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As a strategy to conserve tropical rainforests of the East Usambara block of the Eastern Arc Mountains, Tanzania, I developed a set of models that can identify above-average tree species richness areas within the humid forests. I developed the model based on geo-referenced field data and satellite image-based variables from the Amani Nature Reserve, the largest forest sector in the East Usambara. I then verified the model by applying it to the Nilo Forest Reserve. The field data, part of the Tanzanian National Biodiversity Database, were collected by Frontier-Tanzania between 1999 and 2001, through the East Usambara Conservation Area Management Program, Government of Tanzania. The field data used are rapidly collectible by people with varied backgrounds and education. I gathered spectral reflectance values from pixels in the Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper (Landsat ETM) image covering the study area that corresponded to the ground sample points. The spectral information from different bands formed the satellite image-based variables in the dataset. The best satellite image logistic regression and discriminant analysis models were based on a single band, raw Landsat ETM mid-infrared band 7 (RB7). In the Amani forest, the RB7-based model resulted in 65.3% overall accuracy in identifying above average tree species locations. When the logistic and discriminant models were applied to Nilo forest sector, the overall accuracy was 62.3%. Of the rapidly collectible field variables, only tree density (number of trees) was selected in the logistic regression and the discriminant analysis models. Logistic and discriminant models using both RB7 and number of trees recorded 76.3% overall accuracy in Amani, and when applied to Nilo, 76.8% accuracy. It is possible to apply and adapt the current set of models to identify above-average tree species richness areas in East Usambara and other forest blocks of the Eastern Arc Mountains. Potentially, managers and researchers can periodically use the model to rapidly assess, monitor, update, and map the tree species rich areas within the forest. The same or similar models could be applied to check their applicability in other humid tropical forest areas. / Ph. D.

Os ambientes terrestres têm sido gradativamente alterados pelo ser humano, mas a partir da Revolução Industrial, o homem começou a atuar de maneira mais intensa sobre o meio, fazendo com que as modificações ambientais tomassem proporções alarmantes, tanto em velocidade quanto em dimensão. As mudanças, como as climáticas, hídricas e biológicas, entre outras, ocorridas durante o século XX foram as maiores já registradas. As alterações ambientais associadas ao quadro demográfico do mundo contemporâneo, às condições socioeconômicas e à revolução técnico-científico-informacional que interligou o mundo, acabaram resultando em um cenário nunca vivenciado pela humanidade e ao mesmo tempo preocupante, tanto para saúde ambiental da Terra como para a humana. Se por um lado essa situação, baseada principalmente no avanço tecnológico, resultou numa verdadeira revolução nas taxas de mortalidade e na esperança de vida, por outro lado criou um ambiente que vem facilitando a emergência e reemergência de doenças, que pode comprometer o próprio futuro. Esse estudo tem por objetivo principal dar subsídios para o acesso a um conhecimento integrado, em escala global, tanto das alterações ambientais das áreas tropicais úmidas e do quadro socioeconômico dos países localizados nessa faixa tropical, quanto do surgimento e/ou expansão de quatro doenças infecciosas de caráter hemorrágico - dengue hemorrágica, febre amarela, marburg e ebola - no período de 1981 a 2005. No campo teórico-metodológico, a Geografia, mediante as suas características científicas de transitar pelos campos das ciências naturais e humanas, devido ao seu objeto de estudo, ofereceu a sustentação científica necessária para a realização, enquanto o avanço tecnológico das comunicações e da informática, associado ao processo de globalização pelo qual o mundo passa, proporcionou uma realidade de trabalho totalmente nova, permitindo a execução operacional do estudo. Foram realizados levantamentos bibliográficos e estudos sobre aquecimento global, mundo tropical, devastação das florestas tropicais úmidas, condições socioeconômicas dos países localizados nesta porção do globo e expansão das doenças citadas nos últimos 25 anos. O conjunto dos dados foi transformado em uma tabela síntese e em material cartográfico que retrata a situação atual desses países, destacando o nível das condições sócio ambientais e o risco saúde em que se encontram. / The terrestrial environments have been gradually altered by human being but from the Industrial Revolution on, this process has been even more intensive, resulting in environmental modifications of fast, huge and alarming proportions. The changes, such as the climatic, hydric and biological ones, among others, that took place in the 20th century, were the largest registered. The environmental alterations, associated to the current demographic panorama, to the socioeconomic conditions and to the technical-scientific-informational revolution - that have linked the whole world - resulted in a scenario never before experienced by humanity and, at the same time, very preoccupying for the Earth environmental health as well as for the humans. If on one hand that situation, based mainly on the technological progress, has resulted in lower mortality rates and higher life expectancy at birth, on the other hand it has also created an environment that made the emergence and re-emergence of diseases much easier to occur, so that future may be at risk. This study intend to bring up subsidies that allow for access to global integrated knowledge, not only about the environmental changes in the countries located in humid tropical areas and their socioeconomic conditions, but also about the influence of these alterations on the appearance and/or expansion of four infectious hemorrhagic diseases - hemorrhagic dengue, yellow fever, marburg and ebola - in the period from 1981 to 2005. In the theoreticalmethodological field, Geography - in face of its scientific characteristics of acting on the fields of both natural and human sciences, due to its object of studying - offered the necessary scientific support for the study accomplishment, while the technological progress in Communications and Computer Sciences, associated to the current world process of globalization, provided a new view of working, which allowed the operational execution of this study. The study was also based on bibliographical researches in world warming, tropical world, deforestation of tropical rain forests, socioeconomic conditions of the countries where the forests are placed and in the expansion of the mentioned diseases over the past 25 years. The set of data were synthesized in a table and in cartographic material that show the socio environmental conditions and the health risk of these countries.

