Abstract The recent edition of the Red Book of Endangered Brazilian Fauna brings 1,173 threatened species, 86% of them in terrestrial or freshwater environments. For these species, the main threat vector is agricultural activities that affect 519 species (51%). This information brought by the Red Book is examined in-depth and its consistency is discussed in search of an objective view on the impacts of agriculture, its importance, how they affect the different groups of animals, the different biomes of the country, and the different types of habitats continental. Birds, fish, and invertebrates are the groups with the highest number of species threatened by agricultural activity, accounting for more than 70% of the species. Habitat loss is by far the biggest impact caused by the activity, affecting almost 90% of the species. However, there is a difference between the impact of agriculture and livestock. The work seeks to understand why livestock threatens a smaller number of species, although pastures occupy more than twice the area occupied by crops and forestry. The work brings an objective debate on the relationship between agricultural activities and the conservation of wild fauna in Brazil, without falling into the trap of the useless demonization of human activities, highlighting, instead, the need to define and implement strategies for the conservation of biodiversity in the midst the land use matrix itself, complementary to the conservation units, based on the best available information on the vulnerability of fauna to the impacts of this vector.

A avaliação de impacto baseada em evidências apresenta elevado potencial para subsidiar a tomada de decisão, melhorar a implementação das políticas públicas e respaldar a transparência da gestão. Diante desta perspectiva, a presente pesquisa teve como objetivo desenvolvê-la utilizando, como estudo de caso, o Programa Institucional de Bolsas de Iniciação Científica do Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (PIBIC/ICMBio), o qual completou 10 anos de implementação no país. O Programa constitui a ferramenta do Instituto para explicitar quais conhecimentos ou informações são imprescindíveis para impulsionar as ações de intervenção para a gestão e manejo da biodiversidade brasileira. A avaliação foi realizada a partir da pesquisa documental, da observação participante, da formulação da cadeia de resultados, da consulta a atores-chaves e do desenvolvimento da cartografia temática. Os resultados evidenciaram o alcance dos objetivos do PIBIC/ICMBio; sua relevância para as demais atribuições do próprio ICMBio; sua coerência com as principais políticas brasileiras de fomento e execução programas de pesquisa, proteção, preservação e conservação da biodiversidade e de educação ambiental; sua eficiência em relação aos custos envolvidos; seu valor agregado e sua potencialidade para o know-how de apoio a tomada de decisão sobre manejo e conservação da biodiversidade no Brasil.

Evidence-based impact assessment has a great potential to support decision making, improve the public policy cycle and support its transparency. Given this perspective, the present research had the objective of develop it using, as a case study, the Institutional Program of Scientific Initiation Scholarships of the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (PIBIC/ICMBio), which completed 10 years of implementation in Brazil. The Program is the ICMBio's tool to clarify which knowledge or information is essential to boost intervention actions for the Brazilian biodiversity management. The evaluation was based on documentary research, participant observation, the formulation of the result chain, consultation with key actors and the development of thematic cartography. The results showed the achievement of the PIBIC/ICMBio objectives; its relevance to other attributions of ICMBio; its coherence with the main Brazilian policies of fomentation and execution programs of research, protection, preservation and conservation of the biodiversity and of environmental education; its efficiency in relation to the costs involved; its added value ; and its potential for the Brazilian know-how to support decision making on biodiversity management and conservation.

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease affecting most mammals and is distributed throughout the world. Several species of domestic and wild animals may act as reservoirs for this disease. The purpose of this study was to assess the exposure of free-ranging wild carnivores, horses and domestic dogs on a private reserve located in the northern Pantanal (Brazil) and the surrounding areas to Leptospira spp from 2002-2006, 75 free-ranging wild carnivores were captured in the Pantanal and serum samples were collected. In addition, samples from 103 domestic dogs and 23 horses in the region were collected. Serum samples were tested for the presence of Leptospira antibodies using the microscopic agglutination test. Thirty-two wild carnivores (42.7%) were considered positive with titres > 100, and 18 domestic dogs (17.5%) and 20 horses (74.1%) were also found to be positive. Our study showed that horses, dogs and several species of free-ranging wild carnivores have been exposed to Leptospira spp in the Pantanal, suggesting that the peculiar characteristics of this biome, such as high temperatures and an extended period of flooding, may favour bacterial persistence and transmission. In this region, wild carnivores and horses seem to be important hosts for the epidemiology of Leptospira species.