High coral bycatch in bottom-set Gillnet Coastal fisheries reveals rich coral habitats in Southern Portugal

Bottom-contact fisheries are unquestionably one of the main threats to the ecological integrity and functioning of deep-sea and circalittoral ecosystems, notably cold-water corals (CWC) and coral gardens. Lessons from the destructive impact of bottom trawling highlight the urgent need to understand how fisheries affect these vulnerable marine ecosystems. At the same time, the impact of other fishing gear and small-scale fisheries remains sparsely known despite anecdotal evidence suggesting their impact may be significant. This study aims to provide baseline information on coral bycatch by bottom-set gillnets used by artisanal fisheries in Sagres (Algarve, southwestern Portugal), thereby contributing to understand the impact of the activity but also the diversity and abundance of corals in this region. Coral bycatch frequency and species composition were quantified over two fishing seasons (summer-autumn and spring) for 42 days. The relationship with fishing effort was characterized according to metiers (n = 6). The results showed that 85% of the gillnet deployments caught corals. The maximum number of coral specimens per net was observed in a deployment targeting Lophius budegassa (n = 144). In total, 4,326 coral fragments and colonies of 22 different species were captured (fishing depth range of 57-510 m, mean 139 +/- 8 m). The most affected species were Eunicella verrucosa (32%), Paramuricea grayi (29%), Dendrophyllia cornigera (12%), and Dendrophyllia ramea (6%). The variables found to significantly influence the amount of corals caught were the target species, net length, depth, and mesh size. The 22 species of corals caught as bycatch belong to Orders Alcyonacea (80%), Scleractinia (18%), Zoantharia (1%), and Antipatharia (1%), corresponding to around 13% of the coral species known for the Portuguese mainland coast. These results show that the impact of artisanal fisheries on circalittoral coral gardens and CWC is potentially greater than previously appreciated, which underscores the need for new conservation measures and alternative fishing practices. Measures such as closure of fishing areas, frequent monitoring onboard of fishing vessels, or the development of encounter protocols in national waters are a good course of action. This study highlights the rich coral gardens of Sagres and how artisanal fisheries can pose significant threat to corals habitats in certain areas.HABMAR (Grant No.MAR-01.04.02-FEAMP-0018) co-financed by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund of the Operational Program MAR 2020 for Portugal (Portugal 2020), TECPESCA (Grant No. MAR2020 16-01-04-FMP-0010), and MARSW (Grant No. POSEUR/ICNF/LPN). FCT: UIDB/04326/2020/ SFRH/BSAB/150485/2019.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Global patterns of marine biodiversity and the potential impact of climate change

Marine species are highly susceptible to climate change as demonstrated by several studies. However, most of these studies focus on few species or on restricted geographical areas. Within this context, the main goal of my dissertation is to characterize global patterns and forecast the effects of climate change on marine biodiversity. This work is the first macroecological approach to investigate the effects of climate change in the marine realm on key commercial marine groups, namely coastal lobsters (125 species), cephalopods (161 species) and small pelagic fish (103 species). Here I aimed to improve our understanding of how projected changes in species distribution might affect key marine species diversity, body size, assemblage composition, variations in catch, and finally infer on the potential impacts for fisheries worldwide. Using Ecological Niche Models (ENMs) the projected global diversity patterns of the analyzed species generally showed higher values in tropical areas and lower values in higher latitudes. Nonetheless, these patterns were projected to change significantly by the end of the century, with a general tendency of species tracking adequate habitat suitability to higher latitudes. The results obtained provide critical information to anticipate negative impacts of climate change on marine biodiversity and should be considered in future studies, as they highlight climate hot-spot areas or with highly vulnerable species. Ultimately, it is crucial to evaluate species adaptation potential and develop hybrid models that better can guide future political decisions on conservation and management measures; RESUMO: Padrões globais da biodiversidade marinha e o potencial impacto das alterações climáticas As espécies marinhas são altamente suscetíveis às alterações climáticas, como demonstrado em numerosos estudos. Porém muitos desses estudos focam-se num número reduzido de espécies ou numa determinada área geográfica (local ou regional). Neste contexto, a presente dissertação tem como objetivo investigar os padrões globais de biodiversidade marinha e projetar como estes poderão estar modificados no final do século. Este trabalho constitui a primeira abordagem macroecológica que investiga, numa escala global, os impactos das alterações climáticas em taxa marinhos com alto interesse económico, como lagostas (125 espécies), cefalópodes (161 espécies) e pequenos peixes pelágicos (103 espécies). Os padrões globais de biodiversidade marinha para todos os taxa analisados mostram maior riqueza na zona dos trópicos e menor número de espécies nas maiores latitudes. No entanto, estes padrões podem sofrer modificações significativas até ao final do século verificando-se uma tendência generalizada das espécies migrarem para latitudes maiores de forma a encontrarem refúgio em áreas com boa adequação ambiental. Os modelos usados nesta tese (modelos de nicho ecológico) projetam alterações significativas na distribuição das espécies analisadas, com impactos profundos na riqueza e abundância em áreas vitais para a saúde dos oceanos e para as pescas, a longo prazo. Esta dissertação representa um contributo importante para o conhecimento dos padrões globais da biodiversidade nos oceanos futuros. Servindo os seus resultados para orientar estudos pormenorizados em áreas de risco elevado ou com espécies mais vulneráveis e informar a tomada de decisões com vista a proteção de espécies marinhas com elevado valor económico e ambiental. Contudo, atendendo aos efeitos das alterações climáticas já sentidos nos oceanos, é crucial avaliar a capacidade de adaptação destas espécies e encontrar modelos híbridos que melhor nos permitam orientar medidas de gestão e conservação futuras

