Global Biodiversity Threatened by Science Budget Cuts in Brazil

Overbeck, Gerhard Ernst; Bergallo, Helena Godoy; Grelle, Carlos Eduardo Viveiros; Akama, Alberto; Bravo, Freddy; Colli, Guarino R.; Magnusson, William E.; Tomás, Walfrido Moraes; Fernándes, G. Wilson

doi:10.1093/biosci/bix130

Cited by 34 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…A nefarious combination of rapid agribusiness and infrastructure development, illdesigned and poorly enforced environmental laws, alongside few incentives for research and conservation are engendering a major biodiversity collapse in the Cerrado (Alves et al 2018;Fernandes et al 2017;Overbeck et al 2018;Strassburg et al 2017). De Marco et al (2020) assessed species and landscape vulnerability for threatened species of Cerrado mammals.…”

Section: Synopsismentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity and conservation of the Cerrado: recent advances and old challenges

2020

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Background Covering about 2 Mio. km 2 by the arrival of the first European settlers, the Cerrado savannas are second in extent only to Amazonian forests amongst the South American biomes (Diniz et al. 2010; Eiten 1972; Oliveira and Marquis 2002). The Cerrado sits strategically at the centre of the continent, connecting two open vegetation biomes-the Chaco to the southwest and the Caatinga to the northeast-thus forming a diagonal corridor of dry habitats in South America, and simultaneously establishing a biogeographical barrier between two forest biomes-Amazonia to the northwest and the Atlantic Forest to the southeast (Schmidt and Inger 1951; Vanzolini 1963; Werneck 2011). Moreover, it also occurs as isolated patches within other biomes, presumably relicts of a more extensive past distribution (

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Section: Synopsismentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity and conservation of the Cerrado: recent advances and old challenges

2020

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“…We chose this specific sample for three main reasons. First, Brazil is a non-WEIRD country that plays an important role in mitigating environmental problems (Overbeck et al 2018;Strassburg et al 2017). Second, the NEP scale has been previously used with Brazilians, both in national studies and in large cross-cultural analyses of EA (Broomell et al 2015;Schultz et al 2014;Xiao and Dunlap 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measuring Brazilians’ environmental attitudes: A systematic review and empirical analysis of the NEP scale

2018

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The New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) scale is the most widely used instrument to assess environmental attitudes (EA). However, the validity of its use in developing countries has been overlooked. Considering the importance of Brazil for the future of the environment, we present two complementary studies to examine how the NEP scale has been used in Brazil, its validity to evaluate Brazilians' EA, and possible ways to improve this instrument. In the first study, we present a systematic review of studies that used the NEP scale (original and revised versions) with Brazilians. In the second study, we conduct an empirical analysis using the revised NEP scale. Results from both studies show that the NEP scale's factorial structure can be influenced by the items' positive and negative wording, Brazilians hold medium-high pro-EA, and that the scale presents low internal consistency. Study 1 showed that the scale's convergent, predictive, and known-group validity differs across studies. In Study 2, the revised NEP scale was significantly associated with connectedness to nature, proenvironmental behavior, gender, and political ideology. These results support its convergent, predictive, and known-group validity. We conclude that the validity of using the NEP scale with Brazilians is questionable and discuss ways of improving this instrument.

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“…To secure our biodiversity and the services provided by natural ecosystems and to advance in conservation, we need more field sampling of our ecosystems, and we need qualified people to do so. Unfortunately, the current public funding situation in sciences is not favorable for better knowledge of Brazil's biodiversity, or for training of young scientists, which likely will jeopardize conservation goals (Fernandes et al 2017;Overbeck et al 2018a). We hope that records such as the one presented here will also contribute to public awareness of biodiversity and to policy.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 93%

Plant species richness record in Brazilian Pampa grasslands and implications

et al. 2018

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Species richness remains one of the most valuable type of information for biodiversity conservation. Here, we report a plant richness record in the Brazilian Pampa. We found 56 vascular plant species in a single plot of 1 9 1 m in a privately owned grazed grassland in a region with shallow soils. This number is considerably higher than common species numbers in similar surveys and highlights the high plant diversity in South Brazilian grasslands. We take our record as an opportunity to reflect on some issues of high importance if we wish to reach conservation goals: much of the biodiversity is inside private lands, and these should be more in the focus of conservation efforts; field research, especially quantitative sampling, continues to be essential to improve knowledge on biodiversity and its distribution patterns; training biologists to be able to carry out biodiversity assessments and to interpret the results should be a key issue for universities. We hope that the communication of this record will encourage new scientific discoveries and raise social interest about the conservation of grasslands in South Brazil.

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Global Biodiversity Threatened by Science Budget Cuts in Brazil

Cited by 34 publications

References 9 publications

Biodiversity and conservation of the Cerrado: recent advances and old challenges

Biodiversity and conservation of the Cerrado: recent advances and old challenges

Measuring Brazilians’ environmental attitudes: A systematic review and empirical analysis of the NEP scale

Plant species richness record in Brazilian Pampa grasslands and implications

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