia; Vasconcellos, Marina B A; Pimentel, Sabria A; Badolato, Elsa S G; Vannucchi, Helio

    2003-01-01

    The percent composition, soluble and insoluble food fibers, oil fatty acids and minerals were determined in the mesocarp of fruits of three peach palm (Bactris gasipaes Kunth) populations grown in Central Amazonia, Brazil. Amino acids were also determined in one of the populations. The mean protein levels ranged from 1.8 to 2.7%, lipid levels ranged from 3.5 to 11.1%, the nitrogen free fraction ranged from 24.3 to 35%, food fiber ranged from 5.2% to 8.7%, and energy ranged from 179.1 to 207.4 kcal%. All essential, as well as non-essential, amino acids were present, with tryptophan and methionine presenting the lowest mean concentrations. The mono-unsaturated oleic acid predominated in the oil, ranging from 42.8 to 60.8%, and palmitic acid was the most abundant saturated fatty acid, ranging from 24.1 to 42.3%. Among the essential fatty acids, linoleic acid was the most abundant, with a maximum of 5.4% in Pampa-8. The most important mineral elements were potassium, selenium and chromium, respectively corresponding to 12%, 9% and 9% of daily recommended allowances. Considering the nutritional potential of the fruit, we suggest its more frequent incorporation into the diet of the Amazonian population.

  11. Chagas disease and globalization of the Amazon La enfermedad de Chagas y la globalización de la Amazonia

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    Roberto Briceño-León

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available The increasing number of autochthonous cases of Chagas disease in the Amazon since the 1970s has led to fear that the disease may become a new public health problem in the region. This transformation in the disease's epidemiological pattern in the Amazon can be explained by environmental and social changes in the last 30 years. The current article draws on the sociological theory of perverse effects to explain these changes as the unwanted result of the shift from the "inward" development model prevailing until the 1970s to the "outward" model that we know as globalization, oriented by industrial forces and international trade. The current article highlights the implementation of five new patterns in agriculture, cattle-raising, mining, lumbering, and urban occupation that have generated changes in the environment and the traditional indigenous habitat and have led to migratory flows, deforestation, sedentary living, the presence of domestic animals, and changes in the habitat that facilitate colonization of human dwellings by vectors and the domestic and work-related transmission of the disease. The expansion of Chagas disease is thus a perverse effect of the globalization process in the Amazon.El incremento de casos autóctonos de la enfermedad de Chagas en la Amazonia a partir de los años setenta hace temer que pueda convertirse en un novedoso problema de salud pública en la región. Este cambio del patrón epidemiológico de la enfermedad en la región amazónica debe ser explicado por las transformaciones ambientales y sociales que han ocurrido en los pasados treinta años. Este artículo utiliza la teoría sociológica de los efectos perversos para explicar esos cambios como el resultado indeseado del cambio de modelo de desarrollo "hacia adentro", que había existido hasta los años setenta, por otro "hacia fuera" que está orientado por las fuerzas de la producción y el comercio internacional que conocemos como globalización. El art

  12. A Spatial Probit Econometric Model of Land Change: The Case of Infrastructure Development in Western Amazonia, Peru

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arima, E. Y.

    2016-01-01

    Tropical forests are now at the center stage of climate mitigation policies worldwide given their roles as sources of carbon emissions resulting from deforestation and forest degradation. Although the international community has created mechanisms such as REDD+ to reduce those emissions, developing tropical countries continue to invest in infrastructure development in an effort to spur economic growth. Construction of roads in particular is known to be an important driver of deforestation. This article simulates the impact of road construction on deforestation in Western Amazonia, Peru, and quantifies the amount of carbon emissions associated with projected deforestation. To accomplish this objective, the article adopts a Bayesian probit land change model in which spatial dependencies are defined between regions or groups of pixels instead of between individual pixels, thereby reducing computational requirements. It also compares and contrasts the patterns of deforestation predicted by both spatial and non-spatial probit models. The spatial model replicates complex patterns of deforestation whereas the non-spatial model fails to do so. In terms of policy, both models suggest that road construction will increase deforestation by a modest amount, between 200–300 km2. This translates into aboveground carbon emissions of 1.36 and 1.85 x 106 tons. However, recent introduction of palm oil in the region serves as a cautionary example that the models may be underestimating the impact of roads. PMID:27010739

  13. A Spatial Probit Econometric Model of Land Change: The Case of Infrastructure Development in Western Amazonia, Peru.

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    E Y Arima

    Full Text Available Tropical forests are now at the center stage of climate mitigation policies worldwide given their roles as sources of carbon emissions resulting from deforestation and forest degradation. Although the international community has created mechanisms such as REDD+ to reduce those emissions, developing tropical countries continue to invest in infrastructure development in an effort to spur economic growth. Construction of roads in particular is known to be an important driver of deforestation. This article simulates the impact of road construction on deforestation in Western Amazonia, Peru, and quantifies the amount of carbon emissions associated with projected deforestation. To accomplish this objective, the article adopts a Bayesian probit land change model in which spatial dependencies are defined between regions or groups of pixels instead of between individual pixels, thereby reducing computational requirements. It also compares and contrasts the patterns of deforestation predicted by both spatial and non-spatial probit models. The spatial model replicates complex patterns of deforestation whereas the non-spatial model fails to do so. In terms of policy, both models suggest that road construction will increase deforestation by a modest amount, between 200-300 km2. This translates into aboveground carbon emissions of 1.36 and 1.85 x 106 tons. However, recent introduction of palm oil in the region serves as a cautionary example that the models may be underestimating the impact of roads.

  14. A Spatial Probit Econometric Model of Land Change: The Case of Infrastructure Development in Western Amazonia, Peru.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arima, E Y

    2016-01-01

    Tropical forests are now at the center stage of climate mitigation policies worldwide given their roles as sources of carbon emissions resulting from deforestation and forest degradation. Although the international community has created mechanisms such as REDD+ to reduce those emissions, developing tropical countries continue to invest in infrastructure development in an effort to spur economic growth. Construction of roads in particular is known to be an important driver of deforestation. This article simulates the impact of road construction on deforestation in Western Amazonia, Peru, and quantifies the amount of carbon emissions associated with projected deforestation. To accomplish this objective, the article adopts a Bayesian probit land change model in which spatial dependencies are defined between regions or groups of pixels instead of between individual pixels, thereby reducing computational requirements. It also compares and contrasts the patterns of deforestation predicted by both spatial and non-spatial probit models. The spatial model replicates complex patterns of deforestation whereas the non-spatial model fails to do so. In terms of policy, both models suggest that road construction will increase deforestation by a modest amount, between 200-300 km2. This translates into aboveground carbon emissions of 1.36 and 1.85 x 106 tons. However, recent introduction of palm oil in the region serves as a cautionary example that the models may be underestimating the impact of roads.

  15. Regional N2O fluxes in Amazonia derived from aircraft vertical profiles

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Amelio, M. T. S.; Gatti, L. V.; Miller, J. B.; Tans, P.

    2009-11-01

    Nitrous oxide (N2O) is the third most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas. Globally, the main sources of N2O are nitrification and denitrification in soils. About two thirds of the soil emissions occur in the tropics and approximately 20% originate in wet rainforest ecosystems, like the Amazon forest. The work presented here involves aircraft vertical profiles of N2O from the surface to 4 km over two sites in the Eastern and Central Amazon: Tapajós National Forest (SAN) and Cuieiras Biologic Reserve (MAN), and the estimation of N2O fluxes for regions upwind of these sites. To our knowledge, these regional scale N2O measurements in Amazonia are unique and represent a new approach to looking regional scale emissions. The fluxes upwind of MAN exhibited little seasonality, and the annual mean was 2.1±1.0 mg N2O m-2 day-1, higher than that for fluxes upwind of SAN, which averaged 1.5±1.6 mg N2O m-2 day-1. The higher rainfall around the MAN site could explain the higher N2O emissions, as a result of increased soil moisture accelerating microbial nitrification and denitrification processes. For fluxes from the coast to SAN seasonality is present for all years, with high fluxes in the months of March through May, and in November through December. The first peak of N2O flux is strongly associated with the wet season. The second peak of high N2O flux recorded at SAN occurs during the dry season and can not be easily explained. However, about half of the dry season profiles exhibit significant correlations with CO, indicating a larger than expected source of N2O from biomass burning. The average CO:N2O ratio for all profiles sampled during the dry season is 94±77 mol CO:mol N2O and suggests a larger biomass burning contribution to the global N2O budget than previously reported.

  16. Global warming and climate change in Amazonia: Climate-vegetation feedback and impacts on water resources

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marengo, José; Nobre, Carlos A.; Betts, Richard A.; Cox, Peter M.; Sampaio, Gilvan; Salazar, Luis

    This chapter constitutes an updated review of long-term climate variability and change in the Amazon region, based on observational data spanning more than 50 years of records and on climate-change modeling studies. We start with the early experiments on Amazon deforestation in the late 1970s, and the evolution of these experiments to the latest studies on greenhouse gases emission scenarios and land use changes until the end of the twenty-first century. The "Amazon dieback" simulated by the HadCM3 model occurs after a "tipping point" of CO2 concentration and warming. Experiments on Amazon deforestation and change of climate suggest that once a critical deforestation threshold (or tipping point) of 40-50% forest loss is reached in eastern Amazonia, climate would change in a way which is dangerous for the remaining forest. This may favor a collapse of the tropical forest, with a substitution of the forest by savanna-type vegetation. The concept of "dangerous climate change," as a climate change, which induces positive feedback, which accelerate the change, is strongly linked to the occurrence of tipping points, and it can be explained as the presence of feedback between climate change and the carbon cycle, particularly involving a weakening of the current terrestrial carbon sink and a possible reversal from a sink (as in present climate) to a source by the year 2050. We must, therefore, currently consider the drying simulated by the Hadley Centre model(s) as having a finite probability under global warming, with a potentially enormous impact, but with some degree of uncertainty.

  17. Alluvial plain dynamics and human occupation in SW Amazonia during the Holocene: A paleosol-based reconstruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lombardo, Umberto; Rodrigues, Leonor; Veit, Heinz

    2018-01-01

    The present study reconstructs Holocene fluvial dynamics in the southern Amazonian foreland basin through the analysis of 36 stratigraphic profiles taken along a 300 km long transect across the Llanos de Moxos (LM), in the Bolivian Amazon. Based on 50 radiocarbon ages from paleosols intercalated with fluvial sediments, the most important changes in floodplain dynamics on a millennial scale are reconstructed and the links between pre-Columbian cultural processes and environmental change in the region explored. Results show that the frequency of river avulsions and crevasses, as inferred from the number and age of the cored paleosols, is stable from 8k cal. yrs BP to 4k cal. yrs BP and increases significantly from 4k to 2k cal. yrs BP, following the strengthening of el Niño/la Niña cycle and an increase in average precipitation. Fluvial activity then decreases and reaches its minimum after 2k cal BP. A comparison between the stratigraphic record and the archaeological record shows a match between periods of landscape stability in SW Amazonia (low river activity) and periods of pre-Columbian human occupation. The first Amazonians lived in the LM until 4k yrs. BP, when an abrupt increase in the frequency of river avulsions and crevasses forced the abandonment of the region. After two thousand years of archaeological hiatus, which matches the period of highest river activity in the region, agriculturists reoccupied the Bolivian Amazon.

  18. Diversity and abundance of primates and their threats in the interfluvium of the Napo and Putumayo rivers, Peruvian Amazonia

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    Rolando Aquino

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Within the northeastern Peruvian Amazonia remain areas with scarce information on primates, one of them being the interfluvium between the Napo and Putumayo rivers. This lack of information motivated us to conduct a study to determine the diversity and abundance of primates within the area, as well as to identify the threats, which inhibit these primate species populations. For this purpose, we conducted transect censuses in three sampling sites in October 2007, September 2013 and November 2014. In 1040 km of transect walks we observed 308 groups of nine primate species, the most common being Leontocebus nigricollis (109 groups and the rarest being Alouatta seniculus (16 groups. Smaller groups of Lagothrix lagothricha lagothricha (8-11 individuals and A. seniculus (3-5 individuals were observed in Tamboryacu, a majorly disturbed sampling site. Likewise, the lowest population densities estimated for L. l. lagothricha and A. seniculus corresponded to this same sampling site with 3.8 indiv. /km2 and 1.6 indiv. /km2, respectively, while for the remaining species there were no major differences among the sampling sites. Among the activities, hunting and logging are the predominant threats responsible for the scarce populations of A. seniculus and l. l. lagothricha, mainly in the Napo River Basin.

  19. Reproducing the organic matter model of anthropogenic dark earth of Amazonia and testing the ecotoxicity of functionalized charcoal compounds

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    Carolina Rodrigues Linhares

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this work was to obtain organic compounds similar to the ones found in the organic matter of anthropogenic dark earth of Amazonia (ADE using a chemical functionalization procedure on activated charcoal, as well as to determine their ecotoxicity. Based on the study of the organic matter from ADE, an organic model was proposed and an attempt to reproduce it was described. Activated charcoal was oxidized with the use of sodium hypochlorite at different concentrations. Nuclear magnetic resonance was performed to verify if the spectra of the obtained products were similar to the ones of humic acids from ADE. The similarity between spectra indicated that the obtained products were polycondensed aromatic structures with carboxyl groups: a soil amendment that can contribute to soil fertility and to its sustainable use. An ecotoxicological test with Daphnia similis was performed on the more soluble fraction (fulvic acids of the produced soil amendment. Aryl chloride was formed during the synthesis of the organic compounds from activated charcoal functionalization and partially removed through a purification process. However, it is probable that some aryl chloride remained in the final product, since the ecotoxicological test indicated that the chemical functionalized soil amendment is moderately toxic.

  20. Clinical poisoning in bovine the venom of Bothrops atrox the municipality of Oriximiná-Pará, Central Amazonia, Brazil - Case report

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    Ubaldo de Almeida Farias Junior

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT. Farias Junior U. de A. & Chalkidis H.M. [Clinical poisoning in bovine the venom of Bothrops atrox the municipality of Oriximiná-Pará, Central Amazonia, Brazil - Case report.] Envenenamento clínico de bovino por peçonha de Bothrops atrox no município de Oriximiná-Pará, Amazô- nia Central, Brasil - Relato de caso. Revista Brasileira de Medicina Veterinária, 37(3:264-268, 2015. Laboratório de Pesquisas Zoológicas, Faculdades Integradas do Tapajós, Rua Rosa Vermelha, 335, Aeroporto Velho, Santarém, PA 68010-200, Brasil. E-mail: chalkidis@hotmail.com It explains a case of poisoning bovine by Bothrops atrox, abundant snake family Viperidae, prevalent in northern Brazil, assigned as the etiological agent of over 90% of cases of snakebite in the State of Pará. Report the examination semiological and the clinical symptoms observed due to its evolution as well. Clinical signs are confronted with the findings conferred in similar cases reported by veterinarians and ranchers in the region. The treatment in this particular case was not proceeded in order to examine symptoms presented by the accuracy of these reports.

  1. Zebragryllus Desutter-Grandcolas & Cadena-Casteñada, n.gen. a new Gryllinae genus from Eastern and Western Amazonia, South America (Orthoptera, Grylloidea, Gryllidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Desutter-Grandcolas, Laure; Cadena-Castañeda, Oscar J; Jaiswara, Ranjana; Anso, Jeremy

    2014-02-24

    We describe a new genus of grylline cricket, Zebragryllus Desutter-Grandcolas & Cadena-Casteñada n. gen., from the Neotropical Region, using characters of morphology and male genitalia; genitalic characters clearly show that Zebragryllus n. gen. is closely related to Anurogryllus Saussure, 1878. Six species are described as new to science, originax">ting from western (Peru, Colombia) and eastern (French Guiana) Amazonia: Zebragryllus fuscus Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp., Z. guianensis Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp., Z. intermedius Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp., Zebragryllus nauta Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp., Zebragryllus nouragui Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp., and Zebragryllus wittoto Desutter-Grandcolas and Cadena-Casteñada, n. sp., type species of the genus. They are characterized by their size, coloration (shining black, most often with white patterns of coloration, hence the genus name), and male and female genitalia. The calling songs of Z. guianensis Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp., Z. intermedius Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp., Z. nouragui Desutter-Grandcolas, n. sp., and Z. wittoto Desutter-Grandcolas and Cadena-Casteñada, n. sp. are described. An identification key is proposed for both males and females.

  2. Trabajo y relaciones laborales en los enclaves minero-metalúrgicos de la Amazonia

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    Josep Pont Vidal

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract:  Labour and labour relations in the enclaves of metallurgical mining in the AmazonThis article is based upon an empirical study of  life and labour conditions in the metallurgical  mining enclaves of the eastern Amazon region.  From the perspective of civil society (associations  of workers, labour conditions are analysed according to interviews with workers and their  family members given outside the work sphere.  Using the method based on ‘grounded theory’, and specifically on the qualitative analysis of  theorization, a scheme of two levels has been  made: the ‘situational activity’ and the ‘subjectivization of the activity’. The first level, the ‘situational activity’, is centred in the sphere of the  organizations of workers and their perceptions  and strategies for action. The second level, the  ‘subjective of the activity’, addresses the subjective interpretations adopted by workers and their  families. Resumen:Este escrito se basa en un estudio empírico de las  condiciones de vida y relaciones laborales en los  enclaves minero-metalúrgicos de la Amazonia  oriental. En él se analizan las condiciones laborales desde la perspectiva de la sociedad civil (asociaciones de trabajadores, recurriendo para ello a  entrevistas con trabajadores y sus familias fuera  del ambiente de trabajo. A partir del método basado en la teorización anclada, y específicamente  en el denominado análisis cualitativo de teorización, se ha confeccionado un esquema de dos  niveles: la ‘actividad situacional’, y la ‘subjetivización de la actividad’. El primer nivel -la ‘actividad situacional’- se centra en la esfera de las  organizaciones de trabajadores y sus ideas y estrategias de acción. El segundo nivel -la ‘subjetivización de la actividad’- trata las interpretaciones  subjetivas adoptadas por los trabajadores y sus  familias.

  3. Increased Wildfire Risk Driven by Climate and Development Interactions in the Bolivian Chiquitania, Southern Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devisscher, Tahia; Anderson, Liana O; Aragão, Luiz E O C; Galván, Luis; Malhi, Yadvinder

    2016-01-01

    Wildfires are becoming increasingly dominant in tropical landscapes due to reinforcing feedbacks between land cover change and more severe dry conditions. This study focused on the Bolivian Chiquitania, a region located at the southern edge of Amazonia. The extensive, unique and well-conserved tropical dry forest in this region is susceptible to wildfires due to a marked seasonality. We used a novel approach to assess fire risk at the regional level driven by different development trajectories interacting with changing climatic conditions. Possible future risk scenarios were simulated using maximum entropy modelling with presence-only data, combining land cover, anthropogenic and climatic variables. We found that important determinants of fire risk in the region are distance to roads, recent deforestation and density of human settlements. Severely dry conditions alone increased the area of high fire risk by 69%, affecting all categories of land use and land cover. Interactions between extreme dry conditions and rapid frontier expansion further increased fire risk, resulting in potential biomass loss of 2.44±0.8 Tg in high risk area, about 1.8 times higher than the estimates for the 2010 drought. These interactions showed particularly high fire risk in land used for 'extensive cattle ranching', 'agro-silvopastoral use' and 'intensive cattle ranching and agriculture'. These findings have serious implications for subsistence activities and the economy in the Chiquitania, which greatly depend on the forestry, agriculture and livestock sectors. Results are particularly concerning if considering the current development policies promoting frontier expansion. Departmental protected areas inhibited wildfires when strategically established in areas of high risk, even under drought conditions. However, further research is needed to assess their effectiveness accounting for more specific contextual factors. This novel and simple modelling approach can inform fire and land

  4. Dark Earths and manioc cultivation in Central Amazonia: a window on pre-Columbian agricultural systems?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James A. Fraser

    Full Text Available Many commentators highlight the fertility of Anthropogenic Dark Earths (ADE, emphasizing their potential for sustainable agriculture. Some scholars believe that terra mulata (the less fertile, more extensive form of ADE was created by means of agricultural practices used by large settled populations of pre-Columbian farmers. But what was it that these Amerindian farmers were growing? Until recently, scholarly consensus held that manioc does not perform well on ADE. New research on the middle Madeira River is showing, however, that this consensus was premature. In this region, the most common crop in ADE fields is bitter manioc. Farmers there have various landraces of manioc that they believe yield particularly well on ADE, and logically plant more of these varieties on ADE. Aspects of the behaviour and perception of manioc cultivation among 52 farmers at the community of Barro Alto were measured quantitatively on four terra firme soil types (Terra Preta, Terra Mulata, Oxisols and Ultisols. These farmers plant different configurations of landraces in different soils, according to their perception of the suitability of particular landraces and their characteristics to certain soil types and successional processes. This, in turn, shapes selective pressures on these varieties, as new genetic material incorporated from volunteer seedlings is more likely to contain traits present in the most prevalent landrace(s in each soil type. Owing to localized population pressure at Barro Alto, manioc is under more intensive cultivation systems, with shorter cropping periods (5-10 months and shorter fallow periods (1-2 years. The outcome of these processes is different co-evolutionary dynamics on ADE as opposed to non-anthropogenic soils. Further anthropological study of manioc swiddening in one of the richest agricultural environments in Amazonia can fill a gap in the literature, thus opening an additional window on the pre-Columbian period.

  5. Dark Earths and manioc cultivation in Central Amazonia: a window on pre-Columbian agricultural systems?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James A. Fraser

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available Many commentators highlight the fertility of Anthropogenic Dark Earths (ADE, emphasizing their potential for sustainable agriculture. Some scholars believe that terra mulata (the less fertile, more extensive form of ADE was created by means of agricultural practices used by large settled populations of pre-Columbian farmers. But what was it that these Amerindian farmers were growing? Until recently, scholarly consensus held that manioc does not perform well on ADE. New research on the middle Madeira River is showing, however, that this consensus was premature. In this region, the most common crop in ADE fields is bitter manioc. Farmers there have various landraces of manioc that they believe yield particularly well on ADE, and logically plant more of these varieties on ADE. Aspects of the behaviour and perception of manioc cultivation among 52 farmers at the community of Barro Alto were measured quantitatively on four terra firme soil types (Terra Preta, Terra Mulata, Oxisols and Ultisols. These farmers plant different configurations of landraces in different soils, according to their perception of the suitability of particular landraces and their characteristics to certain soil types and successional processes.This, in turn, shapes selective pressures on these varieties, as new genetic material incorporated from volunteer seedlings is more likely to contain traits present in the most prevalent landrace(s in each soil type. Owing to localized population pressure at Barro Alto, manioc is under more intensive cultivation systems, with shorter cropping periods (5-10 months and shorter fallow periods (1-2 years. The outcome of these processes is different co-evolutionary dynamics on ADE as opposed to non-anthropogenic soils. Further anthropological study of manioc swiddening in one of the richest agricultural environments in Amazonia can fill a gap in the literature, thus opening an additional window on the pre-Columbian period.

  6. Geochemical characterization of the largest upland lake of the Brazilian Amazonia: Impact of provenance and processes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahoo, Prafulla Kumar; Guimarães, José Tasso Felix; Souza-Filho, Pedro Walfir Martins; da Silva, Marcio Sousa; Nascimento, Wilson, Júnior; Powell, Mike A.; Reis, Luiza Santos; Pessenda, Luiz Carlos Ruiz; Rodrigues, Tarcísio Magevski; da Silva, Delmo Fonseca; Costa, Vladimir Eliodoro

    2017-12-01

    Lake Três Irmãs (LTI), the largest upland lake in the Brazilian Amazonia, located in Serra dos Carajás, was characterized using multi-elemental and isotope geochemistry (δ13C and δ15N) to understand the significance of organic and inorganic sources, weathering and sedimentary processes on the distribution of elements in lake bottom (surficial) sediments. Carbon and nitrogen isotopes from sedimentary organic matter suggest C3 terrestrial plants (forests > canga vegetation), macrophytes and freshwater DOC as the main sources. Sediments are depleted in most of the major oxides (except Fe2O3 and P2O5) when compared to upper continental crust (UCC) and their spatial distribution is highly influenced by catchment lithology. Principal Component Analysis revealed that most of the trace elements (Ba, Sr, Rb, Sc, Th, U, Zr, Hf, Nb, Y, V, Cr, Ga, Co, Ni) and REEs are closely correlated with Al and Ti (PC1; Group-1), so their redistribution is less influenced by post-depositional process. This is due to their relative immobility and being hosted by Al-bearing minerals during laterization. High Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA), Mafic Index of Alteration (MIA) and Index of Laterization (IOL) values indicate intense chemical weathering at source areas, but the weathering transformation was better quantified by IOL. A-CN-K plot along with elemental ratios (Al/K, Ti/K, Ti/Zr, La/Al, Cr/Th, Co/Th, La/Sm, La/Gd, Zr/Y, and Eu/Eu*) as well as chondrite-normalized REE patterns show that the detritic sediments are mainly sourced from ferruginous laterites and soils in the catchment, which may have characteristics similar to mafic rocks.

  7. Variación florística de especies arbóreas a escala local en un bosque de tierra firme en la Amazonia colombiana Floristic variation of canopy tree species at a local scale on tierra firme forests in colombian Amazonia

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    Juan Sebastian Barreto Silva

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available El presente estudio se llevó a cabo en cinco hectáreas de una parcela permanente establecida en el Parque Nacional Amacayacu, Amazonia colombiana. En éste, se evaluó el efecto de la variación ambiental y la configuración espacial sobre los patrones florísticos de las especies arbóreas (DAP>10 cm a escala local en un bosque de tierra firme. Se estudió la variación florística y ambiental en cuadrantes de 20x20 m. Adicionalmente, se consideraron diferentes categorías de abundancia (total, alta, media y baja. Se utilizó el Análisis de Correspondencia Linealizado y el Análisis de Correspondencia Canónica, seguido de una partición de la variación, para cuantificar la magnitud a la cual el ambiente y la limitación en dispersión determinan la variación florística. La fracción espacial, representando procesos de autocorrelación como la limitación en dispersión, se analizó mediante dos métodos: Asumiendo un polinomio de tercer grado y por el método de Coordenadas Principales de Matrices Vecinas (PCNM. La diversidad beta de la parcela fue baja. El PCNM aparece como el método de análisis más apropiado para estudios a esta escala. Las diferencias florísticas explicadas a lo largo de la parcela de 5-ha fueron principalmente asociadas con procesos biológicos como la limitación en dispersión. La mayor parte de la variación florística, no obstante, no fue explicada por las variables ambientales o espaciales consideradas. En conclusión, estos resultados sugieren que procesos aleatorios son determinantes esenciales de la variación espacial de las especies arbóreas a escala local en tierra firme en los bosques en el Parque Nacional Amacayacu.This study was carried out in a 5-ha permanent plot established in the Amacayacu National Park, Colombian Amazonia. We assessed the extent at which floristic patterns of tree species were determined by either the environmental variation or the spatial configuration in tierra firme

  8. Productos del mercado artesanal en la ciudad de Leticia (Amazonia colombiana elaborados con especies de bosques de Mauritia flexuosa L.f.

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    Sandra Lorena Franco Arango

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Los productos forestales no maderables (PFNMs han tomado fuerza como alternativa para la conservación de ecosistemas y la generación de ingresos económicos en las poblaciones asociadas. Se presenta un mayor interés sobre los productos que provienen de bosques oligárquicos (poco diversos y con alta densidad relativa, especialmente los dominados por palmas, como por ejemplo los bosques de Mauritia flexuosa (aguajales, cananguchales o buritizales. En el mercado artesanal de Leticia (Amazonia colombiana se identificaron 68 productos provenientes de nueve especies de plantas del canaguchal, teniendo las palmas (Astrocaryum chambira, Euterpe precatoria, M. flexuosa, Oenocarpus bataua y Socratea exorrhiza el mayor potencial comercial. Los productos más frecuentes fueron las mochilas de fibras de A. chambira (chambira y los precios de venta más altos correspondieron a las esculturas de Brosimum rubescens (palo de sangre. No existen estadísticas oficiales de este mercado, ni entes del Estado que regulen y orienten la producción y comercialización de los productos que se extraen del bosque. No obstante, los PFNMs representan una alternativa para diversificar las oportunidades productivas de los pobladores de la región.

  9. Late Holocene paleoenvironments of the floodplain of the Solimões River, Central Amazonia, based on the palynological record of Lake Cabaliana

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    Natália de Paula Sá

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT The core PD-67 of 160 cm depth was collected from the delta of Lake Cabaliana situated on the Solimões River. Seventeen samples were removed for palynological and sedimentological analysis and three for radiocarbon analysis. Two dry periods, both in the Late Holocene, were observed (2800-2550 cal yr BP, 1450-550 cal yr BP separated by a wetter phase (2550-1450 cal yr BP. In 2800-2550 cal yr BP, varzea forests of Alchornea, Symmeria, Cecropia, Alternanthera and Asteraceae were predominant. Beginning in 2,550-1450 cal yr BP, the varzea was characterized by pioneer elements, such as Cassia, Laetia, Mabea, Symmeria and Cecropia, and by the expansion of Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Sagittaria, Montrichardia and Asteraceae. In 1450-550 cal yr BP the succession of varzea continued with Pseudobombax, Laetia, Luehea/Lueheopsis and Ryanaea increasing simultaneously with the terra firme vegetation of Rutaceae, Sapotaceae, Styrax, Scleronema, Anthurium, Araceae, pteridophytes and Pariana. The successional dynamics at Lake Cabaliana indicated that the local varzea had become established recently, and is composed of a mosaic of different successional stages of vegetation influenced mainly by flood pulse and variation in rainfall. It is therefore possible to propose that the recent climate history of Central Amazonia reflects changes in rainfall patterns in the basin.

  10. Description and phylogenetic relationships of a new genus and two new species of lizards from Brazilian Amazonia, with nomenclatural comments on the taxonomy of Gymnophthalmidae (Reptilia: Squamata).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colli, Guarino R; Hoogmoed, Marinus S; Cannatella, David C; Cassimiro, José; Gomes, Jerriane Oliveira; Ghellere, José Mário; Gomes, Jerriane Oliveira; Ghellere, José Mário; Nunes, Pedro M Sales; Pellegrino, Kátia C M; Salerno, Patricia; Souza, Sergio Marques De; Rodrigues, Miguel Trefaut

    2015-08-18

    We describe a new genus and two new species of gymnophthalmid lizards based on specimens collected from Brazilian Amazonia, mostly in the "arc of deforestation". The new genus is easily distinguished from other Gymnophthalmidae by having very wide, smooth, and imbricate nuchals, arranged in two longitudinal and 6-10 transverse rows from nape to brachium level, followed by much narrower, strongly keeled, lanceolate, and mucronate scales. It also differs from all other Gymnophthalmidae, except Iphisa, by the presence of two longitudinal rows of ventrals. The new genus differs from Iphisa by having two pairs of enlarged chinshields (one in Iphisa); posterior dorsal scales lanceolate, strongly keeled and not arranged in longitudinal rows (dorsals broad, smooth and forming two longitudinal rows), and lateral scales keeled (smooth). Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses based on morphological and molecular data indicate the new species form a clade that is most closely related to Iphisa. We also address several nomenclatural issues and present a revised classification of Gymnophthalmidae.

  11. Measuring local depletion of terrestrial game vertebrates by central-place hunters in rural Amazonia.

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    Mark I Abrahams

    Full Text Available The degree to which terrestrial vertebrate populations are depleted in tropical forests occupied by human communities has been the subject of an intense polarising debate that has important conservation implications. Conservation ecologists and practitioners are divided over the extent to which community-based subsistence offtake is compatible with ecologically functional populations of tropical forest game species. To quantify depletion envelopes of forest vertebrates around human communities, we deployed a total of 383 camera trap stations and 78 quantitative interviews to survey the peri-community areas controlled by 60 semi-subsistence communities over a combined area of over 3.2 million hectares in the Médio Juruá and Uatumã regions of Central-Western Brazilian Amazonia. Our results largely conform with prior evidence that hunting large-bodied vertebrates reduces wildlife populations near settlements, such that they are only found at a distance to settlements where they are hunted less frequently. Camera trap data suggest that a select few harvest-sensitive species, including lowland tapir, are either repelled or depleted by human communities. Nocturnal and cathemeral species were detected relatively more frequently in disturbed areas close to communities, but individual species did not necessarily shift their activity patterns. Group biomass of all species was depressed in the wider neighbourhood of urban areas rather than communities. Interview data suggest that species traits, especially group size and body mass, mediate these relationships. Large-bodied, large-group-living species are detected farther from communities as reported by experienced informants. Long-established communities in our study regions have not "emptied" the surrounding forest. Low human population density and low hunting offtake due to abundant sources of alternative aquatic protein, suggest that these communities represent a best-case scenario for sustainable

  12. Measuring local depletion of terrestrial game vertebrates by central-place hunters in rural Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peres, Carlos A.; Costa, Hugo C. M.

    2017-01-01

    The degree to which terrestrial vertebrate populations are depleted in tropical forests occupied by human communities has been the subject of an intense polarising debate that has important conservation implications. Conservation ecologists and practitioners are divided over the extent to which community-based subsistence offtake is compatible with ecologically functional populations of tropical forest game species. To quantify depletion envelopes of forest vertebrates around human communities, we deployed a total of 383 camera trap stations and 78 quantitative interviews to survey the peri-community areas controlled by 60 semi-subsistence communities over a combined area of over 3.2 million hectares in the Médio Juruá and Uatumã regions of Central-Western Brazilian Amazonia. Our results largely conform with prior evidence that hunting large-bodied vertebrates reduces wildlife populations near settlements, such that they are only found at a distance to settlements where they are hunted less frequently. Camera trap data suggest that a select few harvest-sensitive species, including lowland tapir, are either repelled or depleted by human communities. Nocturnal and cathemeral species were detected relatively more frequently in disturbed areas close to communities, but individual species did not necessarily shift their activity patterns. Group biomass of all species was depressed in the wider neighbourhood of urban areas rather than communities. Interview data suggest that species traits, especially group size and body mass, mediate these relationships. Large-bodied, large-group-living species are detected farther from communities as reported by experienced informants. Long-established communities in our study regions have not “emptied” the surrounding forest. Low human population density and low hunting offtake due to abundant sources of alternative aquatic protein, suggest that these communities represent a best-case scenario for sustainable hunting of

  13. The inclusion of electric power and the challenge of sustainability in remote inland areas of the Amazon; A inclusao eletrica e o desafio da sustentabilidade nas areas remotas do interior da Amazonia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cavalcante, Andreia Santos; Cartaxo, Elizabeth Ferreira [Universidade Federal do Amazonas (NIEMA/UFAM), Manaus, AM (Brazil). Nucleo Interdisciplinar de Energia, Meio Ambiente e Agua

    2008-07-01

    This article brings some reflections on the National Program of Universalization of the Access and Use of the Electric Energy, Luz para Todos, in areas as the Amazonia. This Program when implanting and executing the actions characterized the Brazilian state in way uniform, disrespecting the particularity and diversity of the Amazon region. This attitude has not met of the goals foreseen for the electrification of the Amazonian, evidencing thus, that the geographic, cultural and social multiplicities of climates and characteristics constitute great obstacles for the implantation of homogeneous politics. This, for certain, demonstrates that the potential of development of each region has differentiated dynamic, which would have to influence and to direct the formularization of politics. It characterizes this proposal bold and ambitious of the Federal Government from carried through empirical experience in an Amazonian community, Terra Preta do Limao, located in the city of Barreirinha. In this way, given referring to the organizational structure, the situation of job and income, to the access the social goods and services and the productive occupational vocation of this population bring answers on the impacts of the program in the improvement of the quality of life of this social segment. Moreover, it presents indications of that the resources destined to the implantation of the program, make impracticable, for its high cost, other social priorities. Although the electric energy is essential for the economic progress of a country, the expansion of its services to the necessary society to be seen in accord with sustainable criteria, of form to prevent the exploration and high consumption of the natural resources and the wastefulness of energy. With this reading, the work if considers to show to the incoherencies of the Program in the State of Amazon, evidencing the obstacles for the reach of the goals traced for the State. Therefore, considering what the Amazonia

  14. Potential for seed bank formation of two weed species from Brazilian Amazonia Potencial para a formação de banco de sementes de duas espécies de plantas daninhas da Amazônia brasileira

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    Moacyr B. Dias-Filho

    1999-08-01

    Full Text Available The potential for seed bank formation of two perennial weed species, Ipomoea asarifolia (Desr. Roem. & Schult. (Convolvulaceae and Stachytarpheta cayennensis (Rich. M. Vahl (Verbenaceae, both common in Amazonia , was evaluated in a degraded pasture area in eastern Brazilian Amazonia . Seeds were enclosed in nylon mesh packets and placed at the soil surface or buried at 5 or 10 cm deep. The number of viable seeds was recorded at 6, 10, 14 and 18 months after burial. Results showed that S. cayennensis has the ability to form persistent soil seed bank, while I. asarifolia seeds do not build up in the soil seed bank. For S. cayennensis and, to some extent, for I. asarifolia, seed survival was highest at greater burial depths.O potencial para a formação de banco de sementes de duas espécies perenes de plantas daninhas, Ipomoea asarifolia (Desr. Roem. & Schult. (Convolvulaceae e Stachytarpheta cayennensis (Rich. M. Vahl (Verbenaceae, ambas comuns na Amazônia, foi avaliado em uma área de pastagem degradada na Amazônia oriental brasileira. As sementes foram inseridas em envelopes de tela de nylon e colocadas na superfície do solo ou enterradas a cinco ou 10 cm de profundidade. O número de sementes viáveis foi avaliado aos 6, 12, 14 e 18 meses após o início do ensaio. Os resultados mostraram que S. cayennensis tem o potencial para formar banco de sementes persistente, enquanto que as sementes de I. asarifolia não apresentam esse potencial. Em S. cayennensis e, de certo modo, em I. asarifolia, a sobrevivência de sementes foi maior nas maiores profundidades.

  15. Diagnóstico actitudinal hacia la conservación ambiental en estudiantes de la Universidad Nacional de la Amazonia Peruana

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    Herman Guimet

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available Estudio descriptivo no experimental, que tuvo como objetivo principal, encontrar las diferencias en las actitudes hacia la conservación ambiental entre los estudiantes de la Facultad de Ingeniería Química de la Universidad Nacional de la Amazonia Peruana; según el nivel de estudios, sexo, edad cronológica y el lugar de residencia; la población estuvo conformada por 189 estudiantes y se trabajó con una muestra de 111 estudiantes; la técnica utilizada para recolección de datos fue la encuesta, utilizando como instrumento la escala tipo Likert; los resultados mostraron que en la variable nivel de estudios los estudiantes del III nivel ocuparon el primer lugar, mostrando mejores actitudes y último lugar lo ocupó el V nivel; con respecto a la variable sexo, se encontraron diferencias a favor del sexo masculino; en la variable edad cronológica puede decirse que las actitudes de los estudiantes mayores  ocuparon el primer lugar, seguido de los más jóvenes y finalizando con los estudiantes  del grupo intermedio; así mismo se hallaron diferencias actitudinales entre los estudiantes de los cuatro distrito, como lugar de residencia. La variable nivel de estudios, parece no tener un papel distintivo en las actitudes hacia la conservación ambiental.

  16. Anthropogenic Emissions Change the Amount and Composition of Organic PM1 in Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Sá, S. S.; Palm, B. B.; Campuzano Jost, P.; Day, D. A.; Hu, W.; Isaacman-VanWertz, G. A.; Yee, L.; Wernis, R. A.; Thalman, R.; Brito, J.; Carbone, S.; Artaxo, P.; Goldstein, A. H.; Manzi, A. O.; Souza, R. A. F. D.; Wang, J.; Alexander, M. L. L.; Jimenez, J. L.; Martin, S. T.

    2017-12-01

    processes. Results suggest that polluted conditions are associated with higher organic mass concentrations, with certain pathways being favored to the detriment of others. This analysis and results represent a step toward the goal of improving the understanding of anthropogenic influences on the production of PM1 in Amazonia.

  17. Mayaro virus infection in amazonia: a multimodel inference approach to risk factor assessment.

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    Fernando Abad-Franch

    in village-like areas. This suggests either a vector shift (synanthropic mosquitoes vectoring MAYV or a habitat/habits shift (classical MAYV vectors adapting to densely populated landscapes and nocturnal biting; any such ecological/adaptive novelty could increase the likelihood of MAYV emergence in Amazonia.

  18. Ocurrencia de hongos formadores de micorriza arbuscular asociados a ají (Capsicum sp. en la Amazonia colombiana

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    Cardona Gladys

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available

    Capsicum sp. es una especie nativa de América de gran importancia por su diversidad de usos. La Amazonia colombiana es considerada uno de los centros de origen y alberga una gran riqueza de morfoespecies. A pesar de su importancia para el crecimiento y supervivencia de plantas bajo condiciones limitantes de nutrientes, son escasos los trabajos relacionados con la dinámica de los hongos formadores de micorriza arbuscular (HFMA en Capsicum. Se estudió la ocurrencia de HFMA, a partir de colecta de rizósferas y raíces de ají en diferentes rutas. La colonización se evaluó por medio de la metodología de Phillips y Hayman (1970, con modificaciones de Sieverding (1983. El aislamiento y cuantificación de esporas por la técnica de Gerdeman y Nicolson (1963, modificada por Sieverding (1983. La asignación de géneros se realizó a partir de la descripción morfológica de esporas. Todas las plántulas de ají muestreadas presentaron asociaciones con HFMA. Características químicas del suelo, presencia de otras especies vegetales en chagras, fuente de colecta y especies del género Capsicum incidieron en una alta o baja alta ocurrencia de la simbiosis micorrícica. Se identificaron nueve morfotipos de endomicorrizas; Glomus sp. fue el de mayor ocurrencia.

  19. The costs of evaluating species densities and composition of snakes to assess development impacts in amazonia.

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    Rafael de Fraga

    Full Text Available Studies leading to decision-making for environmental licensing often fail to provide accurate estimates of diversity. Measures of snake diversity are regularly obtained to assess development impacts in the rainforests of the Amazon Basin, but this taxonomic group may be subject to poor detection probabilities. Recently, the Brazilian government tried to standardize sampling designs by the implementation of a system (RAPELD to quantify biological diversity using spatially-standardized sampling units. Consistency in sampling design allows the detection probabilities to be compared among taxa, and sampling effort and associated cost to be evaluated. The cost effectiveness of detecting snakes has received no attention in Amazonia. Here we tested the effects of reducing sampling effort on estimates of species densities and assemblage composition. We identified snakes in seven plot systems, each standardised with 14 plots. The 250 m long centre line of each plot followed an altitudinal contour. Surveys were repeated four times in each plot and detection probabilities were estimated for the 41 species encountered. Reducing the number of observations, or the size of the sampling modules, caused significant loss of information on species densities and local patterns of variation in assemblage composition. We estimated the cost to find a snake as $ 120 U.S., but general linear models indicated the possibility of identifying differences in assemblage composition for half the overall survey costs. Decisions to reduce sampling effort depend on the importance of lost information to target-issues, and may not be the preferred option if there is the potential for identifying individual snake species requiring specific conservation actions. However, in most studies of human disturbance on species assemblages, it is likely to be more cost-effective to focus on other groups of organisms with higher detection probabilities.

  20. Fish Consumption during Pregnancy, Mercury Transfer, and Birth Weight along the Madeira River Basin in Amazonia

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    Renata S. Leão

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available Birth weight can be a predictor of maternal health issues related to nutrition and environmental contaminants. Total hair mercury (HHg concentration was studied as an indicator of both fish consumption and methylmercury exposure in mothers (and newborns living in selected low income areas of the Madeira River basin, Amazonia, Brazil. This cohort study (n = 1,433 consisted of traditional riverines (n = 396, riverines who had moved to urban (n = 676 and rural (n = 67 settings, and tin miner settlers (n = 294. Median maternal HHg was significantly different (p = 0.00001 between riverine (12.1 µg·g−1, rural (7.82 µg·g−1, urban (5.4 µg·g−1, and tin miner (4.5 µg·g−1 groups studied. The same trend (of medians was observed for newborns’ HHg which also showed significant differences between riverine (3.0 µg·g−1, rural (2.0 µg·g−1, urban (1.5 µg·g−1, and tin miner (0.8 µg·g−1 groups. The correlation between maternal and newborn HHg was statistically significant in the riverine (r = 0.8952; p = 0.0001, urban (r = 0.6744; p = 0.0001, and rural (r = 0.8416; p = 0.0001 groups but not in the mother-infant pairs in the tin miner group (r = 0.0638; p = 0.2752. Birth weight was significantly different among groups but did not show a pattern consistent with that of fish consumption (and HHg. A multiple regression analysis showed that only family income and gestational age had a significant impact on birth weight. Conclusions: Maternal HHg is an important biomarker of maternal fish consumption and of methylmercury exposure during pregnancy. However, in these Amazonian groups, only maternal education and gestational age seemed to affect birth weight positively.

  1. High-resolution mitochondrial DNA analysis sheds light on human diversity, cultural interactions, and population mobility in Northwestern Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arias, Leonardo; Barbieri, Chiara; Barreto, Guillermo; Stoneking, Mark; Pakendorf, Brigitte

    2018-02-01

    Northwestern Amazonia (NWA) is a center of high linguistic and cultural diversity. Several language families and linguistic isolates occur in this region, as well as different subsistence patterns, with some groups being foragers and others agriculturalists. In addition, speakers of Eastern Tukanoan languages are known for practicing linguistic exogamy, a marriage system in which partners are taken from different language groups. In this study, we use high-resolution mitochondrial DNA sequencing to investigate the impact of this linguistic and cultural diversity on the genetic relationships and population structure of NWA groups. We collected saliva samples from individuals representing 40 different NWA ethnolinguistic groups and sequenced 439 complete mitochondrial genomes to an average coverage of 1,030×. The mtDNA data revealed that NWA populations have high genetic diversity with extensive sharing of haplotypes among groups. Moreover, groups who practice linguistic exogamy have higher genetic diversity, while the foraging Nukak have lower genetic diversity. We also find that rivers play a more important role than either geography or language affiliation in structuring the genetic relationships of populations. Contrary to the view of NWA as a pristine area inhabited by small human populations living in isolation, our data support a view of high diversity and contact among different ethnolinguistic groups, with movement along rivers probably facilitating this contact. Additionally, we provide evidence for the impact of cultural practices, such as linguistic exogamy, on patterns of genetic variation. Overall, this study provides new data and insights into a remote and little-studied region of the world. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  2. Increased Wildfire Risk Driven by Climate and Development Interactions in the Bolivian Chiquitania, Southern Amazonia.

