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  • Modeling Fine-Scale Cetaceans’ Distributions in Oceanic Islands : Madeira Archipelago as a Case Study
    Publication . Fernandez, Marc; Alves, Filipe M. A.; Ferreira, Rita; Fischer, Jan-Christopher; Thake, Paula; Nunes, Nuno; Caldeira, Rui; Dinis, Ana
    Species distributional estimates are an essential tool to improve and implement effective conservation and management measures. Nevertheless, obtaining accurate distributional estimates remains a challenge in many cases, especially when looking at the marine environment, mainly due to the species mobility and habitat dynamism. Ecosystems surrounding oceanic islands are highly dynamic and constitute a key actor on pelagic habitats, congregating biodiversity in their vicinity. The main objective of this study was to obtain accurate fine-scale spatio-temporal distributional estimates of cetaceans in oceanic islands, such as the Madeira archipelago, using a long-term opportunistically collected dataset. Ecological Niche Models (ENM) were built using cetacean occurrence data collected on-board commercial whale watching activities and environmental data from 2003 to 2018 for 10 species with a diverse range of habitat associations. Models were built using two different datasets of environmental variables with different temporal and spatial resolutions for comparison purposes. State-of-the-art techniques were used to iterate, build and evaluate the MAXENT models constructed. Models built using the long-term opportunistic dataset successfully described distribution patterns throughout the study area for the species considered. Final models were used to produce spatial grids of species average and standard deviation suitability monthly estimates. Results provide the first fine-scale (both in the temporal and spatial dimension) cetacean distributional estimates for the Madeira archipelago and reveal seasonal/annual distributional patterns, thus providing novel insights on species ecology and quantitative data to implement better dynamic management actions.
    2021-07Journal article Open access Show more
  • Effects of hygrothermal, UV and SO₂ accelerated ageing on the durability of ETICS in urban environments
    Publication . Parracha, João Luís; Borsoi, Giovanni; Veiga, Rosário; Flores-Colen, Inês; Nunes, Lina; Garcia, Ana R.; Ilharco, Laura M.; Dionísio, Amélia; Faria, Paulina
    External Thermal Insulation Composite Systems (ETICS) have been extensively used for either new constructions or building facades retrofitting in the last decades. These systems can provide improved thermal performance to the building envelope. However, their long-term durability remains a pervasive concern, with some systems presenting relevant anomalies after few years from their application. The durability assessment of ETICS is defined by the EAD 040083-00-0404 guideline, which stated an accelerated ageing procedure based on the hygrothermal and freeze-thaw behaviour. Nevertheless, further important environmental urban conditions, such as UV radiation and atmospheric pollutants, as well as bio-susceptibility, are not envisaged in the guideline. This paper presents the results of an experimental campaign with the aim of evaluating the durability of the rendering system of several commercially available ETICS exposed to an innovative accelerated ageing procedure, which consists of hygrothermal cycles, UV radiation and air pollutants (SO₂) exposure. Physical and chemical-morphological tests were carried out prior and after each ageing cycle in order to evaluate the durability of ETICS. Biological susceptibility to moulds was also assessed. The experimental results showed that both surface hardness and surface gloss decreased after the combined effect of the hygrothermal, UV, and SO₂ ageing cycles, whereas an increase of surface roughness was observed. Substantial colour change for all systems after the ageing procedure was observed, confirming aesthetic alteration. Traces of biological growth were detected on the systems after ageing and the contact angle decreased after the hygrothermal cycles, indicating a lower surface hydrophobicity of the systems.
