Departamento de Ciências e Engenharia do Ambiente
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- Pode a competição por ninhos afetar a monogamia genética dos cagarros?Publication . Bried, JoëlApesar de 90% das espécies de aves serem socialmente monogâmicas, ocorrem copulas fora do casal, que poderão eventualmente resultar em paternidades extraconjugais, as quais já foram observadas em mais de 140 espécies. Considera-se que as copulas fora do casal permitem as fêmeas ajustar a escolha do seu macho social (ou seja, o macho com quem vão ficar desde a formação do casal ate a emancipação das crias) e aos machos que não conseguiram um ninho evitar perder um ano de reprodução, sobretudo quando uma disponibilidade baixa em sítios de nidificação constrange a escolha do parceiro social (nesta altura, quase qualquer macho pode ser escolhido desde que possua um ninho). […], um estudo de genética molecular (utilizando marcadores microssatélites) em 69 famílias de cagarros (os dois progenitores sociais e a sua única cria, uma vez que o tamanho da postura e de um ovo só) neste ilhéu em 2002 e 2003, revelou a existência de paternidades extraconjugais cada ano, com uma taxa global de 11.6%. […].
- The moss Homalothecium mandonii as a model for assessing bryophyte response to climate change in MacaronesiaPublication . Vanderpoorten, Alain; Mateo, Rúben G.; Sim-Sim, Manuela; Ruas, Sara; Dirkse, Gerard; Gabriel, Rosalina; Borges, Paulo A. V.; González-Mancebo, Juana M.; Calvo, Silvia; Patiño, JairoOs briófitos possuem características ecofisiológicas e biológicas únicas que os tornam excelentes indicadores das alterações climáticas. Com o auxílio de modelos de nicho ecológico, analisou-se em que medida as alterações climáticas podem afectar a brioflora endémica da Macaronésia, em particular o musgo Homalothecium mandonii. A projecção do nicho actual desta espécie sobre as camadas macroclimáticas da última glaciação máxima, indicam que a área de distribuição da espécie seria superior em cerca de 200% relativamente à área actual. As projecções paleoclimáticas identificam ainda que a região noroeste de África e a Península Ibérica possuem condições climáticas favoráveis ao desenvolvimento desta espécie, sugerindo que se poderá tratar de um paleoendemismo. Em conformidade com observações prévias, os resultados obtidos sugerem que a Macaronésia representa um refúgio para as espécies actualmente extintas de zonas continentais. No entanto, as projecções do nicho climático da espécie para o futuro, predizem um declínio da área favorável de 29-53% em 2080. Tais predicções sugerem então que o papel de refúgio climático que a Macaronésia tem desempenhado se encontra fortemente ameaçado como resultado das alterações climáticas em curso.
- The biodiversity of terrestrial arthropods in AzoresPublication . Rego, Carla; Boieiro, Mário; Vieira, Virgílio; Borges, Paulo A. V.[…]. El Departamento de Biología de la Universidad de las Azores organizó un total de 15 expediciones científicas en el periodo 1977-2011, que dieron lugar a varias publicaciones incluyendo muchas sobre los Lepidoptera del archipiélago (Carneiro, 1982; Carvalho, 1982, 1984, 1992; Guimarães, 1982; Sousa, 1982, 1985a, b, 1991, 1999; Meyer, 1991a, b; Vieira & Pintureau, 1991, 1993; Henderickx, 1995; Vieira, 1997, 2003, 2009; Carvalho et al., 1999; Tennent & Sousa, 2003; Vieira et al., 2003a; Karsholt & Vieira, 2005; Vieira & Karsholt, 2010). Desde 1975 a 1990, se realizaron estudios autoecológicos centrados en plagas agrícolas y sus parásitos, tales como Mythimna unipuncta Haworth (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae) (Tavares, 1979; Vieira, 2000; Silva et al., 2003; Vieira et al., 2003b); Popillia japonica Newman (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) (Simões & Martins, 1985) y Trichogramma sp. (Hymenoptera, Trichogrammatidae) (Oliveira, 1987). No fue hasta 1990 cuando los estudios sobre la ecología de las comunidades de artrópodos comenzaron a desarrollarse en el archipiélago (por ejemplo Cruz De Boelpaepe, 1991; Braz, 1992; Garcia, 1992; Oliveira & Tavares, 1992; Borges, 1995) (Fig. 6). El archipiélago de las Azores fue objetivo de menos expediciones científicas entomológicas o de entomólogos individuales que Madeira o las Islas Canarias. Sin embargo, recientemente se ha incrementado el interés en su fauna y flora. Esto, junto con el establecimiento de una universidad en las Azores, hace posible la proliferación de un gran conjunto de trabajos entomológicos, lo que se manifiesta en un incremento en el número de publicaciones sobre la biogeografía, ecología, entomología aplicada, bioespeleología y sistemática de los artrópodos de Azores (ver Vieira & Borges, 1993; Borges & Vieira, 1994). […].