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    Tahia Devisscher

    Full Text Available Wildfires are becoming increasingly dominant in tropical landscapes due to reinforcing feedbacks between land cover change and more severe dry conditions. This study focused on the Bolivian Chiquitania, a region located at the southern edge of Amazonia. The extensive, unique and well-conserved tropical dry forest in this region is susceptible to wildfires due to a marked seasonality. We used a novel approach to assess fire risk at the regional level driven by different development trajectories interacting with changing climatic conditions. Possible future risk scenarios were simulated using maximum entropy modelling with presence-only data, combining land cover, anthropogenic and climatic variables. We found that important determinants of fire risk in the region are distance to roads, recent deforestation and density of human settlements. Severely dry conditions alone increased the area of high fire risk by 69%, affecting all categories of land use and land cover. Interactions between extreme dry conditions and rapid frontier expansion further increased fire risk, resulting in potential biomass loss of 2.44±0.8 Tg in high risk area, about 1.8 times higher than the estimates for the 2010 drought. These interactions showed particularly high fire risk in land used for 'extensive cattle ranching', 'agro-silvopastoral use' and 'intensive cattle ranching and agriculture'. These findings have serious implications for subsistence activities and the economy in the Chiquitania, which greatly depend on the forestry, agriculture and livestock sectors. Results are particularly concerning if considering the current development policies promoting frontier expansion. Departmental protected areas inhibited wildfires when strategically established in areas of high risk, even under drought conditions. However, further research is needed to assess their effectiveness accounting for more specific contextual factors. This novel and simple modelling approach can

  3. Simulating deforestation and carbon loss in Amazonia: impacts in Brazil's Roraima state from reconstructing Highway BR-319 (Manaus-Porto Velho).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barni, Paulo Eduardo; Fearnside, Philip Martin; Graça, Paulo Maurício Lima de Alencastro

    2015-02-01

    Reconstruction of Highway BR-319 (Manaus-Porto Velho) would allow for access from the "arc of deforestation" in the southern part of Brazil's Amazon region to vast blocks of forests in central and northern Amazonia. Building roads is known to be a major driver of deforestation, allowing entry of squatters, and other actors. Rather than deforestation along the highway route, here we consider the road's potential for stimulating deforestation in a separate location, approximately 550 km north of BR-319's endpoint in Manaus. Reconstructing BR-319 has great potential impact to start a new wave of migration to this remote region. The southern portion of the state of Roraima, the focus of our study, is already connected to Manaus by Highway BR-174. We modeled deforestation in southern Roraima and simulated carbon emissions between 2007 and 2030 under four scenarios. Simulations used the AGROECO model in DINAMICA-EGO © software. Two scenarios were considered with reconstruction of BR-319 and two without this road connection. For each of the two possibilities regarding BR-319, simulations were developed for (1) a "conservation" (CONSERV) scenario that assumes the creation of a series of protected areas, and (2) a "business-as-usual" (BAU) scenario that assumes no additional protected areas. Results show that by 2030, with BR-319 rebuilt, deforestation carbon emissions would increase between 19% (CONSERV) and 42% (BAU) over and above those corresponding to no-road scenarios.

  4. Sequential Management of Commercial Rosewood (Aniba rosaeodora Ducke Plantations in Central Amazonia: Seeking Sustainable Models for Essential Oil Production

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    Pedro Medrado Krainovic

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Rosewood (Aniba rosaeodora Ducke is an endangered tree that produces essential oil of high commercial value. However, technical-scientific knowledge about cultivation is scarce and studies are needed to examine the management viability. The current study evaluated rosewood aboveground biomass management, measuring the export of nutrients resulting from harvesting and testing sustainable management models. The crown of 36 rosewood trees were pruned and 108 trees cut at 50 cm above the soil in two regions in Central Amazonia. Post-harvest performance of sprouting shoots was evaluated and after, sprouting shoots were pruned so that the development of two, three and all shoots was permitted. Nutrient stock estimation was calculated as the product of mass and nutrient concentration, which allowed nutritional replacement to be estimated. The pruning facilitates regrowth by 40.11% of the initial mass while by cut regrow 1.45%. Chemical attributes of regrowth biomass differed significantly prior to management and regrowth had a significant correlation with the reserves in root tissues and with the pre -management status of the individual tree. Driving sprouts resulted in significantly larger growth increments and may provide a form of management that can viably be adopted. Biomass sequential management resulted in high nutrient exports and the amount of fertilizer needed for replenishment depended on the intensity and frequency of cropping. Compared with the cut of the tree, pruning the canopy reduces fertilizers that are required to replenish amount by 44%, decreasing to 26.37% in the second rotation. The generated knowledge contributes to this silvicultural practice as it becomes ecologically and economically viable.

  5. Partnership inside Governance Spaces: the case of the Municipal Development Forum of Igarapé-Açú, Pará, Amazonia

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    Mário Vasconcellos Sobrinho

    Full Text Available Abstract This paper discusses how partnership between local organisations and Government inside governance spaces affects local development. The aim is to raise some critical issues about the concept of partnership and about partnership effectively for municipal development. Thus, the article uses partnership as its central theory. Specifically, it explores to what extent partnership is an effective strategy for local development in areas of historical conflict between local Government and local organisations in Pará State, Brazilian Amazonia. It focuses particularly on the municipality of Igarapé-Açú, located in north-east of Pará State. Igarapé-Açú was chosen because it is a singular case of local organisations and Government partnership since 2008 when a governance space was created to carry out a partnership process called Municipal Development Forum (MDF. Methodologically, the case study was carried out from a qualitative analysis with data gathered from documents and semi-structured interviews with key-informants. The paper shows that the great challenge to build partnerships between local Government and local organisations is not in these actors capacity to represent the state and civil society in a governance forum, but in their capacity to change the local institutional environment to enable this forum to propose changes in terms of rural development. The paper shows that institutional change does not happen rapidly; changes depend on a particular historical context. In conclusion, the case of Igarapé-Açú shows that in an environment where there is great political conflict much time is needed to create links between the rural actors.

  6. Crecimiento del maíz en vertisoles con alto aluminio en la Baixada Maranhense pre-Amazonia, Brasil.

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    Alessandro Costa-da Silva

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el crecimiento del maíz en suelos con alto contenido de aluminio. Se midió el efecto del Al3+ en raíces y la cantidad de materia seca (raíz, hoja y tallo de maíz. Se efectuó la caracterización físico-química de cuatro muestras de suelo con alto aluminio colectadas del horizonte Ap, en tres municipios de la región conocida como Baixada Maranhense (Pre-Amazonia, Brasil: Santa Rita (SR, Arari (AR y Vitoria do Mearim (VM y un testigo colectado en el municipio de São Luís, Área del Núcleo de Tecnología Rural (T. El estudio, ejecutado en 2009, se llevó a cabo en invernadero y se utilizó 2 dm3 de suelo por maceta. Asimismo las muestras fueron divididas en muestras con y sin fertilización. La variación en la longitud de la raíz y de materia seca de las hojas difirió significativamente entre tratados con y sin fertilizante, excepto en la muestra de la localidad T. La producción de materia seca de raíz, tallo y hoja fue mayor en todos los suelos cuando se fertilizó. El suelo testigo también superó a todos los demás en cuanto a producción de materia seca en la raíz, posiblemente como resultado de una menor cantidad de Al3+ (1,2 cmolc/dm3 en comparación con los suelos SR, AR y VM (6,8; 8,0 y 7,0 cmolc/dm3 respectivamente. Se concluye la fertilización reduce el efecto detrimental del aluminio en la producción de maíz en la Baixada Maranhense.

  7. Determinants of plant community assembly in a mosaic of landscape units in central Amazonia: ecological and phylogenetic perspectives.

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    María Natalia Umaña

    Full Text Available The Amazon harbours one of the richest ecosystems on Earth. Such diversity is likely to be promoted by plant specialization, associated with the occurrence of a mosaic of landscape units. Here, we integrate ecological and phylogenetic data at different spatial scales to assess the importance of habitat specialization in driving compositional and phylogenetic variation across the Amazonian forest. To do so, we evaluated patterns of floristic dissimilarity and phylogenetic turnover, habitat association and phylogenetic structure in three different landscape units occurring in terra firme (Hilly and Terrace and flooded forests (Igapó. We established two 1-ha tree plots in each of these landscape units at the Caparú Biological Station, SW Colombia, and measured edaphic, topographic and light variables. At large spatial scales, terra firme forests exhibited higher levels of species diversity and phylodiversity than flooded forests. These two types of forests showed conspicuous differences in species and phylogenetic composition, suggesting that environmental sorting due to flood is important, and can go beyond the species level. At a local level, landscape units showed floristic divergence, driven both by geographical distance and by edaphic specialization. In terms of phylogenetic structure, Igapó forests showed phylogenetic clustering, whereas Hilly and Terrace forests showed phylogenetic evenness. Within plots, however, local communities did not show any particular trend. Overall, our findings suggest that flooded forests, characterized by stressful environments, impose limits to species occurrence, whereas terra firme forests, more environmentally heterogeneous, are likely to provide a wider range of ecological conditions and therefore to bear higher diversity. Thus, Amazonia should be considered as a mosaic of landscape units, where the strength of habitat association depends upon their environmental properties.

  8. Determinants of Plant Community Assembly in a Mosaic of Landscape Units in Central Amazonia: Ecological and Phylogenetic Perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Umaña, María Natalia; Norden, Natalia; Cano, Ángela; Stevenson, Pablo R.

    2012-01-01

    The Amazon harbours one of the richest ecosystems on Earth. Such diversity is likely to be promoted by plant specialization, associated with the occurrence of a mosaic of landscape units. Here, we integrate ecological and phylogenetic data at different spatial scales to assess the importance of habitat specialization in driving compositional and phylogenetic variation across the Amazonian forest. To do so, we evaluated patterns of floristic dissimilarity and phylogenetic turnover, habitat association and phylogenetic structure in three different landscape units occurring in terra firme (Hilly and Terrace) and flooded forests (Igapó). We established two 1-ha tree plots in each of these landscape units at the Caparú Biological Station, SW Colombia, and measured edaphic, topographic and light variables. At large spatial scales, terra firme forests exhibited higher levels of species diversity and phylodiversity than flooded forests. These two types of forests showed conspicuous differences in species and phylogenetic composition, suggesting that environmental sorting due to flood is important, and can go beyond the species level. At a local level, landscape units showed floristic divergence, driven both by geographical distance and by edaphic specialization. In terms of phylogenetic structure, Igapó forests showed phylogenetic clustering, whereas Hilly and Terrace forests showed phylogenetic evenness. Within plots, however, local communities did not show any particular trend. Overall, our findings suggest that flooded forests, characterized by stressful environments, impose limits to species occurrence, whereas terra firme forests, more environmentally heterogeneous, are likely to provide a wider range of ecological conditions and therefore to bear higher diversity. Thus, Amazonia should be considered as a mosaic of landscape units, where the strength of habitat association depends upon their environmental properties. PMID:23028844

  9. Papel trófico del microbial loop en un lago de inundación en la Amazonia Central

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    Pedro Caraballo Gracia

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Con el propósito de evaluar la participación de las bacterias heterotróficas en el flujo de carbono en la cadena trófica de un lago de inundación amazónico, colectas mensuales de estos microorganismos fueron realizadas durante el año hidrológico de diciembre de 2007 hasta noviembre de 2008, en las regiones litoral, pelágica y de macrófitas acuáticas del lago Catalão, en la Amazonia Central brasilera. Las bacterias fueron multiplicadas in vitro, usando como sustrato el carbono orgánico disuelto (COD del lago en cada una de las regiones estudiadas, para posterior análisis de la abundancia de isotopos estables de carbono y nitrógeno. Estos datos fueron confrontados con los valores de COD de los cuatro periodos limnológicos del lago (seca, inundación, llena y bajada de aguas. En general se encontró que la fuente principal de carbono de las bacterias heterotróficas fue aquella de origen C4, que presentó un aporte mínimo de 75%, en la medida en que el δ13C de las bacterias presentó valor medio de -17,72‰ ± 2,25. Confrontando ese valor, con el δ13C del zooplancton en el mismo período (-33,04‰±3,81 se concluye que el aporte de las bacterias heterotróficas al flujo de carbono hacia niveles tróficos superiores en el lago estudiado es mínimo.

  10. The Roles and Movements of Actors in the Deforestation of Brazilian Amazonia

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    Philip M. Fearnside

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available Containing the advance of deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia requires understanding the roles and movements of the actors involved. The importance of different actors varies widely among locations within the region, and also evolves at any particular site over the course of frontier establishment and consolidation. Landless migrants have significant roles in clearing the land they occupy and in motivating landholders to clear as a defense against invasion or expropriation. Colonists in official settlements and other small farmers also are responsible for substantial amounts of clearing, but ranchers constitute the largest component of the region's clearing. This group is most responsive to macroeconomic changes affecting such factors as commodity prices, and also receives substantial subsidies. Ulterior motives, such as land speculation and money laundering, also affect this group. Drug trafficking and money laundering represent strong forces in some areas and help spread deforestation where it would be unprofitable based only on the legitimate economy. Goldminers increase the population in distant areas and subsequently enter the ranks of other groups. Work as laborers or debt slaves provides an important entry to the region for poor migrants from northeast Brazil, providing cheap labor to large ranches and a large source of entrants to other groups, such as landless farmers and colonists. Capitalized farmers, including agribusiness for soy production, have tremendous impact in certain areas, such as Mato Grosso. This group responds to commodity markets and provides justification for major infrastructure projects. Landgrabbers, or grileiros, are important in entering public land and beginning the process of deforestation and transfer of land to subsequent groups of actors. These include sawmill owners and loggers, who play an important role in generating funds for clearing by other groups, ranging from landless migrants to large ranchers. They

  11. Occurrence of filamentous fungi in Simulium goeldii Cerqueira & Nunes de Mello (diptera: simuliidae larvae in central Amazonia, Brazil Ocorrência de fungos filamentosos associados a larvas de Simulium goeldii Cerqueira & Nunes de Mello da Amazônia Central, Brasil

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    Quézia Ribeiro Fonseca

    2008-06-01

    Full Text Available The family Simuliidae is the host of simbiontes fungi that inhabit the digestive tracts of arthropods. This paper reports the presence of fungi in Simulium goeldii Cerqueira & Nunes de Mello larvae in Amazonia. We observed that the larvae are a good component of aquatic systems to isolate filamentous fungi.A família Simuliidae é hospedeira de fungos simbiontes que habitam o trato digestivo de artrópodos. Este estudo reporta a presença de fungos em larvas de Simulium goeldii Cerqueira & Nunes de Mello da Amazônia. Foi observado que as larvas são bons componentes do sistema aquático para isolar fungos filamentosos.

  12. Floristic, edaphic and structural characteristics of flooded and unflooded forests in the lower Rio Purús region of central Amazonia, Brazil

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    Haugaasen Torbjørn

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Despite a natural history interest in the early 1900s, relatively little ecological research has been carried out in the Rio Purús basin of central Amazonia, Brazil. Here we describe a new study area in the region of Lago Uauaçú with an emphasis on the climate, forest structure and composition, and soil characteristics between adjacent unflooded (terra firme and seasonally inundated forests; situated within both the white-water (várzea and black-water (igapó drainage systems that dominate the landscape. The climate was found to be typical of that of the central Amazon. Várzea forest soils had high concentrations of nutrients, while terra firme and igapó soils were comparatively nutrient-poor. Terra firme forests were the most floristically diverse forest type, whereas várzea was intermediate, and igapó the most species-poor. The Lecythidaceae was the most important family in terra firme while the Euphorbiaceae was the most important in both várzea and igapó. There were significant differences between forest types in terms of number of saplings, canopy cover and understorey density. In contrasting our results with other published information, we conclude that the Lago Uauaçú region consists of a typical central Amazonian forest macro-mosaic, but is a unique area with high conservation value due to the intimate juxtaposition of terra firme, várzea and igapó forests.

  13. Hair mercury (signature of fish consumption) and cardiovascular risk in Munduruku and Kayabi Indians of Amazonia.

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    Dórea, José G; de Souza, Jurandir R; Rodrigues, Patricia; Ferrari, Iris; Barbosa, Antonio C

    2005-02-01

    Fish is an important natural resource in the diet of inhabitants of the Amazon rain forest and a marker of its consumption (hair Hg) was used to compare selected cardiovascular risk parameters between tribes of Eastern Amazonia. Three Munduruku (Terra Preta, Kaburua, Cururu) villages and one Kayabi village at the banks of head rivers (Tapajos, Tropas, Kabitutu, Cururu, Curuzinho, Teles Pires) of the Tapajos Basin were studied in relation to fish Hg concentrations, mercury in hair (fish consumption) and erythrocytes, body mass index (height/weight, kg/cm2), and blood pressure. The mean fish Hg concentrations were higher in predatory (578.6 ng/g) than in nonpredatory species (52.8 ng/g). Overall only 26% of fish Hg concentrations were above 500 ng/g, and only 11% were above 1000 ng/g. There was no systematic trend in fish Hg concentrations from rivers with a history of gold-mining activities. The biomarker of fish consumption (hair Hg) was significantly associated with erythrocyte-Hg (r=0.5181; P=0.0001) and was significantly higher in Kayabi (12.7 microg/g) than in the Munduruku (3.4 microg/g). Biomarker-assessed fish consumption rate was higher in the Kayabi (110 g/day) than in the Munduruku villages (30 g/day). Although no significant differences in body mass index (BMI) were observed between tribes, there was a trend of lower increase in blood pressure with age among the higher fish consumers (Kayabi). Summary clinical evaluation did not detect neurologic complaints compatible with Hg intoxication (paraparesis, numbness, tremor, balancing failure), but endemic tropical diseases such as clinical history of malaria showed a high prevalence (55.4%). Fish is an abundant natural resource, important in the Indian diet, that has been historically consumed without perceived problems and can easily be traced through hair Hg. The exposure to freshwater fish monomethyl mercury is less of an issue than endemic infectious diseases such as malaria and lack of basic medical

  14. Late Quaternary sedimentary dynamics in Western Amazonia: Implications for the origin of open vegetation/forest contrasts

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    Rossetti, D. F.; Bertani, T. C.; Zani, H.; Cremon, E. H.; Hayakawa, E. H.

    2012-12-01

    This work investigated the evolution of sedimentary environments during the latest Quaternary and their influence on the paradoxical occurrence of open vegetation patches in sharp contact with the Amazonian forest. The approach integrated pre-existing geological and floristic data from lowlands in the Brazilian Amazonia, with remote sensing imagery including multispectral optical images (TM, ETM+, and ASTER), Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR), InSAR C-band SRTM-DEMs, and high resolution images obtained from Google Earth™. The detection of an abundance of paleomorphologies provided evidence of a scenario in which constant environmental shifts were linked to the evolution of fluvial and megafan depositional systems. In all studied areas, the open vegetation patches are not random, but associated with sedimentary deposits representative of environments either deactivated during the Holocene or presently in the process of deactivation. Sedimentary evolution would have determined the distribution of wetlands and terra firme in many areas of the Amazonian lowlands, and would have a major impact on the development of open vegetated patches within the modern rainforest. Subsiding areas were filled up with megafan deposits, and many fluvial tributaries were rearranged on the landscape. The close relationship between vegetation and the physical environment suggests that sedimentary history related to the evolution of depositional settings during the latest Quaternary played a major role in the distribution of flooded and non-flooded areas of the Amazonian lowlands, with a direct impact on the distribution of modern floristic patterns. As the depositional sites were abandoned and their sedimentary deposits were exposed to the surface, they became sites suitable for vegetation growth, first of herbaceous species and then of forest. Although climate fluctuations might have been involved, fault reactivation appears to have been the main cause of changes in

  15. Seasonality of isoprenoid emissions from a primary rainforest in central Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alves, Eliane G.; Jardine, Kolby; Tota, Julio; Jardine, Angela; Yãnez-Serrano, Ana Maria; Karl, Thomas; Tavares, Julia; Nelson, Bruce; Gu, Dasa; Stavrakou, Trissevgeni; Martin, Scot; Artaxo, Paulo; Manzi, Antonio; Guenther, Alex

    2016-03-01

    Tropical rainforests are an important source of isoprenoid and other volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions to the atmosphere. The seasonal variation of these compounds is however still poorly understood. In this study, vertical profiles of mixing ratios of isoprene, total monoterpenes and total sesquiterpenes, were measured within and above the canopy, in a primary rainforest in central Amazonia, using a proton transfer reaction - mass spectrometer (PTR-MS). Fluxes of these compounds from the canopy into the atmosphere were estimated from PTR-MS measurements by using an inverse Lagrangian transport model. Measurements were carried out continuously from September 2010 to January 2011, encompassing the dry and wet seasons. Mixing ratios were higher during the dry (isoprene - 2.68 ± 0.9 ppbv, total monoterpenes - 0.67 ± 0.3 ppbv; total sesquiterpenes - 0.09 ± 0.07 ppbv) than the wet season (isoprene - 1.66 ± 0.9 ppbv, total monoterpenes - 0.47 ± 0.2 ppbv; total sesquiterpenes - 0.03 ± 0.02 ppbv) for all compounds. Ambient air temperature and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) behaved similarly. Daytime isoprene and total monoterpene mixing ratios were highest within the canopy, rather than near the ground or above the canopy. By comparison, daytime total sesquiterpene mixing ratios were highest near the ground. Daytime fluxes varied significantly between seasons for all compounds. The maximums for isoprene (2.53 ± 0.5 µmol m-2 h-1) and total monoterpenes (1.77 ± 0.05 µmol m-2 h-1) were observed in the late dry season, whereas the maximum for total sesquiterpenes was found during the dry-to-wet transition season (0.77 ± 0.1 µmol m-2 h-1). These flux estimates suggest that the canopy is the main source of isoprenoids emitted into the atmosphere for all seasons. However, uncertainties in turbulence parameterization near the ground could affect estimates of fluxes that come from the ground. Leaf phenology seemed to be an important driver of seasonal

  16. Vegetation changes and human impact inferred from an oxbow lake in southwestern Amazonia, Brazil since the 19th century

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    Rodríguez-Zorro, Paula A.; Enters, Dirk; Hermanowski, Barbara; da Costa, Marcondes Lima; Behling, Hermann

    2015-10-01

    Pollen and X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) analyses from a 272 cm-long sediment core of Lago Amapá, an oxbow lake in western Amazonia, reveal the first palaeoecological investigation of late Holocene sediments in Acre state, Brazil. Radiocarbon dating of older sediments failed due to re-deposition of organic material but a historical map suggests that lacustrine deposition started at 1900 AD. We detected two periods of changes in sediment and vegetation, dominated by pioneer taxa especially Cecropia. The first period around 1900 AD is documenting an initial oxbow lake, with regular fluvial input (high Ti) and low accumulation of organic matter (low inc/coh ratio). During that period Andean pollen taxa originating from Peruvian Andean headwaters were deposited. A fully lacustrine phase started about 1950 AD and is characterized by prolonged periods of stagnant water (low Fe/Mn ratio). The increase of pioneer taxa, sedimentation rates and a reduction of most of the XRF element counts point to a period during which Lago Amapá was a more isolated lake which was flooded only during exceptional severe flood events and is catching mainly anthropogenic disturbances. The extensive human influence during this period was assumed by 1) the high occurrence of pioneer taxa and the absence of charcoal which could indicate changes in vegetation possibly as a result of logging, 2) the Ca and Ti/K ratio which reflect changes to a local sediment source, and 3) comparison of Landsat images from the last 30 years which shows broad changes in vegetation cover and land transformation in the peripheral areas of the oxbow lake.

  17. Desmatamento na Amazônia: dinâmica, impactos e controle Deforestation in Amazonia: dynamics, impacts and control

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    Philip M. Fearnside

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available O desmatamento na Amazônia procede a um alto ritmo por várias razões, muitas das quais dependem de decisões do governo. O desmatamento leva à perda de serviços ambientais, que têm um valor maior que os usos pouco sustentáveis que substituem a floresta. Estes serviços incluem a manutenção da biodiversidade, da ciclagem de água e dos estoques de carbono que evitam o agravamento do efeito estufa. Retroalimentações entre as mudanças climáticas e a floresta, por meio de processos tais como os incêndios florestais, a mortalidade de árvores por seca e calor e a liberação de estoques de carbono no solo, representam ameaças para o clima, a floresta e a população brasileira. Eventos recentes indicam que o desmatamento pode ser controlado, tendo a vontade política, pois os processos subjacentes dependem de decisões humanas.Deforestation in Amazonia proceeds at a rapid rate for various reasons, many of which depend on government decisions. Deforestation causes losses of environmental services that are more valuable than the short-lived uses that replace the forest. These services include maintenance of biodiversity, of water cycling and of the stocks of carbon that avoid further intensification of the greenhouse effect. Feedbacks between climatic changes and the forest through such processes as forest fires, tree mortality from drought and heat and the release of carbon stocks in the soil represent dangers for the climate, the forest and the Brazilian population. Recent events indicate that deforestation can be controlled, given the political will, because the underlying processes depend on human decisions.

  18. Activity budget, diet, and use of space by two groups of squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) in eastern Amazonia.

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    Pinheiro, Tatyana; Ferrari, Stephen F; Lopes, Maria Aparecida

    2013-07-01

    Squirrel monkeys (Saimiri spp.) are widely distributed in the Amazon basin. This study describes the ecological and behavioral patterns of two social groups of S. sciureus in forests adjacent to the Tucuruí hydroelectric reservoir in eastern Amazonia, including range size, activity budgets, and composition of the diet. The groups were monitored at Base 4 (group B4) and Germoplasma Island (group GI). Quantitative behavioral data were collected using instantaneous scan sampling to record behavior, substrate use, and height. Home ranges were delimited using a GPS to determine group position after each 50 m of movement. Home ranges were 75.0 ha for group B4 (39 members) and 77.5 ha for group GI (32 members). The use of vertical strata was well defined, with a marked preference for the middle and lower levels of the canopy. The activity budgets of both groups were typical of those of other squirrel monkeys and were dominated by foraging (B4 = 48.7 %; GI = 49.6 %), moving (both groups 28.9 %), and feeding (B4 = 14.6 %; GI = 12.4 %). Resting was rare (B4 = 3.5 %; GI = 2.6 %) and less common than social behavior (B4 = 4.3 %; GI = 6.4 %). The diet of both groups was dominated by plant material (B4 = 70.7 % of feeding records; GI = 71.4 %), which is in contrast with the more insectivorous diets recorded for Saimiri at other sites. Group GI spent more time foraging during the dry season, whereas group B4 spent more time in the rainy season when the consumption of fruit increased (significantly, in the case of group GI). The less insectivorous diet of these groups may be due to a number of factors, including the unique habitat configuration at the site and reduced hydrological stress due to the proximity of the reservoir.

  19. Landscape dynamics in northwestern Amazonia: an assessment of pastures, fire and illicit crops as drivers of tropical deforestation.

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    Armenteras, Dolors; Rodríguez, Nelly; Retana, Javier

    2013-01-01

    Many studies have identified drivers of deforestation throughout the tropics and, in most cases, have recognised differences in the level of threat. However, only a few have also looked at the temporal and spatial dynamics by which those drivers act, which is critical for assessing the conservation of biodiversity as well as for landscape planning. In this study, we analyse land cover change between 2000 and 2009 in north-western Colombian Amazonia to identify the interactions between the use of fire, cultivation of illicit crops and establishment of pastures, and their impacts on the loss of forest in the region. Yearly analyses were undertaken at randomly selected sample areas to quantify the average areas of transition of land cover types under different landscape compositions: forest-dominated mosaics, pasture mosaics, fire mosaics, and illicit crop mosaics. Our results indicate that despite the fact that forest areas were well-preserved, deforestation occurred at a low annual rate (0.06%). Conversion to pasture was the main factor responsible for forest loss (the area of pastures tripled within forest mosaics over 8 years), and this process was independent of the landscape matrix in which the forests were located. In fire mosaics, burning is a common tool for forest clearing and conversion to pasture. Thus, forests in fire mosaics were highly disturbed and frequently transformed from primary to secondary forests. The use of fire for illicit cropping was not detected, partly due to the small size of common illicit crops. Forest regeneration from pastures and secondary vegetation was observed in areas with large amounts of natural forest. Overall, assuming the continuation of the observed pasture conversion trend and the use of forest fire, we suggest that our results should be incorporated into a spatially explicit and integrated decision support tool to target and focus land-planning activities and policies.

  20. Influence of urban pollution on the production of organic particulate matter from isoprene epoxydiols in central Amazonia

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    S. S. de Sá

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The atmospheric chemistry of isoprene contributes to the production of a substantial mass fraction of the particulate matter (PM over tropical forests. Isoprene epoxydiols (IEPOX produced in the gas phase by the oxidation of isoprene under HO2-dominant conditions are subsequently taken up by particles, thereby leading to production of secondary organic PM. The present study investigates possible perturbations to this pathway by urban pollution. The measurement site in central Amazonia was located 4 to 6 h downwind of Manaus, Brazil. Measurements took place from February through March 2014 of the wet season, as part of the GoAmazon2014/5 experiment. Mass spectra of organic PM collected with an Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer were analyzed by positive-matrix factorization. One resolved statistical factor (IEPOX-SOA factor was associated with PM production by the IEPOX pathway. The IEPOX-SOA factor loadings correlated with independently measured mass concentrations of tracers of IEPOX-derived PM, namely C5-alkene triols and 2-methyltetrols (R = 0. 96 and 0.78, respectively. The factor loading, as well as the ratio f of the loading to organic PM mass concentration, decreased under polluted compared to background conditions. For an increase in NOy concentration from 0.5 to 2 ppb, the factor loading and f decreased by two to three fold. Overall, sulfate concentration explained 37 % of the variability in the factor loading. After segregation of factor loading into subsets based on NOy concentration, the sulfate concentration explained up to 75 % of the variability. Considering both factors, the data sets show that the suppressing effects of increased NO concentrations dominated over the enhancing effects of higher sulfate concentrations. The pollution from Manaus elevated NOy concentrations more significantly than sulfate concentrations relative to background conditions. In this light, increased emissions of nitrogen oxides, as

  1. BR-319: Brazil's Manaus-Porto Velho highway and the potential impact of linking the arc of deforestation to central amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fearnside, Philip M; de Alencastro Graça, Paulo Maurício Lima

    2006-11-01

    Brazil's BR-319 Highway linked Manaus, in the state of Amazonas, to Porto Velho, Rondônia, until it became impassable in 1988. Now it is proposed for reconstruction and paving, which would facilitate migration from the "Arc of Deforestation" in the southern part of the Amazon region to new frontiers farther north. The purpose of the highway, which is to facilitate transport to São Paulo of products from factories in the Manaus Free Trade Zone, would be better served by sending the containers by ship to the port of Santos. The lack of a land connection to Manaus currently represents a significant barrier to migration to central and northern Amazonia. Discourse regarding the highway systematically overestimates the highway's benefits and underestimates its impacts. A variety of changes would be needed prior to paving the highway if these potential impacts are to be attenuated. These include zoning, reserve creation, and increased governance in various forms, including deforestation licensing and control programs. More fundamental changes are also needed, especially the abandonment of the long-standing tradition in Brazil of granting squatters' rights to those who invade public land. Organizing Amazonian occupation in such a way that road construction and improvement cease to lead to explosive and uncontrolled deforestation should be a prerequisite for approval of the BR-319 and other road projects for which major impacts are expected. These projects could provide the impetus that is needed to achieve the transition away from appropriation of public land by both small squatters and by grileiros (large-scale illegal claimants). A delay in reconstructing the highway is advisable until appropriate changes can be effected.

  2. Una nueva especie amazónica de Aristolochia (Aristolochiaceae Una nueva especie amazónica de Aristolochia (Aristolochiaceae

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    González Favio

    1991-12-01

    Full Text Available Mediante el estudio de colecciones provenientes de la Amazonia ecuatoriana (Napo y peruana (Huánuco y Loreto, es descrita Aristolochia schunkeana como especie nueva de Aristolochia ser. Thyrsicae; adicionalmente, se presenta una clave ilustrada para diferenciar las especies de la Amazonia noroccidental afines al nuevo taxon. Aristolochia schunkeana, from Ecuador (Napa and Peru (Huánuco and Loreto, is described as a new species of Aristolochia ser. Thyrsicae; in addition, a key and some drawings of the new taxon and their relatives from northwest Amazonia are provided.

  3. Using termite nests as a source of organic matter in agrosilvicultural production systems in Amazonia Uso de ninhos de cupin como fonte de matéria orgânica em sistemas de produção agrosilviculturais na Amazônia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. S. Batalha

    1995-08-01

    Full Text Available The growth of two annual crops, okra (Abelmoschus escutentus and egg-plant (Solatium melongena and one perennial crop, andiroba (Carapa guianensis, a native forest tree of Amazonia under different treatments with organic manure derived from termite nest material of wood-feeding Nasutitermes species was tested (randomized block design. The use of 25-100 g of nest material gave no significant increase in okra productivity, and 25-200 g gave no significant response in andiroba. The combined use of NPK with 200 g of nest material gave a significant higher production in egg-plant (total number and total fresh weight of fruits when compared to the control (without fertilizer and to the treatment with NPK only.The results suggest the possibility to use termite nest material to enhance crop production in Amazonia, particularly in combination with low amounts of mineral fertilizer. Research lines for further investigations are outlined.Foi avaliado crescimento de duas espécies agriculturais anuais, quiabo (Abelmoschus esculentus e berinjela (Solatium melongena, e de uma espécie perene, andiroba (Carapa guianensis, uma árvore nativa da Amazônia sob diferentes tratamentos com matéria orgânica derivada de material de cupinzeiro de espécies xilófagas de Nasutitermes (desenho de bloco randomizado. O uso de 25-100 g de material de termiteiro não levou a um incremento significativo da produtividade em quiabo, e 25-200 g não resultou numa resposta significativa em andiroba. O uso combinado de NPK com 200 g de ninho de cupim resultou numa produção significantemente maior em S. melongena (número total e peso fresco total de frutos se comparado com o controle (sem fertilizante nenhum e com o tratamento de NPK apenas. Os resultados sugerem a possibilidade de usar material de cupinzeiro para melhorara produção agrossilvicultural na Amazônia, especialmente em combinação com pequenas quantidades de fertilizante mineral Linhas de pesquisa para futuras

  4. Size distribution and hygroscopic properties of aerosol particles from dry-season biomass burning in Amazonia

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    J. Rissler

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Aerosol particle number size distributions and hygroscopic properties were measured at a pasture site in the southwestern Amazon region (Rondonia. The measurements were performed 11 September-14 November 2002 as part of LBA-SMOCC (Large scale Biosphere atmosphere experiment in Amazonia - SMOke aerosols, Clouds, rainfall and Climate, and cover the later part of the dry season (with heavy biomass burning, a transition period, and the onset of the wet period. Particle number size distributions were measured with a DMPS (Differential Mobility Particle Sizer, 3-850nm and an APS (Aerodynamic Particle Sizer, extending the distributions up to 3.3 µm in diameter. An H-TDMA (Hygroscopic Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer measured the hygroscopic diameter growth factors (Gf at 90% relative humidity (RH, for particles with dry diameters (dp between 20-440 nm, and at several occasions RH scans (30-90% RH were performed for 165nm particles. These data provide the most extensive characterization of Amazonian biomass burning aerosol, with respect to particle number size distributions and hygroscopic properties, presented until now. The evolution of the convective boundary layer over the course of the day causes a distinct diel variation in the aerosol physical properties, which was used to get information about the properties of the aerosol at higher altitudes. The number size distributions averaged over the three defined time periods showed three modes; a nucleation mode with geometrical median diameters (GMD of ~12 nm, an Aitken mode (GMD=61-92 nm and an accumulation mode (GMD=128-190 nm. The two larger modes were shifted towards larger GMD with increasing influence from biomass burning. The hygroscopic growth at 90% RH revealed a somewhat external mixture with two groups of particles; here denoted nearly hydrophobic (Gf~1.09 for 100 nm particles and moderately hygroscopic (Gf~1.26. While the hygroscopic growth factors were surprisingly similar over the

  5. Low field NMR study of the latex derived from Brosimum parinarioides - Moraceae

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miguez, Eduardo; Tavares, Maria Ines B.

    2009-01-01

    Brosimum parinarioides is a tree found in the Amazonia forest and its latex (Leite de Amapa) is often used like food and by the popular medicine in the treatment of tuberculosis and asthma. Being swallowed in nature, its necessary determinate the stability degree of this latex in the storage conditions in which is used in Amazonia. The analyses of T 2 data showed that the limit of stability is not longer than six month in the storage conditions used by the population of Amazonia. The Low field NMR proved to be an efficient method for this kind of study. (author)

  6. Nodulation of legumes, nitrogenase activity of roots and occurrence of nitrogen-fixing Azospirillum spp. In representative soils of central Amazonia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sylvester-Bradley, R; De Oliverira, L A; De Podesta Filho, J A; John, T V

    1980-12-01

    Leguminosae do not predominate in the Brazilian Amazon rain forest, although they are among the five best represented families. Plant roots from various soils were examined for the presence of nodules, acetylene-reducing activity and N/sub 2/-fixing Azospirillum spp. Abundant nodulation was found in black earth (''terra preta dos indios'') and in one case on sandy soil under campinarana vegetation along a tributary of the upper Rio Negro. In sandy latosol some nodules occurred in secondary forest and fewer in primary forest. Legumes in disturbed clayey or sandy latosol showed more frequent nodulation. Primary forest on alluvial (''varzea'') soil, and in Bahia coastal rain forest on sandy latosol and Erythrina glauca used for shading cacao plantations were abundantly nodulated. Acetylene reduction assays showed no, or very little, nitrogenase activity of roots from primary or secondary forest on clayey latosol near Manaus. Nodulated roots from secondary forest on sandy latosol showed acetylene-reducing activity. High rates of acetylene reduction were observed in nodulated roots of primary forest on alluvial ''varzea'' soil. Root samples showed ethylene absorption in controls without acetylene which might interfere with the results of acetylene reduction tests. The incidence of Azospirillum was also higher in black earth than the other soils examined, and in soils with higher pH. The hypothesis that Azospirillum is associated with Trema micantha roots was refuted. Roots and soils collected under cultivated grasses showed a higher incidence of Azospirillum when fertilized with phosphorus and lime. Results indicate that nitrogen fixation did occur in association with roots in some soils, but not with roots of primary or secondary forest on clayey latosol in the vicinity of Manaus, which is the most common soil in Central Amazonia. The possible reasons for this are discussed.

  7. Record-breaking warming and extreme drought in the Amazon rainforest during the course of El Niño 2015-2016

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiménez-Muñoz, Juan C.; Mattar, Cristian; Barichivich, Jonathan; Santamaría-Artigas, Andrés; Takahashi, Ken; Malhi, Yadvinder; Sobrino, José A.; Schrier, Gerard Van Der

    2016-09-01

    The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the main driver of interannual climate extremes in Amazonia and other tropical regions. The current 2015/2016 EN event was expected to be as strong as the EN of the century in 1997/98, with extreme heat and drought over most of Amazonian rainforests. Here we show that this protracted EN event, combined with the regional warming trend, was associated with unprecedented warming and a larger extent of extreme drought in Amazonia compared to the earlier strong EN events in 1982/83 and 1997/98. Typical EN-like drought conditions were observed only in eastern Amazonia, whilst in western Amazonia there was an unusual wetting. We attribute this wet-dry dipole to the location of the maximum sea surface warming on the Central equatorial Pacific. The impacts of this climate extreme on the rainforest ecosystems remain to be documented and are likely to be different to previous strong EN events.

  8. Seasonality of isoprenoid emissions from a primary rainforest in central Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. G. Alves

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Tropical rainforests are an important source of isoprenoid and other volatile organic compound (VOC emissions to the atmosphere. The seasonal variation of these compounds is however still poorly understood. In this study, vertical profiles of mixing ratios of isoprene, total monoterpenes and total sesquiterpenes, were measured within and above the canopy, in a primary rainforest in central Amazonia, using a proton transfer reaction – mass spectrometer (PTR-MS. Fluxes of these compounds from the canopy into the atmosphere were estimated from PTR-MS measurements by using an inverse Lagrangian transport model. Measurements were carried out continuously from September 2010 to January 2011, encompassing the dry and wet seasons. Mixing ratios were higher during the dry (isoprene – 2.68 ± 0.9 ppbv, total monoterpenes – 0.67 ± 0.3 ppbv; total sesquiterpenes – 0.09 ± 0.07 ppbv than the wet season (isoprene – 1.66 ± 0.9 ppbv, total monoterpenes – 0.47 ± 0.2 ppbv; total sesquiterpenes – 0.03 ± 0.02 ppbv for all compounds. Ambient air temperature and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR behaved similarly. Daytime isoprene and total monoterpene mixing ratios were highest within the canopy, rather than near the ground or above the canopy. By comparison, daytime total sesquiterpene mixing ratios were highest near the ground. Daytime fluxes varied significantly between seasons for all compounds. The maximums for isoprene (2.53 ± 0.5 µmol m−2 h−1 and total monoterpenes (1.77 ± 0.05 µmol m−2 h−1 were observed in the late dry season, whereas the maximum for total sesquiterpenes was found during the dry-to-wet transition season (0.77 ± 0.1 µmol m−2 h−1. These flux estimates suggest that the canopy is the main source of isoprenoids emitted into the atmosphere for all seasons. However, uncertainties in turbulence parameterization near the ground could affect estimates of fluxes that come from the ground. Leaf

  9. Vegetation and hydrology changes in Eastern Amazonia inferred from a pollen record

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    Mauro B. de Toledo

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available Pollen, charcoal, and C14 analyses were performed on a sediment core obtained from Lake Tapera (Amapá to provide the palaeoenvironmental history of this part of Amazonia. A multivariate analysis technique, Detrended Correspondence Analysis, was applied to the pollen data to improve visualization of sample distribution and similarity. A sedimentary hiatus lasting 5,500 years was identified in the Lake Tapera. Because the timing of the hiatus overlapped with the highest Holocene sea-level, which would have increased the local water table preventing the lake from drying out, it is clear that sea-level was not important in maintaining the lake level. Lake Tapera probably depended on riverine flood waters, and the sedimentary gap was caused by reduced Amazon River discharge, due to an extremely dry period in the Andes (8,000-5,000 years BP, when precipitation levels markedly decreased. The lack of Andean pollen (river transported in the record after this event supports this interpretation. The pollen analysis shows that when sedimentation resumed in 1,620 cal. years BP, the vegetation around the lake was changed from forest into savanna. This record demonstrates the need to improve our understanding of climate changes and their associated impacts on vegetation dynamics.Análises de pólen, carvões e datações C foram conduzidas em um testemunho coletado no lago Tapera (Amapá com o objetivo de interpretar a história paleoambiental desta parte da Amazônia. Uma das técnicas de análises multivariadas, Análise de Correspondência Destendenciada (DCA, foi utilizada a fim de melhor visualizar a distribuição e similaridade das amostras. Foi identificado um hiato sedimentar com duração de 5.500 anos no lago Tapera. Como o hiato ocorreu simultaneamente ao nível do mar mais alto do Holoceno, o que deveria ter aumentado o lençol freático, impedindo assim o lago de secar, é evidente que variações do nível do mar não foram importantes na

  10. Deforestation and Carbon Stock Loss in Brazil's Amazonian Settlements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yanai, Aurora Miho; Nogueira, Euler Melo; de Alencastro Graça, Paulo Maurício Lima; Fearnside, Philip Martin

    2017-03-01

    We estimate deforestation and the carbon stock in 2740 (82 %) of the 3325 settlements in Brazil's Legal Amazonia region. Estimates are made both using available satellite data and a carbon map for the "pre-modern" period (prior to 1970). We used data from Brazil's Project for Monitoring Deforestation in Amazonia updated through 2013 and from the Brazilian Biomes Deforestation Monitoring Project (PMDBBS) updated through 2010. To obtain the pre-modern and recent carbon stocks we performed an intersection between a carbon map and a map derived from settlement boundaries and deforestation data. Although the settlements analyzed occupied only 8 % of Legal Amazonia, our results indicate that these settlements contributed 17 % (160,410 km 2 ) of total clearing (forest + non-forest) in Legal Amazonia (967,003 km 2 ). This represents a clear-cutting of 41 % of the original vegetation in the settlements. Out of this total, 72 % (115,634 km 2 ) was in the "Federal Settlement Project" (PA) category. Deforestation in settlements represents 20 % (2.6 Pg C) of the total carbon loss in Legal Amazonia (13.1 Pg C). The carbon stock in remaining vegetation represents 3.8 Pg C, or 6 % of the total remaining carbon stock in Legal Amazonia (58.6 Pg C) in the periods analyzed. The carbon reductions in settlements are caused both by the settlers and by external actors. Our findings suggest that agrarian reform policies contributed directly to carbon loss. Thus, the implementation of new settlements should consider potential carbon stock losses, especially if settlements are created in areas with high carbon stocks.

