{"id":163737,"date":"2013-10-06T14:14:01","date_gmt":"2013-10-06T17:14:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=163737"},"modified":"2015-02-24T18:43:08","modified_gmt":"2015-02-24T21:43:08","slug":"the-sage-of-biodiversity-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/the-sage-of-biodiversity-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The sage of biodiversity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Vanzolini

DRAWING TAKEN FROM THE ARTICLE \" Vanzolini e Williams,\" 1970<\/span>Vanzolini\u00a0in 2012 and on\u00a0one of his trips\u00a0to northern BrazilDRAWING TAKEN FROM THE ARTICLE \" Vanzolini e Williams,\" 1970<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Published in June 2013<\/em><\/p>\n

I revere nature. And I had a rewarding career.\u00a0I can say I\u2019m a fully realized researcher,\u201d said\u00a0S\u00e3o Paulo biologist Paulo Em\u00edlio Vanzolini to\u00a0Pesquisa FAPESP<\/em> in 2010 upon the release of\u00a0his book Evolu\u00e7\u00e3o ao n\u00edvel de esp\u00e9cie \u2013 R\u00e9pteisda Am\u00e9rica do Sul<\/em> (Evolution at the species level:\u00a0the reptiles of South America<\/em>). This 704-page\u00a0tome is a collection of his 47 most important\u00a0scientific articles. These papers, published from\u00a01945 through 2004, helped expand the scope of\u00a0Brazilian zoology. Prior to the mid-twentieth\u00a0century, the field had been focused on isolated\u00a0descriptions of species, but based on Vanzolini\u2019s\u00a0work, it shifted toward searching for the mechanisms\u00a0underlying the formation of new species\u00a0from biological, evolutionary, and environmental\u00a0perspectives.<\/p>\n

Vanzolini, who died of pneumonia on April 28,\u00a0five days after his 89th birthday, had another passion,\u00a0second only to zoology: writing sambas. His\u00a0greatest hit was the now classic Ronda<\/em>, written in\u00a01951 (it begins with the following lines: I wander\u00a0the city at night, vainly searching for you. I prowl\u00a0through crowded bars, but you\u2019re not there). In\u00a0addition to composing, he would also sometimes\u00a0take to the stage. One of his last appearances was\u00a0at the Sesc Pompeia pub in S\u00e3o Paulo in January\u00a02012, where his wife, singer Ana Bernardo,\u00a0performed his songs while he sat at a table on\u00a0stage, regaling the crowd with stories of his life.<\/p>\n

His accomplishments will stay with us because\u00a0he blazed new trails, not only in biology but also\u00a0in building Brazilian science. \u201cVanzolini took part\u00a0in the movement of professors and researchers\u00a0who proposed the creation of FAPESP, and under\u00a0the Carvalho Pinto administration, he made\u00a0a vital contribution to the institution\u2019s structural\u00a0design and to the organizational model that is\u00a0still in place at the foundation today,\u201d said Celso\u00a0Lafer, president of FAPESP. \u201cI am deeply saddened\u00a0by his death. Vanzolini was someone for\u00a0whom I had great admiration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Vanzolini

FAMILY ARCHIVE<\/span>Vanzolini in 2012 and on one of his trips to northern BrazilFAMILY ARCHIVE<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Vanzolini participated in the first meetings to\u00a0discuss the creation of FAPESP, shortly after the\u00a0enactment of the Constitution of 1947, which authorized\u00a0the establishment of a research funding\u00a0agency in S\u00e3o Paulo. In 1960, he was responsible\u00a0for drafting both the law that instituted FAPESP\u00a0and its Articles. Together with Antonio Barros\u00a0de Ulh\u00f4a Cintra, president of University of S\u00e3o\u00a0Paulo (USP) and chair of the Board of Trustees\u00a0for the new foundation, he assisted in selecting\u00a0the first directors and advisors. He was \u201cone\u00a0of FAPESP\u2019s binding forces,\u201d science historian\u00a0Am\u00e9lia Imp\u00e9rio Hamburger wrote in her book\u00a0FAPESP 40 anos: abrindo fronteiras (FAPESP 40\u00a0years: blazing trails)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Vanzolini was a member of the Board of Trustees\u00a0during three separate periods (1961-1967, 1977-1979, and 1986-1993). Oscar Sala was the scientific\u00a0director from 1969 to 1975, and whenever he had\u00a0to travel, it was Vanzolini who coordinated the\u00a0evaluation of applications for research funding\u00a0and fellowships.<\/p>\n

