A multimethodological approach for vertebrate endemicity and potential priority regions for conservation in the state of Espírito Santo, southeastern Brazil

The selection of strategic conservation areas is a complex undertaking that requires the integration of various elements, including planning, indicators, and mapping. An extensive evaluation of vertebrate distribution patterns in Espírito Santo state, southern Brazil, revealed the existence of four consensus areas defined by two endemicity methods that can be designated as priority regions for multitaxa conservation. A brief remark is made regarding the importance of endemic areas and biogeographic units in the definition of priority areas for conservation.&nbsp

Abundance of microplastic in different coastal areas using Phragmatopoma caudata (Kroyer in Morch, 1863) (Polychaeta: Sabelariidae) as an indicator

Plastic debris has been reported in the marine environment since the ´70s. These plastic materials are introduced into the marine environment in several sizes, one of them microplastics (MP), and they have drawn great interest and concern in the past decades. Consumption of MP can cause weight loss, feeding rate decrease, reproductive activity decrease, and several other negative effects. Ingestion of MPs has already been reported for some species of polychaetes but the use of these annelids in MP studies is still poorly reported. Costa et al. (2021) was the first study to investigate the capability of the reef-building polychaete Phragmatopoma caudata to incorporate microplastic in its colony´s structures. This makes the colonies a reservoir of MP and thus they reflect the environment´s quality regarding MP presence. Consequently, this specie becomes an important asset to MP pollution investigation in coastal areas. Therefore, this work aims to investigate the abundance of MPs on the coastline of Espírito Santo using P. caudata as an indicator of MP presence. For this, we collected samples of P. caudata colonies in 12 sampling sitesalong the Espírito Santo coast (three replicates at each site). These colony samples were processed to extract the MPs particles from the colony surface, its inner structure, and tissues from the individuals. These MPs were counted using a stereomicroscope and sorted according to their color and type (filament, fragment, and other). Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism 9.3.0. Significant values followed p < 0.05.We found MP particles in all 12 sampled beaches, configuring a pollution rate of 100 %. The number of filamentswas notably greater than the numberof fragments and others. The most impacted beaches were found inside the metropolitan region of the state. Finally, P. caudata is an efficient and trustable indicator of microplastic in coastal areas.Fil: Schuab, João Marcos. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: Quirino, Welton Pereira. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: de Paula, Midiã Silva. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: Milagres, Mateus Reis. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: Motta, Daniel Gosser. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: Zamprogno, Gabriela Carvalho. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: Paz Otegui, Mariana Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada; Argentina. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BrasilFil: Yapuchura Ocaris, Enrique Ronald. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; Brasil. Universidad Tecnológica del Perú; PerúFil: da Costa, Mercia Barcellos. Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; Brasi