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Eunice Maia de Andrade

Eunice Maia de Andrade
Federal University of the Semi-Árid Region

Professor, Ph.D.

About

293
Publications
58,781
Reads
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3,454
Citations
Introduction
I am in visiting professor at the Federal University of the Semi-Arid Region. I have carried out researches in water and soil conservation. I work mostly in the following areas: Hydrology of semi-arid regions, natural resources and their sustainability, water quality, water and soil conservation in semi-arid regions, salinity and irrigation.
Additional affiliations
January 1986 - October 2015
Federal University of Ceará
Position
  • Professor (Full)
January 1998 - present
Federal University of Ceará
Education
August 1993 - September 1997
University of Arizona
Field of study
  • Watershed management

Publications

Publications (293)
Article
Empirical relationships have been widely used to estimate kinetic energy of rainfall (KE) and its erosivity potential (EI30) due to scarcity of direct and continuous measurements. Two disdrometers were installed − one in an open field and another under the canopy − in a fragment of Tropical Dry Forest (TDF) in a semiarid region, Northeast of Brazil...
Article
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In Brazil, logging in the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest (SDTF) under management plans that include clear-cutting has increased in recent decades, and the structure, composition, diversity and functioning of the forest likely must have been affected. The aim of this study was to understand the growth dynamics of shrub–tree biomass (STB), species ri...
Article
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Water reservoirs were built in the semi-arid region to mitigate the effects of drought and water scarcity. However, these reservoirs are subject to variables that impact the volume and quality of the stored water, with the contribution of such nutrients as Total Nitrogen (TN) and Total Phosphorus (TP) being one of the main factors in intensifying t...
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Irregular rainfall and the occurrence of droughts in tropical semi-arid regions have a negative impact on the quality and availability of water stored in reservoirs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of water stored in an artifi cial reservoir in the tropical semi-arid region of Brazil during years of drought. The study area was the...
Article
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Soil's physical and hydrological properties influence the proper modeling, planning, and management of water resources and soil conservation. In areas of vertic soils subjected to wetting and drying cycles, the soil-water-atmosphere interaction is complex and understudied at the field scale, especially in dry tropical regions. This work quantifies...
Article
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An assertive understanding of cracks in expansive soils makes their typification a challenge, especially in field conditions. Seeking to overcome such difficulty, digital images have been used to estimate the fractal geometry of surface cracks in soils with and without vegetation in a semi-arid environment. This study was carried out in a cross-sec...
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A new millennium has begun, and a new paradigm in exploitation of natural resources to generate products has emerged. In this sense, a model in line with local environmental reality and based on the sustainable development goals (SDG) proposed by the UN is required. The document addresses the suitability of natural capitals in the Caatinga phytogeo...
Thesis
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A escassez hídrica em regiões tropicais secas é um fato, que pode ser agravada pelas mudanças climáticas. Portanto, a caracterização dos eventos de chuva é necessária para uma melhor avaliação dos processos hidrológicos. Para preencher esta lacuna, o presente estudo fundamentou-se nos seguintes objetivos: (i) determinar o tempo mínimo entre eventos...
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The energy distribution of natural rainfall droplets at different stages of canopy development in low-latitude semi-arid environments is still understudied. We assessed relationships between canopy development, gross rainfall (P) and throughfall (TF) characteristics in a tropical dry forest (TDF) with a total of 95 events of natural rain during Dec...
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Non-rainfall water input to surface soil moisture is essential to ecosystems, especially in dry climates, where a water deficit may persist for several months. Quantifying the impact of water gains by soil moisture at night will help to understand vegetation dynamics in dry regions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the non-rainfall water...
Article
Ecological processes, such as net primary production, root system development, organic matter mineralization, nutrient removal and fertilizer application interfere in gains and losses of C and nutrients (N, P, K, Ca and Mg) in soils. Herein, we studied how five rainfed livestock and four irrigated agricultural systems affected soil C and nutrient s...
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Intensification of the eutrophication process in surface water leads to an increase in the intensity and frequency of cyanobacterial blooms, compromising the availability of drinking water. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the spatio-temporal dynamics of cyanobacteria and identify the most important nutrients for such dynamics in...
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Water scarcity in dry tropical regions is expected to intensify due to climate change. Characterization of rainfall events is needed for a better assessment of the associated hydrological processes, and the proposition of adaptation strategies. There is still no consensus on the most appropriate method to separate rainfall events from a continuous...
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The increase in irrigated areas and the water crisis in numerous regions have encouraged the use of irrigation systems and management that afford greater efficiency in the use of water. Wastewater is one option for maximising this efficiency. The aim of this study was to evaluate the indicators of water productivity in the cultivation of irrigated...
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The nonlinear dynamics of the determining factors of the morphometric characteristics of cracks in expansive soils make their typification a challenge, especially under field conditions. To overcome this difficulty, we used artificial neural networks to estimate crack characteristics in a Vertisol under field conditions. From July 2019 to June 2020...
Article
