Author
Ruan Carlo Stulpen Veiga
Bio: Ruan Carlo Stulpen Veiga is an academic researcher from Federal Fluminense University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Old-growth forest & Secondary forest. The author has an hindex of 2, co-authored 3 publications receiving 663 citations.
Papers
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Universidade Federal de Lavras1, Lancaster University2, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi3, Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária4, Cornell University5, University of Canberra6, Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research7, Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz8, Federal University of Pará9, Universidade Federal de Viçosa10, National Institute for Space Research11, University of Exeter12, University of São Paulo13, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso14, Stockholm Environment Institute15, International Institute of Minnesota16
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used a large data set of plants, birds and dung beetles (1,538, 460 and 156 species, respectively) sampled in 36 catchments in the Brazilian state of Para.
Abstract: Concerted political attention has focused on reducing deforestation, and this remains the cornerstone of most biodiversity conservation strategies. However, maintaining forest cover may not reduce anthropogenic forest disturbances, which are rarely considered in conservation programmes. These disturbances occur both within forests, including selective logging and wildfires, and at the landscape level, through edge, area and isolation effects. Until now, the combined effect of anthropogenic disturbance on the conservation value of remnant primary forests has remained unknown, making it impossible to assess the relative importance of forest disturbance and forest loss. Here we address these knowledge gaps using a large data set of plants, birds and dung beetles (1,538, 460 and 156 species, respectively) sampled in 36 catchments in the Brazilian state of Para. Catchments retaining more than 69–80% forest cover lost more conservation value from disturbance than from forest loss. For example, a 20% loss of primary forest, the maximum level of deforestation allowed on Amazonian properties under Brazil’s Forest Code, resulted in a 39–54% loss of conservation value: 96–171% more than expected without considering disturbance effects. We extrapolated the disturbance-mediated loss of conservation value throughout Para, which covers 25% of the Brazilian Amazon. Although disturbed forests retained considerable conservation value compared with deforested areas, the toll of disturbance outside Para’s strictly protected areas is equivalent to the loss of 92,000–139,000 km2 of primary forest. Even this lowest estimate is greater than the area deforested across the entire Brazilian Amazon between 2006 and 2015 (ref. 10). Species distribution models showed that both landscape and within-forest disturbances contributed to biodiversity loss, with the greatest negative effects on species of high conservation and functional value. These results demonstrate an urgent need for policy interventions that go beyond the maintenance of forest cover to safeguard the hyper-diversity of tropical forest ecosystems.
698 citations
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University of Cambridge1, Lancaster University2, Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária3, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi4, University of São Paulo5, National Institute of Amazonian Research6, University of Exeter7, Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz8, Federal University of Western Pará9, Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement10, Universidade Federal de Lavras11, Universidade Federal de Viçosa12, Federal University of Pará13, State University of Campinas14, Universidade Federal de Goiás15, Institute of Applied Economic Research16, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro17, Stanford University18, The Nature Conservancy19, Oregon State University20, Universidade do Estado de Mato Grosso21, United States Environmental Protection Agency22, Monash University23, Federal Fluminense University24, London School of Economics and Political Science25
TL;DR: The Sustainable Amazon Network (Rede Amazônia Sustentável, RAS), a multidisciplinary research initiative involving more than 30 partner organizations working to assess both social and ecological dimensions of land-use sustainability in eastern Brazilian Amazonia, is presented.
Abstract: Science has a critical role to play in guiding more sustainable development trajectories. Here, we present the Sustainable Amazon Network (Rede Amazonia Sustentavel, RAS): a multidisciplinary research initiative involving more than 30 partner organizations working to assess both social and ecological dimensions of land-use sustainability in eastern Brazilian Amazonia. The research approach adopted by RAS offers three advantages for addressing land-use sustainability problems: (i) the collection of synchronized and co-located ecological and socioeconomic data across broad gradients of past and present human use; (ii) a nested sampling design to aid comparison of ecological and socioeconomic conditions associated with different land uses across local, landscape and regional scales; and (iii) a strong engagement with a wide variety of actors and non-research institutions. Here, we elaborate on these key features, and identify the ways in which RAS can help in highlighting those problems in most urgent need of attention, and in guiding improvements in land-use sustainability in Amazonia and elsewhere in the tropics. We also discuss some of the practical lessons, limitations and realities faced during the development of the RAS initiative so far.
158 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper , a nova onda de cases of SARS-CoV-2, a variant of the SARS pandêmico, has been reported to have a major impact on the health care system in Brazil.