As director of the USP Zoology Museum from\u00a01962 through 1993, Vanzolini expanded its collection\u00a0from little over 1,000 catalogued specimens\u00a0to the current holdings of more than 300,000\u00a0specimens. He personally typed up labels and\u00a0identification cards for the stored animals, recalls\u00a0Miguel Trefaut Rodrigues, a biologist who\u00a0earned his doctorate under Vanzolini. Rodrigues\u00a0was later hired as a professor at USP and became\u00a0one of the leading herpetologists (reptile experts)\u00a0in Brazil, alongside Vanzolini. Rodrigues eventually\u00a0succeeded Vanzolini as director of the museum,\u00a0which today holds one of the largest and most valuable neotropical zoological collections.<\/p>\n

Between the war and bohemia
\n<\/strong>Vanzolini was familiar with both USP and music\u00a0from a young age, as his father was an electrical\u00a0engineer and professor at the Polytechnic\u00a0School at USP, and his mother and sister were\u00a0both musicians. A visit to the Butantan Institute\u00a0at the age of 10 sparked his interest in the study\u00a0of reptiles, and at 14, he did an internship at the\u00a0Biology Institute of S\u00e3o Paulo. During World War\u00a0II, as a medical student at USP, he enlisted in the\u00a0Brazilian Expeditionary Force with the intention\u00a0of fighting in Italy, but the war ended before\u00a0he shipped out. He preferred studying animals\u00a0to treating people, so after graduating\u00a0from medical school in 1947, Vanzolini\u00a0went to Harvard University to earn his\u00a0doctorate and continue listening to good\u00a0music, now in American bars.<\/p>\n

\"The

Paraguass\u00fa \u00c9leres Collection<\/span>The Lindolpho ready\u00a0for installation of the\u00a0propeller shaft and\u00a0rudder (Vanzolini in\u00a0canoe<\/em>)Paraguass\u00fa \u00c9leres Collection<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

Few doctorates have influenced Brazilian\u00a0science as much as the one he\u00a0completed at Harvard University. After\u00a0working alongside biologists who were\u00a0exploring the formation and diversification\u00a0of species from an evolutionary\u00a0perspective, Vanzolini returned to Brazil\u00a0in 1951 advocating concepts that revolutionized\u00a0Brazilian zoology and continue\u00a0to be used to understand biodiversity today.\u00a0Vanzolini argued that it was vital to\u00a0study species not only through isolated\u00a0specimens, which was the accepted approach at that time, but also by looking\u00a0at the distribution of populations of a\u00a0single species across time and space. He\u00a0later proposed that the marked diversity\u00a0of animal species in the Amazon Region\u00a0was the result of the geographic isolation\u00a0of animal populations prompted by climate\u00a0changes that took place thousands\u00a0of years ago. According to Vanzolini, during\u00a0eras when the climate was colder\u00a0and drier, forests would fragment and\u00a0form islands of plant life, called refugia,\u00a0where animals were able to survive and\u00a0form new species.<\/p>\n

