Isotherms, kinetics and thermodynamics of industrial dye acid red 27 adsorption on Sugarcane Bagasse Ash.

In this study, sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA), obtained as residue from the sugar mill, was used as an adsorbent for Acid Red 27 (AR27) removal from aqueous solutions. The ash characterization data showed 23.63% of organic compounds and silica (α-SiO2) as the most expressive inorganic compound (confirmed by X-ray diffractogram), the BET surface area had a value of 62.79 m2.g-1 and the pHpzc was 8.45. Regarding the adsorptive tests, the optimal initial pH to the dye removal was 2.0. The adsorption equilibrium reached in about 4 h contact time and optimum SCBA dosage was found to be 4 g.L-1. The pseudo-second order model best represented the adsorption kinetics. The Freundlich equation presented the best fit to the equilibrium data for the removal of AR27 by ash, with maximum adsorption capacity of 15 mg.g-1 at pH 2.0. Thermodynamic study indicate that AR27 adsorption on SCBA occurs through a physisorption mechanism, with ΔHºads < 15 kJ.mol-1. The ΔHºads evaluated by Vant' Hoff equation was explained as a combination of water desorption enthalpy, ΔHºW and isosteric like enthalpy, ΔHºD for the dye adsorption in liquid environment. The ΔHºD = 9.2 kJ.mol-1 was calculated from Clausius-Clapeyron approach. The effects of coexisting anions on the adsorption and regeneration and reuse of the adsorbent were also investigated. This study suggests that SCBA, which was used without any pretreatment, has the potential to be applied as a low-cost adsorbent to mitigate effluents contamination with AR27 dye at low concentrations.

Arachnid Fauna (Araneae and Opiliones) from the Castro Verde Special Protection Area, southern Portugal.

Background: With the increasing recognition of the significance of arachnid conservation, it is crucial to allocate greater efforts towards implementing targeted monitoring programmes. Despite recent studies, our understanding of arachnid populations in Portugal remains limited. This study serves as the initial inventory of arachnids (Araneae and Opiliones) within the Castro Verde Special Protection Area (SPA) located in Beja, southern Portugal. The surveys were conducted during the spring of 2012 across 80 open grasslands that were grazed by cattle and sheep. New information: A total of 71 species of Araneae and two species of Opiliones have been identified. Notably, three spider species, namely Argennasubnigra, Civizelotesibericus and Walckenaeriacucullata, are documented for the first time in Portugal. Additionally, two harvestmen species (Dasylobusibericus and Homalenotusbuchneri) and 14 spider species (Cheiracanthiumpennatum, Haplodrassusrhodanicus, Marinarozelotesminutus, Tapinocybaalgirica, Agraecinalineata, Tibellusmacellus, Talaverapetrensis, Tetragnathaintermedia, Dipoenaumbratilis, Enoplognathadiversa, Neottiurauncinata, Ruborridionmusivum, Theridionpinastri and Xysticusgrallator) are recorded for the first time in the Beja District. The occurrence of each documented species within the SPA, including family and species details, is presented, underscoring the significance of the Castro Verde SPA for arachnid conservation. These findings contribute novel insights into the biodiversity of the Castro Verde SPA, emphasising the necessity of incorporating this area into arachnid diversity conservation efforts.

Exploring the Effects of Geopolitical Shifts on Global Wildlife Trade.

International wildlife trade is a major driver of species extinction and biological invasions. Anticipating environmental risks requires inferences about trade patterns, which are shaped by geopolitics. Although the future cannot be predicted, scenarios can help deal with the uncertainty of future geopolitical dynamics. We propose a framework for generating and analyzing scenarios based on four geopolitical storylines, distinguished by combinations of international trade barrier strength and domestic law enforcement degree across countries supplying and demanding wildlife. We then use historical data on bird trade to classify countries into geopolitical profiles and confirm that trade barriers and law enforcement allow predicting bird trade patterns, supporting our scenarios' plausibility and enabling projections for future global bird trade. Our framework can be used to examine the consequences of geopolitical changes for wildlife trade and to advise policy and legislation. Reducing demand for wildlife and ameliorating global inequality are key for curbing trade related risks.

