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Copyright of Cahiers Agriculture is the property of EDP Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of this paper is to explore the development of cartography during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. It analyzes the maps produced by government agencies, research groups and grassroots activist organizations. The analysis demonstrates that cartography became an instrument mobilized for different purposes: to inform, to communicate, to guide, to analyze, and to mobilize subjects and solidarity. However, these different forms of cartography should also be viewed within a context of power relations and struggles. Contested narratives regarding the pandemic and the responses to it, as well as the tools of cartography employed, are revealed as dimensions of these power relations. O objetivo deste texto é debater a produção cartográfica no contexto da pandemia da COVID-19 no Brasil. São analisadas cartografias governamentais, de grupos de pesquisa e de grupos ativistas de base. As análises mostram que a cartografia foi um instrumento mobilizado com diversas funções, tais como informar, comunicar, orientar, analisar, mobilizar sujeitos e solidariedades. Entretanto, essa produção deve ser vista dentro de jogos e disputas de poder. Disputas de narrativas sobre a pandemia, sobre as respostas e reações a ela, assim como os próprios instrumentos de produção cartográfica utilizados, são aspectos mostrados como dimensões destas relações de poder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

O objetivo deste texto é debater a produção cartográfica no contexto da pandemia da COVID-19 no Brasil. São analisadas cartografias governamentais, de grupos de pesquisa e de grupos ativistas de base. As análises mostram que a cartografia foi um instrumento mobilizado com diversas funções, tais como informar, comunicar, orientar, analisar, mobilizar sujeitos e solidariedades. Entretanto, essa produção deve ser vista dentro de jogos e disputas de poder. Disputas de narrativas sobre a pandemia, sobre as respostas e reações a ela, assim como os próprios instrumentos de produção cartográfica utilizados, são aspectos mostrados como dimensões destas relações de poder. The aim of this paper is to explore the development of cartography during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. It analyzes the maps produced by government agencies, research groups and grassroots activist organizations. The analysis demonstrates that cartography became an instrument mobilized for different purposes: to inform, to communicate, to guide, to analyze, and to mobilize subjects and solidarity. However, these different forms of cartography should also be viewed within a context of power relations and struggles. Contested narratives regarding the pandemic and the responses to it, as well as the tools of cartography employed, are revealed as dimensions of these power relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Wood falls provide locally and temporally restricted inputs of organic material to the deep sea supporting heterotrophic and chemotrophic fauna. These habitats also play a significant role in the diversity, abundance, and evolution of deep-sea macrofauna. Despite the importance of wood falls to the global deep-sea biodiversity, there is a large gap in understanding these patterns in the South Atlantic, and especially along formerly densely forested continental margins. In this paper, we assessed bathymetric variations in macrofaunal community structures and the biodiversity of wood falls. We deployed experimental wood logs at 1500 m and at 3300 m at six stations along the South-eastern Brazilian continental margin between 21 and 28°S. In total, 13,803 individuals belonging to 44 taxa were identified, displaying local and bathymetrical differences in assemblage abundance, biomass, and diversity. Wood-boring bivalves (Xylophagidae) were the dominant taxa in mid-slope stations (1500 m), whereas polychaetes and gastropods dominated the abyssal stations (3300 m). Total macrofaunal biomass (wet weight) was markedly higher in all mid-slope stations (Avr = 0.0053 g cm-3) compared to abyssal stations (Avr = 0.0001 g cm-3). Rarefaction diversity (ES) revealed that abyssal wood falls at Espírito Santo (ES_3300) and São Paulo (SP_3300) respectively had the highest and lowest diversity among all the stations (LC95%, P < 0.05). Wood-fall macrofauna taxa composition was distinct in terms of depth (not significant) and among stations (significant), with xylophagid bivalves and polychaetes (Strepternos didymopyton and Pleijelius cf. longae) mainly responsible for these patterns. We found similar species of bivalves (Xyloredo nooi and Spiniapex gilsonorum) and polychaetes (Strepternos didymopyton) previously reported from the North-west Atlantic and North-east Pacific. Our experiment thus supports the idea that some wood-fall species might have wide distribution ranges. Since our wood logs were all the same size, our data supports the hypothesis that niche dynamics are the most important factor controlling the (beta) diversity of bathyal and abyssal wood-fall assemblages in the South-west Atlantic. Highlights • Wood-fall experiments in the SW Atlantic deep sea showed high diversity and widely