Holm Tiessen is director of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) and professor on leave from the Georg-August Universitat of Gottingen, Germany. Gerhard Breulmann, a terrestrial ecologist, is science officer at the IAI in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil. Mike Brklacich is professor of geography and environmental studies at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, and chairs the IAI's scientific advisory committee. Romulo S. C. Menezes is assistant professor in the Department of Nuclear Energy at the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil. ...