- Calling for a new strategy to measure environmental (habitat) diversity in Island Biogeography : a case study of Mediterranean tenebrionids (Coleoptera, Tenebrionidae)Publication . Fattorini, Simone; Dapporto, Leonardo; Strona, Giovanni; Borges, Paulo A. V.Many recent researches in island biogeography attempted to disentangle the effects of area per se and "habitat diversity" on species richness. However, the expression "habitat diversity" in this context should be avoided, because habitats can be only recognized by referring to the resources needed by a particular species. What is really measured in such researches is some form of “environmental heterogeneity”. Although habitat heterogeneity can be measured in various ways, most researches in island biogeography simply used the number of biotopes (typically classified as land cover categories). However, not all biotopes have the same surface.On the basis of the area occupied by each land cover category, it is possible to calculate indices of environmental diversity, evenness and dominance, as commonly done in community ecology research. These indices can be used to investigate the role of environmental diversity in determining species richness. We used the tenebrionid beetles inhabiting twenty-five small islands around Sicily (Central Mediterranean) to illustrate these concepts. We found that both area per se and environmental heterogeneity contributed to determine species richness. Moreover, we found that the relationship between species richness and environmental homogeneity followed a power function model. This indicates that environmental homogenization may determine a rapid, non linear decline in species richness.
- Birds from the Azores : An updated list with some comments on species distributionPublication . Barcelos, Luís Miguel Duarte; Rodrigues, Pedro; Bried, Joël; Pereira, Enésima; Gabriel, Rosalina; Borges, Paulo A. V.BACKGROUND An updated checklist of the Birds of the Azores is presented based on information compiled from Rodrigues et al. (2010) and from the websites, Azores Bird Club. (2014), Aves dos Açores (2014), Azores Bird Sightings (2014) and Vittery (2014), since 2010. NEW INFORMATION The checklist has a total of 414 species, including 38 new species. Almost half of the species and subspecies that occur in the Azores have a Palearctic origin, the remaining ones being essentialy Nearctic and Holarctic species. São Miguel is the island with the highest number of bird species, followed by Terceira, Corvo and Flores islands.
- Arthropods and other Biota associated with the Azorean Trees and Shrubs : Juniperus brevifoliaPublication . Nunes, Rui; Gabriel, Rosalina; Elias, Rui B.; Rigal, François; Borges, Paulo A. V.This work aims to characterize the arthropods and other biota (lichens, bryophytes, vascular plants and birds) associated with the Azorean endemic tree, Juniperus brevifolia. This is the first of a series of publications that will (i) provide a comprehensive list of all the biota associated with the main Azorean endemic trees and shrubs, (ii) describe in detail the diver-sity, abundance and spatial patterns of canopy arthropods, and (iii) whenever possible, to extend biodiversity assessments to communities of bryophytes, lichens, vascular plants and vertebrates. We use standardized sampled data from BALA project for canopy arthropods and for the remaining taxa we surveyed literature data and the Herbarium of University of Azores. Juniperus brevifolia occurs in a wide range of elevation belts in Azores and accommodates a remarkable large number of taxa: besides canopy arthropods (161 species) it is also an important substrate to other vascular species (six species), bryophytes (105 species), lichens (106 species) and also birds (four species). In addition, the species richness and particularly the abundance of endemics are dominant, and the number of conservation concern species for bryophytes is noteworthy (30 out of 70). The complexity of the tree and the high diversity of micro-habitats created the conditions for epiphytic species to easily colonize all parts of the tree, from the bottom, trunk and branches. The communities associated with the Azorean cedar are consequently of a high conservation value and should be further investigated in their ecological dynamics.