Impacts of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the global demand for exotic pets: An expert elicitation approach.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused immense social and economic costs worldwide. Most experts endorse the view that the virus has a zoonotic origin with the final spillover being associated with wildlife trade. Besides human consumption, wild animals are also extensively traded as pets. Information on zoonotic diseases has been reported to reduce consumer demand for exotic pets. We conducted a global survey and collected 162 responses from international experts on exotic pet trade (traders, academics, NGOs, enforcement entities) to understand how the legal and illegal trade of exotic pets is expected to be affected by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Our results suggest that legal purchase of exotic pets is perceived as decreasing during the first pandemic wave due to: lower availability of animals for trade, suppliers' inability to reach consumers and social distancing measures. The general perception is that in the future (i.e., next five years), both demand and supply of legally traded exotic pets are expected to either remain unchanged or decrease only temporarily. The consumer demand for illegal exotic pets is also expected to remain unchanged following the outbreak. The top two challenges reported by respondents, when considering the consequences of the pandemic for the exotic pet trade, are inadequate enforcement of national regulations and increased illegal trade. Our results suggest that the negative consequences of a zoonotic outbreak may not dissuade consumers of exotic pets. Worldwide, the transit/storing conditions and lack of health screenings of traded live animals are conducive to spreading diseases. Consumer demand is a key driver of trade, and enforcement of trade regulations will remain challenging, unless factors driving consumer demand are adequately incorporated in problem-solving frameworks. We emphasize the complexity of trade dynamics and the need to go beyond bans on wildlife trade. Stronger law enforcement, implemented along with initiatives dissuading consumption of wild exotic pets, are essential to sustainably satisfy the market demand.

Body size and sexual selection shaped the evolution of parrot calls.

Morphology, habitat and various selective pressures (e.g. social and sexual selection) can influence the evolution of acoustic signals, but the relative importance of their effects is not well understood. The order Psittaciformes (parrots, sensu lato) is a large clade of very vocal and often gregarious species for which large-scale comparative studies of vocalizations are lacking. We measured acoustic traits (duration, sound frequency, frequency bandwidth and sound entropy) of the predominant call type for >200 parrot species to test: (1) for associations with body size; (2) the acoustic adaptation hypothesis (AAH) (predicting differences between forest and open-habitat species); (3) the social complexity hypothesis (predicting more complex calls in gregarious species) and (4) influences of sexual selection (predicting correlated evolution with colour ornamentation). Larger species had on average longer calls, lower sound frequency and wider frequency bandwidth. These associations with body size are all predicted by physical principles of sound production. We found no evidence for the acoustic adaptation and social complexity hypotheses, but perhaps social complexity is associated with vocal traits not studied here, such as call repertoire sizes. More sexually dichromatic species had on average simpler calls (shorter, with lower entropy and narrower frequency bandwidth) indicating an influence of sexual selection, namely an evolutionary negative correlation between colour ornamentation and elaborate acoustic signals, as predicted by the transference hypothesis. Our study is the first large-scale attempt at understanding acoustic diversity across the Psittaciformes, and indicates that body size and sexual selection influenced the evolution of species differences in vocal signals.

Impacts of sheep versus cattle livestock systems on birds of Mediterranean grasslands.

Mediterranean pastures are experiencing strong changes in management, involving shifts from sheep to cattle-based livestock systems. The impacts of such shifts on biodiversity are still poorly understood. Here, we sought to contrast the grazing regime, vegetation structure, bird species richness and abundance, between sheep and cattle grazed parcels, to understand the mechanisms through which management decisions impact farmland birds. During spring 2019, we characterized livestock management, bird populations and sward structure in 23 cattle and 27 sheep grazed parcels. We used a Structural Equation Model to infer the direct and indirect effects of sheep and cattle grazing on birds. Although no effects were found on overall species richness, there were species-specific responses to sheep and cattle grazed systems. Grazing pressure (variable integrating stocking rate and the number of days in the parcel) had negative impacts on the prevalence/abundance of Zitting Cisticola, Corn Bunting and Little Bustard, either directly or indirectly, through the effects of grazing pressure on vegetation height. Animal density and vegetation cover had direct positive effects in Galerida spp. and Common Quail, respectively. Zitting Cisticola and Little Bustard also showed a direct response to livestock type. Our study emphasizes the importance of grazing pressure as a driver of negative impacts for bird populations in Mediterranean grasslands. Since the ongoing transition from sheep to cattle-based systems involves increases in stocking rate, and therefore potentially higher grazing pressure, we propose a policy change to cap the maximum allowed grazing pressure. At the landscape scale, a mix of sheep and cattle grazed fields would be beneficial for maintaining bird diversity.

Inserção social nos Programas de Pós-graduação na área de Serviço Social / Social insertion in Graduate Programs in the Social Work area

Resumo: O artigo busca contribuir com as discussões sobre a relação universidade e sociedade, abordando a inserção social dos programas de pós-graduação stricto sensu na área de Serviço Social. Apresenta breve histórico sobre a inserção social como critério de avaliação pela Capes, além de panorama da inserção social como subsídio para a produção de conhecimento e como dimensão que reflete o compromisso ético, político, profissional e social, com problemas da sociedade em nível local, regional e nacional.