distributed wood-fall fauna. • Wood-fall fauna were dominated by wood-boring bivalves (1500 m) and polychaetes gastropods (3300 m). • Macrofaunal communities were significantly different along SE Brazilian margins between 21S and 28S. • Macrofaunal communities were not significantly different between the bathyal and abyssal zones. • Niche dynamics probably control the beta diversity of deep wood-fall assemblages in SE Brazil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Ambiente e Água is the property of Revista Ambiente e Agua and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Local and regional environmental variations lead to different species composition, creating transitional areas. An example is the Araucaria and Seasonal forest in southern Brazil. Our objectives were (1) to describe the tree community structure and composition of a subtropical forest in southern Brazil and (2) to compare the floristic relationships between two forest typologies (Araucaria and Seasonal forest) in order to characterize the study area and the distribution patterns of tree species. We conducted a survey at Chapecó National Forest (in southern Brazil) in an area of 1.2 ha, where all individuals = 30 cm of circumference at breast height were sampled. Community structure was described using the traditional phytosociological parameters. The floristic relationships were obtained by comparing our results with compiled data from other scientific papers through cluster analyses using an unweighted average linkage method, based on Jaccard similarity coefficient. We sampled 809 individuals belonging to 61 species and 28 families. The richest family was Fabaceae and Coussarea contracta (Walp.) Müll.Arg. was the most abundant species. Taxonomic diversity was 3.06 and the evenness was 0.74. The floristic similarity revealed that species composition of our study area is more similar to Seasonal forest. Species composition is related to environmental factors such as great thermal amplitude and seasonality. This subtropical forest is well structured, highly diverse and extremely important for the local and regional biodiversity conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we assess the effects of and responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in the Brazilian peripheries by relying on resilience theory and the experiences of peripheral actors during the first year of the pandemic. We consider these experiences to examine whether the initial responses to the crisis had the potential to bring about long-term positive change. We rely on thematic analysis of 80 interviews with leaders of grassroots organizations of different nature all over the country between October 2020 and January 2021. We argue that we cannot speak of resilience and system change unless we engage with the voices of those most affected by adversity. While in its first year the pandemic brought important traces of structural violence to the surface, providing an opportunity for structural change, peripheral views at that moment cast doubts about the extent to which those changes could lead to long-term structural changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fight against climate change increasingly connects International Organizations (IOs), national governments, and subnational governments. How are international funds to fight climate change and environmental degradation distributed to subnational beneficiaries? We develop a novel multilevel theory that poses that tension between the preferences of the IO and national governments helps explain the subnational distribution of environmental aid – even more than pure environmental or social need. Simply put, whomever contributes more to IO-sponsored green projects determines who gets funds at the subnational level. While we understand that both actors have multiple preferences associated with green aid allocation, our theory of multilevel fund allocation expects the IO to prioritize provinces and states with low-development. Conversely, national governments will prioritize domestic electoral interests. We test this theory with a new data from the largest international donor of environmental aid, the Global Environment Facility. Empirically, we focus on Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico between 1997 and 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Capacity development is a development approach and a methodology with origins in colonization that has yet to be decolonized. The underlying assumption for the most part is that there are deficiencies in the abilities of the group in question, and does not question the possibility that the system or structure may be dysfunctional. The ongoing design and implementation of international protected area management systems in general, and the one described in this paper, continue to be based on a foundational assumption of a lack of community capacity for governance of the resources on which they depend, the “deficit” model. Emerging from the context of a community in Trindade, Brazil, the goal of the present project was to support members of a community-based organization in capacity development endeavors for needs they identified. Although the implementation of a series of courses is not a novel approach to capacity development, the