- The colonisation of exotic species does not have to trigger faunal homogenisation : lessons from the assembly patterns of arthropods on oceanic islandsPublication . Florencio, Margarita; Lobo, Jorge M.; Cardoso, Pedro; Almeida-Neto, Mário; Borges, Paulo A. V.Human-caused disturbances can lead to the extinction of indigenous (endemic and native) species, while facilitating and increasing the colonisation of exotic species; this increase can, in turn, promote the similarity of species compositions between sites if human-disturbed sites are consistently invaded by a regionally species-poor pool of exotic species. In this study, we analysed the extent to which epigean arthropod assemblages of four islands of the Azorean archipelago are characterised by nestedness according to a habitat-altered gradient. The degree of nestedness represents the extent to which less ubiquitous species occur in subsets of sites occupied by the more widespread species, resulting in an ordered loss/gain of species across environmental or ecological gradients. A predictable loss of species across communities while maintaining others may lead to more similar communities (i.e. lower beta-diversity). In contrast, anti-nestedness occurs when different species tend to occupy distinct sites, thus characterising a replacement of species across such gradients. Our results showed that an increase in exotic species does not promote assemblage homogenisation at the habitat level. On the contrary, exotic species were revealed as habitat specialists that constitute new and well-differentiated assemblages, even increasing the species compositional heterogeneity within human-altered landscapes. Therefore, contrary to expectations, our results show that both indigenous and exotic species established idiosyncratic assemblages within habitats and islands. We suggest that both the historical extinction of indigenous species in disturbed habitats and the habitat-specialised character of some exotic invasions have contributed to the construction of current assemblages.
- The iterative process of plant species inventorying for obtaining reliable biodiversity patternsPublication . Aranda, Silvia C.; Hespanhol, Helena; Homem, Nídia; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Lobo, Jorge M.; Gabriel, RosalinaWe require representative data of species occurrence to explain plant diversity patterns, but most of the available information is incomplete and biased. To improve our knowledge, we suggest that species inventorying should be an iterative process encompassing the following: (1) the detection of taxonomic and geographical gaps; (2) the planning of a survey design to reduce such gaps; and (3) the evaluation of field sampling results. Here, we focus on the latter phase for the bryophytes of Terceira Island (Azores) for which we have previously estimated < 1% of the area as well surveyed based on historical collections. To examine the performance of our stratified survey based on two factors (land use and environmental regions), we used rarefaction curves, ANOVA tests and bootstrap sampling. We recorded 40% of all the species known for the island and presented eight new citations. The species assemblages remained similar between historical and current inventories. Most localities had completeness values > 85%, but we always exceeded the optimal sampling effort. Land uses and environmental regions affected species diversity, but, unexpectedly, to a different degree. Our study illustrates the difficulties of planning field surveys to obtain reliable biodiversity patterns, even when prior information and standardized sampling protocols are explicitly considered.
- The biodiversity of terrestrial arthropods in Madeira and Selvagens archipelagosPublication . Boieiro, Mário; Aguiar, António F.; Rego, Carla; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Serrano, Artur R. M.[…]. El número de taxones de artrópodos terrestres citado de los archipiélagos de Madeira y Salvajes es respectivamente 3.801 y 201, entre los que hay un número significativo de endemismos (Borges et al., 2008b) (ver Tabla I; Fig. 5; Lámina II). Madeira, la isla más grande, con una orografía compleja y con el número mayor de diferentes tipos de hábitat, destaca claramente sobre las otras islas de los dos archipiélagos tanto en la riqueza de especies como en el número de taxones endémicos. Sin embargo, también se debe tener en cuenta que la biodiversidad de Madeira se ha estudiado más en detalle, ya que esta isla ha sido el objetivo de varias expediciones de historia natural y muchas visitas de taxónomos expertos de todo el mundo (ver la sección anterior). […].
- Sympherobius Banks, 1904, a new hemerobid genus for the Azorean archipelago (Neuroptera: Hemerobiidae)Publication . Letardi, Agostino; Ponte, Nuno B.; Borges, Paulo A. V.É apresentado nesta nota o primeiro registo do género Sympherobius Banks, 1904 (Neuroptera: Hemerobiidae) para os Açores. A fauna de Neuroptera dos Açores é agora composta por oito espécies, cinco géneros e duas famílias.