Repositório RCAAP

The study aimed to characterize the tree-shrub community of a riparian forest, one of the last remnatns on the Araguari River, at Uberlândia, Triângulo Mineiro region, Minas Gerais State. The composition, horizontal and vertical structure were investigated by phytosociological survey of 110 plots of 10m x 10m (1,1ha). All trees with CAP ` 15 cm were registered. There were sampled 1.393 trees distributed in 89 species and 36 families. Hirtella gracilipes (Hook.f.) Prance was the most abundant specie, with the highest frequency, density and VI. It is a small tree specie, predominant in the understory of the forest. The Shannon index was H = 3,65 nats.ind-1. The most common soil in the study area was classified as Litholic Neosol dystrophic, with gneiss rock outcrops, and in some parts of the forest there were soils of the Haplic Cambisol Tb dystrophic type. The floristic comparisons indicated the riparian forest of Araguari river is more similar to the Triângulo Mineiro forests, to riparian forest in Três Marias, MG, and to gallery forests of the Central Brazil, than to riparian forests of southsoutheast of Minas Gerais and São Paulo. The analysis of maximum, medium and minimum heights of the species showed the forest has three vertical strata. The stratum 1 (1,5m > h ` 10m) had the highest richness, density and was represented by a group shade-tolerant and light-demanding understory species. There were also individuals juvenile of species belonging to the higher strata, classified as light-demanding canopy species. The stratum 2 (10m > h ` 15m) occupied the largest part of the study area, and was considered mostly a intermediate stratum, including canopy species as well as some understory mature trees. The stratum 3 (h > 15m) had the lowest density and the species which form this part of the forest have far greater number of individuals in inferior strata. This indicates the forest is recovering from anthropic disturbance suffered in the past. The presence of a major quantity of animaldispersed species and individuals emphasizes the important preservation of this riparian forest for the fauna of Araguari River Valley and whole region.

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Geonoma brevispatha is a palm tree with clonal growth and restricted to flooded habitats, borders of rivers and streams. The aim of this work was to study its reproductive biology in an inundable gallery forest, in Uberlândia, MG in the period from April 2004 to December 2005. The species bloomed from April to November 2004 with larger intensity of opening of the flowers in September. The largest production of fruits happened between October and December 2004, coinciding with the rainy season. The flowers are of wine color, are diclinous, protandrous, and present strong scent. The flowers are arranged in triads (two staminate flowers and one central pistillate flower). Only the pistillate flowers produce nectar. The anthesis happens about 8:00 a.m. The pistillate flower is smaller than the staminate and it lasts from two to four days, while the staminate lasts one day. The pollen viability rate for flowers in pre-anthesis was 84.3% and 95.9% to open flowers. The stigma receptivity occurs from the button phase. The medium number of flowers for inflorescences was of 2192.8 ± 1184.1 of staminate flowers and 1129.5 ± 571.4 of pistillate flowers. It doesn t have overlapping between pistillate and staminate flowers in the same inflorescence and nor in the same plant, and thus characterizes the functional dioecy. Apomixis was not found in this species. The reproductive success was larger in the crossed pollination. The main pollinators were flies of the families Muscidae and Sarcophagidae. Bees and beetles were considered as occasional pollinators.

This work was performed to test the effect of aqueous extract of Cabralea canjerana subsp. polytricha (Meliaceae) in the control of Brevycorine brassicae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and Ascia monuste orseis (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). Extract of leaves, fruits and seeds of 3, 5 and 10% were obtained through infusion of dry and triturated material in distilled water filtered after 24 hours. The effect of the extracts was tested in the survival of B. brassicae and the viability, larval and pupal weight and repellent/antifeedant activity of A. monuste orseis. Extract of 3 and 5% did not demonstrated insecticide action on B. brassicae. However, extract of 10% of concentration was able to control this insect in laboratory conditions. The larvae of A. monuste orseis demonstrated low viability when treated with leaves immersed in the extracts, dying before completing four days of age, on average. The evaluation of the repellent/antifeedant effect of the extract indicates that, in tests with choice, the individuals tend to avoid leaves treated with seeds extracts. Differences in consumed area were only demonstrated in the tests using extract of 10%. However, cabbage leaves immersed in fruits and seeds extracts presented a lower consumed area. Tests without choice indicate that when extract of 5 and 10% were used, cabbage leaves consumption was reduced.

