Antonio Carlos Batista

Marking behavior of the giant anteater Myrmecophaga tridactyla (Mammalia: Myrmecophagidae) in Southern Brazil

This research presents novel data on tree marking by the giant anteater, a large Neotropical mammal threatened in the state of Parana and other areas of Brazil, and nearly threatened worldwide. Field work was carried out in the municipality of Jaguariaiva, Parana (Southern Brazil) with the goal of evaluating the pine marking behavior of the giant anteater and ascertaining whether wildfires interfere with it. Anteater marks were searched for on the trunks of pine trees in stands as well as pine trees dispersed throughout the landscape. For each pine tree, the following features were recorded: height, diameter breast height (DBH), height of first branch, presence/absence of scratch marks, geographical location, substrate, and matrix. The total number of scratches, scratch directions, scratch length, and height of top mark were also recorded. The scratches were defined as horizontal or vertical. Tree scratching was directly observed in three instances. Ninety-one trees were measured in the study area. The differences between marked and non-marked pines were significant for DBH and height of first branch. All scratches were found on pines dispersed throughout the landscape. Trees with horizontal and vertical marks were significantly different in terms of DBH, first branch height, and top mark height. After a wildfire that affected part of the study area, 54% of the previously marked trees were marked anew. We suggest that the marking behavior is used for communication between conspecifics with overlapping home ranges, possibly during the mating season. Additionally, we advance the hypothesis that pine marking behavior becomes more frequent with increased population stress due to anthropic interference.

VARIAÇÃO DA UMIDADE DO MATERIAL COMBUSTÍVEL FLORESTAL EM FUNÇÃO DE ÍNDICES DE PERIGO DE INCÊNDIOS

Esta pesquisa foi realizada em plantios de Pinus elliotii localizados na Estacao Florestal Experimental de Rio Negro-Parana, pertencente a Universidade Federal do Parana com os objetivos de analisar as correlacoes entre a umidade dos combustiveis florestais finos e os indices de perigo de incendios FMA e FMA+ e desenvolver modelos para estimar a umidade dos materiais combustiveis baseados nesses indices. As variaveis meteorologicas utilizadas na pesquisa foram obtidas junto a estacao meteorologica do Instituto SIMEPAR e de um pluviografo e de um termohigrografo instalados na area do experimento. Os combustiveis florestais foram coletados em parcelas de 30 cm x 30 cm, classificados por diâmetro (< 0,7 cm O - A e de 0,7 a 2,5 cm O - B) e em funcao da posicao na manta (camada superficial - AA, intermediaria - AB e inferior - AC). A espessura da manta formada pelos combustiveis acamados sobre o piso florestal variou entre 14,8 e 15,3 cm. A quantidade total de material combustivel variou entre 3185,50 e 4266,01 g.m-2. Os indices de perigo de incendios FMA e FMA+ foram calculados diariamente e os valores obtidos nos dias das coletas dos combustiveis foram usados para as analises de correlacoes e ajustes das funcoes estimativas. Os coeficientes de correlacao entre umidade relativa e classes de combustivel foram 0,42; 0,36; 0,32 e 0,41 para o AA, AB, AC, e as classes B, respectivamente. Os coeficientes de correlacao entre a precipitacao e as classes de combustivel foram 0,57; 0,38; 0,34; e 0,15 para o AA, AB, AC e as classes B, respectivamente. Os coeficientes de correlacao entre as classes de combustivel eo + FMA foram -0,53; -0,56; -0,63; e 0,81 para o B classes, AB, AA, e AC, respectivamente. O + FMA foi a variavel mais eficiente no desenvolvimento de modelagem para estimar a umidade de combustivel morto. A umidade dos materiais combustiveis finos apresentou correlacoes estatisticamente significativas com as variaveis umidade relativa do ar e precipitacao e com os indices de perigo de incendios FMA e FMA+. No desenvolvimento dos modelos para a estimativa de umidade dos materiais a variavel mais importante observada nos ajustes foi o FMA+.

