Quality of life of professors of higher education community institutions in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil (74.8 ± 1.3 and 75.7 ± 2.1, respectively) and the lowest in the environmental field (69.4 ±1.0 and 70.8 ± 1.8). The conclusion reached was that the quality of life of the professors was considered good in the fields analyzed. There was no significant statistical difference among them.

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The regional knowledge of species diversity and distribution is important to support conservation strategies for species and their habitats. The main goal of this work is to present a checklist of Odonata species in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, as well as their known locations in the municipalities. The preparation of the list was based in data gathered from collections of Museu de Ciências da Universidade do Vale do Taquari (UNIVATES), Laboratório de Ecologia e Evolução da Universidade do Vale do Taquari (UNIVATES), Museu de Ciências Naturais da Fundação Zoootânica, Museu de Zoologia da Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS) plus data extracted from 65 publications and the sites SpeciesLink, All Odonata and Puget Sound University. A total of 182 Odonata species were recorded, spanning nine families and 57 genera. The most representative family was Libellulidae (80 species) followed by Coenagrionidae (41 species) and seven species are new records for Rio Grande do Sul. The list of species presented here is a significant advance compared to previous counts for Rio Grande do Sul, however, our list is by no means a final one. Some regions of the state remain poorly explored, such as the border to Uruguay also in the northernmost part of the state. Several families remain poorly sampled, especially those that inhabit small forested streams and probably there are many specimens which are not cataloged and identified yet in scientific collections, both in the state and in the country.

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Litterfall plays an important role in nutrient cycling and maintenance of soil fertility in terrestrial ecosystems. We gauged the effects of anthropogenic impacts on the production, decomposition and seasonality of litterfall in primary and secondary forests within a tropical landscape of the Brazilian Amazon. We hypothesized that leaf litter quantity and quality would differ in line with forest disturbance and that these changes would translate into dissimilar decomposition rates. If proved, these processes could be used as surrogates for indentifying the ecological status of forest habitats. The obtained results have shown that, in the study area litterfall is reduced and litter decomposition is braked in disturbed habitats when compared with primary and recovered secondary forests. Also, within similar climatic conditions, the litter production and decomposition rates begin to stabilize in mature secondary forests. Our results represent a useful contribution to understand the dynamics of the litterfall and litter decomposition processes in the neotropics. Both processes were correlated and sensitive to disturbance gradients and should used as forest recovery indicators in ecological monitoring and ecological restoration studies.

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fragmentos florestais vem contribuindo para a diminuição da diversidade biológica, em função da perda de micro-habitats únicos, mudanças nos padrões de dispersão e migração, isolamento de habitats e erosão do solo. A solução desses problemas está intimamente vinculada ao planejamento e manutenção de bacias hidrográficas. A sub-bacia do Arroio Jacaré, localizada no Vale do Taquari, RS, compreende uma área de 538,98 km², onde estão parcial ou totalmente inseridos nove municípios. Essa bacia se encontra em uma região de ecótono entre as formações vegetais do tipo Floresta Estacional Decidual (FED) e Floresta Ombrófila Mista -Mata de Araucária (FOM). Foram elaboradas e analisadas informações relacionadas às características estruturais das classes de mata na região (FED, FOM e vegetação secundária), utilizando-se imagem do satélite Landsat 7 ETM + , referente à passagem 04/02/2002 e software de Sistemas de Informações Geográficas (SIG) Idrisi, 3.2, software de Ecologia de Paisagem Fragstats 3.3. Os resultados indicaram que a região apresenta aproximadamente 50% de suas matas nativas conservadas ou em estágio de regeneração, porém de forma altamente fragmentada, com 87,82% dos fragmentos menores que 1 ha. Considerando um efeito de borda de 50 m, em torno de 40% dos fragmentos ainda apresentam área nuclear.Palavras-chave: Uso e cobertura do solo, Sistemas de Informação Geográfica (SIG) e índices de ecologia de paisagem. LANDSCAPE COMPOSITION AND CONFIGURATION OF JACARÉ STREAM SUB-BASIN, TAQUARI VALLEY, RS, WITH EMPHASIS ON THE FOREST AREAS ABSTRACT -The conversion of continuous forest coverage areas into forest fragments has contributed to the decrease of the biological diversity due to the micro-habitat loss, changes in dispersion and migration patterns, habitats' isolation and soil erosion. The solution for those problems is intimately linked to the planning and maintenance of hydrographic basins. Jacaré's stream sub-basin is located in Taquari Valley