ABSTRACT Brazilian soil scientists have increased the use of the term “soil quality” in their scientific publications in the last decade. However, it remains unclear if those publications only mention “soil quality” in a broad context, or the studies are focused on soil quality assessments, integrating soil chemical, physical and biological indicators. The objective of this systematic review was to carry out a critical analysis of the conception in using the term “soil quality” in recent publications derived from studies performed in Brazil. For this purpose, the terms [(“soil health” or “soil quality” or “qualidade do solo”) and (“Brazil*” or “Brasil*”)] were searched in databases of Web of Science, Scopus, and Scielo from 2014 to 2021. Initially, 1,284 peer-reviewed papers were found, subsequently selected according to the criteria established in two filters: (i) First filter - studies carried out in Brazil, which mentioned at least one of the terms of interest (“soil health” or “soil quality” or “qualidade do solo”) and that evaluated soil biological, physical or chemical indicators, assessing at least one of them; (ii) Second filter - studies in which all three groups of soil indicators were assessed and integrated, and presented a specific discussion about soil quality. According to the results, 36 % of the papers met the first criteria (n = 464), and only 2 % (n = 30) attended the second filter. The terms “soil health” or “soil quality” or “qualidade do solo” were mentioned 7 and 37 times per paper for those papers selected in the first and second filter, respectively. We evidenced in our study that the term soil quality in agricultural science papers has been predominantly used in a broad context, mostly to refer to the suitable soil conditions for plant growth. Thus, we concluded that even if the use of soil quality term is increasing in Brazilian literature, there are still very few researchers working specifically with soil quality assessments, in its full conception (i.e., integrating chemical, physical and biological indicators). Therefore, there is a promising research field to be explored to promote scientific advances in the soil quality area (e.g., new concepts, assessment frameworks, on-farm monitoring protocols), as well as disseminate the soil quality assessment among the Brazilian farmers, environmentalists, and other stakeholders.

Resumo O presente estudo busca caracterizar o funcionamento hidrológico de uma sub-bacia com cobertura de Mata Atlântica, localizada no Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar, núcleo Santa Virgínia. Para isso, foram monitorados entre os anos de 2008 e 2009, alguns processos hidrológicos: escoamento superficial, umidade do solo (0,15, 0,30, 0,50 e 0,90 metros de profundidade), transprecipitação, precipitação e vazão, através de nove parcelas de escoamento superficial, tensiômetros, pluviômetros comuns, pluviógrafo tipo báscula e calha tipo H, respectivamente. Com o intuito de elucidar os processos hidrológicos que geram escoamento direto, mediu-se a condutividade hidráulica do solo (Ksat) nas mesmas profundidades da umidade do solo, com a utilização de um permeâmetro de carga constante. Os resultados evidenciaram que em 2008, os valores de precipitação (P), interceptação (I), transpiração (T) e deflúvio (Q) foram de 1716 mm, 574 mm (33%), 461 mm (27%) e 681 mm (40%), ao passo que, em 2009, esses valores foram de, respectivamente, 3003 mm, 960 mm (32%), 610 mm (20,3%) e 1433 mm (48%). O predomínio de intensidades de chuva de 0 a 5 mm.h-1 e geralmente valores superiores de Ksat a 0,15 m de profundidade faz com que quase sua totalidade da se infiltre no solo. Como consequência, há uma baixa geração de escoamento superficial e os potenciais matriciais da água do solo próximos a zero são observados ao longo do ano. A maior precipitação apresentada em 2009 em relação a 2008 causou aumento significativo na precipitação interna, escoamento superficial e deflúvio diário elucidando a variabilidade temporal que anos mais úmidos podem provocar na dinâmica hidrológica de bacias cobertas por Mata Atlântica.

Abstract The present paper aimed to describe the hydrological functioning of a small catchment covered by the Atlantic rainforest within the State Park of Serra do Mar, Sao Paulo state, Brazil. To reach these goals, the hydrological processes were monitored during 2008 and 2009. The surface runoff, groundwater, streamflow, precipitation, net precipitation and soil water storage at 0.15m, 0.30m, 0.50m and 0.90m, were monitored through nine 2.25 m2 plots, tensiometer, tipping-bucket rain gauges, trough-type collectors and H-flume, respectively. Aiming to clarify the soil hydrological processes, the soil saturated hydraulic conductivity was measured in the field at the depths of water storage measurements using a constant head permeameter. For 2008, the annual precipitation (P) was 1716 mm. Interception losses accounted for 33% of the annual precipitation. The runoff coefficient was 40% of annual rainfall. For 2009, annual precipitation was 3003 mm. Approximately 32% of rainfall was intercepted. Runoff coefficient was 48% of annual rainfall. The predominance of low rainfall intensity (0 - 5 mm h-1) substantially below the Ksat median at 0.15 m allowed us to infer that the soil accommodates the majority of the rain events. This inference is corroborated by low surface runoff coefficients. The higher precipitation in 2009 caused a significant increase in throughfall, surface runoff, a daily flow relative to 2008, showing the temporal variability that high precipitation years promote on the hydrologic dynamic of catchments covered by the Atlantic Rainforest.

