Robustness of reserve selection procedures under temporal species turnover

Complementarity-based algorithms for the selection of reserve networks emphasize the need to represent biodiversity features efficiently, but this may not be sufficient to maintain those features in the long term. Here, we use data from the Common Birds Census in Britain as an exemplar data set to determine guidelines for the selection of reserve networks which are more robust to temporal turnover in features. The extinction patterns found over the 1981-1991 interval suggest that two such guidelines are to represent species in the best sites where they occur (higher local abundance) and to give priority to the rarer species. We tested five reserve selection strategies, one which finds the minimum representation set and others which incorporate the first or both guidelines proposed. Strategies were tested in terms of their efficiency (inversely related to the total area selected) and effectiveness (inversely related to the percentage of species lost) using data on eight pairs of ten-year intervals. The minimum set strategy was always the most efficient, but suffered higher species loss than the others, suggesting that there is a trade-off between efficiency and effectiveness. A desirable compromise can be achieved by embedding the concerns about the long-term maintenance of the biodiversity features of interest in the complementarity-based algorithms

Experimental design and sample preparation in forest tree matabolomics

ReviewAppropriate experimental design and sample preparation are key steps in metabolomics experiments, highly influencing the biological interpretation of the results. The sample preparation workflow for plant metabolomics studies includes several steps before metabolite extraction and analysis. These include the optimization of laboratory procedures, which should be optimized for di erent plants and tissues. This is particularly the case for trees, whose tissues are complex matrices to work with due to the presence of several interferents, such as oleoresins, cellulose. A good experimental design, tree tissue harvest conditions, and sample preparation are crucial to ensure consistency and reproducibility of the metadata among datasets. In this review, we discuss the main challenges when setting up a forest tree metabolomics experiment for mass spectrometry (MS)-based analysis covering all technical aspects from the biological question formulation and experimental design to sample processing and metabolite extraction and data acquisition. We also highlight the importance of forest tree metadata standardization in metabolomics studiesinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Automatic tracking of red blood cells in micro channels using OpenCV

The present study aims to developan automatic method able to track red blood cells (RBCs) trajectories flowing through a microchannel using the Open Source Computer Vision (OpenCV). The developed method is based on optical flux calculation assisted by the maximization of the template-matching product. The experimental results show a good functional performance of this method.(undefined

Investigating natural acidified marine environments

Jornadas "Ciência nos Açores – que futuro?", Ponta Delgada, 7-8 de Junho de 2013.As fontes hidrotermais de superfície constituem laboratórios naturais para investigar ambientes marinhos naturalmente acidificados como modelos para a avaliação dos efeitos da acidificação dos oceanos. Os organismos nestas zonas estão sujeitos às condições acídicas, bem como às variações de temperatura e exposição a produtos químicos, incluindo a libertação de metais pesados. Ambientes extremos podem promover alterações nas comunidades, organismos ou processos fisiológicos. Algumas das estratégias, mecanismos, adaptações ou até mesmo especiação (novas espécies) poderiam mostrar como viver nesses ambientes e ajudar a descobrir organismos suficientemente sensíveis para atuar como sentinelas (bioindicadores) e, eventualmente adaptações biológicas associadas com potencial uso biotecnológico. Algumas espécies, devido à sua estrutura calcária (sensíveis a condições ácidas) requerem uma atenção especial. As fontes hidrotermais de superfície são uma característica peculiar dos Açores. Representam ambientes únicos e constituem patrimônio natural do litoral dos Açores. No presente projeto pretende-se investigar os efeitos da atividade hidrotermal em comunidades subtidais macrobentónicas em São Miguel, com uma abordagem inovadora no estudo dos efeitos da acidificação dos oceanos. A comparação entre locais com atividade hidrotermal e locais sem atividade hidrotermal irá fornecer informações sobre as diferenças na distribuição das espécies. Esta informação será complementada com a investigação sobre as respostas de organismos selecionados aos efeitos de viver sob a influência das fontes hidrotermais.ABSTRACT: Shallow water hydrothermal vents constitute natural laboratories to investigate natural acidified marine environments as models for the evaluation of the effects of ocean acidification. Organisms at those areas are subject to acidic conditions, as well as to temperature variations and exposure to chemicals, including the release of heavy metals. The extreme environment can promote changes on the communities, organisms or physiological processes. Some of the strategies, mechanisms, adaptations or even speciation (new species) could show how to live in these environments and help discovering organisms sufficiently sensitive to act as early sentinels (bioindicators) and possible associated biological adaptations with potential biotechnological use. Some species, due to their calcareous structure (sensitive to acidic conditions) need special attention. Shallow water hydrothermal vents are striking features of the Azores. They represent unique environments and constitute a natural patrimony of the Azorean coastline. In the present project we investigate the effects of hydrothermal activity on subtidal macrobenthic communities in the island of São Miguel, in an innovative approach to study ocean acidification effects. A comparison between sites with hydrothermal activity and sites without hydrothermal activity will provide information on species distribution differences. This information will be complemented with research on the responses of selected organisms to the effects of living under the vents influence