Estimativa do comportamento do fogo em queimas experimentais sob povoamentos de Pinus elliottii

RESUMO – Foram realizadas 23 queimas experimentais em um talhao de Pinus elliottii da Estacao Experimental de Rio Negro-PR, municipio de Rio Negro, pertencente a Universidade Federal do Parana, durante o inverno de 2008. O objetivo desta pesquisa foi desenvolver modelos de previsao do comportamento do fogo para o planejamento de prevencao e combate aos incendios florestais. Nos locais preparados paras as queimas foram efetuadas observacoes e medicoes sobre o material combustivel e variaveis meteorologicas e, durante as queimas, sobre o comportamento do fogo: velocidade de propagacao, intensidade do fogo e dimensoes da chama. Correlacionando-se os dois grupos de variaveis (do ambiente versus variaveis do comportamento do fogo), obtiveram-se associacoes significativas entre estas variaveis. Os modelos de regressao desenvolvidos atraves dos dados coletados produziram estimativas estatisticamente confiaveis do comportamento do fogo em termos de consumo de material combustivel, temperatura do ar, umidade relativa e velocidade do vento. Tambem se verificou que a altura da chama e uma variavel fortemente associada a intensidade do fogo, podendo ser empregada para estimativa desta nas condicoes em que o experimento foi realizado.

Distance and Intensity of Microclimatic Influence Provided by Urban Forest Typologies

The main goal of this study was to determine the radius and intensity of the influence that different urban forest typologies exert on their surroundings. Thus, three distinct areas were selected for each type of urban forest: Remaining Forest, Old Green Area, Modern Green Area, Street Trees and Isolated Trees. The influence of these typologies on the surrounding microclimate was determined by mobile transects, collecting data every 50 m from a total route of 500 m in an adjacent street. In general, the influence radius of the urban forest on its surroundings was 200 m, while the Remaining Forest typology reached 250 m. On average, the influence intensity of urban forest at a distance of 50 m was 0.66oC, at 100 m it was 0.45oC, at 150 m it was 0.34oC, and at 200 m it was 0.30oC, but each typology varied. All microclimate results were more pronounced in summer. We concluded that the urban forest exerts a significant climatic influence on its surroundings, regardless of the typology.

A INFLUÊNCIA DAS DIFERENTES TIPOLOGIAS DE FLORESTA URBANA NO MICROCLIMA DO ENTORNO IMEDIATO

The urban forest generates a microclimate more pleasant for the human being, in its interior as in the near external areas. Thus, the main goal of this research was to analyze the influence that the different typologies of urban forest exert in their immediate surrounding, highlighting quantitatively the differences between the internal and external microclimate to these areas. For this, areas of different types of urban forest were selected in the city of Curitiba-PR: Remaining Forest, Old Green Area, Modern Green Area, Street Trees and Isolated Tree. The influence in the immediate surrounding was analyzed with the mobile transect method, traveling 500 m away from a street adjacent to the selected area, with data collection every 50 m. The results indicate statistical differences between the internal and external microclimate to the typologies of urban forest. During the transect, the temperature was on average 2.3 ° C higher than in the interior of the urban forest typologies, the relative humidity was lower in 4.6 units and the wind velocity 0.2 m / s higher. The greatest difference in temperature and relative humidity between the internal and external environment was found in the Remaining Forest and the smallest in the Street Trees. It is concluded that the different typologies of urban forest exert a significant influence on the immediate surrounding microclimate.

DESEMPENHO DOS ÍNDICES DE NESTEROV E FÓRMULA DE MONTE ALEGRE NO DISTRITO DE LICHINGA, NORTE DE MOÇAMBIQUE

This study was conducted in order to evaluate the performance of Nesterov indexes and of Monte Alegre formula (FMA) in Lichinga environment (northern Mozambique) in order to suggest the best index to be used in this region. To do so, we used daily meteorological data (temperature, precipitation and relative humidity) and registration data of forest fire occurrences in a period of three years (2010 - 2012). Meteorological data were provided by the Agricultural Research Institute of Mozambique in Lichinga (IIAM-Lichinga), whereas the data base of fire occurrence record was provided by the Center for Monitoring and Control of Forest Fires (CCMIF) of the company Chikweti Forest of Niassa. Then, fire danger indexes and the degree of daily danger were calculated for both indexes, where it was observed the predominance of very high degree of danger in almost every year, with a percentage of 52.65% for the FMA and 37.96% for Nesterov index. Along with values of Skill Score (SS) of 0.11 Percent Success (PS) of 44.82%, Nesterov index showed best performance for this region unlike FMA, that presented a weak performance with values of 0, 07 of SS and 35.62%of PS.

O MICROCLIMA DE DIFERENTES ARRANJOS PAISAGÍSTICOS NA ARBORIZAÇÃO DE RUAS DE CURITIBA - PR

Microclimate improvement is frequently stated as one of the benefits generated by urban forestry. However, there are still few studies that quantitatively approach this issue. The goal of this study was to quantify the microclimatic difference between streets with and without trees, for each season and landscaping type. For this, three locations were chosen. Each location showed different species composing landscaping types: Tipuana tipu, Handroanthus chrysotrichus, and Lafoensia pacari with Parapiptadenia rigida . A Kestrel® mini station was placed on a street with trees and another one on a street without trees. The daily period for collecting this data was from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with monitoring intervals of 1 minute, repeated during the four seasons of the year, beginning in the winter of 2011. The microclimatic variables analyzed were temperature, relative humidity and wind speed. The results indicated that the streets with trees always had lower temperatures and greater relative humidity values than the streets without trees. The greatest temperature difference was observed in the summer (2.5 o C) and the smallest one in the winter (1.2 o C). For relative humidity, the differences were between 6.4% (spring) and 5.6% (winter), and for wind speed the greatest difference was found in the winter (0.17m/s). Landscaping that uses Tipuana tipu on both sides of the street, planted in a way such as to make their canopies entangle and form a tunnel, is the best choice for a more pleasant microclimate in all seasons of the year.

Consumo de Formigas Cortadeiras por Tamanduá-Bandeira Myrmecophaga tridactyla (Linnaeus, 1758) em Plantios de Pinus spp. no Paraná, Brasil

Resumo O presente estudo teve como objetivo confirmar o consumo de formigas cortadeiras por tamanduábandeira Myrmecophaga tridactyla em uma área de plantios de Pinus spp. no estado do Paraná, sul do Brasil. O estudo foi conduzido no municipio de Jaguariaíva, em uma área de aproximadamente 8.000 ha, nos anos de 2007 e 2008. Foi confirmada a utilização de formigas cortadeiras dos gêneros Acromyrmex e Atta pelo tamanduá-bandeira. Complementarmente foram identificados outros gêneros de formigas (Camponotus, Solenopsis, Pheidole, Odontomachus, Forelius (cf.), Labidus e Ectatomma), e de cupins (Nasutitermes, Syntermes e Neocapritermes), contribuindo para o conhecimento do hábito alimentar de M. tridactyla, especialmente no sul do Brasil.

Influence of urban forests in the thermo-hygrometric variation in the intra-urban area of the city of Curitiba - Paraná State

In order to understand the influence of urban forests in the thermo-hygrometric variation in the intra-urban area of the city of Curitiba, this study aimed to analyze the temporal and spatial variation of temperature and relative air humidity in each season and relate it with the presence of urban forests. For the collection of meteorological data were established 44 monitoring points in four transects in the urban mesh. In these points, mini-shields with Hobo® loggers were installed at fixed points on sign and traffic light posts. The temperature and relative air humidity monitoring was conducted during periods corresponding to the four seasons, with 22 days to collect and continuous data record at 15 minute intervals. In the four transects analyzed in the intra-urban area of Curitiba significative differences were found between the thermohygrometric monitoring points in all periods analyzed. Even in seasons of lower temperatures, autumn

Subsídios à prevenção e combate a incêndios florestais com base no comportamento da precipitação pluviométrica na Floresta Nacional de Irati, Paraná.

This research was developed in the Irati National Forest, located predominantly in the county of Fernandes Pinheiro, Parana State, Brazil, using daily rainfall data from 1963 to 2006. The objective of the study was to examine the precipitation behavior, an important variable in fire occurrence, to use the information in further work on forest fire prevention and control. It was analyzed the monthly precipitation, the number of days with rain, and average daily precipitation, in terms of means, minimum and maximum values. Afterwards, the data were grouped and an analysis of the precipitation evolution for that period was carried out. It was determined and analyzed the inter annual variability of dry and rainy seasons considering the 44 years. Results showed: a) the normal fire season was concentrated from April to August, a period of lower monthly average precipitation; b) an increase in the annual precipitation along the period being studied; c) a decrease in the number of rainy days per year; and d) an increase in the daily average precipitation. It was observed an increase of 128.78 mm in the total annual precipitation, a decrease of approximately 3 days of rain, and an increase of 0.90 mm of average rainfall per day over the period. The beginning of the rain season is concentrated in the first 20 days of September (70.5%). It was observed equivalence between the dry and rain seasons in 1968, 1978 and 1997, what resulted in a forest fire danger increase.