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The loss of diversity is one of the main damage to the environment caused by the construction of reservoirs and it is related to the disappearance of terrestrial habitats by flooding, and the changes produced in the aquatic habitat. These changes reflect, above all, in the availability of food and in the reproduction of the fish species, leading to a remarkable structural change on aquatic communities in relation to the originals. This study aimed to estimate the richness and characterize the composition of the dominant fish, and appreciate the dynamics of reproductive and feeding of fish populations impacted by the impoundment of the Araguari River for the formation of Capim Branco I Hydroelectric Dam. Monthly collections were conducted from July 2006 to June 2007, it is using expect gillnets of different meshsizes. The reservoir presented a low total richness, and it was arrested 1180 individuals that belongs to five orders, 12 families and 29 species. The community was dominated by 7 species, which added up together to 80,1% of the total number of individuals and 53,6% of the total biomass of fish collected. The reservoir also had a low number of migratory fish species. The results indicated that a large portion of the community of fish concentrated the reproductive efforts in the season of higher precipitation, although for many species this period has been a little advanced or extended. There was a predominance in the number of species from small to medium size, sedentary or that realize short reproductive migrations and that the majority did not exhibit parental care, as Astyanax altiparanae and Acestrorhynchus lacustris. Among the species classified as migratory, Pimelodus maculatus was the most abundant in the reservoir, which can be related to the fact that it has multiple spawning during the reproductive season, produces oocytes of smaller size and requires short spaces of running water to spawn. Most of the species had some content into the stomach throughout the sampling period, except for some species with a tendency to piscivory, which had greater number of individuals with empty stomachs throughout the period, as Galeocharax knerii, Acestrorhynchus lacustris and Hoplias lacerdae. The food items more consumed were sediment, vegetable matter, insects, algae, fish and benthic organisms, represented mainly by immature forms of insects (aquatic larvae). The species Pimelodus maculatus, Astyanax altiparanae, Trachelyopterus galeatus, Leporinus amblyrhynchus and Gymnotus carapo consumed a great variety of food items in their diets, both of autochthonous and allochthonous origin. Eight feeding guilds were found for the species analyzed: algivorous, detritivorous, herbivorous, herbivorous/insectivorous, insectivorous, piscivorous, piscivorous/omnivorous and omnivorous. The classification of the species at different feeding guilds showed the pattern of high frequency of piscivorous, omnivorous, herbivorous and detritivorous dominating the reservoir. The impoundment of the Araguari River for the formation of Capim Branco I Hydroelectric Dam caused negative effects on the community of native fish from this river, as reduction in the richness of species and reduction in the abundance of migratory species, in addition to having favoured the increase of opportunistic species.

Ponds of veredas, a palm swamp environment associated with headwaters, appears among the most important continental aquatic habitats on the planet. In these ponds, banks of macrophytes occurs with frequency, maintaining the aquatic productivity and the increase of habitat heterogeneity, thereby generating great biological diversity in their environment. One of the main communities founded in these ecosystems are the zooplankton, a group of animals that play an important role in the transference of primary productivity to consumers of higher trophic levels. The aim of this study were to determine and compare the composition of zooplankton Copepoda, Cladocera and Rotifera in two lagoons associated with the vereda palm swamp, that differs on the presence/absence of aquatic macrophytes in the body water. The ponds are situated in the Reserva Particular do Patrimônio Natural of the Clube Caça e Pesca Itororó de Uberlândia (CCPIU), Uberlândia, MG. Samplings were made in each 15 days on the surface of water through the "Instant Collector" of Pinese, in the year of 2006. All individuals were identified and quantified and cluster and canonical correlation data analyses were applied, as well as diversity, equitability and similarity indices. The species richness of zooplankton in the CCPIU lagoons was represented by 75 species, of which 12 genera, 29 species and one subspecie are new records for the State of Minas Gerais. The rotifer were the predominant group (75% of total species) and the Lecanidae was the most diverse family. Among cladocerans, Chydoridae highlighted themselves in richness, but not in abundance, since this emphasis was given to Bosminidae family. Too few adults of copepods were founded, but nauplii were fairly frequent; Cyclopidae was the largest family of occurrence among this group but there was no record of any individuals of Calanoida order. There was a great difference between the biologic composition of the two lakes studied. The aquatic macrophytes present in one of the ponds were responsible for a great diversity of zooplanktonic species in this environment, but on the other hand provided a decline in this animal s biomass due to the imprisonment of minerals available in the system on the perennial vegetal biomass. The lake without macrophytes showed a buoyant planktonic density, since in this system, in the absence of aquatic macrophytes, the entire water fertility was directed to the phytoplankton, but the low variety of habitat resulted in a reduced number of species of this environment. Many studies concerning zooplankton must be developed in communities of veredas in Brazil, in order to understand the complex ecological standards, and biological diversity and swing them as a flag to the conservation of the aquatic ecosystems.

Among the birds which live in urban environments, we can point out the Columbidae family (pigeons and doves). Due to their ability to adapt, many species of this group became resistant to the human presence and world transformations. The purpose of this study was to find their distribution in the city of Uberlândia, Minas Gerais State, and correlate the occurrence of these species to environmental factors (vegetation, types of buildings and distance to downtown). This work was carried out from March (2005) to February (2006), from 6:30 am to 9:30 am. We selected six species of Columbidae found in the city: Columba livia (rock pigeon), Patagioenas picazuro, P. cayennensis, Zenaida auriculata, Columbina talpacoti and Columbina squammata. The data were collected in 24 squares selected from the urban area, during dry and rainy seasons. In order to quantify the records, we made 12-minute observation sessions in each square, totalizing 434 sessions and 86.8 hours of observation. The frequency of records in each session was calculated by dividing the frequency of records of each species by the time of the session. We used the Mantel test to make the cluster analysis and the correlation between the species composition and the environmental factors. All the species under study were recorded. The Z. auriculata showed the highest mean frequency of records ( X =2.0±1.6), being more frequently found downtown ( X =2.7±1.6), rather than in periphery ( X =1.3±0.6). Only in one square (Anahyta Tannus Square) all the species were recorded. The mean frequency of record of Columbidae was higher in central rather than peripheral areas, as much in rainy ( X downtown=0.7±1.2; X periphery=0.5±0.6) as in dry seasons ( X downtown=0.9±1.9; X periphery=0.3±0.8). We observed higher mean frequency of records during dry season. The analysis of composition of each grouping showed the formation of a group containing the major part of the central squares considered separately; however, some central squares were grouped with peripheral ones. Only the distance to downtown was significantly correlated to the distribution of Columbidae species in the urban area of Uberlândia (r=0.2111; p<0.05). These results suggest a probable association of the pigeon distribution with urbanization.

The main goal of this PhD dissertation is to empirically investigate the Dutch disease hypothesis for the Brazilian economy from 1995 to 2009. In order to pursue this, the work examines the following question: Is there any evidence capable of corroborating the relationship between commodity export specialization and the real exchange rate appreciation in Brazil during the recent period? The hypothesis of the work is based on the argument that the trend towards exchange rate appreciation and the increase in international commodity price, especially since 2003, are key factors to propitiate the manifestation of the Dutch disease symptoms in Brazil. The analysis of such problem is developed in three interdependent essays. The first essay investigates the relation between exchange rate, commodity exports and economic growth based on the curse of natural resources literature. The next essay analyzes the relation between exchange rate and commodity prices according to the commodities currencies literature for countries with abundant natural resources. The last essay evaluates the impact of the exchange rate and commodity prices on the production and employment of industrial sectors in order to address possible evidence of deindustrialization. The results from the empirical investigation indicate some evidence in favor of the Dutch disease in Brazil through the significant role of exports and commodity prices, particularly food and raw material, to explain the exchange rate appreciation and the lower economic growth in the recent period. Furthermore there is a significant role of the increase in certain commodity prices (food and raw materials) to the exchange rate appreciation. Last but not least, there is evidence of the requirement to pursue a more competitive exchange rate to stimulate production and employment of specific industry sub-sectors while high commodity prices have a negative effect on industrial variables. In a broad sense, the results from this dissertation revealed the relevance of price and specific (food, raw materials, minerals and energy) commodity export indicators to capture symptoms of the Dutch disease in Brazil. Other than this, evidences are more robust to investigate this problem in a long run perspective, emphasizing the difficulty of other studies trying to address the Dutch disease in Brazil focusing on short run analysis.