A área cultivada sob sistemas conservacionistas aumentou no Brasil nos últimos anos. Paralelamente, ocorreu incremento na demanda de conhecimento a respeito da variabilidade dos índices de fertilidade do solo utilizados nas recomendações de adubação e calagem. Esse assunto vem preocupando técnicos e pesquisadores envolvidos nas redes regionais de laboratórios de análises de solo e comissões de fertilidade do solo encarregadas da elaboração das recomendações de adubação. O acúmulo de matéria orgânica (MO) no solo pode afetar a eficiência dos extratores químicos por causar alterações físico-químicas, como reações de troca iônica, reações com minerais do solo, liberação de ânions orgânicos, complexação de cátions metálicos, reações de oxirredução, entre outros. Objetivou-se com essa tese: (i) determinar os teores disponíveis de Ca, Mg e K e a relação Ca:Mg:K no solo, bem como correlação entre extratores e determinação das concentrações desses elementos na planta de soja em solos sob semeadura direta (SSD) que recebeu doses de calcário e de gesso; (ii) avaliar extratores para Cu, Fe, Mn e Zn em solo tratado com lodo de esgoto por treze anos e cultivado com milho; (iii) comparar métodos de abertura de amostra de solo para determinação de Cu, Fe, Mn e Zn em solo tratado com lodo de esgoto por treze anos e em solo tratado uma única vez com lodo de esgoto e composto de lodo; (iv) avaliar a qualidade e grau de humificação da matéria orgânica em solos com aporte de material orgânico sob manejos distintos. Partiu-se das hipóteses: (i) o maior teor de MO do solo oriundo do sistema conservacionista e as doses de calcário e gesso promoverão superestimativa da concentração dos nutrientes extraídos pela resina; (ii) a maior quantidade de compostos orgânicos oriundos da aplicação de lodo de esgoto por longo período de tempo diminuirá o poder de extração das soluções complexantes; (iii) o maior teor de matéria orgânica do solo dificultará a abertura da amostra, sendo mais eficiente a mistura de HNO3 e HCl; e (iv) as áreas de plantio direto serão separadas das áreas tratadas com lodo de esgoto pelos compostos orgânicos e o grau de humificação da MO será mais elevado nas áreas de SSD. Houve correlação significativa entre os extratores para Ca, Mg e K, mas não entre teores no solo e a concentração na planta, e não houve efeito da aplicação de calcário e gesso nas concentrações desses elementos na soja. No experimento de solo tratado por treze anos com lodo de esgoto foi observada correlação significativa entre os teores no solo e o acumulado na planta somente para Mn e Zn. As soluções ácidas extraíram maiores quantidades dos micronutrientes. No geral, os teores extraídos pela água régia aproximaram-se dos teores totais no solo, sendo observado efeito da aplicação de resíduo somente para Cu e Zn no experimento de longa duração. O fracionamento físico da MO foi mais eficiente para distinguir os manejos a que os solos foram submetidos. As áreas apresentaram similaridade em relação aos compostos orgânicos predominantes determinados por ressonância magnética nuclear. / An increase in the amount of Brazilian agricultural areas managed under no-till farming systems has been observed in recent years. In the same period has seen increasing demand for information on the variability in the soil fertility indices on which liming and fertilization recommendations are based. This variation is of concern to technicians and researchers working in regional networks of soil analysis laboratories, and to the agencies responsible for establishing recommendations for fertilizing soils. The accumulation of organic matter (OM) in soils may affect the efficiency of chemical extractants by causing physical and chemical alterations to soils, including ion-exchange reactions, reactions with soil minerals, liberation of organic anions, complexation of metallic cations, and oxi-redox reactions. This thesis aimed: (i) to determine the bioavailable concentrations of Ca, Mg, and K and the Ca:Mg:K relationship in soils, as well as the relationship between extractants and element concentrations in soybean plants grown in a no-till system amended with lime and gypsum; (ii) to evaluate the efficiency of extractants for Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn in soils amended with sewage sludge over 13 years and cultivation with maize; (iii) to compare methods of digesting soil samples to quantify Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn in soils amended with sewage sludge over 13 years and in soils amended with sewage sludge and composted sludge on a single application; and (iv) to assess the quality and degree of humification of OM in soils amended with OM under different management practices. Among the hypotheses tested were: (i) that higher OM concentrations in no-till system soils and amendment with lime and gypsum would lead to an overestimate in the nutrient concentrations extracted by resin; (ii) that the large amounts of organic compounds contributed by amendment with sewage sludge over a long time period would diminish the extraction strength of complexing solutions; (iii) that higher concentrations of soil OM would hamper digestion of the soil samples, making a mixture of HNO3 and HCl the most efficient; and (iv) that no-till areas would be distinguishable from areas amended with sewage sludge by organic compounds, with the degree of humification of OM higher in no-till areas. There was a significant correlation between extractants for Ca, Mg, and K, but no correlation between elemental concentrations in soils and concentrations in soybean plants; amendment with lime and gypsum had no effect on the concentrations of these elements in soybean. In the experiment involving soil amended for 13 years with sewage sludge there was only a significant correlation between Mn and Zn concentrations in soils and those in plants. Acidic solutions extracted larger quantities of micronutrients. In general, concentrations extracted by aqua regia were close to total soil concentrations, and an effect of amendment with sludge was only observed for Cu and Zn in the long-term experiment. The physical fractionation of OM was the most efficient method for correlating with the management systems. The predominant organic compounds as determined by nuclear magnetic resonance were similar across the study areas.

Os ambientes terrestres têm sido gradativamente alterados pelo ser humano, mas a partir da Revolução Industrial, o homem começou a atuar de maneira mais intensa sobre o meio, fazendo com que as modificações ambientais tomassem proporções alarmantes, tanto em velocidade quanto em dimensão. As mudanças, como as climáticas, hídricas e biológicas, entre outras, ocorridas durante o século XX foram as maiores já registradas. As alterações ambientais associadas ao quadro demográfico do mundo contemporâneo, às condições socioeconômicas e à revolução técnico-científico-informacional que interligou o mundo, acabaram resultando em um cenário nunca vivenciado pela humanidade e ao mesmo tempo preocupante, tanto para saúde ambiental da Terra como para a humana. Se por um lado essa situação, baseada principalmente no avanço tecnológico, resultou numa verdadeira revolução nas taxas de mortalidade e na esperança de vida, por outro lado criou um ambiente que vem facilitando a emergência e reemergência de doenças, que pode comprometer o próprio futuro. Esse estudo tem por objetivo principal dar subsídios para o acesso a um conhecimento integrado, em escala global, tanto das alterações ambientais das áreas tropicais úmidas e do quadro socioeconômico dos países localizados nessa faixa tropical, quanto do surgimento e/ou expansão de quatro doenças infecciosas de caráter hemorrágico - dengue hemorrágica, febre amarela, marburg e ebola - no período de 1981 a 2005. No campo teórico-metodológico, a Geografia, mediante as suas características científicas de transitar pelos campos das ciências naturais e humanas, devido ao seu objeto de estudo, ofereceu a sustentação científica necessária para a realização, enquanto o avanço tecnológico das comunicações e da informática, associado ao processo de globalização pelo qual o mundo passa, proporcionou uma realidade de trabalho totalmente nova, permitindo a execução operacional do estudo. Foram realizados levantamentos bibliográficos e estudos sobre aquecimento global, mundo tropical, devastação das florestas tropicais úmidas, condições socioeconômicas dos países localizados nesta porção do globo e expansão das doenças citadas nos últimos 25 anos. O conjunto dos dados foi transformado em uma tabela síntese e em material cartográfico que retrata a situação atual desses países, destacando o nível das condições sócio ambientais e o risco saúde em que se encontram. / The terrestrial environments have been gradually altered by human being but from the Industrial Revolution on, this process has been even more intensive, resulting in environmental modifications of fast, huge and alarming proportions. The changes, such as the climatic, hydric and biological ones, among others, that took place in the 20th century, were the largest registered. The environmental alterations, associated to the current demographic panorama, to the socioeconomic conditions and to the technical-scientific-informational revolution - that have linked the whole world - resulted in a scenario never before experienced by humanity and, at the same time, very preoccupying for the Earth environmental health as well as for the humans. If on one hand that situation, based mainly on the technological progress, has resulted in lower mortality rates and higher life expectancy at birth, on the other hand it has also created an environment that made the emergence and re-emergence of diseases much easier to occur, so that future may be at risk. This study intend to bring up subsidies that allow for access to global integrated knowledge, not only about the environmental changes in the countries located in humid tropical areas and their socioeconomic conditions, but also about the influence of these alterations on the appearance and/or expansion of four infectious hemorrhagic diseases - hemorrhagic dengue, yellow fever, marburg and ebola - in the period from 1981 to 2005. In the theoreticalmethodological field, Geography - in face of its scientific characteristics of acting on the fields of both natural and human sciences, due to its object of studying - offered the necessary scientific support for the study accomplishment, while the technological progress in Communications and Computer Sciences, associated to the current world process of globalization, provided a new view of working, which allowed the operational execution of this study. The study was also based on bibliographical researches in world warming, tropical world, deforestation of tropical rain forests, socioeconomic conditions of the countries where the forests are placed and in the expansion of the mentioned diseases over the past 25 years. The set of data were synthesized in a table and in cartographic material that show the socio environmental conditions and the health risk of these countries.

A área cultivada sob sistemas conservacionistas aumentou no Brasil nos últimos anos. Paralelamente, ocorreu incremento na demanda de conhecimento a respeito da variabilidade dos índices de fertilidade do solo utilizados nas recomendações de adubação e calagem. Esse assunto vem preocupando técnicos e pesquisadores envolvidos nas redes regionais de laboratórios de análises de solo e comissões de fertilidade do solo encarregadas da elaboração das recomendações de adubação. O acúmulo de matéria orgânica (MO) no solo pode afetar a eficiência dos extratores químicos por causar alterações físico-químicas, como reações de troca iônica, reações com minerais do solo, liberação de ânions orgânicos, complexação de cátions metálicos, reações de oxirredução, entre outros. Objetivou-se com essa tese: (i) determinar os teores disponíveis de Ca, Mg e K e a relação Ca:Mg:K no solo, bem como correlação entre extratores e determinação das concentrações desses elementos na planta de soja em solos sob semeadura direta (SSD) que recebeu doses de calcário e de gesso; (ii) avaliar extratores para Cu, Fe, Mn e Zn em solo tratado com lodo de esgoto por treze anos e cultivado com milho; (iii) comparar métodos de abertura de amostra de solo para determinação de Cu, Fe, Mn e Zn em solo tratado com lodo de esgoto por treze anos e em solo tratado uma única vez com lodo de esgoto e composto de lodo; (iv) avaliar a qualidade e grau de humificação da matéria orgânica em solos com aporte de material orgânico sob manejos distintos. Partiu-se das hipóteses: (i) o maior teor de MO do solo oriundo do sistema conservacionista e as doses de calcário e gesso promoverão superestimativa da concentração dos nutrientes extraídos pela resina; (ii) a maior quantidade de compostos orgânicos oriundos da aplicação de lodo de esgoto por longo período de tempo diminuirá o poder de extração das soluções complexantes; (iii) o maior teor de matéria orgânica do solo dificultará a abertura da amostra, sendo mais eficiente a mistura de HNO3 e HCl; e (iv) as áreas de plantio direto serão separadas das áreas tratadas com lodo de esgoto pelos compostos orgânicos e o grau de humificação da MO será mais elevado nas áreas de SSD. Houve correlação significativa entre os extratores para Ca, Mg e K, mas não entre teores no solo e a concentração na planta, e não houve efeito da aplicação de calcário e gesso nas concentrações desses elementos na soja. No experimento de solo tratado por treze anos com lodo de esgoto foi observada correlação significativa entre os teores no solo e o acumulado na planta somente para Mn e Zn. As soluções ácidas extraíram maiores quantidades dos micronutrientes. No geral, os teores extraídos pela água régia aproximaram-se dos teores totais no solo, sendo observado efeito da aplicação de resíduo somente para Cu e Zn no experimento de longa duração. O fracionamento físico da MO foi mais eficiente para distinguir os manejos a que os solos foram submetidos. As áreas apresentaram similaridade em relação aos compostos orgânicos predominantes determinados por ressonância magnética nuclear. / An increase in the amount of Brazilian agricultural areas managed under no-till farming systems has been observed in recent years. In the same period has seen increasing demand for information on the variability in the soil fertility indices on which liming and fertilization recommendations are based. This variation is of concern to technicians and researchers working in regional networks of soil analysis laboratories, and to the agencies responsible for establishing recommendations for fertilizing soils. The accumulation of organic matter (OM) in soils may affect the efficiency of chemical extractants by causing physical and chemical alterations to soils, including ion-exchange reactions, reactions with soil minerals, liberation of organic anions, complexation of metallic cations, and oxi-redox reactions. This thesis aimed: (i) to determine the bioavailable concentrations of Ca, Mg, and K and the Ca:Mg:K relationship in soils, as well as the relationship between extractants and element