Resumo A Mata Atlântica, um dos ecossistemas mais ameaçados do planeta, reduzida atualmente a menos de 8% de sua cobertura original, necessita de atenção especial para sua melhor conservação. O objetivo do estudo foi comparar a capacidade de retenção de água do dossel vegetativo em uma microbacia coberta por Floresta Ombrófila Densa (Mata Atlântica), situada no Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar e outra com cobertura de Eucalyptus urophylla x Eucalyptus grandis em área próxima ao Parque. O monitoramento foi realizado nos anos de 2008 e 2009 através de pluviômetros e a retenção de água do dossel florestal foi avaliada a partir de regressões lineares entre a precipitação (PR) e a precipitação interna (TR). Os resultados mostraram que com exceção da interceptação na época “seca” que apresentou os menores coeficientes de determinação (R2), sendo de 77% no eucalipto e 82% na Mata Atlântica, as variáveis apresentaram bom ajuste com a precipitação incidente com coeficientes maiores de 90%. A microbacia de Mata Atlântica obteve maior capacidade de retenção de água das copas em relação ao eucalipto, em todo o período de estudo foi observado que precipitações inferiores a 5 mm na Mata Atlântica e 0,78 mm no Eucalipto são totalmente interceptadas pelo dossel florestal e o período úmido apresentou a maior capacidade de retenção de água, provavelmente pela maior regeneração vegetal nesta época, já que no período seco a queda das folhas pode diminuir a retenção.

Abstract The Atlantic rainforest is one of the most endangered ecosystems of our planet, this area presents only 8% of its original distribution, needs special attention to improve its conservation goals. This study aimed to compare the water retention capacity of the canopy in two watersheds an entirely covered by Atlantic Forest (Rain Forest), located in “Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar” and other covered with Eucalyptus urophylla x Eucalyptus grandis in an adjacent area. Monitoring was carried out in the years of 2008 and 2009 through rain gauges and the water retention of the forest canopy was evaluated from linear regressions between precipitation (PR) and internal elevation (TR). The results showed that, with the exception of interception in the “dry” season that presented the lowest coefficients of determination (R2), being 77% in the eucalypt and 82% in the Atlantic Forest, the variables presented a good fit with the incident precipitation, with higher coefficients of 90%. The Atlantic Forest showed higher retention capacity of water in relation to Eucalyptus, where rainfall lower than 5 mm in the Atlantic Forest and 0.78mm in eucalypt are fully intercepted by the forest canopy and the wet period presented the greatest water retention capacity, probably due to the greater vegetation regeneration at this time, since in the dry period the leaves fall can decrease the retention.

Site-specific height-diameter models may be used to improve biomass estimates for forest inventories where only diameter at breast height (DBH) measurements are available. In this study, we fit height-diameter models for vegetation types of a tropical Atlantic forest using field measurements of height across plots along an altitudinal gradient. To fit height-diameter models, we sampled trees by DBH class and measured tree height within 13 one-hectare permanent plots established at four altitude classes. To select the best model we tested the performance of 11 height-diameter models using the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). The Weibull and Chapman-Richards height-diameter models performed better than other models, and regional site-specific models performed better than the general model. In addition, there is a slight variation of height-diameter relationships across the altitudinal gradient and an extensive difference in the stature between the Atlantic and Amazon forests. The results showed the effect of altitude on tree height estimates and emphasize the need for altitude-specific models that produce more accurate results than a general model that encompasses all altitudes. To improve biomass estimation, the development of regional height-diameter models that estimate tree height using a subset of randomly sampled trees presents an approach to supplement surveys where only diameter has been measured.

A composição isotópica do carbono (delta13C) foi utilizada na determinação da origem botânica (C3 x C4) de amostras de café, vinho, cerveja e vodka, de diferentes marcas e procedências, comercializadas no Brasil. Dentre as marcas de café analisadas, apenas uma apresentou um elevado percentual de plantas C4 em sua composição, evidenciado pelo valor de delta13C (-16,2‰). Os valores de delta13C das amostras de vinhos brasileiros, variaram entre -25,1 e -17,1‰, indicando a presença de carbono de origem C4 nas amostras que tiveram os maiores valores de delta13C. Duas marcas de vinhos importados, por sua vez, apresentaram delta13C característico de planta C3 (-27,1 e -26,3‰). Os valores de delta13C das vodkas importadas variaram entre -26,4 e -23,9‰, e as brasileiras entre -12,8 e -11,8‰, excetuando-se uma marca que apresentou valor -23,1‰. As marcas de cervejas importadas, em sua maioria, apresentaram valores mais negativos (-27,3 a -20,7‰) que as nacionais (-25,9 a -18,4‰). Estes resultados evidenciam a eficiência desta metodologia na determinação da origem do C e percentual de mistura destas bebidas.

We used the carbon isotopic composition (delta13C) to determine the botanical origin (whether C3 or C4) of coffee, wine, beer and vodka samples from different brands and origins commercialized in Brazil. Only one coffee sample showed a delta13C typical of a mixture with C4 plants (delta13C -16.2‰). The Brazilian wine samples varied from delta13C -25.1 to -18.6‰, indicating the presence of carbon from C4 plants in samples with greater values, while the imported wine showed delta13C characteristic of C3 plants (-27.1 and -26.3‰). Imported vodka also showed delta13C typical of C3 plants (-26.4 and -23.9‰), while Brazilian counterparts were typically made from C4 plants (-12.8 to -11.8‰), except for one sample (23,1‰). Most of the imported beers showed more negative d13C (-27.3 to -20.7‰) than did the Brazilian beers (-25.9 to -18.4‰). These results demonstrate the method's efficiency for tracing the carbon origin and determining the extent of blending in beverages.