Abstract: The article seeks to contribute to the discussions on the relationship between university and society, addressing the social insertion of stricto sensu graduate programs in the area of Social Work. It presents a brief history of social insertion as a criterion for evaluation by Capes, in addition to a panorama of social insertion as a subsidy for the production of knowledge and as a dimension that reflects the ethical, political, professional and social commitment to society's problems at the local level, regional and national.

Projeto ético-político do serviço social e a construção de um projeto educacional classista / Ethical-political project of social service and the construction of a class educational project

Este artigo, baseado em levantamento bibliográfico e documental, analisa a forma como a educação se insere no processo de luta de classes no contexto atual de degradação dos direitos sociais, resultante da efetivação de políticas neoliberais. Analisa as contradições entre distintos projetos de educação, ligadas ao processo de privatização dos serviços educacionais e descaracterização de seu sentido público e social. Contrariamente a essa tendência, discute-se uma concepção de educação capaz de articular-se a um projeto de superação do capitalismo, como condição para a emancipação humana. Aponta a atualidade do projeto ético-político do Serviço Social na construção de um projeto classista de educação que, ancorado na tradição marxista, valorize a formação profissional, a produção do conhecimento, o exercício profissional em articulação às lutas sociais em geral e em defesa da educação pública, laica, gratuita e de qualidade, referenciada em um projeto anticapitalista de sociedade.

This article, based on a bibliographical and documentary study, analyzes the way in which education is inserted in the process of class struggle in the current context of degradation of social rights, resulting from the implementation of neoliberal policies. It analyzes the contradictions between different education projects, related to the process of privatization of educational services and de-characterization of its public and social character. Contrary to this tendency, we discuss a conception of education capable of articulating with a project of overcoming capitalism as a condition for human emancipation. It points out the importance of the ethical-political project of the Social Service in the construction of a class-based education project that, anchored in the Marxist tradition, values professional qualification, knowledge production, and professional practice articulated to social struggles in general and in defense of public education, secular, free and of good quality, based on an anti-capitalist society project.

The Orthoptera of Castro Verde Special Protection Area (Southern Portugal): new data and conservation value.

With the increasing awareness of the need for Orthoptera conservation, greater efforts must be gathered to implement specific monitoring schemes. Despite recent surveys, little is known about Portuguese Orthoptera populations. This study was performed in 2014 and 2015 mainly in Castro Verde Special Protection Area (SPA), southern Portugal, and is the first Orthoptera inventory conducted in the area. A total of 35 Orthoptera species was recorded, with two new species reported for Portugal. We provide species' habitat occurrences within the protected area and use information on the conservation status and the Iberian distribution of each documented species to discuss the importance of Castro Verde SPA for Orthoptera conservation. The data presented here sheds new light on Castro Verde SPA biodiversity and emphasizes the inclusion of this area in the conservation of Orthoptera diversity, particularly in the protection of threatened endemic species.

Combined effects of landscape composition and heterogeneity on farmland avian diversity.

Conserving biodiversity on farmland is an essential element of worldwide efforts for reversing the global biodiversity decline. Common approaches involve improving the natural component of the landscape by increasing the amount of natural and seminatural habitats (e.g., hedgerows, woodlots, and ponds) or improving the production component of the landscape by increasing the amount of biodiversity-friendly crops. Because these approaches may negatively impact on economic output, it was suggested that an alternative might be to enhance the diversity (compositional heterogeneity) or the spatial complexity (configurational heterogeneity) of land cover types, without necessarily changing composition. Here, we develop a case study to evaluate these ideas, examining whether managing landscape composition or heterogeneity, or both, would be required to achieve conservation benefits on avian diversity in open Mediterranean farmland. We surveyed birds in farmland landscapes of southern Portugal, before (1995-1997) and after (2010-2012) the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform of 2003, and related spatial and temporal variation in bird species richness to variables describing the composition, and the compositional and configurational heterogeneity, of the natural and production components of the landscape. We found that the composition of the production component had the strongest effects on avian diversity, with a particularly marked effect on the richness of farmland and steppe bird species. Composition of the natural component was also influential, mainly affecting the richness of woodland/shrubland species. Although there were some effects of compositional and configurational heterogeneity, these were much weaker and inconsistent than those of landscape composition. Overall, we suggest that conservation efforts in our area should focus primarily on the composition of the production component, by striving to maximize the prevalence of biodiversity-friendly crops. This recommendation probably applies to other areas such as ours, where a range of species of conservation concern is strongly associated with crop habitats.

