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- Biodiversity inventory of the Protected Area for the Management of Habitats or Species of Matela (Terceira, Azores, Portugal). Version 1.1.Publication . Sousa, Mariana; Lamelas-López, Lucas; Martins, Bruna; Romão, Joana; Roxo, Joana; Elias, Rui B.; Gabriel, Rosalina; Borges, Paulo A. V.The data presented in this study comprises a collection of observations documented within the frame of the LIFE IP Azores Natura project (2019-2027) in the Azores archipelago. The primary goal of this project is to implement conservation measures on both land and sea, with the aim of enhancing the conservation status of species and habitats covered by the Birds and Habitats Directives. For the documentation of flora occurrences in the project's intervention areas, the QField application was employed. This application not only facilitated the recording of the locations where various flora species were encountered but also allowed field workers to capture additional details, including the surrounding habitat, abundance, developmental stage, phenological state, identified threats, observer identity, and the observation date. Through this publication, we contribute valuable information about the distribution of flora species in the Azores. As of now, a total of 1929 observations have been recorded, encompassing both exotic and native species.
- New records of exotic arthropods for Azores. Version 1.0.Publication . Boieiro, Mário; Borges, Paulo A. V.Distribution data is added for 27 species in which 14 species are new records for the Azores Archipelago: Oligonychus perseae Tuttle, Baker & Abbatiello, 1976, Textrix pinicola Simon, 1875, Pholcomma gibbum (Westring, 1851), Schistocerca gregaria (Forsskål, 1775), Phoracantha recurva Newman, 1840, Diachus auratus Fabricius, 1801 Phyllotreta procera (Redtenbacher, 1849), Phyllotreta striolata (Illiger, 1803), Dibolia occultans (Koch, 1803), Pseudolynchia canariensis (Macquart, 1839), Hermetia illucens (Linnaeus, 1758), Dryocosmus kuriphilus Yasumatsu, 1951, Ectemnius cephalotes (Olivier, 1792) and Cryptoblabes gnidiella (Millière, 1867).
- Improving biodiversity in Central and Eastern European domestic gardens needs regionally scaled strategiesPublication . Varga-Szilay, Zsófia; Barševskis, Arvids; Benedek, Klára; Bevk, Danilo; Jojczyk, Agata; Kristin, Anton; Růžičková, Jana; Seric Jelaska, Lucija; Veromann, Eve; Vilumets, Silva; Fetykó, Kinga Gabriela; Szövényi, Gergely; Pozsgai, GaborAmid ongoing urbanisation and increasing anthropogenic activities, domestic gardens, while cannot replace natural habitats, play a crucial role in enhancing urban biodiversity by supporting green areas and as parts of ecological corridors. Moreover, these biodiversity-friendly gardens also improve human well-being and foster a connection between nature and people. We circulated an online questionnaire between 2022 and 2023 to investigate how the garden parameters, the gardening motivation of garden owners, and their pesticide use habits depend on each other in nine Central– and Eastern European (CEE) countries. Moreover, we aimed to explore the differences and similarities between gardens and gardening practices with a potential for maintaining high biodiversity. To achieve this, we assessed the ecological value of the gardens, the motivation of garden owners, and their pesticide use habits using an answer-based scoring system. Our findings reveal significant variability both among participating countries and within them on a smaller and larger scale, across all three indices, highlighting the need for region-specific circumstances rather than unified regulations across European countries to maximize the conservation value examined. Our study underscores the potential of domestic gardens in designing eco-networks and informs strategies to optimize their environmental benefits. However, due to the ubiquitous domestic use of pesticides in CEE, informing garden owners about the environmental and human health effects of pesticides would be equally necessary in every area, both urban and rural. Additionally, our findings suggest that effective environmental educational programs and tailored strategies should be developed to meet local needs rather than overarching but too general international targets. At the same time, these programs should provide comprehensive biodiversity-related information, reaching all strata of society. This is especially important in CEE, where such initiatives are currently under-emphasized.
