Impacto da gestão florestal na reprodução de chapins

Mestrado em Biologia Aplicada - Ecologia, Biodiversidade e Gestão de EcossistemasActualmente existe uma grande reflorestação do território nacional, em que as florestas de monoculturas substituem aos poucos as florestas mais diversificadas e complexas. Neste estudo, um dos principais objectivos foi comparar os parâmetros reprodutores do Chapim-real Parus major e do Chapim-azul Cyanistes caeruleus entre uma floresta nativa de folhosas, uma floresta mista dominada por espécies exóticas e duas florestas de monocultura – pinhal e eucaliptal, bem como a influência da orla florestal. O estudo teve por base caixas ninhos para monitorização dos parâmetros reprodutores das duas espécies e das variáveis que podem influenciar a ocupação das mesmas. Os resultados demonstraram que as características dos diferentes tipos de florestas influenciam o uso das caixas ninhos, assim como a localização geográfica das mesmas. Demonstraram ainda que a floresta nativa não é a que melhores condições oferece para as duas espécies em estudo, mas sim a floresta que possui maior complexidade e diversidade vegetal, ou seja a floresta mista. As elevadas densidades e a competição pelo alimento nas florestas mais complexas, levam a uma diminuição do sucesso reprodutor dos chapins. Assim, os eucaliptais apresentam capacidade de suportar a avifauna, desde que algumas medidas simples sejam aplicadas, como por exemplo a colocação de caixas ninho, podendo mesmo adquirir maior potencialidade e adequabilidade para estas espécies do que os pinhais. À semelhança do que acontece em muitas outras espécies da fauna, a orla florestal, pela sua peculiaridade e heterogeneidade de espécies e espaços, confere algumas vantagens aos indivíduos que as utilizam, traduzindo-se por vezes num aumento do seu sucesso reprodutor.Nowadays, there’s a high part of the national territory, where monoculture forest replaces gradually the more complex and diversified forests. In this study, one of the main objectives was to compare the reproductive parameters of the great tit Parus major and the blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus among the native broadleaf forest, the mixed forest dominated by exotic species and two monoculture forests - pine and eucalyptus forests, as well as the influence of forest edge. The study involved the use of nest boxes to monitor the breeding parameters of both species and of the variables that can influence its occupancy. The results show that the characteristics of different forest types influence the nest boxes use, as well as its geographical location. It was also demonstrated that the native forest isn’t the forest which offers the best conditions for the two studied species, instead was the forest that has a greater plant complexity and diversity, i.e. the mixed forest. The high densities and the food competition in the more complex forests, decreases the breeding success of the tits. Thus, eucalyptus forests have the capacity to withstand the avifauna, since some simple measures are applied, such as the nest box placement, and may even acquire more capability and suitability for these species than the pine forest. As in the case of many other fauna species', the forest edge, due to its uniqueness and diversity of species and spaces, gives some advantages to individuals which use it, sometimes leading to an increase in its reproductive success

Global and regional ecological boundaries explain abrupt spatial discontinuities in avian frugivory interactions

Species interactions can propagate disturbances across space via direct and indirect effects, potentially connecting species at a global scale. However, ecological and biogeographic boundaries may mitigate this spread by demarcating the limits of ecological networks. We tested whether large-scale ecological boundaries (ecoregions and biomes) and human disturbance gradients increase dissimilarity among plant-frugivore networks, while accounting for background spatial and elevational gradients and differences in network sampling. We assessed network dissimilarity patterns over a broad spatial scale, using 196 quantitative avian frugivory networks (encompassing 1496 plant and 1004 bird species) distributed across 67 ecoregions, 11 biomes, and 6 continents. We show that dissimilarities in species and interaction composition, but not network structure, are greater across ecoregion and biome boundaries and along different levels of human disturbance. Our findings indicate that biogeographic boundaries delineate the world’s biodiversity of interactions and likely contribute to mitigating the propagation of disturbances at large spatial scales.The authors acknowledge the following funding: University of Canterbury Doctoral Scholarship (L.P.M.); The Marsden Fund grant UOC1705 (J.M.T., L.P.M.); The São Paulo Research Foundation - FAPESP 2014/01986-0 (M.G., C.E.), 2015/15172-7 and 2016/18355-8 (C.E.), 2004/00810-3 and 2008/10154-7 (C.I.D., M.G., M.A.P.); Earthwatch Institute and Conservation International for financial support (C.I.D., M.G., M.A.P.); Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Supporting Research in the Rio de Janeiro State – FAPERJ grant E-26/200.610/2022 (C.E.); Brazilian Research Council grants 540481/01-7 and 304742/2019-8 (M.A.P.) and 300970/2015-3 (M.G.); Rufford Small Grants for Nature Conservation No. 22426–1 (J.C.M., I.M.), No. 9163-1 (G.B.J.) and No. 11042-1 (MCM); Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz (Propp-UESC; No. 00220.1100.1644/10-2018) (J.C.M., I.M.); Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia - FAPESB (No. 0525/2016) (J.C.M., I.M.); European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant 787638) and The Swiss National Science Foundation (grant 173342), both awarded to C. Graham (D.M.D.); ARC SRIEAS grant SR200100005 Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (D.M.D.); German Science Foundation—Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft PAK 825/1 and FOR 2730 (K.B.G., E.L.N., M.Q., V.S., M.S.), FOR 1246 (K.B.G., M.S., M.G.R.V.) and HE2041/20-1 (F.S., M.S.); Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology - FCT/MCTES contract CEECIND/00135/2017 and grant UID/BIA/04004/2020 (S.T.) and contract CEECIND/02064/2017 (L.P.S.); National Scientific and Technical Research Council, PIP 592 (P.G.B.); Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas - Project 898 (V.S.D.)