  11. Reflexões sobre água de abastecimento e saúde pública: um estudo de caso na Amazônia brasileira Considerations about water supply and public health: a case study in the Brazilian Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leandro Luiz Giatti

    2007-04-01

    Full Text Available Embora a Amazônia ostente grandioso patrimônio ambiental e abundância de recursos hídricos, é na região Norte do Brasil, contida neste notável bioma, que se verificam os piores índices de acesso a serviços de saneamento e respectivos indicadores de saúde pública. Por meio de estudo de caso efetuado na cidade de São Gabriel da Cachoeira, localizada à noroeste do Estado do Amazonas, com aproximadamente 18.000 habitantes e substancial parcela de população indígena, verificou-se a complexidade de fatores relacionados ao provimento de água e à melhoria da saúde pública para núcleos urbanos da Amazônia. A ausência de políticas concisas, as peculiaridades ambientais, as dificuldades logísticas e financeiras somam-se a questões socioculturais, a aspectos migratórios e a processo de urbanização desordenada, associada a impactos ambientais. Para melhoria da saúde pública nessas circunstâncias torna-se necessária uma abordagem interdisciplinar, que possibilite a gestão dos recursos hídricos, a implementação de saneamento básico e, não obstante, a promoção de adesão dos habitantes.Even though Amazonia displays magnificent environmental heritage and abundance of water resources, it is exactly in the Brazilian northern region, contained in this remarkable biome, that the worst indices of access to sanitation services and respective public health indicators are found. A case study carried out in the town of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, located to the northwest in the State of Amazonas, with nearly 18,000 inhabitants, a large portion of whom are Indians, revealed a complexity of factors related to water supply and public health improvement for urban centers in Amazonia. Lack of proper policies, environmental peculiarities, logistic and financial difficulties, are added to socio-cultural matters, migratory processes, and unorganized urbanization associated with environmental impacts. In order to improve the public health

  12. Local perceptions as a guide for the sustainable management of natural resources: empirical evidence from a small-scale society in Bolivian Amazonia

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    Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Research on natural resource management suggests that local perceptions form the basis upon which many small-scale societies monitor availability and change in the stock of common-pool natural resources. In contrast, this literature debates whether local perceptions can be effective in guiding the sustainable management of natural resources. With empirical evidence on this matter still highly limited, we explored the role of local perceptions as drivers of harvesting and management behavior in a small-scale society in Bolivian Amazonia. We conducted structured interviews to capture local perceptions of availability and change in the stock of thatch palm (Geonoma deversa among the Tsimane', an indigenous society of foragers-horticulturalists (n = 296 adults in 13 villages. We analyzed whether perceptions of availability match estimates of abundance obtained from ecological data and whether differences in perception help to explain harvesting behavior and local management of thatch palm. Perceptions of availability of G. deversa are highly contingent upon the social, economic, and cultural conditions within which the Tsimane' have experienced changes in the availability of the resource, thus giving a better reflection of the historical, rather than of the ecological, dimensions of the changes undergone. Although local perceptions might fall short in precision when scrutinized from an ecological standpoint, their importance in informing sustainable management should not be underestimated. Our findings show that most of the harvesting and management actions that the Tsimane' undertake are, at least partially, shaped by their local perceptions. This paper contributes to the broader literature on natural resource management by providing empirical evidence of the critical role of local perceptions in promoting collective responses for the sustainable management of natural resources.

  13. Patrones de distribución de especies arbóreas de dosel y sotobosque a escala local en bosques de tierra firme, Amazonia colombiana

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    Juan Sebastian Barreto-Silva

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available El efecto de la variación ambiental en la estructura de las comunidades arbóreas en bosques tropicales, aún se debate. En paisajes como los bosques de tierra firme, donde el gradiente ambiental disminuye, el efecto de los suelos sobre los patrones de distribución de especies es mínimo. En contraste, un mayor efecto de la variación edáfica y topográfica sobre la composición florística, se ha reportado en estudios con diferentes tipos de plantas en bosques tropicales. Este estudio se realizó en diez hectáreas de una parcela permanente. Se evaluó el efecto de la variación ambiental y la configuración espacial sobre los patrones florísticos de las especies arbóreas a escala local, según el estado de desarrollo y categorías de abundancia relativa. Se registraron 14 074 individuos de 1 053 especies y 80 familias. Los suelos son ácidos, presentan altas concentraciones de Aluminio y son predominantemente arcillosos. La diversidad beta fue baja. Las diferencias florísticas explicadas fueron asociadas con procesos biológicos espacialmente estructurados, particularmente, con la limitación en dispersión. Aunque, la mayor parte de la variación no fue explicada por las variables consideradas. Estos resultados sugieren que procesos aleatorios son determinantes esenciales de la variación florística en bosques de tierra firme de la amazonia.

  14. Experimento de grande escala biósfera-atmósfera en la Amazonía (LBA); plan experimental conciso

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    LBAScience Planning Group (Cachoeira Paulista),

    1996-01-01

    El experimento de gran escala biósfera atmósfera en la Amazonia (LBA) va dirigido a aumentar los conocimientos sobre el funcionamiento climatológico, ecológico, biogeoquímico e hidrológico de la Amazonia. Estudiará los efectos de los cambios en el usodel suelo y el clima según estas funciones,

  15. Fenologia de Cornops aquaticum (Orthoptera: Acrididae associado a Eichhornia crassipes (Pontederiaceae em um Lago de Várzea na Amazônia Central, Brasil Phenology of Cornops aquaticum (Orthoptera: Acrididae associated with Eichhornia crassipes (Pontederiaceae in a Floodplain Lake in Central Amazonia, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Elias Braga

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available O gafanhoto Neotropical Cornops aquaticum (Bruner vive associado às macrófitas da família Pontederiaceae da qual se alimenta. Nos lagos da Amazônia Central, Eichhornia crassipes (Mart. Solms (mururé ou aguapé é considerada a planta hospedeira de maior importante para este gafanhoto. Esse trabalho teve o objetivo de realizar um estudo fenológico de adultos e ninfas desse gafanhoto em associação a sua planta hospedeira, frente ao regime hidrológico da Amazônia Central. Tal estudo foi realizado entre os meses de abril de 2006 a agosto de 2007 no Lago Camaleão (03º17'05"S 60º11'11"W, na várzea da Amazônia Central. Para isso, utilizou-se uma rede entomológica (70 cm de diâmetro adaptada para a captura dos gafanhotos. Onde foram capturados 850 exemplares (296 adultos e 554 ninfas. Observou-se que a abundância e a biomassa de adultos e de ninfas de C. aquaticum, bem como de sua macrófita hospedeira, estão relacionados com a oscilação sazonal do nível do rio (pulso de inundação.La tucura Neotropical, Cornops aquaticum (Bruner, vive asociada a las macrófitas de la familia Pontederiaceae, de las cuales se alimenta. En los lagos de la Amazonia Central, Eichhornia crassipes (Mart. Solms (camalote o aguape constituye la planta huésped más importante de esta tucura. El objetivo de este trabajo fue estudiar la fenología de los adultos y las ninfas de C. aquaticum en los camalotales de E. crassipes, en relación al régimen hidrológico de la Amazonia Central. Los muestreos se realizaron entre los meses de abril de 2006 a agosto de 2007, en el Lago Camaleón (03º17'05"S 60º 11 '11 "O en la Várzea de la Amazonia Central. Los individuos fueron capturados desde una embarcación a motor, utilizando una red entomológica de 70 cm de diámetro. Durante este estudio, se capturaron un total de 850 ejemplares (296 adultos y 554 ninfas. Se observó que la abundancia y la biomasa de los adultos y de las ninfas de C. aquaticum, así como

  16. Los pueblos indígenas de la Amazonia Peruana y el uso político de los medios de comunicación

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Oscar ESPINOSA

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available RESUMEN: Este artículo trata sobre el uso político de los medios de comunicación (radio, televisión e Internet por parte de los pueblos indígenas de la Amazonia Peruana. En particular, analiza la utilización que el pueblo Shipibo ha hecho de la radio en el proceso de construcción de su identidad étnica y en la creación de sus organizaciones políticas representativas; el tipo de vinculación de los pueblos Ashaninka y Aguaruna, el estado y la televisión sobre todo en la redefinición del concepto de identidad nacional en el contexto de diferentes conflictos armados, y finalmente, se presenta el uso de Internet por el pueblo Ashaninka.El objetivo principal del articulo es mostrar como el empleo de los medios de comunicación permite a las comunidades indígenas hacerse más visibles y actuar políticamente en distintos espacios públicos.ABSTRACT: This article deals with the political use of the means of communication (radio, tv, Internet by the indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazonas. In particular, it analyzes the use made by the Shipibo people of the radio in the construction of their ethnic identity and the creation of representative political organization; the links among the Ashaninka and Aguaruna peoples, the state and the tv in the redefinition of the national identity in the context of armed conflicts, and finally, it presents the use of Internet by Ashaninka people.This article aims at showing that the use of mass media allows indigenous groups to become more visible and to act in different political scenarios.

  17. Revisão taxonômica dos camarões de água doce (Crustacea: Decapoda: Palaemonidae, Sergestidae da Amazônia Peruana Taxonomic revision of the freshwater shrimps (Crustacea: Decapoda: Palaemonidae, Sergestidae from the Peruvian Amazonia

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    Carmen Rosa García-Dávila

    2003-12-01

    Full Text Available Foi realizada uma revisão taxonômica das espécies de camarões de água doce da Amazônia peruana que abrangeu oito espécies da família Palaemonidae e uma espécie da família Sergestidae. São descritas duas novas espécies do gênero Pseudopalaemon e feitos os primeiros registros de Euryrhynchus amazoniensis Tiefenbacher, 1978, Macrobrachium jelskii Miers, 1877 e Palaemonetes ivonicus Holthuis, 1950 para o Peru. São fornecidos chave de identificação, dados distribucionais e ilustrações para as espécies estudadas.A taxonomic revision of eight species of freshwater shrimps of the family Palaemonidae and one of the family Sergestidae from the Peruvian Amazonia was made. Two new species of the genus Pseudopalaemon are described, and Euryrhynchus amazoniensis Tiefenbacher, 1978, Macrobrachium jelskii Miers, 1877 e Palaemonetes ivonicus Holthuis, 1950 are recorded from Peru for the first time. Key, distributional data and ilustrations for the species are presented

  18. Sub-micrometre Particulate Matter is Primarily in Liquid Form over Amazon Rainforests

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bateman, Adam P.; Gong, Z. H.; Liu, Pengfei; Sato, Bruno; Cirino, Glauber; Zhang, Yue; Artaxo, Paulo; Bertram, Allan K.; Manzi, A.; Rizzo, L. V.; Souza, Rodrigo A.; Zaveri, Rahul A.; Martin, Scot T.

    2016-01-01

    Particulate matter (PM) occurs in the Earth’s atmosphere both in liquid and non-liquid forms. The physical state affects the available physical and chemical mechanisms of growth and reactivity, ultimately affecting the number, size, and composition of the atmospheric particle population. Herein, the physical state, including the response to relative humidity (RH), was investigated on-line and in real time for PM (< 1 μm) over the tropical rain forest of central Amazonia during both the wet and dry seasons of 2013. The results show that the PM was liquid for RH > 80% across 296 to 300 K. These results, in conjunction with the distributions of RH and temperature in Amazonia, imply that near-surface submicron PM in Amazonia is liquid most of the time. The observations are consistent with laboratory experiments showing that PM produced by isoprene photo-oxidation is liquid across these meteorological conditions. The findings have implications for the mechanisms of new particle production in Amazonia, the growth of submicron particles and hence dynamics of the cloud life cycle, and the sensitivity of these processes to anthropogenic activities. An approach for inclusion of particle physical state in chemical transport models is presented.

  19. Influence of Superparameterization and a Higher-Order Turbulence Closure on Rainfall Bias Over Amazonia in Community Atmosphere Model Version 5: How Parameterization Changes Rainfall

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, Kai [Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX USA; Fu, Rong [Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX USA; Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles CA USA; Shaikh, Muhammad J. [Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX USA; Ghan, Steven [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA USA; Wang, Minghuai [Institute for Climate and Global Change Research and School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Climate Change, Nanjing China; Leung, L. Ruby [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland WA USA; Dickinson, Robert E. [Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX USA; Marengo, Jose [Centro Nacional de Monitoramento e Alertas aos Desastres Naturais, São Jose dos Campos Brazil

    2017-09-21

    We evaluate the Community Atmosphere Model Version 5 (CAM5) with a higher-order turbulence closure scheme, named Cloud Layers Unified By Binomials (CLUBB), and a Multiscale Modeling Framework (MMF) with two different microphysics configurations to investigate their influences on rainfall simulations over Southern Amazonia. The two different microphysics configurations in MMF are the one-moment cloud microphysics without aerosol treatment (SAM1MOM) and two-moment cloud microphysics coupled with aerosol treatment (SAM2MOM). Results show that both MMF-SAM2MOM and CLUBB effectively reduce the low biases of rainfall, mainly during the wet season. The CLUBB reduces low biases of humidity in the lower troposphere with further reduced shallow clouds. The latter enables more surface solar flux, leading to stronger convection and more rainfall. MMF, especially MMF-SAM2MOM, unstablizes the atmosphere with more moisture and higher atmospheric temperatures in the atmospheric boundary layer, allowing the growth of more extreme convection and further generating more deep convection. MMF-SAM2MOM significantly increases rainfall in the afternoon, but it does not reduce the early bias of the diurnal rainfall peak; LUBB, on the other hand, delays the afternoon peak time and produces more precipitation in the early morning, due to more realistic gradual transition between shallow and deep convection. MMF appears to be able to realistically capture the observed increase of relative humidity prior to deep convection, especially with its two-moment configuration. In contrast, in CAM5 and CAM5 with CLUBB, occurrence of deep convection in these models appears to be a result of stronger heating rather than higher relative humidity.

  20. Micorrizas arbusculares del sur de la Amazonia colombiana y su relación con algunos factores fisicoquímicos y biológicos del suelo Micorrizas arbusculares no sul da Amazônia colombiana e sua relação com algumos fatores fisicoquímicos e biológicos do solo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Clara Patricia Peña-Venegas

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available La presencia de micorrizas arbusculares en la vegetación de la Amazonia mejora la nutrición de las plantas en suelos de baja fertilidad. Este trabajo evaluó la presencia natural de hongos micorrícicos de tipo arbuscular (HMA en suelos ácidos de textura franco-arcillosa a arcillosa del sur de la Amazonia colombiana bajo bosque, rastrojo joven, y praderas establecidas, a dos profundidades diferentes. Fue estudiada la presencia de HMA (riqueza y abundancia de esporas relacionado con la acidez, la capacidad de intercambio catiónico, el carbono orgánico, el fósforo total, las fracciones de fósforo soluble y fijado al aluminio, hierro y calcio, y el ADN total del suelo. Se detectaron diferencias significativas, en el contenido de ADN total y el número de esporas respecto a la profundidad de muestreo. El pH presentó un efecto significativo sobre el contenido de ADN y el número de esporas de HMA. El contenido de ADN en el suelo se vio afectado por las concentraciones de fosfatos de aluminio, mientras la esporulación de HMA fue afectada por las concentraciones de fosfatos de hierro del suelo. Así, el número de esporas de HMA en suelos de la Amazonia se ve afectada por la profundidad, el pH y por el tipo de fosfatos minerales presentes.A presença das micorrizas arbusculares na vegetação da Amazônia pode incrementar a nutrição das plantas nos solos com baixa fertilidade. Neste estudo foi avaliada a ocorrência natural de fungos formadores de micorriza arbuscular (MA em solos ácidos de textura argilosa no sul da Amazônia colombiana, considerando-se nas coberturas de floresta nativa, floresta secundaria jovem, e pastagens estabelecidas e duas profundidades. Foi estudada a ocorrência das MA (riqueza e abundância de esporos com relação à: acidez, capacidade de troca de cátions, carbono orgânico, fósforo total, frações de fósforo solúvel, frações fixadas ao alumínio, ferro e cálcio e DNA total do solo. Quanto

  1. Distribution of throughfall and stemflow in multi-strata agroforestry, perennial monoculture, fallow and primary forest in central Amazonia, Brazil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schroth, Götz; Ferreira da Silva, Luciana; Wolf, Marc-Andree; Geraldes Teixeira, Wenceslau; Zech, Wolfgang

    1999-07-01

    The partitioning of rain water into throughfall, stemflow and interception loss when passing through plant canopies depends on properties of the respective plant species, such as leaf area and branch angles. In heterogeneous vegetation, such as tropical forest or polycultural systems, the presence of different plant species may consequently result in a mosaic of situations with respect to quantity and quality of water inputs into the soil. As these processes influence not only the water availability for the plants, but also water infiltration and nutrient leaching, the understanding of plant effects on the repartitioning of rain water may help in the optimization of land use systems and management practices. We measured throughfall and stemflow in a perennial polyculture (multi-strata agroforestry), monocultures of peach palm (Bactris gasipaes) for fruit and for palmito, a monoculture of cupuaçu (Theobroma grandiflorum), spontaneous fallow and primary forest during one year in central Amazonia, Brazil. The effect on rain water partitioning was measured separately for four useful tree species in the polyculture and for two tree species in the primary forest. Throughfall at two stem distances, and stemflow, differed significantly between tree species, resulting in pronounced spatial patterns of water input into the soil in the polyculture system. For two tree species, peach palm for fruit (Bactris gasipaes) and Brazil nut trees (Bertholletia excelsa), the water input into the soil near the stem was significantly higher than the open-area rainfall. This could lead to increased nutrient leaching when fertilizer is applied close to the stem of these trees. In the primary forest, such spatial patterns could also be detected, with significantly higher water input near a palm (Oenocarpus bacaba) than near a dicotyledonous tree species (Eschweilera sp.). Interception losses were 6·4% in the polyculture, 13·9 and 12·3% in the peach palm monocultures for fruit and for

  2. Integrating regional and continental scale comparisons of tree composition in Amazonian terra firme forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Honorio Coronado, E. N.; Baker, T. R.; Phillips, O. L.; Pitman, N. C. A.; Pennington, R. T.; Vásquez Martínez, R.; Monteagudo, A.; Mogollón, H.; Dávila Cardozo, N.; Ríos, M.; García-Villacorta, R.; Valderrama, E.; Ahuite, M.; Huamantupa, I.; Neill, D. A.; Laurance, W. F.; Nascimento, H. E. M.; Soares de Almeida, S.; Killeen, T. J.; Arroyo, L.; Núñez, P.; Freitas Alvarado, L.

    2009-01-01

    We contrast regional and continental-scale comparisons of the floristic composition of terra firme forest in South Amazonia, using 55 plots across Amazonia and a subset of 30 plots from northern Peru and Ecuador. Firstly, we examine the floristic patterns using both genus- or species-level data and find that the species-level analysis more clearly distinguishes different plot clusters. Secondly, we compare the patterns and causes of floristic differences at regional and continental scales. At a continental scale, ordination analysis shows that species of Lecythidaceae and Sapotaceae are gradually replaced by species of Arecaceae and Myristicaceae from eastern to western Amazonia. These floristic gradients are correlated with gradients in soil fertility and to dry season length, similar to previous studies. At a regional scale, similar patterns are found within north-western Amazonia, where differences in soil fertility distinguish plots where species of Lecythidaceae, characteristic of poor soils, are gradually replaced by species of Myristicaceae on richer soils. The main coordinate of this regional-scale ordination correlates mainly with concentrations of available calcium and magnesium. Thirdly, we ask at a regional scale within north-western Amazonia, whether soil fertility or other distance dependent processes are more important for determining variation in floristic composition. A Mantel test indicates that both soils and geographical distance have a similar and significant role in determining floristic similarity across this region. Overall, these results suggest that regional-scale variation in floristic composition can rival continental scale differences within Amazonian terra firme forests, and that variation in floristic composition at both scales is dependent on a range of processes that include both habitat specialisation related to edaphic conditions and other distance-dependent processes. To fully account for regional scale variation in continental

  3. Trying to Learn Lessons for Response to Extreme Events: Paradigm Shifts Affecting Civil Defense in the Trinational Region of Southwestern Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, G. L. P.

    2015-12-01

    The last ten years have seen several extreme climate events in southwestern Amazonia with historic impacts. The City of Rio Branco, Capital of Acre, Brazil´s westernmost State, suffered its seventh consecutive annual flooding and its worst in March 2015. The city of Tarauacá, also in Acre, registered 12 flooding events between November 2014 and April 2015. The most recent flood of the trinational Acre River in 2015 set historic records for flood stage and number of displaced persons in Cobija, the Capital of Pando, Bolivia. From February to April 2014, floods of the Madeira River disrupted the one highway between Acre and southern Brazil. Puerto Maldonado, the capital in Madre de Dios Region of Peru had its worst flood in 50 years during 2014. In 2005 and 2010, prolonged droughts combined with ignition sources resulted in tens to hundreds of thousands of hectares of fire-damaged rainforests in the Madre de Dios, Acre and Pando (MAP) Region. The Civil Defenses in these three contiguous political units faced several abrupt paradigm shifts that affected their responses: 1) The drought of 2005 showed dramatically that regional rainforests do burn; 2) The recent flooding history, particularly in 2012 and 2015, demolished the cultural icon of a nine-year recurrence interval; 3) What happens outside your territory can be devastating. The Madeira River flood impeded an estimated 200 million dollars from circulating in Acre; 4) The past can be a terrible guide. For Cobija and Rio Branco, the 2015 flood was on the order of a meter higher than any other. Many home dwellers did not evacuate in time because they used past floods as a guide; 5) A collapse in communication - cell phones, land lines, and Internet - can get worse. In 2012, such a collapse occurred in two border towns for 5 days, yet in 2015 it lasted more than 11 days. Research is needed to address how institutions linked to Civil Defense can shift paradigms in time to be more effective.

  4. The Guyana-Venezuela Border Dispute: An Analysis of the Reasons Behind Venezuela’s Continuing Demands for Abrogation of the 1899 Anglo-Venezuelan Arbitral Treaty

    Science.gov (United States)

    1992-01-01

    Universidad de los Andes. 1989. "Beice Ingreso a la OEA." Prensa Libre (Ciudad Guatemala,I Guatemala). January 9. 1991: 4. "Felize in... de las "Nuevas Tribus". Pue rto Ayvamcho). Territorlo Federal de Amazonias , Venozuela: Edicion del Comite Regaional del PartidoICerunista, de ...Suministro de Crudo a Republica Dominicana." E1 Universal (Caracas, Venezuela). August 17, 1990: 12. "Venezuela Propone Defensa de la Amazonia ."

  5. La deserción estudiantil en el programa de ingeniería de sistemas de la Universidad de la Amazonia (2012-I - 2015-I: una lectura institucional y antropológica del asunto

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Verenice S

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Las políticas para el fortalecimiento de la educación superior, usualmente han estado dirigidas a aumentar la capacidad de cobertura de cada uno de los programas académicos, lo que se ha venido logrando paulatinamente. Sin embargo, la situación parece no ser tan ventajosa cuando se mantiene de manera constante los altos niveles de deserción estudiantil, siendo preocupante no tener claridades alrededor de las causales y así tomar decisiones que desencadenen en estrategias de mejora y atención a la problemática.  La presente investigación tomando como estudio de caso el Programa de Ingeniería de Sistemas de la Universidad de la Amazonia, hizo un abordaje de tipo mixto empleando técnicas como arqueo de archivo, encuestas, observación estructurada y entrevistas, aplicadas a los desertores hizo una lectura sobre las causales de su abandono en el Programa. Al respecto, encontró que aunque como en los diferentes estudios de deserción aparecen factores como la dificultad económica o esta no era mi carrera, la situación es mucho más compleja y está relacionada con la vocación y el imaginario de vida que tienen los estudiantes.

  6. Global warming in Amazonia: impacts and Mitigation Aquecimento Global na Amazônia: impactos e Mitigação

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Philip Martin Fearnside

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Global warming has potentially catastrophic impacts in Amazonia, while at the same time maintenance of the Amazon forest offers one of the most valuable and cost-effective options for mitigating climate change. We know that the El Niño phenomenon, caused by temperature oscillations of surface water in the Pacific, has serious impacts in Amazonia, causing droughts and forest fires (as in 1997-1998. Temperature oscillations in the Atlantic also provoke severe droughts (as in 2005. We also know that Amazonian trees die both from fires and from water stress under hot, dry conditions. In addition, water recycled through the forest provides rainfall that maintains climatic conditions appropriate for tropical forest, especially in the dry season. What we need to know quickly, through intensified research, includes progress in representing El Niño and the Atlantic oscillations in climatic models, representation of biotic feedbacks in models used for decision-making about global warming, and narrowing the range of estimating climate sensitivity to reduce uncertainty about the probability of very severe impacts. Items that need to be negotiated include the definition of "dangerous" climate change, with the corresponding maximum levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Mitigation of global warming must include maintaining the Amazon forest, which has benefits for combating global warming from two separate roles: cutting the flow the emissions of carbon each year from the rapid pace of deforestation, and avoiding emission of the stock of carbon in the remaining forest that can be released by various ways, including climate change itself. Barriers to rewarding forest maintenance include the need for financial rewards for both of these roles. Other needs are for continued reduction of uncertainty regarding emissions and deforestation processes, as well as agreement on the basis of carbon accounting. As one of the countries most subject to impacts of

  7. Climate Impacts of Deforestation/Land-Use Changes in Central South America in the PRECIS Regional Climate Model: Mean Precipitation and Temperature Response to Present and Future Deforestation Scenarios

    OpenAIRE

    Pablo O. Canziani; Gerardo Carbajal Benitez

    2012-01-01

    Deforestation/land-use changes are major drivers of regional climate change in central South America, impacting upon Amazonia and Gran Chaco ecoregions. Most experimental and modeling studies have focused on the resulting perturbations within Amazonia. Using the Regional Climate Model PRECIS, driven by ERA-40 reanalysis and ECHAM4 Baseline model for the period 1961–2000 (40-year runs), potential effects of deforestation/land-use changes in these and other neighboring ecoregions are evaluated....

  8. Origin and Dispersal of Domesticated Peach Palm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Charles R. Clement

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Peach palm (Bactris gasipaes Kunth is a Neotropical palm domesticated by Native Americans. Its domestication resulted in a set of landraces (var. gasipaes, some with very starchy fruit used for fermentation, others with an equilibrium of starch and oil used as snacks. Which of the three wild types (var. chichagui was involved and where the domestication process began are unclear, with three hypotheses under discussion: an origin in southwestern Amazonia; or in northwestern South America; or multiple origins. We reevaluate one of the wild types, defining it as the incipient domesticate, and then evaluate these hypotheses using the Brazilian peach palm Core Collection and selected herbaria samples to: (1 model the potential distributions of wild and domesticated populations; (2 identify the probable origin of domestication with a phylogeographic analysis of chloroplast DNA sequences; and (3 determine the dispersal routes after domestication using spatial analysis of genetic diversity based on 17 nuclear microsatellite loci. The two very small-fruited wild types have distinct distributions in the northern Andes region and across southern Amazonia, both under moderately humid climates, while the incipient domesticate, partly sympatric with the southern wild type, is also found along the Equatorial Andes, in a more humid climatic envelope, more similar to that of the domesticated landraces. Two distribution models for Last Glacial Maximum conditions (CCSM4, MIROC also suggest distinct distributions for the two wild populations. The chloroplast DNA phylogeographic network confirms the area of sympatry of the incipient domesticate and the southern wild type in southwestern Amazonia as the origin of domestication. The spatial patterns of genetic diversity confirm the proposal of two dispersals, one along the Ucayali River, into western Amazonia, northwestern South America and finally Central America; the other along the Madeira River into central and

  9. Short-lived U and Th isotope distribution in a tropical laterite derived from granite (Pitinga river basin, Amazonia, Brazil): Application to assessment of weathering rate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mathieu, D.; Bernat, M.; Nahon, D.

    1995-12-01

    We have analyzed samples of a 15 m thick profile weathered from the Madeira granite, located in the Pitinga basin river, north of Manaus, in the state of Amazonia, Brazil. This profile consists essentially of a yellow-red saprolite covered by a soil. U and Th concentrations are particularly high in the granite (20 and 80 μg/g respectively). Normalized element to Th concentrations indicate that Th is most resistant to chemical weathering, except to some extent in the top soil. Higher concentrations in the saprolite compared to the granite comprise a relative enrichment, resulting from a loss of mass. The saprolites are initially generated by a descending weathering front which alters the granite to a yellow-red saprolite, a second front, close to the top, turns the saprolite into a soil. Weathering has led to leaching of U. The 234U/ 238U and 230Th/ 238U isotopic ratios are in radioactive disequilibrium. Numerous nodules are present and apparently started to form at the base of the saprolite. These nodules achieve more developed form during their relative ascent until they are reached by the descending top front where they undergo dissolution. The Th and Pb are concentrated in the nodules close to the top front. The U, being more mobile, is strongly leached by the first front, and most of the remainder, freed by the second, engages in a descending flux which supplies the underlying saprolite. Using the data an attempt is made to model the isotopic distribution in the profile. We conclude that the first front has descended at a rate of 5 cm/1000 yt, and that the time needed to create the saprolite must have been around 300,000 yr.

  10. Numerical analysis of palynological data from Neogene fluvial sediments as evidence for rainforest dynamics in western Amazonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salamanca, Sonia; van Manen, Milan; Hoorn, Carina

    2014-05-01

    Deep-time records that give an insight into the composition and dynamics of the ancestral Amazon rain forest are rare. Yet to understand the modern biodiversity patterns it is important to untangle the long-term evolution of this forest. Sampling Neogene strata requires drilling operations or complex fieldwork along the rivers where outcrops generally are small. In the nineties an exceptionally good exposure of fluvial sediments of early Miocene age (17.7-16.1 Ma) was documented near the island of Mariñame (Caquetá River, Colombian Amazonia) (Hoorn, 1994). This 60 m sediment succession consists of quartz-rich sands with a circa 10 m black, sandy clay intercalation. Palynomorphs are well preserved in these organic-rich clays and palynological analysis indicated high pollen diversity and changes in composition following changes in the sedimentary environment and water composition (see van Soelen et al., this session). A numerical analysis in R (2013) of the existing data, using a number of multivariate and other statistical techniques now shows a gradient of change in the composition of the Miocene palynological assemblages. Non-metric-multidimensional scaling using distance matrixes (Oksanen, 2012) and their visualizations in correlograms (Friendly, 2002) indicate that the regional (palm) swamp forests of Mauritiides franciscoi (Mauritia), frequently found together with other palms such as Psilamonocolpites amazonicus (Euterpe?) and Psilamonocolpites rinconii, were affected by a marine incursion. The latter is suggested by the change of composition and the presence of estuarine elements such as Zonocostites ramonae (Rhizophora), foraminifer linings and dinoflagellate cysts, which became common during the marine event. In the older part of the section, and at the top, Rhoipites guianensis (Sterculiaceae/Tiliaceae) is quite abundant, in contrast with the relatively low abundance of M. franciscoi. The numerical analysis allowed us to: a) group the pollen data into 3

  11. Research Program in Tropical Infectious Diseases

    Science.gov (United States)

    1994-02-10

    valence of HBsAg (0-64%) was found in Costa Rica Worker, Cowpen, Belize, for assisting with the field investiga - (SALOM et al., 1990). Throughout the...technical expertise in performing laboratory tests; from 0-3% in the USA to 8-0% in Amazonia . The cour- DrsChiaoCh Huangand Patrice Yarbough, Cenelabs Incor... Amazonia . PAHO Bull. 25:210-217. duras, with some comments on malaria, and on ar- Roberts, D. R., W. D. Alecrim, A. M. Tavares and M. bovirus

  12. El lugar y el papel de la Or ganización del Tratado de Cooperación Amazónica (OTCA en la geopolítica brasileña y sudamericana - The place and role of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO in the geopolitics of South America and Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    BORBÉLY, Anikó

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The geopolitics is a teory evolved in the beginning of the 20th century, part of the political geography that examines the international relations and makes scientific investigations about relationships of the countries. South America is one of the most important geopolitical zones of the World. In its future it will be very important how the countries of the southern hemisphere can utilize and make the best forms of the regional integration of economy and trade. If Amazonia will become a ’true common interest and case’, it may be an example for the (subregional integration of the ’most recent and soft’ problems. Such as, protection of environment and forest, protection of the biodiversity, waterpolicy etc. In this process Brazil has a very important role in the case of Amazonia. The gradual destruction of this region has diverse consequences. On the basis of these Amazonia and the thinking about the South American territory is becoming even more important.

  13. Climate impacts of deforestation/land-use changes in Central South America in the PRECIS regional climate model: mean precipitation and temperature response to present and future deforestation scenarios.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canziani, Pablo O; Carbajal Benitez, Gerardo

    2012-01-01

    Deforestation/land-use changes are major drivers of regional climate change in central South America, impacting upon Amazonia and Gran Chaco ecoregions. Most experimental and modeling studies have focused on the resulting perturbations within Amazonia. Using the Regional Climate Model PRECIS, driven by ERA-40 reanalysis and ECHAM4 Baseline model for the period 1961-2000 (40-year runs), potential effects of deforestation/land-use changes in these and other neighboring ecoregions are evaluated. Current 2002 and estimated 2030 land-use scenarios are used to assess PRECIS's response during 1960-2000. ERA-40 and ECHAM4 Baseline driven runs yield similar results. Precipitation changes for 2002 and 2030 land-use scenarios, while significant within deforested areas, do not result in significant regional changes. For temperature significant changes are found within deforested areas and beyond, with major temperature enhancements during winter and spring. Given the current climate, primary effects of deforestation/land-use changes remain mostly confined to the tropical latitudes of Gran Chaco, and Amazonia.

  14. La colonisation de l'Amazonie face au développement durable : L'exemple du barrage de Belo Monte

    OpenAIRE

    Arnauld De Sartre , Xavier

    2004-01-01

    National audience; El debate sobre la nueva dinámica de desarrollo de Amazonia ha sido brutalmente reiniciado a través de un plano plurianual de inversiones en Amazonia del gobierno brasileño llamado Avança Brasil. Pero la fuerza de la movilización (local, nacional o internacional) en contra des estos proyectos, utilizando como argumento el desarrollo sostenible y posiblemente apoyada por el actual gobierno, puede transformar este proyecto. A partir del análisis detallado de uno de los proyec...

  15. Origin and dispersion of the Tupiguarani: what does cranial morphology say?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Walter Alves Neves

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available The origin and dispersion of the Tupiguarani groups have been intensely debated among archaeologists and linguists in the last five decades. In summary it is widely accepted by archeologists that the ethnogenesis of this linguistic stock, who occupied the majority of Brazilian territory and part of Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina, can be traced to Amazonia and from there migrated eastward and southward around 2,500 years before present, although a dispersion in the opposite direction, i.e., from south to north, with an origin in the basin of the Tietê-Paraná region, has not been completely ruled out. Among the archaeologists who regard Amazonia as the birthplace of these people, some believe that they originated in Central Amazonia. Others believe that the Tupiguarani's ethnogenesis occurred in southwestern Amazonia, where the majority of Tupi linguistic diversity is currently concentrated. In this study, the morphology of 19 human skulls associated with the Tupiguarani archaeological tradition, or ethnographically described as such, were compared with several prehistoric and ethnographic cranial series from Brazil by means of multivariate statistics. Two multivariate techniques were used: Principal Components Analysis applied to the centroid of each series and the Mahalanobis Distance applied to the individual data. Our results suggest an Amazonian connection for the Tupiguarani people, mainly because of the strong association found between Tupi and Guarani skulls from southern and southeastern Brazil and Tupi from northern Brazil with specimens from Marajó Island included in the work.

  16. Multi-scale comparisons of tree composition in Amazonian terra firme forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Honorio Coronado, E. N.; Baker, T. R.; Phillips, O. L.; Pitman, N. C. A.; Pennington, R. T.; Vásquez Martínez, R.; Monteagudo, A.; Mogollón, H.; Dávila Cardozo, N.; Ríos, M.; García-Villacorta, R.; Valderrama, E.; Ahuite, M.; Huamantupa, I.; Neill, D. A.; Laurance, W. F.; Nascimento, H. E. M.; Soares de Almeida, S.; Killeen, T. J.; Arroyo, L.; Núñez, P.; Freitas Alvarado, L.

    2009-11-01

    We explored the floristic composition of terra firme forests across Amazonia using 55 plots. Firstly, we examined the floristic patterns using both genus- and species-level data and found that the species-level analysis more clearly distinguishes among forests. Next, we compared the variation in plot floristic composition at regional- and continental-scales, and found that average among-pair floristic similarity and its decay with distance behave similarly at regional- and continental-scales. Nevertheless, geographical distance had different effects on floristic similarity within regions at distances floristic variation than plots of central and eastern Amazonia. Finally, we quantified the role of environmental factors and geographical distance for determining variation in floristic composition. A partial Mantel test indicated that while geographical distance appeared to be more important at continental scales, soil fertility was crucial at regional scales within western Amazonia, where areas with similar soil conditions were more likely to share a high number of species. Overall, these results suggest that regional-scale variation in floristic composition can rival continental-scale differences within Amazonian terra firme forests, and that variation in floristic composition at both scales is influenced by geographical distance and environmental factors, such as climate and soil fertility. To fully account for regional-scale variation in continental studies of floristic composition, future floristic studies should focus on forest types poorly represented at regional scales in current datasets, such as terra firme forests with high soil fertility in north-western Amazonia.

  17. ESTRUCTURA POBLACIONAL DE LA PALMA IRIARTEA DELTOIDEA, EN UN BOSQUE DE TIERRA FIRME DE LA AMAZONIA COLOMBIANA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gonzalez Roy

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available El objetivo de esta investigación fue caracterizar la densidad y la estructura poblacional de la palma bombona Iriartea deltoidea en un bosque de tierra firme de la zona sur del Parque Nacional Natural Amacayacu, en la Amazonia Colombiana. En seis parcelas de 1 ha y 90 transectos de 50 x 1 m, se censaron todos los individuos de la especie. Para cada individuo, se registró la altura del tallo, el estado morfológico de las hojas (i.e. hojas enteras, hojas divididas, forma de las pinnas, la formación de raíz fúlcrea, la altura del cono de la raíz y el estado fenol��gico (brácteas, inflorescencias e infrutescencias. Se encontraron 2819 individuos (376±58 ind/ha que se agruparon en tres grandes categorías de edad significativamente diferentes (e.g. plántulas, juveniles y adultos. La gran categoría Plántulas se caracterizó por individuos con hojas no divididas, sin formación de raíces fúlcreas y comprendió el 96.6% de los individuos muestreados. Esta se subdividió en seis categorías de plántulas estadísticamente significativas dadas por cambios en la altura, número y morfología de las hojas. La gran categoría Juvenil consistió en individuos con hojas divididas en pinnas, formación de raíces fúlcreas con altura de cono radicular menor a 1 m, sin estructuras reproductivas y con 1.5% (42 de los individuos totales. Esta se subdividió en dos categorías de juveniles (I y II. La categoría Adultos incluyó todos los individuos con hojas divididas en pinnas, formación de raíces fúlcreas con altura del cono radicular mayor a 1 m y con presencia de estructuras reproductivas. Estos correspondieron al 1.9% (54 de los individuos y se subdividieron en dos categorías: Adultos I y Adultos II, dadas principalmente por diferencias significativas en la altura. La densidad de la población presentó una distribución típica de poblaciones naturales de plantas tropicales, siguiendo un modelo de Poisson en donde abundan individuos de

  18. Carbon uptake by mature Amazon forests has mitigated Amazon nations' carbon emissions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillips, Oliver L; Brienen, Roel J W

    2017-12-01

    Several independent lines of evidence suggest that Amazon forests have provided a significant carbon sink service, and also that the Amazon carbon sink in intact, mature forests may now be threatened as a result of different processes. There has however been no work done to quantify non-land-use-change forest carbon fluxes on a national basis within Amazonia, or to place these national fluxes and their possible changes in the context of the major anthropogenic carbon fluxes in the region. Here we present a first attempt to interpret results from ground-based monitoring of mature forest carbon fluxes in a biogeographically, politically, and temporally differentiated way. Specifically, using results from a large long-term network of forest plots, we estimate the Amazon biomass carbon balance over the last three decades for the different regions and nine nations of Amazonia, and evaluate the magnitude and trajectory of these differentiated balances in relation to major national anthropogenic carbon emissions. The sink of carbon into mature forests has been remarkably geographically ubiquitous across Amazonia, being substantial and persistent in each of the five biogeographic regions within Amazonia. Between 1980 and 2010, it has more than mitigated the fossil fuel emissions of every single national economy, except that of Venezuela. For most nations (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname) the sink has probably additionally mitigated all anthropogenic carbon emissions due to Amazon deforestation and other land use change. While the sink has weakened in some regions since 2000, our analysis suggests that Amazon nations which are able to conserve large areas of natural and semi-natural landscape still contribute globally-significant carbon sequestration. Mature forests across all of Amazonia have contributed significantly to mitigating climate change for decades. Yet Amazon nations have not directly benefited from providing this global scale

  19. Human management and hybridization shape treegourd fruits in the Brazilian Amazon Basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ambrósio Moreira, Priscila; Mariac, Cédric; Zekraoui, Leila; Couderc, Marie; Rodrigues, Doriane Picanço; Clement, Charles R; Vigouroux, Yves

    2017-07-01

    Local people's perceptions of cultivated and wild agrobiodiversity, as well as their management of hybridization are still understudied in Amazonia. Here we analyze domesticated treegourd ( Crescentia cujete ), whose versatile fruits have technological, symbolic, and medicinal uses. A wild relative ( C. amazonica ) of the cultivated species grows spontaneously in Amazonian flooded forests. We demonstrated, using whole chloroplast sequences and nuclear microsatellites, that the two species are strongly differentiated. Nonetheless, they hybridize readily throughout Amazonia and the proportions of admixture correlate with fruit size variation of cultivated trees. New morphotypes arise from hybridization, which are recognized by people and named as local varieties. Small hybrid fruits are used to make the important symbolic rattle ( maracá ), suggesting that management of hybrid trees is an ancient human practice in Amazonia. Effective conservation of Amazonian agrobiodiversity needs to incorporate this interaction between wild and cultivated populations that is managed by smallholder families. Beyond treegourd, our study clearly shows that hybridization plays an important role in tree crop phenotypic diversification and that the integration of molecular analyses and farmers' perceptions of diversity help disentangle crop domestication history.

  20. Jusqu'au bout de la forêt? Causes et mécanismes de la déforestation en Amazonie brésilienne

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    François-Michel Le Tourneau

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available This paper looks at deforestation in the Brazilian Amazonia. It seeks first to define the locus of the problem — the so-called «legal» Amazonia — and the regions most affected by logging. It then reviews the causes and actors of deforestation, highlighting older, persistent trends (the alliance between the logging industry and cattle farmers, for example and new trends (such as soya growing. Lastly, it reveals the overriding importance of politics in deforestation and the ambiguous position of the Brazilian federal government, which, alongside undeniable measures to protect the forest, makes economic or political calculations (such as pushing through agrarian reform by settling thousands of peasants in Amazonia that endanger it. Deforestation thus seems more an indicator of which of the two aspects — short-term economic development or long-term management of natural resources — is favoured by the government in power. In the light of the priority given to fast economic growth by Luis Inácio «Lula» da Silva's government, clearing seems set to increase over the upcoming years.

  1. A medium-spatial scale distribution pattern of Pseudoscorpionida (Arachnida in a gradient of topography (altitude and inclination, soil factors, and litter in a central Amazonia forest reserve, Brazil

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    N. O. Aguiar

    Full Text Available In Amazonia, nothing is known about the distribution of the invertebrates on a medium-spatial scale pattern. In a trail system of 64 km² at Ducke Reserve, we sampled 72 transects using the hand-sorting method and Berlese-Tullgren extraction. The reserve possesses ecosystems of "terra-firme" forest and the trail system represents a gradient of topographic soil factors and vegetation, avoiding categorizations. Considering the abundance and diversity of Pseudoscorpionida, we investigated the relation of the community to environmental factors tested (topography, clay percentage, litter, and soil pH, to the two major drainage basins of the reserve, and if these invertebrates can be used as biological indicators to monitor changes. We registered two species for the first time in the reserve, increasing the known diversity to 17 species. The lack of correlation with the predictor variables and the large home range, indicate that pseudoscorpions are not good biological indicators in the reserve. As the eastern and western watersheds are not separate management units for the community, our results show that they are generalist predators. In spite of our results and lack of knowledge concerning their biology, life history and taxonomy, pseudoscorpions are cosmopolitan and easy to find and measure. Compared with previous studies in the reserve, they have a consistent pattern of abundance and diversity throughout the years showing the stability of the community which can be checked mainly by comparison with environmental changes that would occur in the reserve. An investigation on a medium-spatial scale pattern and over a long-term period including other habitats, and also other predictor variables, like humidity, the structure of the vegetation and canopy closure, will be necessary to reinforce the observed tendencies.

  2. Exploring the likelihood and mechanism of a climate-change-induced dieback of the Amazon rainforest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malhi, Yadvinder; Aragão, Luiz E O C; Galbraith, David; Huntingford, Chris; Fisher, Rosie; Zelazowski, Przemyslaw; Sitch, Stephen; McSweeney, Carol; Meir, Patrick

    2009-12-08

    We examine the evidence for the possibility that 21st-century climate change may cause a large-scale "dieback" or degradation of Amazonian rainforest. We employ a new framework for evaluating the rainfall regime of tropical forests and from this deduce precipitation-based boundaries for current forest viability. We then examine climate simulations by 19 global climate models (GCMs) in this context and find that most tend to underestimate current rainfall. GCMs also vary greatly in their projections of future climate change in Amazonia. We attempt to take into account the differences between GCM-simulated and observed rainfall regimes in the 20th century. Our analysis suggests that dry-season water stress is likely to increase in E. Amazonia over the 21st century, but the region tends toward a climate more appropriate to seasonal forest than to savanna. These seasonal forests may be resilient to seasonal drought but are likely to face intensified water stress caused by higher temperatures and to be vulnerable to fires, which are at present naturally rare in much of Amazonia. The spread of fire ignition associated with advancing deforestation, logging, and fragmentation may act as nucleation points that trigger the transition of these seasonal forests into fire-dominated, low biomass forests. Conversely, deliberate limitation of deforestation and fire may be an effective intervention to maintain Amazonian forest resilience in the face of imposed 21st-century climate change. Such intervention may be enough to navigate E. Amazonia away from a possible "tipping point," beyond which extensive rainforest would become unsustainable.

  3. Multi-scale comparisons of tree composition in Amazonian terra firme forests

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    L. Freitas Alvarado

    2009-11-01

    Full Text Available We explored the floristic composition of terra firme forests across Amazonia using 55 plots. Firstly, we examined the floristic patterns using both genus- and species-level data and found that the species-level analysis more clearly distinguishes among forests. Next, we compared the variation in plot floristic composition at regional- and continental-scales, and found that average among-pair floristic similarity and its decay with distance behave similarly at regional- and continental-scales. Nevertheless, geographical distance had different effects on floristic similarity within regions at distances <100 km, where north-western and south-western Amazonian regions showed greater floristic variation than plots of central and eastern Amazonia. Finally, we quantified the role of environmental factors and geographical distance for determining variation in floristic composition. A partial Mantel test indicated that while geographical distance appeared to be more important at continental scales, soil fertility was crucial at regional scales within western Amazonia, where areas with similar soil conditions were more likely to share a high number of species. Overall, these results suggest that regional-scale variation in floristic composition can rival continental-scale differences within Amazonian terra firme forests, and that variation in floristic composition at both scales is influenced by geographical distance and environmental factors, such as climate and soil fertility. To fully account for regional-scale variation in continental studies of floristic composition, future floristic studies should focus on forest types poorly represented at regional scales in current datasets, such as terra firme forests with high soil fertility in north-western Amazonia.