commitment to critical pedagogy, the clarity of capacity development of what and for whom that was based on an assumption of capacity, defining the capacities needed and the purpose, and being guided by theory, were perhaps the more novel approaches used in this action research project. The goal of capacity development as attempted in the present research project was not to develop skills so that people may fit into an unjust structure or for ease of social control, but to support the enhancement of skills and knowledge to challenge the existing state of affairs. Instead of the insistence on Indigenous Peoples becoming willing partners in flawed governance systems, much work is needed to continue to address these significant flaws and failings, and to critically challenge the status quo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The central motivation to restore ecosystems at a planetary scale has been to reverse degradation and provide multiple environmental benefits, but key global players like governments may be more interested in social outcomes from undertaking restoration, such as job creation. Assessing the job opportunities stemming from ongoing restoration programmes can leverage additional investments for their implementation and support their long‐term maintenance.Here, we aimed to understand and quantify current and potential ecosystem restoration jobs in Brazil, based on a widely distributed online survey performed in 2020 and led by the main restoration networks in the country. We explored the structure, job distribution and outputs of the national restoration supply chain.At the beginning of 2020, 4713 temporary and 3510 permanent jobs were created, nearly 60% of which were generated by organizations specialized in restoration, mainly from the non‐profit (48%) and private (37%) sectors.Restoration jobs were concentrated in organizations working in one (58%) or two (28%) biomes, and the vast majority were in the Atlantic Forest (85%). Similarly, most restoration jobs were concentrated in the southeast region (61%), with one‐third in the state of São Paulo. This geographical distribution was more strongly associated with the states' GDP than with the legal deficit of native vegetation area.Nearly 20% of the restoration jobs were terminated during the COVID‐19 pandemic in 2020.We estimate that restoration activities can generate 0.42 jobs per hectare undergoing restoration, which could potentially create 1.0–2.5 million direct jobs through the implementation of Brazil's target of restoring 12 million hectares.We conclude by reinforcing the value of ecosystem restoration in promoting economic development and job creation, which can be crucial to promote countries' effective engagement in the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. We also highlight the critical role of grassroots organizations to maximize restoration opportunities for socioeconomic development during the post‐pandemic economic recovery. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Co-management, in combination with social capital, is expected to improve social–ecological outcomes in protected areas. This paper builds a model of how co-management and social capital are linked, and it investigates how they have changed over time. We emphasize that considering the temporal aspect is crucial for assessing co-management and social capital. The following factors were found to facilitate co-management: a Participatory Advisory Council as a negotiation arena that links with a community-based organization; rotating meeting location to encourage community involvement; a committed Park director and sufficient staff. A co-management process requires ongoing investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a framework for analyzing social movement participation in public education through a focus on universities in Brazil. It builds on the literature on social movement–state relations, participatory governance, and community organizing in schools, drawing on the case of the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement and the National Program for Education in Areas of Agrarian Reform (PRONERA) to illustrate the need to recenter the idea of conflict as a central and ongoing process of social movement participation in public schools and universities. The article also introduces the concept of prefiguration and highlights how students can prefigure in the formal public school system the types of social and economic practices they hope to build in the future. Contentious cogovernance and prefiguration are tools not only for improving educational equity but also for increasing the strength and internal capacity of social movements, paralleling the role Paulo Freire envisioned for nonformal popular education within grassroots organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Gestão Ambiental e Sustentabilidade (GeAS) is the property of Revista de Gestao Ambiental e Sustentabilidade / UNINOVE and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The fossils of Pleistocene megafauna are commonly found in tanks and cave deposits in the State of Bahia, northeastern Brazil. In general, studies on these materials have focused mainly on taxonomic aspects, but more recently, there has been an increase in paleoecological