A community-level approach to forest biodiversity and avian dispersal services

Tese de doutoramento em Biociências, na especialidade de Ecologia, apresentada ao Departamento de Ciências da Vida da Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de CoimbraOs ecossistemas naturais são formados por diversos conjuntos de espécies que interagem permanentemente umas com as outras para sobreviver e se reproduzir. Estes ecossistemas fornecem ao homem diversos serviços essenciais. Contudo, devido ao crescimento da população humana e a sua consequente necessidade por espaço e matérias-primas, o homem tem modificado o espaço que o rodeia ao longo do tempo. Estas alterações causadas em muitos ecossistemas têm afetado fortemente a biodiversidade, ameaçando a sua persistência ao longo do tempo e a sua capacidade em fornecer serviços do ecossistema essenciais. Têm sido desenvolvidos esforços para travar a perda de biodiversidade, manter o bem-estar e a sustentabilidade do crescimento do homem, muitas vezes com sucesso reduzido. Para compreender inteiramente os impactos das alterações ambientais na persistência a longo-termo dos ecossistemas é fundamental avaliar explicitamente os impactos em diferentes taxa e nas interações biológicas. Esta tese explora o impacto antropogénico das alterações do uso de solo sobre toda a comunidade biológica e expande o conhecimento existente sobre as interações entre aves, plantas e fungos. Esta tese é constituída por quatro capítulos. No primeiro capítulo estudei o impacto das novas, i.e. antropogénicos, florestas na diversidade de árvores, arbustos, herbáceas, macrofungos, artrópodes terrestres, artrópodes voadores noturnos, repteis, aves, pequenos mamíferos terrestres, carnívoros e morcegos. A abundância, riqueza específica, e composição da comunidade destes grupos foram comparados entre bosques nativos de carvalhos Quercus spp., plantações de pinheiro nativo Pinus pinaster, plantações da espécie exótica Eucalyptus globulus e bosques da espécie invasora Acacia dealbata. Para a maioria dos grupos a abundância e riqueza específica foram significativamente maiores nos bosques nativos, seguidos das plantações de pinheiro e finalmente dos bosques de espécies exóticas. A composição da comunidade diferiu entre todos os bosques, com os pinhais sendo os mais parecidos com os bosques nativos. Os diferentes grupos estudados apresentaram respostas distintas aos diferentes tipos de bosque. Os artrópodes terrestres foram semelhantes entre todos os bosques, enquanto árvores, arbustos, herbáceas e aves foram os grupos mais afetados pelas alterações do habitat. No segundo capítulo efetuei uma revisão bibliográfica, recolhendo toda a informação sobre visitas de flores por aves na Europa. Os mutualismos entre famílias de aves não especializadas e flores têm sido amplamente negligenciados. Eu encontrei registos de pelo menos 45 espécies de aves a visitar 95 espécies de plantas na Europa. As flores mais visitadas pertencem aos géneros Brassica sp., Citrus sp. e Eucalyptus sp. sendo visitados principalmente por felosas dos géneros Sylvia sp. e Phylloscopus sp. e chapins, principalmente o chapim-azul Cyanistes caeruleus. As aves parecem visitar mais frequentemente as flores durante o inverno e a primavera, e especialmente na bacia do Mediterrâneo, sugerindo que as aves podem ter um papel pertinente na dispersão do pólen a longa distância. No terceiro capítulo construí uma rede ecológica empírica que quantifica o transporte de pólen por aves numa floresta nativa no centro de Portugal. Este trabalho não só confirmou empiricamente a maioria dos resultados do capítulo anterior, mas demostrou também pela primeira vez, num continente, uma libertação ecológica, i.e. o aumento do nicho trófico de uma guilda inteira para incluir recursos pouco explorados do ambiente, enquanto anteriormente isto apenas era conhecido em ilhas oceânicas. A libertação ecológica aparenta ser menos intensa na Europa do que nas ilhas oceânicas provavelmente devido à maior diversidade biológica dos continentes. A rede ecológica deste capítulo apresenta muitas propriedades semelhantes a outras redes de ave-flor incluindo redes de famílias de aves nectarívoras especializadas. No quarto capítulo abordei a co-dispersão de esporos de fungos por aves que visitam flores em duas florestas em Portugal. As acumulações de pólen encontradas nas aves contêm frequentemente esporos de fungos. A ocorrência dos esporos de fungos nas acumulações de pólen das aves está fortemente associada à quantidade de pólen, sugerindo que as aves adquirem os dois propágulos em simultâneo. Foi demonstrado que as aves que visitam flores transportam ativamente os esporos de fungos entre flores, numa dispersão direta dos esporos, i.e. para locais especificamente adequados para o seu desenvolvimento (flores). Esta interação permaneceu praticamente desconhecida até agora. A presente tese aumentou o conhecimento existente sobre a biodiversidade nas florestas Europeias e como esta é negativamente afetada pelas modificações antropogénicas associadas à plantação e expansão de novas espécies florestais. Uma revisão bibliográfica e dados empíricos e originais confirmaram que o transporte de pólen por aves nectarívoras não especializadas é um fenómeno comum na Europa, refletindo um libertação ecológica de aves generalistas que utilizam recursos florais pouco explorados. Muitas das aves que visitam flores agem como co-dispersores de esporos de fungos entre flores. Esta tese demonstra a importância de não estudar cada táxon isoladamente, porque apenas estudando vários taxa e as suas interações numa abordagem ao nível da comunidade é possível uma melhor compreensão dos