PHENOLOGY OF JACARANDA MIMOSIFOLIA (BLUE JACARANDÁ) IN URBAN PARKS IN SÃO PAULO AS A SUBSID FOR THE MONITORING OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE

• Grant number: 23/13377-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2023
• End date: November 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Ecosystems Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Leonor Patricia Cerdeira Morellato
• Grantee: Leonardo César Rocha Ganz
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/10639-5 - Center for Research on Biodiversity Dynamics and Climate Change, AP.CEPID

Abstract

The unprecedented loss of biodiversity and the imminent threats of climate and environmental change are among the most important challenges facing humanity. Biodiversity continues to decline around the world, mainly in response to urban and agricultural expansion into natural areas. Furthermore, climate change is projected to leadextinction of more than a third of Earth's animal and plant species by 2050. Silently, the deterioration of species' habitats also leads to the cryptic extinction of biotic interactions, some of which are essential to sustaining nature's contribution to people (e.g. services pollination) essential for human well-being. Therefore, the cascading erosion of biodiversity and the unraveling of the web of life threatens the ecological functions that sustain the very existence of humanity. This reality supports the idea that containing the loss of biodiversity and preventing global and regional climate change cannot be separated as converging goals. Universidade Estadual Paulista -UNESP is well positioned to play a leading role in establishing adaptation and mitigation strategies that address threats to tropical biodiversity in times of rapid environmental change. It has some of the most renowned and consolidated research groups working on biodiversity conservation and anthropogenic changes, widely supported by FAPESP over the last 20 years. We propose a CEPID on Biodiversity Dynamics and Climate Change: a unique and innovative Center that brings together experts in science, diffusion and innovation to produce world-class, cutting-edge research and solutions targeting the current loss of biodiversity, its synergism with climate change and its consequences for human well-being. These threats include climate and other anthropogenic changes (e.g., the frequency and intensity of droughts and fires, sea level rise, habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, defaunation, invasive species, and unplanned agricultural and urban settlement leading to geographic expansion of degraded lands) and social (e.g., overpopulation, increased poverty in urban areas, social and gender inequality). Framed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 15 - Life on Earth and 13 - Climate Action, CEPID's mission is to create a research observatory on biodiversity and climate change, promoting innovation with a focus on solutions based on nature and accelerating diffusion, aligned with SDGs 4 - Quality Education and 5 - Gender Equality. CEPID will leave the state of São Paulo well positioned to collaborate and exchange experiences with the most successful biodiversity and climate change centers around the world. Such missions and objectives are not yet included in any of the CEPIDS or CEIs financed by FAPESP.