Abstract: O vírus pandêmico SARS-CoV-2 evoluiu e variantes de preocupação (VOC) foram substituindo as anteriores até que uma nova VOC denominada Ômicron disseminou-se rapidamente e suplantou a VOC Delta que circulava pelo país desde maio de 2021. Em São Paulo, uma nova onda de casos determinou grande impacto no primeiro trimestre de 2022, gerando milhares de infecções além de internações e óbitos. Descrever as características dos pacientes hospitalizados durante a onda da variante Ômicron no complexo do Hospital São Paulo (HSP)–UNIFESP. Foram avaliados dados epidemiológicos e clínicos de pacientes confirmados por teste molecular para SARS-COV-2 no período de 01/01/2022 a 30/04/2022. Foram testados 2286 pacientes, dos quais 435 (19,03%) obtiveram um qRT-PCR positivo, com um total de 55 (12,64%) óbitos. A mediana de idade foi de 51 anos (IIQ: 31-66) entre os pacientes positivos e 69 anos (IIQ: 57-76) entre os pacientes que vieram à óbito. A mediana do valor do CT obtido no ensaio qRT-PCR para o grupo positivo foi de 27 (19-33) e 22 (17-32) entre os casos de óbito. Em janeiro houve maior internação (761) e maior positividade. (36,53%). A positividade foi maior no grupo etário de 70-79 (23,83%) e menor no de 0 a 9 anos (12,88%). A letalidade foi significante em > 60 anos (5,04% x 26,11% p = 0,02) sendo de 37,50% acima de 80 anos. Dentre os infectados 62,76% receberam só 2 doses de vacina. Entre os 301 pacientes elegíveis para o primeiro reforço vacinal (dose 3), 41,86% receberam o reforço. Entre os pacientes que vieram a óbito, apesar da taxa de administração do esquema vacinal básico ter sido superior (83,64%), a adesão à primeira dose de reforço foi ainda menor (36,36%). O segundo reforço vacinal não foi administrado em nenhum dos pacientes elegíveis. Dentre os pacientes que vieram a óbito, a maior parte possuía ao menos 2 comorbidades (69,10%), sendo neoplasia (23, 41,81%), hipertensão Arterial (40%), diabetes mellitus (34,55%) e cardiopatia (29,09%) as mais frequentes. Mesmo com 3 doses de vacina, 12,70% (16/126) dos pacientes foram a óbito, sendo 12 pacientes com mais de 70 anos. O surgimento de uma nova variante capaz de evadir a imunidade prévia de uma população, ainda que parcialmente imunizada, determinou internação hospitalar. Indivíduos imunodeprimidos e aqueles acima de 60 anos apresentaram maior risco de óbito, particularmente aqueles maiores de 70 anos, ainda que com 3 doses de vacina.
01 Sep 2014
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used a methodology of participatory socio-environmental assessment, appropriate to the reality of Iripixi lake in Oriximiná, Pará State, Brazil, aiming to integrate the academic and the local communities knowledge, also mediating its relationship with the public authorities.
Abstract: The Amazon undergoes a complex process of environmental degradation. In order to reverse this situation, efficient planning of actions based on the peculiarities of each locality is required. This study used a methodology of participatory socio-environmental assessment, appropriate to the reality of Iripixi lake in Oriximiná, Pará State, Brazil, aiming to integrate the academic and the local communities knowledge, also mediating its relationship with the public authorities. It was necessary to understand the local characteristics and the occupation process of the region and its main problems. Field observations, interviews, bibliographical review and analysis of satellite images from different periods were conducted. It was observed that the occupation of Iripixi lake has been intensified in recent decades and that the region is experiencing accelerated deforestation and degradation, decreasing in fish abundance, soil and water pollution, besides the growth of violence in that place. Other problems are directly linked to the lack of government assistance in the area, such as the precariousness of health, education, water supply, sanitary sewage, garbage collection, recreation and energy supply services. Actions are necessary in order to provide a better life quality and the appreciation of traditional activities with the area biodiversity conservation. The methodology that was developed achieved its objectives, it has been an important tool to construct and organize knowledge about that region, and it may be useful in citizenship legitimation and dialogue between social actors. This methodology can be easily adapted to other realities.
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TL;DR: Why COVID-19 is an analogue to the ongoing climate crisis, and why there is a need to question the volume growth tourism model advocated by UNWTO, ICAO, CLIA, WTTC and other tourism organizations are discussed.
Abstract: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is challenging the world. With no vaccine and limited medical capacity to treat the disease, nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPI) are the main strategy to contain ...
2,508 citations
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TL;DR: How beta-diversity is impacted by human activities, including farming, selective logging, urbanization, species invasions, overhunting, and climate change is reviewed.
Abstract: To design robust protected area networks, accurately measure species losses, or understand the processes that maintain species diversity, conservation science must consider the organization of biodiversity in space. Central is beta-diversity--the component of regional diversity that accumulates from compositional differences between local species assemblages. We review how beta-diversity is impacted by human activities, including farming, selective logging, urbanization, species invasions, overhunting, and climate change. Beta-diversity increases, decreases, or remains unchanged by these impacts, depending on the balance of processes that cause species composition to become more different (biotic heterogenization) or more similar (biotic homogenization) between sites. While maintaining high beta-diversity is not always a desirable conservation outcome, understanding beta-diversity is essential for protecting regional diversity and can directly assist conservation planning.
