Conservation

This document addresses the development of a novel methodology to identify the actual maintenance factor of the luminaires of an outdoor lighting installation in order to assess their lighting performance. The method is based on the combined use of Radiance, a free and open-source tool, for the modeling and simulation of lighting scenes, and GenOpt, a generic optimization program, for the calibration of the model. The application of this methodology allows the quantification of the deterioration of the road lighting system and the identification of luminaires that show irregularities in their operation. Values lower than 9% for the error confirm that this research can contribute to the management of street lighting by assessing real road conditions.

The study was done to assess the opportunity costs of REDD+ to the communities of Mufindi District which is located in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. The specific objectives were, to identify and assess the economic value of alternative land uses, the aboveground carbon stock of Idewa Forest Reserve (IFR), and the profitability of each land use as compared to REDD+ incentives. Data were collected using questionnaire survey, key informant interview, and forest inventory and data were analyzed using the Excel programme. Results showed that the main land uses were agriculture and tree planting with economic values of $2958.52 and $3272.94 per ha per year, respectively. The total aboveground carbon was 39.23 t/ha (143.97/ha). The opportunity costs of REDD+ was varying depending on the price per ton of carbon. The opportunity costs of REDD+ will be profitable if the price per tCO2e will be at least $23. It can therefore be concluded that there is no general unit price per ton of car...

Uno de los factores de la producción sostenible de los bosques tropicales es la conservación de sus especies vegetales silvestres útiles, cuyo estado puede ser evaluado inicialmente a través del conocimiento tradicional local. El objetivo de este trabajo fue contribuir a la elaboración de un inventario de plantas útiles y, mediante valoración socioeconómica y ecológica, determinar prioridades de conservación en la Mixteca Poblana, México. Se realizaron 14 entrevistas y un taller participativo en dos comunidades del municipio de Chietla, Puebla, México. Se registraron los usos de las especies reconocidas, la importancia socioeconómica y el potencial ecológico de cada planta considerada relevante y se aplicó un análisis de factores principales. En ambas comunidades se reconocieron nueve categorías de uso, destacando las combustibles, las medicinales, las alimenticias y las de construcción. En Huajotitlán se reportaron 139 especies útiles, ubicando a palo dulce (Eysenhardtia polystachy...

In the face of the biodiversity crisis, it is argued that we should prioritize species in order to capture high functional diversity (FD). Because species traits often reflect shared evolutionary history, many researchers have assumed that maximizing phylogenetic diversity (PD) should indirectly capture FD, a hypothesis that we name the "phylogenetic gambit". Here, we empirically test this gambit using data on ecologically relevant traits from >15,000 vertebrate species. Specifically, we estimate a measure of surrogacy of PD for FD. We find that maximizing PD results in an average gain of 18% of FD relative to random choice. However, this average gain obscures the fact that in over one-third of the comparisons, maximum PD sets contain less FD than randomly chosen sets of species. These results suggest that, while maximizing PD protection can help to protect FD, it represents a risky conservation strategy.

Vincent van Gogh’s painting Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen from the collection of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam was executed in 1884 and partially repainted by the artist in 1885. The painting was restored in 1961, however, the details of this treatment were not documented. After being stolen from the museum in 2002 and finally recovered in 2016, the Church was subjected to an extensive technical examination campaign which started in 2017. The aims were to: characterise the stratigraphy of both initial and later paint layers (including identification of the painting materials used by Van Gogh), evaluate the condition of the painting and assess the feasibility of the desired restoration treatment. Portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) was performed to non-invasively identify elements related to pigments in the paint layers of the two painting campaigns. To further identify constituent materials and comprehend the painting’s complex stratigraphy, a sing...

 http://dx.doi.org/10.5902/1980509810542Ecossistemas perturbados não apresentam composição florística original, os solos encontram-se exauridos, rasos, pedregosos, com baixa infiltração, revelando processos erosivos com diferentes níveis de geodinamismo. A área de estudo apresenta pastagens com vegetação herbácea espaçada e fragilizada a cada chuva ou incêndio, onde os indivíduos florestais que colonizaram e se estabeleceram nesses ambientes foram definidos como espécies rústicas. Este estudo objetivou relacionar as variáveis do meio físico (exposição, declividade, elevação, relevo e afloramentos rochosos) com o estabelecimento e crescimento das espécies rústicas levantadas e identificadas por censo, em trecho perturbado (terço inferior) da bacia do rio Cacaria, situado na base da serra do Mar, Piraí – RJ. Para o levantamento da vegetação foi realizado censo em uma área de 22 hectares, onde foram mensuradas, identificadas e georreferenciadas todas as espécies arbóreas de ocorrência ...

Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is the highest oil-yielding commercially grown perennial tree. Oil palm germplasm conservation and in vitro clonal propagation strengthened the world’s efforts to ensure future food security. Cryopreservation provides long-term storage for germplasm. The storage of plant material at cryogenic temperatures (−196 °C) following dehydration causes cryoinjury. The cryotolerance mechanism has rarely been studied in oil palm zygotic embryos (ZE) and embryogenic calli (EC). A simple and effective cryopreservation method was established for ZE. ZE surrounded by endosperm was air-dried for 3 days without any complicated chemical pre-treatments before cryopreservation, while the viability rate and following germination rate could reach up to 96.67% and 90.88%, respectively. As for EC, the preferred method could be pre-culture in liquid MS medium with 0.3 M sucrose for 12 h and PVS2 treatment for 5 min prior to cryopreservation, and the viability rate reached 68.33%...