Teoria social e compreensão da realidade social para uma práxis revolucionária / Social theory and understanding of social reality for a revolutionary praxis

Este artigo apresenta uma discussão sobre os conceitos fundamentais e o contexto de emergência histórica da teoria social marxiana, no período de constituição da sociedade moderna. Como contraponto, discute-se a constituição e o caráter das "ciências sociais", particularmente da sua vertente positivista, que, por um processo de segmentação da análise da sociedade, acaba por se afastar das possibilidades de apreensão, para além do nível fenomênico, da essência dos processos sociais, na perspectiva de uma totalidade articulada e historicamente constituída. O estudo, baseado em pesquisa bibliográfica, ratifica que o método marxiano articula-se profundamente a um projeto de transformação revolucionária da sociedade, que não prescinde do conhecimento cientificamente fundado da vida social.

This article presents a discussion on the fundamental concepts and the context of historical emergence of Marxian social theory, in the inception of modern society. As a counterpoint, discuss the constitution and character of the "social sciences", particularly the positivist aspect, which in a process of segmentation of analysis of society ends up moving away from possibilities of apprehending, beyond the phenomenal level, the essence of social processes from the perspective of an articulated and historically constituted totality. The study, based on a bibliographic research, ratifies that the Marxian method is deeply linked to a revolutionary transformation project of the society, which cannot be done without the knowledge scientifically founded on social life.

Optimizing sampling design to deal with mist-net avoidance in Amazonian birds and bats.

Mist netting is a widely used technique to sample bird and bat assemblages. However, captures often decline with time because animals learn and avoid the locations of nets. This avoidance or net shyness can substantially decrease sampling efficiency. We quantified the day-to-day decline in captures of Amazonian birds and bats with mist nets set at the same location for four consecutive days. We also evaluated how net avoidance influences the efficiency of surveys under different logistic scenarios using re-sampling techniques. Net avoidance caused substantial declines in bird and bat captures, although more accentuated in the latter. Most of the decline occurred between the first and second days of netting: 28% in birds and 47% in bats. Captures of commoner species were more affected. The numbers of species detected also declined. Moving nets daily to minimize the avoidance effect increased captures by 30% in birds and 70% in bats. However, moving the location of nets may cause a reduction in netting time and captures. When moving the nets caused the loss of one netting day it was no longer advantageous to move the nets frequently. In bird surveys that could even decrease the number of individuals captured and species detected. Net avoidance can greatly affect sampling efficiency but adjustments in survey design can minimize this. Whenever nets can be moved without losing netting time and the objective is to capture many individuals, they should be moved daily. If the main objective is to survey species present then nets should still be moved for bats, but not for birds. However, if relocating nets causes a significant loss of netting time, moving them to reduce effects of shyness will not improve sampling efficiency in either group. Overall, our findings can improve the design of mist netting sampling strategies in other tropical areas.

Structuring of Amazonian bat assemblages: the roles of flooding patterns and floodwater nutrient load.

1. River system dynamics results in ecological heterogeneities that play a central role in maintaining biodiversity in riverine regions. In central Amazonia, large expanses of forest are seasonally flooded by nutrient-rich water (várzea forests) or by nutrient-poor water (igapó forests). Inundation patterns and the nutrient load of floodwaters are perhaps the most important abiotic factors determining spatial ecological variations in lowland Amazonia, and so they are expected to strongly influence the structuring of animal communities. 2. We examined how inundation patterns and water-nutrient load influence the structure of neotropical assemblages of bats, one of the most diverse vertebrate groups in tropical forests. Bat assemblages were sampled with mist nets in central Brazilian Amazonia, across a mosaic of várzea, igapó, and non-flooding nutrient-poor terra firme forests in the low- and high-water seasons. 3. An ordination analysis clearly separated the assemblages of the three forest types, demonstrating the structural relevance of both flooding and floodwater-nutrient load. Flooded forests had lower species richness because of the absence or rarity of species that make roosts out of leaves of understorey plants, and of those that feed on fruits of shrubs. Gleaning insectivores, also partly dependent on the understorey, were less abundant in flooded forests, but aerial insectivores more abundant, presumably because they benefited from a less cluttered foraging environment. These differences suggest that flooding affects bat assemblages mostly because it reduces the availability of niches associated with understorey vegetation, which tends to be sparser in flooded forests. 4. Nutrient-rich várzea forests had a bat biomass twice that of nutrient-poor igapó and unflooded forests. This difference was not only mostly due to a greater overall abundance of bats, but also attributable to a disproportionate higher abundance of large-bodied bat species. 5. We concluded that both flooding and floodwater-nutrient load are very important in the structuring of lowland Amazonian bat assemblages, with inundation mostly constraining the species composition of the assemblages, and water-nutrient load mostly influencing the abundance of species. The distinctiveness of bat assemblages associated with flooding emphasizes the need to preserve inundated forests, which are under particular pressure in Amazonia.