Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2022-12"
Now showing 1 - 10 of 35
Results Per Page
Sort Options
- Nature exposure scale : Psychometric properties, reliability and validity evidence from Azores (Portugal)Publication . Arroz, Ana Moura; Picanço, Ana; Silva, Alexandra R.; Rosário, Isabel Amorim do; Gabriel, RosalinaAlthough exposure to nature has asserted its impact on health and well-being in numerous studies, the way in which it is assessed is still problematic and there are no validated measures for Portuguese-speaking countries. Hence, in this study, we carried out a psychometric analysis of the Nature Exposure Scale (NES), a self-report instrument with four Likert items, from its administration to a convenience sample of 579 adults residing in the Azores (Portugal). Overall, the results of the NES scale show good reliability and adequate divergent and convergent validity. But the understanding of its latent structure must be deepened.
- Sobre “a partir de”, “partir a loiça” e outras palavras com que nomeamos o que fazemosPublication . Costa Carvalho, Magda; Kohan, WalterAquilo que acontece nas teias de uma escrita conjunta estará sempre para lá do que se possa explicar. O mais curioso é que, mesmo com essa certeza, não parecemos dispostos a desistir. O mesmo acontece com a discussão em torno das palavras que podem conectar a filosofia e a infância. Tão depressa surge uma oportunidade, corremos atrás dos fios que nos puxam e arrastam para esses espaços-entre em que (nos) escrevemos no meio. Escrevemos, pensamos palavras, retomamos ideias que constroem a própria voz que as diz. Numa escrita conjunta não há sujeito prévio de enunciação. Ninguém para quem nos viremos a pedir orientação, nenhum caráter ficcional que decida de antemão os ritmos do pensamento e da escrita. Talvez uma das coisas que nos continue a cativar seja a imprevisibilidade com que essas escritas se fazem grafismos. Este texto nasceu de um desses imprevistos.
- Meros do mundo, uma breve abordagemPublication . Barreiros, João P.OS MEROS DO MUNDO, peixes ósseos pertencentes à família Epinephelidae, contam presentemente cerca de cento e sessenta espécies que vão desde Epinephelus marginatus (Lowe, 1834), o tão emblemático mero do Mediterrâneo e da Macaronésia, conhecido - e muito apreciado - como Garoupa-verdadeira no Brasil, até espécies apenas descritas muito recentemente p. ex.: E. kupangensis Tucker, Kurniasih & Craig, 2016 e E. craigi Frable, Tucker & Walker, 2018 ou o “mero-misterioso”, E. lebretonianus (Hombron & Jacquinot, 1853), precisamente um caso de uma espécie da qual se conhece apenas um exemplar ou seja, o holótipo, aquele através do qual a espécie foi descrita. […].
- Valorization of Seaweed Wracks : Inclusion as Additive in Diets for Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella)Publication . Galindo, Ana; Rodríguez, Covadonga; Reis, Diana B.; Marrero, Manuel; Acosta, Nieves G.; Barreto, Maria do Carmo; Jiménez, Ignacio A.; Urioste, Jaime de; Venuleo, Marianna; Pérez, José A.Macroalgae have been recently described as a potential ingredient for aquafeeds, exerting several physiological benefits. Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) is a freshwater species, which has been the major fish species produced in the world in the last years. In order to determine the potential use of macroalgal wracks in fish feeding, C. idella juveniles were fed with an extruded commercial diet (CD) or the CD supplemented with 7% of a wind dried-powder (1 mm) from either a multispecific macroalgal wrack (CD + MU7) or a monospecific macroalgal wrack (CD + MO7) obtained from Gran Canaria island (Spain) coasts. After 100 days of feeding, survival, fish weight, and body indexes were determined, and muscle, liver, and digestive tract samples were collected. The total antioxidant capacity of macroalgal wracks was analyzed by assesing the antioxidant defense response and digestive enzymes activity in fish. Finally, muscle proximate composition, lipid classes (LC), and fatty acid (FA) profiles were also studied. Our results suggest that dietary inclusion of macroalgal wracks does not have negative effects on growth, proximate, and lipid composition, antioxidative status, or digestive capacity of C. idella. In fact, both macroalgal wracks caused a general lower fat deposition, and the multispecific wrack enhanced catalase activity in the liver.
