Results

Results

As a scientific project SOLOBIOMA has the ambition to open the results to the scientific public through peer-reviewed publications in refereed journals, which is done primarily in English. Preliminary and partial results are regularly presented as lectures and posters at scientific conferences (see publications: Abstracts).

Selected results are available at the pages Ants, Palmito (palm heart production) and Spiders.

Progress, results and successes in application are reported periodically to the project management organizations in the two countries (Germany: DLR for the BMBF; Brazil: CNPq).

A major concern of the project management, the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe and the project staff is also to popularize research and application beyond the scientific community. The general understanding of research and its operational levels shall be improved in the German and Brazilian population. Therefore, SOLOBIOMA organizes and realizes regional, national and international presentations of their own activities and topics. Examples include the active participation in the last two UN-events (COP 8 and 9) on the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

The issues Biodiversity Research, Brazilian coastal forest and Conservation Biology were treated by the project staff in a number of popular scientific articles in German and Portuguese (see publications). In addition, we offer two own video productions, flyers and booklets as other products.

An important structure for the implementation of the scientific results into practice was created by the founding of the competence centre 'InBioVeritas'.

In their always updated web pages our project partners SPVS and Fundação o Boticário report continuously about their activities and successes in nature conservation in the southern region of the Mata Atlântica.

German-Brazilian cooperation

Education of young scientists in Brazil and Germany as well as inserting the experiences of a bilateral cooperation project into the Brazilian landscape of research and nature conservation ('Capacity Building') is an important task of the project. With support from Brazilian authorities several Brazilian doctoral students could realize internships and/or short-term stays in Germany. Master's and Doctoral students receive scholarships and financial support for their work from the project. The German project staffs are always welcome and offered workplaces at the University in Curitiba, and are also regularly involved in application-related discussions and decisions.

The internal communication is managed, in addition to many personal conversations and e-mail contacts, in two Internet discussion groups. On this platform project-related information, activities and documents are provided.

Internal workshops on specific topics (scientific concept, statistics, reports, participation in symposia) take place regularly. Project activities and results are presented and discussed together at workshops of the Mata Atlântica Alliance program.

A trusting cooperation in all areas is a precondition for successful working in Brazil, but also the result of many personal activities of all employees.