OBITUARIES
Paulo de Tarso Alvim (1919–2011) and Moacyr Maestri (1925–2011)
The Master and Pupil: Two Close Friends, Two Great Plant Physiologists
Alvim (left) and Maestri during the VII Brazilian Congress of Plant Physiology (Brasília 1999) when the latter was awarded an honorary citation. |
With great sadness, we inform the scientific community of the deaths of Dr. Paulo de Tarso Alvim, on February 18 from nephrological problems, and Prof. Moacyr Maestri, two days later from cardiological complications. Paulo and Moacyr were master and pupil at the College of Agriculture and Veterinary Studies (ESAV; currently Federal University of Viçosa [UFV], Brazil), where they graduated in agricultural sciences in 1940 and 1948, respectively.
Paulo was born in Ubá, Minas Gerais, and Moacyr in Santa Teresa, Espírito Santo. They became close friends despite their opposite personalities: Paulo was quite expansive and warm, while Moacyr was timid or even shy. This friendship lasted until the end of their lives. Paulo completed his PhD in 1948 at Cornell University when he presented the thesis “Studies on Mechanisms of Stomatal Behavior,” an outstanding contribution. With the thesis “Structural and Functional Effects of Endothall on Plants,” Moacyr completed his PhD in 1967 at the University of California, Davis. Moacyr was considered exceptionally bright, becoming, in Paulo’s words, “the best scholar of plant physiology in all Latin America in the last 70 to 80 years of the last century.”
Paulo was admitted to UFV to teach plant taxonomy, which impressed upon him a holistic view of plant science. In 1943, he began teaching plant physiology, which became an official discipline of the course of agricultural sciences. In a scientific tour to the arid zone of northeastern Brazil with undergraduate students, he concluded that the drought condition of the “Caatinga” ecosystem was a natural phenomenon and not a result of human activities. Later, he postulated that the “Cerrado” ecosystem was a consequence of soil mineral deficiencies and not a result of the periodic burnings that affect the ecosystem.
In 1951, Paulo was admitted to the Inter-American Institute of Agricultural Sciences (IICA) of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Costa Rica, which represented a turning point in his scientific career. There, he had the chance to see a cocoa tree for the first time. As a member of the graduate school, he supervised 30 MSc students, whose theses were devoted to the study of tropical crops. His concern with the welfare of mankind led him to dedicate himself to applied physiology, always using the principles of crop physiology.
Upon returning from UC Davis with his PhD, Moacyr was faced with poor working conditions in Viçosa. He formed a small research group and in 1970 succeeded in establishing the first MSc program in plant physiology in South America. Another of his pioneering initiatives occurred in 1988, when he created the PhD program. As of December 2010, the program had graduated 249 MScs and 85 PhDs who are engaged in research and teaching throughout Latin America. The scientific contribution of the program to high-impact journals has been significant, which led CAPES (the governmental agency of classification of programs) to designate the program with its maximum mark, comparable to graduate programs in the developed world, in 2010. Moacyr’s devotion to the training of plant physiologists did not lead to neglect of his scientific career. In addition to articles in scientific journals, several of his works appeared in books published by Academic Press, CRC Press, Elsevier, and others.
While at the IICA, Paulo also worked at La Molina (Peru) from 1955 to 1963. During this time, he succeeded in noting that in continuously irrigated coffee trees, flower buds were kept dormant. If watering was withheld and plants were later irrigated again, dormancy was broken. In other words, drought-induced dormancy breakage and reirrigation were required for bud growth. To this phenomenon, he applied the term hydroperiodism, which occurs under natural conditions when several developmental and growth phenomena are observed after rains anteceded by a dry period.
Paulo took part in the Alpha Helix Expedition in 1967—in the company of, among others, Loomis, Williams, and Scholander—to visit the Upper Negro River Basin in the Amazonian rainforest. During the 1960s, it was believed that the Amazonian forests were the world’s “lungs,” a point Paulo demystified on the grounds that the Amazonian forests were in climax and thus the amounts of O2 produced by the forests were similar to the amounts consumed. The fragility of Amazonian ecosystems was therefore due to other causes. He always argued that with 6 billion souls on Earth to be fed and with ever-increasing demands, the Amazonian ecosystems should be used for sustainable agriculture under a rational exploitation (timber, typical fruits, etc.); grains and cereals were never to be cultivated in those ecosystems.
During a technical visit to the cocoa region of Bahia State (Brazil), whose production was in sharp decline, Paulo convinced the Brazilian authorities to transform an incipient financial program into an institution able to deal with cocoa research and extension. The Plan for Cocoa Farming (CEPLAC) was then structured with two departments: the Cocoa Research Center (CEPEC) and Extension Department (DEPEX). Paulo was the scientific director of CEPEC for over 25 years. Within a few years of taking the post, cocoa production increased from 120,000 to 400,000 tons per year—his greatest achievement! Always concerned with environmental preservation, he created the Pau-Brazil Foundation, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to developing conservationist actions in the Atlantic tropical humid forests. In recognition of his contributions to plant science and agriculture, Paulo’s name has been attributed to several plant genera and species: Acanthosiris Paulo-alvinii (Santalaceae), Acrococus alvinii (Bromeliaceae), Alvimia (Bambusae), Alvimiantha (Rhamnaceae), Eschweilera alvinii (Lecythidaceae), Micoalvimia (fungus), Strychnos alvimiana (Loganiaceae), and Tibouchina Paulo-alvinii (Melastomataceae).
Although he was involved mainly with applied plant physiology, Paulo’s contribution to pure science was also considerable. He designed the viscous flow porometer for measuring stomatal aperture in homobaric leaves; devised a ranking series of two liquids of different densities, allowing the estimation of stomatal opening; and created a phytotensiometer to measure both stem growth and water status. His scientific legacy is substantial: some 250 papers were published in high-impact scientific journals such as Science, Nature, Plant Physiology, and Physiologia Plantarum, among others.
It is not surprising that Paulo and Moacyr participated in the creation and maintenance of scientific societies. In 1949, Paulo was one of the founding fathers of the Brazilian Society of Botany and chaired the Latin American Society of Plant Physiology (1972–1976), which was later chaired by Moacyr (1981–1983). Both were affiliated with the American Society of Plant Physiologists (now ASPB) for several decades, becoming life members. They were also associated with the Scandinavian Society of Plant Physiology and the Brazilian Society of Plant Physiology. Various awards and honors were granted to them. They were both Knights of the Merit Order (Secretary of Science and Technology, Brazil). Paulo was awarded Bahia State citizenship (1973), the Diploma of Merit Honor of the Argentinean Society of Plant Physiology, the title of emeritus researcher of the IICA, and the Inter-American Medal for Agriculture; he was also a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. Moacyr was awarded the Medal of Merit in Research by UFV and also the status of emeritus professor at the same university.
Upon retirement, both men kept working for several years until illness no longer allowed them to continue. Paulo is survived by his wife, Simone, who was his devoted secretary for over two decades, always receiving his friends and peers in their home with simplicity and elegance. He is also survived by daughters and sons Fátima, Alexandre, Marília, Heloísa, Léo, and Paulo Cesário. Moacyr is survived by his daughters, Clotilde and Esmeralda.
The work of these two great physiologists of such diverse personalities was complementary: Moacyr was concerned with the education of researchers, and Paulo with applied physiology. The great work both men did throughout their lives earned them the admiration and respect of their peers, family, and friends.
Raimundo Santos Barros
Universidade Federal de Viçosa
Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
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