    2021-07Journal article Restricted access Show more
  • Agro-industrial wastes as building insulation materials : A review and challenges for Euro-Mediterranean countries
    Publication . Cintura, Eleonora; Nunes, Lina; Esteves, Bruno M.; Faria, Paulina
    This study investigates the possibility of using agro-industrial wastes for building products, mainly focusing on their insulation properties. A classification of bio-wastes is provided, namely of the lignocellulosic ones and their features and properties are described. Information about three main topics is collected: world production and consumption of some crops already used as building materials, their chemical composition and their most studied properties. Since the considered materials are lignocellulosic and they have many common features, a comparison is made. The aim is to have comparable information to support future research related to the production of eco-efficient indoor insulation boards. The result of this research is the choice of four different agro-industrial wastes produced in the Euro-Mediterranean Countries. This area was chosen as buildings typically have little or no insulation due to the regional mild climate; however, particularly with climate change, indoor hygrothermal comfort is poor. The collection of information allows some conclusions to be reached about the different bio-wastes already studied and identify gaps in the literature.
    2021-07Journal article Restricted access Show more
  • Pulmonary oxidative stress and apoptosis in mice chronically exposed to hydrothermal volcanic emissions
    Publication . Camarinho, Ricardo; Garcia, Patrícia; Choi, Hyunok; Rodrigues, Armindo
    Recent studies have shown that exposure to hydrothermal emissions has a negative impact on the respiratory system. Still, volcanogenic air pollution studies are still outnumbered when compared to anthropogenic studies which can result in an unknown risk to the human populations living near volcanically active areas. This study was carried out in São Miguel Island, with noneruptive volcanically active environments, such as the Furnas volcano caldera. Its noneruptive volcanism presents itself as hydrothermal emissions, mainly by the release of nearly 1000 T d-1 of CO₂ along with H₂S, and the radioactive gas radon; metals [e.g., mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn)] and particulate matter are also released in a daily basis. We test the hypothesis whether chronic exposure to hydrothermal emissions causes pulmonary oxidative stress, using Mus musculus as a surrogate species. Mus musculus was live-captured in two villages with hydrothermal emissions and one village without any type of volcanic activity. The level of pulmonary oxidative stress was immunohistochemically assessed by using an OxyIHCTM Oxidative stress detection kit, and the detection of terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) was used to evaluate apoptosis in lung tissues. Mice chronically exposed to hydrothermal emissions presented increased levels of oxidative stress and amount of apoptotic cells. We demonstrate, for the first time, the high oxidative stress potential in the lungs of mice chronically exposed to hydrothermal emissions. This study highlights the usefulness of M. musculus as a bioindicator species and enforces the necessity of regularly biomonitor the inhabitants of hydrothermal areas to prevent respiratory pathologies.
    2021-07Journal article Restricted access Show more
  • Altimetry for the future : Building on 25 years of progress
    Publication . Abdalla, Saleh; Abdeh Kolahchi, Abdolnabi; Ablain, Michaël; Adusumilli, Susheel; Aich Bhowmick, Suchandra; Alou-Font, Eva; Amarouche, Laiba; Andersen, Ole Baltazar; Antich, Helena; Aouf, Lotfi; Arbic, Brian; Dorandeu, Joël; Drezen, Christine; Drinkwater, Mark; Du Penhoat, Yves; Dushaw, Brian; Egido, Alejandro; Erofeeva, Svetlana; Escudier, Philippe; Esselborn, Saskia; Exertier, Pierre; Armitage, Thomas; Fablet, Ronan; Falco, Cédric; Farrell, Sinead Louise; Faugere, Yannice; Femenias, Pierre; Fenoglio, Luciana; Fernandes, Joana; Fernández, Juan Gabriel; Ferrage, Pascale; Ferrari, Ramiro; Arnault, Sabine; Fichen, Lionel; Filippucci, Paolo; Flampouris, Stylianos; Fleury, Sara; Fornari, Marco; Forsberg, Rene; Frappart, Frédéric; Frery, Marie-laure; Garcia, Pablo; Garcia-Mondejar, Albert; Artana, Camila; Gaudelli, Julia; Gaultier, Lucile; Getirana, Augusto; Gibert, Ferran; Gil, Artur José Freire; Gilbert, Lin; Gille, Sarah; Giulicchi, Luisella; Gómez-Enri, Jesús; Gómez-Navarro, Laura; Aulicino, Giuseppe; Gommenginger, Christine; Gourdeau, Lionel; Griffin, David; Groh, Andreas; Guerin, Alexandre; Guerrero, Raul; Guinle, Thierry; Gupta, Praveen; Gutknecht, Benjamin D.; Hamon, Mathieu; Ayoub, Nadia; Han, Guoqi; Hauser, Danièle; Helm, Veit; Hendricks, Stefan; Hernandez, Fabrice; Hogg, Anna; Horwath, Martin; Idžanović, Martina; Janssen, Peter; Jeansou, Eric; Badulin, Sergei; Jia, Yongjun; Jia, Yuanyuan; Jiang, Liguang; Johannessen, Johnny A.; Kamachi, Masafumi; Karimova, Svetlana; Kelly, Kathryn; Kim, Sung Yong; King, Robert; Kittel, Cecile M.M.; Baker, Steven; Klein, Patrice; Klos, Anna; Knudsen, Per; Koenig, Rolf; Kostianoy, Andrey; Kouraev, Alexei; Kumar, Raj; Labroue, Sylvie; Lago, Loreley Selene; Lambin, Juliette; Banks, Chris; Lasson, Léa; Laurain, Olivier; Laxenaire, Rémi; Lázaro, Clara; Le Gac, Sophie; Le Sommer, Julien; Le Traon, Pierre-Yves; Lebedev, Sergey; Léger, Fabien; Legresy, Benoı̂t; Bao, Lifeng; Lemoine, Frank; Lenain, Luc; Leuliette, Eric; Levy, Marina; Lillibridge, John; Liu, Jianqiang; Llovel, William; Lyard, Florent; Macintosh, Claire; Makhoul Varona, Eduard; Barbetta, Silvia; Manfredi, Cécile; Marin, Frédéric; Mason, Evan; Massari, Christian; Mavrocordatos, Constantin; Maximenko, Nikolai; McMillan, Malcolm; Medina, Thierry; Melet, Angelique; Meloni, Marco; Barceló-Llull, Bàrbara; Mertikas, Stelios; Metref, Sammy; Meyssignac, Benoit; Minster, Jean-François; Moreau, Thomas; Moreira, Daniel; Morel, Yves; Morrow, Rosemary; Moyard, John; Mulet, Sandrine; Barlier, François; Naeije, Marc; Nerem, Robert Steven; Ngodock, Hans; Nielsen, Karina; Nilsen, Jan Even Øie; Niño, Fernando; Nogueira Loddo, Carolina; Noûs, Camille; Obligis, Estelle; Otosaka, Inès; Basu, Sujit; Otten, Michiel; Oztunali Ozbahceci, Berguzar; P. Raj, Roshin; Paiva, Rodrigo; Paniagua, Guillermina; Paolo, Fernando; Paris, Adrien; Pascual, Ananda; Passaro, Marcello; Paul, Stephan; Bauer-Gottwein, Peter; Pavelsky, Tamlin; Pearson, Christopher; Penduff, Thierry; Peng, Fukai; Perosanz, Felix; Picot, Nicolas; Piras, Fanny; Poggiali, Valerio; Poirier, Étienne; Ponce de León, Sonia; Becker, Matthias; Prants, Sergey; Prigent, Catherine; Provost, Christine; Pujol, M-Isabelle; Qiu, Bo; Quilfen, Yves; Rami, Ali; Raney, R. Keith; Raynal, Matthias; Remy, Elisabeth; Beckley, Brian; Rémy, Frédérique; Restano, Marco; Richardson, Annie; Richardson, Donald; Ricker, Robert; Ricko, Martina; Rinne, Eero; Rose, Stine Kildegaard; Rosmorduc, Vinca; Rudenko, Sergei; Bellefond, Nicole; Ruiz, Simón; Ryan, Barbara