The 1990s are marked by changes related to the process of productive restructuring under neoliberal hegemony, leading companies to adopt strategies of rationalization of production with negative impacts on the world of work. In this sense, this thesis seeks to understand modifications in the work market, more specifically in the industrial sector, as of the process of productive restructuring and of a predominant conception of local development. The experience of the Larger ABC region ( Grande ABC - traditional industrial region of the state of São Paulo) is chosen as an object of analysis, recognized as a pioneer in Brazil in implantation of a socio-productive territorial arrangement, with a view toward confronting the crisis and its effects on employment in the industrial sector. Thus, the fundamental aspect analyzed is if the actions developed by means of social bargaining processes were effective in the reinsertion of workers in the work market, even if migrating to other sectors of the economy. In addition to analyzing the behavior of employment and income in that period, we sought to verify if the changes in trajectory or recovery of the work market as of 1999, principally in the industrial sector, also occur in the ABC Paulista and if are related to the process of reaching territorial consensus in ABC as an alternative to the crisis experienced by the region in the 1990s. Undertaking this research consisted of a bibliographical review of the theme; survey of indicators in the main statistical sources of the country, with emphasis on the database RAIS and RAIS MIGRA of the Labor Department (Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego - MTE); survey of official documents from intermunicipal institutions of ABC and undertaking interviews with researchers and local leadership2 of the Larger São Paulo ABC Region with the application of semi-structured questionnaires. Thus, the purpose of this thesis is to contribute to reflections regarding the difficulties and possibilities of territorial development as an alternative for confronting the crisis with social inclusion.

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The main goal of the three essays developed in this work is to investigate the main export determinants and its dynamics. In order to fulfill this task we develop three essays where one of them is based on panel data analysis and the remaining two based on vector autoregressive analysis (VAR). On methodological grounds, we can say that the first essay is based on a dynamic System GMM estimation for the export dynamics (90 countries) and the empirics is associated to a temporal dimension which involves the estimation for three different decades, 1980-1989, 1990-1999 and 2000-2008 and it involves six different model specification. The second and third essays are based on VAR models where the second one seeks to analyze six selected Latin America and Asia countries including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, China and India. The idea is to understand each country specificities and differences that are part of their international experience as emerging economies. The third essay has a regional perspective since it investigates export performance for Minas Gerais from 1996 to 2009 and the empirical investigation is based on three export models. One crucial empirical contribution of this work is the construction of a more detailed and more realistic for foreign export demand (income) based on the main trade partners which is clear a novelty aspect since many other empirical works on this literature uses the USA GDP or world imports as proxies for foreign income and this can be considered as a limited proxy to capture external export demand. One of the main conclusions we can draw from these three essays is that emerging economies have experienced a significant change in their export structure and patterns, especially when considering the new and crucial role of China in the international trade.