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Although hyperspectral remote sensing techniques have increasingly been used in the nutritional quantification of plants, it is important to understand whether the method shows a satisfactory response during the various phenological stages of the crop. The aim of this study was to quantify the levels of phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca) a...
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ABSTRACT Anthropogenic effects on the natural environment and on soil moisture in the tropical semi-arid region have not yet been determined. As such, the temporal variability of soil moisture was investigated in two toposquences under different types of plant cover: i) Caatinga under regeneration since 1978 (CReg); ii) Caatinga thinned by 40% (CTh...
Conference Paper
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As cianobactérias são organismos potencialmente tóxicos que tem sido observado frequentemente em reservatórios do semiárido em virtude de suas condições ambientais. Nesse sentindo, objetivou-se avaliar a partir de Análise Multivariada quais variáveis de qualidade da água são responsáveis por influenciar a dinâmica desses organismos em reservatórios...
Article
Soil fauna performs several functions in native and anthropized ecosystems, being affected by spatiotemporal variation and by environmental resource availability. However, there is still a gap in knowledge of how land use change, climatic seasonality, and soil and climate variables impact trophic groups of soil fauna in semiarid environments. We in...
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The aim of this study is to obtain the translocation factor by application of landfill leachate (LL) diluted in public irrigation water (IW). Pennisetum purpureum Schum (elephant grass) was cultivated for 83 days in an experimental water reuse unit. The present work was developed at the Experimental Water Reuse Unit (UERA), on the UFERSA campus in...
Article
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Este trabalho objetivou avaliar a influência da antropização e de secas severas na dinâmica da cobertura florestal de um fragmento de caatinga na região semiárida do Brasil, ao longo de 32 anos. Para o cálculo do índice de seca, agrupou-se os valores de precipitação média pondera da anual da série histórica (1988 - 2019) em Decis. A partir do quant...
Article
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Forest management activities influence fine root development, total soil carbon (TSC) and size of aggregates. A field experiment was carried out in Vertisols of two adjacent catchments in a seasonally dry tropical forest (SDTF) to investigate the thinning on fine-root biomass, stock of the total soil carbon and aggregate size. The catchments are lo...
Article
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Remote-sensing data are essential to evaluate dynamic processes such as eutrophication and increases in the concentration of suspended sediments in continental aquatic systems. The aim of this study, therefore, was to develop models to estimate chlorophyll-a concentrations from remote-sensing data in continental waters of the Brazilian semi-arid re...
Article
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O semiárido brasileiro é afetado por escassez hídrica constante, onde o reservatório superficial artificial representa uma das principais estratégias para convivência e mitigação dos efeitos da seca. Além de armazenamento hídrico, o barramento superficial gera acúmulo de sedimentos e nutrientes, o que ocasionam a redução da vida útil dos reservatór...
Article
The lack of robust scientific data still hinders estimates of soil and plant carbon (C) losses due to land-use changes in most dry tropical ecosystems. The present study investigated the effects of land-use and cover changes on total ecosystem C stocks in NE Brazil, aiming to quantify C losses after the removal of the native forest, known as Caatin...
Article
Estimates of soil nitrogen (N) stocks are important for assessing potential nitrogen oxide emissions due to land-use changes and agricultural practices. No comprehensive data set exists for N stocks for the 850,000 km2 of the semiarid Brazilian northeastern region, according to land use and soil classes. Changes in N stocks due to the conversion of...
Article
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The intensification of anthropogenic activities on soils contributes to soil loss through erosion. Moreover, the pattern of soil loss in the Cobra River watershed, located in the semiarid region of Rio Grande do Norte, is related to the history of land use and occupation, mainly from agriculture and the red ceramic industry, as well as the climatic...
Article
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Increased droughts and variable rainfall patterns may alter the capacity to provide ecosystem services, such as biomass production and clean water provision. The impact of these factors in a semi-arid region, especially on a dry tropical forest with Vertisols and under different land uses such as regenerated vegetation and thinned vegetation, is st...
Article
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Climate change and the extensive areas of dry tropical forests (DTF) used in the production of pasture determine the need to investigate alternative managements that would make it possible to increase carbon stock. As such, the aim of this research was to estimate the carbon stock in the herbaceous layer of two fragments of seasonally dry tropical...
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Wide variability in the rainfall regime and drought is characteristic of semi-arid regions. A better understanding of this variability can aid decision-making in the short, medium and long term. The aim of this study was to identify long-term patterns and trends in rainfall and temperature through the use of temporal patterns, in addition to assess...
Article
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The efficient use of natural resources in production systems is essential for achieving ecological balance and sustainability in these systems. Current agricultural production systems have intensified the use of fertilisers and pesticides that contribute to an increase in energy flow, accelerating the process of degradation. The aim of this study w...
Article
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Increases in water scarcity due to climate change, especially in dry regions, can affect the dynamics of successional species. In view of the longest sequence of dry years (2010–2019) to have occurred in the Brazilian semi-arid region, with a consequent reduction in water availability, the influence of rainfall distribution on the production of abo...
Article
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Management of tropical dry forests in Brazil expanded 450% in the two latest decades; but little is known about the dynamics of these areas. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate if the recovery of mean original biomass stocks (MOBS) is a consistent criterion to define cut cycles in a managed forest for charcoal production, and determine...