Modificações na concha de lapas em fontes hidrotermais de superfície

Copyright © 2012 APRH.Os organismos calcários são conhecidos por serem sensíveis à água do mar acidificada, e têm sido apontados como potenciais sentinelas para estudos sobre acidificação do oceano. As lapas estão entre os organismos que caracterizam a zona intertidal e nos Açores, podendo também ser encontradas em locais com actividade hidrotermal de superfície, onde a acidez da água do mar na proximidade das fontes hidrotermais é naturalmente mais elevada devido à liberação de CO2. Durante uma visita ocasional para avaliar a ocorrência e abundância de algas no intertidal encontraram-se vários espécimes de Patella candei gomesii (Patellidae) com conchas aberrantes, na proximidade de fontes hidrotermais. Estes indivíduos, colectados sob tais condições exibiam conchas frágeis, quase transparentes, com espessura muito reduzida.ABSTRACT: Calcareous organisms are known to be sensitive to acidified seawater, and they have been reported as potential sentinels for ocean acidification studies. Limpets are among the organisms that characterise intertidal zones, and in the Azores can also be found at sites with shallow water hydrothermal activity, where the acidity of seawater in the vicinity of hydrothermal vents is naturally higher due to CO2 release. During an occasional intertidal survey on the occurrence and abundance of intertidal algae we found limpets with abnormal shells, and specimens of Patella candei gomesii (Patellidae) collected under such conditions exhibited weak and almost transparent shells with reduced shell thickness

PSSA - um método de otimização usando a computação paralela

Neste trabalho foi considerado o problema de determinação de todos os minimizantes globais, e alguns locais, de um problema de otimização não linear. Para a resolução deste problema foi considerada uma estratégia multilocal combinada com técnicas de computação paralela. Assim, foram desenvolvidas diferentes variantes paralelas do Stretched Simulated Annealing (SSA) - um algoritmo que combina o método de simulated annealing com a função stretching - baseadas em diferentes estratégias de particionamento do domínio de pesquisa. A abordagem resultante - Parallel SSA (PSSA) - foi testada com diversos problemas onde a função objetivo é multimodal

PSSA : parallel stretched simulated annealing

We consider the problem of finding all the global (and some local) minimizers of a given nonlinear optimization function (a class of problems also known as multi-local programming problems), using a novel approach based on Parallel Computing. The approach, named Parallel Stretched Simulated Annealing (PSSA), combines simulated annealing with stretching function technique, in a parallel execution environment. Our PSSA software allows to increase the resolution of the search domains (thus facilitating the discovery of new solutions) while keeping the search time bounded. The software was tested with a set of well known problems and some numerical results are presented

Drought response of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) landraces at leaf physiological and metabolite profile levels

