Biocombustíveis podem liberar mais gases de efeito estufa do que combustíveis fósseis

Dois artigos recentemente publicados na revista Science jogaram um balde de água fria sobre a promessa dos biocombustíveis de segunda geração derivados da celulose (partes lenhosas das plantas).

Um dos estudos foi feito por Jerry Melillo do Laboratório de Biologia Marinha de Woods Hole, que já desenvolveu pesquisas no Brasil. Este estudo sugere que as mudanças na forma como usamos a terra em conseqüência de cultivo para os biocombustíveis não são levadas em conta -- se fossem, seria mostrado que os biocombustíveis na realidade causam a liberação de mais gases de efeito estufa do que os combustíveis fósseis. As emissões de óxido nitroso com o aumento da utilização de adubos são uma grande parte deste problema.

No segundo artigo, Timothy Searchinger da Universidade de Princeton e um grupo de colegas de apontam falhas na maneira que as emissões de carbono são contabilizadas. Os autores comentam que  a afirmação de que os combustíveis feitos a partir de biomassa podem ser contados como carbono neutro é errada.

Leia os artigos científicos aqui:

Melillo, J.M. et al. 2009. Indirect Emissions from Biofuels: How Important? DOI: 10.1126/science.1180251

Searchinger, T.D. et al 2009. Fixing a Critical Climate Accounting Error. DOI: 10.1126/science.1178797

Leia o artigo original completo de Katharine Sanderson aqui.

Daphnia Genomics Consortium (DGC) Meeting 2010

First announcement:

When: 26th trough 30th of March, 2010
Where: Leuven, Belgium

http://bio.kuleuven.be/DGCmeeting2010.html

The Daphnia Genomics Consortium (DGC) is an international network of scientists with a common goal to foster the freshwater crustacean Daphnia as a premier model system for genomics in ecology, evolution and the environmental sciences.

This meeting aims to bring together the members of the consortium at large, to facilitate the exchange of information on recent developments and results obtained from the ongoing investigations into the genome biology of Daphnia. Additionally, we welcome researchers working with Daphnia who are not yet DGC participants and researchers working with other model or non-model organisms in the field of ecological genomics.

The DGC meeting will have a significant impact on the future development of the research groups involved in the consortium. By this time, we will have finalized our initial investigations of the draft D. pulex genome sequence, and we will begin the work of exploring data obtained from the D. magna genome sequencing project. This upcoming meeting continues the tradition of also promoting collaborations between researchers working within related disciplines, including limnology, ecotoxicology, quantitative and population genetics, systematics, molecular biology and evolution, developmental biology, genomics and bioinformatics.

The meeting will have plenary lectures from keynote speakers in several research fields related to Daphnia and other organisms, and will offer young investigators the chance to discuss their research with more experienced senior researchers in a relaxed atmosphere.

Our meeting is organized as a series of symposia touching on several research topics:

• Ecology & Evolutionary Genomics
• Toxicology & Environmental Genomics of Natural and Human Stressors
• Genotype by Environment Interactions
• Comparative Genomics & Development
• Gene Expression and Gene Function

Plan to also learn about the latest open source bioinformatic and high-throughput research tools, including databases, expression and genotyping microarrays, mapping panels for trait locus mapping, molecular genetic protocols and services.

The venue is at the five century-old Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, in Belgium. Leuven is a beautiful medieval town that combines a rich historical patrimonium with a cheerful, flourishing city culture and a creative atmosphere for lively exchanges and debates.

Registration begins on November 15, 2009

Abstracts for poster and platform presentations are due by January 15, 2010.

Details for registration will be sent with the second announcement and at the following web-page:

http://bio.kuleuven.be/DGCmeeting2010.html

We look forward to welcoming you in Leuven

The local organization committee (Luc De Meester, Luisa Orsini, Ellen Decaestecker, Kevin Pauwels, Mieke Jansen, Joost Vanoverbeke) and the co-organizers (Dries Knapen and Wim De Coen (University of Antwerp), Karel De Schamphelaere and Colin Janssen (University of Gent), and John Colbourne (Indiana University)

Crustacean Collections from the Amazon Region

The Crustacean Collections from the Amazon Region (CCRUSTAM) website (http://www.biodiversidadeamazonica.net/crustaceos) is part of the Amazonian Biodiversity Portal (http://www.biodiversidadeamazonica.net), which gathers distinct projects and iniciatives dedicated to the dissemination of data and information about the fauna and flora of the Amazon Region.

The aim of the CCRUSTAM website is to provide access to the records of the collections from institutions that keep specimens of crustacean from the Amazon Region. In this first version, it encopasses the collections from five Brazilian institutions: Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia – INPA (Manaus), Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi – MPEG (Belém), Instituto de Pesquisas Científicas e Tecnológicas do Estado do Amapá – IEPA (Macapá), Museu de Zoologia da Universidade de São Paulo – MZUSP (São Paulo) e o Museu Nacional da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro – MN/UFRJ (Rio de Janeiro). Other institutions that have Amazonian crustaceans in their collections are invited to joint this initiative.

The CCRUSTAM website was elaborated within the scope of the Research Program in Biodiversity of the Brazilian Ministery of Science and Technology – MCT and had financial support from the MCT and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Develpment – CNPq (http://www.cnpq.br).

This is a first version and, therefore, mistakes and inconsistencies may be found. Please, read carefully the terms and conditions of use of the database. Communication of any errors or inconsistencies to the respective curator will be much welcome. This first version is in Portuguese only; an English version will be released soon.

For more information, please contact Dr. Célio Magalhães from the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia

Growing water needs, mismanagement leading to 'catastrophic decline' in freshwater biodiversity

The world will miss its agreed target to stem biodiversity loss by next year, according to experts convening in Cape Town for a landmark conference devoted to biodiversity science.

The goal was agreed at the 6th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in April 2003. Some 123 world ministers committed to “achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the local, national and regional levels, as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth.”

Georgina Mace of Imperial College, London, says that “Biodiversity is fundamental to humans having food, fuel, clean water and a habitable climate. [...] Since 1992, even the most conservative estimates agree that an area of tropical rainforest greater than the size of California has been converted mostly for food and fuel. Species extinction rates are at least 100 times those in pre-human times and are expected to continue to increase.” She adds, “the situation is not hopeless. There are many steps available that would help but we cannot dawdle. Meaningful action should have started years ago. The next best time is now.”

Silent crisis: freshwater species “the most threatened on Earth”

Massive mismanagement and growing human needs for water are causing freshwater ecosystems to collapse, making freshwater species the most threatened on Earth with extinction rates 4 to 6 times higher than their terrestrial and marine cousins, according to conference experts.

Klement Tockner of the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin says that while freshwater ecosystems cover only 0.8% of the earth’s surface, they contain roughly 10% of all animals, including more than 35% of all vertebrates.

“There is clear and growing scientific evidence that we are on the verge of a major freshwater biodiversity crisis,” says Prof. Tockner. “However, few are aware of the catastrophic decline in freshwater biodiversity at both local and global scale. Threats to freshwater biodiversity have now grown to a global scale.”

The human implications of this trend are “immense,” he adds, because freshwater species in rivers, lakes, ground waters, and wetlands provide a diverse array of vital natural services – more than any other ecosystem type.

The problem puts billions of people at risk as biodiversity loss affects water purification, disease regulation, subsistence agriculture and fishing. Some experts predict that by 2025 not a single Chinese river will reach the sea except during floods with tremendous effects for coastal fisheries in China.

Prof. Tockner says freshwater ecosystems and their species also absorb and bury an significant volume of the planet’s carbon — about 200 million tonnes, or almost 3% of the carbon humans add annually to the atmosphere.

“Although small in area, these freshwater aquatic systems can affect regional carbon balances,” he says. “Freshwater ecosystems will be the first victims of both climate change and rising demands on water supplies. And the pace of extinctions is quickening – especially in hot spot areas around the Mediterranean, in Central America, China and throughout Southeast Asia.”

“Despite their pivotal ecological and economic importance, freshwater ecosystems have not been of primary concern in policy making,” adds Prof. Tockner. “Only recently did the European Union take the initiative to improve this situation through the EC Biodiversity Strategy. And in the U.S., recent Supreme Court decisions have made wetlands and small streams more vulnerable to loss.

Read the complete article HERE.