Article
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The availability of potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) in the soil affects the nutrition and productivity of the plant cover. The Ca:Mg, Ca:K and Mg:K stoichiometric ratios indicate the nutrient load balance in the soil. However, limited attention has been paid to providing a scientific basis for how changes in land use, especially the...
Article
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Tem-se como objetivo analisar a influência da sazonalidade climática da qualidade das águas subterrâneas no Perímetro Irrigado do Baixo Acaraú - CE. Para isso, foram realizadas análises hidroquímicas dos atributos de HCO3-, Ca2+, Cl-, CE, Mg2+, K+, pH, RAS, Na+, SDT, SO42- nos meses de junho e novembro de 2015 e 2016. Realizou-se a análise de agrup...
Article
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Knowing determinant factors of erosive process is essential to adopt soil conservationist and loss-mitigation measures. Therefore, the objective of this work was to assess the correlation between rainfall characteristics and sediment transport in the Semiarid region of Brazil. The study was conducted at the Iguatu Experimental Basin in the state of...
Article
The interception process impacts rainfall magnitude and intensity under the canopy. In this study, the effect of plant interception on throughfall characteristics was assessed in the deciduous Caatinga vegetation, at different canopy development stages and for temporal scales ranging from seasonal to the intra-event scale. Throughfall and stemflow...
Article
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This work is focused on characterizing and understanding the aboveground biomass of Caatinga in a semiarid region in northeastern Brazil. The quantification of Caatinga biomass is limited by the small number of field plots, which are inadequate for addressing the biome’s extreme heterogeneity. Satellite-derived biomass products can address spatial...
Article
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The greater probability of small rainfall events occurring in semi-arid regions, and the little understanding of their role in hydrological processes, has led to this investigation of surface runoff generated during these events in two adjacent micro basins in the Brazilian semi-arid region. The types of plant cover to be investigated were the Phyt...
Article
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RESUMO: A água é um bem com valor econômico e social e atua como recurso estratégico para o desenvolvimento econômico. Assim, objetivou-se realizar uma pesquisa participativa com os produtores do Perímetro Irrigado do Baixo Acaraú (CE) para caracterizar as fontes de água subterrânea e diagnosticar sua qualidade e usos. A pesquisa foi realizada no a...
Article
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Seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTF) usually present dry seasons of eight or more months. Considering the concerns about the resilience of SDTF to climate changes, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the rainfall regime on fine root growth in a SDTF. The experiment started at the end of the wet season (July 2015), when fine...
Article
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Seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTFs) account for one-third of the interannual variability of global net primary productive (NPP). Large-scale shifts in dry tropical forest structure may thus significantly affect global CO2 fluxes in ways that are not fully accounted for in current projections. This study quantifies how changing climate might res...
Article
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Study region This study was developed in two paired catchments under a tropical dry climate with a tropical dry forest landcover subject to vegetation management in the Brazilian northeastern region. Water input is mostly from rainfall, concentrated in three to four months of the year and with a potential evaporation that is over twice the amount o...
Article
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Total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) concentration in the soil are an indicator of soil degradation. To understand how land-use may impact these concentrations in seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTF), we analyzed the effect of four land-uses on TOC stocks (STK.TOC) and TN stocks (STK.TN) in a semi-arid region of Brazil. Soil samples...
Article
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In relation to the process of eutrophication of water reservoirs, it is necessary to understand the nitrogen and phosphorus supply, as well as they contribute to the eutrophication process. The aim of this research was to quantify the input and the balance of phosphorus and nitrogen, as well as to identify the effect of climate seasonality on dynam...
Article
A gramínea Andropogon gayanus é uma espécie forrageira adaptada às condições climáticas da região semiárida. Assim, o presente estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a produção mensal de biomassa em função da dinâmica temporal da precipitação mensal a fim de melhorar a compreensão dos estágios de desenvolvimento da gramínea em uma região semiárida do Br...
Article
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The bean is an important crop in feeding the global population. In the northeast of Brazil, it is of particular importance, since it is a staple food, which also generates employment and income. The low productivity of the northeast in recent years due to the water crisis combined with the cost of energy has compromised technical and economic viabi...
Article
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The semi-arid region of Brazil is characterised by the irregular temporal and spatial distribution of the rainfall, which together with anthropogenic action causes degradation of the water quality. The aim of this study was to evaluate water quality in surface reservoirs in the Brazilian semi-arid region due to rainfall variability and the degree o...
Article
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Entre los servicios ecosistémicos prestados al hombre se encuentran el agua potable, los alimentos, la biomasa, la calidad del aire y la regulación climática. En las tierras secas del planeta, los habitantes ejercen una fuerte presión en los ecosistemas, para la producción de alimentos y biomasa. Este trabajo plantea cómo los servicios ambientales...
Conference Paper
Knowing the importance of the physical characteristics of a river basin as a subsidy for the planning and use of the natural resources present in it, it is justified to carry out this study by comparing two methods of determining the morphometric characteristics of the Fae watershed, located in the region semi-arid region of the State of Ceará. The...