Drought threatens the world’s food production, particularly in Sub Saharan Africa low external input and rain fed agricultural systems, where cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.) is an important food crop. In the context of growing concerns regarding climate changes implications on water availability, this study aimed at 1) to evaluate the drought responses in cowpea landraces with contrasting drought tolerance levels (A55 – high sensitivity; A80 - mild sensitivity; A116 - tolerant), 2) using an integrated physiological (leaf gas exchanges; chlorophyll a fluorescence) and biochemical (photoprotective pigments; RuBisCO activity; primary metabolite profiling) analysis to identify drought tolerance probes, in plants submitted to three water availability levels (well-watered, WW; mild drought, MD; severe drought, SD). A116 plants maintained a better water status under drought, what could justify the higher Pn and Pnmax values in MD, as well as higher photochemical use of energy (reflected in the photochemical quenching (qL) and in the quantum yield of non-cyclic electron transport (Y(II))), and the lower need of photoprotective thermal dissipation mechanisms (given by the non-photochemical quenching (qN), and the quantum yield of regulated energy dissipation at photosystem PSII (Y(NPQ))), in MD and SD plants. Greater declines of net (Pn) and potential (Pnmax) photosynthesis were observed in A55 plants, which frequently showed significant impacts already under MD conditions in most parameters, whereas A80 usually displayed and intermediate behaviour. Still, even A55 showed some acclimation response, regarding photoprotective mechanisms associated with high contents of zeaxanthin, lutein, and carotenes, and high Y(NPQ), and qN values, supporting the absence of an increase in the non-regulated energy dissipation at PSII (Y(NO) did not increased) even in SD plants. Additionally, A55 was not significantly affected in RuBisCO activity, which showed to be quite resilient in cowpea. A primary metabolite profiling, complemented with a partial least square discrimination analysis (PLS-DA), allowed a better separation of A116 and A55 plants according to their degree of drought tolerance. In response to drought, A116 showed the greatest accumulation of most responsive metabolites, 14 in total, with sucrose, fucose, urea, alanine and putrescine being exclusively increased in this genotype, suggesting that they can be candidates as drought tolerance proxies. Other compounds, as proline, valine, isoleucine (among amino acids), and rhamnose and raffinose (among sugars) showed close increase patternsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Impact of frost on the morphology and chemical composition of cv. Santulhana olives

Frost events and extreme weather phenomena greatly affect several characteristics of the olive fruit. This study evaluated the impact of frost on the morphology, composition (moisture, fat, fatty acids, tocopherols, and total phenolic contents), and antioxidant activity of olives of cv. Santulhana. A total of 14 trees from the same geographical region (Santulhão, northeast of Portugal) were chosen, including trees subjected or not subjected to frost conditions (n = 7 each). The results showed that frost led to morphological changes in olive fruits, particularly in terms of weight and diameter, which were imposed by a huge decrease in the moisture content (-20%). Fat relative content increased as a consequence of the water loss (+29% in fresh pulp weight), with a slight reduction of the relative abundance of saturated fatty acids (-4%) and tocopherol contents in the fat (-17%). However, the total phenolic contents and antioxidant activity were severely affected (-70% and -42%, respectively), with potential consequences for the olive oil stability and sensorial attributes. Principal component analysis showed that both morphological and chemical parameters could be used as biomarkers to identify olives subjected or not subjected to frost. The overall negative impact of frost on the minor antioxidant contents of cv. Santulhana olives may anticipate a quality loss of olive oils extracted from olives affected by frost.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support by national funds FCT/MCTES to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020) and to REQUIMTELAQV (UIDB/50006/2020) units and to the Associate Laboratories for Green Chemistry-LAQV (UIDB/50006/2020) and SusTEC (LA/P/0007/2020). Nuno Rodrigues thanks to National funding by FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology, P.I., through the institutional scientific employment program-contract. Ana I. Rodrigues thanks the financial support by OleaChain project “Skills for sustainability and innovation in the value chain of traditional olive groves in the Northern Interior of Portugal” (NORTE-06-3559-FSE-000188).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio