Giants of the Amazon: How does environmental variation drive the diversity patterns of large trees?

For more than three decades, major efforts in sampling and analyzing tree diversity in South America have focused almost exclusively on trees with stems of at least 10 and 2.5 cm diameter, showing highest species diversity in the wetter western and northern Amazon forests. By contrast, little attention has been paid to patterns and drivers of diversity in the largest canopy and emergent trees, which is surprising given these have dominant ecological functions.

Vector Competence for Zika Virus Changes Depending on the 's Region of Origin in Manaus: A Study of an Endemic Brazilian Amazonian City.

Zika virus (ZIKV) is transmitted to humans by the infectious bite of mosquitoes such as . In a city, the population control of mosquitoes is carried out according to alerts generated by different districts via the analysis of the mosquito index. However, we do not know whether, besides mosquito abundance, the susceptibility of mosquitoes could also diverge among districts and thus impact the dissemination and transmission of arboviruses.

Niobium: The Focus on Catalytic Application in the Conversion of Biomass and Biomass Derivatives.

The world scenario regarding consumption and demand for products based on fossil fuels has demonstrated the imperative need to develop new technologies capable of using renewable resources. In this context, the use of biomass to obtain chemical intermediates and fuels has emerged as an important area of research in recent years, since it is a renewable source of carbon in great abundance. It has the benefit of not contributing to the additional emission of greenhouse gases since the CO released during the energy conversion process is consumed by it through photosynthesis.

[The new normal in Vale das Ninfas: COVID-19 and the gay sociability circuits in the metropolitan region of Recife, State of Pernambuco, Brazil].

The text addresses the sociability circuits of 'men who have sex with men' in the Metropolitan Region of Recife during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, with the arrival of the epidemic in Brazil, a first movement was characterized by the shift of interactions to the online dimension. From June onwards, after stricter social distancing, offline sexual interactions, social interactions at friends' houses, the return to bars and sociability on the street were resumed in that order, in the wake of what was happening in the broader society.

Height-diameter allometry for tropical forest in northern Amazonia.

Height measurements are essential to manage and monitor forest biomass and carbon stocks. However, accurate estimation of this variable in tropical ecosystems is still difficult due to species heterogeneity and environmental variability. In this article, we compare and discuss six nonlinear allometric models parameterized at different scales (local, regional and pantropical).

Dengue and Zika virus infection patterns vary among Aedes aegypti field populations from Belo Horizonte, a Brazilian endemic city.

Dengue virus (DENV) and Zika virus (ZIKV) belong to the same viral family, the Flaviviridae. They cause recurring threats to the public health systems of tropical countries such as Brazil. The primary Brazilian vector of both viruses is the mosquito Aedes aegypti.

Predicting of biomass in Brazilian tropical dry forest: a statistical evaluation of generic equations.

Dry tropical forests are a key component in the global carbon cycle and their biomass estimates depend almost exclusively of fitted equations for multi-species or individual species data. Therefore, a systematic evaluation of statistical models through validation of estimates of aboveground biomass stocks is justifiable. In this study was analyzed the capacity of generic and specific equations obtained from different locations in Mexico and Brazil, to estimate aboveground biomass at multi-species levels and for four different species.

[Axé, corporal practices, and AIDS in Africanist religions in Recife, Brazil].

This article analyzes the responses of Afro-Brazilian religions to the Aids epidemic in Recife, taking into consideration the religious symbolic structure. Drawing on participant observation and in-depth interviews conducted with Afro-Brazilian religious leaders and public health officials, it highlights the importance of "axé" _ the native category used to interpret corporal events _ in order to understand the history of Aids in this religious community. Axé is mystical energy, corporal vitality.

Blood, sweat and semen: the economy of axé and the response of Afro-Brazilian religions to HIV and AIDS in Recife.

This article provides an ethnographic analysis of Afro-Brazilian religious responses to the HIV epidemic in Recife. Drawing on participant observation and in-depth interviews conducted with Afro-Brazilian religious leaders and public health officials, it highlights the importance of the axé--a mystical energy manipulated in religious rituals that is symbolically associated with blood, sweat and semen. In an analysis of the relationship formed between the state AIDS programme and Afro-Brazilian religious centres, we conclude that the recognition of native categories and their meanings is one of the key elements to a fruitful dialogue between public health programmes and religious leaders that in the case studied, resulted in the re-signification of cultural practices to prevent HIV.

The Catholic Church, moral doctrine, and HIV prevention in Recife, Brazil: Negotiating the contradictions between religious belief and the realities of everyday life.

Religious beliefs have had a key role in shaping local responses to HIV and AIDS. As the world's largest Catholic country, Brazil is no exception. Yet little research has been conducted to document how the religious doctrine is enacted in practice among its lay leaders and followers.

Masculorum concubitores: views on homosexuality among Catholics in Recife, Brazil.

This study focuses on Catholics' views towards homosexuality. The discussion is based on an ethnographic survey involving interviews with priests and lay leaders as well as participant observation of daily life in a working-class neighborhood in Recife, Pernambuco State, Brazil. The analysis points to persistent prejudice against homosexuality in the neighborhood and among Catholic clergy and lay leaders interviewed in the study.

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Neste artigo discutimos a visão da Igreja Católica sobre sexualidade na interface com a epidemia do HIV/AIDS. Nossa reflexão está embasada em pesquisa etnográfica que envolveu dois meses de observação participante do cotidiano de católicos de um bairro popular da Região Metropolitana do Recife, além de contar com entrevistas a onze dos leigos engajados nos serviços religiosos da igreja do bairro e a oito sacerdotes que realizam seus trabalhos religiosos em outras localidades. Nelas abordamos diferentes temáticas relacionadas ao enfrentamento da epidemia da AIDS.

The Care of the "flesh"in the sexual socialization of youth.

In this paper we discuss the positions of Christian leaders about "managing" the sexuality of young people, as contextualized by the sexual politics of the state. These reflections are a result of an ethnographic study, conducted through archival work, participant observation, and interviews with 47 religious leaders in Recife. The analysis shows the space of religion as a disciplinary site, operating through transcendent reasoning ("responsibility").