804 citations
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Lancaster University1, Universidade Federal de Lavras2, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi3, Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária4, Cornell University5, University of Canberra6, Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research7, Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz8, Federal University of Pará9, Universidade Federal de Viçosa10, University of Exeter11, National Institute for Space Research12, University of São Paulo13, Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso14, Stockholm Environment Institute15, International Institute of Minnesota16
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used a large data set of plants, birds and dung beetles (1,538, 460 and 156 species, respectively) sampled in 36 catchments in the Brazilian state of Para.
Abstract: Concerted political attention has focused on reducing deforestation, and this remains the cornerstone of most biodiversity conservation strategies. However, maintaining forest cover may not reduce anthropogenic forest disturbances, which are rarely considered in conservation programmes. These disturbances occur both within forests, including selective logging and wildfires, and at the landscape level, through edge, area and isolation effects. Until now, the combined effect of anthropogenic disturbance on the conservation value of remnant primary forests has remained unknown, making it impossible to assess the relative importance of forest disturbance and forest loss. Here we address these knowledge gaps using a large data set of plants, birds and dung beetles (1,538, 460 and 156 species, respectively) sampled in 36 catchments in the Brazilian state of Para. Catchments retaining more than 69–80% forest cover lost more conservation value from disturbance than from forest loss. For example, a 20% loss of primary forest, the maximum level of deforestation allowed on Amazonian properties under Brazil’s Forest Code, resulted in a 39–54% loss of conservation value: 96–171% more than expected without considering disturbance effects. We extrapolated the disturbance-mediated loss of conservation value throughout Para, which covers 25% of the Brazilian Amazon. Although disturbed forests retained considerable conservation value compared with deforested areas, the toll of disturbance outside Para’s strictly protected areas is equivalent to the loss of 92,000–139,000 km2 of primary forest. Even this lowest estimate is greater than the area deforested across the entire Brazilian Amazon between 2006 and 2015 (ref. 10). Species distribution models showed that both landscape and within-forest disturbances contributed to biodiversity loss, with the greatest negative effects on species of high conservation and functional value. These results demonstrate an urgent need for policy interventions that go beyond the maintenance of forest cover to safeguard the hyper-diversity of tropical forest ecosystems.
698 citations
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University of Queensland1, Wildlife Conservation Society2, University of Northern British Columbia3, Canadian Forest Service4, Wildlife Conservation Society Canada5, Imperial College London6, University of Maryland, College Park7, American Museum of Natural History8, James Cook University9, Woods Hole Research Center10, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences11, Forest Trends12, United Nations Development Programme13, Australian National University14
TL;DR: It is argued that maintaining and, where possible, restoring the integrity of dwindling intact forests is an urgent priority for current global efforts to halt the ongoing biodiversity crisis, slow rapid climate change and achieve sustainability goals.
Abstract: As the terrestrial human footprint continues to expand, the amount of native forest that is free from significant damaging human activities is in precipitous decline. There is emerging evidence that the remaining intact forest supports an exceptional confluence of globally significant environmental values relative to degraded forests, including imperilled biodiversity, carbon sequestration and storage, water provision, indigenous culture and the maintenance of human health. Here we argue that maintaining and, where possible, restoring the integrity of dwindling intact forests is an urgent priority for current global efforts to halt the ongoing biodiversity crisis, slow rapid climate change and achieve sustainability goals. Retaining the integrity of intact forest ecosystems should be a central component of proactive global and national environmental strategies, alongside current efforts aimed at halting deforestation and promoting reforestation.
597 citations
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TL;DR: A novel approach and the results achieved by a multi-disciplinary network called MapBiomas to reconstruct annual land use and land cover information between 1985 and 2017 for Brazil, based on random forest applied to Landsat archive using Google Earth Engine are described.
Abstract: Brazil has a monitoring system to track annual forest conversion in the Amazon and most recently to monitor the Cerrado biome. However, there is still a gap of annual land use and land cover (LULC) information in all Brazilian biomes in the country. Existing countrywide efforts to map land use and land cover lack regularly updates and high spatial resolution time-series data to better understand historical land use and land cover dynamics, and the subsequent impacts in the country biomes. In this study, we described a novel approach and the results achieved by a multi-disciplinary network called MapBiomas to reconstruct annual land use and land cover information between 1985 and 2017 for Brazil, based on random forest applied to Landsat archive using Google Earth Engine. We mapped five major classes: forest, non-forest natural formation, farming, non-vegetated areas, and water. These classes were broken into two sub-classification levels leading to the most comprehensive and detailed mapping for the country at a 30 m pixel resolution. The average overall accuracy of the land use and land cover time-series, based on a stratified random sample of 75,000 pixel locations, was 89% ranging from 73 to 95% in the biomes. The 33 years of LULC change data series revealed that Brazil lost 71 Mha of natural vegetation, mostly to cattle ranching and agriculture activities. Pasture expanded by 46% from 1985 to 2017, and agriculture by 172%, mostly replacing old pasture fields. We also identified that 86 Mha of the converted native vegetation was undergoing some level of regrowth. Several applications of the MapBiomas dataset are underway, suggesting that reconstructing historical land use and land cover change maps is useful for advancing the science and to guide social, economic and environmental policy decision-making processes in Brazil.
473 citations