Geraldo Ceni Coelho

Introduction: Obesity is associated with impaired glucose homeostasis. Exercise is a primary non-pharmacological intervention, whereas the effects of roasted yerba mate combined with prolonged exercise remain poorly understood. Objective: To investigate the isolated and combined effects of roasted yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis) and prolonged swimming on body composition, muscle function, and glucose metabolism in obese mice. Methodology: Forty male Swiss Webster mice received a cafeteria diet for 30 days and were randomly assigned to five groups: control, obese sedentary, obese sedentary with yerba mate, obese swimming, and obese swimming with yerba mate. Yerba mate infusion was administered for 30 days, and swimming was performed for 60 minutes daily, five days per week. Assessments included dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, the inverted grid test, and fasting glucose and insulin measurements. Results: The swimming groups showed the lowest body weights, while body fat percentage did not differ among obese groups. Only the combined intervention differed from the obese sedentary group in fat-free mass, fasting glucose, and insulin, with values comparable to controls. All interventions reduced insulin resistance. No intervention improved inverted grid test performance. Discussion: Reduced insulin resistance was consistent with previous rodent studies of yerba mate, despite the lower dose used. The absence of functional improvements may be related to the aerobic nature of swimming. Conclusions: Roasted yerba mate combined with prolonged swimming was associated with a more favorable glycemic profile and lower insulin resistance in obese mice. Further studies should investigate muscle quality and the underlying mechanisms.

Agroforestry systems are frequently proposed to boost soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks, but responses vary widely across environmental conditions and system types. We conducted a global meta-analysis to quantify the effect of agroforestry on SOC and to evaluate how abiotic and structural factors modulate this response. We compiled 73 studies with 463 paired comparisons and 852 independent observations across 29 countries, published between 2015 and 2025. On average, agroforestry increased SOC by 11.4% compared with all control systems, with considerable heterogeneity (I² = 81.6%). Agroforestry systems with trees integrated into crop production showed the largest gains compared with annual croplands, whereas silvopastoral systems and hedgerows showed no significant difference from their respective controls. Soil depth was the most consistent moderator, with a progressive reduction in the agroforestry effect along the soil profile, while greater system age and more favorable edaphic attributes promoted stronger positive responses. Structural equation modeling confirmed that soil depth and system age directly determine SOC. Climatic and topographic variables affected SOC indirectly, through the structural development of systems. Linear mixed models in silvopastoral systems showed that mean annual precipitation (MAP) and mean annual temperature (MAT) positively affected SOC stocks, whereas altitude negatively affected SOC stocks, indicating greater sensitivity of these systems to climatic and topographic conditions. These results demonstrate that agroforestry's potential to increase SOC is not uniform and depends on system type, environmental context, and soil depth, supporting context-specific approaches to carbon estimates and climate policies.

Functional traits mediate resource acquisition and environmental tolerance, influencing community structure and ecosystem functioning. Here, we assessed the correlation between climatic factors and altitude with the spatial distribution of tree functional traits in the Subtropical Atlantic Forest (SAF). We compiled the information on tree communities in 83 inventories, assessing functional traits (spinescence, extrafloral nectaries (EFN), wood density, symbiotic fixation of nitrogen (SFN), deciduousness, leaf area, leaf border and leaf apex types) of 859 species and calculated the community‐weighted mean (CWM) trait values. We used the RLQ multivariate and fourth‐corner methods to relate the CWM to the climate variables and altitude. Deciduousness, SFN, leaves with toothed/serrated (not smooth) border, spinescence and leaf area were more significantly associated with climatic drivers. Spinescence and toothed leaf border were positively associated with colder and rainier regions. In turn, the occurrence of EFN increases with temperature seasonality. Deciduousness and SFN were mainly associated with higher diurnal and annual temperature ranges and isothermality. SFN is also correlated with precipitation seasonality. Larger leaf area values are associated with more favourable climates for carbon acquisition, that is, without extreme colder temperatures and lower temperature variation. The association between leaf deciduousness and SFN with daily and annual temperature variation may help to cope with abiotic conditions unfavourable to photosynthesis. In turn, to the extent that it is associated with hydathodes, toothed leaves are possibly important in hydric equilibria in cold and humid conditions. However, the association of spinescence with cold and rainy climates was unexpected. In the absence of severe aridity, the coldest climates are possibly the most limiting for primary productivity in the SAF, favouring conservative traits such as spines. The results suggest that the expression of traits in forest communities in southern Brazil is driven by climate, especially temperature variables, which may imply differences in ecosystem functioning in the region.

Planting seedlings remains the most popular method of forest restoration, but passive restoration may become a new promise to reduce costs, despite concerns about its efficacy. Here, we present a study of a riparian forest recovery program in the Southern Atlantic Forest, Brazil. The objective was to compare planting seedlings and passive restoration eight years since restoration started and assess the influence of cattle presence in the restoring areas. We analyzed the structure, diversity, and composition of the woody community in the upper (canopy) and lower strata (understory) versus six environmental variables, including edaphic, landscape and geographical variables, restoration method (planting seedlings versus passive restoration), presence of cattle inside the restoration areas, and presence of adjacent crop plantations. Passive restoration generated a more diverse woody community and a higher proportion of climax and zoochoric species in the lower stratum than active restoration. Cattle presence was significantly associated with lower species richness and density of plants, as well as a higher proportion of pioneer species and low proportion of zoochoric and climax species. The results suggest that cattle can delay forest succession, besides reducing diversity. Passive restoration should be considered suitable for the region, and the efficiency of cattle exclusion needs to be improved.

