From popular fiction to modern biomedicine, the tropics are defined by two essential features: prodigious nature and debilitating illness. That was not always so. In this engaging and imaginative ...study, Hugh Cagle shows how such a vision was created. Along the way, he challenges conventional accounts of the Scientific Revolution. The history of 'the tropics' is the story of science in Europe's first global empire. Beginning in the late fifteenth century, Portugal established colonies from sub-Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia and South America, enabling the earliest comparisons of nature and disease across the tropical world. Assembling the Tropics shows how the proliferation of colonial approaches to medicine and natural history led to the assemblage of 'the tropics' as a single, coherent, and internally consistent global region. This is a story about how places acquire medical meaning, about how nature and disease become objects of scientific inquiry, and about what is at stake when that happens.
Wildfires and subsequent rainfall play an important role in the redistribution of major, minor and trace chemical elements, which could be mobilised from burnt soils and ashes. In particular, the ...fire-induced release of mercury (Hg) into the environment is relevant to study due to its volatilisation and toxicity. However, the impact of wildfire followed by rainfall on mercury redistribution is poorly documented. Hence, eucalypt- and pine-covered hillslopes (1–3) were surveyed in two burnt areas (Ermida and S. Pedro do Sul, Portugal), as well as in a non-burnt eucalypt slope (Ermida). Top-soils (0–2cm) and ashes were sampled 4 and 14weeks after the fire, the latter following an episode of heavy precipitation. In order to clarify the effect of temperature on Hg release from the soil, a heating experiment was also conducted. Results revealed that 30% of the Hg retained in eucalypt soils was released by the fire, corresponding to a loss of 1.0–1.1gHgha−1 of burnt soil. Levels in burnt eucalypt soils were twice the values registered in burnt pine soils for both fire severities. Mercury in ashes pointed to similar trend between the two types of vegetation. Results from the heating experiment with soil suggest that temperature reached in the wildfire was insufficient to destroy the most stable bonds of Hg-ligands. Mercury concentrations were not correlated with organic matter content, both in soils and ashes. It was estimated that rainfall caused a loss of 1.0gHgha−1 from ashes and an uptake of 0.5gHgha−1 of soil washed out. The difference between the previous estimations, 0.5gHgha−1, corresponds to the quantity of Hg transported to the surrounding area or eventually introduced into aquatic systems. Hence, the results obtained in the present study highlight the importance of wildfire and subsequent rainfall in the mobilisation of Hg in the environment.
•Mercury levels were measured in upper soils and ashes from burnt eucalypt and pine forests.•Wildfire in the eucalypt area released 30% of the Hg retained in soil.•Mercury levels in burnt eucalypt soils were twice the values recorded in pine soils.•Ashes eroded during rainfall release Hg that could be introduced into aquatic systems.•This study points out the importance of wildfire and subsequent rainfall in the mobilisation of mercury in the environment.
Pepper Wreck de Castro, Filipe V
2005, 2005-03-21
eBook
In 1606, a Portuguese ship, Nossa Senhora dos Mártires, put into Lisbon laden with peppercorns, porcelain, and other products from Cochin. A large vessel for the time, the merchantman displaced ...twelve hundred tons and carried three to four masts. The ship foundered during a storm in a northern channel of the Tagus River. Within hours the currents and the storm had torn it asunder and spread its precious cargo along the shores of the estuary.
The Pepper Wreck tells the story of the ship’s excavation by crews working in cold water and fast currents between 1997 and 2000, four centuries after Nossa Senhora dos Mártires went down.
Author Filipe Vieira de Castro discusses the nautical history of Iberia, with special attention to shipbuilding and the development of the nau, a type of round ship used by the Portuguese on routes to the East. He also considers life aboard the ships, describing a typical menu, musing on the incidence of disease, and distinguishing the privileges of the different social classes and the perquisites the more privileged enjoyed.
Turning to the excavation of the ship, Castro describes the site, the shifting laws governing archaeology in the region, and the fast currents that limited divers to working during ebb tides. The objects found with the wreck, from pottery to astrolabes, contribute substantially to knowledge of early modern shipbuilding techniques.
Valuable to historians of seafaring and of Iberia and to those interested in Portuguese trade with the East Indies, this carefully wrought and generously illustrated volume is a veritable treasure trove for archaeologists.
