Suchergebnisse

One of the biggest challenges for visually impaired people is learning cartographic content. Among the cartographic contents, the conceptualization and delimitation of preservation areas is an applied example with extreme relevance for environmental education. This article presents the process of developing a tactile graphic scheme for environmental education for visually impaired people regarding the delimitation of permanent preservation areas around springs and rivers. The creation of the teaching resource used easily acquired materials and followed format recommendations indicated by academic literature on tactile maps. The didact resource has textual content in Braille and Roman numerals, as well as legend and graphic scale in high relief. Special care was taken so that the teaching resource can be used in an inclusive manner, involving, at the same time, blind, partially visually impaired and students with full vision, to promote an inclusive educational environment. This resource can be a useful tool for teaching cartography topics applied to environmental conservation contexts.

International audience ; Considerations are presented on discourses and practices of public policies and public budget, regarding territorial development. The considerations are based on the author's experience in government institutions, at state and national level, in the executive and legislative powers in Brazil. This experience is compared to theoretical and applied studies on sustainable regional development, including agrarian reform, small-scale farming, ecological-economic zoning, transport infrastructure, city network hierarchies, and budgetary policies. The discussion shows how, behind discourses of regional development, there may be strategies for maintaining political power which may not always be the most appropriate for improving people's quality of life.

Plant-based ingredients have been successfully replacing fishmeal in finished fish feeds. However, using crops in feeds results in an increased risk of contamination by fungi and mycotoxins and a higher incidence of mycotoxicosis in fish. This might decrease aquaculture's productivity as mycotoxicosis generally result in decreased body weight, growth impairment and higher rates of disease and mortality in fish. Additionally, some mycotoxins might accumulate in the fish musculature. As such, fish consumption might become another way for mycotoxins to enter the human food chain, threatening food security and public health as mycotoxins are important genotoxins, carcinogens and immunosuppressors to humans. In this work we aim to provide a review on the most important mycotoxins found in crops and in finished fish feed, i.e., aflatoxins, fumonisins, ochratoxins, trichothecenes and zearalenone. We present their effects on the health of fish and humans and their regulations in the European Union. Although work has been performed in mycotoxin research ever since the 1960s, a lot of information is still lacking regarding its effects. However, it is noticed that in order to use crops in aquafeed production, efforts should be made in order to monitor its contamination by mycotoxinogenic fungi and mycotoxins.

This study assesses the impact of traffic on Castelo Branco Road on the epiphytic lichens in an Atlantic Forest park in Barueri municipality, Brazil. The investigation evaluates how distance to road influences the diversity and trunk coverage of selected sensitive lichen morphofunctional groups. The sampling and measurement were based on the European Union protocol for lichen biomonitoring, adapted for tropical forests. There was a significant positive log-linear relationship (p-value = 2.5%) between the distance from the road and lichen diversity, although the R2 (0.12) of the respective regression was low, which is probably due to the high tree biodiversity in the Atlantic Forest, which creates diversified bark suitable for lichens. Maps indicate that the effect of road proximity on lichen diversity and coverage is more evident in the first 100 m. Most of the park area contains morphofunctional groups that appeared to be potential indicators of good environmental air quality. ; Este artigo avalia o impacto do tráfego da Rodovia Castelo Branco sobre líquens epifíticos em um Parque de Mata Atlântica no Município de Barueri, no Brasil. A investigação a avalia como a distância à rodovia influencia a diversidade e a cobertura de tronco de grupos morfofuncionais selecionados de líquens sensíveis. A amostragem e as mensurações foram baseadas no protocolo da União Europeia para biomonitoramento com liquens, adaptado para florestas tropicais. Houve uma relação positiva log-linear positiva (valor-p = 2,5%) entre a distância à rodovia e a diversidade de líquens, apesar que o R2 (0,12) da respectiva regressão foi baixo, provavelmente devido à alta biodiversidade de árvores da Mata Atlântica, que cria um a diversidade de aptidões de ambientes para os liquens. Mapas indicaram que o efeito da proximidade da rodovia sobre a diversidade e cobertura de liquens é mais evidente nos primeiros 100 metros. A maior parte da área do parque contém grupos morfofuncionais que aparentam ser potenciais indicadores de boa qualidade do ar.

Cyanobacteria blooms are frequent in freshwaters and are responsible for water quality deterioration and human intoxication. Although, not a new phenomenon, concern exists on the increasing persistence, scale, and toxicity of these blooms. There is evidence, in recent years, of the transfer of these toxins from inland to marine waters through freshwater outflow. However, the true impact of these blooms in marine habitats has been overlooked. In the present work, we describe the detection of Planktothrix agardhii, which is a common microcystin producer, in the Portuguese marine coastal waters nearby a river outfall in an area used for shellfish harvesting and recreational activities. P. agardhii was first observed in November of 2016 in seawater samples that are in the scope of the national shellfish monitoring system. This occurrence was followed closely between November and December of 2016 by a weekly sampling of mussels and water from the sea pier and adjacent river mouth with salinity ranging from 35 to 3. High cell densities were found in the water from both sea pier and river outfall, reaching concentrations of 4,960,608 cellsL(-1) and 6810.3 x 10(6) cellsL(-1) respectively. Cultures were also established with success from the environment and microplate salinity growth assays showed that the isolates grew at salinity 10. HPLC-PDA analysis of total microcystin content in mussel tissue, water biomass, and P. agardhii cultures did not retrieve a positive result. In addition, microcystin related genes were not detected in the water nor cultures. So, the P. agardhii present in the environment was probably a non-toxic strain. This is, to our knowledge, the first report on a P. agardhii bloom reaching the sea and points to the relevance to also monitoring freshwater harmful phytoplankton and related toxins in seafood harvesting and recreational coastal areas, particularly under the influence of river plumes. ; project SNMB-INOV: Innovation for a more competitive shellfish sector - Portuguese Government, ...