- Flower visitation through the lens: Exploring the foraging behaviour of Bombus terrestris with a computer vision-based applicationPublication . Varga-Szilay, Zsófia; Szövényi, Gergely; Pozsgai, GaborTo understand the processes behind pollinator declines, and thus to maintain pollination efficiency, we also have to understand fundamental drivers influencing pollinator behaviour. In this study, we aim to explore the foraging behaviour of wild bumblebees, recognizing its importance from economic and conservation perspectives. We recorded Bombus terrestris on Lotus creticus, Persicaria capitata, and Trifolium pratense patches in five-minute-long slots in urban areas of Terceira (Azores, Portugal). For the automated bumblebee detection, we created computer vision models based on a deep learning algorithm, with custom datasets. We achieved high F1 scores of 0.88 for Lotus and Persicaria, and 0.95 for Trifolium, indicating accurate bumblebee detection. We found that flower cover per cent, but not plant species, influenced the attractiveness of flower patches, with a significant positive effect. There were no differences between plant species in the attractiveness of the flower heads. The handling time was longer on the large-headed Trifolium than those on the smaller-headed Lotus and Persicaria. However, our result did not indicate significant differences in the time bumblebees spent on flowers among the three plant species. Here, we also justify computer vision-based analysis as a reliable tool for studying pollinator behavioural ecology.
- The MOVECLIM – AZORES project: Bryophytes from Pico Island (2012)Publication . Gabriel, Rosalina; Morgado, Leila N.; Coelho, Márcia C. M.; Aranda, Silvia C.; Henriques, Debora; Pereira, Fernando; Borges, Paulo A. V.; HESPANHOL, HELENA; Sergio, Cecilia; Ah-Peng, ClaudineABSTRACT: In September 2012, Pico Island was surveyed along an elevational transept starting on Manhenha, at 10 m a.s.l., and ending on the Pico Mountain caldera, at 2200 m a.s.l. to obtain a systematic inventory of the bryophytes living in natural environments. A total of twelve sites were examined, separated by 200 m elevation steps. At each site, two 10 m x 10 m plots were established within 10-15 m from each other, and within each plot, three 2 m x 2 m quadrats were randomly selected and thoroughly sampled for bryophytes using microplots of 10 cm x 5 cm, collected to paper bags. Six substrates were explored within each quadrat: rock, soil, humus, organic matter, tree bark and leaves/fronds; three replicates were made for each substrate, whenever available and colonized by bryophytes, totalling a maximum of 18 microplots per quadrat, 54 microplots per plot, 108 microplots per site and 1296 microplots on the 12 sites of Pico Island. It was possible to collect two thirds of the maximum expected number of microplots (N=878; 67,75%), resulting in 4896 specimens, the great majority of which (n=4869) were identified to the species/subspecies level. Overall, it was possible to identify 70 moss’ and 71 liverwort’ species and subspecies. The elevation levels both with a greater number of microplots and higher richness of species were those between 600-1000 m a.s.l., coinciding with the native forest plots. The study contributed to improve the knowledge of Azorean bryophyte diversity and distribution at both local and regional scales, including the recording of new taxa for Pico Island and the Azores.
- The European Reference Genome Atlas: piloting a decentralised approach to equitable biodiversity genomics.Publication . Mc Cartney, Ann M.; Formenti, Giulio; Mouton, Alice; De Panis, Diego; Marins, Luísa S; Leitão, Henrique; Diedericks, Genevieve; KIRANGWA, JOSEPH; Morselli, Marco; Salces-Ortiz, J; Escudero, Nuria; Iannucci, Alessio; Natali, Chiara; Svardal, Hannes; Fernández, Rosa; De Pooter, Tim; Joris, Geert; Strazisar, Mojca; Wood, Jo; Herron, Katie E.; Seehausen, Ole; Watts, Phillip; Shaw, Felix; Davey, Robert P; Minotto, Alice; Fernández, José M; Böhne, Astrid; Alegria, C.; Alioto, Tyler; Alves, Paulo C; Amorim, Isabel R.; AURY, Jean-Marc; Backstrom, Niclas; Baldrian, Petr; Baltrunaite, Laima; Barta, Endre; Bed'Hom, Bertrand; Belser, Caroline; Bergsten, Johannes; Bertrand, Laurie; Bilandzija, Helena; Binzer-Panchal, Mahesh; Bista, Iliana; Blaxter, Mark; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Borges Dias, Guilherme; Bosse, Mirte; Brown, Tom; Bruggmann, Rémy; Buena-Atienza, Elena; Burgin, Josephine; Buzan, Elena; Casadei, Nicolas