A changing climate: prospects for the Azorean bryophytes

MOVECLIM, Mid Course Meeting, 2-6 September 2013, Réunion (Mascarenes).As climate change is warming our planet, biodiversity is responding to that input through several different processes, such as range or phenology shifts (Bellard et al., 2012). The main problem with species’ responses is that many seem to be unable to keep up with the fast pace of climate change. Quintero & Wiens (2013) established that projected rates of climate change until 2099 are about 10.000 times superior to the historical climatic niche evolution rates of 540 species of terrestrial vertebrates. If species’ fail to adapt, local extinctions can occur. This is especially true for islands, due to isolation and dispersal barriers. Plants, for example, can only migrate upwards until they reach the mountain summits. From there, they have no place to go, no area to colonize

Post-release mortality of shortfin mako in the Atlantic using satellite telemetry: preliminary results

This paper provides an update of the study on post-release mortality of the shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus developed within the ICCAT Shark Research and Data Collection Program (SRDCP). Up to date, 34 tags (14 sPATs and 20 miniPATs) have been deployed by observers on Brazilian, Portuguese, Uruguayan, and US vessels in the temperate NE and NW, Equatorial and SW Atlantic. Data from 28 out of 34 tagged specimens could be used to obtain preliminary information regarding post-release mortality, resulting in a total of 7 mortality and 21 survival events.This study was carried out as part of a cooperative work conducted by the ICCAT Shark species group integrated in the ICCAT Shark Research and Data Collection Program (SRDCP). The authors are grateful to all fishery observers and longline skippers from the Nations involved in this study. Tags from additional sources have been contributed and deployed with several national Projects, specifically: Project "LL-Sharks: Mitigação das capturas de tubarões na pescaria de palangre de superfície (Ref: 31-03-05-FEP-44, funded by PROMAR)", Project "MAKO-WIDE - "A wide scale inter-hemispheric and inter-disciplinary study aiming the conservation of the shortfin mako shark in the Atlantic Ocean (Ref: FAPESP/19740/2014)", funded by FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) and FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation, Brazil), and Project SAFEWATERS SC7 (The provision of advice on the conservation of pelagic sharks associated to fishing activity under EU Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements in the Atlantic Ocean) under the Framework Contract MARE/2012/21, funded by the European Commission. Additional satellite tags were acquired by NOAA in US-Uruguay and US-Portugal-Uruguay collaboration initiatives. Rui Coelho is supported by an Investigador-FCT contract from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) supported by the EU European Social Fund and the Programa Operacional Potencial Humano (Ref: IF/00253/2014).info:eu-repo/semantics/draf

Bryophyte diversity and climate change in the Azores: looking to the future to redesign the present

Jornadas "Ciência nos Açores – que futuro? Tema Ciências Naturais e Ambiente", Ponta Delgada, 7-8 de Junho de 2013.As alterações que o clima do planeta tem vindo a sofrer nas últimas décadas têm efeitos variados sobre a biodiversidade, alterando a distribuição das espécies e as interacções entre estas, afectando a jusante os serviços de ecossistemas e, consequentemente, o ser humano. Nos Açores, vários desses serviços são garantidos pelos briófitos. Para além das suas funções ecossistémicas, estes organismos respondem rapidamente a variações ambientais, sendo por isso indicados para detectar os efeitos biológicos das alterações climáticas. Este estudo procura determinar que impactos terão as alterações climáticas previstas pelo Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sobre a distribuição e composição específica e funcional da brioflora dos Açores e que novos dados podemos integrar no sistema de gestão de áreas protegidas do arquipélago. Para tal, pretende-se inventariar a diversidade específica e funcional de briófitos ao longo de gradientes altitudinais em várias ilhas dos Açores, relacionar os padrões de distribuição encontrados com uma série de factores ambientais e desenvolver, através de modelação bioclimática, previsões da distribuição futura destas espécies em resposta a diferentes cenários de alterações climáticas. Utilizando a brioflora açoriana, pretende-se assim ilustrar de que forma o estudo dos futuros efeitos das alterações climáticas sobre a biodiversidade pode servir como base para o desenvolvimento de estratégias de gestão e conservação da natureza a curto, médio e longo prazos. Ao fazê-lo, estaremos a contribuir para garantir a sustentabilidade do arquipélago, preservando a sua biodiversidade, os serviços dos ecossistemas e os benefícios e lucros por eles gerados em sectores como o do turismo, fortemente ligado à qualidade ambiental das ilhas.ABSTRACT: The changes the planet's climate has undergone in recent decades have numerous effects on biodiversity, altering the distribution of species and the interactions between them, affecting the ecosystem services they provide and, consequently, human beings. In the Azores, many of these services are guaranteed by bryophytes. Besides, these organisms respond quickly to environmental changes, being thus very suitable for exploring the biological effects of climate change. This project aims to determine what will the impacts of climate change, as predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, on the distribution, taxonomic and functional composition of native forest bryophytes be and which new data can we integrate in the archipelago’s protected areas management system. In order to do that, we will sample the taxonomic and functional diversity of bryophytes along altitudinal gradients in several islands of the Azores in a stratified way, and relate the emerging distribution patterns with a number of environmental factors. Then, using bioclimatic modeling, we will predict the future distribution of these species in response to different climate change scenarios. By means of the Azorean bryophytes, we aim to illustrate how the study of future climate change effects on biodiversity can serve as a foundation for the development of short to long-term nature management and conservation strategies. In doing so, we will help to ensure the sustainability of the archipelago, preserving its biodiversity, ecosystem services and the benefits and profits generated by them in sectors such as tourism, strongly linked to the environmental quality of the islands.Governo dos Açores; Fundo Regional para a Ciência