- Marine and coastal ecosystems and climate change : a public awareness surveyPublication . Fonseca, Catarina; Andriamahefazafy, Mialy; Casal, Gema; Chaigneau, Tomas; Cornet, Cindy C.; Degia, Anna; Failler, Pierre; Ferraro, Gianluca; Furlan, Elisa; Hawkins, Julie P.; de Juan, Silvia; Krause, Torsten; Pérez, Géraldine; Roberts, Callum M.; Tregarot, Ewan; Wood, Louisa; O'Leary, Bethan C.Hundreds of millions of people worldwide directly rely on marine and coastal ecosystems for their food, livelihoods and ways of life, yet these ecosystems are subject to a variety of pressures (UNEP, 2006; Hoegh-Guldberg et al., 2015; Korpinen et al., 2019). These pressures include climate change - one of the most urgent challenges societies are currently facing, with “long-lasting or irreversible” adverse consequences predicted as a result (IPCC 2018). Healthy marine and coastal ecosystems are a pre-requisite for the continuing delivery of ecosystem services, such as the provision of food, climate regulation and carbon storage. Therefore, it is critical to achieve a more sustainable management and effective protection of such valuable ecosystems. Policy makers are increasingly aware of the adverse effects of climate change and environmental degradation on our coasts and oceans. As public opinion influence decision-making on the actions to take and contribute to the success of their implementation (Rasmussen et al., 2017), it is important to understand how well informed the public is about climate change impacts and solutions in marine and coastal systems. In recent years, significant efforts have been made by the scientific community to raise public awareness of climate change and the links between healthy marine and coastal ecosystems and ecosystem service provision, including their role in mitigating and adapting to climate change (Barracosa et al., 2019). However, there has been little consideration of how the public perceives the interlinkages between climate change and its effects on marine and coastal ecosystems. Instead, most efforts have addressed climate change perceptions (van Valkengoed et al., 2022) Mildenberger et al., 2019) and marine threats perceptions (Ankamah-Yeboah et al., 2020; Lotze et al., 2018), separately. In the scope of the research project on “Marine Coastal ecosystems Biodiversity and Services in a changing world” (MaCoBioS) funded by the European Commission, people’s views on climate change, the value of marine and coastal ecosystems and the threats facing they face, as well as potential management options were investigated.
- Bioindicadores do centro histórico de Angra do Heroísmo : Líquenes e BriófitosPublication . Silva, Paulo Henrique; Gabriel, Rosalina; Rodrigues, Félix; Barcelos, PauloBIOINDICADORES são espécies ou comunidades de espécies, cuja “presença, abundância e estado de desenvolvimento” nos servem como indicadores biológicos de uma determinada condição ambiental. Determinados líquenes e briófitos são “ferramentas” capazes de estimar, de uma forma natural, a “qualidade e integridade” do meio ambiente em causa. Ajudam a perceber as consequências para os ecossistemas que as intervenções humanas ou as alterações naturais possam estar a provocar. Respostas robustas com alterações significativas, como o definhar de uma dada espécie, podem alertar o Homem e levá-lo a uma mudança nas atividades e comportamentos. […].
- Tree growth-climate relationship in the Azorean holly in a temperate humid forest with low thermal amplitudePublication . Pavão, Diogo Cláudio; Jevšenak, Jernej; Engblom, J.; Borges Silva, L. Borges; Elias, Rui B.; Silva, LuísDendroclimatic records in areas with high relative humidity and low thermal amplitude are manifestly scarcer and only a few studies are applied to species that are present in areas with weak seasonality. The Azores archipelago with temperate climate, with low thermal amplitude, has unique biodiversity, including the Azorean holly, Ilex azorica Gand., that is dominant in most extant natural forests. Hence, the importance of understanding its behavior and relation with climate. In this study, we try to understand tree-ring patterns of this species and examine the relationship between radial tree growth and main climatic drivers. For this purpose, we sampled four populations from São Miguel Island and two from Terceira Island. We found a diffuse-ring porous wood with a common layer of vessels associated to the ring boundary, which was critical to identify annual tree-rings. Generalized linear models were used to relate different variations of temperature and precipitation parameters, resulting into a diverse climate-growth relationships of different populations, while the composite population exhibited pronounced effect of temperature. We conclude that, I. azorica forms reliable annual tree-rings, which can be statistically related to climate, mostly temperature. However, there are differences among specific sites, thus the climate sensitivity depends on other site characteristics, such as soil and slope, but probable also to other ecological drivers, such as the competition, water drainage, among others.
