Agribusiness Opportunity Costs and Environmental Legal Protection: Investigating Trade-Off on Hotspot Preservation in the State of São Paulo,Brazil

Prior to deforestation, São Paulo State had 79,000 km² covered by Cerrado (Brazilian savanna) physiognomies, but today less than 8.5% of this biodiversity hotspot remains, mostly in private lands. The global demand for agricultural goods has imposed strong pressure on natural areas, and the economic decisions of agribusiness managers are crucial to the fate of Cerrado domain remaining areas (CDRA) in Brazil. Our aim was to investigate the effectiveness of Brazilian private protected areas policy, and to propose a feasible alternative to promote CDRA protection. This article assessed the main agribusiness opportunity costs for natural areas preservation: the land use profitability and the arable land price. The CDRA percentage and the opportunity costs were estimated for 349 municipal districts of São Paulo State through secondary spatial data and profitability values of 38 main agricultural products. We found that Brazilian private protected areas policy fails to preserve CDRA, although the values of non-compliance fines were higher than average opportunity costs. The scenario with very restrictive laws on private protected areas and historical high interest rates allowed us to conceive a feasible cross compliance proposal to improve environmental and agricultural policies.     

Road traffic impact on urban atmospheric aerosol loading at Oporto,Portugal

At urban areas in south Europe atmospheric aerosol levels are frequently above legislation limits as a result of road traffic and favourable climatic conditions for photochemical formation and dust suspension. Strategies for urban particulate pollution control have to take into account specific regional characteristics and need correct information concerning the sources of the aerosol.With these objectives, the ionic and elemental composition of the fine (PM_2.5) and coarse (PM_2.5–10) aerosol was measured at two contrasting sites in the centre of the city of Oporto, roadside (R) and urban background (UB), during two campaigns, in winter and summer.Application of Spatial Variability Factors, in association with Principal Component/Multilinear Regression/Inter-site Mass Balance Analysis, to aerosol data permitted to identify and quantify 5 main groups of sources, namely direct car emissions, industry, photochemical production, dust suspension and sea salt transport. Traffic strongly influenced PM mass and composition. Direct car emissions and road dust resuspension contributed with 44–66% to the fine aerosol and with 12 to 55% to the coarse particles mass at both sites, showing typically highest loads at roadside. In fine particles secondary origin was also quite important in aerosol loading, principally during summer, with 28–48% mass contribution, at R and UB sites respectively. Sea spray has an important contribution of 18–28% to coarse aerosol mass in the studied area, with a highest relative contribution at UB site.Application of Spatial Variability/Mass Balance Analysis permitted the estimation of traffic contribution to soil dust in both size ranges, across sites and seasons, demonstrating that as much as 80% of present dust can result from road traffic resuspension.     

Male mating competitiveness and age-dependent relationship between testosterone and social rank in bighorn sheep

In males, the acquisition and development of behavioral and morphological secondary sexual traits typically depends on testosterone and correlates with mating success. Testosterone level could affect competition for mates and thus be a target of sexual selection. We sought to relate testosterone levels to male mating competitiveness, by teasing apart the relationships between testosterone, behavior, and growth before the mating period. We monitored 24 adult bighorn rams (Ovis canadensis) at Ram Mountain, Alberta, from 2008 to 2011. Using linear mixed models, we tested the relationships between testosterone metabolites in feces, social rank, and both growth and size of two sexually selected traits: horns and body mass. The correlation between testosterone and social rank varied with age. Testosterone and rank were weakly and negatively correlated for young rams, positively correlated for prime-aged rams, and negatively correlated for older rams. Although testosterone had an increasingly positive effect on total horn length until 8 years of age, we could not detect any effects on annual growth rate of horns or body mass. Testosterone may be related to male’s ability to compete for mates through its relationship with behaviors determining social rank, rather than by influencing the development of morphological traits. Differences in testosterone levels among competitors may be a proximate cause of variance in fitness.     

A Framework to Predict the Impacts of Shale Gas Infrastructures on the Forest Fragmentation of an Agroforest Region

We propose a framework to facilitate the evaluation of the impacts of shale gas infrastructures (well pads, roads, and pipelines) on land cover features, especially with regards to forest fragmentation. We used a geographic information system and realistic development scenarios largely inspired by the PA (United States) experience, but adapted to a region of QC (Canada) with an already fragmented forest cover and a high gas potential. The scenario with the greatest impact results from development limited by regulatory constraints only, with no access to private roads for connecting well pads to the public road network. The scenario with the lowest impact additionally integrates ecological constraints (deer yards, maple woodlots, and wetlands). Overall the differences between these two scenarios are relatively minor, with <1 % of the forest cover lost in each case. However, large areas of core forests would be lost in both scenarios and the number of forest patches would increase by 13–21 % due to fragmentation. The pipeline network would have a much greater footprint on the land cover than access roads. Using data acquired since the beginning of the shale gas industry, we show that it is possible, within a reasonable time frame, to produce a robust assessment of the impacts of shale gas extraction. The framework we propose could easily be applied to other contexts or jurisdictions.     

