Rogerio Valle

An extensive reef system at the Amazon River mouth

A novel Amazonian reef biome was discovered, encompassing large rhodolith and sponge beds under low light, low oxygen, and high POC. Large rivers create major gaps in reef distribution along tropical shelves. The Amazon River represents 20% of the global riverine discharge to the ocean, generating up to a 1.3 × 106–km2 plume, and extensive muddy bottoms in the equatorial margin of South America. As a result, a wide area of the tropical North Atlantic is heavily affected in terms of salinity, pH, light penetration, and sedimentation. Such unfavorable conditions were thought to imprint a major gap in Western Atlantic reefs. We present an extensive carbonate system off the Amazon mouth, underneath the river plume. Significant carbonate sedimentation occurred during lowstand sea level, and still occurs in the outer shelf, resulting in complex hard-bottom topography. A permanent near-bottom wedge of ocean water, together with the seasonal nature of the plume’s eastward retroflection, conditions the existence of this extensive (~9500 km2) hard-bottom mosaic. The Amazon reefs transition from accretive to erosional structures and encompass extensive rhodolith beds. Carbonate structures function as a connectivity corridor for wide depth–ranging reef-associated species, being heavily colonized by large sponges and other structure-forming filter feeders that dwell under low light and high levels of particulates. The oxycline between the plume and subplume is associated with chemoautotrophic and anaerobic microbial metabolisms. The system described here provides several insights about the responses of tropical reefs to suboptimal and marginal reef-building conditions, which are accelerating worldwide due to global changes.

Reverse logistics in the Brazilian construction industry

In Brazil most Construction and Demolition Waste (C&D waste) is not recycled. This situation is expected to change significantly, since new federal regulations oblige municipalities to create and implement sustainable C&D waste management plans which assign an important role to recycling activities. The recycling organizational network and its flows and components are fundamental to C&D waste recycling feasibility. Organizational networks, flows and components involve reverse logistics. The aim of this work is to introduce the concepts of reverse logistics and reverse distribution channel networks and to study the Brazilian C&D waste case.

Environmental and Sanitary Conditions of Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro.

Guanabara Bay is the second largest bay in the coast of Brazil, with an area of 384 km2. In its surroundings live circa 16 million inhabitants, out of which 6 million live in Rio de Janeiro city, one of the largest cities of the country, and the host of the 2016 Olympic Games. Anthropogenic interference in Guanabara Bay area started early in the XVI century, but environmental impacts escalated from 1930, when this region underwent an industrialization process. Herein we present an overview of the current environmental and sanitary conditions of Guanabara Bay, a consequence of all these decades of impacts. We will focus on microbial communities, how they may affect higher trophic levels of the aquatic community and also human health. The anthropogenic impacts in the bay are flagged by heavy eutrophication and by the emergence of pathogenic microorganisms that are either carried by domestic and/or hospital waste (e.g., virus, KPC-producing bacteria, and fecal coliforms), or that proliferate in such conditions (e.g., vibrios). Antibiotic resistance genes are commonly found in metagenomes of Guanabara Bay planktonic microorganisms. Furthermore, eutrophication results in recurrent algal blooms, with signs of a shift toward flagellated, mixotrophic groups, including several potentially harmful species. A recent large-scale fish kill episode, and a long trend decrease in fish stocks also reflects the bay’s degraded water quality. Although pollution of Guanabara Bay is not a recent problem, the hosting of the 2016 Olympic Games propelled the government to launch a series of plans to restore the bay’s water quality. If all plans are fully implemented, the restoration of Guanabara Bay and its shores may be one of the best legacies of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Diversity and antimicrobial potential of culturable heterotrophic bacteria associated with the endemic marine sponge Arenosclera brasiliensis

Marine sponges are the oldest Metazoa, very often presenting a complex microbial consortium. Such is the case of the marine sponge Arenosclera brasiliensis, endemic to Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. In this investigation we characterized the diversity of some of the culturable heterotrophic bacteria living in association with A. brasiliensis and determined their antimicrobial activity. The genera Endozoicomonas (N = 32), Bacillus (N = 26), Shewanella (N = 17), Pseudovibrio (N = 12), and Ruegeria (N = 8) were dominant among the recovered isolates, corresponding to 97% of all isolates. Approximately one third of the isolates living in association with A. brasiliensis produced antibiotics that inhibited the growth of Bacillus subtilis, suggesting that bacteria associated with this sponge play a role in its health.

Sustainability assessment and prioritisation of e-waste management options in Brazil

Brazil has an increasing rate of e-waste generation, but there are currently few adequate management systems in operation, with the largest share of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) going to landfill sites or entering informal chains. The National Solid Waste Policy (2010) enforces the implementation of reverse logistics systems under the shared responsibility of consumers, companies and governments. The objective of this paper is to assess sustainability and prioritise system alternatives for potential implementation in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro. Sustainability criteria and decision alternatives were defined by elicitation of stakeholders. The adopted multicriteria approach combines Life Cycle Assessment with qualitative evaluations by a small sample of regional experts with knowledge of the problem. The recommended system consists of a hybrid WEEE collection scheme with delivery points at shops, metro stations and neighbourhood centres; a pre-treatment phase with the involvement of private companies, cooperatives and social enterprises; and full recycling of all components in the country.

