The Brazilian Pampa biome covers half of Rio Grande do Sul state, in the extreme south of Brazil, creating an ecotone zone with the Atlantic Forest and bordering Pampa’s territory belonging to Uruguay and Argentina. Pampa is a non-forest biome mainly composed of grasslands and mosaics of grassland-forest vegetation. This biome shows significant animal and plant diversity, contributing to the maintenance of important ecosystem services, including CO₂ capture, pollination, and water cycle regulation. However, forestry plantations, inappropriate cattle ranching, mining activities, unplanned urbanization, and the cultivation of monocultures (soy, rice, tobacco, and other cash crops) significantly threaten the conservation of the Pampa biome. A major problem observed in the Pampa, due to the great connection of this biome with agricultural areas, is pesticide pollution, which significantly affects the health of humans and animals that occupy the region. A robust body of evidence indicates that aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems in the Brazilian Pampa are extensively contaminated with pesticides, as indicated by studies involving animal biomarkers and pesticide analyses performed on water and soil samples. Human studies also suggest that pesticides affect different body systems, facilitating the onset of various chronic diseases. Brazil’s conservation actions and policies have a special focus on forest ecosystems, neglecting non-forest biomes and thus aggravating the problems related to Pampa’s conservation. In this article, we discuss some problems caused by pesticide pollution in the Brazilian Pampa, drawing attention to the need for intensification of policies focused on the promotion of human and environmental health. Finally, we suggest the bioecological bioeconomy as an alternative for Rio Grande do Sul to progress its economic development but with less dependency on detrimental activities to the Pampa biome.

Ecological restoration of degraded areas can be important to prevent or slow down invasions of alien species. The objective of this study is to evaluate the potential of native species in applying the seeding technique and to compete with the invader Eragrostis plana, aiming ecological restoration at Campos Sulinos grasslands (South Brazil). Seeds of six native species (Anthaenantia lanata, Aristida laevis, Aristida jubata, Chamaecrista repens, Panicum olyroides and Paspalum plicatulum) and of E. plana were sown in isolated and competition (one native species plus the invader) pots. Germination rate, survival rate, germination rate index (GRI), above and belowground biomass were analyzed using ANOVAs and GLMs, and the impact of native species’ attributes at the invader biomass were analyzed using linear regressions. We found that Arista laevis and A. jubata had the highest germination and GRI, although had low survival. Anthaenantia lanata and Paspalum plicatulum had medium germination rate and GRI, but P. plicatulum had high survival and was the only native species to achieve a great biomass development. The invader proved to be a great competitor, with a high GRI, germination and survival rate and biomass production. High germination speed didn’t inhibit the early growth of the invader, although our results show that a high production of native biomass can slow down the development of E. plana. The only native species that was as predominant as the invader at the competition pots was P. plicatulum, and further studies can be important to understand the dynamic between those two species.