The general goal of the three essays is to analyze on theoretical and empirical grounds the international financial crises for advanced, emerging and developing countries. One can say that each Essay has its own specificities. The First Essay develops an analysis of the impacts of the 2008 financial crisis on economic growth for a number of advanced, emerging and developing countries using OLS cross-section models. The second Essay concerns in estimating the probability of occurrence of different types of international financial crises in the period 1970-2009 for selected Latin America (Argentina, Brazil and Mexico) and Asia emerging countries (Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand). The empirical investigation is based on probabilistic models (MPL, PROBIT and LOGIT) where the dependent variable is associated with a different concept of financial crises (external and internal default, banking crises, inflation and currency crises and general international financial crises). Finally, the last essay develops an empirical investigation using panel data from 1970 to 2009 and analyzes the main determinants of the different types of international financial crises for a sample of 118 advanced, emerging and developing countries using six concepts of international financial crises.

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This work started from the perspective that study a topic as hunger is not a simple job, because it is a wide and controversial topic. Recognize the polysemic nature of the question presented in chapter 1, implies multiple possibilities for analysis in each of its dimensions, and at the same time reveals the need for cut theme to accomplish the work. The option adopted by this study was to assess food insecurity in Brazil, considering the food inflation observed since the 2000s. This definition is justified mainly by identification, demonstrated in Chapter 2, that the main cause of hunger in the country, as in much of the world, refers to the difficulty of economic access to food due to lack of income, a framework that reflects poverty and state of underdevelopment. The improvement of public policies to fight hunger in the country, presented in Chapter 3, presents the importance of this aspect, which became, over time, their main focus. The situation of food insecurity in Brazil is related, therefore, the impact of these policies in the current context, characterized by food inflation, as shown in chapter 4. The assessment of these impacts was done in Chapter 5 of this thesis, using survey data from PNAD and POF. It was found from the empirical study, that hunger is a universal social problem under capitalism, with much higher incidence in underdeveloped and dependent countries, and that specific policies, such as Bolsa Família, don t have potential to overcome the problem, that is intrinsic to capitalist development, and that situation becomes worse in the context of inflation. The results indicate that consistent macroeconomic policies, with the generation of employment and real income, are necessary, beyond synergistic social policies, to resolve the problem of poverty and hunger in the country.

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In the last two decades territorial approach has been used as an instrument from public policies to improve development, especially, rural development in all Latin America and particularly in Brazil. This thesis aims to identify and demonstrate in which conditions territorial development is possible. For that, it was done a revision on the change of perspective from the growth to economic development highlighting the changing emphasis of the role of the state in the conduct of public policies. Afterwards, as unfolding of the crisis of the 1970s and 1980s and the process of democratization in the country we observe the incorporation of decentralizing proposals of public management. The policies whose theoretical and ideological reference is the neoliberalism earn emphasis, which led to use the local or territorial approach in conducting development policies in the country in order to encourage endogenous development. From these conditions, we carried out a comparative study on distinct territorial experiences in Brazil and in Spain, divided in two groups. In the first one, formed by the autonomously-conducted territories, in Brazil, we analyzed the experience of Cerrado Mineiro Coffee Territory and, in Spain, the Los Pedroches territory. In the second group, formed by the public policies induced territories, in Brazil, we analyzed the Noroeste de Minas territory, induced by the Secretary of Territorial Development of Agrarian Development Ministry, further modified to Citizen Territory. In Spain, the Medio Guadalquivir e Guadajoz y Campiña Este de Córdoba territories, induced by European Union Programs LEADER and PRODER. Therefore, the search methodology used as proceedings: theoretical and historical revision, case study with compared analysis, survey of primary and secondary information using qualitative and quantitative data as well processing and analysis of the results. Our study allowed us to conclude that a policy of rural territorial development induction is an important instrument to promote communities of depressed economies (disadvantaged in European terminology). However, it is insufficient the mere induction to constitute social and productive arrangements with the responsibility to carry out a diagnosis of territorial reality and to elaborate a project in order to favor a territorial pact creation and management. Besides the social and political conditions, not always found in Brazil induced by taking European territories, induced and autonomous, we verified the need of various infrastructural conditions (physic and human) for this national experience succeeds. Although we recognize the orientation change of the State role in this process, with the Citizen Territories, we conclude that it is necessary a reformulation in the rural territorial development policy in Brazil, form an adequate induced territory design till a better articulation of the different public organs in territorial actions.

This thesis aims to contribute to studies around the determinations of pluriactivity and its trajectory over the years 1990 and 2000 in the Northeast and South Regions of Brazil. In this sense, more than inquire about the reasons explaining the existence of pluriactivity in Brazil, this work intends to investigate its growing possibilities inside the northeastern and southerner family farming. It was used in the research data from PNAD/IBGE National Household Sample Survey for the period 1992 to 1999 and 2001 to 2009 and the methodology and typology of families of Rurbano Project (IE/Unicamp). Since the pluriactivity is a concept that describes the reality of the family that plays agricultural occupations (agricultural side of pluriactivity) and non-agricultural occupations (non-agricultural side of pluriactivity), studies point to the fact that there exist explanatory elements of pluriactivity that would be intrinsic and extrinsic to those families. Our working hypothesis is that the intrinsic determinants (those related to internal characteristics of household members, such as family size, age, education) are not enough to explain the behavior of pluriactivity over time. It is understood that the extrinsic determinations (those related to the economic environment, to the conditions of labor market in which families are embedded and to public policies oriented to agriculture) would be more decisive for the growth behavior of pluriativity. Among the extrinsic variables, this thesis considers public policies as the most important for the advancement of pluriactivity over time among families of family farming. It reinforces the importance of the State action through public policies directed to the agricultural side of pluriactivity, especially for the more fragile segment of farmers, for its growth trend. More than an external non-agricultural dynamic environment, it is necessary to expand and create public policies aimed to face the challenges experienced by family farmers in the performance of agricultural activity as a way to promote a trend of increasing the number of pluriactive households inside the Brazilian family farming by minimizing the possibilities of these families turn into non-agricultural households. Play this role policies as the National Program for the Strengthening of Family Farming (PRONAF), the Food Acquisition Programme (PAA) and the National Programme on School Feeding (PNAE), which will be investigated in this study.

The empirical analysis developed in this dissertation is based on the estimation of panel data models for economic growth and inflation for a set of 82 economies using the System GMM methodology. The estimation results for the growth models for the period of 1970 to 2009 provide a fundamental lesson for this work. Regardless of the result from an extensive part of the empirical literature suggesting that there is not a significant role for the exchange rate regime in affecting long run growth, and based on the results of this dissertation for the period of 1990 to 2009, the estimated results suggest that for the last four decades there is evidence that countries with intermediate exchange rate regimes are associated to higher economic growth when compared to countries adopting fixed/pegged exchange rate regimes. Other than this, the results for the period of 1970 to 2009 suggest a negative impact on growth were associated to episodes of sudden stops in capital flows. The estimated growth models for the two distinct periods (1970 to 2009 and 1990 to 2009) provide evidence on the relevance of the lagged growth rate for the current growth rate and also indicate that banking and debt crises are not statistically significant. On the other hand, the specific empirical results for the 1990 to 2009 period suggest that there is no statistically significant difference among countries that adopt and those who did not inflation target regarding growth performance, and there is also evidence of an unexpected result that countries undergoing currency crises have higher rates of economic growth. The results from the estimated inflation models using System GMM for three different periods (1990 to 2009, 1990 to 1999 and 2000 to 2009) and focusing on understanding the relation between exchange rate regimes and inflation, reveals an absence of consensuses both in terms of estimated coefficient signs and regarding their statistical significance. There is also additional evidence on the relevance of other variables such as monetary growth, government debt, real effective exchange rate change, real interest rate and lagged inflation. The estimated result for the dummy variables for debt crisis indicates that countries under this type of crisis have experienced higher inflation rates while the result for the dummy variable for countries under currency/monetary crisis suggests that the adjustment under this crisis might have contributed to a lower inflation within the period of crises. On the other hand, the dummy variables for sudden stop and banking crisis are not statistically significant. Other empirical evidence found, that is relevant for the thesis, is that the inflation target regime is associated to a better (lower rate) inflationary performance for the economies adopting such regime, based on the results for the period of 1990 to 1999.