PNPD

The PNPD (National Postdoctoral Program) is a CAPES program that aims to promote scientific, technological, and innovation research activities by selecting proposals that seek to temporarily absorb young PhD graduates with relative experience in R&D&I and training to work on research and development projects in strategic areas, and to strengthen national postgraduate programs and research groups. In 2009, two projects were submitted, one by the Postgraduate Program in Ecology and another by Entomology, both from INPA.
 
PNPD Ecology
 
This proposal falls within the interface between the Center for Integrated Studies of Amazonian Biodiversity - CENBAM (INCT/CNPq) and the Postgraduate Program in Ecology - PG-ECO, both from the National Institute of Amazonian Research - INPA. The project relies on the contribution of young PhD graduates with high-quality scientific production to lines of research of strategic importance and low critical mass in the research group associated with CENBAM and the faculty of PG-ECO. The overall objective is to understand the factors that influence highly diverse groups of organisms that are poorly known in the Amazon, representing a broad taxonomic spectrum and with potential diversity that allows for the evaluation of spatial distribution patterns and ecological relationships on a regional scale. Samples will be taken at standardized sampling sites of the Biodiversity Research Program - PPBio, distributed throughout the Brazilian Amazon. The results will provide subsidies to understand the distribution patterns of Amazonian biodiversity and their biogeographic implications and current determinants. The PPBio sampling infrastructure, which also composes the data acquisition base of CENBAM, was planned to allow for integrated data analysis between groups and sites. The samplings will also allow for the improvement of sampling protocols for each group of organisms studied, which are adaptable for different types of environments and research objectives (rapid ecological assessments, long-term monitoring, biogeographic studies, organism response to environmental impacts, etc.). CENBAM works on the notion of developing knowledge production chains in the Amazon, with a strong regional integration component, through collaboration between INPA and regional centers in Amazonas, Roraima, Acre, Rondônia, Mato Grosso, and Amapá, involving inventory actions, research, and strengthening of five postgraduate programs in regional centers and training of community members in technical support functions for research. CENBAM also works together with environmental agency technicians in developing guidelines for biodiversity assessment and monitoring and identifying priority areas for conservation. The project scholars will participate in all these actions, in addition to strengthening and energizing PG-ECO and other postgraduate programs at INPA. The prospect of having these professionals for five years is a very positive aspect of the proposal because it allows the engagement of scholars in CENBAM and the consolidation of their impact on PG-ECO. Download the proposal here.
 
Responsible: William Magnusson
National Institute of Amazonian Research
 
Scholars:
 
José Julio de Toledo
National Institute of Amazonian Research
 
Paulo Estefano Dineli Bobrowiec
National Institute of Amazonian Research
 
PNPD Entomology
 
Aiming to put biodiversity knowledge into a more realistic perspective, we plan to take advantage of the material being collected by large projects implemented in the Amazon, for the training and fixation of taxonomic and ecological specialists along with the Postgraduate Program in Entomology (PG-ENT), at the National Institute of Amazonian Research (INPA). The effort will be concentrated on ants and arachnids or myriapods, mega-diverse groups that are poorly known, excellent biological indicators but without permanent specialists hired by INPA. The professionals existing at INPA are few and overloaded, and it is completely unfeasible to try to base most biodiversity surveys on these individuals. With the acquisition of young PhD graduates specialized in these groups, PG-ENT will have a reinforcement in its faculty to teach disciplines and guide dissertations and theses. These specialists will also train parataxonomists (technicians) and generate illustrated guides so that knowledge of these groups is disseminated to other institutions and regions, mainly from other Amazonian states. The five years that we will have the collaboration of these professionals will provide considerable time for these types of interactions and the possibility of fixing these professionals in Manaus or other regions. Many species will be selected within the universe collected in these projects for the description of new species and to answer important questions about systematics and phylogeny. The results will produce new taxonomic and systematic arrangements for the target arthropods, also generating subsidies for ecological studies. Due to the standardized samplings and robust sample design used by large projects, it will also be possible to study richness and spatial patterns of arthropods and associate these data with some environmental gradients and structural factors of the landscape already available in the projects. Biogeographic tests can be performed since projects are carried out on a large spatial scale. Population and genetic studies, as well as phylogenetic relationship analyses, can be integrated and compared to community studies. New biodiversity collection protocols at meso and large spatial scales can be tested and recommended so that they are simple and easy to collect and provide necessary ecological information for area preservation and contribute to public policies, with applicability in EIA/RIMA and other environmental impact assessments. Download the proposal here.
 
Responsible: Elizabeth Franklin
National Institute of Amazonian Research
 
Scholars:
 
Ana Lúcia Tourinho
National Institute of Amazonian Research
 
Jorge Luiz P. de Souza
National Institute of Amazonian Research