Lougi Pascal; CHIARA, MATTEO; Chozas, Sergio; Čiampor, Fedor; Crottini, Angelica; C., Cruaud; Cruz, Fernando; Dalén, Love; DE BIASE, Alessio; Campo, Javier Del; Delić, Teo; Dennis, Alice B; Derks, Martijn FL; Diroma, Maria Angela; Djan, Mihajla; Duprat, Simone; Eleftheriadi, Klara; Feulner, Philine GD; Flot, Jean-François; Forni, Giobbe; Fosso, Bruno; Fournier, Pascal; FOURNIER-CHAMBRILON, Christine; Gabaldón, Toni; Garg, Shilpa; Gissi, Carmela; Giupponi, Luca; Gómez-Garrido, Jèssica; Gonzalez, Josefa; Grilo, Miguel; Gruening, Bjoern; Guérin, Thomas; Guiglielmoni, Nadège; Gut, Marta; Haesler, Marcel P; Hahn, Christoph; Halpern, Balint; Harrison, Peter; Heintz, Julia; Hindrikson, Maris; Höglund, Jacob; Howe, Kerstin; Hughes, Graham; Istace, Benjamin; Cock, Mark J.; Jancekovic, Franc; Jónsson, Zophonías O; Joye-Dind, Sagane; Koskimaki, Janne J.; Krystufek, Boris; Kubacka, Justyna; Kuhl, Heiner; Kusza, Szilvia; Labadie, Karine; Lahteenaro, Meri; Lantz, Henrik; Lavrinienko, Anton; Leclere, Lucas; Lopes, Ricardo Jorge; Madsen, Ole; Magdelenat, Ghislaine; MAGOGA, GIULIA; Manousaki, Tereza; Mappes, Tapio; Marques, João Pedro; Martinez Redondo, Gemma I; Maumus, Florian; Megens, Hendrik-Jan; Melo-Ferreira, José; Mendes, Sofia L; Montagna, Matteo; Moreno, João; Mosbech, Mai-Britt; Moura, Monica; Musilova, Zuzana; Myers, Eugene; Nash, Will J.; Nater, Alexander; Nicholson, Pamela; Niell, Manuel; Nijland, Reindert; Noel, Benjamin; Norén, Karin; Oliveira, Pedro H; Olsen, Remi-André; Ometto, Lino; Ossowski, Stephan; Palinauskas, Vaidas; Pálsson, Snæbjörn; Panibe, Jerome P; Paupério, Joana; Pavlek, Martina; PAYEN, Emilie; Pawłowska, Julia; Pellicer, Jaume; Pesole, Graziano; Pimenta, João; Pippel, Martin; Pirttilä, Anna Maria; Poulakakis, Nikos; Rajan, Jeena; Rego, Ruben MC; Resendes, Roberto; Resl, Philipp; Riesgo, Ana; Rödin-Mörch, Patrik; Soares, André ER; Fernandes, Carlos; Romeiras, Maria M.; Roxo, Guilherme; Rüber, Lukas; Ruiz-López, María José; Saarma, Urmas; Silva, Luís; Sim-Sim, Manuela; Soler, Lucile; Sousa, Vitor C; Sousa-Santos, C.; Spada, Alberto; Stefanovic, Milomir; Steger, Viktor; Stiller, Josefin; Stöck, Matthias; Struck, Torsten Hugo H; Sudasinghe, Hiranya; Tapanainen, Riikka; Tellgren-Roth, Christian; Trindade, Helena; Tukalenko, Yevhen; Urso, Ilenia; Vacherie, Benoit; Van Belleghem, Steven M; Van Oers, Kees; Vargas-Chavez, Carlos; Velickovic, Nevena; Vella, Noel; Vella, Adriana; Vernesi, Cristiano; Vicente, Sara; Villa, Sara; Vinnere Pettersson, Olga; Volckaert, Filip AM; Vörös, Judit; Wincker, Patrick; Winkler, Sylke; CIOFI, CLAUDIO; Waterhouse, Robert M; Mazzoni, Camila J.ABSTRACT: A global genome database of all of Earth’s species diversity could be a treasure trove of scientific discoveries. However, regardless of the major advances in genome sequencing technologies, only a tiny fraction of species have genomic information available. To contribute to a more complete planetary genomic database, scientists and institutions across the world have united under the Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), which plans to sequence and assemble high-quality reference genomes for all ∼1.5 million recognized eukaryotic species through a stepwise phased approach. As the initiative transitions into Phase II, where 150,000 species are to be sequenced in just four years, worldwide participation in the project will be fundamental to success. As the European node of the EBP, the European Reference Genome Atlas (ERGA) seeks to implement a new decentralised, accessible, equitable and inclusive model for producing high-quality reference genomes, which will inform EBP as it scales. To embark on this mission, ERGA launched a Pilot Project to establish a network across Europe to develop and test the first infrastructure of its kind for the coordinated and distributed reference genome production on 98 European eukaryotic species from sample providers across 33 European countries. Here we outline the process and challenges faced during the development of a pilot infrastructure for the production of reference genome resources, and explore the effectiveness of this approach in terms of high-quality reference genome production, considering also equity and inclusion. The outcomes and lessons learned during this pilot provide a solid foundation for ERGA while offering key learnings to other transnational and national genomic resource projects.