ecossistemas. Curiosamente, muitas das interações detetadas entre aves e plantas envolveram plantas exóticas, que formam atualmente ecossistemas florestais novos na Europa. Estas novas interações serão importantes na formação e re-estruturação destes novos ecossistemas florestais europeus.Natural ecosystems are formed by diverse species assemblages permanently interacting with each other to survive and reproduce. These ecosystems provide humans several essential services. However, due to human population growth and its consequent demand for space and raw materials, man has been changing their surroundings for a long time. These caused alterations in many ecosystems, heavily affecting their biodiversity and threatening their long-term persistence and capacity to provide essential ecosystem services. Efforts have been made to halt biodiversity loss and maintain human well-being and a sustainable human growth, often with meagre success. To understand entirely the impacts of environmental changes on long-term persistence of ecosystems is vital to evaluate explicitly their impact across the different taxa and on biological interactions. This thesis explores the impact of anthropogenic land-use changes on entire biological communities and expands the current knowledge about interactions between birds, plants and fungi. The thesis comprises four data chapters. In the first chapter, I explore the impact of novel, i.e. anthropogenic, forests on the diversity of trees, shrubs, herbs, macrofungi, ground arthropods, night-flying arthropods, reptiles, birds, small mammals, carnivores and bats. The abundance, species richness and community composition of these groups was compared between native oak Quercus spp. woodlands, plantations of the native pine Pinus pinaster, plantations of the exotic Eucalyptus globulus and woodlands of the invasive acacia Acacia dealbata. In most groups the abundance and species richness was significantly higher in native woodlands, followed by pine plantations and in exotic woodlands. Community composition differed between all woodlands, with pinewoods being the most similar to native woodlands. The different study groups presented distinct responses to the different woodland types. Ground arthropods were similar in all woodlands, while trees, shrubs, herbs and birds were the groups that were most affected by habitat transformation.In the second chapter, I performed a literature review assembling all available information on flower visitation by birds in Europe. The mutualisms between non-specialized nectarivorous bird families and flowers has been largely neglected. I found records of at least 45 bird species visiting 95 plant species in Europe. The most visited flowers belong to the genus Brassica sp., Citrus sp. and Eucalyptus sp., which were visited mainly by warblers of the genus Sylvia sp. and Phylloscopus sp. and tits, mainly the blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus. Birds seem to visit flowers more often during winter and spring, and mainly in the Mediterranean basin, suggesting that birds may have a relevant role in the long distance dispersal of pollen. In the third chapter, I reconstructed an empirical ecological network quantifying the pollen transport by birds in a native forest in central Portugal. This work not only empirically confirmed most of the results from the previous chapter, but also showed for the first time an ecological release, i.e. the broadening of the trophic niche of an entire guild to include underexplored resources in the environment, in a continent when it was only known from oceanic islands. The ecological release appears to be less pronounced in Europe than in oceanic islands likely due to the higher diversity of the continent. The ecological network of this chapter has many similar properties to other bird-flower networks including networks of specialized nectarivorous birds’ families. In the fourth chapter, I explored the co-dispersal of fungi spores by flower-visiting birds in two forests in central Portugal. The pollen accumulations found on birds often contained fungi spores. The occurrence of fungi spores in the birds’ pollen accumulations was strongly associated with the amount of pollen, suggesting that birds acquire the two propagules simultaneously. It was shown that birds that visit flowers actively transport fungi spores between flowers, in a direct dispersal of the spores, i.e. to particularly suitable recruitment sites (flowers). This interaction has been largely unnoticed until now. The current thesis increases the knowledge about the biodiversity of European forests and how they are negatively affected by anthropogenic changes associated with the plantation and expansion of new forest species. A literature review and original empirical data confirmed that pollen transport by non-specialized nectarivorous birds is a common and widespread phenomenon in Europe, reflecting an interaction release of generalist birds to explore underexplored flower resources. Many of these flower visiting birds act as direct co-dispersers of fungi spores between flowers. This thesis shows the importance of not studying single and isolated taxon, because by only studying several taxa and their interactions in a community level approach allows a better understanding of the ecosystems. Interestingly, many interactions detected between birds and plants were with exotic plant species brought to Europe and now forming novel forest ecosystems. Such novel interactions should be important in shaping and re-structuring these novel forest ecosystems throughout Europe.MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences CentreCEF – Centre for Functional Ecolog

