ABSTRACT
Comments are made about Brazil's rich biological patrimony, the value of which is still impossible to be appraised in a judicious manner. We are dealing with a highly valuable unknown and, for this very reason, still not utilised in a rational manner. The most extremely serious aspect, however, is the destruction that has for centuries affected the natural ecosystems and their respective wild biotas, even before their being scientifically better know. The importance of utilising this natural patrimony is emphasised, as well as the native domestic races of plants and animals that have been molded for centuries by Brazilian environmental conditions, and that nowadays represent valuable genetic material for agronomic and zootechnical research. The conference ends with remarks about the imbalance and environmental disasters, as well as the destruction of biodiversity, that have occurred in the Northeast of Brazil due mainly to the massive and irresponsible forestal devastation in the region.
Subject(s)
Ecosystem , BrazilABSTRACT
Electrophoretic variation of LDH was investigated in 3,200 specimens belonging to 28 species and 15 genera of New World monkeys. A small sample of (Old World) Cercopithecus aethiops was also tested for comparison. Variation was observed in seven species, five alleles being detected for both LDHA and LDHB loci. The frequency of the variant alleles was low in almost all species, the exceptions being Callithrix kuhli and Callithrix jacchus penicillata, in which the LDHA*5 allele showed frequencies of 47 per cent and 60 per cent, respectively. In the monomorphic patterns the B4 and A4 bands were the same in all fifteen genera, but differences were observed in the B3A1, B2A2 and BlA3 hybrid bands. Furthermore, only the B4 band was shared by humans, Old World and New World monkeys. An important marker was found in the genus Cebus, which clearly distinguishes the "tufted" and "untufted" groups.