  4. Pembentukan mother plant Bacopa australis secara In-vitro dan aklimatisasi dalam aquascape air tawar

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    Media Fitri Isma Nugraha

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Tanaman air adalah bagian penting dari ekosistem air tawar. Salah satu spesies yang terkenal adalah Bacopa australis. Hobiis aquascape saat ini memiliki ketertarikan tinggi terhadap tanaman air dengan kualitas yang bagus dari setiap spesiesnya. Metode perbanyakan tanaman air tanpa tanah, lahan pertanian dan air perlu dilakukan untuk memenuhi keinginan tersebut. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mendapatkan formula media kultur jaringan dan zat pengatur tumbuh yang tepat untuk multiplikasi dalam perakitan mother plant (tanaman induk Bacopa australis, serta mendapatkan media terbaik untuk aklimatisasi. Media yang digunakan adalah media Murashige dan Skoog (MS A padat dengan perbedaan konsentrasi zat pengatur tumbuh. Perlakuan uji dalam kombinasi zat pengatur tumbuh (a 0,50 mg/L BAP + 0,50 mg/L kinetin; (b 0,50 mg/L BAP; dan (c 0,50 mg/L 2,4-D. Aklimatisasi tanaman induk dilakukan pada berbagai media antara lain 1 pasir silika + pupuk aqua soil amazonia, 2. pasir malang + pupuk aqua soil amazonia, 3 pasir silika + pupuk cair; 4 pasir malang + pupuk. Hasil yang diperoleh, yaitu formula media kultur terbaik untuk multiplikasi tunas tanaman B. australis secara in-vitro adalah media MS (A yang diperkaya dengan 0,5 mg/L BAP + 0,5 mg/L kinetin, sedangkan aklimatisasi terbaik pada media pasir malang + pupuk aqua soil amazonia. Water plant is an important part of freshwater ecosystems. One of the famous species is Bacopa australis. Today, many aquascape hobbyists have a high interest in aquatic plant species that have good aesthetic appearances. To answer this challenge, a new method in-vitro propagation of aquatic plants, planted without soil, agricultural land and water was conducted. The aim of this research was to find the best growth regulator hormon formula and aclimatisation medium, in creating the mother plant Bacopa australis. The medium used was MS (Murashige and Skoog, 1974 with different growth regulator hormon, i.e: (a 0.50 mg L-1 BAP

  5. Large-scale heterogeneity of Amazonian phenology revealed from 26-year long AVHRR/NDVI time-series

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva, Fabrício B; Shimabukuro, Yosio E; Aragão, Luiz E O C; Anderson, Liana O; Pereira, Gabriel; Cardozo, Franciele; Arai, Egídio

    2013-01-01

    Depiction of phenological cycles in tropical forests is critical for an understanding of seasonal patterns in carbon and water fluxes as well as the responses of vegetation to climate variations. However, the detection of clear spatially explicit phenological patterns across Amazonia has proven difficult using data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). In this work, we propose an alternative approach based on a 26-year time-series of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) to identify regions with homogeneous phenological cycles in Amazonia. Specifically, we aim to use a pattern recognition technique, based on temporal signal processing concepts, to map Amazonian phenoregions and to compare the identified patterns with field-derived information. Our automated method recognized 26 phenoregions with unique intra-annual seasonality. This result highlights the fact that known vegetation types in Amazonia are not only structurally different but also phenologically distinct. Flushing of new leaves observed in the field is, in most cases, associated to a continuous increase in NDVI. The peak in leaf production is normally observed from the beginning to the middle of the wet season in 66% of the field sites analyzed. The phenoregion map presented in this work gives a new perspective on the dynamics of Amazonian canopies. It is clear that the phenology across Amazonia is more variable than previously detected using remote sensing data. An understanding of the implications of this spatial heterogeneity on the seasonality of Amazonian forest processes is a crucial step towards accurately quantifying the role of tropical forests within global biogeochemical cycles. (letter)

  6. Amazonian Amphibian Diversity Is Primarily Derived from Late Miocene Andean Lineages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santos, Juan C; Coloma, Luis A; Summers, Kyle; Caldwell, Janalee P; Ree, Richard; Cannatella, David C

    2009-01-01

    The Neotropics contains half of remaining rainforests and Earth's largest reservoir of amphibian biodiversity. However, determinants of Neotropical biodiversity (i.e., vicariance, dispersals, extinctions, and radiations) earlier than the Quaternary are largely unstudied. Using a novel method of ancestral area reconstruction and relaxed Bayesian clock analyses, we reconstructed the biogeography of the poison frog clade (Dendrobatidae). We rejected an Amazonian center-of-origin in favor of a complex connectivity model expanding over the Neotropics. We inferred 14 dispersals into and 18 out of Amazonia to adjacent regions; the Andes were the major source of dispersals into Amazonia. We found three episodes of lineage dispersal with two interleaved periods of vicariant events between South and Central America. During the late Miocene, Amazonian, and Central American-Chocoan lineages significantly increased their diversity compared to the Andean and Guianan-Venezuelan-Brazilian Shield counterparts. Significant percentage of dendrobatid diversity in Amazonia and Chocó resulted from repeated immigrations, with radiations at Venezuelan Highlands, and Guiana Shield have undergone extended in situ diversification at near constant rate since the Oligocene. The effects of Miocene paleogeographic events on Neotropical diversification dynamics provided the framework under which Quaternary patterns of endemism evolved. PMID:19278298

  7. L’AMAZONIE BRESILIENNE, NOUVELLE INTERFACE MIGRATOIRE ENTRE LES CARAÏBES ET L’AMERIQUE DU SUD ?

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    Stéphane Granger

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Haitian migrations in French Guiana, which usually transit by Suriname, yet seem to transit by the Brazilian Amazonia. This country became the entrance of an important flow of Haitian immigrants, which indeed are going to the metropolis of São Paulo, new Eldorado for wretched Caribbean populations. Now joined by other flows arriving from Africa and even Asia, these migrations are showing the new combination of the traditional organization of the world, as well as the new importance of Brazil as a regional power in the American world. Amazonia is yet becoming a new crossroad facilitating a better integration of the Americas, including by the migrations.

  8. Use of AFLPS to distinguish landraces of pejibaye (Bactris gasipaes in brazilian Amazonia Uso de AFLPS para discriminar raças primitivas de pupunha (Bactris gasipaes na Amazônia brasileira

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    Charles R. Clement

    2002-12-01

    Full Text Available Although the first inhabitants of western Amazonia domesticated pejibaye (Bactris gasipaes Kunth, Palmae or peach palm for its fruits, today it is widely planted for its heart-of-palm. Like other domesticates, pejibaye presents a complex hierarchy of landraces developed before the conquest of the Americas. The existence of three landraces (Pará, Solimões, Putumayo was proposed along the Amazonas and Solimões Rivers, Brazil, based on morphological characteristics. There are some questions remaining about the intermediate landrace being an artifact of the morphometric analysis. AFLPs were used to evaluate the relationships among samples of these putative landraces. DNA was extracted from 99 plants representing 13 populations maintained in the Pejibaye Germplasm Bank, Manaus, AM; six primer combinations generated 245 markers via PCR, which were scored in an ABI Prism 310 sequencer and analyzed with GeneScan Software; Jaccard similarities were estimated and a dendrogram was generated with UPGMA. Two groups of plants were observed in the dendrogram instead of three, and were similar at 0.795. Each group contained two subgroups, similar at 0.815. One group (n=41 contained 73% Pará landrace plants, with one subgroup (n=22 containing 91% Pará, and the other (n=19 containing 53% Pará. The other group (n=58 contained 53% Solimões and 40% Putumayo landrace plants, with one subgroup (n=21 containing 52% Solimões and 43% Putumayo, and the other (n=35 containing 57% Solimões and 37% Putumayo. The first group confirmed the Pará landrace. The second group suggested that the Solimões landrace does not exist, but that the Putumayo landrace extends along the Solimões River to Central Amazonia.Os primeiros povos da Amazônia ocidental domesticaram a pupunha (Bactris gasipaes Kunth, Palmae por seu fruto, embora hoje seja muito plantada por seu palmito. Como outros cultivos domesticados, a pupunha apresenta uma hierarquia complexa de raças primitivas

  9. Inferences of Present and Past Changes at Isolated Enclaves and Matrix of Savannas by Carbon Isotopes in a Transitional Forest-Savanna Area in Northern Amazonia

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    Couto-Santos, F. R.; Luizao, F. J.; Camargo, P. B.

    2013-12-01

    The evolutionary history of savannas influenced by short term climate cycles, during the Quaternary Period, could prompt variations in forest cover often related to movements of the forest-savanna boundary. In this study we investigated current and past changes in the structure of vegetation and the origins of savannas of different natures in a biogeographically and climatic transitional forest-savanna area in northern Amazonia. Variations in the isotopic composition of soil organic matter (δ13C) from surface soils (0-10 cm) along forest-savanna boundaries, detected by a sigmoidal non-linear function, were used to identify current changes in vegetation, while past changes were inferred by discontinuities in the evolution of δ13C with soil depth using piecewise regression associated with radiocarbon dating (14C). By comparing small isolated savanna enclaves inside a strictly protected nature reserve (ESEC Maracá) with its outskirts unprotected continuous savanna matrix, we found that origins and the patterns of dynamics were distinct between these areas and did not respond in the same way to climate change and fire events, either in the last decades or during the Holocene. The stability of the present boundaries of the surrounding savanna matrix reflects the resilience of the transitional forests under a recent intensified fire regime and favorable climate, while the deep forest soil isotopic signal indicated a forest shrinkage of at least 70 m occurring since its origin in early Holocene until 780 years BP associated with a climate drier than the current one. Contrarily, the protected enclaves inside ESEC Maracá, remained stable since the middle Holocene, suggesting a non-anthropogenic origin related to soil edaphic conditions, but with recent dynamics of advancing forest by 8 m century-1 favored by current climate and lacking fire events. A detailed understanding of the origins of savannas of distinct natures and the way they are affected by climate and fire

  10. Rainfall partitioning and related hydrochemical fluxes in a diverse and in a mono specific (Phenakospermum guyannense) secondary vegetation stand in eastern Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hölscher, D; Sá, T D A; Möller, R F; Denich, M; Fölster, H

    1998-04-01

    Rainfall partitioning into throughfall and stemflow was studied in a diverse and in a mono specific stand of secondary vegetation in Eastern Amazonia. The nutrient concentrations in the water were analysed in order to quantify the related hydrochemical fluxes. Secondary vegetation forms the fallow in the local shifting cultivation system and is usually dominated by shrubs and trees. Phenakospermum guyannense (Strelitziaceae), a banana-like herb, is one of the predominant non-woody species. The study was conducted during an 18-month period in a 2.5-year-old relatively species-rich stand and a 10-year-old stand dominated by P. guyannense. In a year with 1956 mm of rainfall 65% (1281 mm) of this quantity reached the soil as throughfall in the diverse stand and 38% (743 mm) in the mono specific stand. Stemflow was estimated to be 23% and 41% respectively. P. guyannense and Banara guianensis (Flacourtiaceae), a tree species, were causing these high funnelling effects. In the young diverse stand B. guianensis had a stemflow of more than 200 l year -1 and P. guyannense had a median flux of 77 l year -1 per pseudostem. In the older stand the taller plants of P.␣guyannense collected 644 l year -1 per pseudostem on the median. The reason for these high values could be the banana-like growth form of P. guyannense and the crown morphology of B. guianensis, which has inclined branches. The low proportion of throughfall and the high stemflow values differ from all previous studies in Amazonian primary forests. The proximity to the Atlantic Ocean strongly influenced the nutrient fluxes via rainfall at our study site. This becomes obvious from the high Na and Cl fluxes with rainfall (19.7 kg Na ha -1 year -1 , 37.2 kg Cl ha -1 year -1 ) which were approximately equal to the Na and Cl fluxes with the sum of throughfall and stemflow for both stands. K fluxes in throughfall and stemflow in both stands were higher than in rainfall by a factor of 8. The high K

  11. Deforestation and hunting effects on wildlife across Amazonian indigenous lands

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    Pedro de Araujo Lima. Constantino

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Deforestation and hunting are main wildlife threats in Amazonia, affecting the ecosystem and dwellers that rely on game meat. Data from 9109 hunted animals from 35 villages of 8 Pano indigenous lands in Brazilian Amazonia were used to build 4 indicators of wildlife status based on ecological models and to analyze the effects of deforestation, hunting pressure, and socioeconomic aspects on wildlife variation. Although variation in wildlife status indicated depletion in certain locations, hunters from most villages continued to hunt their preferred game after decades of intensive hunting. Indigenous hunting resulted in local depletion of species because of the dispersal of animals away from the source of hunting. This local effect can be explained by the permanent hunting of wildlife in the region, the behavior of Pano hunters, and the design and scale of this study analysis. Regionally, however, deforestation and associated factors are the cause of reduced population density and hunting success, extirpating sensitive species. Roads exacerbated hunting effects through disturbance, encroachment, and provision of access to livestock meat at markets. To avoid local depletion, indigenous people must review their subsistence hunting practices, whereas to achieve regional wildlife conservation and to maintain indigenous societies in Amazonia, wildlife habitat loss should be limited.

  12. Produção de serrapilheira no Cerrado e Floresta de Transição Amazônia-Cerrado do Centro-Oeste Brasileiro Litterfall production in the Brazilian mid-western Amazonia-Cerrado transition forest

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    Carlos José da Silva

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available O presente trabalho teve como objetivo verificar a variação da produção de serrapilheira de diferentes biomas: Cerrado (com as fitofisionomias Cerrado sensu stricto e Cerradão e Floresta de Transição Amazônia-Cerrado, em clima tropical. Para a determinação da produção de serrapilheira foram utilizados coletores de tela em náilon. Dados micrometereológicos foram coletados nas áreas de estudo. A produção de serrapilheira nos dois biomas mostrou acentuada sazonalidade, com as maiores produções ocorrendo durante a estação seca e menor durante a estação chuvosa. A maior produção de serrapilheira ocorreu na Floresta de Transição, seguida do bioma Cerrado. A fração de folhas foi mais representativa do que as frações de galhos, flores, frutos em ambas as áreas estudadas.The objective of the present work was to verify the variation of litterfall production of different biomass: a cerrado ("savanna" with vegetation types Cerrado sensu stricto ("orchard-like vegetation" and Cerradão ("woodland-like vegetation" and Amazonia-Cerrado transition forest in a tropical climate. To determine the litterfall production, we used nylon screen traps. Micrometereologic data was collected in both areas of study. The litterfall in two biomass revealed themselves as seasonal, with the highest productions occurring during the dry season and the lowest during the wet. The biggest litterfall occurred in the Transition Forest, followed by the Cerrado biome. Leaf fraction was more representative than twigs, flowers, fruits in both areas studied.

  13. The consequences of pleistocene climate change on lowland neotropical vegetation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    De Oliveira, P.E.; Colinvaux, P.A. (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama City (Panama))

    1994-06-01

    Palynological reconstructions indicate that lowland tropical America was subject to intense cooling during the last ice-age. The descent of presently montane taxa into the lowlands of Amazonia and Minas Gerais indicate temperature depressions ranging from 5[degrees]C to 9[degrees]C cooler-than-present. The strengthened incursion of southerly airmasses caused a reassortment of vegetation throughout Amazonia. Presently allopatric species are found to have been sympatric as novel forest assemblages and formed and dissolved. Modest drying, perhaps a 20% reduction in precipitation, accounts for all the records that show a Pleistocene expansion of savanna. No evidence is found to support the fragmentation of Amazonian forests during glacial times, and the hypothesis of forest refuges as an explanation of tropical speciation is rejected on empirical grounds.

  14. Human nutrition and adaptation in Brazilian Amazon fishing areas: contributions to health policies

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    Gilberto Ferreira de Souza Aguiar

    2006-08-01

    Full Text Available The search for equity in access to services is presently an important principle in public policies for health in Brazil. Social inequalities in the Amazonia occur at high levels comparatively to the other regions in the country; and, within Amazonia, they particularly affect rural communities. The present study aims to appreciate associations between food and nutritional profile, adaptive strategies, and epidemiology in these communities, specially in areas of artisanal fishery, and also to suggest general lines of appropriated health policies. The construction of a context of equitable assistance and of sustainable health, without significant damage to biodiversity, depends on the capacity of public power in exploring the relationships between use and management of natural resources and the quality of life of riverine man.

  15. Feeding ecology of Auchenipterichthys longimanus (Siluriformes: Auchenipteridae in a riparian flooded forest of Eastern Amazonia, Brazil

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    Tiago Magalhães da Silva Freitas

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Feeding habits of the midnight catfish Auchenipterichthys longimanus collected in rivers of the Caxiuanã National Forest (Eastern Amazonia, Brazil were investigated through the different hydrological periods (dry, filing, flood and drawdown. A total of 589 specimens were collected throughout seven samplings between July 2008 and July 2009, of which 74 were young males, 177 adult males, 89 young females and 249 adult females. The diet composition (Alimentary index - Ai% was analyzed by a non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS and by the analysis of similarity (ANOSIM, which included 37 items grouped into nine categories (Aquatic insects, Other aquatic invertebrates, Arthropods fragment, Fish, Plant fragment, Seeds, Terrestrial insects, Other terrestrial invertebrates, and Terrestrial vertebrates. We also calculated the niche breadth (Levins index and the repletion index (RI%. Differences in the diet composition between hydrological seasons were registered, primarily on diet composition between dry and flood season, but changes related with sex and maturity were not observed. The midnight catfish showed more specialists feeder habit in the flood period (March 2009 and more generalist habits in the dry season (November 2008. The amount of food eaten by A. longimanus based on repletion index (RI%, did not differ significantly from sex and maturity. However, we evidenced differences in RI% when comparing the studied months. These results provide important biological information about the trophic ecology of auchenipterids fish. In view of the higher occurrence of allochthonous items, this research also underpins the importance of riparian forests as critical environments in the maintenance and conservation of wild populations of fish in the Amazon basin.Neste estudo foram investigados os hábitos alimentares do bagre Auchenipterichthys longimanus coletados em rios da Floresta Nacional de Caxiuanã (Amazônia Oriental, Brasil ao longo de diferentes

  16. Spatial variability of the direct radiative forcing of biomass burning aerosols and the effects of land use change in Amazonia

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    E. T. Sena

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses the Amazonian shortwave radiative budget over cloud-free conditions after considering three aspects of deforestation: (i the emission of aerosols from biomass burning due to forest fires; (ii changes in surface albedo after deforestation; and (iii modifications in the column water vapour amount over deforested areas. Simultaneous Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES shortwave fluxes and aerosol optical depth (AOD retrievals from the Moderate Resolution Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MODIS were analysed during the peak of the biomass burning seasons (August and September from 2000 to 2009. A discrete-ordinate radiative transfer (DISORT code was used to extend instantaneous remote sensing radiative forcing assessments into 24-h averages.

    The mean direct radiative forcing of aerosols at the top of the atmosphere (TOA during the biomass burning season for the 10-yr studied period was −5.6 ± 1.7 W m−2. Furthermore, the spatial distribution of the direct radiative forcing of aerosols over Amazonia was obtained for the biomass burning season of each year. It was observed that for high AOD (larger than 1 at 550 nm the maximum daily direct aerosol radiative forcing at the TOA may be as high as −20 W m−2 locally. The surface reflectance plays a major role in the aerosol direct radiative effect. The study of the effects of biomass burning aerosols over different surface types shows that the direct radiative forcing is systematically more negative over forest than over savannah-like covered areas. Values of −15.7 ± 2.4 W m−2τ550 nm and −9.3 ± 1.7 W m−2τ550 nm were calculated for the mean daily aerosol forcing efficiencies over forest and savannah-like vegetation respectively. The overall mean annual land use change radiative forcing due to deforestation over the state of Rondônia, Brazil, was determined as −7.3 ± 0.9 W m

  17. Fenologia de Cornops aquaticum (Orthoptera: Acrididae associado a Eichhornia crassipes (Pontederiaceae em um Lago de Várzea na Amazônia Central, Brasil

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    Carlos Elias BRAGA

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available La tucura Neotropical, Cornops aquaticum (Bruner, vive asociada a las macrófitas de la familia Pontederiaceae, de las cuales se alimenta. En los lagos de la Amazonia Central, Eichhornia crassipes (Mart. Solms (camalote o aguape constituye la planta huésped más importante de esta tucura. El objetivo de este trabajo fue estudiar la fenología de los adultos y las ninfas de C. aquaticum en los camalotales de E. crassipes, en relación al régimen hidrológico de la Amazonia Central. Los muestreos se realizaron entre los meses de abril de 2006 a agosto de 2007, en el Lago Camaleón (03o17’05”S 60o11’11”O en la Várzea de la Amazonia Central. Los individuos fueron capturados desde una embarcación a motor, utilizando una red entomológica de 70 cm de diámetro. Durante este estudio, se capturaron un total de 850 ejemplares (296 adultos y 554 ninfas. Se observó que la abundancia y la biomasa de los adultos y de las ninfas de C. aquaticum, así como la planta huésped, están estrechamente relacionados con la oscilación estacional del nivel del río (pulso de inundación.

  18. High Species Richness of Scinax Treefrogs (Hylidae in a Threatened Amazonian Landscape Revealed by an Integrative Approach.

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    Miquéias Ferrão

    Full Text Available Rising habitat loss is one of the main drivers of the global amphibian decline. Nevertheless, knowledge of amphibian diversity needed for effective habitat protection is still highly inadequate in remote tropical regions, the greater part of the Amazonia. In this study we integrated molecular, morphological and bioacoustic evidence to evaluate the species richness of the treefrogs genus Scinax over a 1000 km transect across rainforest of the Purus-Madeira interfluve, and along the east bank of the upper Madeira river, Brazilian Amazonia. Analysis revealed that 82% of the regional species richness of Scinax is still undescribed; two nominal species, seven confirmed candidate species, two unconfirmed candidate species, and one deep conspecific lineage were detected in the study area. DNA barcoding based analysis of the 16s rRNA gene indicates possible existence of three discrete species groups within the genus Scinax, in addition to the already-known S. rostratus species Group. Quantifying and characterizing the number of undescribed Scinax taxa on a regional scale, we provide a framework for future taxonomic study in Amazonia. These findings indicate that the level to which Amazonian anura species richness has been underestimated is far greater than expected. Consequently, special attention should be paid both to taxonomic studies and protection of the still-neglected Amazonian Scinax treefrogs.

  19. Genetic diversity and population structure of the New World screwworm fly from the Amazon region of Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mastrangelo, Thiago; Fresia, Pablo; Lyra, Mariana L; Rodrigues, Rosangela A; Azeredo-Espin, Ana Maria L

    2014-10-01

    Cochliomyia hominivorax (Coquerel) is a myiasis fly that causes economic losses to livestock farmers in warmer American regions. Previous studies of this pest had found population structure at north and south of the Amazon Basin, which was considered to be a barrier to dispersal. The present study analyzed three mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) markers and eight nuclear microsatellite loci to investigate for the first time the genetic diversity and population structure across the Brazilian Amazon region (Amazonia). Both mtDNA and microsatellite data supported the existence of much diversity and significant population structure among nine regional populations of C. hominivorax, which was found to be surprisingly common in Amazonia. Forty-six mtDNA haplotypes were identified, of which 39 were novel and seven had previously been found only at south of Amazonia. Seventy microsatellite alleles were identified by size, moderate to high values of heterozygosity were discovered in all regions, and a Bayesian clustering analysis identified four genetic groups that were not geographically distributed. Reproductive compatibility was also investigated by laboratory crossing, but no evidence of hybrid dysgenesis was found between an Amazonian colony and one each of from Northeast and Southeast Brazil. The results have important implications for area-wide control by the Sterile Insect Technique. Copyright © 2014 International Atomic Energy Agency 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Indicadores de sustentabilidade ambiental e de saúde na Amazônia Legal, Brasil Environmental sustainability and health indicators in the Legal Amazonia, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Machado de Freitas

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Entre os desafios atuais para a Saúde Pública está o de estruturar sistemas de indicadores que permitam monitorar as condições e tendências da sustentabilidade ambiental e de saúde. Neste artigo procuramos enfrentar esse desafio tendo como foco de análise os estados integrantes da Macrorregião Amazônia Legal, que desde a segunda metade do século XX vem sofrendo intensos processos de mudanças sócio-econômicas, ambientais, de saúde e bem-estar. Para a reunião e análise do conjunto de indicadores adotamos o modelo Forças Motrizes, Pressão, Situação, Exposição, Efeito e Ação (FMPSEEA proposto pela Organização Mundial da Saúde. Os resultados demonstram que, ao mesmo tempo em que as forças motrizes e pressões vêm contribuindo para o crescimento econômico e populacional, resultando em melhoras de indicadores tradicionais de saúde (redução da mortalidade infantil e aumento da expectativa de vida, são grandes as desigualdades sociais e econômicas e a sobreposição dos impactos na saúde da população, em um quadro bastante heterogêneo. Além disso, a situação ambiental também aponta para um modelo de desenvolvimento insustentável para as gerações presentes e futuras, exigindo respostas dos setores ambientais e de saúde à altura dos desafios colocados na atualidade.One of the challenges for public health is to build systems of indicators that allow monitoring current conditions and trends in environmental and health sustainability. This article focuses on the Legal Amazonia macro-region, which has undergone profound socioeconomic, environmental, and health changes since the mid-20th century. The conceptual framework adopted here was the model entitled Driving Forces, Pressures, State, Exposure, Effects, and Action (DPSEEA proposed by the World Health Organization and adopted for environmental health surveillance by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. The results show that numerous motor forces and pressures

  1. Situación de salud y nutrición de niños indígenas y niños no indígenas de la Amazonia peruana

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrián Díaz

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Evaluar el estado nutricional de los menores de 5 años, indígenas y no indígenas, de dos provincias de la Amazonia peruana. MÉTODOS: Estudio descriptivo y transversal representativo de familias con niños menores de cinco años residentes en las provincias de Bagua y Condorcanqui en Perú. El estudio incluyó entrevista a la madre o cuidador del(os niño(s, evaluación antropométrica, hemoglobina en sangre capilar, búsqueda de parásitos intestinales en los niños menores de 5 años, acceso a los servicios de salud, antecedentes de infecciones respiratorias agudas y enfermedades diarreicas agudas, condición socioeconómica y consumo de sal inadecuadamente yodada. Mediante métodos lineares generalizados se identificaron los determinantes de la desnutrición crónica y anemia infantil en cada población de estudio. RESULTADOS: Se evaluaron 986 familias y 1 372 niños. La prevalencia de desnutrición crónica fue mayor en la población indígena respecto de la no indígena (56,2% versus 21,9%, igual que la anemia (51,3% versus 40,9%. Los determinantes de la desnutrición crónica fueron diferentes en ambas poblaciones. En indígenas, prevaleció la edad mayor a 36 meses (OR 2,21; IC95% 1,61-3, 04 y vivienda inadecuada (OR 2,9; IC95% 1,19-7,11, mientras que en los no indígenas, la pobreza extrema (OR 2,31; IC95% 1,50 - 3,55 y el parto institucional (OR 3,1; IC95% 2,00-4,83. CONCLUSIONES: Existen marcadas brechas entre la población indígena y la población no indígena respecto de las condiciones de vida, acceso a servicios de salud y estado nutricional de menores de 5 años. Se requiere asignar particular atención a la población indígena a fin de adecuar las modalidades de entrega de los programas y servicios que ofrece el Estado en dichos contextos.

  2. Mercury Contamination in an Indicator Fish Species from Andean Amazonian Rivers Affected by Petroleum Extraction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Webb, Jena; Coomes, Oliver T; Mainville, Nicolas; Mergler, Donna

    2015-09-01

    Elevated mercury (Hg) concentrations in fish from Amazonia have been associated with gold-mining, hydroelectric dams and deforestation but few studies consider the role of petroleum extraction. Hg levels were determined in fish samples collected in three river basins in Ecuador and Peru with contrasting petroleum exploitation and land-use characteristics. The non-migratory, piscivorous species, Hoplias malabaricus, was used as a bioindicator. The rate of Hg increase with body weight for this species was significantly higher on the Corrientes River, near the site of a recent oil spill, than on the other two rivers. In the absence of substantial deforestation and other anthropogenic sources in the Corrientes River basin, this finding suggests that oil contamination in Andean Amazonia may have a significant impact on Hg levels in fish.

  3. Mercury research bears fruit in the Amazon | IDRC - International ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    2011-01-26

    Jan 26, 2011 ... ... and Canadian scientists investigating high levels of toxic mercury in the region. ... “In Amazonia, this means that they had some high school. ... issue of Women & Environments International magazine (www.weimag.com).

  4. Circulatory disease mortality rates in the elderly and exposure to PM2.5 generated by biomass burning in the Brazilian Amazon in 2005 Mortalidad por enfermedades cardiovasculares en los ancianos y la exposición a PM2,5 como resultado de la quema en la Amazonia brasileña en 2005 Mortalidade por doenças circulatórias na população idosa e exposição a PM2,5 em decorrência das queimadas na Amazônia brasileira em 2005

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eliane Ignotti

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to analyze the association between the exposure to fine particulate matter and circulatory disease mortality rates in the elderly living in the Brazilian Amazon. An ecological study of circulatory disease, acute myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular disease mortality rates in micro areas of the Brazilian Amazon was carried out. The environmental exposure indicator used was percentage hours of PM2.5 concentrations > 25µg/m³ divided by the total number of estimated hours of PM2.5 in 2005. The association between exposure and circulatory disease mortality rates was strongest in the oldest age group. No significant statistical association was found between cerebrovascular disease mortality rates and exposure. Circulatory disease mortality rates in the elderly living in the Amazon have been influenced by atmospheric pollution from emissions caused by forest fires.El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar la asociación entre la exposición a las partículas finas, con tasas de mortalidad por enfermedades cardiovasculares en los ancianos en la Amazonia brasileña. Se trata de un estudio ecológico de las tasas de mortalidad por enfermedades cardiovasculares, el infarto agudo de miocardio y enfermedades cerebrovasculares en las microrregiones brasileñas de la Amazonia. El indicador de la exposición ambiental fue estimado como un porcentaje de horas de PM2,5 > 25µg/m³, dividido por el número total de horas estimado de PM2,5 en 2005. La asociación del indicador de exposición con las tasas de mortalidad para las enfermedades circulatorias fue mayor en el grupo de mayor edad. La tasa de mortalidad por enfermedad cerebrovascular no se asoció con el indicador de exposición. Las enfermedades cardiovasculares en los ancianos que viven en la Amazonia han sido influenciadas por la contaminación atmosférica, causada por las emisiones de los incendios.O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar a associação da exposição ao

  5. Imaginaire acoustique et apprentissage d’une ontologie animiste Acoustic imagination and the learning of an animistic ontologyThe case of the Quechua of Peruvian Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andréa-Luz Gutierrez Choquevilca

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Cet article examine le rôle de l’imitation sonore au sein des pratiques et des représentations de la chasse et de la maladie chez les Quechua d’Amazonie (Pastaza, Pérou. L’analyse se fonde sur un ensemble de récits qui mettent en scène une interaction avec les « maîtres du gibier » dans un contexte ordinaire ou rituel. Partant de la description des techniques de chasse au leurre, l’auteur montre la pertinence d’un mode de communication fondé sur la simulation sonore au sein des interactions contrôlées et incontrôlées avec les entités tutélaires du gibier (récits d’initiation cynégétique ou biographies de rencontre d’esprit. Après avoir montré la cohérence de ce schéma dans la sphère de la praxis cynégétique, l’auteur explore un cas de maladie infantile shinkurana, dans lequel l’usage du « masque sonore » et les mécanismes de « voix citées » jouent un rôle clef dans le processus d’attribution d’une « agentivit�� » aux entités pathogènes. L’article analyse ainsi le phénomène de l’imitation sonore comme une stratégie perceptive et cognitive efficace, massivement mobilisée dans un contexte d’apprentissage et de validation des représentations animistes.This article examines the role of sound imitation in the practice and representation of hunting and sickness among the Quechua of Amazonia (Pastaza, Peru. The analysis is based on a set of stories that presents an interaction with “masters of game” in an ordinary or ritual context. Beginning with a description of lure hunting techniques, the author shows the relevance of a communication mode based on sound simulation in controlled and uncontrolled interactions with entities protective of game (stories of hunting initiation or accounts of spirit encounters. After having demonstrated the consistency of this pattern in the sphere of hunting praxis, the author explores a case of infant sickness shinkurana, in which

  6. Remote Sensing of Leaf Area Index from LiDAR Height Percentile Metrics and Comparison with MODIS Product in a Selectively Logged Tropical Forest Area in Eastern Amazonia

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    Yonghua Qu

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Leaf area index (LAI is an important parameter to describe the capacity of forests to intercept light and thus affects the microclimate and photosynthetic capacity of canopies. In general, tropical forests have a higher leaf area index and it is a challenge to estimate LAI in a forest with a very dense canopy. In this study, it is assumed that the traditional Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR-derived fractional vegetation cover (fCover has weak relationship with leaf area index in a dense forest. We propose a partial least squares (PLS regression model using the height percentile metrics derived from airborne LiDAR data to estimate the LAI of a dense forest. Ground inventory and airborne LiDAR data collected in a selectively logged tropical forest area in Eastern Amazonia are used to map LAI from the plot level to the landscape scale. The results indicate that the fCover, derived from the first return or the last return, has no significant correlations with the ground-based LAI. The PLS model evaluated by the leave-one-out validation shows that the estimated LAI is significantly correlated with the ground-based LAI with an R2 of 0.58 and a root mean square error (RMSE of 1.13. A data comparison indicates that the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS LAI underestimates the landscape-level LAI by about 22%. The MODIS quality control data show that in the selected tile, the cloud state is not the primary factor affecting the MODIS LAI performance; rather, the LAI from the main radiative transfer (RT algorithm contributes much to the underestimation of the LAI in the tropical forest. In addition, the results show that the LiDAR-based LAI has a better response to the logging activities than the MODIS-based LAI, and that the leaf area reduction caused by logging is about 13%. In contrast, the MODIS-based LAI exhibits no apparent spatial correlation with the LiDAR-based LAI. It is suggested that the main algorithm of MODIS should be

  7. Extractive reserves in Brazilian Amazonia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fearnside, P.M (National Institute for Research in the Amazon, Manaus-Amazonas (Brazil))

    1989-06-01

    In 1985 an opportunity arose for maintaining tracts of Amazonian forest under sustainable use. Brazil's National Council of Rubber Tappers and the Rural Worker's Union proposed the creation of a set of reserves of a new type, called extractive reserves. The first six are being established in one of the Brazilian states most threatened by deforestatation. The creation of extractive reserves grants legal protection to forest land traditionally used by rubber tappers, Brazil-nut gatherers, and other extractivists. The term extrativismo (extractivism) in Brazil refers to removing nontimber forest products, such as latex, resins, and nuts, without felling the trees. Approximately 30 products are collected for commercial sale. Many more types of forest materials are gathered, for example as food and medicines, for the extractivists' own use. The reserve proposal is attractive for several reasons related to social problems. It allows the rubber tappers to continue their livelihood rather than be expelled by deforestation. However, it is unlikely that sufficient land will be set aside as extractive reserves to employ all the tappers. Displaced rubber tappers already swell the ranks of urban slum dwellers in Brazil's Amazonian cities, and they have become refugees to continue their profession in the forests of neighboring countries, such as Bolivia.

  8. Andean settlers rush for Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Serra-vega, J

    1990-01-01

    Governments of Andean countries (Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela) have encouraged migration to the Amazon Basin, which has contributed to its destruction. Population pressure, landlessness, and poverty are the inducements to migrate. Efforts to populate the Amazon forest were begun as early as 1964 in Peru without international notice. By 1980, logging was allowed in Peru, and Brazil considered colonization of the Amazon essential to national sovereignty. By 1986, outside of Lima, Peru, a development project originally funded by the World Bank, the InterAmerican Development Bank, and the US, resulted in conflicts between settlers and Indians, in loggers indiscriminately cutting, and in farmers using slash and burn techniques to clear forests. Elsewhere the Peruvian Amazon, in San Ignacio, the population was growing by 5.5%/year. The jungle road that had been started but never completed, Carretera Marginal, destroyed 5 million hectares of primary forest, and much of the 600,000 hectares of arable land gained by the road suffered from inappropriate farming practices which caused massive erosion and laterization of the soils. Food crop production declined, and production of coca for cocaine increased. Coca crops are controlled by the Shining Path guerrillas, who are trying to overthrow the Peruvian government. Devastation of Ecuador around Lago Agrio continues. In Colombia, east of Bogota, forests have disappeared and hills have eroded and silted up rivers and dams. The Andean piedmont in Bolivia has also been devastated by loggers and by slash and burn farming. Southeastern Bolivian forests have been cleared for soya bean cultivation on poor soils. Social and economic crises propel people into the remaining forests. The solution is to ease foreign debt, transfer appropriate technology at affordable prices, refuse to finance destructive development, and help to educate and train scientific researchers. Family planning services are also urgently needed. Basic facts on population, biodiversity, the greenhouse effect, deforestation, roads, iron, gold, and Indians is provided.

  9. Desarrollo sostenible de la amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zuluaga Luis

    1991-12-01

    Full Text Available De la CUENCA AMAZONICA que tiene una extensión de 725.014.300 hectáreas, Colombia participa con 5.5% , es decir con 39.875.334 hectáreas. Así mismo dicha área es el 34.90%del total de Colombia y constituye la región natural
    más extensa del país. La Amazonía Colombiana está ubicada en la cabecera de varios de los afluentes más caudalosos del gran río Amazonas, la cuenca hidrográfica más amplia del mundo y por lo tanto, es de interés para la conservación de
    las partes bajas. Geográficamente comprende los Departamentos del Caquetá, Putumayo, Vaupés, Amazonas y la división de aguas de Guaviare y Guainía. La Amazonía intervenida con base el cálculos de 1980, era el 10% del área o sea 3.987.533 hectáreas. Alrededor del 80% de
    la superficie deforestada hasta 1980 en la Amazonía ha sido dedicada a pastizales.

  10. Widespread Amazon forest tree mortality from a single cross-basin squall line event

    Science.gov (United States)

    Negrón-Juárez, Robinson I.; Chambers, Jeffrey Q.; Guimaraes, Giuliano; Zeng, Hongcheng; Raupp, Carlos F. M.; Marra, Daniel M.; Ribeiro, Gabriel H. P. M.; Saatchi, Sassan S.; Nelson, Bruce W.; Higuchi, Niro

    2010-08-01

    Climate change is expected to increase the intensity of extreme precipitation events in Amazonia that in turn might produce more forest blowdowns associated with convective storms. Yet quantitative tree mortality associated with convective storms has never been reported across Amazonia, representing an important additional source of carbon to the atmosphere. Here we demonstrate that a single squall line (aligned cluster of convective storm cells) propagating across Amazonia in January, 2005, caused widespread forest tree mortality and may have contributed to the elevated mortality observed that year. Forest plot data demonstrated that the same year represented the second highest mortality rate over a 15-year annual monitoring interval. Over the Manaus region, disturbed forest patches generated by the squall followed a power-law distribution (scaling exponent α = 1.48) and produced a mortality of 0.3-0.5 million trees, equivalent to 30% of the observed annual deforestation reported in 2005 over the same area. Basin-wide, potential tree mortality from this one event was estimated at 542 ± 121 million trees, equivalent to 23% of the mean annual biomass accumulation estimated for these forests. Our results highlight the vulnerability of Amazon trees to wind-driven mortality associated with convective storms. Storm intensity is expected to increase with a warming climate, which would result in additional tree mortality and carbon release to the atmosphere, with the potential to further warm the climate system.

  11. Impact of a drier Early-Mid-Holocene climate upon Amazonian forests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayle, Francis E; Power, Mitchell J

    2008-05-27

    This paper uses a palaeoecological approach to examine the impact of drier climatic conditions of the Early-Mid-Holocene (ca 8000-4000 years ago) upon Amazonia's forests and their fire regimes. Palaeovegetation (pollen data) and palaeofire (charcoal) records are synthesized from 20 sites within the present tropical forest biome, and the underlying causes of any emergent patterns or changes are explored by reference to independent palaeoclimate data and present-day patterns of precipitation, forest cover and fire activity across Amazonia. During the Early-Mid-Holocene, Andean cloud forest taxa were replaced by lowland tree taxa as the cloud base rose while lowland ecotonal areas, which are presently covered by evergreen rainforest, were instead dominated by savannahs and/or semi-deciduous dry forests. Elsewhere in the Amazon Basin there is considerable spatial and temporal variation in patterns of vegetation disturbance and fire, which probably reflects the complex heterogeneous patterns in precipitation and seasonality across the basin, and the interactions between climate change, drought- and fire susceptibility of the forests, and Palaeo-Indian land use. Our analysis shows that the forest biome in most parts of Amazonia appears to have been remarkably resilient to climatic conditions significantly drier than those of today, despite widespread evidence of forest burning. Only in ecotonal areas is there evidence of biome replacement in the Holocene. From this palaeoecological perspective, we argue against the Amazon forest 'dieback' scenario simulated for the future.

  12. Revision of Gymnotus (Gymnotiformes: Gymnotidae) from the Upper Madeira Basin of Bolivia and Peru, with descriptions of two new species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Craig, Jack M; Correa-roldÁn, Vanessa; Ortega, HernÁn; Crampton, William G R; Albert, James S

    2018-04-20

    Banded Knifefishes (Gymnotus, Gymnotidae) comprise the most species-rich genus of Neotropical electric fishes, with 41 species currently described from throughout the humid Neotropics, from Mexico to Argentina. Despite substantial alpha-taxonomic work in recent years, the diversity of Gymnotus in some regions remains poorly understood. Here we describe the Gymnotus fauna of the Upper Madeira basin of Bolivia and Peru from examination of more than 240 adult specimens. Species are delimited and described using body proportions (traditional morphometrics), fin-ray, squamation and laterosensory-pore counts (meristics), quantitative shape differences (geometric morphometrics), osteological traits, and color patterns. Comparisons of standardized linear measures as well as multivariate statistical methods validate the presence in the Upper Madeira basin of three previously described species, two with wide-spread geographic distributions throughout Greater Amazonia (G. carapo and G. coropinae), and one (G. chaviro) endemic to southwestern Amazonia. We also diagnose and describe two new species that are endemic to the Upper Madeira basin: G. eyra n. sp., morphologically most similar to G. mamiraua from lowland Amazonia, and G. riberalta n. sp., morphologically most similar to G. pantanal from the Paraguay-Paraná basin. The five Gymnotus species from the Upper Madeira basin are not monophyletic, each species being more closely related to a different species from another region; i.e. the Gymnotus species from the Upper Madeira represents a polyphyletic assemblage. These descriptions to 43 the number of valid Gymnotus species.

  13. Between Andes and Amazon: the genetic profile of the Arawak-speaking Yanesha.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barbieri, Chiara; Heggarty, Paul; Yang Yao, Daniele; Ferri, Gianmarco; De Fanti, Sara; Sarno, Stefania; Ciani, Graziella; Boattini, Alessio; Luiselli, Donata; Pettener, Davide

    2014-12-01

    The Yanesha are a Peruvian population who inhabit an environment transitional between the Andes and Amazonia. They present cultural traits characteristic of both regions, including in the language they speak: Yanesha belongs to the Arawak language family (which very likely originated in the Amazon/Orinoco lowlands), but has been strongly influenced by Quechua, the most widespread language family of the Andes. Given their location and cultural make-up, the Yanesha make for an ideal case study for investigating language and population dynamics across the Andes-Amazonia divide. In this study, we analyze data from high and mid-altitude Yanesha villages, both Y chromosome (17 STRs and 16 SNPs diagnostic for assigning haplogroups) and mtDNA data (control region sequences and 3 SNPs and one INDEL diagnostic for assigning haplogroups). We uncover sex-biased genetic trends that probably arose in different stages: first, a male-biased gene flow from Andean regions, genetically consistent with highland Quechua-speakers and probably dating back to Inca expansion; and second, traces of European contact consistent with Y chromosome lineages from Italy and Tyrol, in line with historically documented migrations. Most research in the history, archaeology and linguistics of South America has long been characterized by perceptions of a sharp divide between the Andes and Amazonia; our results serve as a clear case-study confirming demographic flows across that 'divide'. © 2014 The Authors. American journal of physical Anthropology published by Wiley Periodocals, Inc.

  14. Crumbling UNESCO and aggregating archaeology

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Carman, J.; Turek, Jan

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 13, č. 3 (2017), s. 387-391 ISSN 1555-8622 Institutional support: RVO:67985912 Keywords : indigenous people of Amazonia * Canaanite site in Gaza * UNESCO * world archaeology * European Association of Archaeologists Subject RIV: AC - Archeology, Anthropology, Ethnology

  15. Geografía política del caucho durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Camilo Domínguez Ossa

    1995-01-01

    Full Text Available Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundia el dominio de los recursos estratégicos jugó un papel geopolítico muy grande. Uno de estos recursos, el caucho, tuvo enormes implicaciones sobre el movimiento de fuerzas beligerantes en todo el planeta. en Asia Suroriental significó invasiones armadas y matanzas enormes. En América Latina, especialmente en la Amazonia, fue uno de los recursos estratégicos que marcaron el esfuerzo de guerra latinoamericano junto a los aliados. En realidad, los resultados de la llamada "batalla del caucho" fueron más del orden político que económico: los Estados Unidos impusieron finalmente el paramericanismo liderado por esa gran potencia y los pueblos aeropuerto que sirvieron para el embarque del caucho se conviertieron en enclaves para el dominio territorial del Estado colombiano sobre su Amazonia.