studies based on stable isotopes. The present paper describes fossils recovered from a tank deposit in Lagoa de Pedra (Anagé municipality, Bahia State). The material was identified as: Eremotherium laurillardi , Panochthus sp., Holmesina paulacoutoi , Palaeolama major , Notiomastodon platensis , and Toxodontinae indet. Stable isotope analyses were performed in order to estimate their diet and the paleoenvironment in which these taxa lived. The results indicate the occurrence of two guilds: grazers (Panochthus sp.) and mixed-feeders (H. paulacoutoi , N. platensis and E. laurillardi). These animals lived in a more open environment where N. platensis possibly had a major role in the community organization. • New fossil locality with Late Pleistocene megamammals remains in Bahia, Brazil. • Unpublished isotopic data for Pleistocenic herbivores mammals from Bahia, Brazil. • Paleoenvironmental reconstruction for Anagé region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies based on functional approach seek to understand the ecological roles developed by species as well as their interactions with the environment in which they are inserted. The hypothesis tested was that functional richness and diversity of molluscan community will be higher at the most complex macroalgal habitat. The study was carried out at Casqueira river estuary (Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil). Three species of macroalgae were collected—Gracilaria domingensis (Kützing) Sonder ex Dickie 1874, Gracilaria cuneata Areschoug 1854, and Solieria filiformis (Kützing) P.W.Gabrielson 1985—and the composition of seven functional traits of the mollusk fauna associated to the algae was characterized in 22 categories. The highest values of functional richness and diversity were for macroalgae with greater habitat complexity (G. domingensis). Some functional traits were influenced more by macroalgal morphology, like 'life way,' feeding strategy, body size, and larval development. Thus, we show that the greatest richness and functional diversity of the communities is related to sites with more complex habitat, sites with more shelter and refuge, and food. This highlights the importance of the quality of habitat for shellfish communities and shows that it can be assessed from the use of a functional approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions: Riverine and associated vegetation communities are periodically affected by floods. However, there have been few quantitative studies on the structural responses of Neotropical tree communities in semi‐arid regions to this perturbance. Here, we ask whether flooding regimes and soil attributes affect tree species diversity, composition, community structure, and soil attributes in Neotropical dry forests. Locations: Southeast Brazil. Methods: We sampled 120 forest plots of 400 m² totaling 4.8 ha across four tributaries of the São Francisco River with plots situated in areas representing three flooding regimes: (a) annually flooded; (b) occasionally flooded; and (c) never subjected to flooding. Using linear mixed‐effects models, we modelled how flooding regime and soil properties (fertility and texture) affect vegetation diversity (species richness), species composition and structural attributes (abundance of individuals, above‐ground biomass [AGB], and a community‐weighted trait average of multistemness [CWMms]) of these forest plots. Results: Species richness in the annually flooded forests was significantly lower than in occasionally flooded or never flooded forests, in agreement with our models, which showed that flooding regime was a significant predictor for this variable. Flooding regime was a significant predictor of CWMms, with plots in annually flooded forest sites having the highest CWMms values. Soil chemical attributes were a significant predictor of AGB across all plots but not between flooding regime categories. Conclusions: In Neotropical dry forests, environmental filters established by flooding can lead to differences among distinct biomes in vegetation structure, diversity patterns as well as system productivity. Conservation strategies for dry forests should therefore take these factors into consideration. Our study also highlights annually flooded dry forest as a significant component of the regional diversity of dry forests deserving of management attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

House dust mites (HDM) are globally distributed in human habitats. The most favourable locations for their development are carpets, curtains, couches, mattresses and pillows. This association with indoor environments makes HDM one of the most important sources of indoor allergens. Distribution and concentration may be influenced by food availability, temperature and, mostly, humidity. This study investigated seasonal and environmental patterns in HDM communities in order to understand the influence of housing type and climate conditions on their richness, abundance and concentration. We sampled four different types of housing (brick houses, wooden houses, carpeted apartments and tiled-floor apartments) and four habitats (double mattress, couch, curtain and carpet). We carried out four samplings in 2010, each one in a season of the year, and collected a total of 128 samples. We