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How To Feed Brazil, Anna Katherine Brawner

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Comparing Capabilities Of Shewanella Oneidensis Mr-1 And The Microbial Community Of Iron Caves To Reduce Fe(Iii), Aaron Douglas Pham

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Caves are generally formed by the erosion and/or dissolution of rock and its subsequent removal by water. Iron ore caves (IOCs) form despite being hosted by relatively insoluble and weathering-resistant rock. Due to the discovery of a microbial community behind the walls of these caves, it was hypothesized that these bacteria could be responsible for speleogenesis. Iron ore exists in an oxidized (Fe(III)) state, but reduced (Fe(II)) form is soluble. It was further reasoned that the bacteria might be able to reduce Fe(III) through direct metabolic activity, which uses iron as an electron acceptor. Here we show that cave microorganisms …

The Intersection Of Deforestation And Economic Growth In The Brazilian Amazon, Victoria Oceguera

Student Theses 2015-Present

Abstract

As a result of capital gain, deforestation of the Amazon in Brazil continues. Brazilian government's insufficient efforts to mitigate and enforce the preservation of these precious forests has ledto the commodification of the Amazon. Chapter 1 uses historical and quantitative data to examine the negative impacts of deforestation on indigenous communities and climate change. Chapter2 employs economics to analyze the role of business as a crucial component of deforestation in Brazil. Chapter 3 engages politics in Brazil to discuss interactions between key actors involved in the perpetuation of deforestation. Chapter 3 examines the interactions between politics and corruption involved …

The Use Of Geospatial Modeling And Novel Diagnostics To Detect And Map Risk Factors Of Soil-Transmitted Helminths In Feira De Santana, Brazil, Ryan Harry Avery

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections impact billions of people worldwide. The traditional STH control approach is a morbidity control strategy implementing mass drug administration (MDA) programs targeting school-aged children (SAC). In Brazil, this control strategy has decreased STH prevalence to less than 20% in most of the country and providing an opportunity to transition from the morbidity control program and towards a surveillance and response system geared towards STH elimination. Surveillance and response systems geared towards elimination require the implementation higher accuracy diagnostics to detect infection in low-transmission communities, surveillance of entire households, high-resolution modeling at the household-habitat scale, and targeted …

Multi-Locus Phylogenetic Inference Of The Howler Monkey (Alouatta) Radiation In South America., Esmeralda Ferreira

Dissertations and Theses

Abstract

Howler monkeys (Alouatta) are the most widely distributed New World primates, ranging from southern Mexico to northern Argentina. They occur in tropical rain forests, flooded and gallery forests, and deciduous and semi-deciduous environments. Despite their importance as seed dispersers, howlers have also been known to be ecological indicators. Available phylogenetic hypotheses for this genus have used chromosomal characters, morphological characteristics, and a limited number of molecular markers and specimens. In spite of these analyses, branching patterns among howler species lineages conflict between studies or remain unresolved. Using 14 unlinked non-coding intergenic nuclear regions under both a concatenated …

The Effects Of Tree Plantations And Land Use On Natural Regeneration Of Woody Plants In The Tropics: Diversity, Species Composition, Successional Dynamics, And Functional Traits, John Benjamin Longworth

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

As anthropogenic forests become more common in the tropics, there is a greater need to understand the factors that impact forest succession. I used censuses of woody plants in successional forests to study the effects of prior land use and tree plantations on species composition and richness. First, I tested the hypothesis that communities originating from different land uses were converging in species composition over time. I compared species composition using the Chao-Jaccard similarity index. I observed shifts in the dominant species during the first 30 years of succession, but not convergence of species composition in sites with different land-use …

Evaluation Of The Brazilian Agrarian Reform Objective: Agricultural Production Yield Change, Tiffany Kwader Harbour

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Brazil has an active agrarian reform policy program, publicly organized by the federal government and publicly administered at the state level by the National Institute for Colonization and Agrarian Reform. The objective of the agrarian reform policy program is to retitle unproductive and underproductive rural lands to increase agricultural production and land use. Previous agrarian reform researchers have examined quantities of land redistributed, rural technology developments, and the impact of social movements on land redistribution, but a knowledge gap remains regarding the correlation of agricultural production yields in rural municipalities before and after policy program participation. The State of Ceará …

Ecology, Behavior And Taxonomy Of Anurans From Brazil's Atlantic Forest, Rodrigio Barbosa Ferreira

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Anura is a diverse group with more than 7382 species described, which represents 88% of the species belonging to the Class Amphibia. Anurans are among the first organisms to be affected by environmental stressors, so when they show decline in the wild, it is a warning to other species, including humans. It is alarming that one-third of the world’s anurans are facing extinction. Following the same trend, a substantive portion of the 988 recognized species of the Atlantic Forest have suffered population declines and local extinctions, attributed primarily to habitat changes.

Despite the unique life history characteristics that make amphibians …

Biogeographical Patterns, Ecological Drivers, And Evolutionary Mechanisms Of Plant Invasions, Rafael Dudeque Zenni

Doctoral Dissertations

Understanding and predicting organisms’ responses to novel environments is a key issue for global change biology. In this dissertation, I study biogeographical patterns of plant invasions in Brazil, explore some of their ecological drivers, and disentangle the gene-level mechanisms that cause introduced organisms to become successful or failed invaders. I found that, for the invasive flora of Brazil, species were not introduced to new regions at random and that a species’ reason for introduction and continent of origin were associated. Asian ornamental and African forage plants are overrepresented, and two families (Poaceae and Fabaceae) dominate the invasive flora of Brazil. …

Price Impacts Of Increased Peruvian Table Grape Supply, Jacob W. Iest

Open Access Theses

In the last decade, Peru has begun to structure its economy and complete infrastructure projects to promote agricultural export growth. Bolstered by the signing of the Peru Trade Promotion Agreement (PTPA) with the U.S., table grape production has increased significantly since 2006. Peru has a climatic advantage for a quality harvest from November to March, which overlaps the end of the U.S. growing season. With this supply increase expected to continue, U.S. producers and marketers question the effect Peru will have on "late-season" table grape prices in North America.

