The plant family Gesneriaceae is represented in Sri Lanka by six genera: Aeschynanthus, Epithema, Championia, Henckelia, Rhynchoglossum and Rhynchotechum, with 13 species (plus one subspecies/variety) of which ten are endemic including the monotypic genus Championia, according to the last revision in 1981. They are exclusively distributed in undisturbed habitats, and some have high ornamental value. The species are morphologically diverse, but face a problem of taxonomic delineation, which is further complicated by the presence of putative hybrids. Sri Lanka and Indian Peninsula, represent the Deccan plate of the ancient Gondwanan supercontinent. The presence of a relict flora may indicate the significance of the geological history of the Deccan plate for the evolution of angiosperms. The high degree of endemism here, along with their affinities to the global angiosperm flora paints a complex picture, but its biogeographic history is still unclear. The pantropical family Gesneriaceae distributed in Sri Lanka and South India is therefore an appropriate study group in this context. Besides, the family itself has a complex but largely unresolved biogeographical history especially concerning the origin and diversification of Old World Gesneriaceae. Modern approaches for the taxonomic studies were applied, integrating morphological and molecular data. Multiple samples were collected for each species across their geographical distribution. Nuclear ITS and chloroplast trnL-F sequences for the taxa from Sri Lanka were used to generate regional genus phylogenies of all six genera, using maximum parsimony. The rate of evolution of the nuclear ITS region versus chloroplast trnL-F was varied greatly across the six genera studied. Molecular delimitations were mostly congruent with the classical taxonomy. Over 65 taxonomic characters were studied in detail to recognize synapomorphies for clades and taxa. A complete taxonomic revision of Gesneriaceae in Sri Lanka, including lectotypification, was conducted based on both, the molecular and morphological data. This resulted in the recognition of 14 species in the six genera, including one newly described species H. wijesundarae Ranasinghe and Mich. Möller. Henckelia communis and H. angusta were not supported molecularly as two separate entities but are recognized as two species because of consistent morphological differences between them. Henckelia humboldtiana is proposed to represent a species complex due to its highly variable and inconsistent molecular and morphological diversity and overlap with H. incana and H. floccosa; more research is needed here. National conservation assessments were conducted, and all 14 species were recognized as threatened. Biogeographic affinities of Sri Lankan Gesneriaceae were elucidated, generating a dated phylogeny using an existing matrix of four plastid gene regions; trnL-F, matK, rps16 and ndhF, amended by sequences generated in this study. The final combined matrix included 175 taxa including newly generated sequences for the 13 Sri Lankan taxa. Phylogenetic trees were generated using parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference. Molecular dating was carried out using BEAST and ancestral area reconstruction using BioGeoBears. These analyses indicated that the six genera of Gesneriaceae arrived in Sri Lanka separately and sometimes different time periods. One lineage dated back to the early diversification of the subfamily Didymocarpoideae (generally regarded as the Old World Gesneriaceae), which occurred around the KT boundary, before the Deccan plate was connected to Asia.

Biodiversity offsetting mechanisms are increasingly applied worldwide as a new solution to the current biodiversity crisis. The offsetting approach is idealised as a means to achieve no net loss of biodiversity. Offsetting mechanisms aim to quantify residual biodiversity losses and enable developers to account for residual impacts off-site. Despite rising global application, the effectiveness of offsetting is by no means assured. The question of whether and how offsetting can be operationalised to achieve no net loss has become a key focal point in debates surrounding their effectiveness. Environmental Impact Assessment, or EIA, has been portrayed as an obvious 'vehicle' for integrating offsetting into existing corporate management systems and planning systems, and therefore a key factor over how offsetting mechanisms operate. This research critically investigated the nature of integration and interactions between EIA and offsetting using a three phase qualitative research design, which brought together analysis of emerging policy, expert interviews and in-depth case studies.