J.; Salaün, Corinne; Sanchez-Roman, Antonio; Sandberg Sørensen, Louise; Sandwell, David; Saraceno, Martin; Scagliola, Michele; Schaeffer, Philippe; Scharffenberg, Martin G.; Belonenko, Tatyana; Scharroo, Remko; Schiller, Andreas; Schneider, Raphael; Schwatke, Christian; Scozzari, Andrea; Ser-giacomi, Enrico; Seyler, Frederique; Shah, Rashmi; Sharma, Rashmi; Shaw, Andrew; Benkiran, Mounir; Shepherd, Andrew; Shriver, Jay; Shum, C.K.; Simons, Wim; Simonsen, Sebatian B.; Slater, Thomas; Smith, Walter; Soares, Saulo; Sokolovskiy, Mikhail; Soudarin, Laurent; Benkouider, Touati; Spatar, Ciprian; Speich, Sabrina; Srinivasan, Margaret; Srokosz, Meric; Stanev, Emil; Staneva, Joanna; Steunou, Nathalie; Stroeve, Julienne; Su, Bob; Sulistioadi, Yohanes Budi; Bennartz, Ralf; Swain, Debadatta; Sylvestre-baron, Annick; Taburet, Nicolas; Tailleux, Rémi; Takayama, Katsumi; Tapley, Byron; Tarpanelli, Angelica; Tavernier, Gilles; Testut, Laurent; Thakur, Praveen K.; Benveniste, Jérôme; Thibaut, Pierre; Thompson, LuAnne; Tintoré, Joaquín; Tison, Céline; Tourain, Cédric; Tournadre, Jean; Townsend, Bill; Tran, Ngan; Trilles, Sébastien; Tsamados, Michel; Bercher, Nicolas; Tseng, Kuo-Hsin; Ubelmann, Clément; Uebbing, Bernd; Vergara, Oscar; Verron, Jacques; Vieira, Telmo; Vignudelli, Stefano; Vinogradova Shiffer, Nadya; Visser, Pieter; Vivier, Frederic; Berge-Nguyen, Muriel; Volkov, Denis; von Schuckmann, Karina; Vuglinskii, Valerii; Vuilleumier, Pierrik; Walter, Blake; Wang, Jida; Wang, Chao; Watson, Christopher; Wilkin, John; Willis, Josh; Bettencourt, Joao; Wilson, Hilary; Woodworth, Philip; Yang, Kehan; Yao, Fangfang; Zaharia, Raymond; Zakharova, Elena; Zaron, Edward D.; Zhang, Yongsheng; Zhao, Zhongxiang; Zinchenko, Vadim; Blarel, Fabien; Zlotnicki, Victor; Blazquez, Alejandro; Blumstein, Denis; Bonnefond, Pascal; Borde, Franck; Bouffard, Jérôme; Boy, François; Boy, Jean-Paul; Brachet, Cédric; Brasseur, Pierre; Braun, Alexander; Brocca, Luca; Brockley, David; Brodeau, Laurent; Brown, Shannon; Bruinsma, Sean; Bulczak, Anna; Buzzard, Sammie; Cahill, Madeleine; Calmant, Stéphane; Calzas, Michel; Camici, Stefania; Cancet, Mathilde; Capdeville, Hugues; Carabajal, Claudia Cristina; Carrere, Loren; Cazenave, Anny; Chassignet, Eric P.; Chauhan, Prakash; Cherchali, Selma; Chereskin, Teresa; Cheymol, Cecile; Ciani, Daniele; Cipollini, Paolo; Cirillo, Francesca; Cosme, Emmanuel; Coss, Steve; Cotroneo, Yuri; Cotton, David; Couhert, Alexandre; Coutin-Faye, Sophie; Crétaux, Jean-François; Cyr, Frederic; d’Ovidio, Francesco; Darrozes, José; David, Cedric; Dayoub, Nadim; De Staerke, Danielle; Deng, Xiaoli; Desai, Shailen; Desjonqueres, Jean-Damien; Dettmering, Denise; Di Bella, Alessandro; Díaz-Barroso, Lara; Dibarboure, Gerald; Dieng, Habib Boubacar; Dinardo, Salvatore; Dobslaw, Henryk; Dodet, Guillaume; Doglioli, Andrea; Domeneghetti, Alessio; Donahue, David; Dong, Shenfu; Donlon, Craig
    In 2018 we celebrated 25 years of development of radar altimetry, and the progress achieved by this methodology in the fields of global and coastal oceanography, hydrology, geodesy and cryospheric sciences. Many symbolic major events have celebrated these developments, e.g., in Venice, Italy, the 15th (2006) and 20th (2012) years of progress and more recently, in 2018, in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, 25 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry. On this latter occasion it was decided to collect contributions of scientists, engineers and managers involved in the worldwide altimetry community to depict the state of altimetry and propose recommendations for the altimetry of the future. This paper summarizes contributions and recommendations that were collected and provides guidance for future mission design, research activities, and sustainable operational radar altimetry data exploitation. Recommendations provided are fundamental for optimizing further scientific and operational advances of oceanographic observations by altimetry, including requirements for spatial and temporal resolution of altimetric measurements, their accuracy and continuity. There are also new challenges and new openings mentioned in the paper that are particularly crucial for observations at higher latitudes, for coastal oceanography, for cryospheric studies and for hydrology. The paper starts with a general introduction followed by a section on Earth System Science including Ocean Dynamics, Sea Level, the Coastal Ocean, Hydrology, the Cryosphere and Polar Oceans and the “Green” Ocean, extending the frontier from biogeochemistry to marine ecology. Applications are described in a subsequent section, which covers Operational Oceanography, Weather, Hurricane Wave and Wind Forecasting, Climate projection. Instruments’ development and satellite missions’ evolutions are described in a fourth section. A fifth section covers the key observations that altimeters provide and their potential complements, from other Earth observation measurements to in situ data. Section 6 identifies the data and methods and provides some accuracy and resolution requirements for the wet tropospheric correction, the orbit and other geodetic requirements, the Mean Sea Surface, Geoid and Mean Dynamic Topography, Calibration and Validation, data accuracy, data access and handling (including the DUACS system). Section 7 brings a transversal view on scales, integration, artificial intelligence, and capacity building (education and training). Section 8 reviews the programmatic issues followed by a conclusion.
    2021-07Journal article Open access Show more
  • Predicting the ecological impact of a recent range expansion in the structure of intertidal biofilms
    Publication . Martins, Gustavo M.; Prestes, Afonso L.; Faria, Joao; Neto, Ana I.
    Predicting the consequences of recent changes in species distributional ranges is paramount. The trochid Phorcus sauciatus has recently colonised the Azores and is the only intertidal trochid in these islands. In this study we used experimental mesocosms to examine whether its addition to the remainder of the intertidal assemblage of grazers composed of littorinids and patellids affects the structure of epilithic biofilms growing on experimental plates. We also examined if its presence can compensate the loss of patellid limpets to simulate areas where these are chronically harvested. Results showed that when the native assemblage of grazers (littorinids and patellids) are present, the addition of P. sauciatus had little influence on the overall structure of epilithic biofilms. However, when patellids were absent, and in contrast to expectations, biofilm standing stock on experimental plates decreased significantly. Results suggest that patellids may negatively affect the foraging activities of P. sauciatus via interference competition and are further discussed in face of ecological knowledge of these organisms.
    2021-07Journal article Restricted access Show more
  • ESCUTA: um projeto de inovação pedagógica na UAc
    Publication . Gil, Ana Cristina Correia, dir.; Fialho, Adolfo Fernando da Fonte, ed.
