The Brazil Nut (Bertholletia excelsa)
The Brazil Nut is the fruit of a tree that grows mostly wild in rainforests. Castanheiro do Para, which is the Brazilian name given to this tree, is found in many Amazonian states of Brazil, Peru, Columbia, Venezuela and Ecudor. It is most pervalent in the Brazilian states of Marahao, Mato Grosso, Acre, Para, Rondonia, and the Amazonas. The tree is enormous, Frequently attaining the height of 160 feet or more. The fruit is a large spherical woody capsule or pod and measures an average of six inches in diameter and can weigh up to 5 pounds. The fruit pods grow at the ends of thick branches, then ripens and falls from the tree from January to June. Inside each fruit pod is 12 to 25 Brazil nuts with their own indvidual shell(1).
Brazil nuts are harvested at plantations and in the wild. Plantations are being developed in various parts of the Amazon. Fazenda Aruana is the owner of a 12,000 hectare former cattle ranch, partially converted to a Brazil Nut plantation in 1980. By January of 1990, 318,660 Brazil nut trees were planted on 3341 hectares of land. Fazenda's original intent was to plant Brazil Nut trees in a 20 by 20 meter grids and allow cattle grazing between the trees. The trees in the Aruana plantation are the result of grafting high yield clones from the region of Abufari Amazonas were Brazil nuts are know for their large fruits and seeds. As a result of fertilization from the same clones, the fruit production among clones has been low(2). Another danger in using so few clones is the ability to resist attack of disease and insects.
The bulk of the Brazil nuts that are harvested are done so in the wild. They are harvested during a five to six month period in the rainy season. The fruits, witch weigh from .5 to 2.5 kilograms and contain ten to twenty five seeds, are gathered immediately after they fall. This minimizes the chance of insect or fungal attack on seeds. Brazil nuts are also carried away by animals. The number of pods can range form 63 to 216 per tree(). Most of the pods gathered in the wild are sent down river to processing plants were they are opened out of the pod and packaged.
The brazil nut has a major impact on local Amazonian economies. The numbers on total production are estimates due to the fact figures are hard to get from the Amazon.
Tuncer, B. and P. Schroeder. 2007. Chapter 8 Sambazon - marketing the acai berry: sustaintable agro-forestry in the Brazilian Amazon. Paper read at SCP casis in the field of Food, Mobilitiy and Housing, at Paris, France.
The first chapter focuses on Brazil’s founding and history up until present. When the Portuguese were blown off course to Asia onto the coasts of Brazil in 1500, the Portuguese knew they had found a land filled with opportunities. The main attraction was the abundance of brazilwood which could be used for manufacturing luxurious fabrics in Europe. Over the centuries, exploration led to the discovery of more resources such as sugar, coffee, and precious metals that had made it a sought after country for colonization. Even to this day, Brazil maintains the image of a land with limitless resources since the recent discovery of oil and gas reserves and other commodities.
Initially, Portuguese traders began to export the brazil wood tree, Brazil’s namesake, for the luc...
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Introduction Brazil is the largest and most populous country in South America. It is the 5th largest country worldwide in terms of both areas (more than 8.5 Mio. km2) and inhabitants (appr. 190 million).
The game of baseball has several elements of motion to it – throwing, catching, hitting, running – but I’ve chosen to focus on the physics involved in hitting a baseball. To a spectator, the exchange is simple: the pitcher throws the baseball, an opposing batter tries to hit the ball. Even to an athlete, the process is not one of thought, but of instinct and action. However, in actuality, the laws of physics dictate everything that will occur from the moment the baseball leaves the pitcher’s hand. Even the very familiar equipment o...
The Portuguese began exploring Brazil’s Atlantic Coastal Plain in the early 1500s (Kent 236). In fact, colonization and settlement began in this region (Kent 237). The region quickly became the focus of colonization, and the countries first two settlements, Salvador and Rio de Janeiro were located on the plain. Today roughly 45 million Brazilians call the plain their home (Kent 236). During the early years of colonization, tropical broadleaf forests and brazilwood tree were extensively logged. The Brazilwood could be used as a rich red dye, which became the colony’s first significant export. However, by the end of colonial period, forests were largely nonexistent (Kent 237). This led the colonists to seek another alternative export which in this case was agriculture, especially sugarcane, cacao, and pasture (Kent 237).
The Brazilian Rainforest is one of the most unique, vast, and diverse regions of the world. To get a general idea of the diversity of the Rainforest, it makes up a total of one-third of the world forests (more than four million square kilometers), it contains half of the total number of named species in the world (eighty-thousand plant species, 1,500 fish species, and one-forth of the 8,600 bird species), and is the world largest holder of genes (Library 138-139). To say the least, the Brazilian Rainforest is one of the most important natural resources we, as humans, know. It would seem that this knowledge, alone, would also make the Brazilian Rainforest one of the most protected land areas on Earth as well. However, the situation is quite the opposite. The Brazilian Rainforest has been greatly degraded by deforestation since the 1960 , which has led to numerous negative effects both environmentally and socially. This paper introduces the events that opened the door to deforestation, the most immediate causes and effects of deforestation in the Brazilian Rainforest, and my two-part solution to the problem of deforestation.
Brazil is located in Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It is slightly smaller than the U.S., with bordering countries Argentina, Bolivia, Columbia, French Guyana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela. It has many natural resources, including bauxite, gold, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, platinum, tin, uranium, petroleum, hydropower, and timber. The climate is tropical in the north, but temperate in the south. The terrain consists of mostly flat to rolling lowlands, with some plains, hills, mountains, and a narrow coastal belt. In recent years, environmentalists have become increasingly concerned over the future of the Amazon region, where human life has threatened the world's largest intact rain forest. Brasilia is the capital and main source of modern industry.
From its early days, baseball has few rules that have been change. Instead of changing rules, additions have been made to the game, according to Baseball Almanac, these additions include an umpire staff being introduces, a sacrifice bunt was statistically recognized, pitching distance was increased, the infield-fly rule was adopted and many more (Baseball). According to Michael Barone of the National Review, Americans tend to resist change, if they are not able to control the changes made (Barone), because of the values that were instilled in the men playing and betting on the game. The popularity of baseball has been called into question the past fifteen or so years, but statistics show that the game is still very popular, almost always a close second behind professional football and a decent gap between it and the third-place sport. According to Scott Lindholm, the number of people attending MLB games has had a slight decrease over the last few years for various reasons (Lindholm), but Ben Rains, with SportTechie, says that online attendance has drastically increased (Rains). This increase online can be contributed to the fact that now bets are able to be made online and people no longer need to attend the games. The online aspect has allowed more people to be reached in a larger area. Rains research shows that “the long grind of the nearly
... laws, eradicate corruption and try to strictly secure whole Amazon with strict punishments for criminals. To be capable to do this, there must be vast advertisement program, which may interest a lot of people. There are limitations in research such as real condition and a number of indigenous people, because it is estimated that about 50 indigenous tribes are totally isolated from civilization and there are limitations in research in real condition of food and raw materials in supply chain of large companies. This is because any shoe, portion of beef or timber materials that we purchase every day can be illegally exported from Brazil and there must be strict control of global organizations. In addition, there are recommendations of subsequent surveys in improving agriculture and finding more sustainable nutrients which would allow using lands for longer period.
The place quickly accepted the invitation with hopes of somehow obtaining some seeds for planting coffee again in Brazil. Upon his departure, after successfully mediating a solution to the border issue and doubtless pleasing the Governors wife, she presented him with a bouquet of flowers in which she had hidden several coffee seedlings. The seedlings flourished and the Brazilian farmers quickly learned the art of growing coffee, putting the emphasis on quantity rather than quality. This has historically been the Brazilian way of coffee production. Today, however, Brazil is becoming a significant player in the specialty coffee industry. Bourbon, Typica, Caturra and Mundo Novo coffee varieties are grown in the states of Parana, Espirito Santos, São Paulo and Bahia in Brazil. As the world's largest producer of coffee, Brazilians do at least practice of what they advertise, as they are second only to the United States who is being the world's largest actual consumers of coffee! Coffee is the vast familiar product in the world apart from oil and Brazil produces the most in quantity with a huge
Fossil records are unable to provide information of on the center of origins of the cacao tree. The cacao tree is in the Sterculiaceae family. The first growers of the cacao pods were probably the people who entered the lowland rain forests of the Amazon Basin between 10,000 and 200 B.P. The full name of the cacao tree is Theobroma cacao. Most of the information of the cacao have been derived from the cultivated crop. The life and reproduction life cycle of Theobroma cacao is identical to a tropical rain forest tree species. Cacao grows optimally in minimal moisture and shade. Cacao is dispersed in small, medium and large areas. This is probably the result of animal dropping the seeds after eating the tasty inside of the pods. Cacao pods are very diverse in morphology. These morphological difference suggests genetic differentiation.