Although this perspective, like any\u00a0other, has revealed its limitations over\u00a0time, it can still be useful. \u201cThe refugia\u00a0alone were not responsible for these\u00a0patterns of biological diversity,\u201d underscores\u00a0C\u00e9lio Haddad, professor at the\u00a0Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)\u00a0in Rio Claro. In his opinion, phylogenetic,\u00a0climatic, and geological processes\u00a0should generally be examined jointly to\u00a0properly understand the formation and\u00a0diversification of species. \u201cThe same idea\u00a0or hypothesis can be used in different\u00a0contexts,\u201d says biologist Jo\u00e3o Alexandrino,\u00a0professor at the Federal University\u00a0of S\u00e3o Paulo (Unifesp). In early May of\u00a0this year, one of Alexandrino\u2019s students\u00a0began analyzing the genetic diversity\u00a0among populations of a species of tree\u00a0frog found in the Atlantic Forest and in\u00a0the fields of southern Brazil, Argentina,\u00a0and Uruguay. After examining the diversity\u00a0patterns suggested by preliminary\u00a0findings, Alexandrino advised the\u00a0young man to read an article published\u00a0by Vanzolini in 1981, in which Vanzolini\u00a0proposed the concept of vanishing refugia,\u00a0which explained that forest islands\u00a0could suffer fragmentation and thereby\u00a0force less specialized species to adapt to\u00a0open environments.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe refugia approach was innovative at the time it was presented, and it guided several generations of researchers,\u201d observed Hussam Zaher, director of the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP) Zoology Museum, which Vanzolini headed for three decades as tenured director, appointed by former S\u00e3o Paulo governor Carvalho Pinto. \u201cRefugia were talked about for a long time,\u201d says Zaher. The director says he believes that Vanzolini\u2019s greatest merit as a scientist was that he introduced Brazil to the \u201cmodern synthesis\u201d \u2013 which consolidated the work of Theodosius Dobzhansky in genetics, of Ernest Mayr in zoology, and of George Simpson in paleontology \u2013 and encouraged its adoption here. Vanzolini studied under Mayr and Simpson at Harvard, already a center for modern science back then. Dobzhansky, who also spent time at Harvard, paid four visits to Brazil and played a valuable role in the training of the country\u2019s first geneticists. Vanzo, as he liked to be called, was used to keeping company with intellectuals: his great-grandfather translated the six books of Roman poet Lucretius\u2019 De rerum natura<\/em> (On the Nature of Things<\/em>) from Latin to Italian and his grandfather was in the habit of sending interesting Brazilian animal species to museums in Europe. In an interview given to zoologist William Ronald Heyer, Vanzolini said he learned English by reading Shakespeare\u2019s plays in the original.<\/p>\n

\"Support

Paraguass\u00fa \u00c9leres Collection<\/span>Support team with the\u00a0first load of the Bel\u00e9m-Bras\u00edlia collections in May 1967Paraguass\u00fa \u00c9leres Collection<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

The so-called refuge theory was introduced by German geologist J\u00fcrgen Haffer in the journal Science<\/em> in 1969. Haffer showed that there was a higher concentration of populations of different species of toucans in areas that had received more rainfall. Three years earlier, the British ornithologist Reginald Moreau had highlighted the influence of climate alterations and refugia on the distribution and differentiation of bird populations in Africa, but he did not go much farther than this. Around the same time, Vanzolini and a former Harvard colleague, Ernest Williams, did a study on the geographic variation and distribution of a species of lizard of the genus Anolis<\/em> in the Amazon Region, which could be explained by climate variations; they published their paper one year after Haffer. In an interview with Pesquisa FAPESP<\/em> in 2012, Vanzolini reported that his and Williams\u2019 research was \u201ca practical example of what Haffer had posited from a theoretical perspective. It\u2019s nothing more than a [conceptual] model that can in fact be replicated in other regions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Applications and limitations
\n<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cYou can\u2019t deny that the refuge model,\u00a0as he preferred to call it, applies to some\u00a0of our fauna,\u201d says zoologist Miguel Trefaut\u00a0Rodrigues. Today, brejos de altitude,\u00a0Caatinga moist forest enclaves found on\u00a0hilltops surrounded by open fields (especially\u00a0in the Northeast), are \u201cthe most\u00a0consistent evidence of refugia,\u201d he says.\u00a0These brejos de altitude remain areas\u00a0of climatic stability, favoring the diversification\u00a0of species. \u201cEach brejo has a\u00a0unique set of fauna, but being a brejo is\u00a0not enough to make it a refuge.\u201d In 1980,\u00a0on the only expedition that Rodrigues\u00a0and Vanzolini took together, the former\u00a0(then a doctoral candidate) and the latter\u00a0(his advisor) went to northern Bahia\u00a0to gather specimens in the municipality\u00a0of Caatinga do Moura, which Vanzolini\u00a0believed had been a refuge. \u201cIt was only\u00a010 years after this trip,\u201d says Rodrigues,\u00a0\u201cthat I realized that the area of climate\u00a0stability was really in the highlands near\u00a0the Diamantina Plateau.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vanzolini enjoyed traveling, but he\u00a0hardly ever engaged in field collection,\u00a0arguing that he wasn\u2019t any good\u00a0at it. But in his own way, he was always\u00a0adding precious material to the collections\u00a0held by the museum. Whenever\u00a0he went somewhere, he would spread\u00a0the word that he had a bag full of coins\u00a0with him and was interested in buying\u00a0animals. \u201cAmong the 400 lizards of the\u00a0genus Tropidurus that he bought from\u00a0a bunch of kids in Cocorob\u00f3, Bahia, I\u00a0found six specimens of a new species,\u201d\u00a0says Rodrigues.<\/p>\n