    Neste número, a rubrica Agora foi espreitar o calendário académico para o próximo ano letivo enquanto a rubrica Ágora ouviu os propósitos do ESCUTA, um projeto emancipatório de inovação pedagógica no ensino do Serviço Social na UAc. A Conversa Escrita deste mês partilha as memórias e os projetos de Margarida Lalanda, reconhecida professora e investigadora da FCSH recentemente aposentada, no rescaldo de 4 décadas de dedicação à UAc.
    2021-07Periodical Open access Show more
  • Mapping recreational ecosystem services from stakeholders' perspective in the Azores
    Publication . Seijo Núñez, Cristina; Calado, Helena; McClintock, William; Gil, Artur José Freire; Fonseca, Catarina
    Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES) in Europe’s Outermost Regions (ORs) and Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) is still underdeveloped compared to the European mainland. Most of those territories are small islands for which Marine and Coastal Ecosystems (MCE) constitute a significant resource and provide important provisioning, regulating and cultural Ecosystem Services (ES). Understanding the cultural dimension of ecosystems and considering the cultural benefits and values associated with them, demands methodological plurality, flexibility and creativity. This study focused on two activities related to recreational ES (recreational fishing and recreational SCUBA diving) that are particularly relevant to São Miguel Island (Archipelago of the Azores, Portugal). Stakeholders were interviewed using SeaSketch, a participatory mapping tool in which they indicated where they conduct recreational fishing and scuba diving, the relative value of those areas, in terms of preference over other areas and their willingness to relinquish them for the purpose of conservation. Responses were aggregated and represented in maps showing key areas for the provision of recreational ES around São Miguel. This approach can be used in the Azorean Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) process and other on-going conservation initiatives, to better understand the trade-offs between relevant socio-economic activities and to support negotiations between the government and groups of stakeholders.
    2021-07Journal article Open access Show more
  • A healed propeller wound on a wild loggerhead turtle, Caretta caretta (Testudines, Cheloniidae), occupied by a pelagic crab, Planes minutus, in the Azores Islands, Portugal
    Publication . Anjos, Marcelo R.; Pelegrini, Larissa S.; Barreiros, João B. V.; Barcelos, Luis M. D.; Barreiros, João P.
    This paper details and discusses a helix-induced injury to the right anterior shell of a seemingly healthy subadult loggerhead turtle. On 10 September 2018, two of the authors (JBB and JPB) located a loggerhead sea turtle resting on the rocky reef bottom at a depth of about 10 m while freediving off the southeastern coast of Terceira Island, Azores [...]
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  • Atrever-se a uma escrita infantil : a infância como abrigo e refúgio
    Publication . Costa Carvalho, Magda; Kohan, Walter
    O presente texto é um exercício infantil de escrita. A partir de um convite para escrever um texto adulto, académico, a presença de uma mochila infantil altera as expressões que iriam ser elucidadas e a escrita adulta é suspendida pela força criadora da infância: “filosofia para crianças” tornou-se “crianças para filosofia”; “educação moral” passou a ser “finalização (da) moral” e “concepções de infância” voltou-se “infâncias de concepções”. Em diferentes seções do texto apresentamos o que permite pensar esse jogo infantil expressado em cada uma dessas novas expressões: a problematização de um programa e de uma forma de educar a infância; a finalização de uma carga pesada na educação das crianças; o recomeço de um jogo que não coloque a infância como objeto de estudo, mas como força movente do pensar. Para isso são chamados, tanto nas epígrafes quanto no corpo do texto, diversos interlocutores de campos distintos: da literatura, da filosofia, da educação, da “filosofia para crianças” e da própria infância cronológica. O texto conclui propondo pensar as relações entre desconstrução e infância, a partir de uma interlocução com H. Cisoux e J. Derrida. No texto inteiro a relação entre forma e conteúdo é implicitamente problematizada e há um esforço por afirmar a infância não apenas no conteúdo da escrita, mas na sua forma.
    2021-07Journal article Open access Show more