analysed richness, abundance and concentration of all sample units. We found a total of 1653 mites.Blomia tropicalis(van Bronswijk, Cock & Oshima, 1973),Dermatophagoides farinaeHughes, 1961 andTarsonemus fusariiCooreman, 1941 were the most abundant species. All variables tended to decrease from winter to summer. Wooden and carpeted houses had higher richness and abundance than brick houses and tiled-floor apartments. Curtain had the highest concentration, followed by double mattress, couch and carpet. We found seasonal and environmental variations in the community structure of HDM. Concluding, we demonstrated the prevalence of allergenic indoor mites in the coldest months, in more favourable conditions of wooden and carpeted houses. This study indicates that through careful regulation of climatic conditions, housekeeping policies and laundering procedures, dust mite and allergen levels can be controlled even in a climate suitable for the development of breeding mite populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Being active in the same environment at different times exposes animals to the effects of very different environmental factors, both biotic and abiotic. In the present study, we used live traps equipped with timing devices to evaluate the potential role of biotic factors (competition and food abundance) on overall overlap in the temporal niche axis of 4 insectivorous small mammals in high-elevation grassland fields ('campos de altitude') of southern Brazil. Based on resources availability (invertebrates), data on animal captures were pooled in 2 seasons: 'scarcity' (June 2001-September 2001) and 'abundance' (November 2001-May 2002) seasons. We tested for non-random structure in temporal niche overlap among the species in each season. These species were the rodents Oxymycterus nasutus (Waterhouse, 1837), Deltamys sp., Akodon azarae (Fischer, 1829), and the marsupial Monodelphis brevicaudis Olfers, 1818. The studied community was mainly diurnal with crepuscular peaks. Simulations using the Pianka index of niche overlap indicated that the empirical assemblage-wide overlap was not significantly different from randomly generated patterns in the abundance season but significantly greater than expected by chance alone in the scarcity season. All the species showed an increase in temporal niche breadth during the abundance season, which appears to be related to longer daylength and high nocturnal temperatures. Patterns on both temporal niche overlap and temporal niche breadth were the opposite to those that we were expecting in the case of diel activity patterns determined by competition for dietary resources. Therefore, we conclude that competition did not seem to be preponderant for determining patterns of temporal niche overlap by the studied community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grassroots women in poor communities are creating their own innovative social protection mechanisms, and often moving beyond this to foster economic growth and prosperity. In this article, we propose an expansion of common understandings of social protection to include these activities initiated by citizens themselves. In this article, we describe strategies being led by grassroots women's community-based organisations in Kenya, Brazil and Peru, where women's self-help groups, networks, federations, and supporting NGOs, have been leading and organising livelihoods, health and food security initiatives for the benefit of their members and communities. Many of the objectives of social protection can best be met by creating a social protection framework that recognises and builds on grassroots women's own initiatives. This would reposition poor women in the social protection debate: recasting them from 'beneficiaries', to become active agents of change, and formal partners with government and development agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study from suburban Rio de Janeiro, Brazil that discusses the dynamics of clientelism. In 1979 an institutional arm of the various new social movements was created in Brazil in the form of the party called Partido dos Trabaihadores (PT), heralding the dawn of a new era in Brazilian politics based on grassroots political organization. While Rio de Janeiro was not an area that played an important role in the formation and organization of the PT, it was, nevertheless, one that experienced precipitous growth in social movement organization during this period, primarily in the form of neighbourhood associations. The state of Rio de Janeiro already boasted the oldest dweller association federation in Brazil. The Federacao de Associacoes de Favela do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAFERJ) was first established in 1962. During the first decade or so of existence, it served as a mechanism for state control of favela politics than as a vehicle for popular interest representation such that until the late 1970s the favelas of Rio de Janeiro represented the principal source of votes for clientelist politics in the region. In 1979 FAFERJ was reconstituted by a group of communities on the basis of their collective rejection of traditional clientelist political methods, in an attempt to remove the federation from its proximity and subordination to state interests.