Summary Many organisms depend on sound for communication, predator/prey detection and navigation. The acoustic environment can therefore play an important role in ecosystem dynamics and evolution. A growing number of studies are documenting acoustic habitats and their influences on animal development, behaviour, physiology and spatial ecology, which has led to increasing demand for passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) expertise in the life sciences. However, as yet, there has been no synthesis of data processing methods for acoustic habitat monitoring, which presents an unnecessary obstacle to would‐be PAM analysts. Here, we review the signal processing techniques needed to produce calibrated measurements of terrestrial and aquatic acoustic habitats. We include a supplemental tutorial and template computer codes in matlab and r, which give detailed guidance on how to produce calibrated spectrograms and statistical analyses of sound levels. Key metrics and terminology for the characteri...

Current and expected changes in global climate are major threat for biological diversity affecting individuals, communities and ecosystems. However, there is no general trend in the plants response to the climate change. The aim of present study was to evaluate impact of the future climate changes on the distribution of holomycotrophic orchid species using ecological niche modeling approach. Three different scenarios of future climate changes were tested to obtain the most comprehensive insight in the possible habitat loss of 16 holomycotrophic orchids. The extinction of Cephalanthera austiniae was predicted in all analyses. The coverage of suitable niches of Pogoniopsis schenckii will decrease to 1–30% of its current extent. The reduction of at least 50% of climatic niche of Erythrorchis cassythoides and Limodorum abortivum will be observed. In turn, the coverage of suitable niches of Hexalectris spicata, Uleiorchis ulaei and Wullschlaegelia calcarata may be even 16–74 times larger...

Social Forestry (SF) is one of the government’s community-based forest management programs, which aims to balance environmental needs with the welfare of communities around the forest. However, in the program’s implementation, due to social norms and gender inequalities, women are often marginalized in access and management of SF. This study analyzes women’s participation in SF, primarily from the perspective and experience of women at the site level. This study used qualitative research; data mining was carried out through focus group discussions (FGD) and interviews with women at the site level and with assistance from civil society organizations (CSOs) in five provinces (Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, Bengkulu, West Kalimantan, Central Sulawesi, and West Papua). This study shows how cultural barriers affect the forms and good practices of women’s participation in SF and their impacts.

Perfil biográfico e entrevista com Beatriz Ramos de Vasconcelos Coelho, professora emérita da UFMG e referência da conservação, da restauração e do ensino sobre as Artes Plásticas em Minas Gerais. Ela foi responsável pela idealização e implantação do Centro de Conservação e Restauração de Bens Culturais Móveis (Cecor), unidade da Escola de Belas Artes da UFMG dedicada à pesquisa e à formação de profissionais dedicados à restauração de bens do patrimônio histórico, artístico e cultural do Brasil.

Beatriz Coelho também idealizou e implantou o Ceib, Centro de Estudos da Imaginária Brasileira, criado em 1996 com o objetivo de estimular estudos sobre obras de arte brasileiras e portuguesas conservadas em acervos no Brasil. Nesta entrevista, a professora comenta o passo a passo de sua trajetória, as origens de seu envolvimento com as artes plásticas, sua aproximação com as obras dos estilos barroco e rococó em Minas Gerais e os grandes desafios relacionados à restauração e conservação do patrimônio histórico e artístico.

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Objetivou-se realizar um estudo etnozootecnico da raca ovina Morada Nova e seus mesticos no seu centro de origem, municipio de Morada Nova, estado do Ceara, no que diz respeito ao processo historico de formacao da raca, criterios de selecao locais adotados pelos criadores, bem como caracterizar o sistema de producao em que esses animais estao inseridos. A investigacao do processo de formacao da raca Morada Nova foi realizada com base em revisao de bibliografias e documentos historicos e, atraves da historia oral com base nos depoimentos dos ?especialistas locais? (n=5), bem como por pessoas importantes nesse processo. Os dados utilizados para definicao dos criterios de selecao e caracterizacao do sistema de producao foram obtidos a partir de entrevistas com criadores de ovinos Morada Nova (RMN) (n=13) e criadores de mesticos da raca (MMN) (n=48). As entrevistas foram gravadas e posteriormente transcritas e, apos as transcricoes foram submetidas a analise de conteudo, destacando os a...

Trees are an important feature of urban ecosystems and provide different environmental and socio -economic benefits. Different habitats (roadsides, parks, streets, institutes, graveyards) in Sahiwal, a city in central Punjab, Pakistan were surveyed for the assessment of abundance, diversity and amenity value of urban trees. Forty five tree species belonging to 29 families were recorded. Azadirachata indica, Morus alba, Eugenia jambolana andDalbergia sissoo are the most frequent species. Distribution of trees is highly uneven as only four species showed >50% frequency, seven species had >25% frequency and fourteen species exhibited 5% frequency. Roadside verges had the highest diversity of tree species followed by institutions and parks. Broadleaf deciduous species are abundant whereas conifers and palms are occasionally found in parks and institutions. From a functional point of view, most trees are ornamental type followed by shading trees. Exotic species are higher in number...