INSPECTION AND DIAGNOSIS OF SINES ’ WEST BREAKWATER

A set of tools that is being developed for the automated inspection of rubble-mound breakwaters, as well as its application to the survey of Sines ’ west breakwater armour layer, are described. The results from the IRIS surveys are compared to those of the surveys carried out by the Portuguese Hydrographic Institute and first assessment of the structure evolution between 2000 and 2003 is made. 1

Top-down biological control by flying vertebrates on the eucalyptus weevil

Trabalho apresentado em XXIV Congreso Español y VII Ibérico de Ornitología, 3-17 novembro 2019, Cadiz, Espanha.N/

The importance of lizards and small mammals as reservoirs for Borrelia lusitaniae in Portugal

Borrelia lusitaniae is a pathogen frequent in the Mediterranean area. Apart from lizards, evidence for birds and small mammals as competent reservoirs for this genospecies has been occasional. We collected questing ticks, skin biopsies and Ixodes sp. ticks feeding on lizards, birds and small mammals in a B. burgdorferi s.l. (sensu lato) enzootic area to assess their importance in the maintenance of B. lusitaniae. Borrelia lusitaniae was the most prevalent genospecies in questing ticks and was commonly found in larvae feeding on Psammodromus algirus. One biopsy infected with B. lusitaniae was collected from the tail of one Podarcis hispanica, which suggests systemic infection. Ixodes ricinus larvae feeding on Apodemus sylvaticus were infected with B. lusitaniae but with a lower prevalence. Our results reinforce the importance of lizards as reservoirs for B. lusitaniae, suggesting that P. algirus, in particular, acts as main reservoir for B. lusitaniae in Portugal.This study was financially supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (SFRH/BPD/62898/2009) and INSA/DDI project. We state that we have no conflict of interest to declare

Characterization through multilocus sequence analysis of Borrelia turdi isolates from Portugal

Borrelia turdi is a spirochete from the Borrelia burgdorferi complex, first reported in Japan, that has been increasingly detected in Europe. This genospecies is mostly associated with avian hosts and their ornithophilic ticks such as Ixodes frontalis. In this study, we isolated B. turdi from five I. frontalis feeding on Turdus merula, Turdus philomelos, Parus major and Troglodytes troglodytes, and one Ixodes ricinus feeding on a T. merula in Portugal. These isolates were genetically characterised according to their 5S-23S rRNA intergenic spacer, 16S rRNA and through typing of seven housekeeping genes (multilocus sequence typing). Multilocus sequence analyses revealed that the strains isolated in our study, although belonging to B. turdi genospecies, are not identical to the B. turdi reference strain Ya501. Instead, our strains are separated into a clear defined group, suggesting that the European samples diverged genetically from the strain originally detected in Japan. Population analysis of 5S-23S rRNA sequences can further resolve subpopulations within B. turdi, but more samples from a large geographical scale and host range would be needed to assess potential phylogeographical patterns within this genospecies.Ana C. Norte was financially supported by a post-doctoral fellowship from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (SFRH/BPD/62898/2009), and the study was partially funded by a centre grant (to BioISI, Centre Reference: UID/MULTI/04046/2013) from FCT/MCTES/PIDDAC, Portugal