Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2023-02"
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- AGORA : suplemento do Açoriano Oriental, n.º 58Publication . Gil, Ana Cristina Correia, dir.; Fialho, Adolfo Fernando da Fonte, ed.Neste número, na rubrica Agora é notícia o “I Congresso dos Jornalistas dos Açores. (Re)Pensar o jornalismo açoriano”, que decorrerá em abril, e a rubrica Ágora dá nota da criação na UAc de formação pós-graduada em Comunicação de Ciência. Também são notícias este mês a visita da Associação de Profissionais de Tradução e de Interpretação à FCSH, bem como um interessante conjunto de iniciativas que vão assinalar, na Universidade dos Açores, o Ano Internacional da Mulher. A conversa escrita deste mês partilha os desafios e os projetos dos Serviços de Ação Social Escolar da UAc, pela voz de Andrea Mota, a sua Diretora Executiva.
- Sea turtle (Reptilia, Testudines) diversity and occurrence in the Azores Archipelago (NE Atlantic)Publication . Barcelos, Luis M. D.; Vandeperre, Frederic; Parra, Hugo; Barreiros, João P.BACKGROUND: Six species of marine turtles occur in the Azores Archipelago. The loggerhead, Caretta caretta (Linnaeus, 1758), is by far the most common species and is being constantly monitored and tagged by a joint project between the University of the Azores and the University of Florida since 1989. With the implementation of the tuna fishery observers (for dolphin safe seals), an increment of sea turtle reports has been verified as expected. The leather back turtle, Dermochelys coriacea (Vandelli, 1761) is the second most observed species in the Azores' EEZ, a fact probably also linked to the tuna fishery observation programme. All other species are occasional/vagrant albeit the green turtle, Chelonia mydas (Linnaeus, 1758) is more commonly seen than the others. Historically, sea turtles were occasionally taken for food in specific fishing villages and ports. Since 1986, sea turtles, as well as all marine mammals, are fully protected in the Azores although human-related activities (e.g. plastics, discarded fishing gear) do generate serious injuries and deaths. NEW INFORMATION: In this paper, we update sea turtle species' checklist for the Azores and give detailed geographic coordinates on their known occurrences.
- Monitoring grassland’s arthropods in a in situ climate change experimentation (Terceira, Azores, Portugal)Publication . Wallon, Sophie; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Elias, Rui B.The data presented are part of the project PASTURCLIM (Impact of climate change on pasture’s productivity and nutritional composition in the Azores). The project aims to assess consequences of climate change (in this case, increasing temperature) on the grass production and quality for cattle forage. The project also aims to assess changes in the arthropod’s community associated to the grassland. An in situ experimentation was set up using Open Top Chambers (OTC’s), in order to simulate an increasing of temperature (average of +1.5⁰C) on grassland. In this paper, we present data relative to the arthropods collection. Overall, we collected 41,351 specimens belonging to four classes, 15 orders, 60 families and 171 morphospecies (including 34 taxa identified only at order, family of genus level). Therefore, for only 137 taxa we have a scientific name associated (n = 38918).
- What are we missing? voice and listening as an eventPublication . Costa Carvalho, Magda; Almeida, Tiago; Taramona-Trigoso, José MariaO artigo parte do conceito de voz e procura questionar os seus diferentes sentidos, especialmente em contextos educativos, para propor um enquadramento filosófico das vozes materiais das pessoas-de-pouca-idade. O texto propõe, depois, que se entendam essas vozes como diferenças perturbadoras ou oportunidades para (re)pensarmos os nossos papéis enquanto educadores e, acima de tudo, para voltarmos à questão sobre o que é que uma abordagem filosófica da infância pode perturbar. Nesta linha, delinear-se-ão algumas ideias sobre a 'voz' como som e materialidade (Cavarero, 2005) e também sobre a 'escuta' enquanto atenção permanente ao que possa emergir (Nancy, 2002; Davies, 2014), para depois se alargarem os significados particulares destes conceitos à prática de pensar filosoficamente com pessoas de diferentes idades, no contexto educacional da comunidade de investigação filosófica (Kennedy; Kennedy, 2012). Também nos baseamos no conceito de 'evento' de Gilles Deleuze (Deleuze, 2013), enquanto potencial imanente dentro de uma confluência de força, para perguntarmos como podemos encontrar uma forma filosófica de viver (n)a educação que tome as vozes materiais das pessoas-de-pouca-idade como algo que não nos podemos dar ao luxo de perder. Por fim, o texto propõe considerar-se a comunidade de investigação filosófica enquanto comunidade filosófica de vozes, no sentido de ser uma oportunidade para se experienciar a materialidade de todas as vozes enquanto algo que importa no pensamento partilhado dos seus participantes.