A comparative analysis of CMMI software project management by Brazilian, Indian and Chinese companies

This article presents and discusses the perception of skilled professionals working in the Brazilian, Chinese and Indian software industries about their use of Capability Maturity Model Integration. About 429 employees from 19 software production companies that use the model took part in the study. Multivariate analysis methods, such as factorial analysis, were used to identify the interdependence between multiple variables. This led us to six factors: software project development, quality and productivity, professional career, team/working environment, problem identification and analysis and modeling. Three different analysis dimensions (country, company’s maturity level and company size) were investigated to assess the impact of the CMMI model on the six factors, which were defined for each of these dimensions.

The Deep-Sea Microbial Community from the Amazonian Basin Associated with Oil Degradation

One consequence of oil production is the possibility of unplanned accidental oil spills; therefore, it is important to evaluate the potential of indigenous microorganisms (both prokaryotes and eukaryotes) from different oceanic basins to degrade oil. The aim of this study was to characterize the microbial response during the biodegradation process of Brazilian crude oil, both with and without the addition of the dispersant Corexit 9500, using deep-sea water samples from the Amazon equatorial margin basins, Foz do Amazonas and Barreirinhas, in the dark and at low temperatures (4°C). We collected deep-sea samples in the field (about 2570 m below the sea surface), transported the samples back to the laboratory under controlled environmental conditions (5°C in the dark) and subsequently performed two laboratory biodegradation experiments that used metagenomics supported by classical microbiological methods and chemical analysis to elucidate both taxonomic and functional microbial diversity. We also analyzed several physical–chemical and biological parameters related to oil biodegradation. The concomitant depletion of dissolved oxygen levels, oil droplet density characteristic to oil biodegradation, and BTEX concentration with an increase in microbial counts revealed that oil can be degraded by the autochthonous deep-sea microbial communities. Indigenous bacteria (e.g., Alteromonadaceae, Colwelliaceae, and Alcanivoracaceae), archaea (e.g., Halobacteriaceae, Desulfurococcaceae, and Methanobacteriaceae), and eukaryotic microbes (e.g., Microsporidia, Ascomycota, and Basidiomycota) from the Amazonian margin deep-sea water were involved in biodegradation of Brazilian crude oil within less than 48-days in both treatments, with and without dispersant, possibly transforming oil into microbial biomass that may fuel the marine food web.

Environmental and Socioeconomic Analysis of Producing Biodiesel from Used Cooking Oil in Rio De Janeiro

This study analyzes the potential environmental impacts and socioeconomic benefits of installing a pilot plant for biodiesel production from used cooking oil (UCO) collected from hotels, restaurants, and bars in the Copacabana district of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Currently much of this oil is used to produce soaps or simply disposed of directly into the sewage system, contributing to the eutrophication of bodies of water. An analysis is made of the production of biodiesel by the alkaline transesterification of UCO with ethanol using a sodium hydroxide catalyst. In order to analyze the environmental impacts, the ten stages of the life cycle of biodiesel made from UCO are assessed. The environmental impact of producing 1 metric ton of biodiesel is evaluated on the basis of the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. In order to assess the economic feasibility of the pilot plant, a cash flow deterministic method was employed to evaluate the investment required. The social performance of the project was assessed using Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators. The environmental analysis showed that ethanol production and fuel combustion are the stages that had the highest environmental impact. The findings of the economic analysis showed that it would be feasible for the Rio de Janeiro city council to implement a pilot plant in the Copacabana district of the city. The results of the social performance analysis indicated that the project would have a positive impact on local job and income generation.

Consideration of food wastage along the supply chain in lifecycle assessments: A mini-review based on the case of tomatoes

In recent years, increased light has been shed on the large amounts of food wasted along the food supply chain (FSC). As lifecycle assessments (LCAs) are commonly used for estimations of environmental impacts from food production, it is relevant to investigate and discuss how such wastage is reflected in foodstuff LCAs. The objective of the present paper is to review a larger set of LCAs of foodstuff in order to (1) investigate if and how wastage along the FSC is addressed and (2) explore the importance of including wastage accumulated along the FSC in terms of environmental impacts. Twenty-eight LCA case studies and two review papers, focusing on tomatoes, were reviewed and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions chosen as indicator for the second objective. Only one third of the studies consider wastage at some part of the supply chain, in many cases in an inconsistent manner, and only in nine cases were GHG emissions from wastage included in overall systems GHG emissions. In these, wastage accounts for between 2 and 33% of total contribution to climate change. Omitting wastage when conducting LCA of foodstuff could result in underestimations of environmental impacts. Occurrence of wastage along all phases of the supply chain should be acknowledged in order to estimate environmental benefits from prevention and to identify areas where strategies with the aim of reducing wastage could be most efficient.

BaMBa: towards the integrated management of Brazilian marine environmental data

A new open access database, Brazilian Marine Biodiversity (BaMBa) (https://marinebiodiversity.lncc.br), was developed in order to maintain large datasets from the Brazilian marine environment. Essentially, any environmental information can be added to BaMBa. Certified datasets obtained from integrated holistic studies, comprising physical–chemical parameters, -omics, microbiology, benthic and fish surveys can be deposited in the new database, enabling scientific, industrial and governmental policies and actions to be undertaken on marine resources. There is a significant number of databases, however BaMBa is the only integrated database resource both supported by a government initiative and exclusive for marine data. BaMBa is linked to the Information System on Brazilian Biodiversity (SiBBr, http://www.sibbr.gov.br/) and will offer opportunities for improved governance of marine resources and scientists’ integration. Database URL: http://marinebiodiversity.lncc.br