Development of environmental effects monitoring protocol in Brazil: a fish guide study of three river estuaries.

In Brazil, there are no unified and effective environmental monitoring models for bodies of water. Thus, several methodologies are used that result in information that is often difficult to compare, especially for stakeholders involved in regional water management. Studies in some countries such as Australia, Chile, the USA, and Sweden use the monitoring model implemented in Canada that was developed in the early 1990s. This model was designed to evaluate whether the current environmental regulations are sufficiently protective for pulp and paper effluents and for metal mining effluents. In this study, the Canadian Environmental Effects Monitoring methodologies were applied to three different Brazilian river basins, with the goal of constructing a framework for monitoring environmental effects. Pilot studies were carried out in the estuarine regions of the Benevente, Jucu, and Santa Maria da Vitória river basins, which are important rivers in the state of Espírito Santo. Evaluations included fish health, bioaccumulation studies, benthic invertebrate survey, and physical-chemical analyses of water and sediment. The quality of the environments was evaluated by means of seasonal samplings and comparisons between discharge, upstream, and downstream areas. This study made it possible to identify appropriate fish species to be used in environmental effects monitoring and the environmental quality of the rivers themselves as well as knowledge and policy gaps to implement such monitoring programs in Brazil. The study raises questions about the adequacy of Brazilian environmental legislation concerning tidal rivers.

[Seasonal evaluation of mammal species richness and abundance in the "Mário Viana" municipal reserve, Mato Grosso, Brasil]. / Evaluación estacional de la riqueza y abundancia de especies de mamíferos en la Reserva Biológica Municipal "Máirio Viana", Mato Grosso, Brasil.

We evaluated seasonal species presence and richness, and abundance of medium and large sized mammalian terrestrial fauna in the "Mário Viana" Municipal Biological Reserve, Nova Xavantina, Mato Grosso, Brazil. During 2001, two monthly visits were made to an established transect, 2,820 m in length. Records of 22 mammal species were obtained and individual footprint sequences quantified for seasonal calculation of species richness and relative abundance index (x footprints/km traveled). All 22 species occurred during the rainy season, but only 18 during the dry season. Pseudalopex vetulus (Lund, 1842) (hoary fox), Eira barbara (Linnaeus, 1758) (tayra), Puma concolor (Linnaeus, 1771) (cougar) and Hydrochaeris hydrochaeris (Linnaeus, 1766) (capybara) were only registered during the rainy season. The species diversity estimated using the Jackknife procedure in the dry season (19.83, CI = 2.73) was smaller than in the rainy season (25.67, CI = 3.43). Among the 18 species common in the two seasons, only four presented significantly different abundance indexes: Dasypus novemcinctus Linnaeus, 1758 (nine-banded armadillo), Euphractus sexcinctus (Linnaeus, 1758) (six-banded armadillo), Dasyprocta azarae Lichtenstein, 1823 (Azara's Agouti) and Tapirus terrestris (Linnaeus, 1758) (tapir). On the other hand, Priodontes maximus (Kerr, 1792) (giant armadillo) and Leopardus pardalis (Linnaeus, 1758) (ocelot) had identical abundance index over the two seasons. Distribution of species abundance in the sampled area followed the expected pattern for communities in equilibrium, especially in the rainy season, suggesting that the environment still maintains good characteristics for mammal conservation. The present study shows that the reserve, although only 470 ha in size, plays an important role for conservation of mastofauna of the area as a refuge in an environment full of anthropic influence (mainly cattle breeding in exotic pasture).