  16. CCN activity and organic hygroscopicity of aerosols downwind of an urban region in central Amazonia: seasonal and diel variations and impact of anthropogenic emissions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thalman, Ryan; de Sá, Suzane S.; Palm, Brett B.; Barbosa, Henrique M. J.; Pöhlker, Mira L.; Lizabeth Alexander, M.; Brito, Joel; Carbone, Samara; Castillo, Paulo; Day, Douglas A.; Kuang, Chongai; Manzi, Antonio; Ng, Nga Lee; Sedlacek, Arthur J., III; Souza, Rodrigo; Springston, Stephen; Watson, Thomas; Pöhlker, Christopher; Pöschl, Ulrich; Andreae, Meinrat O.; Artaxo, Paulo; Jimenez, Jose L.; Martin, Scot T.; Wang, Jian

    2017-10-01

    During the Observations and Modeling of the Green Ocean Amazon (GoAmazon2014/5) campaign, size-resolved cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) spectra were characterized at a research site (T3) 60 km downwind of the city of Manaus, Brazil, in central Amazonia for 1 year (12 March 2014 to 3 March 2015). Particle hygroscopicity (κCCN) and mixing state were derived from the size-resolved CCN spectra, and the hygroscopicity of the organic component of the aerosol (κorg) was then calculated from κCCN and concurrent chemical composition measurements. The annual average κCCN increased from 0.13 at 75 nm to 0.17 at 171 nm, and the increase was largely due to an increase in sulfate volume fraction. During both wet and dry seasons, κCCN, κorg, and particle composition under background conditions exhibited essentially no diel variations. The constant κorg of ˜ 0. 15 is consistent with the largely uniform and high O : C value (˜ 0. 8), indicating that the aerosols under background conditions are dominated by the aged regional aerosol particles consisting of highly oxygenated organic compounds. For air masses strongly influenced by urban pollution and/or local biomass burning, lower values of κorg and organic O : C atomic ratio were observed during night, due to accumulation of freshly emitted particles, dominated by primary organic aerosol (POA) with low hygroscopicity, within a shallow nocturnal boundary layer. The O : C, κorg, and κCCN increased from the early morning hours and peaked around noon, driven by the formation and aging of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and dilution of POA emissions into a deeper boundary layer, while the development of the boundary layer, which leads to mixing with aged particles from the residual layer aloft, likely also contributed to the increases. The hygroscopicities associated with individual organic factors, derived from PMF (positive matrix factorization) analysis of AMS (aerosol mass spectrometry) spectra, were estimated through

  17. Composition and diversity of northwestern Amazonian rainforests in a geoecological context

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Duivenvoorden, J.F.; Duque, A.J.; Hoorn, C.; Wesselingh, F.P.

    2010-01-01

    The northwestern Amazonian landscape includes most of the representative landscape units that characterize Amazonia, and for this reason it constitutes an excellent place to investigate relationships between the abiotic environment (geology, geomorphology, soils) and biodiversity. In this review we

  18. Relación costo-efectividad del uso de pruebas rápidas para el diagnóstico de la malaria en la Amazonia peruana Cost-effectiveness ratio of using rapid tests for malaria diagnosis in the Peruvian Amazon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ángel Martín Rosas Aguirre

    2009-05-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Estimar la relación costo-efectividad de tres estrategias de diagnóstico de la malaria basadas en promotores locales de salud en 50 comunidades periféricas de la Amazonia peruana. MÉTODOS: Se evaluó la relación costo-efectividad de tres estrategias de diagnóstico de malaria en pacientes con fiebre de 50 comunidades periféricas de Iquitos, en la Amazonia peruana, que tienen acceso limitado al diagnóstico microscópico y cuentan con una red de promotores locales de salud: sin uso de pruebas rápidas, con uso de pruebas rápidas y con disponibilidad del diagnóstico microscópico. Se compararon y se estimaron los costos y efectos incrementales de las dos últimas estrategias con respecto a la primera (utilizada en la actualidad. La división de los costos incrementales entre los efectos incrementales permitió estimar la razón costo-efectividad incremental. RESULTADOS: El uso de pruebas rápidas ahorraría al Ministerio de Salud del Perú (MSP US$ 190,81 por caso adicional de malaria por Plasmodium falciparum tratado oportuna y apropiadamente, US$ 31,44 por caso adicional de malaria por P. vivax tratado oportuna y apropiadamente, US$ 1 050,61 por caso de malaria grave evitado y US$ 17 655,20 por cada muerte evitada. Disponer del diagnóstico por microscopía en todas las comunidades generaría al MSP un gasto suplementario de US$ 197,63 por caso adicional de malaria por P. falciparum tratado oportuna y apropiadamente, US$ 31,44 por caso adicional de malaria por P. vivax tratado oportuna y apropiadamente, US$ 1 085,80 por caso de malaria grave evitado y US$ 18 255,46 por cada muerte evitada. CONCLUSIONES: La aplicación de pruebas rápidas de diagnóstico por los promotores locales de salud puede mejorar la efectividad del diagnóstico de la malaria en pacientes con fiebre en las 50 comunidades estudiadas con un costo menor que la estrategia utilizada actualmente. Se recomienda extender el uso de pruebas rápidas por los

  19. Geological differentiation explains diversity and composition of fish communities in upland streams in the southern Amazon of Colombia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Arbeláez, F.; Duivenvoorden, J.F.; Maldonado-Ocampo, J.A.

    2008-01-01

    Fish biomass, species richness and composition were compared between upland streams draining two contrasting geological units (Pebas and Tsa) in Colombian Amazonia. Because Pebas sediments reportedly show higher levels of base concentrations than Tsa sediments, we expected that the fish communities

  20. Microsatellite data suggest significant population structure and differentiation within the malaria vector Anopheles darlingi in Central and South America

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Achee Nicole L

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Anopheles darlingi is the most important malaria vector in the Neotropics. An understanding of A. darlingi's population structure and contemporary gene flow patterns is necessary if vector populations are to be successfully controlled. We assessed population genetic structure and levels of differentiation based on 1,376 samples from 31 localities throughout the Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon and Central America using 5–8 microsatellite loci. Results We found high levels of polymorphism for all of the Amazonian populations (mean RS = 7.62, mean HO = 0.742, and low levels for the Belize and Guatemalan populations (mean RS = 4.3, mean HO = 0.457. The Bayesian clustering analysis revealed five population clusters: northeastern Amazonian Brazil, southeastern and central Amazonian Brazil, western and central Amazonian Brazil, Peruvian Amazon, and the Central American populations. Within Central America there was low non-significant differentiation, except for between the populations separated by the Maya Mountains. Within Amazonia there was a moderate level of significant differentiation attributed to isolation by distance. Within Peru there was no significant population structure and low differentiation, and some evidence of a population expansion. The pairwise estimates of genetic differentiation between Central America and Amazonian populations were all very high and highly significant (FST = 0.1859 – 0.3901, P DA and FST distance-based trees illustrated the main division to be between Central America and Amazonia. Conclusion We detected a large amount of population structure in Amazonia, with three population clusters within Brazil and one including the Peru populations. The considerable differences in Ne among the populations may have contributed to the observed genetic differentiation. All of the data suggest that the primary division within A. darlingi corresponds to two white gene genotypes between Amazonia (genotype 1

  1. Proceedings of the 32. Brazilian Congress on Chemistry; 5. Brazilian Meeting of Scientific Initiation on Chemistry - Abstracts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1992-01-01

    This 32. Brazilian Congress on Chemistry happened in Belem, Para State, was important, considering the actual moment where the Amazonia assume a role in the international view. Works about synthesis, characterization and uses of nuclear materials and elements are presented. (C.G.C.)

  2. DNA barcoding survey of Trichoderma diversity in soil and litter of the Colombian lowland Amazonian rainforest reveals Trichoderma strigosellum sp. nov. and other species

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lopez-Quintero, C.A.; Atanasova, L.; Franco-Molano, A.E.; Gams, W.; Komon-Zelazowska, M.; Theelen, B.; Muller, W.H.; Boekhout, T.; Druzhinina, I.

    2013-01-01

    The diversity of Trichoderma (Hypocreales, Ascomycota) colonizing leaf litter as well as the rhizosphere of Garcinia macrophylla (Clusiaceae) was investigated in primary and secondary rain forests in Colombian Amazonia. DNA barcoding of 107 strains based on the internal transcribed spacers 1 and 2

  3. The role of Amazonian anthropogenic soils in shifting cultivation: learning from farmers’ rationales

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Braga Junqueira, A.; Almekinders, C.J.M.; Stomph, T.J.; Clement, C.R.; Struik, P.C.

    2016-01-01

    We evaluated farmers’ rationales to understand their decision making in relation to the use of fertile anthropogenic soils, i.e., Amazonian dark earths (ADE), and for dealing with changes in shifting cultivation in Central Amazonia. We analyzed qualitative information from 196 interviews with

  4. Anaplasma marginale infection in cattle from south-western Amazonia Infecção por Anaplasma marginale em bovinos na Amazônia Sul Ocidental, Brasil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luciana Gatto Brito

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available The present study provides the first epidemiological data regarding infection by Anaplasma marginale in cattle reared in south-western Brazilian Amazonia. One simple procedure was adapted for the extraction of DNA from blood clots collected in seven microregions of Rondônia State and two mesoregions of Acre State. PCR method was used to asses the frequency of A. marginale infections in 4 to12-month-old cattle. The cattle infection was investigated by polymerase chain reaction (PCR using the specific primer "msp5" for A. marginale. The DNA amplifications revealed that the mean frequency of A. marginale infection was 98.6% (1,627/1,650 in samples from Rondonia, and 92.87% (208/225 in samples from Acre. The high frequency of A. marginale infections in 4 to 12-month-old cattle indicate a situation of enzootic stability in the studied areas and are comparable to those detected by immunodiagnosis in different endemic regions in Brazil. The DNA extraction of clotted blood method described here can be used for epidemiological studies on anaplasmosis and other bovine hemoparasites.O presente estudo fornece os primeiros dados epidemiológicos relativos a infecção por Anaplasma marginale em bovinos criados na Amazônia Sul Ocidental brasileira. Foi adaptado um procedimento simples para a extração de DNA a partir de coágulos sanguíneos coletados em sete microrregiões do estado de Rondônia e duas mesoregiões do estado do Acre. A técnica da reação em cadeia da polimerase (PCR foi aplicada para avaliar a freqüência da infecção por A. marginale em bovinos com idade entre 4 e 12 meses. Após a extração do DNA de cada amostra, a infecção nos bovinos foi investigada pela amplificação do gene "msp5" de A. marginale. As técnicas de amplificação do DNA revelaram que a freqüência de infecção por A. marginale foi de 98,6% (1.627/1.650 nas amostras provenientes de Rondônia e de 92,87% (208/225 nas amostras do Acre. A alta freqüência da

  5. Climate risks to agriculture in Amazon arc-of-deforestation create incentives to conserve local forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa, M. H.; Fleck, L. C.; Cohn, A.; Abrahão, G. M.; Brando, P. M.; Coe, M. T.; Fu, R.; Lawrence, D.; Pires, G. F.; Pousa, R.; Soares, B. Filh

    2017-12-01

    Intensification of agriculture is a necessary condition for sustainably meeting global food demands without increasing deforestation. In southern Amazonia, a region that produces 7% of the world's soybeans, double cropping has become the preferred system for the intensification of agriculture, which is essentially rainfed. Rainy season is shortening in the region, due to climate change, and is predicted to become shorter in the future. The climate risks are worsened by the region's land use change. This increases the climate risk and even threat the intensive double-cropping agriculture that is currently practiced in that region, with potential perverse consequences to everyone. Repeated or widespread climate-driven crop failure could prompt a return to the single cropping system or even cropland abandonment. A shift to single cropping could decrease the agriculture output in this critical region, push up global food prices and heighten incentives to convert regional ecosystems to agricultural land. Further agricultural expansion into ecosystems would increase climate change. The more forest lost, the higher the climate risk will be, due to climate feedbacks from deforestation itself, triggering a spiraling decline of the rainforests and rainfall over southern Amazonia and other critical agricultural regions known to depend on the forests of Amazonia for rainfall. We show that there are economic and social reasons to preserve the forests, and it is in the best interest of the agribusiness, local governments and people, to conserve the remaining forests. The adaptation and mitigation needs, and policies to reconcile production and protection while mitigating supply chains risks are also discussed.

  6. Morphological and genetic diversity of camu-camu [Myrciaria dubia (Kunth) McVaugh] in the Peruvian Amazon

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Šmíd, J.; Kalousková, M.; Mandák, Bohumil; Houška, Jakub; Chládková, A.; Pinedo, M.; Lojka, B.

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 12, č. 6 (2017), s. 1-15, č. článku e0179886. E-ISSN 1932-6203 Institutional support: RVO:67985939 Keywords : Myricaria dubia * genetic diversity * Amazonia Subject RIV: EF - Botanics OBOR OECD: Plant sciences, botany Impact factor: 2.806, year: 2016

  7. Dawestrema cycloancistrium (Monogenea) from the head pores of arapaimas

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Santos, C. P.; Da Silva, M.T.; Moravec, František

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 125, č. 2 (2017), s. 93-100 ISSN 0177-5103 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : Amazonia * Arapaima gigas * Brazil * Freshwater fish * Monogenea * Parasite * Peru * Pirarucu Subject RIV: GJ - Animal Vermins ; Diseases, Veterinary Medicine OBOR OECD: Veterinary science Impact factor: 1.549, year: 2016

  8. The odd man out? Might climate explain the lower tree alpha-diversity of African rain forests relative to Amazonian rain forests?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Parmentier, I.; Malhi, Y.; Senterre, B.; Whittaker, R.J.; Alonso, A.; Balinga, M.P.B.; Bakayoko, A.; Bongers, F.J.J.M.; Chatelain, C.; Comiskey, J.; Cortay, R.; Djuikouo Kamdem, M.N.; Doucet, J.L.; Gauier, L.; Hawthorne, W.D.; Issembe, Y.A.; Kouamé, F.N.; Kouka, L.; Leal, M.E.; Lejoly, J.; Lewis, S.L.; Newbery, D.; Nusbaumer, L.; Parren, M.P.E.; Peh, K.S.H.; Phillips, O.L.; Sheil, D.; Sonké, B.; Sosef, M.S.M.; Sunderland, T.; Stropp, J.; Steege, ter H.; Swaine, M.; Tchouto, P.; Gemerden, van B.S.; Valkenburg, van J.; Wöll, H.

    2007-01-01

    1. Comparative analyses of diversity variation among and between regions allow testing of alternative explanatory models and ideas. Here, we explore the relationships between the tree alpha-diversity of small rain forest plots in Africa and in Amazonia and climatic variables, to test the explanatory

  9. CCN activity and organic hygroscopicity of aerosols downwind of an urban region in central Amazonia: seasonal and diel variations and impact of anthropogenic emissions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Thalman

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available During the Observations and Modeling of the Green Ocean Amazon (GoAmazon2014/5 campaign, size-resolved cloud condensation nuclei (CCN spectra were characterized at a research site (T3 60 km downwind of the city of Manaus, Brazil, in central Amazonia for 1 year (12 March 2014 to 3 March 2015. Particle hygroscopicity (κCCN and mixing state were derived from the size-resolved CCN spectra, and the hygroscopicity of the organic component of the aerosol (κorg was then calculated from κCCN and concurrent chemical composition measurements. The annual average κCCN increased from 0.13 at 75 nm to 0.17 at 171 nm, and the increase was largely due to an increase in sulfate volume fraction. During both wet and dry seasons, κCCN, κorg, and particle composition under background conditions exhibited essentially no diel variations. The constant κorg of ∼ 0. 15 is consistent with the largely uniform and high O : C value (∼ 0. 8, indicating that the aerosols under background conditions are dominated by the aged regional aerosol particles consisting of highly oxygenated organic compounds. For air masses strongly influenced by urban pollution and/or local biomass burning, lower values of κorg and organic O : C atomic ratio were observed during night, due to accumulation of freshly emitted particles, dominated by primary organic aerosol (POA with low hygroscopicity, within a shallow nocturnal boundary layer. The O : C, κorg, and κCCN increased from the early morning hours and peaked around noon, driven by the formation and aging of secondary organic aerosol (SOA and dilution of POA emissions into a deeper boundary layer, while the development of the boundary layer, which leads to mixing with aged particles from the residual layer aloft, likely also contributed to the increases. The hygroscopicities associated with individual organic factors, derived from PMF (positive matrix factorization analysis of AMS (aerosol mass

  10. Carbon stocks and dynamics under improved tropical pasture and silvopastoral

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mosquera Vidal, O.; Buurman, P.; Ramirez, B.L.; Amezquita, M.C.

    2012-01-01

    To evaluate the effect of land use change on soil organic carbon, the carbon contents and stocks of primary forest, degraded pasture, and four improved pasture systems in Colombian Amazonia were compared in a flat and a sloping landscape. The improved pastures were Brachiaria humidicola, and

  11. The development of the Amazonian mega-wetland (Miocene; Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hoorn, C.; Wesselingh, F.P.; Hovikoski, J.; Guerrero, J.; Hoorn, C.; Wesselingh, F.P.

    2010-01-01

    The scenery of Western Amazonia once consisted of fluvial systems that originated on the Amazonian Craton and were directed towards the sub-Andean zone and the Caribbean. In the course of the Early Miocene these fluvial systems were largely replaced by lakes, swamps, tidal channels and marginal

  12. Increasing carbon storage in intact African tropical forests

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lewis, S.L.; Lopez-Gonzalez, G.; Sonké, B.; Affum-Baffoe, K.; Ewango, C.E.N.

    2009-01-01

    The response of terrestrial vegetation to a globally changing environment is central to predictions of future levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide1, 2. The role of tropical forests is critical because they are carbon-dense and highly productive3, 4. Inventory plots across Amazonia show that

  13. Bibliography on Cold Regions Science and Technology Volume 53, Part 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    1999-12-01

    Arctic snow cover information for hydrological investiga - Wright, J.R.53-3036Designing network partitions to improve maintenance Tout- Wohtman,53-3036...832 [1998,eng] 53-1703 Amazonia Effect of dissolved NaCI on freezing curves of kaolinite, moat- Ice complex and cryoplanation terraces on Big Lyakhovsky

  14. Literatura y antropologia: arawak y caribes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patrick Bouletreau

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Los mitos caribes están estrechamente ligados al mar.  originario de las mesetas amazónicas del alto Brasil, ese pueblo emigro durante generaciones descendiendo en un primer momento a la amazonia para esparcirse sobre las costas de Guyana y de Venezuela.

  15. Variation in soil fertility influences cycle dynamics and crop diversity in shifting cultivation systems

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Braga Junqueira, A.; Stomph, T.J.; Clement, C.R.; Struik, P.C.

    2016-01-01

    Smallholder farming in Amazonia is practised mostly through shifting cultivation, which under low population pressure is well adapted to the low-fertility soils that predominate in uplands and to the lack of external inputs. In this paper we investigate the effects of soil heterogeneity (in terms of

  16. Methane airborne measurements and comparison to global models during BARCA

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Beck, Veronika; Chen, Huilin; Gerbig, Christoph; Bergamaschi, Peter; Bruhwiler, Lori; Houweling, Sander; Rockmann, Thomas; Kolle, Olaf; Steinbach, Julia; Koch, Thomas; Sapart, Celia J.; van der Veen, Carina; Frankenberg, Christian; Andreae, Meinrat O.; Artaxo, Paulo; Longo, Karla M.; Wofsy, Steven C.

    2012-01-01

    Tropical regions, especially the Amazon region, account for large emissions of methane (CH4). Here, we present CH4 observations from two airborne campaigns conducted within the BARCA (Balanco Atmosferico Regional de Carbono na Amazonia) project in the Amazon basin in November 2008 (end of the dry

  17. High-accuracy continuous airborne measurements of greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4) using the cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) technique

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Chen, H.; Winderlich, J.; Gerbig, C.; Hoefer, A.; Rella, C. W.; Crosson, E. R.; Van Pelt, A. D.; Steinbach, J.; Kolle, O.; Beck, V.; Daube, B. C.; Gottlieb, E. W.; Chow, V. Y.; Santoni, G. W.; Wofsy, S. C.

    2010-01-01

    High-accuracy continuous measurements of greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4) during the BARCA (Balancao Atmosferico Regional de Carbono na Amazonia) phase B campaign in Brazil in May 2009 were accomplished using a newly available analyzer based on the cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) technique. This

  18. Carbon recovery dynamics following disturbance by selective logging in Amazonian forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Piponiot, Camille; Sist, Plinio; Mazzei, Lucas; Peña-Claros, Marielos; Putz, Francis E; Rutishauser, Ervan; Shenkin, Alexander; Ascarrunz, Nataly; de Azevedo, Celso P; Baraloto, Christopher; França, Mabiane; Guedes, Marcelino; Honorio Coronado, Eurídice N; d'Oliveira, Marcus VN; Ruschel, Ademir R; da Silva, Kátia E; Doff Sotta, Eleneide; de Souza, Cintia R; Vidal, Edson; West, Thales AP; Hérault, Bruno

    2016-01-01

    When 2 Mha of Amazonian forests are disturbed by selective logging each year, more than 90 Tg of carbon (C) is emitted to the atmosphere. Emissions are then counterbalanced by forest regrowth. With an original modelling approach, calibrated on a network of 133 permanent forest plots (175 ha total) across Amazonia, we link regional differences in climate, soil and initial biomass with survivors’ and recruits’ C fluxes to provide Amazon-wide predictions of post-logging C recovery. We show that net aboveground C recovery over 10 years is higher in the Guiana Shield and in the west (21 ±3 Mg C ha-1) than in the south (12 ±3 Mg C ha-1) where environmental stress is high (low rainfall, high seasonality). We highlight the key role of survivors in the forest regrowth and elaborate a comprehensive map of post-disturbance C recovery potential in Amazonia. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.21394.001 PMID:27993185

  19. Impact of Manaus City on the Amazon Green Ocean atmosphere: Ozone production, precursor sensitivity and aerosol load

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kuhn, U.; Ganzeveld, L.N.

    2010-01-01

    As a contribution to the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia – Cooperative LBA Airborne Regional Experiment (LBA-CLAIRE-2001) field campaign in the heart of the Amazon Basin, we analyzed the temporal and spatial dynamics of the urban plume of Manaus City during the wet-to-dry

  20. Canopy-scale biophysical controls on transpiration and evaporation in the Amazon Basin

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mallick, Kaniska; Trebs, Ivonne; Bøgh, Eva

    2016-01-01

    to directly quantify the canopy-scale biophysical controls on λET and λEE over multiple plant functional types (PFTs) in the Amazon Basin. Combining data from six LBA (Large-scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia) eddy covariance tower sites and a TR-driven physically based modeling approach, we...

  1. Transparency, consultation and conflict: Assessing the micro-level risks surrounding the drive to develop Peru's Amazonian oil and gas resources

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haselip, James Arthur

    2011-01-01

    . In the case of Peru, this is especially relevant to the vast areas of ecologically sensitive and previously under-developed Amazonia that are now under concession to oil and gas companies. Low levels of industry transparency combined with a lack of uniform free, prior and informed consent are exacerbating...

  2. Napoleon Bonaparte and the fate of an Amazonian rat: new data on the taxonomy of Mesomys hispidus (Rodentia: Echimyidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orlando, Ludovic; Mauffrey, Jean-François; Cuisin, Jacques; Patton, James L; Hänni, Catherine; Catzeflis, François

    2003-04-01

    The spiny rat Mesomys hispidus is one of many South American rodents that lack adequate taxonomic definition. The few sampled populations of this broadly distributed trans-Amazonian arboreal rat have come from widely separated regions and are typically highly divergent. The holotype was described in 1817 by A.-G. Desmarest, after Napoleon's army brought it to Paris following the plunder of Lisbon in 1808; however, the locality of origin has remained unknown. Here we examine the taxonomic status of this species by direct comparison of 50 extant individuals with the holotype at the morphometric and genetic levels, the latter based on 331 bp of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene retrieved from a small skin fragment of the holotype with ancient DNA technology. Extensive sequence divergence is present among samples of M. hispidus collected from throughout its range, from French Guiana across Amazonia to Bolivia and Peru, with at least seven mitochondrial clades recognized (average divergence of 7.7% Kimura 2-parameter distance). Sequence from the holotype is, however, only weakly divergent from those of recent samples from French Guiana. Moreover, the holotype clusters with greater that 99% posterior probability with samples from this part of Amazonia in a discriminant analysis based on 22 cranial and dental measurements. Thus, we suggest that the holotype was originally obtained in eastern Amazonia north of the Amazon River, most likely in the Brazilian state of Amapá. Despite the high level of sequence diversity and marked morphological differences in size across the range of M. hispidus, we continue to regard this assemblage as a single species until additional samples and analyses suggest otherwise. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science (USA)

  3. Amazon boundary layer aerosol concentration sustained by vertical transport during rainfall

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wang, Jian; Krejci, Radovan; Giangrande, Scott; Kuang, Chongai; Barbosa, Henrique M. J.; Brito, Joel; Carbone, Samara; Chi, Xuguang; Comstock, Jennifer; Ditas, Florian; Lavric, Jost; Manninen, Hanna E.; Mei, Fan; Moran-Zuloaga, Daniel; Pöhlker, Christopher; Pöhlker, Mira L.; Saturno, Jorge; Schmid, Beat; Souza, Rodrigo A. F.; Springston, Stephen R.; Tomlinson, Jason M.; Toto, Tami; Walter, David; Wimmer, Daniela; Smith, James N.; Kulmala, Markku; Machado, Luiz A. T.; Artaxo, Paulo; Andreae, Meinrat O.; Petäjä, Tuukka; Martin, Scot T.

    2016-10-24

    A necessary prerequisite of cloud formation, aerosol particles represent one of the largest uncertainties in computer simulations of climate change1,2, in part because of a poor understanding of processes under natural conditions3,4. The Amazon rainforest is one of the few continental regions where aerosol particles and their precursors can be studied under near-natural conditions5-7. Cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) in clean Amazonia are mostly produced by the growth of smaller particles in the boundary layer8-10, whereas these smaller particles themselves 31 appear to be produced elsewhere5,11. Key questions are in what part of the atmosphere they might 32 be produced and what could be the transport processes that deliver them to the boundary layer, where they grow into CCN. Here, using recent aircraft measurements above central Amazonia, we show high concentrations of small particles in the lower free troposphere. The particle size spectrum shifts towards larger sizes with decreasing altitude, implying particle growth as air descends from the free troposphere towards Earth's surface. Complementary measurements at ground sites show that free tropospheric air having high concentrations of small particles (diameters of less than 50 nm) is transported into the boundary layer during precipitation events, both by strong convective downdrafts and by weaker downward motions in the trailing stratiform region. This vertical transport helps maintain the population of small particles and ultimately CCN in the boundary layer, thereby playing an important role in controlling the climate state under natural conditions. In contrast, this mechanism becomes masked under polluted conditions, which sometimes prevail at times in Amazonia as well as over other tropical continental regions5,12.

  4. Amazonia: Burning and global climate impacts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Molion, L.C.B.

    1991-01-01

    In recent years, humans have been playing a major role in reducing the natural forest cover in the tropics through different forms of slash and burn. The most serious destruction, it is said, is occurring in the Amazon, which is the largest expanse of tropical forest remaining on the planet. This chapter reviews briefly the causes and the extent of Amazonian deforestation and focuses on its global and local climate impacts. In addition, the effects of loss of diversity and need to preserve Indian cultures and societies are briefly discussed

  5. Notas sobre a composição arbóreo-arbustiva de uma fisionomia das savanas de Roraima, Amazônia Brasileira Notes on the woody composition of a vegetation physionomy of the Roraima's savannas, Brazilian Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reinaldo Imbrozio Barbosa

    2005-06-01

    Full Text Available Foi realizado um inventário florístico das espécies arbóreo-arbustivas presentes em uma das unidades de vegetação que compõem a paisagem de savanas do Estado de Roraima, extremo norte da Amazônia brasileira. Esta unidade é caracterizada por ser densamente colonizada por ninhos do cupim Cornitermes ovatus Emerson. Foram observadas 29 espécies (15 famílias botânicas em três localidades utilizadas para a amostragem. O total de espécies, por localidade, variou de 12 a 20. As espécies mais abundantes foram Byrsonima verbascifolia (L. DC. e Mimosa microcephala Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd. (subarbustivas, Byrsonima cf. intermedia A. Juss. e Randia formosa (Jack. K. Schum. (arbustivas e, Byrsonima crassifolia (L. H.B.K. e Curatella americana L. (arbóreas. Oito espécies são comuns às três localidades. A diversidade medida pelo Índice de Shannon (H' foi baixa para todos os locais amostrados (A floristic inventory of woody species was carried out in one of the vegetation units that compose the savannas landscape of the Roraima State, northernmost of Brazilian Amazonia. This unit is characterized by dense colonization of nests of termites Cornitermes ovatus Emerson. Twenty nine woody species were observed (15 botany families in three localities used for sampling. The total of species varied from 12 to 20 by locality. The most abundant species were Byrsonima verbascifolia (L. DC. and Mimosa microcephala Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd. (dwarf shrubs, Byrsonima cf. intermedia A. Juss. and Randia formosa (Jack. K. Schum. (shrubby and, Byrsonima crassifolia (L. H.B.K. and Curatella americana L. (arboreal. Eight species are common to all localities. Diversity measured by the Index of Shannon (H' was low for all the areas sampled (<0.90 indicating high specimens concentration in few species. The Index of Sørensen indicated similarities (± 0.60 among studied areas, suggesting a group of landscapes with common plant diversity, representing a same

  6. The Late Miocene paleogeography of the Amazon Basin and the evolution of the Amazon River system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Latrubesse, Edgardo M.; Cozzuol, Mario; da Silva-Caminha, Silane A. F.; Rigsby, Catherine A.; Absy, Maria Lucia; Jaramillo, Carlos

    2010-05-01

    On the basis of paleontological content (vertebrates and palynology) and facies analysis from river banks, road cuts, and three wells, we have assigned the uppermost levels of the Solimões Formation in western Amazonia, Brazil, to the Late Miocene. The vertebrate fossil record from outcropping sediments is assigned to the Huayquerian-Mesopotamian mammalian biozones, spanning 9-6.5 Ma. Additionally, we present results that demonstrate that deposits in Peruvian Amazonia attributed to Miocene tidal environments are actually fluvial sediments that have been misinterpreted (both environmentally and chronologically) by several authors. The entire Late Miocene sequence was deposited in a continental environment within a subsiding basin. The facies analysis, fossil fauna content, and palynological record indicate that the environment of deposition was dominated by avulsive rivers associated with megafan systems, and avulsive rivers in flood basins (swamps, lakes, internal deltas, and splays). Soils developed on the flatter, drier areas, which were dominated by grasslands and gallery forest in a tropical to subtropical climate. These Late Miocene sediments were deposited from westward of the Purus arch up to the border of Brazil with Peru (Divisor Ranges) and Bolivia (Pando block). Eastward of the Iquitos structural high, however, more detailed studies, including vertebrate paleontology, need to be performed to calibrate with more precision the ages of the uppermost levels of the Solimões Formation. The evolution of the basin during the late Miocene is mainly related to the tectonic behavior of the Central Andes (˜ 3°-15°S). At approximately 5 Ma, a segment of low angle of subduction was well developed in the Nazca Plate, and the deformation in the Subandean foreland produced the inland reactivation of the Divisor/Contamana Ranges and tectonic arrangements in the Eastern Andes. During the Pliocene southwestern Brazilian Amazonia ceased to be an effective sedimentary

  7. Biodiversity and its drivers and pressures of change in the wetlands of the Upper Paraguay–Guaporé Ecotone, Mato Grosso (Brazil)

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Silva, Da Carolina Joana; Silva Sousa, Keid Nolan; Ikeda-Castrillon, Solange Kimie; Jongman, R.H.G.

    2015-01-01

    The biogeographic regions Amazonia and the Pantanal, two areas of high biodiversity importance, have a link to each other through an ecotone formed by the upstream part of the rivers Paraguay and Guaporé. The two river basins share part of their flora and fauna species and in this ecotone species

  8. Implications of CO2 pooling on d13C of ecosystem respiration and leaves in Amazonian forest

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Araujo, de A.C.; Ometto, J.P.H.B.; Dolman, A.J.; Kruijt, B.; Waterloo, M.J.; Ehleringer, J.R.

    2008-01-01

    The carbon isotope of a leaf (d13Cleaf) is generally more negative in riparian zones than in areas with low soil moisture content or rainfall input. In Central Amazonia, the small-scale topography is composed of plateaus and valleys, with plateaus generally having a lower soil moisture status than

  9. Research in Biological and Medical Sciences Including Biochemistry, Communicable Disease and Immunology, Internal Medicine, Physiology, Psychiatry, Surgery, and Veterinary Medicine. Volume 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    1979-09-01

    further investiga - tion to ascertain whether it is a stable deviation and whether it occurs sufficiently often to be of value in vaccine production...in Sa’de na Amazonia (ANEPS - Sio Paulo, Brazil) 1538 ( CISCv ACCISSION* I, r~v, OF lsu ASPOIT CO-TwOL ?NOOL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY WORK UNIT SUMMARY

  10. Ecosystem resilience despite large-scale altered hydroclimatic conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    G. E. Ponce Campos; M. S. Moran; A. Huete; Y. Zhang; C. Bresloff; T.E. Huxman; D. Eamus; D. D. Bosch; A. R. Buda; S. A. Gunter; T. Heartsill Scalley; S. G. Kitchen; M. P. McClaran; W. H. McNab; D. S. Montoya; J. A. Morgan; D. P. C. Peters; E. J. Sadler; M. S. Seyfried; P. J. Starks

    2013-01-01

    Climate change is predicted to increase both drought frequency and duration, and when coupled with substantial warming, will establish a new hydroclimatological model for many regions1. Largescale, warm droughts have recently occurred in North America, Africa, Europe, Amazonia and Australia, resulting in major effects on terrestrial ecosystems, carbon balance and food...

  11. Caracterização físico-química de polpas de frutos da Amazônia e sua correlação com a atividade anti-radical livre Physical and chemical characterization of fruit pulps from Amazonia and their correlation to free radical scavenger activity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gisele André Baptista Canuto

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Características físico-químicas (cor, pH, acidez total titulável, sólidos solúveis totais, conteúdo de lipídios e umidade e níveis de compostos bioativos (ácido ascórbico, fenólicos totais foram determinados em quinze amostras de polpas de frutos procedentes da região Amazônica (abiu, acerola, açaí, araçá-boi, bacaba, bacuri, buriti, cajá, cajarana, caju, cupuaçu, graviola, murici, noni e tamarindo. A atividade de radicais livres foi avaliada pelo método de ABTS. Algumas polpas apresentaram alta potencialidade antioxidante, associada com a atividade antirradicais livres obtida e os conteúdos dos componentes bioativos como compostos fenólicos e ácido ascórbico, destacando-se acerola e acaí. O conteúdo total de compostos fenólicos foi correlacionado à capacidade antioxidante das polpas.Physical and chemical characteristics (color, pH, titratable acidity, total soluble solids, lipid content, moisture and levels of bioactive compounds (ascorbic acid, total phenolics were determined in fifteen samples of fruit pulps from Amazonia (abiu, acerola, açaí, araça-boi, bacaba, bacuri, buriti, cajá, cajarana, caju, cupuaçu, graviola, murici, noni e tamarindo. The free radical scavenger activity was evaluated by the ABTS assay. Some pulps presented high antioxidant potential, associated with the free radical scavenger activity measured and the content of bioactive components, such as phenolic compounds and ascorbic acid, especialy in acerola and açaí. The total phenolic content was correlated to antioxidant capacity of pulps.

  12. Basin-Wide Amazon Forest Tree Mortality From a Large 2005 Storm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Negron Juarez, R. I.; Chambers, J. Q.; Guimaraes, G.; Zeng, H.; Raupp, C.; Marra, D. M.; Ribeiro, G.; Saatchi, S. S.; Higuchi, N.

    2010-12-01

    Blowdowns are a recurrent characteristic of Amazon forests and are produced, among others, by squall lines. Squall lines are aligned clusters (typical length of 1000 km, width of 200 km) of deep convective cells that produce heavy rainfall during the dry season and significant rainfall during the wet season. These squall lines (accompanied by intense downbursts from convective cells) have been associated with large blowdowns characterized by uprooted, snapped trees, and trees being dragged down by other falling trees. Most squall lines in Amazonia form along the northeastern coast of South America as sea breeze-induced instability lines and propagate inside the continent. They occur frequently (~4 times per month), and can reach the central and even extreme western parts of Amazonia. Squall lines can also be generated inside the Amazon and propagate toward the equator. In January 2005 a squall line propagated from south to north across the entire Amazon basin producing widespread forest tree mortality and contributed to the elevated mortality observed that year. Over the Manaus region (3.4 x104 km2), disturbed forest patches generated by the squall produced a mortality of 0.3-0.5 million trees, equivalent to 30% of the observed annual deforestation reported in 2005 over the same area. The elevated mortality observed in the Central Amazon in 2005 is unlikely to be related to the 2005 Amazon drought since drought did not affect Central or Eastern Amazonia. Assuming a similar rate of forest mortality across the basin, the squall line could have potentially produced tree mortality estimated at 542 ± 121 million trees, equivalent to 23% of the mean annual biomass accumulation estimated for these forests. Our results highlight the vulnerability of Amazon trees to wind-driven mortality associated with convective storms. This vulnerability is likely to increase in a warming climate with models projecting an increase in storm intensity.

  13. Formaldehyde and Glyoxal Measurements as Tracers of Oxidation Chemistry in the Amazon Basin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thayer, M. P.; Dorris, M. R.; Keutsch, F. N.; Springston, S. R.; Jimenez, J. L.; Palm, B. B.; Seco, R.; Kim, S.; Yee, L.; Wernis, R. A.; Goldstein, A. H.; Isaacman-VanWertz, G. A.; Liu, Y.; Martin, S. T.

    2015-12-01

    Formaldehyde (HCHO) and glyoxal (CHOCHO) are important tracers for oxidative processes in the atmosphere such as oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and production of HO2 radicals by photolysis or reaction with OH. Products of VOC oxidation and radical cycling, such as aerosols and tropospheric ozone, have direct impacts on human health. During the Green Ocean Amazon campaign (GoAmazon2014/5), HCHO and CHOCHO measurements were obtained together with OH, RO2+HO2, CO, CO2, O3, NOx, (o)VOCs, and aerosol particle size distribution. HCHO concentration was measured by the Madison FIber Laser-Induced Fluorescence (FILIF) instrument, while CHOCHO concentrations were collected by the Madison Laser-Induced Phosphorescence (Mad-LIP) instrument. Here we present data collected during 2014 at the T3 field site, 60 km to the west of Manaus, Brazil (3°12'47.82"S, 60°35'55.32"W). The T3 GoAmazon site varies between sampling strictly pristine (biogenic) emissions and influence from anthropogenic emissions from Manaus, depending on meteorological conditions. Here we present overall trends and regimes observed during the campaign, with a focus on HCHO, CHOCHO, and related species within the context of VOC oxidation and secondary pollutant production. We acknowledge the support from the Central Office of the Large Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA), the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia (INPA), and the Universidade do Estado do Amazonia (UEA). The work was conducted under 001030/2012-4 of the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq). Data were collected from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science user facility sponsored by the Office of Biological and Environmental Research. Additionally, we acknowledge logistical support from the ARM Climate Research Facility. Additional funding from: NSF GRFP DGE-1256259, and NSF AGS-1051338

  14. Human impacts on soil carbon dynamics of deep-rooted Amazonian forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nepstad, Daniel C.; Stone, Thomas A.; Davidson, Eric A.

    1994-01-01

    Deforestation and logging degrade more forest in eastern and southern Amazonia than in any other region of the world. This forest alteration affects regional hydrology and the global carbon cycle, but our current understanding of these effects is limited by incomplete knowledge of tropical forest ecosystems. It is widely agreed that roots are concentrated near the soil surface in moist tropical forests, but this generalization incorrectly implies that deep roots are unimportant in water and C budgets. Our results indicate that half of the closed-canopy forests of Brazilian Amazonic occur where rainfall is highly seasonal, and these forests rely on deeply penetrating roots to extract soil water. Pasture vegetation extracts less water from deep soil than the forest it replaces, thus increasing rates of drainage and decreasing rates of evapotranspiration. Deep roots are also a source of modern carbon deep in the soil. The soils of the eastern Amazon contain more carbon below 1 m depth than is present in above-ground biomass. As much as 25 percent of this deep soil C could have annual to decadal turnover times and may be lost to the atmosphere following deforestation. We compared the importance of deep roots in a mature, evergreen forest with an adjacent man-made pasture, the most common type of vegetation on deforested land in Amazonia. The study site is near the town of Paragominas, in the Brazilian state of Para, with a seasonal rainfall pattern and deeply-weathered, kaolinitic soils that are typical for large portions of Amazonia. Root distribution, soil water extraction, and soil carbon dynamics were studied using deep auger holes and shafts in each ecosystem, and the phenology and water status of the leaf canopies were measured. We estimated the geographical distribution of deeply-rooting forests using satellite imagery, rainfall data, and field measurements.

  15. Paleogeographic Evolution of the Late Neoproterozoic and Early Phanerozoic with New Paleomagnetic Constraints from West African Craton

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robert, B.; Besse, J.; Blein, O.; Greff-Lefftz, M.; Baudin, T.; Fernando, L.; Meslouh, S.; Belbadaoui, M.

    2015-12-01

    The paleogeographic evolution of the late Neoproterozoic and early Phanerozoic is dominated by the dispersion of Rodinia and the assembly of Gondwana. The timing of these two episodes is still highly debated, partly due to the low number of good quality paleomagnetic data. In order to better constrain the paleogeography for this epoch, we bring new paleomagnetic data on volcanic series from the West African Craton (WAC), which is a key block to understand the evolution of these two supercontinents. We have sampled well dated pyroclastic and lava flows from the groups of Ouarzazate (upper Ediacaran) and Taroudant (lower Cambrian) in the Anti-Atlas (Morocco). 500 samples from 105 sites were thermally demagnetized in laboratory. Our results highlight two major groups of directions, mainly carried by minerals of the titano-hematite family. Magnetite may also contribute sometimes to the magnetization. The first group displays a single polarity direction, with a shallow inclination and a south-east declination. This direction close to the expected direction derived from the Permo-Carboniferous segment of the Gondwana apparent polar wander path (APWP) is due to a remagnetization acquired during the Kiaman reversed polarity superchron (320-262Ma). The second group, observed in the Ouarzazate and Taroudant groups, consists of a dual polarity high inclination direction and may represent the characteristic magnetization. On the basis of geologic and paleomagnetic data from literature, we constructed an APWP for both WAC and Amazonia between 615 and 530Ma, assuming these two blocks were already accreted. We found a paleomagnetic solution in which Laurentia and WAC-Amazonia remained attached from ~615Ma up to the late Ediacaran, Laurentia remaining at low latitude during this period. Around ~550Ma, WAC-Amazonia separated from Laurentia and finally collided with the other Gondwanan blocks during the lower Cambrian, marking the final accretion of Gondwana.

  16. Changing patterns of fire occurrence in proximity to forest edges, roads and rivers between NW Amazonian countries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armenteras, Dolors; Barreto, Joan Sebastian; Tabor, Karyn; Molowny-Horas, Roberto; Retana, Javier

    2017-06-01

    Tropical forests in NW Amazonia are highly threatened by the expansion of the agricultural frontier and subsequent deforestation. Fire is used, both directly and indirectly, in Brazilian Amazonia to propagate deforestation and increase forest accessibility. Forest fragmentation, a measure of forest degradation, is also attributed to fire occurrence in the tropics. However, outside the Brazilian Legal Amazonia the role of fire in increasing accessibility and forest fragmentation is less explored. In this study, we compared fire regimes in five countries that share this tropical biome in the most north-westerly part of the Amazon Basin (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil). We analysed spatial differences in the timing of peak fire activity and in relation to proximity to roads and rivers using 12 years of MODIS active fire detections. We also distinguished patterns of fire in relation to forest fragmentation by analysing fire distance to the forest edge as a measure of fragmentation for each country. We found significant hemispheric differences in peak fire occurrence with the highest number of fires in the south in 2005 vs. 2007 in the north. Despite this, both hemispheres are equally affected by fire. We also found difference in peak fire occurrence by country. Fire peaked in February in Colombia and Venezuela, whereas it peaked in September in Brazil and Peru, and finally Ecuador presented two fire peaks in January and October. We confirmed the relationship between fires and forest fragmentation for all countries and also found significant differences in the distance between the fire and the forest edge for each country. Fires were associated with roads and rivers in most countries. These results can inform land use planning at the regional, national and subnational scales to minimize the contribution of road expansion and subsequent access to the Amazonian natural resources to fire occurrence and the associated deforestation and carbon emissions.

  17. Guayabero I: un sitio precerámico de la localidad Angostura II, San José del Guaviare Guayabero I: un sitio precerámico de la localidad Angostura II, San José del Guaviare

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Correal Gonzalo

    1990-09-01

    Full Text Available Archaeological excavation at the Guayabero I rock-shelter, considered the first stratified investigation of the preceramic period in the Colombian Amazonia, reveals human presence since c. a. 7000 B.P.  in the region. The Abrian type prismatic, concoid, triangular and retouched flakes, and the less abundant, terminal, disk-like, lateral and circular scrapers recovered from a brownish sandy soil are evidence of a preceramic occupation between 5000 and 2000 B.P. Scarce ceramic fragments found at the uppermost levels of the excavation, due to their similarity, only suggest possible relationships to ceramic traditions of the Araracuara and La Pedrera localities, within the same Amazon region. Pollen, seeds, ochre, and resins analysis will probably expand this first evidence of hunter-gatherers in the eastern tropical lowlands of Colombia. La excavación arqueológica en el abrigo rocoso Guayabero I, considerada como la primera investigación estratificada de un sitio precerámico en la Amazonia Colombiana, registra la presencia del hombre prehistórico a partir de c.a. 7000 A.P. Las lascas prismáticas, concoidales, triangulares y retocadas; y en menor frecuencia los raspadores circulares, discoidales y laterales, todos instrumentos de tipo Abriense recuperados de una capa de suelo arenoso pardusco, son evidencia de una ocupación precerámica en el sitio entre el 5000 y 2000 A.P. La reducida muestra de fragmentos cerámicos encontrados en los niveles más superficiales de la excavación, por su similaridad, recuerda las tradiciones cerámicas encontradas en las localidades de Araracuara y La Pedrera (región Amazónica. Muestras de polen, y análisis de semillas, ocre y resinas ampliarán esta primera evidencia de cazadores -recolectores en la región tropical de la Amazonia Colombiana.