Biodiversity in Mexico is threatened by Land Use/Cover Change (LUCC) and Climate Change (CC). Identifying what sites will be most vulnerable to these threats can help to prioritise conservation, mitigation and adaptation strategies and target limited resources. Therefore, the aims of this study are 1) to identify the most vulnerable sites to LUCCs under different socio-economic and CC scenarios, and 2) to assess the vulnerability of endemic and threatened vertebrate species to establish prioritization strategies for biodiversity conservation. Spatially explicit socio-economic scenarios were created at national and subnational level (Chapter 3). National LUCC models were then developed using the DINAMICA EGO software (Chapter 4). These models were run for three future time slices (2020s, 2050s and 2080s) and two contrasting future climate and socio-economic scenarios to determine biodiversity vulnerability (Chapter 5). Vulnerability was estimated by quantifying the exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity to LUCC and CC. This framework integrates national information about the priority sites of biodiversity conservation and their future extent of natural covers under future socio-economic and climate conditions. Finally, the vulnerability framework was also applied in a regional case-study in three municipalities of southern Mexico (Chapter 6). Results reveal that temperate forest is the most vulnerable ecosystem type in Mexico, followed by natural grasslands and tropical evergreen forests. Agriculture is the driver of this threat, which is projected to expand to feed an increasing population under dryer climatic conditions. More than 40% of endemic and endangered mammals are in places ranking from medium to extremely high vulnerability, followed by the 28% of the amphibians, 25% and 23% for reptiles and birds, respectively. These vertebrates are principally distributed on temperate forests and tropical dry forests. In the regional scale, rain-fed agriculture (RfA) and anthropogenic grasslands are the principal LUCC drivers, threatening 31 species of endangered vertebrates. A local strategy for creating corridors between patches close to rivers from the south to the north of one municipality is supported as conservation priority for the regional biodiversity. This research presents a novel approach for prioritising conservation strategies in highly biodiverse countries using readily available data sources, demonstrated at different spatial and temporal scales.

[pt] A humanidade está testemunhando e experimentando os efeitos da degradação do ambiente natural, em escala e escopo sem precedentes na sua história, o que vem provocando crescente inquietação com a qualidade e o futuro do meio-ambiente diante da perda da biodiversidade e da transformação irrecuperável de ambientes naturais. A pesquisa analisa a estratégia de internacionalização e o uso sustentável da biodiversidade como um diferencial adotado nesse processo por uma empresa brasileira - a Natura - que vem crescendo e tendo destaque internacional além de ser reconhecida pela sua responsabilidade social e ambiental. A interpretação dos dados foi feita com base no referencial teórico, fundamentado na revisão de literatura, utilizando o modelo Genérico Integrativo (GI) de Macedo-Soares (2000). Foi adotada, para a análise do estudo de caso, a estratégia de triangulação de métodos, portanto as informações foram coletadas por meio de investigação documental, de levantamento de percepções por meio de entrevistas com formulário estruturado e de levantamento complementar por meio de entrevistas com roteiro guiado. Por meio dos resultados obtidos evidenciamos que a empresa, ao contrário da maioria, não adota alianças em seu processo de internacionalização. A Natura acredita quem tem mais a perder com uma parceria mal realizada do que fazendo investimento próprio em novos países. Outra evidência importante está no fato de que, embora a empresa possua como estratégia de negócio bem sucedida no Brasil a venda direta, durante seu processo de internacionalização para a Europa precisou repensar essa estratégia empresarial para ter sucesso naquele mercado. Isso foi feito, porque a Europa é, sem dúvida, um excelente mercado consumidor para empresas preocupadas com o uso sustentável da biodiversidade. / [en] The mankind is witnessing and suffering the consequences of the environment degradation, in scale and scope never seen in history. However, there is a growing concern regarding the quality and the future of the environment due to the loss of biodiversity and the definitive changes in Nature. The present research analyzes the strategy of internationalization and sustainable use of biodiversity as a competitive advantage of a Brazilian company, Natura, which has sustained a steady growth pace. Natura is well recognized also for its corporate social and environmental responsibility. The data interpretation found in this study was based on the theoretical references from the literature review, using Macedo-Soares` (2000) systemic and integrative model for strategic assessment. Following that, a strategic triangulation of methods was adopted in order to analyze the case study. The information was collected by documental investigation, perception with surveys and complementary data with guided interviews. Through the results obtained we concluded that the company, as opposed to many other companies, does not adopt alliances in the internalization process. Natura believes that the company has more to risk by choosing a bad partner than using its own capital to start business in other countries. Another important point is that although the company is very well succeeded in Brazil with direct sales, a new strategy had to be implemented in Europe to succeed in the European market. Without any doubt Europe is an excellent market for companies oriented towards sustained used of biodiversity.