Literatura e educação: do símbolo ao referente

infantis apresentadas em situação de sala de aula, salientando a capacidade inata de imaginar ao longo do nosso processo de amadurecimento. Abordei a evolução do conceito de literatura, nas suas várias vertentes e, em particular, a importância da literatura infantil na aprendizagem que se comprova deveras fulcral no processo de amadurecimento das crianças, tanto no percurso escolar como não escolar, mas também no desenvolvimento pessoal do ser humano. A literatura na educação, partindo do símbolo ao referente, transporta-nos para um mundo do real em oposição com o imaginário, em que este dualismo é, sem dúvida, um momento/processo crucial na formação interna dos indivíduos, na formação e na educação dos valores éticos e morais e permite a abordagem de temáticas tabus

Scleractinian Connectivity, integrating modelling and genetics approaches

The presentation 'Scleractinian Connectivity, integrating modelling and genetics approaches' was given by Alan Fox at the 4th ATLAS General Assembly. (Contributing authors Alan Fox, Sophie Arnaud-Haond, Joana Boavida, Ronan Becheler, José Manuel González-Irusta, Oscar Gaggiotti, Stefan Gary, Arne Biastoch.

Technological potential of a Lupin protein concentrate as a nutraceutical delivery system in baked cookies

Previous reports have shown that lupin protein extracts (LE) contain a polypeptide named deflamin with a potent matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 inhibitory activity. The aim of our study was to develop an efficient delivery method for incorporating deflamin into cookies using different alternative flours. A lupin protein concentrate (10 g protein/100 g cookie dough) was added to gluten and gluten-free flours to produce savoury cookies, and its impacts on the physical properties of doughs and cookies, as well on the maintenance of deflamin’s anti-MMP-9 activity, were analysed. The results showed that the biochemical compositions of all cookies with LE presented higher protein and ash contents when compared to the control cookies. Rice, buckwheat and oat doughs were firmer than the others, whereas the addition of LE to kamut and buckwheat flours made cookies significantly firmer than the controls. Additionally, strong interactions between LE and several flours were observed, yielding different impacts on the MMP-9 bioactivity. Overall, the only flour that did not interfere with the desired nutraceutical activities was buckwheat, with 60% MMP-9 inhibitory activity and a concomitant reduction of colon cancer migration; hence, buckwheat flour was revealed to be a good vehicle to deliver bioactive deflamin, showing strong potential as a functional food to be used in preventive or curative approaches to gastrointestinal diseasesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Challenging preservice teachers to produce varied mathematical problem solving strategies

This paper presents preliminary results of a research project that aims to investigate preservice teachers’ capacity to produce and analyse solution strategies to solve mathematical problems. From a methodological point of view, the study is of a qualitative nature and is being developed with future kindergarten and primary teachers who are enrolled in mathematical courses of a bachelor degree in elementary education at a public teacher education institute in central Portugal. The results suggest that although there has been an incipient progress concerning the production, by the future teachers, of more than one strategy to solve the same problems, reaching this goal is not an easy endeavour. It requires a deep and flexible knowledge about the mathematical content in order to be able to analyse problems from several points of view.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

To figure out more than a solution to a geometric problem: what do prospective teachers?