Meliponinae eusocial bees are among the most important pollinators in the Neotropics and their beekeeping has been growing as both recreational and economic activity. Information on the pollen preferences and niche overlap among species coexisting in the same location is still scarce. This study focused on the use of pollen resources by three native species of Meliponinae in the Atlantic Forest, Melipona quadrifasciata quadrifasciata (Lepeletier 1836), Scaptotrigona depilis (Moure 1942), and Tetragonisca angustula (Latreille 1811), at two different sites. The use of pollen resources was evaluated from reserves inside hives collected monthly between February 2015 and January 2016. It was also estimated the Mean Minimal Distance (Dm) traveled by the bees to obtain pollen. The bees differed regarding the diversity of pollen types, Dm, and proportion of pollen from different plant life-form. Local factor promoted differences only for Dm. M. q. quadrifasciata foraged a low diversity of pollen species and traveled greater distances with a higher proportion of trees plus palm species. Tetragonisca angustula foraged a higher diversity of pollen and flew shorter distances with a lower proportion of trees and palms. The species factor predominates over the local factor in the clustering pattern, based on pollen profile similarity.

Agroforestry systems (AFS) are policultures with at least one tree species. These systems provide various ecosystem services, income increments and food safety. These ecosystem services include biodiversity conservation, carbon sequestration, reduction of crop diseases, increased biological controls, biological nitrogen fixation and nutrient cycling. A review of potential ecosystem services of AFS on Southern Brazil is presented. In addition, the potential of carbon uptake through conversion to AFS is estimated. The predominant AFS are agroforestry with yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis A. St. Hil.), silvopastures, citrus and banana orchards, and the palm açaí-juçara (Euterpe edulis Mart.). Considering the conversion of conventional systems to AFS, the silvopastures present the greatest carbon sequestration potentiality due to the great area used for cattle ranching. The conversion of citrus and banana cropping also present great carbon uptake potential besides reducing fungal and bacterial diseases. Southern Brazil presents more than 15 million hectares which could be converted into silvopasture and other AFS by taking as a model the already well-established experiences. Moreover, AFS has become a strategy for forest restoration. There are no negative trade-offs related to the silvopasture and citrus agroforestry adoption. The reasons for the low adoption of AFS are discussed.

Direct seeding of native tree species could be a low cost alternative for forest restoration. The paper aimed at evaluate direct seeding of two species from Southern Brazil, Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi and Citharexylum solanaceum Chamisso, comparing with seedling planting. The effects and costs of forest topsoil and forest litter addition were also evaluated in the direct seeding. The experiment was accomplished during 2009/2010. The treatments of direct seeding were CONTROL - control without seeding, TSEED - only seeding, TLITTER - seeding with forest litter cover, TTOPSOIL - seeding with forest topsoil, TBOTH - seeding with forest litter and with forest topsoil, LTCONTROL - control with forest litter and forest topsoil. The species C. solanaceum did not germinate at field. The species S. terebinthifolius had higher germination in the TBOTH, either at 30 days (21.6%) and 360 days (9.0%), which correspond to a density of 9,000 plants · ha-1 after 360 days. The litter singly contributed less to the survival than the forest soil, however a synergic effect between the two inputs was observed. The TBOTH presented a higher growth (42 cm of plant height at 360 days). The costs of direct seeding with inputs (singly or combined) were higher than the conventional seedling planting in relation to the area unity. However, the cost of direct seeding without addition of inputs was higher considering the cost per survivor seedlings. Planted seedling of S. terebinthifolius reached 88.5 cm of height after 360 days. Seedlings of S. terebinthifolius generated by direct seeding reached the average of 5.1 and 42.0 cm of height in the TSEED and TBOTH treatments, respectively.

Editorial - os três primeiros anos de publicação eletrônica da RBEU

Selection of tree species is a key aspect of restoration in megadiverse biomes such as the Atlantic Forest, especially in degraded areas with past intensive land use, which usually present severe limiting conditions. The species must have high survival and growth, not only in the transition between germination and seedling but also between seedling and adult plant until allowing the establishment of a self-sustaining and renewable community. In order to reach this goal, restoration initiatives carried out in the Atlantic Forest have employed high-diversity plantings of tree species from different successional guilds. Notwithstanding, long-term silvicultural knowledge is scarce for the native species from this biome, and the effectiveness of these models is controversial. Our investigation has compared the survival and growth of species and guilds in high-diversity tree species plantings in areas with previous agricultural intensive use. The species and guilds were also compared with respect to seed mass since this parameter is pointed out as an indicator of high survival in early stages. Pioneer and secondary species did not present differences in survival and seed mass, although pioneers exhibited greater growth rate. The late successional (LS) species had lower survival and growth, and higher seed mass. Survival after 8 months and between 8–15 months after seedling planting was inversely correlated with seed mass (r2 = 0.35 and r2 = 0.36, P < 0.001). On the other hand, survival after 8 months was correlated with relative growth rate (RGR) in the same periods of time (r2 = 0.34, P < 0.001). Overall average survival was 41% after 15 months, with the survival of LS species at an average of 12%. Data suggests that the inclusion of LS seedlings could impair the efficacy of restoration during early phases, at least in highly degraded areas. Equally, the inclusion of species with high seed mass should be considered with caution