Dozens of scientists from several countries calculated upper limits to global and local temperatures if tropical forests are to survive.
Webinar discussed prospects for future research on biodiversity. Synthesis centers designed to systematize knowledge in the field and scenario modeling studies are expected to gain importance in the years ahead.
The so-called safrinha could suffer from extreme drought events in the Center-West, Southeast and South caused by global warming, according to a study supported by FAPESP and Belmont Forum.
The protein, which is involved in the mechanism of the plant’s response to water and thermal stresses and to invasion by fungi, has been named DRIK1. It could help develop drought-resistant plant varieties and products that reduce losses related to climate change.
This was the main scientific position to emerge from the online seminar “Biodiversity, climate crisis, economies and pandemics” organized with FAPESP’s support via its program focused on biodiversity.
The international trade in timber, tobacco, cocoa, coffee and cotton accounts for a high proportion of malaria risk in exporter countries, according to a collaborative study by scientists in Brazil and Australia published in Nature Communications.
On average, more than 4% of the studied forest fragments have regenerated naturally in the past 50 years. In certain forests near the Serra do Mar ridge, regeneration has reached 50%. The study used artificial intelligence to compare satellite images and aerial photographs taken in 1962.
A drop of 33% in levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is associated with a reduction in diesel vehicle traffic and industrial production due to isolation measures taken to slow the spread of novel coronavirus.
A drastic reduction in traffic due to the coronavirus lockdown resulted in a rapid decrease in airborne pollution: The levels of carbon monoxide fell by 50% in São Paulo City in a single week.
Research and higher-education institutes from the state of São Paulo have signed an agreement with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, an institution associated with United States Energy Department with great experience in managing atmospheric data; the initiative’s goal is to make knowledge generated with public funding accessible.
Brazilian researchers show that if 25% of a one-hectare forest remnant is cut down, the impact on the local climate will be a temperature increase of 1 °C. The study is published in PLOS ONE.
Researchers at the University of São Paulo find that a rise of 1.1 °C in the average temperature in Southeast Brazil between 1955 and 2004 correlates mainly with a rise in greenhouse gas levels due to human activities.
Facilities installed in the Amazon Rainforest in Brazil and in an English temperate forest will simulate a 50% rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide to assess the impact on ecosystems.
Paulo Artaxo, a professor at the University of São Paulo’s Physics Institute in Brazil, stresses the vital role played by research conducted in Amazonia for a deeper understanding of the global impacts of deforestation and the effects of climate change on the forest.
Researchers are trying to trace the destination of the particles emitted by the burning of biomass and measure the effects of deforestation on the mercury cycle of the Amazon rainforest.
A joint project between Brazilian and French scientists attempts to reconstruct the stages of evolution based on geological sediments analysis; that and other initiatives that look at the challenges of the period known as the Anthropocene were presented at FAPESP Week France.
A study developed in Brazil and presented during FAPESP Week France aims at elucidating the behavior of the so-called aerosols, which have an important influence over climate, agriculture, and human health.
A group of scientists from UNESP wants to investigate why aerosol and ozone particle concentrations in São Paulo did not decrease after the state prohibited burnings; the subjected was highlighted at FAPESP Week France.
International study quantified and characterized charcoal and soot produced by incomplete burning of trees and transported by river to the Atlantic.
Researchers classify 258 protected areas in Brazil as “moderately vulnerable” and 17 as “highly vulnerable”. Areas at greatest risk are in the Amazon, Atlantic Rainforest and Cerrado biomes.
An international group of ecologists contests an article published in Science, which among other controversial statements proposed “reforestation” of the Cerrado, Brazil’s savanna biome.
Paper endorsed by 407 scientists in Brazil estimates the value of ecosystem services linked to nature conservation, such as pollination, pest control and water security.
Reports launched by the Brazilian Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services estimates that forest restoration on this scale would sequester 1.39 million tons of CO2 and increase biodiversity conservation by 200% without adverse impacts on agriculture.
Water shortages cause economic losses for industry and agriculture, among other sectors, as well as damage human health, warns a report issued by the Brazilian Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.
Particles originated in forest fires in the Center-West and North of Brazil interacted with clouds borne by the cold front coming from the south, causing sky and rain to turn to a dark-grey hue.