\"056-059_Vanzolini_208_2o<\/a>From 1967 to the mid-1980s, through\u00a0the Ongoing Expedition to the Amazon\u00a0Region, Vanzolini and other researchers\u00a0from Brazil and abroad visited unexplored\u00a0areas along the main rivers of\u00a0the region, sailing in two boats that were\u00a0the first to be funded by FAPESP: the\u00a011.5-meter-long Lindolpho R. Guimar\u00e3es\u00a0and the 18-meter-long Garbe.<\/p>\n

The freedom of the bohemian
\n<\/strong>When asked in an interview about his\u00a0dual role as scientist and composer, Paulo\u00a0Vanzolini explained with irritation\u00a0that no one could do just zoology or just\u00a0music full time. But the journalist insisted,\u00a0asking which of the two activities\u00a0occupied more of his time. He replied,\u00a0\u201cHow do you think I make a living? As a\u00a0zoologist.\u201d As Luiz Tatit, professor in the\u00a0Department of Linguistics at the University\u00a0of S\u00e3o Paulo (USP), says \u201cIn fact, he\u00a0really liked his lizards. Composing was\u00a0something done late at night, for fun,\u00a0as a hobby. He was never a musician to\u00a0forge a new path ahead of others. He said\u00a0that university knowledge was enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Researchers should not look for a\u00a0samba revolutionary in Vanzolini. \u201cHe\u00a0adapted the samba from Rio de Janeiro\u00a0to S\u00e3o Paulo, similar to what the famous\u00a0samba composers Adoniran Barbosa or\u00a0Geraldo Filme did. Since he never needed\u00a0to make a living through music, and\u00a0composing was not his main concern,\u00a0he ignored all of the musical movements\u00a0that passed by, and the crises that samba\u00a0faced. His universe was free and very\u00a0specific,\u201d notes Tatit. According to Regina Machado, professor at the University\u00a0of Campinas (Unicamp) Art Institute,\u00a0Vanzolini helped establish the urban\u00a0samba of S\u00e3o Paulo.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the time that he started, there was\u00a0no S\u00e3o Paulo samba, just samba breaking\u00a0out of Rio de Janeiro and reaching\u00a0S\u00e3o Paulo and, with this first generation,\u00a0of which Vanzolini was part, S\u00e3o Paulo\u00a0samba took on some unique characteristics,\u201d\u00a0says Machado, author of A voz na\u00a0can\u00e7\u00e3o popular brasileira (The voice in\u00a0Brazilian popular song) (Ateli\u00ea). One of\u00a0the characteristics of this style was not\u00a0the notes but rather the debate in which\u00a0the S\u00e3o Paulo sambistas participated, affirming\u00a0their local cultural differences.\u00a0In addition to pride in the progress of\u00a0S\u00e3o Paulo, its samba highlighted the inequalities\u00a0and other ills of urbanization.<\/p>\n

\"Vanzolini

MZ -USP COLLECTION<\/span><\/a> Vanzolini with\u00a0classmates and professors\u00a0at Harvard in 1951MZ -USP COLLECTION<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cThis appears in Barbosa\u2019s lyrics,\u00a0which mention immigration, or Vanzolini\u2019s more autobiographical lyrics on his\u00a0experience with bar owners or friends in\u00a0\u2018dives,\u2019 themes that did not appear in Rio\u00a0de Janeiro samba,\u201d notes Tatit. Unlike\u00a0the effervescence of Rio, samba jazz sessions\u00a0in Sao Paulo took place exclusively\u00a0at night, in bars and nightclubs. \u201cVanzolini,\u00a0however, grew up listening to samba\u00a0on the radio, especially Noel Rosa, with\u00a0whom he identified. After all, Noel left\u00a0medicine for music. But Vanzolini graduated\u00a0and became a scientist and composer.\u00a0For him, a sambista did not need\u00a0to be a scoundrel, and that word was\u00a0never used in his songs. He liked to say\u00a0he was hardworking and a bohemian,\u201d\u00a0says Sonia Marrach, author of M\u00fasica e\u00a0universidade na cidade de S\u00e3o Paulo: do\u00a0samba de Vanzolini \u00e0 vanguarda paulista\u00a0(Music and the university in the city of\u00a0S\u00e3o Paulo: from Vanzolini\u2019s samba to\u00a0the S\u00e3o Paulo vanguard) (Unesp Press).<\/p>\n

