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Research Project
Algarve Centre for Marine Sciences
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Authors
Publications
Red, gold and green: Microbial contribution of Rhodophyta and other algae to green turtle (Chelonia mydas) Gut Microbiome
Publication . Díaz-Abad, Lucía; Bacco-Mannina, Natassia; Madeira, Fernando Miguel; EA, Serrao; Regalla, Aissa; Patrício, Ana R.; Frade, Pedro R.
The fitness of the endangered green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) may be strongly affected by its gut microbiome, as microbes play important roles in host nutrition and health. This study aimed at establishing environmental microbial baselines that can be used to assess turtle health under altered future conditions. We characterized the microbiome associated with the gastrointestinal tract of green turtles from Guinea Bissau in different life stages and associated with their food items, using 16S rRNA metabarcoding. We found that the most abundant (% relative abundance) bacterial phyla across the gastrointestinal sections were Proteobacteria (68.1 ± 13.9% “amplicon sequence variants”, ASVs), Bacteroidetes (15.1 ± 10.1%) and Firmicutes (14.7 ± 21.7%). Additionally, we found the presence of two red algae bacterial indicator ASVs (the Alphaproteobacteria Brucella pinnipedialis with 75 ± 0% and a Gammaproteobacteria identified as methanotrophic endosymbiont of Bathymodiolus, with <1%) in cloacal compartments, along with six bacterial ASVs shared only between cloacal and local environmental red algae samples. We corroborate previous results demonstrating that green turtles fed on red algae (but, to a lower extent, also seagrass and brown algae), thus, acquiring microbial components that potentially aid them digest these food items. This study is a foundation for better understanding the microbial composition of sea turtle digestive tracts.
Complete mitochondrial genome of the branching octocoral Paramuricea grayi (Johnson, 1861), phylogenetic relationships and divergence analysis
Publication . Coelho, Márcio A. G.; Ledoux, Jean-Baptiste; Boavida, Joana; Paulo, Diogo; Gómez-Gras, Daniel; Bensoussan, Nathaniel; López-Sendino, Paula; Cerrano, Carlo; Kipson, Silvija; Bakran-Petricioli, Tatjana; Garrabou, Joaquim; EA, Serrao; Pearson, Gareth Anthony
The Gray’s sea fan, Paramuricea grayi (Johnson, 1861), typically inhabits deep littoral and circalittoral
habitats of the eastern temperate and tropical Atlantic Ocean. Along the Iberian Peninsula, where
P. grayi is a dominant constituent of circalittoral coral gardens, two segregating lineages (yellow and
purple morphotypes) were recently identified using single-copy nuclear orthologues. The mitochondrial
genomes of 9 P. grayi individuals covering both color morphotypes were assembled from RNA-seq
data, using samples collected at three sites in southern (Sagres and Tavira) and western (Cape
Espichel) Portugal. The complete circular mitogenome is 18,668 bp in length, has an A þ T-rich base
composition (62.5%) and contains the 17 genes typically found in Octocorallia: 14 protein-coding genes
(atp6, atp8, cob, cox1-3, mt-mutS, nad1-6, and nad4L), the small and large subunit rRNAs (rns and rnl),
and one transfer RNA (trnM). The mitogenomes were nearly identical for all specimens, though we
identified a noteworthy polymorphism (two SNPs 9 bp apart) in the mt-mutS of one purple individual
that is shared with the sister species P. clavata. The mitogenomes of the two species have a pairwise
sequence identity of 99.0%, with nad6 and mt-mutS having the highest rates of non-synonymous
substitutions.
Co-design of a marine protected area zoning and the lessons learned from it
Publication . Horta e Costa, Barbara; Guimarães, M. Helena; Rangel, M; Ressurreicao, Adriana; Monteiro, Pedro; Oliveira, Frederico; Bentes, Luis; Sales Henriques, Nuno; Sousa, Inês; Alexandre, Sofia; Pontes, João; Afonso, Carlos M. L.; Belackova, Adela; Marçalo, Ana; Cardoso-Andrade, Mariana; Correia, António José; Lobo, Vanda; Gonçalves, Emanuel J.; Pitta e Cunha, Tiago; Gonçalves, Jorge M. S.
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are a tool to safeguard marine natural systems,
yet their effectiveness depends on how well they are integrated into the existing
socioeconomic context. Stakeholder engagement in MPA design can
contribute to increasing integration. This study focuses on the co-design of
an MPA between researchers, public administration, the private sector, and
non-governmental organizations. The proposed MPA is in Portugal and
includes an area that is a hotspot for biodiversity and economic activities.