  18. The Amazon Caboclo: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, Eugene Philip, Ed.

    1985-01-01

    This collection of papers provides a general sketch of the events and processes leading to the evolution and development of Caboclo culture in the Amazonia region of South America. Following the foreword and introduction, the book is divided into two parts. Part one contains historical background about the period from 1615 to 1920 within three…

  19. Annual Report Fiscal Year 2002 of the Secretary of the Army on Civil Works Activities (1 October 2001 - 30 September 2002)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2003-08-04

    Complete--1962 L488 Holt Co. D. D. No. 7 11.5 Complete--1955 R482 Burr Oak D. D. No. 3 8.2 Complete--1954 L476 Amazonia L. D. 10.8 Complete--1956 R460...studies; Miscellaneous activities - special investiga - tions, and Interagency Water Resources Development; Coordination with other Agencies, to include

  20. Tapeworms (Cestoda: Proteocephalidea) of teleost fi shes from the Amazon River in Peru: additional records as an evidence of unexplored species diversity

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    de Chambrier, A.; Kuchta, Roman; Scholz, Tomáš

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 122, č. 1 (2015), s. 149-163 ISSN 0035-418X R&D Projects: GA ČR GBP505/12/G112 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : Catfish * freshwater fish * Siluriformes * Peru * Pimelodidae * Amazonia * species diversity * faunal survey Subject RIV: GJ - Animal Vermins ; Diseases, Veterinary Medicine Impact factor: 0.431, year: 2015

  1. Evaluating multiple causes of persistent low microwave backscatter from Amazon forests after the 2005 drought

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steve Frolking; Stephen Hagen; Bobby Braswell; Tom Milliman; Christina Herrick; Seth Peterson; Dar Roberts; Michael Keller; Michael Palace; Krishna Prasad Vadrevu

    2017-01-01

    Amazonia has experienced large-scale regional droughts that affect forest productivity and biomass stocks. Space-borne remote sensing provides basin-wide data on impacts of meteorological anomalies, an important complement to relatively limited ground observations across the Amazon’s vast and remote humid tropical forests. Morning overpass QuikScat Ku-band microwave...

  2. Attraction of Chagas disease vectors (Triatominae) to artificial light sources in the canopy of primary Amazon rainforest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castro, Marcelo C M; Barrett, Toby V; Santos, Walter S; Abad-Franch, Fernando; Rafael, José A

    2010-12-01

    Adult triatomines occasionally fly into artificially lit premises in Amazonia. This can result in Trypanosoma cruzi transmission to humans either by direct contact or via foodstuff contamination, but the frequency of such behaviour has not been quantified. To address this issue, a light-trap was set 45 m above ground in primary rainforest near Manaus, state of Amazonas, Brazil and operated monthly for three consecutive nights over the course of one year (432 trap-hours). The most commonly caught reduviids were triatomines, including 38 Panstrongylus geniculatus, nine Panstrongylus lignarius, three Panstrongylus rufotuberculatus, five Rhodnius robustus, two Rhodnius pictipes, one Rhodnius amazonicus and 17 Eratyrus mucronatus. Males were collected more frequently than females. The only month without any catches was May. Attraction of most of the known local T. cruzi vectors to artificial light sources is common and year-round in the Amazon rainforest, implying that they may often invade premises built near forest edges and thus become involved in disease transmission. Consequently, effective Chagas disease prevention in Amazonia will require integrating entomological surveillance with the currently used epidemiological surveillance.

  3. Attraction of Chagas disease vectors (Triatominae to artificial light sources in the canopy of primary Amazon rainforest

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcelo CM Castro

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Adult triatomines occasionally fly into artificially lit premises in Amazonia. This can result in Trypanosoma cruzi transmission to humans either by direct contact or via foodstuff contamination, but the frequency of such behaviour has not been quantified. To address this issue, a light-trap was set 45 m above ground in primary rainforest near Manaus, state of Amazonas, Brazil and operated monthly for three consecutive nights over the course of one year (432 trap-hours. The most commonly caught reduviids were triatomines, including 38 Panstrongylus geniculatus, nine Panstrongylus lignarius, three Panstrongylus rufotuberculatus, five Rhodnius robustus, two Rhodnius pictipes, one Rhodnius amazonicus and 17 Eratyrus mucronatus. Males were collected more frequently than females. The only month without any catches was May. Attraction of most of the known local T. cruzi vectors to artificial light sources is common and year-round in the Amazon rainforest, implying that they may often invade premises built near forest edges and thus become involved in disease transmission. Consequently, effective Chagas disease prevention in Amazonia will require integrating entomological surveillance with the currently used epidemiological surveillance.

  4. Notas sobre aves de la Amazonia y Orinoquia Colombianas Notas sobre aves de la Amazonia y Orinoquia Colombianas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Borrero H. José Ignacio

    1960-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper a report is given concerning the distribution of some birds in the Colombian Amazonian and Orinoco drainages; also, some previous identifications are amended having at the present time more and better material recently collected and better facilities for studying. In addition, five new species. are recorded for the first time in the fauna of these regions and four new species and subespecies are added to the previous known list of Colombian birds. In this paper a report is given concerning the distribution of some birds in the Colombian Amazonian and Orinoco drainages; also, some previous identifications are amended having at the present time more and better material recently collected and better facilities for studying. In addition, five new species. are recorded for the first time in the fauna of these regions and four new species and subespecies are added to the previous known list of Colombian birds.

  5. Annual Report Fiscal Year 2003 of the Secretary of the Army on Civil Works Activities (1 October 2004 - 30 September 2005)

    Science.gov (United States)

    2006-08-25

    1954 L476 Amazonia L. D. 10.8 Complete—1956 R460-471 Elwood-Gladden L. D. 13.8 Complete—1968 L455 S. St. Joseph L. D. 15.6 Complete—1967 L443...sinkhole developed in January 2003 on the upstream face of the dam, and investiga - tions indicate seepage is the likely cause. Seasonal pool deviation

  6. Size and frequency of natural forest disturbances and the Amazon forest carbon balance

    Science.gov (United States)

    F.D.B. Espirito-Santo; M. Gloor; M. Keller; Y. Malhi; S. Saatchi; B. Nelson; R.C. Oliveira Junior; C. Pereira; J. Lloyd; S. Frolking; M. Palace; Y.E. Shimabukuro; V. Duarte; A. Monteagudo Mendoza; G. Lopez-Gonzalez; T.R. Baker; T.R. Feldpausch; R.J.W. Brienen; G.P. Asner; D.S. Boyd; O.L. Phillips

    2014-01-01

    Forest inventory studies in the Amazon indicate a large terrestrial carbon sink. However, field plots may fail to represent forest mortality processes at landscape-scales of tropical forests. Here we characterize the frequency distribution of disturbance events in natural forests from 0.01 ha to 2,651 ha size throughout Amazonia using a novel...

  7. Back of the Envelope Reasoning for Robust Quantitative Problem Solving

    Science.gov (United States)

    2007-12-31

    limited numeric vocabulary, for example, the Pirahã tribe in Amazonia [Gordon, 2004] and Munduruku [Pica et al., 2004], an Amazonian language... investigation of category structure: 1. Level of categorization: Rosch [1978] identifies three levels of categorization: subordinate, basic-level...Using Common Sense Knowledge to Overcome Brittleness and Knowledge Acquisition Bottlenecks. AI Magazine . Lenhart K. Schubert and Matthew Tong

  8. Selective logging and its relation to deforestation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregory P. Asner; Michael Keller; Marco Lentini; Frank Merry; Souza Jr. Carlos

    2009-01-01

    Selective logging is a major contributor to the social, economic, and ecological dynamics of Brazilian Amazonia. Logging activities have expanded from low-volume floodplain harvests in past centuries to high-volume operations today that take about 25 million m3 of wood from the forest each year. The most common high-impact conventional and often illegal logging...

  9. Florística e fitossociologia de uma floresta de vertente na Amazônia Central, Amazonas, Brasil Floristic and phytosociology of a slope forest in Central Amazonia, Amazonas, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arlem Nascimento de Oliveira

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available O estudo florístico e fitossociológico de árvores, palmeiras e lianas com diâmetro à altura do peito (DAP >10 cm, em uma floresta de vertente na Amazônia Central (2º35'45" S e 60º12'40" W, foi realizado empregando-se 20 parcelas de 50 x 10 m, distribuídas em dois transectos paralelos de 500 x 10 m. Foram registrados 771 indivíduos, pertencentes a 50 famílias, 120 gêneros e 239 espécies. Das espécies amostradas, 44% são "localmente raras". Sapotaceae, Lecythidaceae, Fabaceae, Caesalpiniaceae e Chrysobalanaceae constituíram as cinco famílias com maior riqueza de espécies e número de indivíduos. Dos 771 indivíduos amostrados, mais de 65% apresentaram DAP > 20 cm. As espécies Eschweilera bracteosa e Protium apiculatum apresentaram os maiores valores de IVI. Cerca de 83% das espécies encontram-se distribuídas aleatoriamente no hectare amostrado. O índice de diversidade Shannon-Wiener foi de 5,01 nats.indivíduo-1, com uniformidade de 0,91, valores altos no contexto de levantamentos semelhantes na região. A heterogeneidade edáfica e topográfica da área, as taxas de recrutamento de novos indivíduos e de espécies "localmente raras" à comunidade local, podem ter contribuído para as altas dissimilaridade (36,2% e diversidade florísticas documentadas neste estudo.The floristic and phytosociological study of trees, palms and lianas with diameter at breast height (DBH >10 cm in a forest slope in Central Amazonia (2º35'45 "S and 60º12'40" W was carried out using 20 plots of 50 x 10 m, distributed in two parallel transects of 500 x 10 m. A total of 771 plants were registered, belonging to 50 families, 120 genera and 239 species. Of the sampled species, 44% are locally rare. Families with the most species and number of individuals were Sapotaceae, Lecythidaceae, Fabaceae, Caesalpiniaceae and Chrysobalanaceae. More than 65% of the sampled plants had DBH > 20 cm. Eschweilera bracteosa and Protium apiculatum were the most

  10. The impact of rise of the Andes and Amazon landscape evolution on diversification of lowland terra-firme forest birds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aleixo, A.; Wilkinson, M. J.

    2011-12-01

    Since the 19th Century, the unmatched biological diversity of Amazonia has stimulated a diverse set of hypotheses accounting for patterns of species diversity and distribution in mega-diverse tropical environments. Unfortunately, the evidence supporting particular hypotheses to date is at best described as ambiguous, and no generalizations have emerged yet, mostly due to the lack of comprehensive comparative phylogeographic studies with thorough trans-Amazonian sampling of lineages. Here we report on spatial and temporal patterns of diversification estimated from mitochondrial gene trees for 31 lineages of birds associated with upland terra-firme forest, the dominant habitat in modern lowland Amazonia. The results confirm the pervasive role of Amazonian rivers as primary barriers separating sister lineages of birds, and a protracted spatio-temporal pattern of diversification, with a gradual reduction of earlier (1st and 2nd) and older (> 2 mya) splits associated with each lineage in an eastward direction (the easternmost tributaries of the Amazon, the Xingu and Tocantins Rivers, are not associated with any splits older than > 2 mya). This "younging-eastward" pattern may have an abiotic explanation related to landscape evolution. Triggered by a new pulse of Andean uplift, it has been proposed that modern Amazon basin landscapes may have evolved successively eastward, away from the mountain chain, starting ~10 mya. This process was likely based on the deposition of vast fluvial sediment masses, known as megafans, which apparently extended in series progressively eastward from Andean sources. The effects on drainage patterns are apparent from the location of axial rivers such as the Negro / Orinoco and Madeira which lie at the distal ends of major megafan ramparts at cratonic margins furthest from the Andes. Megafan extension plausibly explains the progressive extinction of the original Pebas wetland of west-central Amazonia by the present fluvial landsurfaces where

  11. Diatoms from the Colombian and Peruvian Amazon: the Genera Encyonema, Encyonopsis and Gomphonema (Cymbellales: Bacillariophyceae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amelia A Vouilloud

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Diatoms from the Colombian and Peruvian Amazon: the Genera Encyonema, Encyonopsis and Gomphonema (Cymbellales, Bacillariophyceae. The diatom flora of the Colombian and Peruvian Amazon is far less studied than the flora of the Brazilian sector of the basin. Here we present results related to the genera Encyonema, Encyonopsis and Gomphonema. Plankton and periphyton samples were collected in lotic and lentic waterbodies from the Amazonian-Andean region, the Amazon River, Japurá River and Porvenir River basins during 1993, 1994, 2001 and 2003. At each sampling station pH, temperature, water transparency and conductivity were registered. Samples were analyzed with phase contrast microscope (LM and scanning electron microscope (SEM. Ten taxa are new records for the area; Encyonema for the Peruvian and Colombian Amazon and Encyonopsis for the Colombian Sector. Encyonema neogracile var. tenuipunctatum, E. vulgare, Encyonopsis frequentis, Gomphonema augur var. sphaerophorum and G. contraturris are recorded for the first time in Colombia; Encyonema venezolanum and G. neoapiculatum in Colombia and Peru and the latter also for Amazonia. E. angustecapitatum was mentioned in Colombia before at a pond located at 3000m asl. We describe a new species from Porvenir River, Amazonas, Colombia: Encyonema amazonianum. Rev. Biol. Trop. 58 (1: 45-62. Epub 2010 March 01.La flora diatomológica de la Amazonia Colombiana y Peruana está mucho menos estudiada que la flora del sector brasilero. Se presentan los resultados de los géneros Encyonema, Encyonopsis y Gomphonema. Muestras de plancton y perifiton fueron colectadas en ambientes lóticos y lénticos de la región amazónica-andina, en los ríos Amazonas, Japurá y Porvenir durante 1993, 1994, 2001 y 2003. En cada estación de muestreo se realizaron mediciones de pH, temperatura, transparencia del agua y conductividad. Las muestras fueron analizadas con microscopio óptico con contraste de fases y microscopio electr

  12. Lg and Other Regional Phases in South America

    Science.gov (United States)

    1991-10-23

    de la dispersi6n de ondas superficiales, Tesis de Grado, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile. Herrmann, R. B. (1980). Q estimates...Altiplanoa; Cordillera de la Costa; Pianicie Costera; Cuenca Superior del Amazonias ; Lianuras Chaco-Benianas; Escudo Brasilego y el La cordillera de ...BrasileRo a partir de la duspersi6r de las ondas superficiales, resis de Grado, Universidad de Chile,

  13. Devils in action

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tellez C, Mauricio

    1995-01-01

    The history of a day of work is described to extinguish the fire in the wells of the Putumayo. Carta Petrolera accompanied to a group of firemen to the oil wells dynamited in the Putumayo that reduced in five thousand barrels the production of raw, they caused millionaire economic losses and they affected the environment of a corner of the Amazonia

  14. Deforestation in Amazonia impacts riverine carbon dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Langerwisch, Fanny; Walz, Ariane; Rammig, Anja; Tietjen, Britta; Thonicke, Kirsten; Cramer, Wolfgang

    2016-12-01

    Fluxes of organic and inorganic carbon within the Amazon basin are considerably controlled by annual flooding, which triggers the export of terrigenous organic material to the river and ultimately to the Atlantic Ocean. The amount of carbon imported to the river and the further conversion, transport and export of it depend on temperature, atmospheric CO2, terrestrial productivity and carbon storage, as well as discharge. Both terrestrial productivity and discharge are influenced by climate and land use change. The coupled LPJmL and RivCM model system (Langerwisch et al., 2016) has been applied to assess the combined impacts of climate and land use change on the Amazon riverine carbon dynamics. Vegetation dynamics (in LPJmL) as well as export and conversion of terrigenous carbon to and within the river (RivCM) are included. The model system has been applied for the years 1901 to 2099 under two deforestation scenarios and with climate forcing of three SRES emission scenarios, each for five climate models. We find that high deforestation (business-as-usual scenario) will strongly decrease (locally by up to 90 %) riverine particulate and dissolved organic carbon amount until the end of the current century. At the same time, increase in discharge leaves net carbon transport during the first decades of the century roughly unchanged only if a sufficient area is still forested. After 2050 the amount of transported carbon will decrease drastically. In contrast to that, increased temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentration determine the amount of riverine inorganic carbon stored in the Amazon basin. Higher atmospheric CO2 concentrations increase riverine inorganic carbon amount by up to 20 % (SRES A2). The changes in riverine carbon fluxes have direct effects on carbon export, either to the atmosphere via outgassing or to the Atlantic Ocean via discharge. The outgassed carbon will increase slightly in the Amazon basin, but can be regionally reduced by up to 60 % due to deforestation. The discharge of organic carbon to the ocean will be reduced by about 40 % under the most severe deforestation and climate change scenario. These changes would have local and regional consequences on the carbon balance and habitat characteristics in the Amazon basin itself as well as in the adjacent Atlantic Ocean.

  15. PV-hybrid village power systems in Amazonia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Warner, C.L.; Taylor, R.W. [National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States); Ribeiro, C.M. [Centro de Pesquisas de Energie Eletrica (CEPEL), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)] [and others

    1996-05-01

    The Brazilian Amazon region is an ideal location for isolated mini-grid systems. Hundreds of diesel systems have been installed to supply electricity to this sparsely populated region. However, the availability of renewable energy resources makes the Amazon well-suited to renewable energy systems. This paper describes the technical aspects of two hybrid systems being installed in this region through the cooperative effort of multiple partners: U.S. Department of Energy, through NREL, and Brazilian CEPEL/Eletrobras and state electric utilities.

  16. dos hoteis de selva na Amazonia, Brasil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adriana Gomes de Moraes

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available In the challenge of desvelar of that it forms the hoteleiros enterprises they manage its ambient action without causing great impacts in one of biggest ecosystems of the world, the Amazonian forest, was tried to know in this research the forms of ambient management of the located hotels of forest in the legal Amazônia. The norteadora question of the research was to know that type of ambient management is made by the hotels of selva?Foi used as instrument of collection of data the questionnaire, that if subdividiui in four great subjects to be searched. The first one was relative questions to the planning of the place, according to to the profile of the customer, third to the room and the relative questions architecture the building subject relative questions to the energy resources and infrastructure of the public services. As result of this analysis was concluded that two of three hotels searched are practising management ambient of form less impactante, since type of construction adopted until services offered to guests, or either shows objective that its hotel is coadjuvante for customer that visits this type of place, that stops it does not import luxury, comfort and amenities, more yes contact with the fauna and flora and way of life of the natives

  17. Bilingual Education: An Experience in Peruvian Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larson, Mildred L., Ed.; Davis, Patricia M., Ed.

    This book reports on an experimental bilingual education program conducted in Peru by Peruvian educators and Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) linguists. Sections of the book discuss: (1) the historical perspective of the program; (2) program aspects such as teacher training, goals, and curriculum; (3) what this program may contribute to the…

  18. The PIATAM MAR I Project and its environmental and social management of the Amazonian coastal zone; O Projeto PIATAM MAR I e a gestao ambiental e social da zona costeira amazonica

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cunha, Edson R.S.P. da; Miranda, Fernando P. de [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Centro de Pesquisas (CENPES). Geoquimica]. E-mails: ercunha@petrobras.com.br; fmiranda@cenpes.petrobras.com.br; Souza Filho, Pedro Walfir Martins [Universidade Federal do Para (UFPA), Belem, PA (Brazil)]. E-mail: walfir@ufpa.br; Sales, Maria E. da C. [Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi (MPEG), Belem, PA (Brazil)]. E-mail: bia@museu-goeldi.br; Landau, Luiz [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Instituto Alberto Luiz Coimbra de Pos-Graduacao e Pesquisa de Engenharia (COPPE)]. E-mail: landau@lamce.ufrj.br

    2004-07-01

    PETROBRAS is carrying out applied research as an aid to environmental management and systematic monitoring of the complex Amazonian ecosystem. This effort is contemplated in Western Amazonia by projects PIATAM II, PIATAM III, and Cognitus I. PIATAM MAR I was recently extended the scientific benefits of this initiative to the Amazonian coast. Data acquired up to now in this region are stored in different Institutions using distinct structures and formats. Such a circumstance is a hindrance to their application in a multidisciplinary fashion for mapping environmental sensitivity to oil spills along the shoreline therefore, the prime objective of PIATAM MAR I is to consolidate in digital form environmental information available in Eastern Amazonia, in order to allow the integrated geographic analysis of this data set. Such a procedure will make feasible the construction of environmental sensitivity maps tailored to the unique conditions of the Amazonian coast (high tides, huge fluvial discharge, and mangrove development for thousands of kilometers). The research will offer the conceptual basis for systematic monitoring by PETROBRAS in the region, aiming at avoiding environmental damage to nature and society caused by oil spills. (author)

  19. Estimating the risk of Amazonian forest dieback.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rammig, Anja; Jupp, Tim; Thonicke, Kirsten; Tietjen, Britta; Heinke, Jens; Ostberg, Sebastian; Lucht, Wolfgang; Cramer, Wolfgang; Cox, Peter

    2010-08-01

    *Climate change will very likely affect most forests in Amazonia during the course of the 21st century, but the direction and intensity of the change are uncertain, in part because of differences in rainfall projections. In order to constrain this uncertainty, we estimate the probability for biomass change in Amazonia on the basis of rainfall projections that are weighted by climate model performance for current conditions. *We estimate the risk of forest dieback by using weighted rainfall projections from 24 general circulation models (GCMs) to create probability density functions (PDFs) for future forest biomass changes simulated by a dynamic vegetation model (LPJmL). *Our probabilistic assessment of biomass change suggests a likely shift towards increasing biomass compared with nonweighted results. Biomass estimates range between a gain of 6.2 and a loss of 2.7 kg carbon m(-2) for the Amazon region, depending on the strength of CO(2) fertilization. *The uncertainty associated with the long-term effect of CO(2) is much larger than that associated with precipitation change. This underlines the importance of reducing uncertainties in the direct effects of CO(2) on tropical ecosystems.

  20. A social and ecological assessment of tropical land uses at multiple scales: the Sustainable Amazon Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gardner, Toby A.; Ferreira, Joice; Barlow, Jos; Lees, Alexander C.; Parry, Luke; Vieira, Ima Célia Guimarães; Berenguer, Erika; Abramovay, Ricardo; Aleixo, Alexandre; Andretti, Christian; Aragão, Luiz E. O. C.; Araújo, Ivanei; de Ávila, Williams Souza; Bardgett, Richard D.; Batistella, Mateus; Begotti, Rodrigo Anzolin; Beldini, Troy; de Blas, Driss Ezzine; Braga, Rodrigo Fagundes; Braga, Danielle de Lima; de Brito, Janaína Gomes; de Camargo, Plínio Barbosa; Campos dos Santos, Fabiane; de Oliveira, Vívian Campos; Cordeiro, Amanda Cardoso Nunes; Cardoso, Thiago Moreira; de Carvalho, Déborah Reis; Castelani, Sergio André; Chaul, Júlio Cézar Mário; Cerri, Carlos Eduardo; Costa, Francisco de Assis; da Costa, Carla Daniele Furtado; Coudel, Emilie; Coutinho, Alexandre Camargo; Cunha, Dênis; D'Antona, Álvaro; Dezincourt, Joelma; Dias-Silva, Karina; Durigan, Mariana; Esquerdo, Júlio César Dalla Mora; Feres, José; Ferraz, Silvio Frosini de Barros; Ferreira, Amanda Estefânia de Melo; Fiorini, Ana Carolina; da Silva, Lenise Vargas Flores; Frazão, Fábio Soares; Garrett, Rachel; Gomes, Alessandra dos Santos; Gonçalves, Karoline da Silva; Guerrero, José Benito; Hamada, Neusa; Hughes, Robert M.; Igliori, Danilo Carmago; Jesus, Ederson da Conceição; Juen, Leandro; Junior, Miércio; Junior, José Max Barbosa de Oliveira; Junior, Raimundo Cosme de Oliveira; Junior, Carlos Souza; Kaufmann, Phil; Korasaki, Vanesca; Leal, Cecília Gontijo; Leitão, Rafael; Lima, Natália; Almeida, Maria de Fátima Lopes; Lourival, Reinaldo; Louzada, Júlio; Nally, Ralph Mac; Marchand, Sébastien; Maués, Márcia Motta; Moreira, Fátima M. S.; Morsello, Carla; Moura, Nárgila; Nessimian, Jorge; Nunes, Sâmia; Oliveira, Victor Hugo Fonseca; Pardini, Renata; Pereira, Heloisa Correia; Pompeu, Paulo Santos; Ribas, Carla Rodrigues; Rossetti, Felipe; Schmidt, Fernando Augusto; da Silva, Rodrigo; da Silva, Regina Célia Viana Martins; da Silva, Thiago Fonseca Morello Ramalho; Silveira, Juliana; Siqueira, João Victor; de Carvalho, Teotônio Soares; Solar, Ricardo R. C.; Tancredi, Nicola Savério Holanda; Thomson, James R.; Torres, Patrícia Carignano; Vaz-de-Mello, Fernando Zagury; Veiga, Ruan Carlo Stulpen; Venturieri, Adriano; Viana, Cecília; Weinhold, Diana; Zanetti, Ronald; Zuanon, Jansen

    2013-01-01

    Science has a critical role to play in guiding more sustainable development trajectories. Here, we present the Sustainable Amazon Network (Rede Amazônia Sustentável, RAS): a multidisciplinary research initiative involving more than 30 partner organizations working to assess both social and ecological dimensions of land-use sustainability in eastern Brazilian Amazonia. The research approach adopted by RAS offers three advantages for addressing land-use sustainability problems: (i) the collection of synchronized and co-located ecological and socioeconomic data across broad gradients of past and present human use; (ii) a nested sampling design to aid comparison of ecological and socioeconomic conditions associated with different land uses across local, landscape and regional scales; and (iii) a strong engagement with a wide variety of actors and non-research institutions. Here, we elaborate on these key features, and identify the ways in which RAS can help in highlighting those problems in most urgent need of attention, and in guiding improvements in land-use sustainability in Amazonia and elsewhere in the tropics. We also discuss some of the practical lessons, limitations and realities faced during the development of the RAS initiative so far. PMID:23610172

  1. The history of South American tropical precipitation for the past 25,000 years.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baker, P A; Seltzer, G O; Fritz, S C; Dunbar, R B; Grove, M J; Tapia, P M; Cross, S L; Rowe, H D; Broda, J P

    2001-01-26

    Long sediment cores recovered from the deep portions of Lake Titicaca are used to reconstruct the precipitation history of tropical South America for the past 25,000 years. Lake Titicaca was a deep, fresh, and continuously overflowing lake during the last glacial stage, from before 25,000 to 15,000 calibrated years before the present (cal yr B.P.), signifying that during the last glacial maximum (LGM), the Altiplano of Bolivia and Peru and much of the Amazon basin were wetter than today. The LGM in this part of the Andes is dated at 21,000 cal yr B.P., approximately coincident with the global LGM. Maximum aridity and lowest lake level occurred in the early and middle Holocene (8000 to 5500 cal yr B.P.) during a time of low summer insolation. Today, rising levels of Lake Titicaca and wet conditions in Amazonia are correlated with anomalously cold sea-surface temperatures in the northern equatorial Atlantic. Likewise, during the deglacial and Holocene periods, there were several millennial-scale wet phases on the Altiplano and in Amazonia that coincided with anomalously cold periods in the equatorial and high-latitude North Atlantic, such as the Younger Dryas.

  2. Amazônia: a vision that emerges from the waters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ricardo José Nogueira

    1997-12-01

    Full Text Available O objetivo do texto é fazer emergir do pesado manto do discurso acadêmico uma outra visáo da Amazonia, não a dos holofotes dos grandes eventos que incandescem o observador, impedindo-o de ver além de sua luz, mas de urna Amazonia de acontecimentos quase imperceptíveis que lhe dão vida. Uma Amazônia que acontece nos vales fluviais, a Amazônia das várzeas, e ainda preserva um modo de vida peculiar, extremamente dinâmico e com rede própria de relações. Uma Amazônia que permanece na sombra. Ou na água, esquecida ou negada com a máscara do atraso para ser superada. Que contudo teima em existir, e não se constitui, para o discurso hegemônico, como foco ou vítima da ação dos atores dominantes. É dessa Amazônia que o texto fala, dando-lhe uma visáo de dentro, do seu âmago. Uma visão que emerge das águas...

  3. Mid-Continent Rift: Rift, LIP, or Both?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stein, C. A.; Stein, S. A.; Kley, J.; Hindle, D.; Keller, G. R., Jr.

    2014-12-01

    North America's Midcontinent Rift (MCR) is traditionally considered to have formed by midplate extension and volcanism ~1.1 Ga that ended due to compression from the Grenville orogeny, the ~1.3 - ~0.98 Ga assembly of Amazonia (Precambrian northeast South America), Laurentia (Precambrian North America), and other continents into the supercontinent of Rodinia. We find that a more plausible scenario is that it formed as part of the rifting of Amazonia from Laurentia and became inactive once seafloor spreading was established. The MCR has aspects both of a continental rift - a segmented linear depression filled with sedimentary and igneous rocks - and a large igneous province (LIP). Comparison of areas and volumes for a range of continental LIPS shows that the MCR volcanic rocks are significantly thicker than the others. The MCR flood basalts have steeper dips and thicker overlying sediments than other continental flood basalts, and were deposited in a subsiding basin after most extension ended, indicating that they are better viewed as post-rift than syn-rift rocks. Hence we view the MCR as a LIP deposited in crust weakened by rifting, and thus first a rift and then a LIP.

  4. The Free Trade Area of the Americas: Can Regional Economic Integration Lead to Greater Cooperation on Security?

    Science.gov (United States)

    2002-12-01

    Brazilian Air Force has been testing a new surveillance system called Sistema de Vigilancia da Amazonia (SIVAM), designed to...2000 Online Database, 23 April 1998 and “Plan de seguridad para la triple frontera,” Ser en el 2000 Online Database, 01 June...Plan de seguridad para la triple frontera,” Ser en el 2000 Online Database, 01 June 1998. 64 Robert Devlin, Antoni Estevadeordal

  5. Redescription of the tapeworm Monticellia amazonica de Chambrier et Vaucher, 1997 (Cestoda, Proteocephalidea), a parasite of Calophysus macropterus (Siluriformes, Pimelodidae), from the Amazon River

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Scholz, Tomáš; de Chambrier, A.; Kuchta, Roman

    2008-01-01

    Roč. 53, č. 1 (2008), s. 30-35 ISSN 1230-2821 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LC522; GA ČR GA524/04/0342; GA ČR GD524/03/H133 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z60220518 Keywords : Cestoda * Monticellia amazonica * catfish * Amazonia * taxonomy * morphology Subject RIV: GJ - Animal Vermins ; Diseases, Veterinary Medicine Impact factor: 0.748, year: 2008

  6. Enhanced canopy growth precedes senescence in 2005 and 2010 Amazonian droughts

    KAUST Repository

    Liu, Yi Y.

    2018-04-09

    Unprecedented droughts hit southern Amazonia in 2005 and 2010, causing a sharp increase in tree mortality and carbon loss. To better predict the rainforest\\'s response to future droughts, it is necessary to understand its behavior during past events. Satellite observations provide a practical source of continuous observations of Amazonian forest. Here we used a passive microwave-based vegetation water content record (i.e., vegetation optical depth, VOD), together with multiple hydrometeorological observations as well as conventional satellite vegetation measures, to investigate the rainforest canopy dynamics during the 2005 and 2010 droughts. During the onset of droughts in the wet-to-dry season (May–July) of both years, we found large-scale positive anomalies in VOD, leaf area index (LAI) and enhanced vegetation index (EVI) over the southern Amazonia. These observations are very likely caused by enhanced canopy growth. Concurrent below-average rainfall and above-average radiation during the wet-to-dry season can be interpreted as an early arrival of normal dry season conditions, leading to enhanced new leaf development and ecosystem photosynthesis, as supported by field observations. Our results suggest that further rainfall deficit into the subsequent dry season caused water and heat stress during the peak of 2005 and 2010 droughts (August–October) that exceeded the tolerance limits of the rainforest, leading to widespread negative VOD anomalies over the southern Amazonia. Significant VOD anomalies were observed mainly over the western part in 2005 and mainly over central and eastern parts in 2010. The total area with significant negative VOD anomalies was comparable between these two drought years, though the average magnitude of significant negative VOD anomalies was greater in 2005. This finding broadly agrees with the field observations indicating that the reduction in biomass carbon uptake was stronger in 2005 than 2010. The enhanced canopy growth

  7. Enhanced canopy growth precedes senescence in 2005 and 2010 Amazonian droughts

    KAUST Repository

    Liu, Yi Y.; van Dijk, Albert I.J.M.; Miralles, Diego G.; McCabe, Matthew; Evans, Jason P.; de Jeu, Richard A.M.; Gentine, Pierre; Huete, Alfredo; Parinussa, Robert M.; Wang, Lixin; Guan, Kaiyu; Berry, Joe; Restrepo-Coupe, Natalia

    2018-01-01

    Unprecedented droughts hit southern Amazonia in 2005 and 2010, causing a sharp increase in tree mortality and carbon loss. To better predict the rainforest's response to future droughts, it is necessary to understand its behavior during past events. Satellite observations provide a practical source of continuous observations of Amazonian forest. Here we used a passive microwave-based vegetation water content record (i.e., vegetation optical depth, VOD), together with multiple hydrometeorological observations as well as conventional satellite vegetation measures, to investigate the rainforest canopy dynamics during the 2005 and 2010 droughts. During the onset of droughts in the wet-to-dry season (May–July) of both years, we found large-scale positive anomalies in VOD, leaf area index (LAI) and enhanced vegetation index (EVI) over the southern Amazonia. These observations are very likely caused by enhanced canopy growth. Concurrent below-average rainfall and above-average radiation during the wet-to-dry season can be interpreted as an early arrival of normal dry season conditions, leading to enhanced new leaf development and ecosystem photosynthesis, as supported by field observations. Our results suggest that further rainfall deficit into the subsequent dry season caused water and heat stress during the peak of 2005 and 2010 droughts (August–October) that exceeded the tolerance limits of the rainforest, leading to widespread negative VOD anomalies over the southern Amazonia. Significant VOD anomalies were observed mainly over the western part in 2005 and mainly over central and eastern parts in 2010. The total area with significant negative VOD anomalies was comparable between these two drought years, though the average magnitude of significant negative VOD anomalies was greater in 2005. This finding broadly agrees with the field observations indicating that the reduction in biomass carbon uptake was stronger in 2005 than 2010. The enhanced canopy growth

  8. Do plant species influence soil CO2 and N2O fluxes in a diverse tropical forest?

    Science.gov (United States)

    J.L.M. van Haren; R.C. de Oliveira; N. Restrepo-Coupe; L. Hutyra; P. B. de Camargo; Michael Keller; S.R. Saleska

    2010-01-01

    [1] To test whether plant species influence greenhouse gas production in diverse ecosystems, we measured wet season soil CO2 and N2O fluxes close to 300 large (>35 cm in diameter at breast height (DBH)) trees of 15 species at three clay‐rich forest sites in central Amazonia. We found that soil CO2 fluxes were 38% higher near large trees than at control sites >10...

  9. Caracterización molecular y cariológica de cuatro especies del Género Proechimys (Rodentia: echimyidae, en una colonia en cautiverio en el Instituto Nacional de Salud (Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Margarita María Tamayo Arenas

    2004-07-01

    MA y 5,92 MA se aproximan al Mioceno, época en la cual se presume que Proechimys evolucionó en la Amazonia. Tres de las cuatro especies de este estudio son incluidas dentro de los grupos propuestos por Patton (1987: P. chrysaeolus, grupo trinitatus, P. canicollis, grupo canicollis (monotípico y P. oconnelli, grupo semispinosus. La forma nominal P. sp. “Barinas” no es referida por este autor.

  10. Acanthocephala Larvae parasitizing Ameiva ameiva ameiva (Linnaeus, 1758) (Squamata: Teiidae)

    OpenAIRE

    Lilian Cristina Macedo; Francisco Tiago de Vasconcelos Melo; Teresa Cristina Sauer Ávila-Pires; Elane Guerreiro Giese; Jeannie Nascimento dos Santos

    2016-01-01

    Abstract Knowledge concerning the taxonomy and biology of species of Acanthocephala, helminth parasites of the helminth species of the phylum Acanthocephala, parasites of lizards in Brazilian Amazonia, is still insufficient, but reports of Acanthocephala in reptiles are becoming increasingly common in the literature. Cystacanth-stage Acanthocephalan larvae have been found in the visceral peritoneum during necropsy of Ameiva ameiva ameivalizards from the “Osvaldo Rodrigues da Cunha” Herpetolog...

  11. El Amazonas, el Mediterráneo de agua dulce: migración y propaganda

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María de Sarges

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available En el apogeo de la economía del caucho en la Amazonia un número considerable de emigrantes, entre ellos de la Península ibérica, llegaron a la región. Este artículo aborda la propaganda como elemento fundamental de reclutamiento de los trabajadores europeos para la región a finales del siglo xix e inicios del xx.

  12. Distributed Trust Management and Rogue AV Software

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-10

    Integrate with QTM – Particularly important in federated systems (e.g., dynamically composable SOAs) • Investigate the use of reactive mechanisms – Global...of demonstrators surfaced on Capitol Hill in opposition to the Democrats’ health care legislation. MAGAZINE PREVIEW Making Health Care Better By...sale will be sent on saving green forests in Amazonia . Have more questions? You can contact us easy via Online Supoort. Green AV an award-winning

  13. Genetic analysis identifies the region of origin of smuggled peach palm seeds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cristo-Araújo, Michelly; Molles, David Bronze; Rodrigues, Doriane Picanço; Clement, Charles R

    2017-04-01

    Seeds of a plant, supposedly a palm tree known popularly as peach palm (Bactris gasipaes), were seized by the Federal Police in the state of Pará, Brazil, without documentation of legal origin to authorize transportation and marketing in Brazil. They were alleged to be from the western part of Amazonas, Brazil, near the frontier with Peru and Colombia, justifying the lack of documentation. The species was confirmed to be peach palm. To determine the likely place of origin, a genetic analysis was performed to determine the relationship between the seized seeds and representative populations of peach palm from all of Amazonia, maintained in the Peach palm Core Collection, at the National Research Institute for Amazonia, using nine microsatellite loci. Reynolds' coancestry analysis showed a strong relationship between the seeds and the Pampa Hermosa landrace, around Yurimaguas, Peru. The Structure program, used to infer the probability of an individual belonging to a given population, showed that most seeds grouped with populations close to Yurimaguas, Peru, corroborating the coancestry analysis. The Pampa Hermosa landrace is the main source of spineless peach palm seeds used in the Brazilian heart-of-palm agribusiness, which motivated the smugglers to attempt this biopiracy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Medicinal use of secretions (“the frog vaccine” from the kambô frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor by non-indigenous peoples in Rondônia, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paulo Sérgio Bernarde

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Amphibians have pharmaceutically active skin secretions that protect against infections and predation. Some indigenous people in southwestern Amazonia use these secretions from P. bicolor for medicinal purposes. While the use of these secretions by indigenous people is relatively well-known, the use by non-indigenous peoples is very poorly studied. Here we describe the use of the “frog vaccine” by non-indigenous populations in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. Thirty-one people who had received this “vaccine” were interviewed. The use of this vaccine is not typical or habitual in this region, and the person who administers the vaccine must travel from another part of Amazonia. Users of the vaccine come from middle and upper social classes with reasonable levels of education (primary, secondary and university. Approximately half the people vaccinated felt that their health had improved after vaccination and if need be, they would take the vaccination again. Most of the people do not know the frog species from which the secretions are taken. While the people who use this treatment believe that it is good for any infirmity, the medicinal properties, if any, of the “frog vaccine” are under study and are still unknown.

  15. Farmers’ Perceptions on the Agricultural use of Human Urine in the Central Amazon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patrícia Müller

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The Urine Diverting Dry Toilet (UDDT provides a technological alternative for the challenging environments found in Amazonia, and has the advantage of not consuming water. To verify its viability, however, it is necessary to understand user behavior in relation to the use of the toilet’s byproducts. The objective of the present study was to evaluate farmer’s perceptions of the use of human urine as a fertilizer for agricultural crops in the Central Amazon. We interviewed 73 smallholder farmers from a rural village in Tefé County and in the municipal farmers market of Tefé. It was verified that 12% of farmers have knowledge of the use of human urine in agriculture, and that more than a third consider it possible to use urine in their gardens and fields. However, more than half did not consider the possibility of using urine, manifesting concerns about crop development and doubts regarding the efficacy of its use as a fertilizer. The informants believed that crops watered with urine would be adequate for human consumption. It is possible to conclude that human urine has the potential to be used in agriculture in the study region and we understand that dry toilets should not be taken as the only alternative for sanitation in Amazonia.

  16. Novos registros de espécies da subtribo Ecliptinae (Heliantheae - Asteraceae para a Amazônia brasileira New records of species of the Ecliptinae subtribe (Heliantheae - Asteraceae to the Brazilian Amazon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Genilson Alves dos Reis e Silva

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Sete espécies da subtribo Ecliptinae encontradas nos estados do Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Pará e Rondônia, são apresentadas como novos registros para a Amazônia brasileira: Acmella uliginosa, Aspilia camporum, Aspilia ulei, Melanthera latifolia, Melanthera nivea, Spilanthes nervosa e Wedelia calycina. São apresentadas descrições e ilustrações para as espécies, dados sobre a distribuição geográfica, hábitat, época de floração e frutificação. Os novos registros evidenciam a importância de estudos sobre a flora amazônica e demonstram a necessidade de coletas mais intensas na região.The following seven species of the subtribe Ecliptinae found in the states of Acre, Amapá, Amazonas, Pará and Rondônia have been recorded at the Brazilian Amazonia, for the first time: Acmella uliginosa, Aspilia camporum, Aspilia ulei, Melanthera latifolia, Melanthera nivea, Spilanthes nervosa and Wedelia calycina. Species descriptions and illustrations are presented, as well as information about geographic distribution, habitats and phenology. These new records highlight the importance of the floristic studies in Amazonia, and the need to carry out intensive fieldwork to improve the sampling in this region.

  17. Forest amount affects soybean productivity in Brazilian agricultural frontier

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rattis, L.; Brando, P. M.; Marques, E. Q.; Queiroz, N.; Silverio, D. V.; Macedo, M.; Coe, M. T.

    2017-12-01

    Over the past three decades, large tracts of tropical forests have been converted to crop and pasturelands across southern Amazonia, largely to meet the increasing worldwide demand for protein. As the world's population continue to grow and consume more protein per capita, forest conversion to grow more crops could be a potential solution to meet such demand. However, widespread deforestation is expected to negatively affect crop productivity via multiple pathways (e.g., thermal regulation, rainfall, local moisture, pest control, among others). To quantify how deforestation affects crop productivity, we modeled the relationship between forest amount and enhanced vegetation index (EVI—a proxy for crop productivity) during the soybean planting season across southern Amazonia. Our hypothesis that forest amount causes increased crop productivity received strong support. We found that the maximum MODIS-based EVI in soybean fields increased as a function of forest amount across three spatial-scales, 0.5 km, 1 km, 2 km, 5 km, 10 km, 15 km and 20 km. However, the strength of this relationship varied across years and with precipitation, but only at the local scale (e.g., 500 meters and 1 km radius). Our results highlight the importance of considering forests to design sustainable landscapes.

  18. Seguridad alimentaria, piscicultura y acuicultura en la Amazonia ...

    International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

    zonas rurales solían practicar sistemas agropecuarios y pesqueros sofisticados que alimentaban a gran parte de la población. Desafortunadamente, este ... que cuenta con el apoyo financiero del Gobierno de Canadá a través de la Agencia Canadiense para el Desarrollo. Internacional (ACDI). Centro Internacional de ...

  19. Studies of Phlebotomine Sand Flies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1980-08-31

    coils. Holotype, allotype and 20 paratypes to be deposited at Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia , Manaus. Other para- types in Brazilian...collections at Universidad Federal de Minas Gerais and S~o Paulo; Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro; Instituto Evandro Chagas, Be16m; Museu Paraense...of Mr. Joao Ferreira Vidal in the field and labora- tory. Literature Cited Floch, H. & E. Abonnenc. 1943. Phl~botomes de la Guyane Franqaise - v. Inst

  20. GuiaTreeKey, a multi-access electronic key to identify tree genera in French Guiana

    OpenAIRE

    Brousseau, Louise; Baraloto, Christopher

    2016-01-01

    The tropical rainforest of Amazonia is one of the most species-rich ecosystems on earth, with an estimated 16000 tree species. Due to this high diversity, botanical identification of trees in the Amazon is difficult, even to genus, often requiring the assistance of parataxonomists or taxonomic specialists. Advances in informatics tools offer a promising opportunity to develop user-friendly electronic keys to improve Amazonian tree identification. Here, we introduce an original mult...

  1. Abrupt increases in Amazonian tree mortality due to drought–fire interactions

    OpenAIRE

    Brando, Paulo Monteiro; Balch, Jennifer K.; Nepstad, Daniel C.; Morton, Douglas C.; Putz, Francis E.; Coe, Michael T.; Silvério, Divino; Macedo, Marcia N.; Davidson, Eric A.; Nóbrega, Caroline C.; Alencar, Ane; Soares-Filho, Britaldo S.

    2014-01-01

    Climate change alone is unlikely to drive severe tropical forest degradation in the next few decades, but an alternative process associated with severe weather and forest fires is already operating in southeastern Amazonia. Recent droughts caused greatly elevated fire-induced tree mortality in a fire experiment and widespread regional forest fires that burned 5–12% of southeastern Amazon forests. These results suggest that feedbacks between fires and extreme climatic conditions could increase...

  2. A Hydrogeomorphic Classification for Wetlands

    Science.gov (United States)

    1993-08-01

    Research Program (WRP). The work was performed under Work Unit 32756, for which Mr. R. Daniel Smith was Principal Investigator . Mr. John Bellinger...34Laws of temperature control of the geographic distribution of terrestrial animals and plants," National Geographic Magazine 6, 229-238. Metzler, K. J...34Notes on the vegetation of Amazonia . III. The terminology of Amazonian forest types subject to inundation," Brittonia 31, 26-38. Prince, H. H., and

  3. Qualitative characterization by x-ray diffraction from soils: mineralogy conditions to benefit the environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujiyama, Bruna Sayuri; Tavares, Mauricio de Moraes

    2010-01-01

    Four samples were collected from four soil profiles located in the Rural Federal University of Amazonia. These, were analyzed parameters such as color, texture, consistency, granulometry, porosity and water absorption. We identified the following soil types: Distrofic Yellow Latosoil; Lateritic Concretionary; distrofic Low Humic Gley. The work was to continue the qualitative analysis by X-rays diffraction, identifying the mineralogical composition of each sample. Explaining the mineralogical conditions that affect or benefit the environment. (author)

  4. The contribution of Osvaldo Rodrigues da Cunha (1928-2011 to History of Science

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nelson Sanjad

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available The article describes and analyzes the historiographical works of Brazilian Herpetologist Osvaldo Rodrigues da Cunha (1928-2011, researcher of Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi. It presents his published works, mainly in the field of History of Science, in which he studied the institution he belonged to and the scientists who lived in Amazonia. Cunha's complete works dedicated to the theme, composed along of almost 50 years, are reported in the paper.