- Sampling of Azores seabirds with camera-traps - Year 2019Publication . Lamelas-López, Lucas; Borges, Paulo A. V.The Azores holds the largest population of Cory´s shearwater Calonectris borealis (Cory, 1881) in the world. One of the major threats of this species in the Azores is the predation by invasive mammals, which were introduced from European colonization of the islands. The present publication provides a data set from a camera-trapping survey performed in colonies of Cory’s shearwater. The sampling was conducted between 8 April and 23 October of 2019, covering the entire breeding season, in three colonies of the Terceira Island (Azores). A total of 32 nests were sampled using motion-triggered cameras. This publication aims to provide information about the ecological patterns of the Cory Shearwater, and to identify potential nest predators. This publication includes a total of 6972 records across 15 species (9 species of birds, 5 of mammals and 1 of reptiles), which 5414 records are of Cory’s shearwater, 478 of potential mammal predators and 1080 of another vertebrate species. Information about biology of the species is also provided, as species circadian behaviour and habitat description.
- Contrasting roles of landscape compositions on shaping functional traits of arthropod community in subtropical vegetable fieldsPublication . Zhang, Jie; Saqib, Hafiz Sohaib Ahmed; Niu, Dongsheng; Guaman, Karla Giovana Gavilanez; Wang, Ao; Yu, Deyi; You, Minsheng; Pozsgai, Gabor; You, ShijunAgricultural intensification and land use transformation are among the main driving forces of the unprecedented decline of biodiversity and ecosystem services in croplands. Trait-based approaches provide a unique framework to detect the potential mechanisms of how this intensification affects biodiversity and alter ecosystem services. However, the potential relationship between arthropod traits and various types of habitats is still poorly understood, especially in subtropical vegetable agroecosystems. Here, we conducted a trait-based approach to evaluate the variable roles of different habitats on functional trait diversity and the structure of the arthropod community in brassica vegetable crops. Twenty-three conventional cruciferous vegetables fields were sampled over two years in three regions in Fujian, China. We found that the increasing proportion of non-brassica vegetable plantations and water bodies negatively affected the functional diversity of arthropods, whereas forest and grassland habitats showed a positive correlation, indicating habitat filtering for certain traits or trait combinations. This study demonstrates the importance of landscape composition as an ecological filter for vegetable arthropod community, and identifies how the proportion of different habitats selected for or against specific functional traits. Our findings support that increasing forest and grassland areas adjacent to vegetable fields can play a vital role in promoting the functional diversity of arthropod communities. Since the natural enemy assemblages supported by these habitats bear combinations of diverse traits adapted to disturbance, they have the potential to enhance pest suppression in the highly variable environment of vegetable crops.
- A roadmap for ladybird conservation and recoveryPublication . Soares, António O.; Haelewaters, Danny; Ameixa, Olga M. C. C.; Borges, Isabel; Brown, Peter M. J.; Cardoso, Pedro; de Groot, Michiel D.; Evans, Edward W.; Grez, Audrey A.; Hochkirch, Axel; Holecová, Milada; Honěk, Alois; Kulfan, Ján; Lillebø, Ana I.; Martinková, Zdenka; Michaud, J. P.; Nedvěd, Oldřich; Omkar, null; Roy, Helen E.; Saxena, Swati; Shandilya, Apoorva; Sentis, Arnaud; Skuhrovec, Jiří; Viglášová, Sandra; Zach, Peter; Zaviezo, Tania; Losey, John E.Ladybirds (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) provide services that are critical to food production, and they fulfill an ecological role as a food source for predators. The richness, abundance, and distribution of ladybirds, however, are compromised by many anthropogenic threats. Meanwhile, a lack of knowledge of the conservation status of most species and the factors driving their population dynamics hinders the development and implementation of conservation strategies for ladybirds. We conducted a review of the literature on the ecology, diversity, and conservation of ladybirds to identify their key ecological threats. Ladybird populations are most affected by climate factors, landscape composition, and biological invasions. We suggest mitigating actions for ladybird conservation and recovery. Short-term actions include citizen science programs and education, protective measures for habitat recovery and threatened species, prevention of the introduction of non-native species, and the maintenance and restoration of natural areas and landscape heterogeneity. Mid-term actions involve the analysis of data from monitoring programs and insect collections to disentangle the effect of different threats to ladybird populations, understand habitat use by taxa on which there is limited knowledge, and quantify temporal trends of abundance, diversity, and biomass along a management-intensity gradient. Long-term actions include the development of a worldwide monitoring program based on standardized sampling to fill data gaps, increase explanatory power, streamline analyses, and facilitate global collaborations.
