PPGBV: Graduate Program in Plant Biology , UFPE Marccus Alves

The Graduate Program in Plant Biology – PPGBV is offered by the Department of Botany at UFPE. It was created in September 1991 with the Master Degree Course in Plant Biology and in August 1998 expanded into a Graduate Program with the inclusion of the Doctorate Course. It qualifies professionals in two areas of Concentration: Floristics and Systematics and Plant Ecology, being the only graduate program in Northeastern Brazil with such a profile.

Currently, the program is coordinated by Prof. Dr. Marccus Alves, and in his absence by the dean of the Department of Botany, Prof. Dr. Laíse de Holanda Cavalcanti Andrade.

The main focus of the research carried out by the team of PPGBV is the study of plant diversity in the extreme east of the NE Brazil . Research projects deal with registering, cataloguing and describing diversity, as well as analyzing biological relationships according to the local biodiversity. Several research projects are also related with economic botany including important crops for the NE region.

Professionals qualified by PPGBV are highly competent, being certified to work as professors, researchers and/or specialized technicians in any public or private, high-level institute. A good number of PPGBV graduates have been working for IES and other research institutions or institutions dealing with environmental issues.

In its 15 years of work, PPGBV has graduated 114 masters and 19 doctors. It is classified by CAPES in the area of Biological Sciences I, being graded 4 by their assessment system. There are 61 current students, 31 master degree students and 30 doctorate students.

Faculty and Research Projects at PPGBV - UFPE

The faculty comprises 23 professors, 18 belonging to the institution’s permanent board. UFPE is the origin of most professors at PPGBV, but the program also counts on the contribution of professor from other IES in NE Brazil such as UFRPE and UFPB. PPGBV’s faculty is distinguished by the diversity of research lines in botany offered by the program and in its excellence. Counting on professors graduated at the best universities in the country and abroad, the program is characterized by high scientific productivity of both their associate and chair professors. Around 70% of them have been granted productivity grants by CNPq, most graded by the Council and two graded 1A. PPGBV balances recently graduated professors with more experienced ones in its faculty. This stimulates motivation for new researchers to introduce new methodologies and updates to the research lines of the program. PPGBV takes part in scientific exchanges with several research institutions in Brazil and in other countries, such as Germany, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Canada, Spain, France, USA, UK, and Mexico .

Having their projects funded by several sources (federal and state governments; national and foreign NGOs, etc.), the faculty is skilled in acquiring resources for their research. Recently, PPGBV has been granted funds by two national institutional programs: PROCAD by CAPES (in association with the UFMG) and the ‘Taxonomia’ by CNPq/CAPES/MCT. Both projects aim at supporting and strengthening solid research lines and those with potential for growth at national and/or international levels. Another example of support for research work led by the faculty of PPGBV is the wide range of projects funded by ‘Fundação O Boticário’ for Nature Conservation. Among these projects, it is worth mentioning works on registering and cataloguing plant diversity in natural environments in some areas of the NE Brazil.

Despite its long tradition in studies focusing on the northeastern semi-arid region, PPGBV’s scientific production has continuously increased its range of action, approaching other ecosystems as important as the Caatinga for the region. In recent years, interdisciplinary projects in the Atlantic Rainforest and Caatinga have provided a better understanding of the local flora. Another example of the remarkable effort of students and professors at PPGBV is the successful ‘Projeto Serra Grande’, which gathers several national and international partner institutions in order to study the biodiversity of several fragments of Atlantic Rainforest at different levels. Besides these, several projects approved by PROBIO have allowed significant increase of the knowledge of the biodiversity of the region.

Scientific production by PPGBV’s team counts on the participation of members at all levels (professors, graduate and undergraduate students) when publishing results of their work in national and foreign journals. Most of these are refereed journals with great relevance in the scientific community for the several fields examined by PPGBV’s research lines. Additionally, many of its members have been working in projects of cataloguing, registering and describing the diversity of plants such as: Flora of São Paulo, Flora of DF, Flora Neotropica, Bryophytes of Brazil, List of Endangered Species, Plants of the Semi-Arid Region, Flora of Paraíba (Chapter 8), among others.

In addition to this scientific production, it is also worth mentioning the publication of books and scientific collections whose organization, editing and/or authorship can be credited to the faculty of PPGBV. These publications are related to interdisciplinary research projects carried out in partnership with other Brazilian and foreign IES, research institutes, and NGOs. Among others, we can mention publications on a fragment of urban Atlantic Rainforest in Recife , on the northeastern Caatinga and on upland swamps in Pernambuco and Paraíba.

PPGBV has two areas of concentration - Floristics and Systematics and Plant Ecology, whichare divided into four research lines each (see details). These lines focus on the knowledge of plant diversity and on biological aspects of ecosystems in the extreme east of the northeastern region.