This is the first MPA proposal in mainland Portugal co-designed using a
participatory approach. This study highlights the steps of the zoning process
and synthesizes the eight main lessons learned, useful for other cases,
particularly for relatively small coastal MPAs with multiple socioeconomic
activities. Three zoning proposals were developed and discussed within the
participatory process. The proposals considered the best scientific and local
knowledge available and were defined using ecological, socioeconomic, and
shape-area guiding principles. In an iterative manner and following a
participatory approach, compromises with stakeholders were achieved, and a
final proposal, scientifically sound and socially accepted by most stakeholders,
was delivered to the government. The final zoning plan will achieve ambitious
conservation goals, including the largest fully protected area to be declared in
mainland Portugal, while minimizing the impacts on the existing economic activities and promoting its sustainability. This process resulted in valuable
lessons that may be applied elsewhere and guide future MPA implementation
or rezoning of existing ones. These transdisciplinary and participatory
processes can be time and resource-consuming but are vital for ensuring
MPA effectiveness.
Cognitive appraisal in fish: stressor predictability modulates the physiological and neurobehavioural stress response in sea bass
Publication . Cerqueira, M.; Millot, S.; Felix, A.; Silva, T.; Oliveira, G. A.; Oliveira, C. C. V.; Rey, S.; MacKenzie, S.; Oliveira, Rui Filipe
The role of cognitive factors in triggering the stress response is well established in humans and mammals (aka cognitive appraisal theory) but very seldom studied in other vertebrate taxa. Predictability is a key factor of the cognitive evaluation of stimuli. In this study, we tested the effects of stressor predictability on behavioral, physiological and neuromolecular responses in the European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax). Groups of four fish were exposed to a predictable (signalled) or unpredictable (unsignalled) stressor. Stressor predictability elicited a lower behavioural response and reduced cortisol levels. Using the expression of immediate early genes (c-fos, egr-1, bdnf and npas4) as markers of neuronal activity, we monitored the activity of three sea bass brain regions known to be implicated in stressor appraisal: the dorsomedian telencephalon, Dm (putative homologue of the pallial amygdala); and the dorsal (Dld) and ventral (Dlv) subareas of the dorsolateral telencephalon (putative homologue of the hippocampus). The activity of both the Dm and Dlv significantly responded to stressor predictability, suggesting an evolutionarily conserved role of these two brain regions in information processing related to stressor appraisal. These results indicate that stressor predictability plays a key role in the activation of the stress response in a teleost fish, hence highlighting the role of cognitive processes in fish stress.
Forecasting shifts in habitat suitability across the distribution range of a temperate small pelagic fish under different scenarios of climate change
Publication . Lima, André R.A.; Baltazar-Soares, Miguel; Garrido, Susana; Riveiro, I. (Isabel); Carrera, Pablo; Piecho-Santos, A. Miguel; Peck, Myron; Silva, Gonçalo
Climate change often leads to shifts in the distribution of small pelagic fish, likely by changing the matchmismatch
dynamics between these sensitive species within their environmental optima. Using present-day habitat
suitability, we projected how different scenarios of climate change (IPCC Representative Concentration
Pathways 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5) may alter the large scale distribution of European sardine Sardina pilchardus (a
model species) by 2050 and 2100. We evaluated the variability of species-specific environmental optima
allowing a comparison between present-day and future scenarios. Regardless of the scenario, sea surface temperature
and salinity and the interaction between current velocity and distance to the nearest coast were the main
descriptors responsible for the main effects on sardine's distribution. Present-day and future potential “hotspots”
for sardine were neritic zones (<250 km) withwater currents <0.4ms−1, where SST was between 10 and 22 °C
and SSS>20 (PSU), on average.Most variability in projected shifts among climatic scenarioswas in habitats with
moderate to low suitability. By the end of this century, habitat suitability was projected to increase in the Canary
Islands, Iberian Peninsula, central North Sea, northern Mediterranean, and eastern Black Sea and to decrease in
the Atlantic African coast, southwest Mediterranean, English Channel, northern North Sea and Western U.K. A
gradual poleward-eastward shift in sardine distribution was also projected among scenarios. This shift was
most pronounced in 2100 under RCP 8.5. In that scenario, sardines had a 9.6% range expansion which included
waters along the entire coast of Norway up and into the White Sea. As habitat suitability is mediated by the synergic effects of climate variability and change on species fitness, it is critical to apply models with robust underlying
species-habitat data that integrate knowledge on the full range of processes shaping species productivity
and distribution.
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Funders
Funding agency
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
Funding programme
6817 - DCRRNI ID
Funding Award Number
UIDB/04326/2020