Global Diversity of Ascidiacea

The class Ascidiacea presents fundamental opportunities for research in the fields of development, evolution, ecology, natural products and more. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge regarding the global biodiversity of the class Ascidiacea, focusing in their taxonomy, main regions of biodiversity, and distribution patterns. Based on analysis of the literature and the species registered in the online World Register of Marine Species, we assembled a list of 2815 described species. The highest number of species and families is found in the order Aplousobranchia. Didemnidae and Styelidae families have the highest number of species with more than 500 within each group. Sixty percent of described species are colonial. Species richness is highest in tropical regions, where colonial species predominate. In higher latitudes solitary species gradually contribute more to the total species richness. We emphasize the strong association between species richness and sampling efforts, and discuss the risks of invasive species. Our inventory is certainly incomplete as the ascidian fauna in many areas around the world is relatively poorly known, and many new species continue to be discovered and described each year

Teacher efficacy beliefs during the practicum experiences in physical education classes

Previous studies focusing on teacher education have highlighted the role that supervised practicum plays in the construction of future teachers' personal beliefs, including self-efficacy beliefs, yet there remains a need to understand which learning experiences contribute to the constitution of this belief during the supervised practicum. Our objective was to identify situations that influenced student teachers' judgment of self-efficacy during the development of supervised practicum. This exploratory and descriptive documentary research analyzed 18 reflective portfolios produced by student teachers' during their supervised practicum in a physical education teaching program course. The experience of teaching in locus and the opportunity to experience everyday school-life were recurring situations in 15 out of the 18 analyzed portfolios. The results led us to believe that offering student teachers the possibility to meet and experience the teaching environment in advance contributed positively, through enactive mastery experiences, to the building of their self-efficacy beliefs concerned to teaching.São Paulo Research FoundationUniversidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho,Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho,São Paulo Research Foundation: 2012/21200-