Graduate Students at PPGBV - UFPE

Typically, students enrolling at PPGBV come from good IES all over the country, but particularly from N-NE regions. Many of them have already had experience in research in their undergrad courses, a good number of them former grantees of scientific initiation scholarships at their former institutions. Besides receiving outstanding Brazilian students, PPGBV has also been chosen by foreign students from Argentina , Canada , Colombia and France . Some students and former students are technicians or professors at IES and research institutions such as EMBRAPA.

Most students are CAPES and CNPq scholarship grantees, but some others are granted scholarships by state foundations for support of research and NGOs. Temporary scholarships (sandwich type) for short period studies abroad are often received by students of the program.

Facilities and Subjects Offered at PPGBV - UFPE

PPGBV’s facilities include nine research laboratories within the Department of Botany and three other laboratories at UFPE (Departments of Biochemistry, Genetics and Oceanography). Two other laboratories at UFRPE and UFPB whose chair professors are members of PPGBV faculty also host graduate students of the program. The research labs are equipped with several resources, including high tech equipment, high resolution microscopy, photographic equipment and computers, besides instruments required for field work. Additionally, PPGBV’s team also has access to facilities offered by the Laboratory of Electronic Microscopy (LIKA) at UFPE.

Furthermore, PPGBV’s facilities include two exclusive lecture rooms for theoretical classes equipped with multimedia equipment (computer; data-show, overhead and slide projectors) and an exclusive lecture room for practical classes with basic scientific glassware and microscopy (optical microscopes and stereo microscopes). It also offers two study rooms for students and visiting professors who are invited to teach elective courses or to take part in assessment boards. Both rooms have computer equipment and full access to the Internet.

Infrastructure for virtual access and services of literature exchange are provided by the Libraries at UFPE. However, PPGBV also has a reference library on plant biology and related themes comprising 300 books, 200 theses, the collection of Flora Neotropica and several national and foreign journals. This collection is housed at the office of the program.

Professors and students receive continuous support from the Geraldo Mariz Herbarium (UFP) at UFPE for their research, besides other herbaria at partner institutions – UFRPE (PEUFR) and UFPB (JPB). The UFP herbarium holds 40 thousand catalogued specimens and has optical equipment. It also offers basic mandatory literature on taxonomy for reference such as Flora Brasiliensis by Martius, Flora Ilustrada Catarinense, Flora da Guayana Venezuelana, Flora Mesoamericana, among others. The UFP herbarium and others from NE Brazil (Chapter 3) has recently been granted support via the project ‘Apoio à Coleções Científicas’ by CNPq which aims to improve biological collections which reference the national biodiversity.

Didactic and scientific expeditions are frequent and fundamental for several projects in which students and faculty of PPGBV take part. Receiving funds from many sources, these projects have access to three vehicles: a Land Rover, a Kombi and a Toyota (for 9, 10 and 5 passengers, respectively), which are continuously used for scientific expeditions to areas of Atlantic Rainforest, Caatinga, mangroves, marshes, and inselbergs in the NE.

Subjects offered by PPGBV try to offer students updated themes related to the research lines on which the program’s professors work. The reduced number of mandatory subjects and the wide range of elective subjects provide more dynamism and diversity in the professional qualification of its graduate students. Usually subjects are taught by PPGBV’s faculty (preferably the mandatory ones in the first semester and the elective ones in the second semester), but also by visiting professors. Recently, a new subject was created ‘Seminários Integrados do PPGBV’ at which preliminary results of ongoing projects are presented by the grad students. This activity has been praised by institutions assessing the courses since it works as a linking element for different research lines and laboratories involved at PPGBV. It is also widely supported by the faculty, graduate and undergraduate students.

Another distinction of PPGBV is the formation of its assessment boards. Great effort has been made in order to bring qualified guest professors from several institutions in the country in order to take part of the assessment of theses and dissertations. PPGBV’s team believes that this is a crucial moment of the qualification process of the professional graduating from the program and thus whenever possible it promotes the interchange among professionals.

Selection for enrollment at PPGBV is annual, happening twice a year whenever scholarships are available. The average number of vacancies is 12 for the master degree and eight for the doctorate. Candidates for the selection enroll between September and October, tests for selection happen in the months of November (doctorate) and December (masters degree).

PPGBV’s office works from Monday to Friday, between 8:00 am-5:00 pm having two officers to help the faculty, students and the public in general. Headquarters are located at av. Moraes Rego s/n. Cidade Universitária. CEP 50670-901 - Recife , Pernambuco – Brazil . Phone/fax: +55 (81) 2126-8348. (secretaria_ppgbv@hotmail.com). For further information on PPGBV, check: www.ufpe.br/ppgbv.