Implications of climate change to the design of protected areas : The case study of small islands (Azores)

Climate change is causing shifts in species distributions worldwide. Understanding how species distributions will change with future climate change is thus critical for conservation planning. Impacts on oceanic islands are potentially major given the disproportionate number of endemic species and the consequent risk that local extinctions might become global ones. In this study, we use species climate envelope models to evaluate the current and future potential distributions of Azorean endemic species of bryophytes, vascular plants, and arthropods on the Islands of Terceira and Sao Miguel in the Azores archipelago (Macaronesia). We examined projections of climate change effects on the future distributions of species with particular focus on the current protected areas. We then used spatial planning optimization software (PRION) to evaluate the effectiveness of protected areas at preserving species both in the present and future. We found that contractions of species distributions in protected areas are more likely in the largest and most populated island of Sao Miguel, moving from the coastal areas towards inland where the current protected areas are insufficient and inadequate to tackle species distribution shifts. There will be the need for a revision of the current protected areas in Sao Miguel to allow the sustainable conservation of most species, while in Terceira Island the current protected areas appear to be sufficient. Our study demonstrates the importance of these tools for informing long-term climate change adaptation planning for small islands.Peer reviewe

Arthropod co-occurrence networks indicate environmental differences between islands and signal introduced species in Azorean native forest remnants

Island biotas are in imminent threat from anthropogenic impacts. Of these impacts, the negative effects of exotic species on the taxonomic and functional diversity of the local fauna are of major concern. Exotics may also have a detrimental effect on interspecific interactions which, in turn, can destabilize ecological networks. Species co-occurrence networks can detect species-to-species associations and are used to predict ecological interaction networks and utilized as tools to assess environmental impacts on community structure. Here, we aim to investigate whether or not topological differences of the arthropod co-occurrence networks among native forest fragments from seven Azorean islands can reveal the influence of the abiotic environment and exotic species on these networks. Co-occurrence networks were sensitive to environmental and community dissimilarities, showing a clear separation between islands and pinpointed differences between indigenous and exotic networks. Most exotics were little connected and exotic networks had a large proportion of unconnected species. The resulting decreased connectance and the increased modularity with the increase of the proportions of exotics in the networks suggest that most exotics have too low prevalence to show associations with other species, and only a few dominants drive co-occurrences. The proportion of negative links, as indicators of competition, did not increase with the increase of exotics in the habitats, suggesting that exotics provided new functional roles when they colonized native forest remnants. However, when the theoretical networks consisting of only indigenous species were investigated, connectance decreased and closeness increased with the increase of exotics, suggesting processes of network degradation. Since our study provides ample evidence for the usefulness of co-occurrence network analysis in studying island ecosystems, we recommend the use of this tool for ecosystem assessments, early warning systems and decision-making in island biodiversity conservation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Beyond the tip of the seamount: Distinct megabenthic communities found beyond the charismatic summit sponge ground on an arctic seamount (Schulz Bank, Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge)

Our understanding of the benthic communities on arctic seamounts and descriptions of such communities in habitat classification systems are limited. In recent years, Schulz Bank (73°52′N 7°30′E), a seamount on the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge (AMOR), has become well studied but the work has primarily focused on an arctic sponge ground at the summit. This has compounded a general assumption that the most biologically interesting community is on the summit alone. With the potential threat of deep-sea mining on nearby sites on AMOR, it is crucial to form a baseline understanding of the benthic megafaunal communities not only on the summit, but on the slopes and base of the seamount as well. Using video footage collected by a remotely operated vehicle in 2017 and 2018 to survey the seamount from 2700 to 580 m depth, several distinct megafauna communities on Schulz Bank were identified. Specifically, five biotopes, two of which were dominated by large structure-forming sponges, appeared to follow a depth gradient and change with the type of substrata present. The sponge-dominated communities on the summit and lower slope had the highest average community densities and number of morphotaxa per image compared to the upper slope and seamount base communities. Most notably, sponge-dominated bedrock walls on the lower slopes challenge the assumption that the summit is the most dense and diverse community on Schulz Bank. The results from this study lay the foundation for future research and conservation efforts of arctic sponge grounds by looking beyond the seamount summit to bring a full view of enigmatic sponge dominated ecosystems.publishedVersio

Spatial Factors Play a Major Role as Determinants of Endemic Ground Beetle Beta Diversity of Madeira Island Laurisilva

The development in recent years of new beta diversity analytical approaches highlighted valuable information on the different processes structuring ecological communities. A crucial development for the understanding of beta diversity patterns was also its differentiation in two components: species turnover and richness differences. In this study, we evaluate beta diversity patterns of ground beetles from 26 sites in Madeira Island distributed throughout Laurisilva – a relict forest restricted to the Macaronesian archipelagos. We assess how the two components of ground beetle beta diversity (βrepl – species turnover and βrich - species richness differences) relate with differences in climate, geography, landscape composition matrix, woody plant species richness and soil characteristics and the relative importance of the effects of these variables at different spatial scales. We sampled 1025 specimens from 31 species, most of which are endemic to Madeira Island. A spatially explicit analysis was used to evaluate the contribution of pure environmental, pure spatial and environmental spatially structured effects on variation in ground beetle species richness and composition. Variation partitioning showed that 31.9% of species turnover (βrepl) and 40.7% of species richness variation (βrich) could be explained by the environmental and spatial variables. However, different environmental variables controlled the two types of beta diversity: βrepl was influenced by climate, disturbance and soil organic matter content whilst βrich was controlled by altitude and slope. Furthermore, spatial variables, represented through Moran’s eigenvector maps, played a significant role in explaining both βrepl and βrich, suggesting that both dispersal ability and Madeira Island complex orography are crucial for the understanding of beta diversity patterns in this group of beetles.Peer reviewe

Marine-derived Fungi: Diversity Of Enzymes And Biotechnological Applications

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)The ocean is considered to be a great reservoir of biodiversity. Microbial communities in marine environments are ecologically relevant as intermediaries of energy, and play an important role in nutrient regeneration cycles as decomposers of dead and decaying organic matter. In this sense, marine-derived fungi can be considered as a source of enzymes of industrial and/or environmental interest. Fungal strains isolated from different substrates, such as invertebrates, decaying wood, seawater, sediments, and mangrove detritus, have been reported to be producers of hydrolytic and/or oxidative enzymes, with alginate lyase, amylase, cellulase, chitinase, glucosidase, inulinase, keratinase, ligninase, lipase, nuclease, phytase, protease, and xylanase being among the enzymes produced by fungi of marine origin. These enzymes present temperature and pH optima ranging from 35 to 70 degrees C, and 3.0 to 11.0, respectively. High-level production in bioreactors is mainly performed using submerged-state fermentation. Certain marine-derived fungal strains present enzymes with alkaline and cold-activity characteristics, and salinity is considered an important condition in screening and production processes. The adaptability of marine-derived fungi to oceanic conditions can be considered an attractive point in the field of fungal marine biotechnology. In this review, we focus on the advances in discovering enzymes from marine-derived fungi and their biotechnological relevance.6Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)FAPESP [2013/19486-0, 2013/08617-7]CNPq [304103/2013-6, 301248/2010-9]FAPESP [FAPESP 2009/18399-1, FAPESP 2011/18769-3, FAPESP 2008/06720-7, FAPESP 2012/12622-3, FAPESP 2013/12505-0, FAPESP 2014/12430-2, CNPq 159488/2014, FAPESP 2013/00286-1