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is emerging in a world where science is highly developed. Nevertheless, science is not the only resource that people resort to when they have difficulties. In this ...pandemic context, some professions became more relevant, including front-line professionals, such as medical doctors and nurses, and those who may have an indirect role. The aim of this study is to understand whether there is a strengthening of people's confidence, in politicians, journalists, science-based activities, and in more mystical dimensions. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out to understand the levels of confidence of the Portuguese population in several professional groups, measured in two pandemic moments. Participants were recruited to participate in the study through online platforms. The sample was randomly collected from the Portuguese population. The sample was composed of 1455 Portuguese people with a mean age of 44 years, and 1080 were female. Results: We found high levels of confidence in medical doctors and nurses, as well as in other health professions, science, and education. We detected the opposite trend for politicians and journalists. Measured in two pandemic moments, we found confidence levels in these professionals were lower in September than in July with statistical significance differences (politicians (t = 3.15, p = 0.00); journalists (t = 2.49, p = 0.01). Conclusion: It is important to improve a joint action between politicians, journalists, health and science professionals to communicate measures to increase confidence from people. There is a need for the engagement of the population in the adoption of protective measures and contribute to easier control in pandemic situations. Keywords: COVID-19, confidence interval, professions, cross-sectional study
Rare Metal Granites (RMGs) are highly evolved intrusions with specific geochemical signatures that are the result of combined magmatic and hydrothermal processes. In most examples, the early ...evolution is overprinted by late subsolidus transformations and the role of magmatic and magmatic-hydrothermal fractionation processes remains unclear. The origin of fluids involved in magmatic-hydrothermal systems is also an open question. The Argemela RMG (Portugal) is a small subvolcanic intrusion, which exposes in remarkable continuity a sequence of magmatic, magmatic-hydrothermal and early hydrothermal processes. The intrusion comprises a main granitic facies and a border unit made of a complex alternation of aplitic and pegmatitic facies plus three generations of intragranitic veins. The granitic mineral assemblage includes quartz, K-feldspar, albite, muscovite and accessory montebrasite, cassiterite and columbite-tantalite. The whole-rock chemistry is strongly peraluminous, with very high P2O5, Li and F enrichments, elevated rare metal (Sn, Nb, Ta, W) concentrations and strong depletions in Ca, Fe, Ti, Mg. Trace element zonation in minerals, mainly muscovite and quartz, record crystallization/fractionation processes along the magmatic-hydrothermal transition. Three main stages are recognized, magmatic (crystal fractionation and accessory/minor mineral saturation), magmatic-hydrothermal (fluid/melt element partitioning) and early hydrothermal, corresponding to the segregation and collection of magmatic fluids in the intragranitic vein system. Those are followed by limited metasomatic transformations and a late sulphide stage. Stable isotope (O, H) data demonstrate a magmatic origin for the early fluids and a granite-buffered signature for the vein-forming fluids. The fractionation of rare elements (Sn, Nb, Ta, Li, W, Mn, B, Rb, Cs) from the magmatic to the early hydrothermal stage is quantitatively modelled from the combination of three mechanisms, crystal fractionation, magmatic crystallization of accessory/minor phase (MCMA) and fluid/melt partitioning. Sn and W show a markedly contrasted behaviour with Sn precipitated as disseminated mineralization within the intrusion and W partitioned toward the magmatic fluid and extracted from the intrusion. Geochemical trends along the magmatic-hydrothermal transition do not require phases with unusual properties, such as immiscible hydrous melts to be explained and they do not necessarily result in an amplification of initial rare metal melt enrichments. The Argemela RMG stresses the importance of MCMA to generate magmatic rare element pre-concentrations, which later can be hydrothermally redistributed to form large economic deposits.
Wildfires represent an important agent of land degradation in temperate sub-humid ecosystems, including southern European Mediterranean countries. Identification of integrated conservation approaches ...that can reduce or prevent degradational impacts is the aim of the EU-funded DESIRE research program, part of which is concerned with quantifying the likely benefit of acceptable alternative conservation strategies to wildfire. The overall aim of this paper is to apply a modification of the Pan-European Soil Erosion Risk Assessment (PESERA) model in order to compare predicted soil erosion rates of one possible conservation strategy, the regular application of prescribed fire, with that of wildfire. The model is applied to two fire-prone study areas in central Portugal (Góis and Mação) and predicts runoff and erosion at much larger spatial (regional) and temporal (decadal) scales than is usually possible with field monitoring. Simulation using the model was carried out for 50years based on a historical climate time-series. Even assuming very frequent management burns (every 2years) and infrequent wildfires (100years), the model suggests that this conservation measure can generally reduce soil erosion relative to infrequent wildfires, although the predicted soil losses for both types of fire are large compared even with those obtained from small-scale field monitoring. The benefits, limitations, scope for improvement and application to future climatic scenarios of the model in a fire context are discussed.
► Post-fire main modelled effects: loss of vegetation, increasing soil erodibility. ► Modelling of forest fire dynamics and post-fire recovery is still exploratory. ► Further analysis of field data for the study sites is still needed. ► PESERA appears to over-estimate post-fire soil erosion of thin stony soils. ► Promising alternative route for assessing medium- to long-term impacts of wildfires.
In this study, different extraction methods and conditions were used for the extraction of antioxidants from brown macroalgae Fucus spiralis. The extraction methodologies used were ...ultrasound-assisted extraction (ultrasonic bath and ultrasonic probe), extraction with a vortex, extraction with an Ultra-Turraxsup.® homogenizer, and high-pressure-assisted extraction. The extracts were analyzed for their total phenolic content (TPC) and their antioxidant activity, and evaluated through the 2,2-difenil-1-picrilhidrazil (DPPH) free radical scavenging method and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assay. Ultrasonic probe-assisted extraction yielded the highest values of TPC (94.78–474.16 mg gallic acid equivalents/g extract). Regarding the antioxidant activity, vortex-assisted extraction gave the best DPPH results (ICsub.50 1.89–16 µg/mL), while the highest FRAP results were obtained using the Ultra-Turraxsup.® homogenizer (502.16–1188.81 μmol ascorbic acid equivalents/g extract). For each extraction method, response surface methodology was used to analyze the influence of the experimental conditions “extraction time” (t), “biomass/solvent ratio” (R), “solvent” (S, water % in water/ethanol mixture), and “pressure” (P) on TPC, DPPH, and FRAP of the F. spiralis extracts. In general, higher TPC content and higher antioxidant capacity (lower ICsub.50 and higher FRAP) were obtained with higher R, t, and P, and lower S (higher ethanol %). The model regarding the combined effects of independent variables t, R, and S on the FRAP response values for vortex-assisted extractions best fitted the experimental data (R sup.2 0.957), with optimal extraction conditions of t = 300 s, R = 50 g, and S = 25%.
Recently identified by the editors as the Rua Nova dos Mercadores, the principal commercial and financial street in Renaissance Lisbon, two sixteenth-century paintings, acquired by Dante Gabriel ...Rossetti in 1866, form the starting point for this portrait of a global city in the early modern period. Focusing on unpublished objects, and incorporating newly discovered documents and inventories that allow novel interpretations of the Rua Nova and the goods for sale on it, these essays offer a compelling and original study of a metropolis whose reach once spanned four continents. The Rua Nova views painted by an anonymous Flemish artist portray an everyday scene on a recognisable street, with a diverse global population. This thoroughfare was the meeting point of all kinds of people, from rich to poor, slave to knight, indigenous Portuguese to Jews and diasporic black Africans. The volume highlights the unique status of Lisbon as an entrepôt for curiosities, luxury goods and wild animals. As the Portuguese trading empire of the fifteenth and sixteenth century expanded sea-routes and networks from West Africa to India and the Far East, non-European cargoes were brought back to Renaissance Lisbon. Many rarities were earmarked for the Portuguese court, but simultaneously exclusive items were readily available for sale on the Rua Nova, the Lisbon equivalent of Bond Street or Fifth Avenue. Specialized shops offered West African and Ceylonese ivories, raffia and Asian textiles, rock crystals, Ming porcelain, Chinese and Ryukyuan lacquerware, jewellery, precious stones, naturalia and exotic animal by-products. Lisbon was also a hub of distribution for overseas goods to other courts and cities in Europe. The cross cultural and artistic influences between Lisbon and Portuguese Africa and Asia at this date will be re-assessed. Lisbon was imagined as the head of empire or caput mundi, while the River Tagus became the aquatic gateway to a globally connected world. Lisbon evolved into a dynamic Atlantic port city, excelling in shipbuilding, cartography and the manufacture of naval instruments. The historian Damião de Góis bragged of the "Tagus reigning over the world". Lisbon's fame depended on its river, an aquatic avenue that competed with the Rua Nova, providing a means of interaction, trade and communication along Lisbon's coastline. Even for the cosmopolitan Góis, who travelled extensively for the Portuguese crown, Lisbon's chaotic docks were worth describing. Of all the European cities he experienced, only Lisbon and her rival Seville could be "rightfully called Ladies and Queens of the Sea". Góis contended that they had opened up the early modern world through circumnavigation. Lisbon was destroyed in a devastating earthquake and tsunami in November 1755. These paintings are the only large-scale vistas of Rua Nova dos Mercadores to have survived, and together with the new objects and archival sources offer a fresh and original insight into Renaissance Lisbon and its material culture.
During the late eighteenth century, Portugal and Spain sent joint mapping expeditions to draw a nearly 10,000-mile border between Brazil and Spanish South America. These boundary commissions were the ...largest ever sent to the Americas and coincided with broader imperial reforms enacted throughout the hemisphere.Where Caciques and Mapmakers Met considers what these efforts meant to Indigenous peoples whose lands the border crossed. Moving beyond common frameworks that assess mapped borders strictly via colonial law or Native sovereignty, it examines the interplay between imperial and Indigenous spatial imaginaries. What results is an intricate spatial history of border making in southeastern South America (present-day Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay) with global implications. Drawing upon manuscripts from over two dozen archives in seven countries, Jeffrey Erbig traces on-the-ground interactions between Ibero-American colonists, Jesuit and Guarani mission-dwellers, and autonomous Indigenous peoples as they responded to ever-changing notions of territorial possession. It reveals that Native agents shaped when and where the border was drawn, and fused it to their own territorial claims. While mapmakers' assertions of Indigenous disappearance or subjugation shaped historiographical imaginations thereafter, Erbig reveals that the formation of a border was contingent upon Native engagement and authority.
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