Vanzolini never wanted to become a\u00a0professional musician. He loved to tell\u00a0stories. During shows, after he\u2019d received\u00a0much applause, his partner, Paulinho\u00a0Nogueira, would turn to the audience\u00a0and say: \u201cYou\u2019re good people, but I disagree\u00a0with your clapping for the only\u00a0person who does not know the difference\u00a0between a major and a minor key.\u201d\u00a0He was \u201cmusically illiterate\u201d by choice\u00a0and not for lack of opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the one hand, he was evidence of\u00a0the intuitive side of the popular musician.\u00a0On the other, his erudition enabled\u00a0him to create very elaborate songs. His\u00a0greatest contribution lies precisely in\u00a0that combination of the popular universe\u00a0with an intellectual bias. This influenced\u00a0the works of Chico Buarque and Caetano\u00a0Veloso a lot,\u201d says Regina Machado.\u00a0In his presentation of the record collection\u00a0Acerto de contas (Settlement of\u00a0accounts), Professor Antonio Candido\u00a0(a critic and essayist) notes that Vanzolini\u00a0gets maximum yield out of minimum\u00a0work through his use of expressive\u00a0words to create true poetic portraits of\u00a0late night S\u00e3o Paulo.<\/p>\n

\"Zoology

MZ -USP COLLECTION<\/span><\/a> Zoology Museum team,\u00a01959-1962 (left to right,\u00a0<\/em>standing)<\/em>: Helio Ferraz de\u00a0Almeida Camargo,\u00a0Eurico Alves de Camargo,\u00a0Messias Carrera, Carlos\u00a0Otaviano da Cunha Vieira,\u00a0Lauro Travassos Filho,\u00a0Werner Carlos Augusto\u00a0Bokermann; (seated)\u00a0<\/em>Paulo\u00a0Em\u00edlio Vanzolini, Lindolpho\u00a0Rocha Guimar\u00e3es, and Carlos\u00a0Amadeu de Camargo AndradeMZ -USP COLLECTION<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWhat distinguishes Vanzolini in the\u00a0panorama of Brazilian popular music\u00a0is that his musical thinking is based on\u00a0contradiction. For him, the essential\u00a0character of life in its various aspects\u00a0is the movement and the change that\u00a0comes from denial and the transformative\u00a0conflicts that are both subjective\u00a0and objective,\u201d says Marrach. What is\u00a0remarkable is that this contradiction\u00a0is presented with good humor, with a\u00a0comic outlook and with a willingness to\u00a0see everything with a light touch.<\/p>\n

Legend has it that it took him six\u00a0months to decide between \u201cshows\u201d or\u00a0\u201creveals\u201d in the song Boca da noite (Early\u00a0Evening). But melodically, the result was\u00a0samba. \u201cHis sambas were like mine. But\u00a0they were not the same. The themes he\u00a0addresses are different; mine are those\u00a0of common folk, whereas his were more\u00a0intellectual because he is a professor, a\u00a0zoologist, you know, a smart guy. But\u00a0they are all sambas,\u201d said Adoniran Barbosa.\u00a0And Vanzolini\u2019s sambas continued\u00a0in that same vein, thanks precisely to\u00a0what Tatit called \u201chis lizards,\u201d his work\u00a0at the university.<\/p>\n

Scientific articles<\/em>
\nVANZOLINI , P.E. Paleoclimas e especia\u00e7\u00e3o em animais\u00a0da Am\u00e9rica do Sul tropical<\/a>. Estudos avan\u00e7ados<\/strong>. v. 6, no.\u00a015, pp. 41-65, 1992.
\nPORTO, T.J. et al<\/em>. Evaluating forest refugial models using\u00a0species distribution models, model filling and inclusion:\u00a0a case study with 14 Brazilian species<\/a>. Diversity and\u00a0Distributions<\/strong>. v. 19, pp. 330-40, 2013.
\nTURCHETTO-ZOLET, A.C. et al<\/em>. Phylogeographical patterns\u00a0shed light on evolutionary process in South America<\/a>.\u00a0Molecular Ecology<\/strong>. v. 22, pp. 1,193-213, 2013.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Zoologist Paulo Vanzolini was one of the brains behind the creation of the FAPESP","protected":false},"author":475,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1348,159],"tags":[206,209,231,241],"coauthors":[785],"class_list":["post-163737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-obituary","category-science","tag-biodiversity","tag-biology","tag-evolution","tag-history"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/475"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163737\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163737"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=163737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}