O Departamento De Ecologia

Abstract

The Department of Ecology of the National Research institute of the Amazon (INPA) was founded In 1970 under the name "Sector of Environmental Factors", made up of the Laboratories of Climatology, Hydrology. Limnology and Soil Biology. In 1971 institutional reorganization by the then Director of INPA, Dr. Paulo de Almeida Machado, resulted in the transformation of the Sector of Environmental Factors to the Division of Environmental Science. Em 1975 further restruturing ereated the Department of Ecology and Soil Biology. Since 1979 the Department of Ecology has been composed of 4 Research Divisions: Environmental Sciences, Bio-Ecology, Limnology and Entomology. It\'s research activities are centered on studies of the physical and chemical environmental of organisms, with emphasis on the local regional cycles of water, carbon and mineral nutrients, as well as energy budgets in the major ecosystems of the Amazon Basin; on the study of the ecology of populations and biological communities, including those of Humankind; on the study of ecological processes of the systematics and ecology of insects. The Department has a staff of 31 researchers, including 14 Ph.D (3 visitor), 9 M.S. (1 visitor) and 9 B.S. scientists.