Com a ampliação da quantidade de informação disponível, gerada pelas diversas atividades humanas, surgiu a necessidade de sistemas computacionais capazes de indexar e analisar estas informações. A manipulação de dados, a derivação de novas informações e a extração de características desses dados propiciam descoberta de padrões e geração de conhecimento, tornando tais sistemas uma importante ferramenta científica. Sistemas com essas funcionalidades são criados com as mais variadas finalidades. No presente trabalho, focamos os sistemas para gerenciamento de informações na área da Biologia, mais especificamente, nos estudos da evolução de mamíferos. Tais sistemas podem ser enquadrados nos chamados sistemas de informação de biodiversidade. Tem-se verificado um número crescente de iniciativas direcionadas para o compartilhamento de informações de biodiversidade através da web. Tais sistemas visam disponibilizar, através da rede mundial de computadores, informações sobre espécimes catalogados em coleções nos mais variados locais, tais como museus de ciências naturais e instituições de pesquisa. Este trabalho descreve os componentes principais de um sistema de informações de biodiversidade, cujo objetivo é integrar recursos de visualização e de análise de dados e funções convencionais de gerenciamento encontradas em bancos de dados. O sistema, denominado TaxonomyBrowser, visa auxiliar os biólogos no gerenciamento de informações a respeito de espécimes por eles coletados, assim como exemplares já catalogados em coleções de museus. A integração com visualização de mapas através da API do Google Maps e a utilização de ferramentas de análise de dados através do Google Charts e do sistema R amplia a aplicabilidade do sistema, bem como, facilita a interação com os usuários. A validação, assim como todo projeto do sistema, foi realizada com a ajuda de biólogos da UFRGS, responsáveis pela coleta e catalogação de espécimes de mamíferos. / The increasing amount of information available due to the several, different human activities leads to the need for computing systems able to index and analyze these large data volume. Data manipulation, derivation of new data from the available ones and the extraction of characteristics from these data allow finding patterns and generating knowledge, turning such computing systems important scientific tools. Thus, systems with these features are created with a variety of purposes. In this work we focus on systems for the management of biological data, more specifically on those supporting the study of mammals’ evolution. Such systems are classified as biodiversity information systems. It has been verified an increasing number of approaches to share biodiversity information through the web. Such systems aim at providing, through theWorldWideWeb, information about catalogued specimens in collections at various locations, like natural sciences museums and research institutions. This work describes the main components of a biodiversity information system developed to integrate visualization and data analysis tools and conventional data management functions provided by relational databases. The system, named TaxonomyBrowser, aims at helping biologists to manage the information about the specimens they collect in fieldwork, as well as specimens that have already been catalogued in museums’ collections. The integration of map visualization through the Google Maps API and the application of Google Charts and R System as data analysis tools improve the system applicability, as well as facilitate user interaction. All phases of the system design were performed together with UFRGS biologists, in a participatory design experience, and currently they are carrying on a thorough validation of the system.

Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems. Quantifying these benefits and understanding how they may change under multiple future pressures, such as climate change or land use change, is a highly uncertain exercise. In managing ecosystems to be resilient to future changes, natural resource managers need the most accurate information available, but also need to be informed of when and where they can be confident, or not, in projections of change. In this thesis, I address many of the key aspects of uncertainty in projections of change in ecosystem services, with a particular focus on challenges in West Africa. I show where and for what variables climate models may be reliably used in ecological studies, providing important advice for interpreting the impacts of climate change on biodiversity. Furthermore, I show that uncertainty in climate observations can also have a significant impact on climate change adaptation decisions at both the species level and in terms of protected area management. I also address how vegetation in West Africa may respond to future climate change. I found that even after uncertainties in climate and land use were considered, carbon storage in West African tropical forests was projected to increase where forest degradation remained low or reduced; vegetation productivity was projected to increase in all parts of West Africa, with the exception of locations in the West Sahel where the largest reductions in precipitation were projected; and, importantly for protected areas, ecosystems were projected to shift northwards despite uncertainty in precipitation projections. I also show the sensitivity of 3 major land surface models to uncertainty in vegetation mapping, thereby providing guidance to the remote sensing community on priorities to improve land cover mapping and to the earth system modelling community on bounds of uncertainty in carbon, moisture and energy budgets due to vegetation mapping uncertainties. Lastly, in using the latest land-atmosphere coupled convection-resolving model, I show that it is possible to simulate the observed interaction between landscape heterogeneity and local and regional scale precipitation in West Africa. This provides a timely and relevant tool that will allow scientists and natural resource managers to more accurately assess the impact of changes in land use on the regional climate of West Africa.

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O objetivo desta tese foi abordar a diversidade de Mycale Gray, 1867 sob um ponto de vista multidisciplinar. No Capítulo 1 foram realizadas reconstruções filogenéticas supra- e subgenéricas com base em dados moleculares, utilizando os marcadores 16S, 28S e cox1, a fim de estabelecer uma hipótese evolutiva para o grupo. No capítulo 2 são realizadas reconstruções ancestrais das características morfológicas do gênero dada a hipótese filogenética estabelecida no capítulo anterior, além de determinar limites na variação morfológica das anisoquelas tipo I por meio de análises morfométricas e estimar o padrão evolutivo das dimensões dos principais tipos espiculares de Mycale. No Capítulo 3 foi estimada a variabilidade genética do complexo Mycale (Carmia) microsigmatosa Arndt, 1927 por meio de análise de haplótipos do gene 16S do RNA ribossomal mitocondrial, além de correlacionar a sua variabilidade morfológica, estimada por meio de dimensões espiculares, com fatores genéticos e geográficos. No Capítulo 4 foram estabelecidas hipóteses biogeográficas para Mycale por meio de análise de três itens tendo como base as reconstruções filogenéticas moleculares e também foram determinados padrões de distribuição geográfica do gênero a partir da ocorrência de espécies em áreas de endemismo. Por fim, no Capítulo 5, os perfis metabólicos de três espécies do gênero Mycale foram obtidos por espectroscopia de ressonância magnética nuclear dos núcleos de hidrogênio (RMN 1H) e comparados estatisticamente, além de suas similaridades terem sido contrastadas com suas relações filogenéticas e suas diferenças entre grupos de indivíduos metabolicamente relacionados determinadas.

Conservation of biodiversity and sustainable resource use are central aims within ecology. This thesis focuses on the current data and environmental frameworks used to support these aims across different states in Europe. In particular, it examines the impact of geo-political boundaries on data-use, funding and planning for temporal movement of species in response to climate change. It also examines the current environmental framework agreements in Europe and their capacity to deal with trans-boundary aspects of biodiversity change. Through examination of European biodiversity datasets, undertaking species distribution modelling of forest taxa, examining economic data, palaeo-ecological data, and assessing international environmental framework agreements, this thesis identifies a number of important knowledge gaps. Probably unsurprisingly, the distribution of biodiversity in Europe mostly does not match political entities, all of which have individual aims, financial resources, and biodiversity management regimes in place. All have a significant impact on biodiversity conservation planning because i) the use of geo-politically truncated data influences modelling predictions, ii) financial commitment to biodiversity conservation varies between countries influencing success outcomes, iii) biodiversity persistence in current and future climate change does not recognise geo-political boundaries, and iv) many of the key environmental frameworks are implemented within countries and do not considering trans-boundary issues. Overall these findings significantly improve the understanding of conservation and resource management in Europe and fill a number of important knowledge gaps. They highlight the importance of appropriate trans-boundary ecological datasets and the need for more consistency across Europe in financial resources for biodiversity conservation. They also highlight the need for appreciation of areas of high-persistent biodiversity regardless of geo-political boundaries and environmental framework agreements that support cross-border conservation measures.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-10T14:22:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2015-02-26. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-12-10T14:28:25Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000850009_20170226.pdf: 1029581 bytes, checksum: 69e812dad32c76a53500967a80a8c187 (MD5) Bitstreams deleted on 2017-03-03T11:01:36Z: 000850009_20170226.pdf,. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2017-03-03T11:02:43Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000850009.pdf: 2777836 bytes, checksum: 2500fb48a204b51b3ba5201d7d6a82c9 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Desde o advento da nova era da abordagem proteômica, a identificação de assinaturas moleculares individuais em vários sistemas biológicos pela pesquisa básica tem impulsionado a descoberta de biomarcadores diretamente relacionados a aplicações terapêuticas, promovendo desenvolvimento de testes diagnósticos clínicos mais específicos. Neste contexto, a necessidade da aplicação clínica estimula a pesquisa de bancada, sendo que novas tecnologias permitem novas descobertas e podem se transformar em prognósticos efetivos, medicamentos inéditos ou mais eficazes e/ou testes diagnósticos mais específicos. Os bubalinos tem sido alvo de muitas iniciativas econômicas e de pesquisas translacionais. Uma vez que, seu plasma sanguíneo é rico em fibrinogênio, búfalos da espécie Bubalus bubalis raça Murrah, se tornaram doadores primordiais de matéria-prima para o desenvolvimento de insumos biológicos, como por exemplo, o selante de fibrina derivado do veneno de serpentes e do sangue de bubalinos produzido pelo Centro de Estudos de Venenos e Animais Peçonhentos (CEVAP). Para tal, se fez necessário melhor compreender a composição do plasma sanguíneo e do crioprecipitado destes bubalinos, a fim de dar suporte à pesquisas futuras que envolverão a identificação de marcadores moleculares de doenças infecciosas que podem acometer estes animais doadores. Este trabalho foi dividido em duas partes: a primeira destaca-se os achados prévios e significância da bubalinocultura, a utilização do sangue de animais para o desenvolvimento de bioinsumos na saúde animal e humana, a produção e aplicação de diversos selantes de fibrina, o uso da abordagem proteômica como estratégia investigativa para a prospecção de biomarcadores moleculares de doenças infecciosas e uma breve descrição das principais técnicas analíticas empregadas pela abordagem proteômica. A segunda parte deste trabalho, destaca-se a caracterização proteica do... / Since the advent of the new era of proteomics approach, the identification of individual molecular signatures in various biological systems for basic research has driven the discovery of biomarkers directly related to therapeutic applications, promoting the development of more specific clinical diagnostic tests. In this context, the need for clinical application stimulates the bench study, which new technologies and new discoveries can become effective prognostic, or novel drugs more effective and/or more specific diagnostic tests. The bubaline have been targets of several economic initiatives and translational research. Since its plasma is rich in fibrinogen, Bubalus bubalis water buffalos (Murrah) have became main donors of raw material for the development of biological insumes, as example, the fibrin sealant from snake venoms and water buffalos blood produced by The Center for the Studies of Venoms and Venomous Animals (CEVAP) at UNESP. Then, it was necessary to better understand the composition of the blood plasma and cryoprecipitate these buffalo, in order to support future research will involve the identification of molecular markers of infectious diseases that can affect these donor animals. This study was divided into two parts: the first stands up the previous findings and significance of buffalo, the use of animal blood for developing bioinsumes in animal and human health, the production and application of several fibrin sealants, the use proteomics approach as a research strategy for the discovery of molecular biomarkers of infect diseases and a brief description of the analytical methods used by proteomics approach. The second part of this work brings the protein characterization of blood plasma and cryoprecipitate of B. bubalis healthy buffalo, where have evidenced 17 groups of major proteins involved in the signaling pathway of the complement system and the cascade coagulation

Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-13T13:27:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2015-02-24. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2016-01-13T13:31:11Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000853814.pdf: 2548792 bytes, checksum: 4dcc66a7bc75a3a60859016f28df5cab (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Os parasitas representam importante papel na manutenção da diversidade local de hospedeiros e das funções ecossistêmicas, porém são os primeiros organismos a desaparecer por causa das ações antrópicas sobre o ambiente natural. O conhecimento sobre a diversidade biológica existente no planeta é ainda consideravelmente escasso e inventariar a fauna de uma determinada porção de um ecossistema é o primeiro passo para a conservação, a recuperação, e o uso racional do meio ambiente. Inventários faunísticos, descrições de espécies e revisões de helmintofaunas são necessários, pois enriquecem a compreensão do parasitismo nos grupos de vertebrados e constituem uma base para os próximos estudos. Para o estado do Mato Grosso do Sul os estudos sobre a helmintofauna estão restritos a região do pantanal assim os objetivos desse estudo são descrever a fauna de helmintos associados à anuros da família Leptodactylidae, estimar os parâmetros de infecção parasitários: prevalência, intensidade de infecção e riqueza de parasitas em três fisionomias de Cerrado no município de Selvíria, estado do Mato Grosso do Sul. Foram coletados 114 anuros em um ano de coletas, com um total de 72 dias de armadilhas abertas e 48 horas de busca ativa. Dos 114 hospedeiros 89 estavam parasitados (78% de prevalência) e foram coletados 1730 helmintos pertencentes a 21 espécies. Nematoda foi o grupo mais diverso (12 espécies), seguido por Trematoda (9 espécies) e Acanthocephala (1espécie). Este estudo contribuiu para o aumento de registro de novos hospedeiros para espécies de parasitas, 22 novos registros, e também foram reportadas 3 novas espécies de helmintos no estado de Mato Grosso do Sul / The parasites are an important role in maintaining local diversity of hosts and ecosystem functions, but they are the first organisms to disappear because of human activities on the natural environment. Knowledge of the biological diversity on the planet is still pretty scarce and inventory the fauna of a particular portion of an ecosystem is the first step for the conservation, recovery, and the rational use of the environment. Wildlife inventories, descriptions of species and helmintofaunas revisions are necessary because enrich the understanding of parasitism in vertebrate groups and form a basis for future studies. For the Mato Grosso do Sul state studies on helminth parasites are restricted to wetland region so the objectives of this study are to describe the helminth fauna associated with frogs in the Leptodactylidae family, estimate the parasitic infection parameters: prevalence, intensity of infection and wealth of parasites in three Cerrado physiognomies in Selvíria, Mato Grosso do Sul. We collected 114 frogs in a year of collections, with a total of 72 days in open traps and 48 hours of active search. Of the 114 hosts 89 were parasitized (78% prevalence) and were collected in 1730 helminths belonging to 21 species. Nematoda was the most diverse group (12 species), followed by Trematoda (9 species) and Acanthocephala (1espécie). This study contributed to the increase in registration for new hosts parasite species, 22 new records, and were also reported three new species of helminths in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul