Movement of livestock production within a country or region has implications for genetics, adaptation, well-being, nutrition, and production logistics, particularly in continental-sized countries, such as Brazil. Cattle production in Brazil from 1977 to 2011 was spatialized, and the annual midpoint of production was calculated. Changes in the relative production and acceleration of production were calculated and spatialized using ARCGIS®. Cluster and canonical discriminant analyses were performed to further highlight differences between regions in terms of cattle production. The mean production point has moved from the Center of Minas Gerais State (in the southeast region) to the North of Goiás State (in the Midwest region). This reflects changes in environmental factors, such as pasture type, temperature and humidity. Acceleration in production in the northern region of Brazil has remained strong over the years. More recently, “traditional” cattle-rearing regions, such as the south and southeast, showed a reduction in growth rates as well as a reduction in herd size or internal migration over the period studied. These maps showed that this movement tends to be gradual, with few regions showing high acceleration or deceleration rates.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the distribution of sheep breeds in Brazil, correlate their occurrence with environmental factors and determine their risk for extinction.

Abstract:Sheep production is present on all continents and has been practiced in Brazil since the colonization. In this study, the multitemporal dynamics of sheep production in Brazil is examined using official government data (Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics-IBGE) from 1976 to 2010. Maps of flock growth rates and growth acceleration maps by municipality were elaborated. The Southern states are seen to show a reduction in production mainly due to the wool crisis in the 1970s and 80s. The Northeast is seen to be important for meat production. More recently, centerwest and northern states have shown an increase in growth rates but this is still incipient. The maps of growth, acceleration and midpoint for sheep production showed a noticeable return to an increase in production in the South in recent years. The midpoint of production flow was in the northeast direction, which has stagnated. There was great dynamics in sheep production over the whole Brazilian territory, which affected supply chains due to the expansion of domestic and

ABSTRACT.Paranã river basin has one of the major fragments of Decidual Seasonal Forest in Brazil. This vegetation is widely fragmented due to the selective wood exploitation and the growth of pasture areas, what justifies the development of studies in order to understand its dynamics and preserve its diversity. Thus, the present study aimed at defining a method for regional identification of the Deciduous Forest in the Paranã river basin. The deciduous forest has a typical phenological cycle in comparison with other savanna physiognomies. Due these characteristics, a temporal series of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) images of the MODIS sensor was used for its detection. The adopted methodology may be subdivided into the following steps: (a) elaboration of the 3D cube of NDVI images, where the z profile corresponding to temporal signature or NDVI spectrum, (b) noise elimination using the Minimum Noise Fraction ( RESUMO.A bacia hidrográfica do rio Paranã possui um dos maiores fragmentos da Floresta Estacional Decidual no Brasil, também chamada de Mata Seca. Esse tipo de vegetação apresenta-se bastante fragmentada principalmente pela exploração seletiva de madeira e ampliação deáreas destinadasà pastagem, o que torna necessário estudos para compreensão de sua dinâmica e manutenção de sua diversidade, cuja floraé muitas vezes endêmica. Nesse sentido, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo definir um método de identificação regional da Mata Seca na bacia hidrográfica do rio Paranã. Devido ao comportamento sazonal desse tipo de vegetação foi utilizada na sua detecção uma seqüência temporal de imagens doíndice NDVI do sensor MODIS. A metodologia pode ser subdividida nas seguintes etapas: (a) confecção de um cubo 3D relativoà série de imagens temporais doíndice NVDI, (b) tratamento do ruído presente no espectro do NDVI multitemporal utilizando o método Minimum Noise Fraction (MNF) e (c) análise do espectro do NDVI multitemporal com a formulação de umíndice com o propósito de realçar a presença da Mata Seca. A Mata Seca apresenta um comportamento espectral do NDVI multitemporal típico com os valores mais altos naépoca de chuva e mais baixos naépoca de estiagem, diferenciando-se dos demais tipos de vegetação. O método de detecção de mudança pela subtração permitiu realçara a localização da ocorrência de Mata Seca. Desta forma, a metodologia adotada mostrou-se eficaz para a delimitação regional da Mata Seca.Palavras-chave: Mata Seca, MODIS, NDVI, detecção de mudança, análise multitemporal.

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ABSTRACT. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship between environmental and genetic values for milk production and type traits in Holstein cattle in Brazil. The genetic value of 65,383 animals for milk production and 53,626 for type classification were available. Socioeconomic and environmental data were obtained from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Institute of Meteorology. Five to six clusters were generated for each of the groups of type traits and production levels. The relationships between these traits were assessed using the STEPDISC, DISCRIM and CANDISC procedures in SAS ® . Traits within the clusters behaved differently, but, in general, animals with lower genetic values were found in environments that were more stressful for animal production. These differences were mainly associated with temperature, humidity, precipitation and the Normalized Difference Vegetative Index. Genetic values for milk 9807 ©FUNPEC-RP www.funpecrp.com.br Genetics and Molecular Research 13 (4): 9806-9816 (2014) Georeferenced genetic patterns for Holsteins in Brazil production showed best discrimination between different environments, while type traits showed poor discrimination, possibly because farmers mainly select for milk production. Environmental variations for genetic values in dairy cattle in Brazil should be further examined.

The expansion of agricultural frontiers in Brazil has caused substantial changes in land use and land cover. This research aims to analyze the space-time dynamics of soybeans and cattle production in the Brazilian territory during the period 1991–2015. The spatial analysis adopted the following procedures: (a) The change vector from the annual calculation of the midpoint of production; (b) mapping of the growth and acceleration rates of the two productions, and (c) mapping of the correlation between the time series of soybean and cattle. The results showed high rates of growth and acceleration for soy production in the South, Central-West and Matopiba regions. The growth acceleration rate identified the long-term deviations that characterized the effective soybean and cattle expansion areas. The results demonstrated the effects of Brazil’s soy moratorium contained soybean expansion into the Amazon region. However, as a side effect, the soybean production replaced cattle production in the savanna region, which in turn, migrated to the Amazon rainforest. Therefore, the present study highlights the importance of public policies that comprehensively understand the spatial-temporal dynamics of Brazilian agriculture to promote sustainable land-use practices.

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