  5. Patrones de distribución geográfica de la riqueza de especies de roedores de la tribu Oryzomyini (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae en Sudamérica: Evaluando la importancia de los procesos de colonización y extinción Geographic patterns of richness distribution of rodents species from the Oryzomyini tribe (Rodentia: Sigmodontinae in South America: Evaluating the importance of colonization and extinction processes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    EVELYN VALENCIA-PACHECO

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available La tribu de roedores Oryzomyini es la más diversa dentro de la subfamilia Sigmodontinae. Está constituida por 120 especies y 31 géneros, de las cuales 83 son endémicas del continente sudamericano. Este grupo exhibe una extensa distribución que abarca toda la región Neotropical, caracterizada por la presencia de una mayor riqueza en la Amazonia con una disminución monotónica hacia el sur y norte de Sudamérica. Este es un patrón bastante conocido en la mayoría de los taxones, por lo que se han propuesto varios mecanismos causales. Sin embargo, se desconocen los mecanismos que dan cuenta de este gradiente latitudinal en la riqueza de especies de Oryzomyini. Debido a que estas especies son originarias de la Amazonia, y que a través de su historia colonizaron ambientes nuevos y más variables (sur y norte, se evaluó la hipótesis fuente-sumidero, mediada por procesos de colonización y extinción, como potencial explicación al patrón de riqueza observado. Para evaluar esta hipótesis se reunió una base de datos de distribución y riqueza de especies por grado de latitud para todo el continente sudamericano. Posteriormente se evaluó el grado de anidamiento mediante los índices de T (temperatura, BR (discrepancia y NODF. Nuestros resultados evidenciaron un grado de anidamiento significativo en la distribución de Oryzomyini, y un anidamiento significativo separadamente en filas y columnas de la matriz. Por lo tanto, se concluye que la dinámica fuente-sumidero afecta el patrón de distribución de la riqueza de roedores Oryzominos, a través de un proceso de colonización durante su expansión en Sudamérica que fue mediado por los rangos de tolerancia de las especies. Finalmente, las especies menos tolerantes se habrían extinguido, lo que determinaría un menor número de especies hacia el sur y norte de la Amazonia.The Oryzomyini rodent tribe is the most diverse taxon within the Sigmodontinae subfamily. This tribe includes 120

  6. Seasonal dynamics of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in plants of Theobroma grandiflorum Schum and Paullinia cupana Mart. of aN agroforestry system in Central Amazonia, Amazonas State, Brazil Dinâmica sazonal de fungos micorrízicos arbusculares em plantas de Theobroma grandiflorum Schum e Paullinia cupana Mart. de um sistema agroflorestal na Amazônia Central, Amazonas, Brasil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arlem Nascimento de Oliveira

    2005-09-01

    Full Text Available The seasonal dynamics of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF was investigated in the rhizosphere of two fruit species in a terra firme (upland ecosystem in Central Amazonia. Two host species (Theobroma grandiflorum and Paullinia cupana and nine sampling months (August, September and December/1998, February, April, May and December/1999, February and May/2000 were studied in a completely randomized design, with five replications, set in a 2 x 9 factorial experiment. Soil (0-20 cm depth and root samples were collected between August 1998 and May 2000. The mean percent colonization of AMF for both species reached maximal values in February and May 2000 (rainy season. In April and May 1999, February and May 2000 (rainy season the highest AMF spore numbers were registered. The pluvial precipitation was significantly positively correlated with AMF number spores for both fruit species, and significant positive correlation only with AMF colonization of P. cupana. Soil moisture content was positively correlated with colonization and spore numbers of AMF for both species evaluated. AMF colonization and AMF spore numbers of T. grandiflorum were positively correlated with soil Mg and K concentrations. AMF spore numbers of T. grandiflorum were also negatively correlated with effective cation exchange capacity (ECEC. AMF colonization and AMF spore numbers in the rhizosphere of P. cupana were positively correlated with pH and Mn concentrations. AMF colonization was also positively correlated with AMF spore numbers for both species evaluated. In conclusion, this study showed that AMF colonization and sporulation are seasonal and dependent on host plant species, pluvial precipitation, soil moisture content and soil chemistry in Central Amazonia conditions.A dinâmica sazonal de fungos micorrízicos arbusculares (FMA foi investigada na rizosfera de duas espécies frutíferas em um ecossistema de terra firme na Amazônia Central. Adotou-se o delineamento

  7. The Impact of Rise of the Andes and Amazon Landscape Evolution on Diversification of Lowland terra-firme Forest Birds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aleixo, Alexandre; Wilkinson, M. Justin

    2011-01-01

    Since the 19th Century, the unmatched biological diversity of Amazonia has stimulated a diverse set of hypotheses accounting for patterns of species diversity and distribution in mega-diverse tropical environments. Unfortunately, the evidence supporting particular hypotheses to date is at best described as ambiguous, and no generalizations have emerged yet, mostly due to the lack of comprehensive comparative phylogeographic studies with thorough trans-Amazonian sampling of lineages. Here we report on spatial and temporal patterns of diversification estimated from mitochondrial gene trees for 31 lineages of birds associated with upland terra-firme forest, the dominant habitat in modern lowland Amazonia. The results confirm the pervasive role of Amazonian rivers as primary barriers separating sister lineages of birds, and a protracted spatio-temporal pattern of diversification, with a gradual reduction of earlier (1st and 2nd) and older (> 2 mya) splits associated with each lineage in an eastward direction. (The easternmost tributaries of the Amazon, the Xingu and Tocantins Rivers, are not associated with any splits older than > 2 mya). For the suboscine passerines, maximum-likelihood estimates of rates of diversification point to an overall constant rate over the past 5 my (up to a significant downturn at 300,000 y ago). This "younging-eastward" pattern may have an abiotic explanation related to landscape evolution. Triggered by a new pulse of Andean uplift, it has been proposed that modern Amazon basin landscapes may have evolved successively eastward, away from the mountain chain, starting approximately 10 mya. This process was likely based on the deposition of vast fluvial sediment masses, known as megafans, that may have extended progressively and in series eastward from Andean sources. This process plausibly explains the progressive extinction of original Pebas wetland of western-central Amazonia by the present fluvial landsurfaces of a more terra-firme type

  8. Dinâmica da mobilização de elementos em solos da Amazônia submetidos à inundação Dinamics of elements in soils from Amazonia after controlled inundation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hedinaldo Narciso Lima

    2005-09-01

    Full Text Available Parte significativa de solos da Amazônia permanece saturada ou inundada por períodos que podem variar de alguns dias a vários meses, em decorrência de enchentes ou deficiência de drenagem em algumas áreas, resultando em alterações químicas, físicas e biológicas nos solos. Este trabalho foi conduzido com o objetivo de avaliar a dinâmica da mobilização de Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Si e P em solos da Amazônia submetidos a inundação. Amostras de vários solos foram submetidas à inundação durante seis meses. Alíquotas da solução foram coletadas periodicamente durante o tempo de inundação e determinaram-se os teores dos diversos elementos em solução. A inundação influenciou a cinética dos elementos, com aumento da mobilização dos mesmos, principalmente, nas primeiras semanas. Os teores de Fe em solução foram mais elevados para os solos mais ricos em Fe amorfo. Em amostras com baixos teores de Fe amorfo e baixo conteúdo de matéria orgânica, os teores de Fe em solução foram muito reduzidos. O teor de P em solução foi influenciado por todas as formas de P. O P ligado ao Fe foi a forma que maior influência exerceu sobre o teor de P solúvel. Os teores dos cátions Ca, Mg, K e Na, em solução, foram diretamente influenciados por seus respectivos teores trocáveis, bem como pela cinética do Fe e do Mn.Significant part of Amazonia soils stays partially or completely waterlogged for varying periods of days to months, as result of widespread inundation or drainage deficiency in some areas, causing changes in chemical, physical and biological properties. In this work, we aimed to evaluate the dynamics of mobilization of Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Si, P in soils subjected to controlled six months inundation. Soil solution aliquots were collected periodically during the inundation period, determining all elements in solution. The inundation influenced the kinetics of elements, increasing their mobilization, notably in

  9. Regional rainfall climatologies derived from Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Negri, Andrew J.; Adler, Robert F.; Nelkin, Eric J.; Huffman, George J.

    1994-01-01

    Climatologies of convective precipitation were derived from passive microwave observations from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager using a scattering-based algorithm of Adler et al. Data were aggregated over periods of 3-5 months using data from 4 to 5 years. Data were also stratified by satellite overpass times (primarily 06 00 and 18 00 local time). Four regions (Mexico, Amazonia, western Africa, and the western equatorial Pacific Ocean (TOGA COARE area) were chosen for their meteorological interest and relative paucity of conventional observations. The strong diurnal variation over Mexico and the southern United States was the most striking aspect of the climatologies. Pronounced morning maxima occured offshore, often in concativities in the coastline, the result of the increased convergence caused by the coastline shape. The major feature of the evening rain field was a linear-shaped maximum along the western slope of the Sierra Madre Occidental. Topography exerted a strong control on the rainfall in other areas, particularly near the Nicaragua/Honduras border and in Guatemala, where maxima in excess of 700 mm/month were located adjacent to local maxima in terrain. The correlation between the estimates and monthly gage data over the southern United States was low (0.45), due mainly to poor temporal sampling in any month and an inadequate sampling of the diurnal cycle. Over the Amazon Basin the differences in morning versus evening rainfall were complex, with an alternating series of morning/evening maxima aligned southwest to northeast from the Andes to the northeast Brazilian coast. A real extent of rainfall in Amazonia was slightly higher in the evening, but a maximum in morning precipitation was found on the Amazon River just east of Manaus. Precipitation over the water in the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) north of Brazil was more pronounced in the morning, and a pronounced land-/sea-breeze circulation was found along the northeast coast of Brazil

  10. Thlastocoris laetus Mayr, 1866 (hemiptera: coreidae: acanthocerini) nueva plaga de la piña

    OpenAIRE

    Couturier,G.; Brailovsky,H.; Zucchi,R.A.

    1993-01-01

    Thlastocoris laetus (Hemiptera: Coreidae) es por primera vez señalado como plaga de la piña para la Amazonia brasileña y peruana comentando los daños que ocasiona. Se presenta la caracterización morfológica de esta especie, comparandola con Lybindus dichrous que también es reconocido como plaga de la piña en el Brasil. La distribución geográfica de ambas especies es citada.

  11. Archaeological and Historical Reconnaissance and Literature Search of Cultural Resources within the Pembina River Project, Pembina and Cavalier Counties, North Dakota. Volume 2. Appendices

    Science.gov (United States)

    1982-12-01

    investiga - tion shall be representative of the current state of knowledge for their respec- tive disciplines. *12. The contractor shall keep standard field...UBLICATIONS: 1976 aoneLtS OR the Theorv of !Holoceun Refugia in the Cuiture hi-itory ot Amazonia ." A.:ERICANl A"TIQOITY 44(2):238-251. 198u "Acchaeoiojy...historic artifacts. A detailed, descriptive report will be written on the archeological investiga - tions. A general synthesis will be written for the

  12. Development of Learning Virtual Objects as a Strategy to Foster Student Retention in Higher Education

    OpenAIRE

    Yois S. Pascuas Rengifo; César Omar Jaramillo Morales; Fredy Antonio Verástegui González

    2015-01-01

    Rev.esc.adm.neg One of the problems that the Colombian higher education system is facing is the problem of student desertion, shwoing that a great amount of students leave their university studies during the first semesters. For this reason, the National Education Ministry and Universidad de la Amazonia implement a new strategy to foster student retention and graduation through academic levelling. This paper shows eight learning virtual objects from different learning áreas, applying tech...

  13. The variation of apparent crown size and canopy heterogeneity across lowland Amazonian forests

    OpenAIRE

    Barbier, N.; Couteron, Pierre; Proisy, Christophe; Malhi, Y.; Gastellu-Etchegorry, J. P.

    2010-01-01

    Aim The size structure of a forest canopy is an important descriptor of the forest environment that may yield information on forest biomass and ecology. However, its variability at regional scales is poorly described or understood because of the still prohibitive cost of very high-resolution imagery as well as the lack of an appropriate methodology. We here employ a novel approach to describe and map the canopy structure of tropical forests. Location Amazonia. Methods We apply Fourier transfo...

  14. Awakening the Biodiversity Potential trough ST&I Investments in the Sector of Amazonian Biotechnology

    OpenAIRE

    e Souza Frickmann, Fabiana dos Santos; Guimarães Vasconcellos, Alexandre

    2013-01-01

    The biotechnological development conciliated to Amazonian biodiversity represents a big potential for richness to Brazil. This study analyses the Brazilian investments in ST&I Amazonia's, utilizing as indicator for that, the resources applied in R&D and the patent appli;cations coming from Amazon, which were filed with the National Institute of Industrial Property during the period from 2003 to 2008. The objective is to analyze how where such investments applied by the Ministry of Science, Te...

  15. Medicinal use of secretions (“the frog vaccine”) from the kambô frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor) by non-indigenous peoples in Rondônia, Brazil

    OpenAIRE

    Paulo Sérgio Bernarde; Rosimeyri Aparecida Santos

    2009-01-01

    Amphibians have pharmaceutically active skin secretions that protect against infections and predation. Some indigenous people in southwestern Amazonia use these secretions from P. bicolor for medicinal purposes. While the use of these secretions by indigenous people is relatively well-known, the use by non-indigenous peoples is very poorly studied. Here we describe the use of the “frog vaccine” by non-indigenous populations in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. Thirty-one people who had receive...

  16. El género Morphnus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lehmann V. F. C.

    1943-08-01

    Full Text Available Nombres comunes: Aguila churuquera, Aguila miquera, Aguila copetona, Gavilán miquero,  Aguila-gavilán, Gavilán. real.  DISTRIBUCION: Desde Honduras, por Panamá, Colombia, Venezuela, las Guayanas, el Brasil, el Oriente del Ecuador y del Perú, hasta el Paraguay. En Colombia se encuentra en las selvas frondosas de las regiones cálidas: Llanos Orientales, Choco, Valle del Magdalena (parte selvosa , sur de la Guajira, Caquetá y Amazonia.

  17. Structure and function of soil fauna communities in Amazonian anthropogenic and natural ecosystems

    OpenAIRE

    Höfer, Hubert; Hanagarth, Werner; Garcia, Marcos; Martius, Christopher; Franklin, Elizabeth; Römbke, Jörg; Beck, Ludwig

    2016-01-01

    The soil biological conditions of two 5-year-old polyculture tree plantations in Amazonia were studied comparatively to a 13-year-old secondary forest and a nearby undisturbed primary forest. The polycultures had been planted to regenerate the soil degraded by land preparation and a former rubber tree monoculture. Abundance and biomass of functional groups of soil meso- and macrofauna were measured at three-months-intervals over 2 years and litterbag experiments with fauna exclusion were carr...

  18. A logística de transportes na Amazônia Ocidental: desafios, limitações e importância para o desenvolvimento do Estado de Roraima

    OpenAIRE

    Passos, Luís Henrique Santos

    2013-01-01

    This paper aims to provide a diagnosis of logistics in Western Amazonia and its implications for the development of the state of Roraima. Initially, for better elucidate the basic knowledge about the logistics, make some preliminary considerations on this important tool for organizational management, seeking to highlight the main aspects of the subject. It is said about the logistics scenario Amazon, especially Amazon Ociental, comprising the states of Amazonas, Acre, Rondônia and Roraima, hi...

  19. The unpublished 1719 Report of Jacinto de Carvalho on Amazonian ethnography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonio Porro

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available After working for thirteen years at the Amazonian Jesuitic missions, the Portuguese Jacinto de Carvalho (1677-1744 sent to the Superior of his order a report on the country and on some of its native tribes' customs. This report, the main ethnographic source of early 18th Century Amazonia, is known only through a coeval Italian translation still unpublished. In this paper, the parts on ethnographic matters have been commented and translated to Portuguese.

  20. Paternalismo e clientelismo como efeitos da conjução entre opressão paternalista e exploração capitalista

    OpenAIRE

    Sabourin, Eric

    2011-01-01

    This paper arises from two questions: why do paternalism and clientelism phenomena in modern Latin America populism remain so insensible to the Marxist critic of capitalistic exploitation? Why, are they, at the same time, hostile to any kind of regional or indigenous power (in the case of Amazonia and Andean countries)? My hypothesis is that such mechanisms could also popular identification processes that may correspond to progressive forces, as well as to some forms of alienation of the logi...

  1. Proof of the Post-drought Effect of Amazonian Forests from Space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Y.; Saatchi, S. S.; Xu, L.; Yu, Y.; Myneni, R. B.; Knyazikhin, Y.; CHOI, S.

    2015-12-01

    In 2005, the tropical forests in Amazonia went through a severe drought event across the entire basin. There have been conflict reports on the drought impact on vegetation and the issue was never settled due to limited ground truth. Remote sensing data have been used but often questioned for signal saturation, data quality, or atmosphere contamination. The quantification of carbon changes in this vast terrestrial carbon pool, especially the post-drought effect, is difficult but essential. Lidar measurements, which are regarded as the accurate retrieval of canopy vertical structure, give us the opportunity to quantify the carbon changes for this severe event. Here, we use the lidar waveforms measured from the GLAS sensor from 2004 to 2007 to calculate the vertical profiles of Amazonian forests and their associated carbon stock. After careful quality-filtering, removal of seasonal effect, as well as uncertainty reduction through spatial averaging and random sampling, we find that the mean canopy height in Amazon has much higher reduction from 2006 to 2007 compared to either the drought year from 2004 to 2005, or the immediate post-drought change from 2005 to 2006, demonstrating a lagged effect of drought. Our estimation of carbon loss from model calculation also show that 2005 drought had an significant impact on the carbon exchange, and emissions from post drought disturbance may match the emissions of annual deforestation from Amazonia.

  2. An Integrated Hypothesis on the Domestication of Bactris gasipaes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galluzzi, Gea; Dufour, Dominique; Thomas, Evert; van Zonneveld, Maarten; Escobar Salamanca, Andrés Felipe; Giraldo Toro, Andrés; Rivera, Andrés; Salazar Duque, Hector; Suárez Baron, Harold; Gallego, Gerardo; Scheldeman, Xavier; Gonzalez Mejia, Alonso

    2015-01-01

    Peach palm (Bactris gasipaes Kunth) has had a central place in the livelihoods of people in the Americas since pre-Columbian times, notably for its edible fruits and multi-purpose wood. The botanical taxon includes both domesticated and wild varieties. Domesticated var gasipaes is believed to derive from one or more of the three wild types of var. chichagui identified today, although the exact dynamics and location of the domestication are still uncertain. Drawing on a combination of molecular and phenotypic diversity data, modeling of past climate suitability and existing literature, we present an integrated hypothesis about peach palm's domestication. We support a single initial domestication event in south western Amazonia, giving rise to var. chichagui type 3, the putative incipient domesticate. We argue that subsequent dispersal by humans across western Amazonia, and possibly into Central America allowed for secondary domestication events through hybridization with resident wild populations, and differential human selection pressures, resulting in the diversity of present-day landraces. The high phenotypic diversity in the Ecuadorian and northern Peruvian Amazon suggest that human selection of different traits was particularly intense there. While acknowledging the need for further data collection, we believe that our results contribute new insights and tools to understand domestication and dispersal patterns of this important native staple, as well as to plan for its conservation.

  3. Tuberculin reactivity and tuberculosis epidemiology in the Pakaanóva (Wari') Indians of Rondônia, south-western Brazilian Amazon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Escobar, A L; Coimbra, C E A; Camacho, L A B; Santos, R V

    2004-01-01

    To investigate the characteristics of tuberculin skin test reactivity in the Pakaanóva Indians, in Amazonia, Brazil, after revaccination of all study participants with bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG). The investigation was designed as a post-BCG vaccination purified protein derivative (PPD) survey. Data included PPD readings, age, sex, nutritional status, place of residence, previous tuberculosis, physical examinations and BCG status. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted. About 90% (n = 505) of the total population participated. One third (32.1%) of the subjects presented induration > or = 10 mm at 72 h. Induration sizes showed weak linear correlation with age; differences between sexes were not observed. Skin reaction was not associated with nutritional status. Individuals with a history of tuberculosis were six times more likely to test positive. History of tuberculosis, age, and previous BCG vaccination were significantly associated with PPD reactivity in the multivariate analyses. The Pakaanóva showed a high proportion (58.4%) of non-reactors, even with a recent BCG booster. Sex differences in PPD reactivity were either not present or could not be demonstrated. The association between age and PPD reactivity resembles that observed in other Amazonian populations. The authors discuss the potential of PPD testing as a screening tool to enhance tuberculosis detection, especially in indigenous populations in Amazonia with limited access to health services.

  4. De la campagne à la ville: la migration du "caboclo" (From Country to City: Caboclo's Migration)

    OpenAIRE

    Boyer-Araújo, Véronique

    1992-01-01

    International audience; A major character in Brazilian possession cults regularly indwells a medium who can then counsel clients seeking help. His name is the same as the term designating country-dwellers: Caboclo. The image of "inlanders" (migrants from Amazonia) in Northeastern Brazil's big cities contributed to the creation of this character during the first half of the 20th century. Because of the malleability of the term caboclo, most of the poor thus find a sense of identity that formul...

  5. Estudo bioclimático entre as condições do tempo e a malária na Amazônia Legal

    OpenAIRE

    Gomes, Ana Carla dos Santos

    2011-01-01

    Advance knowledge of weather conditions can be very useful for helping society to avoid waste and loss of human and material resources. From a statistical analysis, we tried to find an association malaria and climatic variables in Amazonia. For this it is necessary to check whether there is a relationship, will be used monthly data of reported malaria and meteorological data for the period 2000 to 2009 thirteen municipalities of the Amazon. Malaria is one of the oldest human diseases most pre...

  6. Investigating the timing of origin and evolutionary processes shaping regional species diversity: insights from simulated data and Neotropical butterfly diversification rates

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Matos Maravi, Pavel F.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 70, č. 7 (2016), s. 1638-1650 ISSN 0014-3820 R&D Projects: GA ČR GB14-36098G Grant - others:Operational Program Research and Development for Innovations(CZ) CZ.1.05/3.2.00/08.0144; GA JU(CZ) 003/2015/P; GA MŠk(CZ) LM2010005 Institutional support: RVO:60077344 Keywords : Amazonia * density-dependence * extinction Subject RIV: EH - Ecology, Behaviour Impact factor: 4.201, year: 2016 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/evo.12960/full

  7. IMPACT OF THE NEW BRAZILIAN FORESTRY CODE ON THE ADEQUACY OF SMALL FARM HOUSEHOLDS TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW

    OpenAIRE

    Diogo Feistauer; Paulo Emilio Lovato; Alexandre Siminski; Sidivan Aparecido Resende

    2014-01-01

    http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/1980509815735In order to evaluate the effects of Brazil’s new Forest Code on the legal status of farm households, 17 farms, located in Portal da Amazonia territory, northern Mato Grosso state, and managed in either conventional specialized farm (CPS) or organic (OPS) production systems were studied. The total area per farm, as well as the surfaces of legal reserve units and preservation areas were measured by using Geographic Information System (GIS), to allow a comp...

  8. Western Amazonian Ticapimpla (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae: Pimplinae): Four New Species from Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, with a Key to Species of the Genus

    OpenAIRE

    Edgard Palacio; Gavin R. Broad; Ilari E. Sääksjärvi; Anu Veijalainen

    2010-01-01

    Ticapimpla is a small genus closely related to the New World genera Acrotaphus and Hymenoepimecis. It has been previously reported from Costa Rica and Brazil. In this paper, we describe four new species: T. amazonica from Ecuador and Peru, T. carinata from Colombia and Peru, T. matamatae from Colombia, and T. soinii from Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. All have been collected in Western Amazonia, suggesting a South American origin for the genus. A key to the known species of the genus is provided.

  9. Diet and nutritional status of Ameridians: a review of the literature Dieta e estado nutricional de populações ameríndias: uma revisão da literatura

    OpenAIRE

    Darna L. Dufour

    1991-01-01

    This paper reviews and evaluates the available data on diet and nutritional status of Amerindians living in the tropical forests of Amazonia. The diets of most Amerindians are based on cassava and plantains/bananas, with high quality protein coming from fish, game and invertebrates. The composition of Amerindian diets is known for only a few groups. In these groups the dietary intake of households and adults appears to be adequate in energy and protein. However, the high bulk, low caloric den...

  10. Evaluación de la actividad hipotensora del Maytenus Krukovii (Chuchuhuasi) en rata consciente.

    OpenAIRE

    Salazar Granara, Alberto; Milla Flores, Diana Rosa; Morales Gutiérrez, Valeria; Velarde Barrantes, Luis Fernando; Villanueva Espinoza, Alan Alexis; Segura Carrillo, Karla; Casquero Del Castillo, Diego; Vargas Pareja, Yisella; Vela Gonzáles, Yliana; Sánchez Alarcón, Vanessa; Manrique Mejia, Renán

    2008-01-01

    Maytenus krukovii (chuchuhuasi), oriunda de la amazonia sudamericana, tradicionalmente se le atribuye acción analgésica, antiinflamatoria, afrodisíaca entre otros; investigaciones reportan acción analgésica con intermediación de receptores opiáceos, efecto antipirético, antiinflamatorio y gastroprotector. El presente estudio experimental indagó acerca de la acción sobre la presión arterial y frecuencia cardiaca del chuchuhuasi en rata consciente. Se utilizaron 10 ratas albinas machos, a las q...

  11. Encouraging Democratic Transitions: The Problematic Impact of United States’ Involvement

    Science.gov (United States)

    1991-06-20

    has indeed been profound. The dismal failure of the 27 7 Nolan, op. cit., p. 37. 28. James LeMoyne, "The Guerrilla Network", The New York Times Magazine ...as mandated under the Harkin Amendments. Brazil was on the list. Many of the charges were the result of earlier investigations , such as Amnesty...will not in and of 60 "Sarney Says Inflation Could Destroy Democracy". PY0601140189 Brasilia Radio Nacional da Amazonia Network in Portuguese 0900 GMT

  12. Los salesianos y los shuar construyendo la identidad cultural

    OpenAIRE

    Gnerre, Maurizio

    2012-01-01

    En el tema de las relaciones entre misioneros salesianos y el pueblo shuar existen, para los lectores interesados, algunas valiosas contribuciones de autores que conocieron y conocen muy bien, no solo la historia del vicariato Aposto?lico de Me?ndez y Gualaquiza, sino tambie?n el contexto histo?rico ma?s amplio en que se desarrollo? la actuacio?n de los salesianos entre los shuar, y en los u?ltimos cuarenta an?os tambie?n entre los achuar, en la Amazoni?a ecuatoriana.

  13. Discovery or Extinction of New Scleroderma Species in Amazonia?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iuri G Baseia

    Full Text Available The Amazon Forest is a hotspot of biodiversity harboring an unknown number of undescribed taxa. Inventory studies are urgent, mainly in the areas most endangered by human activities such as extensive dam construction, where species could be in risk of extinction before being described and named. In 2015, intensive studies performed in a few locations in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest revealed three new species of the genus Scleroderma: S. anomalosporum, S. camassuense and S. duckei. The two first species were located in one of the many areas flooded by construction of hydroelectric dams throughout the Amazon; and the third in the Reserva Florestal Adolpho Ducke, a protected reverse by the INPA. The species were identified through morphology and molecular analyses of barcoding sequences (Internal Transcribed Spacer nrDNA. Scleroderma anomalosporum is characterized mainly by the smooth spores under LM in mature basidiomata (under SEM with small, unevenly distributed granules, a characteristic not observed in other species of the genus, the large size of the basidiomata, up to 120 mm diameter, and the stelliform dehiscence; S. camassuense mainly by the irregular to stellate dehiscence, the subreticulated spores and the bright sulfur-yellow colour, and Scleroderma duckei mainly by the verrucose exoperidium, stelliform dehiscence, and verrucose spores. Description, illustration and affinities with other species of the genus are provided.

  14. Soil texture derived from topography in North-eastern Amazonia

    OpenAIRE

    Laurent, François; Poccard-Chapuis, René; Plassin, Sophie; Pimentel Martinez, Gustavo

    2017-01-01

    We present a 1:100,000 scale soil texture map of Paragominas county (Pará, Brazil), covering 19,330 km2. The method allows rapid production of a soil texture map of a large area where the strength of a duricrust controls the relief. It is based on an easily accessible explanatory variable, topography, which is represented using a Digital Elevation Model. The method makes it possible to map the spatial distribution of the texture of the topsoil layer. Modelling was complemented by field observ...

  15. Landscape-scale forest disturbance regimes in southern Peruvian Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boyd, Doreen S; Hill, Ross A; Hopkinson, Chris; Baker, Timothy R

    2013-10-01

    Landscape-scale gap-size frequency distributions in tropical forests are a poorly studied but key ecological variable. Currently, a scale gap currently exists between local-scale field-based studies and those employing regional-scale medium-resolution satellite data. Data at landscape scales but of fine resolution would, however, facilitate investigation into a range of ecological questions relating to gap dynamics. These include whether canopy disturbances captured in permanent sample plots (PSPs) are representative of those in their surrounding landscape, and whether disturbance regimes vary with forest type. Here, therefore, we employ airborne LiDAR data captured over 142.5 km2 of mature, swamp, and regenerating forests in southeast Peru to assess the landscape-scale disturbance at a sampling resolution of up to 2 m. We find that this landscape is characterized by large numbers of small gaps; large disturbance events are insignificant and infrequent. Of the total number of gaps that are 2 m2 or larger in area, just 0.45% were larger than 100 m2, with a power-law exponent (alpha) value of the gap-size frequency distribution of 2.22. However, differences in disturbance regimes are seen among different forest types, with a significant difference in the alpha value of the gap-size frequency distribution observed for the swamp/regenerating forests compared with the mature forests at higher elevations. Although a relatively small area of the total forest of this region was investigated here, this study presents an unprecedented assessment of this landscape with respect to its gap dynamics. This is particularly pertinent given the range of forest types present in the landscape and the differences observed. The coupling of detailed insights into forest properties and growth provided by PSPs with the broader statistics of disturbance events using remote sensing is recommended as a strong basis for scaling-up estimates of landscape and regional-scale carbon balance.

  16. Biomass power production in Amazonia: Environmentally sound, economically productive

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Waddle, D.B. [National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, Washington, DC (United States); Hollomon, J.B. [Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development, Arlington, VA (United States)

    1993-12-31

    With the support of the US Agency for International Development, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) is assisting their utility counterparts in Bolivia to improve electric service in the country`s rural population. In remote areas, the cost of extending transmission lines to small communities is prohibitive, and diesel generators represent an expensive alternative, especially for baseload power. This has led to serious consideration of electric generating systems using locally available renewable resources, including biomass, hydro, wind, and solar energy. A project has recently been initiated in Riberalta, in the Amazonian region of Bolivia, to convert waste Brazil nut shells and sawmill residues to electricity. Working in tandem with diesel generators, the biomass-fired plant will produce base-load power in an integrated system that will be able to provide reliable and affordable electricity to the city. The project will allow the local rural electric cooperative to lower the price of electricity by nearly forty percent, enable the local Brazil nut industry to increase its level of mechanization, and reduce the environmental impacts of dumping waste shells around the city and in an adjacent river. The project is representative of others that will be funded in the future by NRECA/AID.

  17. Pyomyositis in the upper Negro river basin, Brazilian Amazonia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Borges, Alvaro Humberto Diniz; Faragher, Brian; Lalloo, David G

    2012-01-01

    Pyomyositis remains poorly documented in tropical Latin America. We therefore performed a retrospective review of cases admitted to a hospital in the upper Negro river basin during 2002-2006. Seasonality was assessed by the cosinor model and independent predictors of outcome were identified...... lesions). Staphylococcus aureus was the only identified infecting organism (18 of 20 culture results, 90%). Complications occurred in 17 patients (20.7%) and the case fatality rate was 2.4%. Children were more likely to present with eosinophilia than adults (OR= 4.20, 95% CI 1.08-16.32, p=0.......048), but no other significant differences regarding clinical presentation and outcomes were observed. The time-to-fever resolution was the only independent determinant of poor outcome (OR=1.52, 95% CI 1.22-1.92, p...

  18. La metamorfosis ritual: la identidad religiosa en la Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jean-Pierre Goulard

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Las sociedades indígenas han conocido muchos cambios a lo largo de su historia, especialmente desde el siglo xix . Sus relaciones con el exterior, sobre todo con el mundo de los “blancos”, los han llevado a adoptar estrategias propias con las cuales han logrado sobrevivir. En este documento se analizan algunos aspectos religiosos inducidos por los movimientos proféticos que prevalecen entre los tikuna grupo étnico amazónico, y que han determinado las opciones escogidas por este pueblo. A través de tal eje, el autor muestra cómo, a pesar de lo vivido por el grupo étnico, ha sido posible mantener un sistema de creencias que sigue en diálogo con la vida de su sociedad. Entonces, se propone la hipótesis de que se puede entender que este sistema perdura y se fundamenta en invariantes socioculturales que se entienden a través del filtro de la metamorfosis ritual, que les permite a los tikuna conservar y reivindicar su identidad étnica.

  19. Eficiência no uso dos nutrientes por espécies pioneiras crescidas em pastagens degradadas na Amazônia central Nutrient use efficiency for pioneer species grown on abandoned pastures in central Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos E. M. Silva

    2006-12-01

    colonizing species. The experiment conducted on a six year-old secondary forest, consisted of four treatments: control; phosphorus addition (P; phosphorus and lime addition (P+Cal; and phosphorus, lime and gypsum addition (P+Cal+G. Leaf gas exchange, soil and leaf nutrient concentration were determined eight months after the treatment application. There was a significant response by species to the addition of phosphorus and lime (P+Cal and P+Cal+G. The species, Bellucia grossularioides accumulated more N, P and Zn in the leaves, while Laetia procera accumulated more Ca and Mn. The species Vismia japurensis had higher nutrient use efficiency, as a function of the higher photosynthetic rates. Vismia japurensis presented lower P concentrations than Bellucia grossularioides, suggesting that is well adapted to environments low in nutrients, as this species often occurs in degraded areas in Amazonia.

  20. Development of Learning Virtual Objects as a Strategy to Foster Student Retention in Higher Education

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yois S. Pascuas Rengifo

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Rev.esc.adm.neg One of the problems that the Colombian higher education system is facing is the problem of student desertion, shwoing that a great amount of students leave their university studies during the first semesters. For this reason, the National Education Ministry and Universidad de la Amazonia implement a new strategy to foster student retention and graduation through academic levelling. This paper shows eight learning virtual objects from different learning áreas, applying technological tolos to design didactic interactive and creative environments.

  1. Large lianas as hyperdynamic elements of the tropical forest canopy

    OpenAIRE

    Phillips, O.L.; Vásquez Martínez, R.; Monteagudo Mendoza, A.; Baker, T.R.; Núñez Vargas, P.

    2005-01-01

    Lianas (woody vines) are an important component of lowland tropical forests.\\ud We report large liana and tree inventory and dynamics data from Amazonia over periods\\ud of up to 24 years, making this the longest geographically extensive study of liana ecology\\ud to date. We use these results to address basic questions about the ecology of large lianas\\ud in mature forests and their interactions with trees. In one intensively studied site we find\\ud that large lianas (≥10 cm diameter) represen...

  2. Deeply concealed half-graben at the SW margin of the East European Craton (SE Poland) — Evidence for Neoproterozoic rifting prior to the break-up of Rodinia

    OpenAIRE

    P. Krzywiec; P. Poprawa; M. Mikołajczak; S. Mazur; M. Malinowski

    2018-01-01

    Baltica was one of continents formed as a result of Rodinia break-up 850–550 Ma. It was separated from Amazonia(?) by the Tornquist Ocean, the opening of which was preceded by Neoproterozoic extension in a network of continental rifts. Some of these rifts were subsequently aborted whereas the Tornquist Rift gave rise to splitting of Rodinia and formation of the Tornquist Ocean. The results of 1-D subsidence analysis at the fossil passive margin of Baltica provided insight in the timing and ki...

  3. Investigación de mercado sobre el grado de aceptación de mermelada de cocona en Sibundoy, Putumayo

    OpenAIRE

    Argote, Francisco Emilio; Universidad de San Buenaventura; Vargas, Diana Patricia; Universidad Nacional; Villada, Héctor Samuel; Universidad del Cauca

    2013-01-01

    La cocona es una fruta exótica proveniente de la amazonia colombiana de excelentes características sensoriales y nutricionales. Previene enfermedades cardiovasculares, obesidad, diabetes y ciertos tipos de cáncer. Los objetivos desarrollados en la presente investigación fueron valoración de la demanda potencial de mermelada a partir de cocona, evaluación sensorial, determinación de productos sustitutos y diseño de estrategias de mercadeo.  El modelo de investigación empleado fue el cuantitati...

  4. Mammalia, Chiroptera, Thyropteridae, Thyroptera tricolor Spix, 1823: Distribution extension in Ecuador

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Boada, C. E.

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available In Ecuador, Thyroptera tricolor is distributed on the northern coastal region, in Amazonia, and in the foothillsof the Andes between 50 to 1,800 m of altitude. We reported a capture of a non-breeding female at El Descanso, Los RíosProvince, in the central coastal region of Ecuador. With this record, we have extended the geographical distribution of T.tricolor in Ecuador 55 km further south. Using the available data for Ecuador, a predictive distribution model was generatedusing a Maximum Entropy approach.

  5. Accessibility evaluation model to support decision-making in urban investments : the case of Santarém-Brazil

    OpenAIRE

    Ramos, Rui A. R.; Rodrigues, Daniel Souto; Tobias, Maisa

    2011-01-01

    The main goal of the paper is to present an accessibility evaluation model for the urban area of Santarém, in Brazil. Located midway between the larger cities of Belém and Manaus, Santarém plays a crucial role in the region of Lower Amazonia. The paper describes the research instruments, sampling method and data analysis proposed for mapping urban accessibility. Basic activities (education, health, services, leisure and commerce) provided by the city were used to identify the main key-destina...

  6. Reference Manual: Navy Message Words and Word Frequencies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1981-12-29

    8217 NRL MEMORANDUM REPORT 4673 5 ALVIN 7 ALWAYS 3 ALYWIN 58 AM 1 AMARILLO 29 AMAYA 3 AMAZON 3 AMAZONE I AMAZONIA 11 AMBASSADOR 4 AMBIENT I AMBIGUITY 5...2 INVESTIGATE 3 INVESTIGATING 9 INVESTIGATION 1 INVESTIGATIONS 2 INVESTIGATIVE I INVESTMENT 8 INVITATION 6 INVITE I I INVITED 2 INVITES 6 INVOKE 2...MADDALENA I MADDEN 89 MADE 3 MADISON I MADRE 2 MADRID 11 MAERSK 2 MAESTRA 2 MAF 4 MAG I MAGAZINE I MAGGIORE 3 MAGILL 2 MAGNOLIA I MAGNUS I MAGSAYSAY 2

  7. Endemic pemphigus foliaceus in Venezuela: report of two children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    González, Francisco; Sáenz, Ana Maria; Cirocco, Antonietta; Tacaronte, Inés Maria; Fajardo, Javier Enrique; Calebotta, Adriana

    2006-01-01

    Two native Yanomami children from the Venezuelan Amazonia with erythroderma were hospitalized on our service. Clinical, histologic, and immunofluorescence studies diagnosed endemic pemphigus foliaceous. Human leukocyte antigen class II showed DRB1*04 subtype *0411, which has not been previously associated with this disease. However, it shares a common epitope with all the human leukocyte antigen DRB1 alleles that have been involved in this disease among Brazilian populations. Although this condition is endemic in Brazil, our patients are the first two reported in Venezuela.

  8. Participatory Maps

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Salovaara-Moring, Inka

    2016-01-01

    practice. In particular, mapping environmental damage, endangered species, and human-made disasters has become one focal point for environmental knowledge production. This type of digital map has been highlighted as a processual turn in critical cartography, whereas in related computational journalism...... of a geo-visualization within information mapping that enhances embodiment in the experience of the information. InfoAmazonia is defined as a digitally created map-space within which journalistic practice can be seen as dynamic, performative interactions between journalists, ecosystems, space, and species...

  9. The challenges of sustainable rural electrification in isolated communities of the Amazonia; Os desafios da eletrificacao rural sustentavel em comunidades isoladas da Amazonia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Souza, Rubem Cesar Rodrigues; Bacellar, Atlas Augusto; Seye, Omar; Goncalves, Cristiano; Cunha, Yasmine dos Santos Ribeiro; Souza, Fernando Cesar Rodrigues; Mota, Sheila Cordeiro; Sardinha, Marcia Drumond; Cunha, Priscila de Sa Leitao; Albuquerque, Felipe Oliveira; Costa, Whillison Bentes da; Silveira Junior, Wellyghan Assis [Universidade Federal do Amazonas (UFAM), Manaus, AM (Brazil). Centro de Desenvolvimento Energetico Amazonico

    2008-07-01

    In this article some important elements are discussed in the challenge to make possible the isolated of the Amazon electric supply in maintainable bases. The discussion is made fundamentally starting from the experience lived in the project 'Model for Electric Power Enterprise in Isolated Communities in the Amazon - NERAM', financed by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development - CNPq in the extent of the program 'Luz para Todos', being implemented by the Amazonian Center of Energy Development - CDEAM of Amazon Federal University - UFAM. The reading of the problem is focused in two aspects considered fundamental for the discussion, which they are: the generation of income and the generation, distribution and electric power sale. (author)

  10. Source attribution of Bornean air masses by back trajectory analysis during the OP3 project

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. H. Robinson

    2011-09-01

    Full Text Available Atmospheric composition affects the radiative balance of the Earth through the creation of greenhouse gases and the formation of aerosols. The latter interact with incoming solar radiation, both directly and indirectly through their effects on cloud formation and lifetime. The tropics have a major influence on incoming sunlight however the tropical atmosphere is poorly characterised, especially outside Amazonia. The origins of air masses influencing a measurement site in a protected rainforest in Borneo, South East Asia, were assessed and the likely sources of a range of trace gases and particles were determined. This was conducted by interpreting in situ measurements made at the site in the context of ECMWF backwards air mass trajectories. Two different but complementary methods were employed to interpret the data: comparison of periods classified by cluster analysis of trajectories, and inspection of the dependence of mean measured values on geographical history of trajectories. Sources of aerosol particles, carbon monoxide and halocarbons were assessed. The likely source influences include: terrestrial organic biogenic emissions; long range transport of anthropogenic emissions; biomass burning; sulphurous emissions from marine phytoplankton, with a possible contribution from volcanoes; marine production of inorganic mineral aerosol; and marine production of halocarbons. Aerosol sub- and super-saturated water affinity was found to be dependent on source (and therefore composition, with more hygroscopic aerosol and higher numbers of cloud condensation nuclei measured in air masses of marine origin. The prevailing sector during the majority of measurements was south-easterly, which is from the direction of the coast closest to the site, with a significant influence inland from the south-west. This analysis shows that marine and terrestrial air masses have different dominant chemical sources. Comparison with the AMAZE-08 project in the Amazon

  11. Treetop shelter of a neotropical river otter cub (Lontra longicaudis - Carnivora: Mustelidae in an Amazonian flooded forest Abrigo em copa de árvore de filhote de lontra neotropical (Lontra longicaudis - Carnivora: Mustelidae em floresta inundável amazônica

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pedro Manuel Ribeiro Simões dos Santos

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available The finding of a Neotropical river otter (Lontra longicaudis cub occupying a shelter in a hollowed treetop is reported. The observation was made in a seasonally flooded forest in Central Amazonia, during the high water peak of the annual inundation cycle. A literature review indicates that this is the first description of a shelter of the species, both in a hollowed tree and in Amazonia. This observation can indicate a strong relationship between the species' breeding cycle with the annual dynamics of Amazonian rivers. We discuss potential advantages and disadvantages of breeding when water level is high.É relatada a observação de um filhote de lontra (Lontra longicaudis ocupando um abrigo em uma cavidade na copa de uma árvore. A observação foi feita em uma floresta inundada na Amazônia Central, no pico de cheia do ciclo anual de inundação. A revisão da literatura revela que esta é a primeira descrição de um abrigo desta espécie em uma cavidade de árvore na natureza e na Amazônia. Tal observação pode indicar uma forte relação entre o ciclo reprodutivo da espécie e a dinâmica anual dos rios amazônicos. Discutimos vantagens e desvantagens potenciais da reprodução na época da cheia.

  12. Impact of the ongoing Amazonian deforestation on local precipitation: A GCM simulation study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, G. K.; Sud, Y. C.; Atlas, R.

    1995-01-01

    Numerical simulation experiments were conducted to delineate the influence of in situ deforestation data on episodic rainfall by comparing two ensembles of five 5-day integrations performed with a recent version of the Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres General Circulation Model (GCM) that has a simple biosphere model (SiB). The first set, called control cases, used the standard SiB vegetation cover (comprising 12 biomes) and assumed a fully forested Amazonia, while the second set, called deforestation cases, distinguished the partially deforested regions of Amazonia as savanna. Except for this difference, all other initial and prescribed boundary conditions were kept identical in both sets of integrations. The differential analyses of these five cases show the following local effects of deforestation. (1) A discernible decrease in evapotranspiration of about 0.80 mm/d (roughly 18%) that is quite robust in the averages for 1-, 2-, and 5-day forecasts. (2) A decrease in precipitation of about 1.18 mm/d (roughly 8%) that begins to emerge even in 1-2 day averages and exhibits complex evolution that extends downstream with the winds. (3) A significant decrease in the surface drag force (as a consequence of reduced surface roughness of deforested regions) that, in turn, affects the dynamical structure of moisture convergence and circulation. The surface winds increase significantly during the first day, and thereafter the increase is well maintained even in the 2- and 5-day averages.

