DCA - Artigos em Revistas Internacionais / Articles in International Journals
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Browsing DCA - Artigos em Revistas Internacionais / Articles in International Journals by Author "Aguiar, António F."
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- Detection and characterization of Wolbachia infections in natural populations of aphids : is the hidden diversity fully unraveled?Publication . Augustinos, Antonis A.; Santos-Garcia, Diego; Dionyssopoulou, Eva; Moreira, Marta; Papapanagiotou, Aristeidis; Scarvelakis, Marios; Doudoumis, Vangelis; Ramos, Silvia; Aguiar, António F.; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Khadem, Manhaz; Latorre, Amparo; Tsiamis, George; Bourtzi, KostasAphids are a serious threat to agriculture, despite being a rather small group of insects. The about 4,000 species worldwide engage in highly interesting and complex relationships with their microbial fauna. One of the key symbionts in arthropods is Wolbachia, an a-Proteobacterium implicated in many important biological processes and believed to be a potential tool for biological control. Aphids were thought not to harbour Wolbachia; however, current data suggest that its presence in aphids has been missed, probably due to the low titre of the infection and/or to the high divergence of the Wolbachia strains of aphids. The goal of the present study is to map the Wolbachia infection status of natural aphids populations, along with the characterization of the detected Wolbachia strains. Out of 425 samples from Spain, Portugal, Greece, Israel and Iran, 37 were found to be infected. Our results, based mainly on 16S rRNA gene sequencing, indicate the presence of two new Wolbachia supergroups prevailing in aphids, along with some strains belonging either to supergroup B or to supergroup A.
- Using taxonomically unbiased criteria to prioritize resource allocation for oceanic island species conservationPublication . Martín, José L.; Cardoso, Pedro; Arechavaleta, Manuel; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Faria, Bernardo F.; Abreu, Cristina; Aguiar, António F.; Carvalho, José A.; Costa, Ana C.; Cunha, Regina Tristão da; Fernandes, Francisco M.; Gabriel, Rosalina; Jardim, Roberto; Lobo, Carlos; Martins, António M. de Frias; Oliveira, Paulo; Rodrigues, Pedro; Silva, Luís; Teixeira, Dinarte; Amorim, Isabel R.; Homem, Nídia; Martins, Berta; Martins, Mónica; Pereira, EnésimaOceanic islands have been the grand stage of documented extinctions. In view of limited resources, efficient prioritization is crucial to avoid the extinction of taxa. This work lists the top 100 management priority species for the European archipelagos of the Macaronesian region (Azores, Madeira and the Canary Islands), taking into account both their protection priority and their management feasibility. Bryophytes, vascular plants, molluscs, arthropods and vertebrates were scored by species experts following two sets of criteria: (i) protection priority, including ecological value, singularity, public institutions’ management responsibilities and social value; (ii) management feasibility, including threats knowledge and control feasibility, external socio-economical support for management and biological recovery potential. Environmental managers weighted the same criteria according to their management importance. Final species scores were determined by the combination of both species valuation and criteria weighting. Vascular plants dominate the Top 100 list, followed by arthropods and vertebrates. The majority of listed taxa are endemic to one archipelago or even to a single island. The management feasibility criteria did not dictate that all taxa must be eminently endangered, as for most of the species it should be relatively easy to control threats. The main advantages of this process are the independent participation of scientists and conservation managers, the inclusion of criteria on both protection priority and management feasibility and the taxonomically unbiased nature of the process. This study provides a potentially useful biodiversity conservation tool for the Macaronesian archipelagos that could be readily implemented by the respective regional governments in future legislation.