concentrations in soybean plants grown in a no-till system amended with lime and gypsum; (ii) to evaluate the efficiency of extractants for Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn in soils amended with sewage sludge over 13 years and cultivation with maize; (iii) to compare methods of digesting soil samples to quantify Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn in soils amended with sewage sludge over 13 years and in soils amended with sewage sludge and composted sludge on a single application; and (iv) to assess the quality and degree of humification of OM in soils amended with OM under different management practices. Among the hypotheses tested were: (i) that higher OM concentrations in no-till system soils and amendment with lime and gypsum would lead to an overestimate in the nutrient concentrations extracted by resin; (ii) that the large amounts of organic compounds contributed by amendment with sewage sludge over a long time period would diminish the extraction strength of complexing solutions; (iii) that higher concentrations of soil OM would hamper digestion of the soil samples, making a mixture of HNO3 and HCl the most efficient; and (iv) that no-till areas would be distinguishable from areas amended with sewage sludge by organic compounds, with the degree of humification of OM higher in no-till areas. There was a significant correlation between extractants for Ca, Mg, and K, but no correlation between elemental concentrations in soils and concentrations in soybean plants; amendment with lime and gypsum had no effect on the concentrations of these elements in soybean. In the experiment involving soil amended for 13 years with sewage sludge there was only a significant correlation between Mn and Zn concentrations in soils and those in plants. Acidic solutions extracted larger quantities of micronutrients. In general, concentrations extracted by aqua regia were close to total soil concentrations, and an effect of amendment with sludge was only observed for Cu and Zn in the long-term experiment. The physical fractionation of OM was the most efficient method for correlating with the management systems. The predominant organic compounds as determined by nuclear magnetic resonance were similar across the study areas.

With a changing climate and an increased competition over water resources for agricultural irrigation, the need to improve crop water productivity using time and cost-efficient methodologies have become critically important. The Malwathu Oya river basin in Sri Lanka is struggling with water scarcity, which threatens food security and the income of farmers. In this study, freely available remote sensed land- and water productivity data from FAO’s WaPOR database was evaluated. The evaluation consisted of a comparison of the WaPOR data and primary collected field data using the crop water model, AquaCrop, for three irrigation schemes in the Malwathu Oya river basin. Additionally, the spatio-temporal variability in crop water use within and across these three irrigation schemes was assessed using indicators derived from the WaPOR portal. The evaluation was conducted for the main cultivation season, called Maha, between 2010 and 2021.  The WaPOR and AquaCrop actual evapotranspiration (ETa) values were found to be in relatively good agreement (312–537 and 400–465 mm respectively). WaPOR yield values (2.5–2.9 ton/ha) were however lower compared to the AquaCrop simulated yield values and historical yield data (4.6–5.7 and 4.4–5.6 ton/ha respectively). Difference in calculation methodology, possible sources of error in WaPOR conversion calculations and limitations in accuracy caused by cloud coverage when collecting satellite data could be explanations for this. Prior knowledge and accurate allocation of the crop type and parameters used in conversion calculations in WaPOR is therefore of significant influence. From the spatio-temporal variation assessment with WaPOR indicators, a fair uniformity of the water distribution within the irrigation schemes was shown (CV 11–19 %). The beneficial water use (BWU) in the irrigation schemes showed lower values (50–90 % allocated to T) for years when the available water amount was higher, which could be explained by the higher rate of water lost through soil evaporation. Crop water productivity (CWP) values showed higher values (about 0.70 kgDM/m3) when the available water amount was higher, indicating that yield production is sensitive to water-scarce environments. Applying a yield boundary function, representing the best attainable yield in relation to water resource, showed that there is potential to achieve the same yield with less amount of water. There are thus possibilities for improved water productivity in the three irrigation schemes investigated. For future research it is recommended to perform a sensitivity analysis for WaPOR and ground truth with yield data to obtain a better understanding of potential limitations. To obtain more precise site descriptions it is also recommended to ground truth AquaCrop with yield and soil data.