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Deforestation for agribusiness expansion in Brazil, in conjunction with climate change, has worsened the already severe drought suffered in the last decade by the transition zone between the eastern Amazon and the Cerrado, the vast tropical savanna ecoregion in central and western Brazil. This combination of trends endangers the stability of the biomes concerned and constitutes a risk to food production in the region known as MaToPiBa, a portmanteau of Maranhão, Tocantins, [...]

A study conducted by researchers affiliated with São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil shows that large mammals have a major impact on plant diversity, primary productivity and biomass in the understory of Neotropical forests. Species like the lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) and white-lipped peccary (Tayassu peccari) help keep an ecological balance in areas such as the Atlantic Rainforest with different levels of productivity, while also influencing the spatial structure of [...]

A study of the management plans for 118 conservation units in Brazil shows that 60% use unsuitable methods to detect the presence of deer, and that 38% do not even describe the method used. Conservation of these animals may be endangered as a result. Eight deer species occur in Brazil; three are red-listed as “vulnerable” by IUCN. Management plans prescribe the governance and technical aspects of the administration of protected areas in Brazil. The protected areas analyzed in the [...]

The rhythms of activity in all biological organisms, both plants and animals, are closely linked to the gravitational tides created by the orbital mechanics of the Sun-Earth-Moon system. This truth has been somewhat neglected by scientific research but is foregrounded in a study by Cristiano de Mello Gallep at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP) in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, and Daniel Robert at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom. An article on the study is [...]

Between 118 and 138 million tons of organic waste are generated annually worldwide, with waste from the food production and distribution chain accounting for 100 million tons of the total. Only about 25% of all this biowaste is collected and recycled. The other 75% is simply thrown away, representing a huge loss of potential resources and major damage to the environment. These numbers are from a report published in 2018 by the European Environment Agency. Its statistics are the most recent [...]

Researchers in Brazil and Belgium have developed a molecule of pharmaceutical interest from collinein-1, a protein found in rattlesnake venom. They used a technique called PEGylation to make the molecule, now called PEG-rCollinein-1, more stable in the organism and resistant to the immune system, obtaining a drug candidate to modulate blood clotting. An article reporting the results of the research has recently been published in the International Journal of Biological [...]

A scientific expedition in the Javari River basin on the border between Brazil, Colombia and Peru has shown use of environmental DNA sequencing to be feasible to investigate fish diversity in the Amazon. The eDNA method consists of extracting molecules of DNA present in water samples and identifying the species to which they belong by means of genetic markers. An article on the research published in the journal Scientific Reports also discusses the limitations of the technique for the study of [...]

A Brazilian study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment shows how wildfires and forest burning for agriculture influence rain cloud formation in the Amazon. According to the authors, aerosols (tiny solid particles and liquid droplets emitted into the atmosphere by fire) hinder the freezing of cloud droplets when the atmosphere is humidified, but can also promote freezing when the atmosphere is dry. This alters the natural functioning of clouds and their typical height, [...]

The aquatic fungus, which has led to the extinction of several species of amphibians that spend all or part of their life cycle in water, also threatens terrestrial amphibians. In Brazil, researchers supported by FAPESP have found unprecedented mortality among a genus of tiny frogs known as pumpkin toads, which inhabit the rainforests of the Atlantic Ocean away from any aquatic environment. The animals were heavily infected with chytrid (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis), which causes [...]