Exposure of atoll population to coastal erosion and flooding: a South Tarawa assessment, Kiribati

Atoll countries are particularly vulnerable to coastal hazards in the context of global change, which justifies the interest in population exposure assessments. This paper contributes to addressing this need by assessing the current exposure of the population of two areas of the South Tarawa Urban District (Tarawa Atoll, Republic of Kiribati) to coastal erosion and flooding. The assessment is based on data relating to island morphology (digital terrain models and shoreline change), land use (building extension and coastal works) and environmental changes reconstructed for the 1969–2008 period. The results highlight rapid changes in land use and significant differences in current population exposure to coastal erosion and flooding between and within study sites. Between 1969 and 2007–2008, the built area located less than 20 m from the reference shoreline has increased by a factor of 4.2 at Bairiki and by a factor of 32.2 at Eita–Bangantebure, enhancing population exposure given that land elevation is low (12.6 and 77.4 % <2 m at Bairiki and Eita–Bangantebure, respectively). Nevertheless, in Bairiki, 87.5 % of the built area is currently not exposed to coastal erosion (>20 m from the coastline) and flooding (>1.5 m). Building exposure is higher at Eita–Bangantebure, where 71.3 % of the built area is currently not exposed (using the same criteria), but 17.1 % shows medium to very high levels of exposure, due to very low land elevation (22.3 % of the land area <1.5 m) and shoreline recession. The Eita–Bangantebure case study exemplifies the maladaptive trajectories of change that have been reported in other atoll countries.     

Norovirus GII.17 Associated with a Foodborne Acute Gastroenteritis Outbreak in Brazil, 2016

Foodborne transmission gastroenteritis (AGE) outbreak occurred during a celebration lunch in July, 2016, Brazil. All stool samples tested were positive for noroviruses (NoV) and phylogenetic analysis revealed that strains were genetically close to GII.17 Kawasaki_2014. These findings indicated circulation of NoV GII.17 Kawasaki_2014 in the Brazilian population, associated with AGE outbreak.     

Correction to: Ecological restoration as a strategy for mitigating and adapting to climate change: lessons and challenges from Brazil

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change - The original version of the article unfortunately contained an error.     

Jute bioblanket as a soil rehabilitation strategy in Sorocaba,Brazil: Soil chemistry and SWOT approaches

Soil erosion and the invasion of exotic plant species are major constraints to achieve sustainable development around the world. Currently, we find few products devoted concomitantly to combatting soil erosion as well as the establishment of unwanted exotic plants. In this paper, we introduce a new product, called herein a bioblanket, that protects the soil and impedes the establishment of exotic plant species. This product is of simple design, and to manufacture it, we use two biodegradable materials: jute tissue and grass wastes. We designed this product to combat soil erosion and the germination and establishment of new, unwanted, invasive plant species. In this paper, we describe our evaluation of how successful this product was in terms of improving the chemical attributes of soil. We also identified the product's potentialities and weaknesses by means of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. The bioblanket ameliorated the chemical attributes of the soil, as evidenced especially by the neutralization of acidity (8.5%) and aluminum toxicity (33%), and by an increment in nutrients concentration. We argue that after adequate treatment and management, the residues of plants that are normally considered unwanted materials can be transformed into a raw material to control the propagation of unwanted plant species, and concomitantly control soil erosion while improving the chemical conditions of the soil. The improvement of the soil chemical attributes was one of the main positive effects reported through the SWOT analysis. In addition, the SWOT analysis revealed some features that need improvement in future generations of the product, but we argue that these features do not impede the benefits for the use of the product in its present form.     

A global evaluation of metabolic theory as an explanation for terrestrial species richness gradients

We compiled 46 broadscale data sets of species richness for a wide range of terrestrial plant, invertebrate, and ectothermic vertebrate groups in all parts of the world to test the ability of metabolic theory to account for observed diversity gradients. The theory makes two related predictions: (1) In-transformed richness is linearly associated with a linear, inverse transformation of annual temperature, and (2) the slope of the relationship is near -0.65. Of the 46 data sets, 14 had no significant relationship; of the remaining 32, nine were linear, meeting prediction 1. Model I (ordinary least squares, OLS) and model II (reduced major axis, RMA) regressions then tested the linear slopes against prediction 2. In the 23 data sets having nonlinear relationships between richness and temperature, split-line regression divided the data into linear components, and regressions were done on each component to test prediction 2 for subsets of the data. Of the 46 data sets analyzed in their entirety using OLS regression, one was consistent with metabolic theory (meeting both predictions), and one was possibly consistent. Using RMA regression, no data sets were consistent. Of 67 analyses of prediction 2 using OLS regression on all linear data sets and subsets, two were consistent with the prediction, and four were possibly consistent. Using RMA regression, one was consistent (albeit weakly), and four were possibly consistent. We also found that the relationship between richness and temperature is both taxonomically and geographically conditional, and there is no evidence for a universal response of diversity to temperature. Meta-analyses confirmed significant heterogeneity in slopes among data sets, and the combined slopes across studies were significantly lower than the range of slopes predicted by metabolic theory based on both OLS and RMA regressions. We conclude that metabolic theory, as currently formulated, is a poor predictor of observed diversity gradients in most terrestrial systems.     

Ozonation of whole wheat flour and wet milling effluent: Degradation of deoxynivalenol (DON) and rheological properties

The objective of this study was to evaluate the reduction on the levels of the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) in whole wheat flour (WWF) with different moisture levels, on the wet milling effluent through ozone (O₃) processing, as well as the impact of ozonation on the rheological properties of flour. The results have shown that the reduction of DON was improved with increasing moisture and exposure time of WWF and wet milling effluent to ozone. The maximum reduction was about 80%, proving that ozonation is an effective and promising technology in reducing mycotoxins in different products. However, the process altered the rheological profile of WWF. Therefore, further studies are needed to better understand the process.