  13. Vegetation Dynamics and Rainfall Sensitivity of the Amazon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hilker, Thomas; Lyapustin, Alexei I.; Tucker, Compton J.; Hall, Forrest G.; Myneni, Ranga B.; Wang, Yujie; Bi, Jian; Mendes de Moura, Yhasmin; Sellers, Piers J.

    2014-01-01

    We show that the vegetation canopy of the Amazon rainforest is highly sensitive to changes in precipitation patterns and that reduction in rainfall since 2000 has diminished vegetation greenness across large parts of Amazonia. Large-scale directional declines in vegetation greenness may indicate decreases in carbon uptake and substantial changes in the energy balance of the Amazon. We use improved estimates of surface reflectance from satellite data to show a close link between reductions in annual precipitation, El Nino southern oscillation events, and photosynthetic activity across tropical and subtropical Amazonia. We report that, since the year 2000, precipitation has declined across 69% of the tropical evergreen forest (5.4 million sq km) and across 80% of the subtropical grasslands (3.3 million sq km). These reductions, which coincided with a decline in terrestrial water storage, account for about 55% of a satellite-observed widespread decline in the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). During El Nino events, NDVI was reduced about 16.6% across an area of up to 1.6 million sq km compared with average conditions. Several global circulation models suggest that a rise in equatorial sea surface temperature and related displacement of the intertropical convergence zone could lead to considerable drying of tropical forests in the 21st century. Our results provide evidence that persistent drying could degrade Amazonian forest canopies, which would have cascading effects on global carbon and climate dynamics.

  14. Fifty-thousand-year vegetation and climate history of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, Bolivian Amazon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burbridge, Rachel E.; Mayle, Francis E.; Killeen, Timothy J.

    2004-03-01

    Pollen and charcoal records from two large, shallow lakes reveal that throughout most of the past 50,000 yr Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, in northeastern lowland Bolivia (southwestern Amazon Basin), was predominantly covered by savannas and seasonally dry semideciduous forests. Lowered atmospheric CO 2 concentrations, in combination with a longer dry season, caused expansion of dry forests and savannas during the last glacial period, especially at the last glacial maximum. These ecosystems persisted until the mid-Holocene, although they underwent significant species reassortment. Forest communities containing a mixture of evergreen and semideciduous species began to expand between 6000 and 3000 14C yr B.P. Humid evergreen rain forests expanded to cover most of the area within the past 2000 14C yr B.P., coincident with a reduction in fire frequencies. Comparisons between modern pollen spectra and vegetation reveal that the Moraceae-dominated rain forest pollen spectra likely have a regional source area at least 2-3 km beyond the lake shore, whereas the grass- and sedge-dominated savanna pollen spectra likely have a predominantly local source area. The Holocene vegetation changes are consistent with independent paleoprecipitation records from the Bolivian Altiplano and paleovegetation records from other parts of southwestern Amazonia. The progressive expansion in rain forests through the Holocene can be largely attributed to enhanced convective activity over Amazonia, due to greater seasonality of insolation in the Southern Hemisphere tropics driven by the precession cycle according to the Milankovitch Astronomical Theory.

  15. Origin and Domestication of Native Amazonian Crops

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Doriane Picanço-Rodrigues

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Molecular analyses are providing new elements to decipher the origin, domestication and dispersal of native Amazonian crops in an expanding archaeological context. Solid molecular data are available for manioc (Manihot esculenta, cacao (Theobroma cacao, pineapple (Ananas comosus, peach palm (Bactris gasipaes and guaraná (Paullinia cupana, while hot peppers (Capsicum spp., inga (Inga edulis, Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa and cupuassu (Theobroma grandiflorum are being studied. Emergent patterns include the relationships among domestication, antiquity (terminal Pleistocene to early Holocene, origin in the periphery, ample pre-Columbian dispersal and clear phylogeographic population structure for manioc, pineapple, peach palm and, perhaps, Capsicum peppers. Cacao represents the special case of an Amazonian species possibly brought into domestication in Mesoamerica, but close scrutiny of molecular data suggests that it may also have some incipiently domesticated populations in Amazonia. Another pattern includes the relationships among species with incipiently domesticated populations or very recently domesticated populations, rapid pre- or post-conquest dispersal and lack of phylogeographic population structure, e.g., Brazil nut, cupuassu and guaraná. These patterns contrast the peripheral origin of most species with domesticated populations with the subsequent concentration of their genetic resources in the center of the basin, along the major white water rivers where high pre-conquest population densities developed. Additional molecular genetic analyses on these and other species will allow better examination of these processes and will enable us to relate them to other historical ecological patterns in Amazonia.

  16. De los límites a la frontera: o los malentendidos de la geopolítica amazónica

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claude Roux, Jean

    2001-12-01

    Full Text Available Amazonia depression occupied a central position in the dispute between Spain and Portugal from the bigginig of its discovery. In the XVIIIth Century only a theoretical border line was stablished because of the lack of economic value of the region. But with the rubber apogée several limited conflicts clashed due to the exploit of this economic resource. Brazil controled this economy because controled the navigable rivers and had a big amount of farmers and an active diplomacy. After having fallen again into oblivion, from 1970 Amazonia has experienced a new economic development pushed from Brazil which is blured with economic globalization.

    La hoya amazónica, desde el inicio de su descubrimiento, estuvo en el centro de la contienda entre Portugal y España. En el siglo XVIII, debido a la falta de interés económico, se estableció una serie de límites de manera teórica. Con el auge del caucho y por el interés de explotarlo, se desataron varios conflictos territoriales. Brasil, que controlaba los ríos navegables, haciendo uso de sus numerosos colonos y de una diplomacia activa, tomó el control. De nuevo en el olvido, la Amazonía, desde 1970, conoce un resurgir económico, impulsado por Brasil, que en la actualidad se funde con la globalización económica.

  17. Contingent Diversity on Anthropic Landscapes

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    William Balée

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Behaviorally modern human beings have lived in Amazonia for thousands of years. Significant dynamics in species turnovers due to human-mediated disturbance were associated with the ultimate emergence and expansion of agrarian technologies in prehistory. Such disturbances initiated primary and secondary landscape transformations in various locales of the Amazon region. Diversity in these locales can be understood by accepting the initial premise of contingency, expressed as unprecedented human agency and human history. These effects can be accessed through the archaeological record and in the study of living languages. In addition, landscape transformation can be demonstrated in the study of traditional knowledge (TK. One way of elucidating TK distinctions between anthropic and nonanthropic landscapes concerns elicitation of differential labeling of these landscapes and more significantly, elicitation of the specific contents, such as trees, occurring in these landscapes. Freelisting is a method which can be used to distinguish the differential species compositions of landscapes resulting from human-mediated disturbance vs. those which do not evince records of human agency and history. The TK of the Ka’apor Indians of Amazonian Brazil as revealed in freelisting exercises shows differentiation of anthropogenic from high forests as well as a recognition of diversity in the anthropogenic forests. This suggests that the agents of human-mediated disturbance and landscape transformation in traditional Amazonia encode diversity and contingency into their TK, which encoding reflects past cultural influence on landscape and society over time.

  18. Technological alternative on environmental management for pipeline installation in the Amazon

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Frade, Amadeu Farage; Teixeira, Ivan Jose [Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (PETROBRAS), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Riquena, Renata Maria; Freitas, Wanderleia Isabel P. de [CONCREMAT, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2009-07-01

    Usually pipelines construction are located in isolated places which are difficult to access. Due this characteristic the logistical support services are not available as easily as it is in large centers. Even so these enterprises may not release these services mainly due to high demand from stakeholders and the commitment to quality that these pipelines are submitted. This work presents some alternatives in environmental management implemented during an installation of pipelines in the Amazon forest with emphasis on the quality of water bodies and correct effluents destination. Located in western Amazonia in a region with several restrictions like: logistics, low supply of skilled labor and high environmental requirements. The project aligned competence and creativity since from its planning until its delivery to overcome difficulties and meet the demands of stakeholders. Usual techniques to assist legal requirements such as effluent treatment and environmental monitoring had to be adapted to the Amazon reality, always seeking for balance between technical and alignment economic and respect for social and environmental aspects. Using the methodology of 'wetland' (system of alternative treatment of effluents, based on the use of regional plants - macrophytes), the reuse of sludge from sewage treatment station, floating sewage treatment system, was crucial to meet the challenge to deploy this product to work in Amazonia. The aim of this work is to disseminate the techniques used and help other enterprises with the same challenges. (author)

  19. Carbon dynamics and ecosystem diversity of Amazonian peatlands

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Laehteenoja, O.

    2011-07-01

    The overall aim was to initiate peatland research in Amazonia, which has been referred to as 'one of the large white spots on the global peatland map'. Specifically, the study was to clarify how common peat accumulation is on Amazonian floodplains, and how extensive and thick peat deposits can be encountered. Secondly, the intention was to study how rapidly Amazonian peatlands sequester carbon, and how much carbon they store and thirdly, to gain some understanding of the diversity of peatland ecosystem types and of the processes forming these ecosystems

  20. La Amazonía: aspectos a ser tenidos en cuenta para su utilización agrícola

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arguello Arias Heliodoro

    1984-12-01

    Full Text Available

    La región Amazónica ha sido, es, y seguirá siendo con mayor fuerza hacia el futuro, una región de suma importancia para el mundo y aún más para los países que tienen dentro de sus fronteras parte de ella. No ha sido sorprendente constatar que, aunque se comenta mucho sobre la rica y exuberante Amazonia, poco se ha hecho para conocerla desde el punto de vista de su adaptabilidad para cultivos alimenticios ya sea anuales. semiperennes o perennes.

  1. Desarrollo de objetos virtuales de aprendizaje como estrategia para fomentar la permanencia estudiantil en la educación superior

    OpenAIRE

    Pascuas Rengifo, Yois S; Jaramillo Morales, César Omar; Verástegui González, Fredy Antonio

    2015-01-01

    Uno de los principales problemas que enfrenta el sistema de educación superior colombiano es el fenómeno de la deserción estudiantil, dejando entrever que una gran parte de estudiantes abandona sus estudios, principalmente en los primeros semestres. Por esta razón, el Ministerio de Educación Nacional de Colombia y la Universidad de la Amazonia, implementaron una estrategia educativa que busca fomentar la permanencia y graduación de estudiantes, a través de la nivelación académica. Se describe...

  2. O “Senhor absoluto dos Sertoes”. O “Capitao preto” José Lopes, a Amazônia e o Cabo Verde

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rafael Chambouleyron

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Este artículo discute las experiencias del cabo-verdiano José Lopes, figura influyente en los sertones de Río Negro, en la Amazonia de final del siglo XVII e inicio del siglo XVIII. Se trata de entender de qué manera su inserción en el mundo amazónico estuvo determinada no sólo por las redes de poder en las cuales se insertó, sino también en las especificidades de la sociedad y de la experiencia histórica cabo-verdiana de aquel momento.

  3. El Amazonas en el camino de la sostenibilidad

    OpenAIRE

    Pinilla, Nelson

    2003-01-01

    La Amazonia es en la conciencia colectiva del planeta el espacio natural y cultural más conservado y donde es posible el desarrollo sostenible. Pero la realidad es otra: factores históricos y económicos, aunados a la codicia, la ignorancia y las erradas políticas andinas para las selvas han llevado a esta región a soportar intensos procesos de deforestación y extracción de sus recursos naturales y culturales. Al analizar la encrucijada del sin modelo económico actual del Amazonas, se encuentr...

  4. Universidad y ciudadanía: elementos para una agenda de diálogo común

    OpenAIRE

    Rozo Bellón, Juan Fredy

    2003-01-01

    La Amazonia es en la conciencia colectiva del planeta el espacio natural y cultural más conservado y donde es posible el desarrollo sostenible. Pero la realidad es otra: factores históricos y económicos, aunados a la codicia, la ignorancia y las erradas políticas andinas para las selvas han llevado a esta región a soportar intensos procesos de deforestación y extracción de sus recursos naturales y culturales. Al analizar la encrucijada del sin modelo económico actual del Amazonas, se encuentr...

  5. El municipio amazónico desde un análisis ambiental de flujos de materia caso Puerto Nariño, Amazonas Colombia

    OpenAIRE

    Ochoa Zuluaga, Germán Ignacio

    2001-01-01

    Este trabajo fue realizado en el período Agosto de 2000 - Agosto de 2001 y se llevó a cabo al interior del proyecto “Amazonia 21. Perfiles operacionales para el manejo del desarrollo sostenible en la Panamazonía” que desarrolló la Universidad Nacional de Colombia sede Leticia en convenio con otras universidades amazónicas y al apoyo de la Comunidad Europea entre 1999 y 2001. La investigación utilizó un método exploratorio cualitativo-cuantitativo, con observación participativa, contó con el a...

  6. Dos especies nuevas de calathea (Marantaceae de la Amozonia Colombiana

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suárez Stella

    2000-07-01

    Full Text Available Two new species of Marantaceae from Amazonian Colombia are described and illustrated: Calathea caquetensis and C. compacta. C. caquetensis is apparently related to C. attenuata and C. silvosa. C. compacta seems to be related to C. ecuminata, C. pearcei and C. schunkei.Se describen e ilustran dos especies nuevas de Marantaceae de la Amazonia colombiana: Calathea caquetensís y C. compacta. C. caquetensis está aparentemente relacionada con C. attenuata y C. silvosa. C compacta parece estar relacionada con C. acuminata, C. pearcei y C. schunkei.

  7. Development of a cost-effective diversity-maximising decision-support tool for in situ crop genetic resources conservation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Samuel, Aurelia F.; Drucker, Adam G.; Andersen, Sven Bode

    2013-01-01

    conservation outcomes. Alternative risk measures generally resulted in the allocation of conservation funds to the same priority clusters of cacao (Criollo and Curaray). However, the use of the number of locally common alleles as an alternative to the original Weitzman diversity measure produced a markedly...... different result, prioritising the Purús cluster in Western Amazonia. The Curaray cluster was highly prioritised under both diversity measures, indicating its distinctiveness relative to both the Criollo and Purús clusters. We conclude that the Weitzman approach can indeed allow diversity comparisons...

  8. Políticas de conservación y manejo de áreas naturales protegidas en la Amazonía Norte del Ecuador.

    OpenAIRE

    Espinosa Garcés, María Fernanda

    1994-01-01

    A pesar de que la problemática de las Áreas Protegidas está vinculada a las formas y prioridades nacionales que imprime cada tendencia y estilo político; hemos creido que la Amazonía constituye, por sus características, una interesante unidad analítica, en la que las estrategias y políticas de conservación se manifiestan de manera privilegiada, al constituir un espacio de gran conflictividad social, pero, a la vez, de especial interés ecológico y cultural. Efectivamente, la Amazonia guarda un...

  9. Fungos do herbário do Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia. I. Tipos nomenclaturais da coleção Chaves Batista

    OpenAIRE

    Aguiar, Izonete de Jesus Araújo

    1988-01-01

    É apresentada a lista de 81 tipos nomenclaturas de fungos da Coleção Chaves Batata e colaboradores depositada no Henrbário do Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia. Os táxons pertencem as subdivisões Ascomycotina (65) e Deuteromycotina (16), para os quais são fornecidos: nome, literatura original, número do herbário, classificação do tipo e dados de coleta. A list of 8I nomenclatual types of fungi in the Chaves Batista Collection, deposited in the Instituto Naclonal de Pesqulsas da A...

  10. Costos ambientales de conversión de producción ganadera tradicional a la silvopastoril en los municipios de Florencia, Morelia y Belén de los Andaquíes del departamento del Caquetá

    OpenAIRE

    Fajardo, María Yenny; Facundo Vargas, Guineth

    2014-01-01

    Tesis (Maestría en Desarrollo Sostenible y Medio Ambiente). Universidad de Manizales. Facultad de Ciencias Contables, Económicas y Administrativas, 2014 Los resultados de esta investigación es producto del análisis realizado a la base de datos social y económica de la investigaciòn desarrollada por la universidad de Amazonia: “Biodiversidad en paisajes amazónicos: determinantes socioeconómico de producción de bienes y servicios eco sistémicos (AMAZ)” el cual fue financiado por la Agence N...

  11. Elaboración de pasta de pescado a partir de especies magras.

    OpenAIRE

    Echevarría Mesia, Christian Giacomo

    2015-01-01

    La presente Memoria Descriptiva tiene como objetivo dar a conocer el proceso de elaboración de Pasta o Surimi de pescado a partir de la especies magras de nuestra región entre las que se consideró a las especies Cichla monoculus (Tucunaré) (Spix, 1829) y Brachyplatystoma tigrinum (Zúngaro Tigre) (IIAP, 2009). Estas peces son especies magras nativos de la Amazonia, con alto potencial para la diversificación de la piscicultura Nacional. La cuenca amazónica no sólo posee gran abundancia de cuerp...

  12. Chlorococcales (Algee: Chlorophyceae found in aquatic environments of the Colombian Amazon basin Chlorococcales (Algee: Chlorophyceae found in aquatic environments of the Colombian Amazon basin

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Núñez Avellaneda Marcela

    1998-06-01

    Full Text Available Ten taxa of algae belonging to the order Chlorococcales are recorded for the first time from the Colombian Amazon basin. Two of these, Nephrocytium limneticum and Sorastrum americanum var. americanum, are recorded for the first time in Colombia.Se registran por primera vez para la Amazonia colombiana 10 taxones de Chlorococcales del fitoplancton y ticoplancton encontrados en algunos lagos del río Amazonas y del río Cotuhé, afluente del río Putumayo. Nephrocytium limneticum y Sorastrum americanum varo americanum son primeros registros para Colombia.

  13. Novedades en la distribución geográfica del grupo verrucarum (Diptera: Psychodidae) en Colombia.

    OpenAIRE

    Eduar Elías Bejarano; Diana Sierra; Iván Darío Vélez

    2003-01-01

    La incriminación de especies de Lutzomyia del grupo verrucarum Theodor, 1965, en la transmisión de leishmaniosis en Colombia ha puesto de manifiesto la necesidad de conocer en detalle su distribución geográfica. Este trabajo pretende contribuir a su conocimiento mediante la incorporación de 34 registros nuevos, entre los que sobresalen el hallazgo de Lutzomyia spinicrassa en un bosque seco tropical de la Costa Atlántica, la presencia de Lutzomyia ovallesi en la Orinoquia y Amazonia y la simpa...

  14. Geographic pattern of genetic diversity in natural populations of Rosewood (Aniba rosaeodora, in the Central Amazonia Padrão geográfico de diversidade genética em populações naturais de Pau-rosa (Aniba rosaeodora, na Amazônia Central

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ronaldo Pereira Santos

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Rosewood (Aniba rosaeodora Ducke, Lauraceae is an Amazonian evergreen tree and a source of the purest linalool, the main component of its essential oil, which is very valuable in the international perfumery market. After decades of over-exploitation it is currently considered as threatened. We evaluated the genetic diversity and its distribution in four populations in Central Amazonia. Thirty-five reliable RAPD markers were generated, of which 32 were polymorphic (91.4%. Variation was higher within the populations (76.5%; p O Pau-rosa (Aniba rosaeodora Ducke, Lauraceae é uma árvore amazônica fonte do mais puro linalol, o qual é o principal componente do seu óleo essencial e muito valioso no mercado internacional de perfumaria. Após várias décadas de intensa exploração, a espécie foi levada à categoria de ameaçada de extinção. Quatro populações naturais distribuídas na bacia Amazônia Central foram avaliadas quanto ao nível e a distribuição da diversidade genética. Trinta e cinco marcadores RAPD reprodutíveis foram gerados, dos quais 32 foram polimórficos (91,4%. A diversidade foi maior dentro das populações (76,5%; p < 0,0001 e a distribuição geográfica contribuiu para a diferenciação entre as populações (23,4%; p < 0,0001. A AMOVA indicou que pode haver uma influência parcial do Rio Amazonas no fluxo gênico (3,3%; p < 0,0001, mas foram identificadas evidências de fluxo gênico atravessando o rio. Houve diferenças significativas nas freqüências dos marcadores (p < 0,05 e o fluxo gênico estimado foi relativamente baixo (Nm = 2,02. A correlação entre a distância genética e o fluxo gênico foi de - 0,95 (p = 0,06 e para a distância geográfica e o fluxo gênico foi de - 0,78 (p = 0,12. Houve um padrão geográfico de variabilidade ao longo do eixo Leste - Oeste, influenciado também pelo Rio Amazonas, o que sugere que o rio poderia funcionar como uma barreira para o fluxo gênico. Apesar de amea

  15. Encantarias afroindígenas na Amazônia Marajoara: Narrativas, Praticas de Cura e (Intolerâncias Religiosas (Afroindigena Encantarias in the Marajoara Amazonia: Narratives, Cure Practices and Religious (intolerance - DOI:10.5752/P.2175-5841.2010v8n17p88

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Agenor Sarraf Pacheco

    2011-02-01

    article brings, from the historical narratives, movements of control,  transgressions, negation and (reaffirmation putted between indians, negros, afroindigenas, political and religious elites, around the amazonic "encatarias", highlighting the perceptions and postures of the Augustinian recoletos priests, since 1928, the year of the foundation of the evangelization of the great archipelago in the times of expansion and dissemination of ways and forms of romanization. Key words: Afroindigena, encantaria, Cure practices, Religious (intolerance, Marajoara Amazonia.

  16. Abundancia de actinomicetes y micorrizas arbusculares en paisajes fragmentados de la Amazonia colombiana

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cardona Gladys I. Cardona

    2005-12-01

    ="Subtle Emphasis" />

    Se evalúo la abundancia de actinomicetes y hongos Micorriza Arbuscular (MA en suelos bajo coberturas de bosque y pasto, en una zona de colonización de la Amazonia colombiana con tres grados de transformación antrópica. Se realizó una estratificación espacial de la fragmentación del paisaje de tierra firme, en cercanías de San Jos

  17. New Allometric Equations to Support Sustainable Plantation Management of Rosewood (Aniba rosaeodora Ducke in the Central Amazon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pedro Krainovic

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Rosewood (Aniba rosaeodora Ducke is an endangered Amazonian tree species which produces one of the most valuable essential oils in the world. The species is used in silvicultural systems which are seen as a means to reducing the pressure of exploitation of natural rosewood populations. There are no specific equations for rosewood plantations, and therefore generalized equations are inappropriate for the species in commercial systems. This study presents allometric equations from 144 trees sampled in different rosewood plantations of Central Amazonia. The equations generated were compared with an equation used in forest management to estimate wood volume and another one recommended by law for rosewood biomass. The equation suggested by current legislation underestimates the actual values by more than 70% making the viable use of this equation impossible in commercial plantations. The equations generated to estimate the volume and biomass serve as an alternative to the need to develop specific equations for each area and age of the plant. The generic equation for the species is consistent for fresh mass management, with a generalized R2 of 0.80 and an underestimation of 0.33%. The equation for crown fresh mass estimation presented a generalized R2 of 0.32 and an underestimation of 0.24%. The underestimation of the mass production by rosewood plantations represents a serious impediment to this forest activity. The allometric equations developed are highly applicable under different conditions and management options and should be suggested by the legal provisions regulating rosewood-related activity in Central Amazonia.

  18. Physical properties and concentration of aerosol particles over the Amazon tropical forest during background and biomass burning conditions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. Guyon

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available We investigated the size distribution, scattering and absorption properties of Amazonian aerosols and the optical thickness of the aerosol layer under the pristine background conditions typical of the wet season, as well as during the biomass-burning-influenced dry season. The measurements were made during two campaigns in 1999 as part of the European contribution to the Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA-EUSTACH. In moving from the wet to the dry season, median particle numbers were observed to increase from values comparable to those of the remote marine boundary layer (~400 cm-3 to values more commonly associated with urban smog (~4000 cm-3, due to a massive injection of submicron smoke particles. Aerosol optical depths at 500 nm increased from 0.05 to 0.8 on average, reaching a value of 2 during the dry season. Scattering and absorption coefficients, measured at 550 nm, showed a concomitant increase from average values of 6.8 and 0.4 Mm-1 to values of 91 and 10 Mm-1, respectively, corresponding to an estimated decrease in single-scattering albedo from ca. 0.97 to 0.91. The roughly tenfold increase in many of the measured parameters attests to the dramatic effect that extensive seasonal biomass burning (deforestation, pasture cleaning is having on the composition and properties of aerosols over Amazonia. The potential exists for these changes to impact on regional and global climate through changes to the extinction of solar radiation as well as the alteration of cloud properties.

  19. Logging Activity in the Trinational Amazonian Region of Pando/Bolivia, Acre and Rond“nia/Brazil, and Madre de Dios/Peru: Analysis of Existing Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mendoza, E.; Brilhante, S. H.; Brown, I.; Peralta, R.; Rivero, S.; Melendez, N.

    2002-12-01

    Logging activity in the trinational southwestern Amazonia will grow in importance as a driver of regional land-use change as expanding road access facilitates both timber extraction and transport to international markets. Official data on current activity in this ~50 million ha region are limited and inconsistent with differences as much as twenty-fold between official estimates; nevertheless, they serve as guides for understanding the relative magnitude of logging activities. For 2000, an estimated 5 million m3 of timber were commercialized in Rondonia, 400,000 m3 in Acre, Brazil, and 200,000 m3 for the combined departments of Pando, Bolivia and Madre de Dios, Peru. About 70% of this timber originates from clear cutting done for pasture and agriculture activities, nearly a third from unregulated selective logging, and only 2% from managed selective logging. Eight timber species are preferentially extracted. The total area for timber concessions in Acre, Pando and Madre de Dios extends to about 4 million ha for a potential timber supply of 65 million m3. About 150,000 m3/yr of illegal timber is confiscated by federal and state agencies in Acre, Pando and Madre de Dios. Problems of enforcement in the region are due principally to the lack of trained personnel and little cooperation among agencies of the three countries. Proposed development plans indicate a 3- to >10-fold increase in logging activity in the Acre and Pando regions during the coming decade. More detailed studies are urgently needed to guide sustainable development of this resource in southwestern Amazonia.

  20. Birds of Two Oceans? Trans-Andean and Divergent Migration of Black Skimmers (Rynchops niger cinerascens) from the Peruvian Amazon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davenport, Lisa C; Goodenough, Katharine S; Haugaasen, Torbjørn

    2016-01-01

    Seasonal flooding compels some birds that breed in aquatic habitats in Amazonia to undertake annual migrations, yet we know little about how the complex landscape of the Amazon region is used seasonally by these species. The possibility of trans-Andes migration for Amazonian breeding birds has largely been discounted given the high geographic barrier posed by the Andean Cordillera and the desert habitat along much of the Pacific Coast. Here we demonstrate a trans-Andes route for Black Skimmers (Rynchops niger cinerascens) breeding on the Manu River (in the lowlands of Manu National Park, Perú), as well as divergent movement patterns both regionally and across the continent. Of eight skimmers tracked with satellite telemetry, three provided data on their outbound migrations, with two crossing the high Peruvian Andes to the Pacific. A third traveled over 1800 km to the southeast before transmissions ended in eastern Paraguay. One of the two trans-Andean migrants demonstrated a full round-trip migration back to its tagging location after traveling down the Pacific Coast from latitude 9° South to latitude 37° S, spending the austral summer in the Gulf of Arauco, Chile. This is the first documentation of a trans-Andes migration observed for any bird breeding in lowland Amazonia. To our knowledge, this research also documents the first example of a tropical-breeding waterbird migrating out of the tropics to spend the non-breeding season in the temperate summer, this being the reverse pattern with respect to seasonality for austral migrants in general.

  1. Biogenic VOC Emissions from Tropical Landscapes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guenther, A.; Greenberg, J.; Harley, P.; Otter, L.; Vanni Gatti, L.; Baker, B.

    2003-04-01

    Biogenic VOC have an important role in determining the chemical composition of atmosphere. As a result, these compounds are important for visibility, biogeochemical cycling, climate and radiative forcing, and the health of the biosphere. Tropical landscapes are estimated to release about 80% of total global biogenic VOC emissions but have been investigated to lesser extent than temperate regions. Tropical VOC emissions are particularly important due to the strong vertical transport and the rapid landuse change that is occurring there. This presentation will provide an overview of field measurements of biogenic VOC emissions from tropical landscapes in Amazonia (Large-scale Biosphere-atmosphere experiment in Amazonia, LBA) Central (EXPRESSO) and Southern (SAFARI 2000) Africa, Asia and Central America. Flux measurement methods include leaf-scale (enclosure measurements), canopy-scale (above canopy tower measurements), landscape-scale (tethered balloon), and regional-scale (aircraft measurements) observations. Typical midday isoprene emission rates for different landscapes vary by more than a factor of 20 with the lowest emissions observed from degraded forests. Emissions of alpha-pinene vary by a similar amount with the highest emissions associated with landscapes dominated by light dependent monoterpene emitting plants. Isoprene emissions tend to be higher for neotropical forests (Amazon and Costa Rica) in comparison to Africa and Asian tropical forests but considerable differences are observed within regions. Strong seasonal variations were observed in both the Congo and the Amazon rainforests with peak emissions during the dry seasons. Substantial emissions of light dependent monoterpenes, methanol and acetone are characteristic of at least some tropical landscapes.

  2. A new distribution range of Ateles chamek (Humboldt 1812) in an ecotone of three biomes in the Paraguay River Basin.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dos Santos-Filho, Manoel; Bernardo, Christine Steiner São; Van der Laan Barbosa, Henry Willian; Gusmão, Almério Câmara; Jerusalinsky, Leandro; Canale, Gustavo Rodrigues

    2017-07-01

    Historical records of Ateles chamek (black-faced black spider monkey) suggest that the species range extends further south of the known species distribution, within an ecotonal region between the Amazonia, Cerrado and Pantanal biomes in Brazil. Ecotones are zones of habitat transition with high species richness that remain undersampled as conservationists often prioritize biodiversity hotspots. Thus, distribution ranges may be inaccurately measured when species occur in ecotonal zones. We report the first precise records of A. chamek in 24 new localities surveyed in the ecotonal zone of the Upper Paraguay River Basin, and we present subgroup encounter rates in the 11 largest patches (>70 ha) along 207 km of the line transects surveyed. The new records represent an expansion of the distribution of A. chamek approximately 200 km to the south, increasing the known extent of its occurrence by 10.8%. Local tributaries may not be barriers for spider monkeys, which are able to swim and cross slow-moving rivers. However, the dry forests of the Cerrado and the flooded areas of the Pantanal, formed by grassland and scarce trees, may be habitat barriers for A. chamek. The populations living in this ecotonal zone are relatively abundant (1.1-6.67 subgroup sightings/10 km) compared to the heavily hunted continuous forests of northern Amazonia. Furthermore, these values are similar to those for other Ateles spp. inhabiting forests with low or no hunting pressure. We highlight the need for specific conservation action to protect the spider monkeys living in these landscapes, which are threatened by agriculture expansion.

  3. Downgrading, downsizing, degazettement, and reclassification of protected areas in Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernard, E; Penna, L A O; Araújo, E

    2014-08-01

    Protected areas (PAs) are key elements for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. Brazil has the largest PA system in the world, covering approximately 220 million ha. This system expanded rapidly in the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. Recent events in Brazil, however, have led to an increase in PA downgrading, downsizing, and degazettement (PADDD). Does this reflect a shift in the country's PA policy? We analyzed the occurrence, frequency, magnitude, type, spatial distribution, and causes of changes in PA boundaries and categories in Brazil. We identified 93 PADDD events from 1981 to 2012. Such events increased in frequency since 2008 and were ascribed primarily to generation and transmission of electricity in Amazonia. In Brazilian parks and reserves, 7.3 million ha were affected by PADDD events, and of these, 5.2 million ha were affected by downsizing or degazetting. Moreover, projects being considered by the Federal Congress may degazette 2.1 million ha of PA in Amazonia alone. Relaxing the protection status of existing PAs is proving to be politically easy in Brazil, and the recent increase in frequency and extension of PADDD reflects a change in governmental policy. By taking advantage of chronic deficiencies in financial and personnel resources and surveillance, disputes over land tenure, and the slowness of the Brazilian justice, government agencies have been implementing PADDD without consultation of civil society. If parks and reserves are to maintain their integrity, there will need to be investments in Brazilian PAs and a better understanding of the benefits PAs provide. © 2014 Society for Conservation Biology.

  4. Emissions from vegetation fires and their influence on atmospheric composition over the Amazon Basin (Invited)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andreae, M. O.; Artaxo, P.; Bela, M. M.; de Freitas, S. R.; Gerbig, C.; Longo, K. M.; Wiedemann, K. T.; Wofsy, S. C.

    2010-12-01

    Over the past decades, several campaigns have been conducted in the Amazon Basin, during which the emissions from biomass burning were characterized. Other campaigns, as well as remote sensing studies, have produced clear evidence that the budget of traces gases (including CO2) and aerosols over the Basin are strongly perturbed by vegetation fires. We will briefly review these studies and present some recent measurements made during the the Balanço Atmosférico Regional de Carbono na Amazônia (BARCA) aircraft measurement program, which consisted of two aircraft campaigns during November-December 2008 (BARCA-A) and May-June 2009 (BARCA-B). The measurements covered the altitude range from the surface up to about 4500 m, and spanned across the Amazon Basin. While our results confirm the importance of biomass burning for the atmospheric composition over the Amazon Basin in general, they also highlight some complexities. One is the influence of transatlantic transport: Amazonia is downwind of massive fire regions in Africa, and depending on season and locality, these can make an important contribution to the trace gas and aerosol burden over the Amazon Basin. Another difficulty arises from the fact that representative emission ratios for CO relative to CO2 are difficult to obtain in the field, owing to the influence of biospheric exchange on the distribution of CO2 concentrations. The consequences of these and other uncertainties for a quantitative assessment of the sources of trace gases over Amazonia and for the estimation of carbon exchange with the biosphere will be discussed.

  5. The status of conservation of urban forests in eastern Amazonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    DD Amaral

    Full Text Available This study aims to identify the remnant tree flora in six forest fragments in the metropolitan area of Belém and to analyze these fragments in terms of biological conservation, species richness and diversity in the local urban landscape. The fragments and their respective sampling areas were as follows: Amafrutas reserve (15 ha, Trambioca Is. reserve (2 ha, Bosque Rodrigues Alves city park (15 ha, Combu Is. reserve (10 ha, Gunma Park reserve (10 ha and Mocambo reserve (5 ha. Inventories were built from lineal plots of 250 m² and included trees with DBH equal to or greater than 10 cm at a height of 1.3 m above ground. Sixty-nine families and 759 species, of which eight were officially listed as endangered (Brazilian National Flora: Ministry of Environment, Normative Instruction of September, 2008; Pará State Flora: Decree Nº. 802 of February 2008 were recorded. These endangered species are: Aspidosperma desmanthum Benth. ex Müll. Arg. (Apocynaceae, Cedrela odorata L. (Meliaceae, Eschweilera piresii S.A Mori (Lecythidaceae, Euxylophora paraensis Huber (Rutaceae, Hymenolobium excelsum Ducke (Leguminosae, Manilkara huberi (Ducke Chevalier (Sapotaceae, Tabebuia impetiginosa (Mart. ex DC. Standl. (Bignoniaceae, Mezilaurus itauba (Meisn. Taub. ex Mez (Lauraceae and Qualea coerulea Aubl. (Vochysiaceae. Emergency actions such as implementing management plans for already existing Conservation Units, the creation of new such units in areas of primary forest fragments (as in the case of the Amafrutas reserve, as well as the intensification of actions of surveillance and monitoring, should be undertaken by Federal, State, and Municipal environmental agencies so as to ensure the conservation of these last primary forest remnants in the metropolitan area of Belém.

  6. Biotecnologia, Estado e Poder na Amazonia : o caso CBA-Manaus

    OpenAIRE

    Maira Bueno de Carvalho

    2006-01-01

    Resumo: O objetivo desta pesquisa é estudar os eventos associados à constituição do Programa Brasileiro de Ecologia Molecular para o Uso Sustentável da Biodiversidade da Amazônia (PROBEM) e do Centro de Biotecnologia da Amazônia (CBA) e a crise que se abateu sobre esses projetos. A nossa hipótese principal é que as práticas científicas relacionadas à informação genética e à biotecnologia são também práticas de poder e envolvem relações de poder. Mais especificamente, queremos com este trabalh...

  7. Solar radiation in forest and pasture areas in the Amazonia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feitosa, J.R.P.; Costa, R.F. da; Fisch, G.; Souza, S.S. de; Nobre, C.A.

    1998-01-01

    The average daytime behavior of the global incident radiation (Rg) over grassland (NS) and forest (RJ) in Rondonia State during dry and wet seasons were analyzed. The data set originated from the ABRACOS Project’s automatic meteorological stations in years 1992 through 1996. Results showed that incident radiation is smaller in pasture than in forest (17.1MJ m -2 dia -1 pasture versus 18.3M Jm -2 dia -1 forest) during the dry season. In the wet season, incident radiation is smaller than dry season, with 16.9MJ m -2 dia -1 for pasture and 17.1MJ m -2 dia -1 for forest. Atmospheric transmittance in pasture was smaller than forest (0.58 versus 0.66) in the dry season. This difference is equivalent a reduction of 2.8M Jm -2 dia -1 in the surface incident radiation. In the wet season the transmittances were 0.52 for the pasture and 0.50 for the forest. (author) [pt

  8. Remote sensing and conservation of isolated indigenous villages in Amazonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Robert S; Hamilton, Marcus J; Groth, Aaron A

    2014-11-01

    The vast forests on the border between Brazil and Peru harbour a number of indigenous groups that have limited contact with the outside world. Accurate estimates of population sizes and village areas are essential to begin assessing the immediate conservation needs of such isolated groups. In contrast to overflights and encounters on the ground, remote sensing with satellite imagery offers a safe, inexpensive, non-invasive and systematic approach to provide demographic and land-use information for isolated peoples. Satellite imagery can also be used to understand the growth of isolated villages over time. There are five isolated villages in the headwaters of the Envira River confirmed by overflights that are visible with recent satellite imagery further confirming their locations and allowing measurement of their cleared gardens, village areas and thatch roofed houses. These isolated villages appear to have population densities that are an order of magnitude higher than averages for other Brazilian indigenous villages. Here, we report on initial results of a remote surveillance programme designed to monitor movements and assess the demographic health of isolated peoples as a means to better mitigate against external threats to their long-term survival.

  9. Monitoring selective logging in western Amazonia with repeat lidar flights

    Science.gov (United States)

    H.E. Andersen; S.E. Reutebuch; R.J. McGaughey; M.V.N. d' Oliveira; M. Keller

    2014-01-01

    The objective of this study was to test the use of repeat flight, airborne laser scanning data (lidar) for estimating changes associated with low-impact selective logging (approx. 10-15 m3 ha−1 = 5-7% of total standing volume harvested) in natural tropical forests in the Western Brazilian Amazon. Specifically, we investigated change in area...

  10. The Species of Cocoloba P. Browne (Polygonaceae) from brasilian Amazonia

    OpenAIRE

    Melo, Efigênia de

    2004-01-01

    O gênero Coccoloba está representado na Amazônia brasileira por 23 espécies: Coccoloba acuminata Kunth, C. arborescens (Vell.) R. A. Howard, C. ascendens Duss ex Lindau, C. brasiliensis Nees & Mart., C. charitostachya Standl., C. conduplicata Maguire, C. coronata Jacq., C. declinata (Vell.) Mart., C. densifrons Mart. ex Meisn., C. excelsa Benth., C. gentryi R. A. Howard, C. latifolia Lam., C. lehmannii Lindau, C. lucidula Benth., C. marginata Benth., C. mollis Casar., C. ovata Benth., C. para...

  11. Conservation of freshwater turtles in Amazonia: retrospective and future prospects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aderson de Souza Alcântara

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to discuss the current status of conservation of freshwater turtles of the Amazon and the absence of the genus Podocnemis the Official List of Species of Brazilian Fauna Threatened with Extinction. Amazonian turtles are used as food by indigenous people and fisherman communities. However, fishing of adult females, uncontrolled egg collecting, habitat degradation and trafficking in wildlife have caused the decline of these populations. Nevertheless, Podocnemis expansa and Podocnemis unifilis were not included in the Brazil’s official list of animals threatened. Therefore, the turtles remain at great risk, due to the intense pressure that they are suffering. It is recommended that the criteria and the conservation status are reviewed including those animals in the category of vulnerable and to ensure a thorough review and modification in the current Brazilian law to be covered studies and management of turtles for subsistence, respecting and adding value to way of life of Amazonian peoples.

  12. VERSIONS VERSUS BODIES: TRANSLATIONS IN THE MISSIONARY ENCOUNTER IN AMAZONIA

    OpenAIRE

    Vilaça, Aparecida

    2016-01-01

    Abstract This paper analyzes the two distinct concepts of translation at work in the encounter between the Amazonian Wari' and the New Tribes Mission evangelical missionaries, and the equivocations stemming from this difference. While the missionaries conceive translation as a process of converting meanings between languages, conceived as linguistic codes that exist independently of culture, for the Wari', in consonance with their perspectivist ontology, it is not language that differentiates...

  13. Status and modeling improvements of hybrid wind/PV/diesel power systems for Brazilian applications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McGowan, J.G.; Manwell, J.F.; Avelar, C. [Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (United States); Taylor, R. [National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)

    1997-12-31

    This paper present a summary of the ongoing work on the modeling and system design of hybrid wind/PV/diesel systems for two different sites in the Amazonia region of Brazil. The work incorporates the latest resource data and is based on the use of the Hybrid2 simulation code developed by the University of Massachusetts and NREL. Details of the baseline operating hybrid systems are reviewed, and the results of the latest detailed hybrid system evaluation for each site are summarized. Based on the system modeling results, separate recommendations for system modification and improvements are made.

  14. Acanthocephala Larvae parasitizing Ameiva ameiva ameiva (Linnaeus, 1758) (Squamata: Teiidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macedo, Lilian Cristina; Melo, Francisco Tiago de Vasconcelos; Ávila-Pires, Teresa Cristina Sauer; Giese, Elane Guerreiro; dos Santos, Jeannie Nascimento

    2016-01-01

    Knowledge concerning the taxonomy and biology of species of Acanthocephala, helminth parasites of the helminth species of the phylum Acanthocephala, parasites of lizards in Brazilian Amazonia, is still insufficient, but reports of Acanthocephala in reptiles are becoming increasingly common in the literature. Cystacanth-stage Acanthocephalan larvae have been found in the visceral peritoneum during necropsy of Ameiva ameiva ameivalizards from the "Osvaldo Rodrigues da Cunha" Herpetology Collection of the Emílio Goeldi Museum, Belém, Pará, Brazil. The aim of this study was to present the morphological study of the Acanthocephala larvae found in A. ameiva ameiva lizard.

  15. Concepts of illness and treatment practice in a caboclo community of the Lower Amazon.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reeve, M E

    2000-03-01

    Comparatively little has been written recently about the health consequences of social change and economic development in Amazonia. This study focuses on patterns of morbidity, treatment practices, and illness beliefs among caboclos of the Lower Amazon. It suggests that for these people traditional medicine is a salient marker of ethnic identity. An understanding of beliefs concerning disease etiology is critical to an appreciation of individual treatment choices in a plural medical system such as that found within the Lower Amazon region, where traditional healers can play a pivotal role in developing effective linkages to clinical services.

  16. Social impacts of Brazil's Tucurui Dam

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fearnside, P.M.

    1999-01-01

    The Tucurui Dam, which blocked the Tocantins River in 1984 in Brazil's eastern Amazonian state of Para, is a continuing source of controversy. Most benefits of the power go to aluminum smelting companies, where only a tiny amount of employment is generated. Often presented by authorities as a model for hydroelectric development because of the substantial power that it produces, the project's social and environmental impacts are also substantial. Examination of Tucurui reveals a systematic overestimation of benefits and underestimation of impacts as presented by authorities. Tucurui offers many as-yet unlearned lessons for hydroelectric development in Amazonia

  17. Primeros registros de Actinotaenium y Cosmarium (Desmidiaceae en lagos de la orilla colombiana del río Amazonas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Duque Santiago Roberto

    1996-06-01

    Full Text Available This work register for the first time in colombian amazonian basin, one Actinotenium and thirteen Cosmarium species. Eight of these are lound lor the lirst time in Colombia. C. subequale is lound for the second time in Colombia, which is only known here.En el presente trabajo se registra por primera vez para la Amazonia colombiana, un taxón de Actinotaenium y trece de Cosmarium. Ocho de las especies son primeras citas para Colombia. Se presenta la segunda cita para C. subequale que se conoce hasta ahora solo en Colombia.

  18. Potential areas for the expansion of the sugar cane production; Areas potenciais para a expansao da producao de cana-de-acucar

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2009-10-15

    The evaluation of the potential areas for the expansion of the sugar cane cultivation was based on the estimation of the agricultural productivity aptitude as function of the soil and climate characteristics using maps with geo referred in scales of 1/5,000,000. Areas had been discarded which integrate of three large biomass of the country: Amazonia, Pantanal and Mata Atlantica, and all the areas with some type of restriction, such as environmental reservations, national parks, indigenous, military and urban areas. Were not considered areas with crop mechanization essential for the environmental and social sustainability with declivity more than 12%.

  19. Migrantes, desterrados, intrusos. Navegando la frontera amazónica entre Venezuela y Colombia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Vutova

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Transformation is one of the main aspects that, since the mythological opening of the Maipure-Arawak world, have been describing the Northwestern Amazonia. Today, changes are run by processes of globalization that have been plunging the Amazon into a reality marked by corruption and violence. This paper will focus on the case of the community of Mavacal, created by indigenous families emigrated from their troubled past with the FARC or by internal violence in their communities of origin. It will also analyze the dismantling of a narco guerrilla camp and its impact on the life of the community.

  20. Problemas ambientales

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando Ortiz Crespo

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Todos somos culpables y causantes del efecto invernadero, el aumento del gas carbónico en la atmósfera, el calentamiento del clima, los violentos cambios en la capa de ozono, la destrucción de la amazonia incluida sus etnias y la extinción de centenares de especies de todo tipo.Todas en espera de soluciones. Aquí radica el rol de los comunicadores cuya responsabilidad radica en crear conciencia de los daños que estamos ocasionando todos y el deber que se impone de poner soluciones a tiempo y apostar al desarrollo de nuestros pueblos