Resumo Apesar de seus impactos ambientais negativos, ambientes modificados pelo homem, como paisagens agrícolas e urbanas, podem ter um papel relevante na conservação da biodiversidade como complementos de áreas protegidas. Tais paisagens antropizadas podem ter espécies ameaçadas, valiosas e incômodas, embora a maioria delas não se enquadre em nenhuma dessas categorias. Portanto, em tais ambientes devemos lidar com o mesmo processo de tomada de decisão sobre as mesmas possíveis intervenções propostas por Caughley (1994) para o manejo da vida selvagem, que estão relacionadas à conservação biológica, uso sustentável, controle/coexistência e monitoramento. Esse processo de tomada de decisão deve ser baseado em boa ciência e boa governança. Neste contexto, o primeiro passo deverá ser a implementação de paisagens multifuncionais, que mantenham a sua missão primordial de uso humano, mas que incorporem uma segunda, mas fundamental missão de conservação biológica. Neste estudo apresentamos um resumo das pesquisas realizadas no Programa Biota da Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) neste campo desde o final da década de 1990 e propomos prioridades para pesquisa e governança da biodiversidade em paisagens multifuncionais para o futuro próximo.

Abstract: Despite their negative environmental impacts, human-modified environments such as agricultural and urban landscapes can have a relevant role on biodiversity conservation as complements of protected areas. Such anthropized landscapes may have endangered, valuable, and nuisance species, although most of them do not fit in any of these categories. Therefore, in such environments we must deal with the same decision-making process concerning the same possible interventions proposed by Caughley (1994) to wildlife management, which are related to biological conservation, sustainable use, control/coexistence, and monitoring. Such decision-making process should be based on good science and good governance. On such context, the first step should be to implement multifunctional landscapes, which keep their primary mission of human use, but incorporate a second but fundamental mission of biological conservation. In this study we present a summary of the research carried out at the Biota Program of Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) in this field since the late 1990's and propose priorities for biodiversity research and governance in multifunctional landscapes for the near future.

The Cerrado is threatened by wildfires and invasive species. We aimed to evaluate in laboratory conditions whether temperature fluctuation at the soil surface, resulting from the absence of vegetation due to fire, can affect the germination of Urochloa decumbens and U. brizantha, two invasive African grasses. Seeds of both species were submitted to simulations: 1) temperature during fire at 1cm belowground (F); 2) temperature fluctuation at 1cm belowground without vegetation cover for a month (TF); 3) (F) + (TF); 4) control at 25ºC. After treatments, seeds were put to germinate at 25ºC for 40 days. We had four replicates per treatment and three temporal replicates. We compared germination percentage and the mean germination time among treatments using ANOVA. The treatments TF and F+TF had the highest germination values for both species. The results showed that fire per se could not stimulate seed germination, however, they suggest that a disturbance that produces a pattern of temperature fluctuation is able to break dormancy and enhance seed germination and, consequently, increase the invasiveness of the study species. Vegetation gaps resulting from disturbance may become new sites of invasion. This information is important for making management decisions regarding the control of these species.

Biological invasions have negative impacts on native biota and consequently on biodiversity. In patches of Atlantic Forest in Brazil, the Australian palm tree Archontophoenix cunninghamiana has become invasive, whereas the endemic palm Euterpe edulis is threatened with extinction. The two species occupy parts of the same functional niche within the forests, which raises a question: Does the invasive species interfere with the recruitment of the native one when the two co-occur? We compared the initial demographic stages of these palms, and assumed that A. cunninghamiana would present better performance (higher rates of germination and seed viability) and would feature allelopathic properties that could influence the recruitment of the native species. We investigated indirect and direct allelopathic interference, respectively, by watering E. edulis seeds with aqueous leachate solutions of A. cunninghamiana fruits and leaves and by conducting combined germination experiments. The leachate solutions neither inhibited germination nor affected the size of E. edulis seedlings. In the direct interference experiments, depulped A. cunninghamiana seeds had higher viability and germination rates than did E. edulis seeds. In E. edulis, exposure to A. cunninghamiana seeds did not affect germination nor seedling development but slightly decreased germination speed. In conclusion, A. cunninghamiana presented no significant allelopathic impediment to E. edulis establishment. However, because A. cunninghamiana seeds are usually depulped when dispersed by birds, the potential of the species to establish itself in the community surpasses that of E. edulis. We propose management strategies to enhance E. edulis performance and to restrict the spread of A. cunninghamiana.

A lei do Crédito Rural (CR) e o Novo Código Florestal (NCF) nasceram em 1965 e, ao contrário do que se poderia supor, tinham o objetivo comum de incrementar a produtividade agropecuária. Entretanto, o CR não exige o cumprimento do NCF e nem das obrigações tributárias e previdenciárias, o que prioriza os retornos econômicos em detrimento da conservação ambiental e do desenvolvimento social rural.

The Rural Credit (RC) law and the New Forest Code (NFC) were both born in 1965 and, contrarily to what one might suppose, they shared the common goal of increasing agricultural productivity. However, the RC neither requires compliance with NFC nor with tributary and social security laws, what takes economic returns as priority against environmental conservation and rural social development.

Invasões biológicas são uma ameaça à manutenção da diversidade biológica, especialmente em fragmentos de hábitat pequenos e isolados. Este trabalho reporta a invasão da Reserva Florestal da Cidade Universitária "Armando de Salles Oliveira" (23º34' S e 46º43' W), um pequeno (10 ha) fragmento florestal, por uma palmeira nativa da Austrália, através da descrição dos padrões espaciais, estrutura de tamanhos e aspectos dinâmicos de sua população. Indivíduos adultos (DAP > 25 cm) se distribuem por grande parte da Reserva. Entre as árvores com DAP > ou = 9,5 cm, em uma área de 2,1 ha, A. cunninghamiana foi a espécie com maior densidade, com 305 indivíduos (22,5% do total). A espécie esteve ausente em locais com histórico recente de perturbação antrópica, sugerindo preferência por estabelecimento em locais sombreados. A análise da estrutura de tamanhos indica um aumento futuro da densidade relativa da espécie. Plântulas (com folhas pinatissectas, sem caule lignificado) não ocorreram em apenas três de 87 parcelas de 10 m x 10 m estudadas, e jovens (com caule lignificado) com DAP < 9,5 cm não ocorreram em 19 delas. Dois levantamentos com 2,5 anos de intervalo (DAP > ou = 9,5 cm) mostraram a morte de três dos 154 indivíduos iniciais e o recrutamento de mais 89, levando a um crescimento populacional de 19,4%.ano-1, muito elevado se comparado com dados da literatura. A grande densidade já alcançada pela invasora, assim como a tendência de aumento dessa densidade, pedem por ações de manejo que visem a reversão deste processo de invasão.

Biological invasions are a threat to the maintenance of biological diversity, especially in small, isolated habitat fragments. This work reports the invasion of the Reserve of the Cidade Universitária "Armando de Salles Oliveira" (23º34' S, 46º43' W), a small (10 ha) forest fragment, by a palm native of Australia, describing spatial patterns, size structure and dynamic features of its population. Adult individuals (DBH > 25 cm) occur in a large portion of the Reserve. In a 2.1 ha area inside the Reserve, A. cunninghamiana was the species with the highest density among trees with DBH > or = 9.5 cm, with 305 individuals (22.5% of total). The species was absent from sites with a recent history of human disturbance, suggesting preference for establishment in shady sites. The size structure analysis indicates a future increase in the relative density of the species. Seedlings (with pinatissect leaves, without woody stem) were absent from only three out of 87 studied quadrats (10 m x 10 m) and juveniles (with woody stem) with DBH < 9.5 cm were absent from 19 quadrats. Two surveys with a 2.5 years interval (DBH > or = 9.5 cm) showed the death of three of the initial 154 individuals and the recruitment of 89 more, leading to a population growth of 19.4%.year-1, very high in comparison with literature data. The high density already achieved by the invader and its tendency to increase even more call for management actions in order to reverse the invasion process.