- Formiga-argentina um pequeno invasor…mas com grande impactoPublication . Boieiro, Mário; Rego, Carla; Borges, Paulo A. V.A FORMIGA-ARGENTINA - Linepithema humile (Mayr, 1868) - é considerada uma das 100 piores espécies invasoras a escala Global por ser responsável por impactos severos na biodiversidade e nos processos ecológicos, tanto em áreas continentais como nas ilhas. Esta espécie é originaria da América do Sul e foi introduzida no continente Europeu durante o século XIX, tendo o primeiro registo sido feito de Portugal. No espaço de algumas décadas sucederam-se os primeiros registos desta espécie noutros países europeus (respetivamente em Itália, Franca, Espanha, Bósnia, Mónaco, …), estando atualmente bem distribuída neste continente. […].
- Ask a Scientist : using place-based mobile learning to promote adolescents’ interest in naturePublication . Silva, Alexandra R.; Gabriel, Rosalina; Arroz, Ana Moura; Sousa, Daniel; Piasentin, Flora Bonazzi; Rosário, Isabel Amorim do; Matos, SóniaQuestioning can be an important instrument to promote students' interest in nature. In this study, based on questions from local adolescents about nature, we designed mobile learning materials focused on local nature-rich environments in the form of podcast episodes and tested them, in a quasi-experimental design, with a new group of adolescents to assess their efficacy in promoting participants’ curiosity about nature. Contributions of this study include insights for future research on technological nature and adolescents' interaction with nature and educational developments related to place-based learning for nature conservation.
- Bio-Guided Optimization of Cystoseira abies-marina Cosmeceuticals Extraction by Advanced TechnologiesPublication . Rosa, Gonçalo P.; Peixoto, Andreia F.; Barreto, Maria do Carmo; Seca, Ana M. L.; Pinto, Diana C. G. A.Cystoseira abies-marina (reclassified as Gongolaria abies-marina) is a brown seaweed species rich in meroterpenoids, presenting interesting antioxidant, antitumor, and anti-inflammatory activities. However, there is still a lot to uncover regarding the bioactive potential of this species, as evidenced by the lack of records of antiaging activities from Cystoseira abies-marina, making this macroalga an excellent candidate for studies of its cosmeceutical potential. Ultrasound-(UAE) and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) are advanced sustainable technologies that are very efficient in enhancing bioactive compound extraction. Applying these extraction techniques to a new biological matrix often calls for optimizing the parameters toward the best extraction yield. Since Cystoseira abies-marina is a new matrix for both UAE and MAE techniques, the present work proposes the optimization of the extraction process, using a novel approach: instead of only focusing on increasing the yield, the goal of this work is to determine the parameters for UAE and MAE that lead to extracts with better antiaging activities. For this bio-guided approach, several Cystoseira abies-marina extracts were prepared by UAE and MAE under varying conditions of solvent, time, and algae/solvent ratios. Their antiaging activities were then determined, and all the results combined to unveil the conditions yielding extracts with higher cosmeceutical potential. Using statistical tools, it was found that, for UAE, the best conditions were ethyl acetate, 15 min, and a ratio of 1:4, which led to an extract with high yield, and causing the strong inhibition of tyrosinase and elastase. In turn, ethanol, 10 min, and a ratio of 1:4 were the best conditions for MAE, leading to the extract with the best antioxidant activity. The results show that the proposed bio-guided approach was effective in obtaining extracts with high cosmeceutical potential, unveiling the possibility of modulating an extract’s activity by changing the extraction method.