Trabalho apresentado em 11th Congress of the European Society for Research in Mathematics Education (CERME11), 6-10 de fevereiro 2019, Utrecht, the NetherlandsThis poster focuses on the development of prospective elementary teachers’ problem-solving capacity and, particularly, on geometric problem solving. More specifically, we present some preliminary results of a research project that is being developed, in a Portuguese School of Education focusing prospective elementary teachers’ preparation in geometry and measure, one of the disciplines of their bachelor’s degree.N/

An up-scalable and cost-effective methodology for isolating a polypeptide matrix metalloproteinase-9 inhibitor from Lupinus albus seeds

One of the most challenging problems with food-borne bioactive compounds is that there are commonly no cost-effective, generally recognized as safe (GRAS) methods for obtaining gram quantities of their purified forms. Here we aimed at developing a method to isolate deflamin, an oligomeric protein from lupin seeds with anti-inflammatory and anticancer activity through matrix metalloprotease (MMP)-9 inhibition. Our goal was to develop a GRAS method that could be easily up-scalable whilst maintaining deflamin’s activity. A sequential precipitation methodology was developed, using an aqueous extraction, followed by heat denaturation, acid precipitation and solubilization in ethanol. A final precipitation with 90% ethanol yielded a purified protein which was sequenced through mass spectrometry and tested for its MMP inhibitory activity using the Dyequenched (DQ) gelatin assay and the standard wound healing assay in HT29 cells. The developed method yielded a purified oligomer, which represented 0.1% (w/w) of total dry seed weight and was positively confirmed to be deflamin. It further showed to effectively reduce MMP-9 gelatinolytic activity as well as colon cancer cell migration, hence corroborating the effectiveness of our method. Overall, this is the first reported method for isolating an MMP-9 inhibitor from legume seeds, which is up-scalable to an industrial level, in a cost-effective mannerinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Low clonal propagation in Atlantic and Mediterranean populations of the red gorgonian Paramuricea clavata (Octocorallia)

Clonal propagation is a common feature of benthic marine organisms. In the present study, we investigated the contribution of clonal reproduction in the red gorgonian Paramuricea clavata. Mediterranean populations of P. clavata were severely affected by mass mortality events caused by increased water temperature in 1999 and 2003. The populations are characterized by slow growth and episodic recruitment, but after the observed mortalities, an unexpectedly high recovery rate was observed in the severely affected populations from the Ligurian Sea, NW Mediterranean. Ten years after the last mortality event, we investigated the contribution of clonal propagation in populations from the Ligurian Sea, where some populations were highly affected by mass mortality events, and from the Atlantic, where mortality was never observed. All individuals were genotyped for nine microsatellite loci. The contribution of clonal reproduction varied from 0% to 13% and did not differ significantly between affected and unaffected populations. We confirm by using genetic markers that clonal propagation in P. clavata is not common, and that the contribution of clones is too low to play an important role in red gorgonian reproduction and cannot contribute to population recovery at sites that have been affected by mass mortality events.Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) under the COMPETE program - European Regional Development Fund [PTDC/BIA-BIC/114526/2009]; MARES Grant; Erasmus Mundus [FPA 2011-0016

Genetic diversity increases with depth in red gorgonian populations of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean

In the ocean, the variability of environmental conditions found along depth gradients exposes populations to contrasting levels of perturbation, which can be reflected in the overall patterns of species genetic diversity. At shallow sites, resource availability may structure large, persistent and well-connected populations with higher levels of diversity. In contrast, the more extreme conditions, such as thermal stress during heat waves, can lead to population bottlenecks and genetic erosion, inverting the natural expectation. Here we examine how genetic diversity varies along depth for a long-lived, important ecosystem-structuring species, the red gorgonian, Paramuricea clavata.Agência financiadora CESAM UID/AMB/50017/2019 Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology FEDER, within the PT2020 Partnership Agreement FEDER, within the Compete 2020 Pew Marine Fellowship (USA) National Geographic Channel through project Deep Reefs, a National Geographic/Waitt grant W153-11 InAqua Conservation Fund (Oceanario de Lisboa) European Regional Development Fund (COMPETE program) Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology SFRH/BPD/111003/2015 CCMAR/Multi/04326/2013 UID/MAR/04292/2013 PTDC/BIA-BIC/114526/2009 MARES Grant Joint Doctorate programme under Erasmus Mundus by Ghent University FPA 2011-0016info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio