Caracterização das comunidades de macrofauna epibentónica do Estuário do Rio Arade

Dissertação de Mestrado, Biologia Marinha, especialização em Ecologia e Conservação Marinha, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2008O presente trabalho teve como objectivo a caracterização das comunidades de macroinvertebrados epibentónicos do estuário do Rio Arade, em termos da sua composição específica, variação espaço-temporal, e estrutura e dinâmica das comunidades, analisando a relação entre a distribuição das comunidades e os parâmetros ambientais estuarinos. O período de amostragem estendeu-se desde Janeiro de 2004 a Abril de 2005, para obter uma caracterização anual das comunidades. Na totalidade das amostragens foram capturados 88111 indivíduos e identificados 228 taxa. O crustáceo Crangon crangon dominou a abundância e a frequência de ocorrência, no entanto, a biomassa foi dominada pela ascidia Microcosmus exasperatus. Ao longo do Estuário foi observada uma estruturação das comunidades, sendo a zona A2 (canal principal) dominante em diversidade. Pelo contrário a zona de PnVinf (sapal) apresentou-se como a mais pobre em todos os aspectos. A estruturação das comunidades mostrou uma relação com os factores salinidade e profundidade. Nas amostragens realizadas apenas foi observada sazonalidade nas zonas de sapal, existindo diferenças entre Inverno – Verão e Primavera – Outono. A utilização do método ABC não mostrou resultados viáveis de serem interpretados. A continuidade deste estudo é necessária de modo a poder avaliar mais correctamente a componente temporal e minimizar os erros registados em alguns dos métodos de amostragem

Variability of prey preferences and uptake of anthropogenic particles by juvenile white seabream in a coastal lagoon nursery ground

Marine plastic litter, originating from land-based sources, enters the marine environment by passing through coastal ecosystems such as lagoons and estuaries. As early life history stages (ELHS) of many commercially important fish species rely on these transitional areas as nursery grounds, we hypothesized that they encounter a spatial gradient of habitat quality and pollution from inner to outer parts of their vital environment. With sizes < 5 mm, anthropogenic particles (AP), among them microplastic (MP) fibers and fragments, entail a high bioavailability for ELHS of fish, potentially facilitating AP uptake at early developmental stages which may have implications for their survival and growth. This study provides a contextualization baseline between feeding preferences and uptake of AP by the white seabream Diplodus sargus (Linnaeus, 1758) in an estuarine nursery ground on the southern coast of Portugal. Juvenile fish showed a generalized, omnivorous feeding mode with differences in trophic resource utilization between individuals collected at distinct seagrass meadows in the lagoon. A total of 23.13% of the fish (n = 147) were detected with AP in the gastrointestinal tract, and the mean number of AP per AP-feeding individual was 1.64 +/- 1.04, with anthropogenic fibers (n = 47) occurring more frequently than fragments (n = 9). Knowledge of the underlying factors for MP ingestion will be greatly enhanced by considering environmental conditions along with species-stage and life-stage specific feeding modes and prey preferences which shape the uptake probability of anthropogenic fibers and fragments.LA/P/0101/2020info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences

The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007; Donegan 2008, 2009; Nemésio 2009a–b; Dubois 2009; Gentile & Snell 2009; Minelli 2009; Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016; Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016

NEOTROPICAL ALIEN MAMMALS: a data set of occurrence and abundance of alien mammals in the Neotropics

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal species that (1) transposed a geographical barrier and (2) were voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into the Neotropics. Our data set is composed of 73,738 historical and current georeferenced records on alien mammal species of which around 96% correspond to occurrence data on 77 species belonging to eight orders and 26 families. Data cover 26 continental countries in the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico and its frontier regions (southern Florida and coastal-central Florida in the southeast United States) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, and the 13 countries of Caribbean islands. Our data set also includes neotropical species (e.g., Callithrix sp., Myocastor coypus, Nasua nasua) considered alien in particular areas of Neotropics. The most numerous species in terms of records are from Bos sp. (n = 37,782), Sus scrofa (n = 6,730), and Canis familiaris (n = 10,084); 17 species were represented by only one record (e.g., Syncerus caffer, Cervus timorensis, Cervus unicolor, Canis latrans). Primates have the highest number of species in the data set (n = 20 species), partly because of uncertainties regarding taxonomic identification of the genera Callithrix, which includes the species Callithrix aurita, Callithrix flaviceps, Callithrix geoffroyi, Callithrix jacchus, Callithrix kuhlii, Callithrix penicillata, and their hybrids. This unique data set will be a valuable source of information on invasion risk assessments, biodiversity redistribution and conservation-related research. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using the data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us on how they are using the data

Characterisation of microbial attack on archaeological bone

As part of an EU funded project to investigate the factors influencing bone preservation in the archaeological record, more than 250 bones from 41 archaeological sites in five countries spanning four climatic regions were studied for diagenetic alteration. Sites were selected to cover a range of environmental conditions and archaeological contexts. Microscopic and physical (mercury intrusion porosimetry) analyses of these bones revealed that the majority (68%) had suffered microbial attack. Furthermore, significant differences were found between animal and human bone in both the state of preservation and the type of microbial attack present. These differences in preservation might result from differences in early taphonomy of the bones. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved

Núcleos de Ensino da Unesp: artigos 2008

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq