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Marine areas beyond national jurisdiction represent 64% of the total surface area of the oceans and around half of the planet's total surface area. Through their remoteness and vast expanse, they were largely protected from human interference in the past. However, technological advances have removed this protection, exposing this largely unknown ecosystem to unsustainable human activities. To address this emergent problem, the United Nations General Assembly agreed on the legally binding nature of a future agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). However, consider a business-as-usual scenario, in which individuals and decision-makers respond to problems rather than working to prevent them, this paper applies the responsive governance lenses to evaluate ten years of Ad Hoc Open-ended Informal Working Group meetings aiming to prove that governance is a problem-driven and it may be tightly connected to the on human perceptions of specific signals and the actors' relative positions of power. Thus, the chances of having a flexible agreement that will only comply with a partial response to the environmental problem are significant and this will only reduce or mitigate part of the problem but not all. In cases like that, the governance will remain ineffective in some ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Brazil has been an active voice in ICCAT in the past ten years, its leadership has been declining. This paper examines what might explain the variation of international influence Brazil has had in addressing the issues at ICCAT and argues that if Brazil wants to preserve its leadership, it must demonstrate commitment to its own waters while strengthening governmental institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Handroanthus serratifolius seeds are considered orthodox and have some mechanisms that assist in desiccation tolerance, like heat-resistant proteins and the presence of protective systems against free radical production. In order to investigate the drying effect on the quality of Handroanthus serratifolius seeds collected with 28% water content two methods were used: slow drying (30 °C) and fast drying (45 °C) until water contents equaled 20%, 15%, 10% and 5%. Seed quality was assessed by germination test, first count of germination, speed germination, emergence and speed emergence. The expression of heat-resistant proteins and enzymes catalase, esterase and isocitrate lyase was assessed by electrophoresis. The gene expression of sHSP17.5, CAT3 and ICL6 was quantified by real time PCR. Higher values of germination and vigor were obtained in seeds with 20% water content, subjected to fast drying. There was induction of heat-resistant proteins expression for both drying methods. There was variation in the electrophoretic pattern of catalase, esterase and isocitrate lyase in seeds subjected to different treatments. The gene expression in Handroanthus serratifolius seeds varies depending on methods of drying and water content of seeds. The drying of Handroanthus serratifolius seeds until the water content between 15 and 10% compromises their physiological quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early 'Discovery mark' data together with recent photo-identification, acoustic, genetic and satellite-radio tag data revealed linkages between humpback whales migrating from breeding grounds (C) off East Africa and the Area III feeding area, from Western Australian breeding grounds (D) and the Antarctic Area IV feeding area and the East Australian breeding grounds (E1) and Antarctic Area V feeding area. These data also revealed low levels of intermingling between (E1) and (D) humpback whales in the Antarctic Area IV feeding area consistent with these being separate populations. Greenpeace photographed the ventral tail flukes of 30 individual humpback whales in the Antarctic Area IV feeding area (70°E-130°E) from 2 to 9 January 2008, between 62°47'S and 64°14'S latitude and 80°00'E and 112°57'E longitude. Comparisons of the Antarctic Area IV Greenpeace fluke catalogue (n = 30) with existing reconciled fluke catalogues from East Africa (n = 842), Western Australia (n = 1,558) and Eastern Australia (n = 1,964), yielded no photo-identification matches. An analysis of the frequencies of whales seen and not seen in Antarctica, East Africa, Western Australia and Eastern Australia relative to the frequencies expected to have been seen and not seen, based on the estimated population sizes and the sizes of the catalogues, provided evidence that the Antarctic whales photographed are from a different population to the East African and East Australian populations. There was weak evidence supporting the hypothesis that the Antarctic whales are from the Western Australian population but insufficient data were available to determine a clear outcome. A comparison of the Antarctic Area IV Greenpeace catalogue (n = 30) with other existing African, Indian Ocean, Western and Eastern Australian and/or Antarctic catalogues, together with increased sampling across the humpback whale feeding season in Antarctica and along the Western and Eastern Australian coastline during their winter migration, is likely to provide further evidence of the migratory destination of these humpback whales. It will also add to our limited knowledge of the extent of population overlap within the Antarctic Area III, IV and V feeding areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]