Updates on post-release mortality of shortfin mako in the Atlantic using satellite telemetry

This paper provides an update of the study on post-release mortality of the shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus developed within the ICCAT Shark Research and Data Collection Program (SRDCP). Up to date, 43 tags (14 sPATs and 29 miniPATs) have been deployed by observers on Brazilian, Portuguese, Spanish, Uruguayan, and US vessels in the temperate NE and NW, Equatorial and SW Atlantic. Data from 35 out of 43 tagged specimens could be used to obtain preliminary information regarding post-release mortality, resulting in a total of 8 mortality and 27 survival events.This study was carried out as part of a cooperative work conducted by the ICCAT Shark species group integrated in the ICCAT Shark Research and Data Collection Program (SRDCP). The authors are grateful to all fishery observers and longline skippers from the Nations involved in this study. Tags from additional sources have been contributed and deployed with several national Projects, specifically: Project "LL-Sharks: Mitigação das capturas de tubarões na pescaria de palangre de superfície (Ref: 31-03-05-FEP-44, funded by PROMAR)", Project "MAKO-WIDE - "A wide scale inter-hemispheric and inter-disciplinary study aiming the conservation of the shortfin mako shark in the Atlantic Ocean (Ref: FAPESP/19740/2014)", funded by FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) and FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation, Brazil), and Project SAFEWATERS SC7 (The provision of advice on the conservation of pelagic sharks associated to fishing activity under EU Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements in the Atlantic Ocean) under the Framework Contract MARE/2012/21, funded by the European Commission. Additional satellite tags were acquired by NOAA in US-Uruguay and US-Portugal-Uruguay collaboration initiatives. Rui Coelho is supported by an Investigador-FCT contract from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) supported by the EU European Social Fund and the Programa Operacional Potencial Humano (Ref: IF/00253/2014). Catarina C. Santos is supported by an FCT Doctoral grant (Ref: SFRH/BD/139187/2018).info:eu-repo/semantics/draf

Novel photochromic 2,2´-bithiophene azo dyes

The photochromic behaviour of two series of 2,2’-bithiophene azo dyes in THF solutions was studied. The photochromic properties and colour constancy were strongly dependent on the substitution pattern of the dyes. Under visible irradiation (> 420 nm) while some dyes exhibited a significant change in the colour intensity others exhibited an almost stable absorption. The photokinetic parameters of these systems are described.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT

Long-term monitoring across elevational gradients to assess ecological hypothesis : a description of standardized sampling methods in oceanic islands and first results

We are launching a long-term study to characterize the biodiversity at different elevations in several Azorean Islands. Our aim is to use the Azores as a model archipelago to answer the fundamental question of what generates and maintains the global spatial heterogeneity of diversity in islands and to be able to understand the dynamics of change across time. An extensive, standardized sampling protocol was applied in most of the remnant forest fragments of five Azorean Islands. Fieldwork followed BRYOLAT methodology for the collection of bryophytes, ferns and other vascular plant species. A modified version of the BALA protocol was used for arthropods. A total of 70 plots (10 m x 10 m) are already established in five islands (Flores, Pico, São Jorge, Terceira and São Miguel), all respecting an elevation step of 200 m, resulting in 24 stations examined in Pico, 12 in Terceira, 10 in Flores, 12 in São Miguel and 12 in São Jorge. The first results regarding the vascular plants inventory include 138 vascular species including taxa from Lycopodiophyta (N=2), Pteridophyta (N=27), Pinophyta (N=2) and Magnoliophyta (N=107). In this contribution we also present the main research question for the next six years within the 2020 Horizon

Mineralization of Sialoliths Investigated by Ex Vivo and In Vivo X-ray Computed Tomography

The fraction of organic matter present affects the fragmentation behavior of sialoliths; thus, pretherapeutic information on the degree of mineralization is relevant for a correct selection of lithotripsy procedures. This work proposes a methodology for in vivo characterization of salivary calculi in the pretherapeutic context. Sialoliths were characterized in detail by X-ray computed microtomography (μCT) in combination with atomic emission spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Correlative analysis of the same specimens was performed by in vivo and ex vivo helical computed tomography (HCT) and ex vivo μCT. The mineral matter in the sialoliths consisted essentially of apatite (89 vol%) and whitlockite (11 vol%) with average density of 1.8 g/cm3. In hydrated conditions, the mineral mass prevailed with 53 ± 13 wt%, whereas the organic matter, with a density of 1.2 g/cm3, occupied 65 ± 10% of the sialoliths' volume. A quantitative relation between sialoliths mineral density and X-ray attenuation is proposed for both HCT and μCT.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Habitat use and migrations of shortfin mako in the atlantic using satellite telemetry

This paper provides an update of the study on habitat use for shortfin mako, developed within the ICCAT Shark Research and Data Collection Program (SRDCP). Currently, all phase 1 (2015-2016) tags (23 tags: 9 miniPATs and 14 sPAT) and 11 tags from phase 2 (2016-2018) have been deployed by observers on Portuguese, Uruguayan, Brazilian and US vessels in the temperate NE and NW, Equatorial and SW Atlantic. Data from 32 tags/specimens is available and a total of 1260 tracking days have been recorded. Results showed shortfin makos moved in multiple directions, travelling considerable distances. Shortfin mako sharks spent most of their time above the thermocline (0-90 m), between 18 and 22 °C. The main plan for the next phase of the project is to continue the tag deployment during 2018 in several regions of the Atlantic.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio