Landslide hazard mapping, DNA damage induced by sucrose and the biotechnology potential of sponge-associated bacteria communities.

The growth of population in a worldwide scale and the social vulnerability of different human communities subjected to war, economy collapse, ethnical persecution and poverty impose a strong pressure to occupy multi-hazard environments, like flood plains and hill slopes subject to landslides (Sullivan-Wiley and Gianotti 2017). As human communities occupy unstable hill slope areas, activities like deforestation or irregular building sites increase the probability of landslide occurrence (Dai et al. 2002). Thus, it becomes imperative to assess the regional factors that could trigger a landslide event. The manuscript of Cerri et al. (2017) invokes a new geologic strategy to evaluate potential landslide regions in Serra do Mar based on soil fractures and foliation, and the slope geometry of the area. This method could improve the diagnostic of hazard in hill slope areas and directly impact the development of a framework for safe hill slope use for agricultural and urban purposes.