This thesis is a study of the effects of an increase …

Exchange Rate Volatility Effects On Brics Countries Exports, David Isaias Maradiaga Pineda

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The leaders of the leading emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) claim that increased currency exchange rate volatility (CERV) from USD, EUR, and JPY (G-3) negatively impacts their exports, and expressed their desire for less trade dependence on these currencies. The literature on the impact of CERV on trade is vast. However, no consensus on the impact’s direction and significance has been reached yet. The motivation of this study was: first, to contribute to the existing empirical literature by using an alternative methodology; and second, to provide empirical evidence to the claim’s validity or nullity by …

Transcending Microbial Source Tracking Techniques Across Geographic Borders: An Examination Of Human And Animal Microbiomes And The Integration Of Molecular Approaches In Pathogen Surveillance In Brazil And The United States, Amber Mae Koskey

Theses and Dissertations

Waterborne illnesses, attributed to the ingestion or contact with contaminated water, present a significant global health concern. Surface water sources can be impacted by wide array of pollution inputs, but fecal pollution generates the most significant and acute threat to human health. Therefore, the detection of fecal bacteria in surface water sources remains an important public health objective. Current surface water monitoring employs the use of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) including E. coli and enterococci as proxies for pathogenic organisms carried in fecal pollution. These traditional indicators, detected by culture-based microbiological methods, do not discriminate fecal sources from another. New …

Coexistence Of Sympatric Taxa Of Chamaecrista Section Xerocalyx: Addressing The Interplay Between Morphology And Biotic Interactions, Beatriz Baker-Méio

Dissertations

Animal-plant interactions may prevent gene flow and promote divergent selection among closely related plants, ultimately leading to formation of new species. This may be the case for Chamaecrista sect. Xerocalyx, in which two or more of the 24 varieties often are encountered in the same area, with marked morphological and phenological differences among them. Over a broad geographical range, however, the morphological gaps among varieties disappear. Several biotic interactions contribute to the fitness of Chamaecrista species. Their flowers are pollinated by bees, and herbivores attack their leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds. In addition, all species produce extrafloral nectar, which …

Bringing Biodiversity To Development: Perceptions Of Integrating Eucalyptus And Forest-Corridors Around The Serra Do Brigadeiro, Brazil, Maggie R Stevens

Masters Theses

The Atlantic Forest of south-eastern Brazil is a hot-spot for biodiversity and should be conserved. It is also at the center of the largest municipalities in Brazil and therefore has a severely fragmented landscape. Iracambi, a working farm near the Serra do Brigadeiro state park in Minas Gerais, is working for conservation in an area of intense agricultural production and expanding forestry industry. Most households in this rural area have some amount of eucalyptus on their property and consequently the director of Iracambi is developing the preliminary foundation for a forest corridor program comprised of primarily eucalyptus with the goal …

Vitamin A Status, Anthropometric Measurements, And Food Practices Of Women Of Childbearing Age And Their Preschool Children In Northeast Brazil, Susan Ahlstrom Henderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Vitamin A nutrition status was evaluated in 110 pairs of women and their preschool children at rural health posts in two different ecological regions of Northeast Brazil. Serum retinol and carotene, weight, height, tricep skinfold and mid-arm circumference were measured from each mother and child. Nutrition knowledge of mothers, socioeconomic living conditions and consumption of retinol and carotene food sources were assessed.

Nine children (8 percent) and one mother had less than acceptable serum retinol (less than 20 μg/dl). Additionally, 21 percent of the children and six percent of the mothers had "low" serum carotene levels. Thirty-seven percent and 57 …

Small Farmers' Cooperatives In Brazil, 1964-1984 Reasons For Success Or Failure, Henry H. Gerber

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

This study is concerned with cooperative business enterprises of small farmers. The topic has been chosen because peasants' association in supply and marketing cooperatives is considered an essential element in rural development. The author's field experience leads him to agree in principle with this assumption. But, as exemplified by Brazil, a variety of factors (ecological, sociohistorical, legal, economic and so forth) may hinder or help the inception and survival of cooperatives.

Thus, if a government aims at integrating the small producer into the national economy as supplier and consumer (as in Brazil), measures to implement t~is policy must not be …

The Acarau Valley In Northeast Brazil: Vegetation, Soils And Land Use., Joao Stacishin De Queiroz

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The purpose of this study was to describe and characterize the principal kinds of land in the mid-portion of the Acarau Valley, Ceara State, Northeast Brazil. The specific aims were: (1) to develop a specific-purpose soil classification; (2) to investigate vegetation-environment relationships; (3) to develop hypotheses about short-term vegetation dynamics; and (4) to evaluate the usefulness of computer processed multispectral-scanner (MSS) data for mapping rangeland resources in Northeast Brazil.

Fifty-one soil profiles were described and ocular estimates of vegetation cover by species were made at each subjectively selected site. Two Landsat scenes were used to assess the usefulness of MSS …