- A novel expert-driven methodology to develop thermal response curves and project habitat thermal suitability for cetaceans under a changing climatePublication . Sousa, Andreia G.; Fernandez, Marc; Alves, Filipe M. A.; Arranz, Patricia; Dinis, Ana; González García, Laura; Morales, Misael; Lettrich, Matthew D.; Coelho, R. Encarnação; Costa, Hugo; Lourenço, T. Capela; Azevedo, José M. N.; Santos, Catarina FrazãoOver the last decades, global warming has contributed to changes in marine species composition, abundance and distribution, in response to changes in oceanographic conditions such as temperature, acidification, and deoxygenation. Experimentally derived thermal limits, which are known to be related to observed latitudinal ranges, have been used to assess variations in species distribution patterns. However, such experiments cannot be undertaken on free-swimming large marine predators with wide-range distribution, like cetaceans. An alternative approach is to elicit expert's knowledge to derive species' thermal suitability and assess their thermal responses, something that has never been tested in these taxa. We developed and applied a methodology based on expert-derived thermal suitability curves and projected future responses for several species under different climate scenarios. We tested this approach with ten cetacean species currently present in the biogeographic area of Macaronesia (North Atlantic) under Representative Concentration Pathways 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5, until 2050. Overall, increases in annual thermal suitability were found for Balaenoptera edeni, Globicephala macrorhynchus, Mesoplodon densirostris, Physeter macrocephalus, Stenella frontalis, Tursiops truncatus and Ziphius cavirostris. Conversely, our results indicated a decline in thermal suitability for B. physalus, Delphinus delphis, and Grampus griseus. Our study reveals potential responses in cetaceans' thermal suitability, and potentially in other highly mobile and large predators, and it tests this method's applicability, which is a novel application for this purpose and group of species. It aims to be a cost-efficient tool to support conservation managers and practitioners.
- Drivers of Insect Community Change along the Margins of Mountain Streams in Serra da Estrela Natural Park (Portugal)Publication . Ceia-Hasse, Ana; Boieiro, Mário; Soares, Albano; Antunes, Sandra; Figueiredo, Hugo; Rego, Carla; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Conde, José; Serrano, Artur R. M.Mountain ecosystems are important biodiversity hotspots and valuable natural laboratories to study community assembly processes. Here, we analyze the diversity patterns of butterflies and odonates in a mountainous area of high conservation value—Serra da Estrela Natural Park (Portugal)—and we assess the drivers of community change for each of the two insect groups. The butterflies and odonates were sampled along 150 m transects near the margins of three mountain streams, at three elevation levels (500, 1000, and 1500 m). We found no significant differences in odonate species richness between elevations, but marginal differences (p = 0.058) were found for butterflies due to the lower number of species at high altitudes. Both insect groups showed significant differences in beta diversity (βtotal) between elevations, with species richness differences being the most important component for odonates (βrich = 55.2%), while species replacement drove the changes between butterfly assemblages (βrepl = 60.3%). Climatic factors, particularly those depicting harsher conditions of temperature and precipitation, were the best predictors of total beta diversity (βtotal) and its components (βrich, βrepl) for the two study groups. The study of insect biodiversity patterns in mountain ecosystems and of the role played by different predictors contribute to further our understanding on the community assembly processes and may help to better predict environmental change impacts on mountain biodiversity.
- Characterizing and quantifying water content in 14 species of bryophytes present in azorean native vegetationPublication . Coelho, Márcia Catarina Mendes; Gabriel, Rosalina; Ah-Peng, ClaudineBryophytes are an important component of plant diversity, may be found from sea level to mountaintops, and are particularly conspicuous on the Azores islands. These plants rely on environmental water, which acquires intercepting rain and dew (liquid water) and uses fog (water vapor), and transports both externally, by capillary forces, and internally, in different cells (specialized or not). This study characterizes and quantifies the ability of six liverworts and eight mosses to retain water, through different pathways, and to lose water by evaporation. Twelve replicates of each species were collected in Azorean native vegetation during the summer of 2016. The absolute water content (AWC) was obtained through measurements of specimens saturated, without free water, and completely dry. Most of the 14-target species showed an ectohydric behavior pattern retaining more than 60% of water through gametophyte surface. The AWC value ranged from 646% in Polytrichum commune to 5584% in Sphagnum subnitens. The water loss by direct evaporation showed, for most of species, an exponential decay curve along time. Understanding how much native bryophytes, acquire, store, and release water into the system contributes not only to the knowledge of native vegetation resilience but also to potential impacts on the availability and quality of water—a major ecosystem service performed by bryophytes.