UEPB hosts workshop with leading researchers to assess the risk of extinction of Brazilian fauna species

May 10, 2024

With the aim of bringing together leading researchers from the State University of Paraíba (UEPB), Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, National Museum of Rio de Janeiro and technicians from the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio), to systematize information about the collembolla species and assess the risk of extinction, the “Workshop for the Assessment of the Risk of Extinction of Brazilian Fauna – Collembola Tax” was held in the Auditorium of Campus V, in João Pessoa, from May 7th to 9th. The activity is part of the process of evaluating species and preparing the red list of Brazilian fauna, promoted by ICMBio and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MMA).

According to ICMBio’s environmental analyst, Estevão Souza, this workshop comprises a process, which was previously carried out every five-year cycle and will now occur continuously, with the aim of updating data relating to the Collembola Taxon and analyzing risks faced, to compose a list of species at risk of extinction. Based on this survey, the MMA updates the National List of Brazilian Fauna Species Threatened with Extinction.

The UEPB researcher who is coordinator of Collembola Taxon, Douglas Zeppelini, highlights that collembolas are species that, in addition to their intrinsic value in the context of biodiversity, contribute to the decomposition of organic matter, nutrient cycling and soil health. Thus, the teacher highlights that it is necessary to know the threats to species to establish conservation strategies.

With reference work in the area of Zoology and an emphasis on Taxonomy and Phylogeny of Collembola and Conservation Biology, Professor Douglas Zeppelini is considered one of the main taxonomists of underground springtails in the world. In view of this, UEPB is consolidating itself in the area with a Reference collection in Soil Fauna of Paraíba (CRFS), which enables the Institution to receive deposits of material on fauna and soil, and since 2020, with the creation of the Institute of Biology of Soil, the exchange of researchers, the attraction of investments and the carrying out of collaborative research have been enhanced.

Text: Juliana Marques
Photograph: Disclosure