- Bridging biodiversity and gardening: Unravelling the interplay of socio-demographic factors, 3 garden practices, and garden characteristics.Publication . Varga-Szilay, Zsófia; Fetykó, Kinga Gabriella; Szövényi, Gergely; Pozsgai, GaborABSTRACT: The expansion of urban areas threatens biodiversity, disrupts essential ecological relationships and jeopardises fragile ecological networks, thereby impedes key ecosystem services. To avert irreversible consequences, there is a focus on improving the biodiversity value of domestic gardens for both human well-being and conservation and a global imperative for well-planned and sustainable urban environments. Here, we employ machine learning and network analysis and examine gardening practices and garden owners’ environmental consciousness in Hungary through a questionnaire-based study to untangle the interplay among socio-demographic factors, garden management, and garden characteristics. We found that the activities determined as biodiversity-positive were widespread among respondents, but a lack of undisturbed areas (n = 624, 49.52%), mowing several times a month (n = 404, 32.06%) and ubiquitous pesticide use (n = 783, 62.14%) were also present. Middle-aged respondents demonstrated more biodiversity-supporting activities than those over 55, who had long-term gardening experience and were predominantly conventional gardeners. Residents of towns showed the least biodiversity-positive activities, whereas those living in cities and the countryside fared better. Additionally, multiple interconnected garden characteristics revealed various types of gardens distinguished by care practices and use, such as gardens for food self-provisioning, ornamental gardens, or those prioritizing biodiversity support. Our results show that garden owners use pesticides, and within them herbicides, independently of socio-demographic parameters, gardening practices, or garden characteristics, suggesting a widespread pesticide use in Hungary. Our findings suggest that strategies, to promote biodiversity-friendly gardening practices may not be equally suitable for all European countries with different cultural backgrounds, environmental consciousness and pesticide use. In particular, factors like differences between societal groups underscore the preference for in-person programs over online information transfer in several cases, for instance, among the elderly and those living in the countryside. This study offers fresh perspectives on the intricate connections between garden diversity, characteristics, and practices, and it lays the groundwork for future research into the sociological drivers of gardening practices in Eastern Europe. Our work also emphasises that optimizing gardens for multiple ecosystem services, including biodiversity conservation and enhancing well-being across diverse societal groups, requires a nuanced understanding of both ecological and socio-demographic factors.
- Spiders from Macaronesia: Cabo Verde.Publication . Borges, Paulo A. V.; Crespo, Luís Crespo; Pereira, Fernando; Malumbres-Olarte, Jagoba; Cardoso, PedroABSTRACT: The data presented in this study were obtained from samples collected as part of the project "Macaronesian Islands as a testing ground to assess biodiversity drivers at multiple scales" (FCT - MACDIV) (2015-2018). This project aimed at gaining insights into the factors influencing community assembly in Macaronesian islands. To assess spider diversity, we employed the COBRA (Conservation Oriented Biodiversity Rapid Assessment) sampling protocol. Our sampling efforts were conducted in ten 50 m x 50 m dry shrub plots located on the Cabo Verde Islands of Santo Antão (comprising five plots) and São Vicente (comprising five plots). Additional ad-hoc samples are also available. With this publication, we contribute valuable information to the understanding of the arachnofauna of Cabo verde, specifically focusing on the islands of Santo Antão and São Vicente.
- Monitoring ground arthropods in maize and pasture fields of São Miguel and São Jorge Islands: IPM-Popillia Project.Publication . Teixeira, M. B.; Soares, António O.; Calvet, M.; Peñalver, A.; Monteiro, H.; Frias, J.; Borges, Paulo A. V.; Simões, N.ABSTRACT: The dataset presented here is the delivery of the European project “Integrated Pest Management of the Invasive Japanese Beetle, Popillia japonica (IPM-Popillia)”. This project aims to address the challenge of a new risk to plant health in Europe, the invasion of the Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica, and to provide an environmentally friendly IPM-Toolbox to control the pest in infested areas, protecting the agricultural systems and control this pest populations current in expansion across Europe. The present study targets to record, in maize and pasture fields of the Azores, ground arthropods with the potential to be used in futures Integrated Pest Management programs against P. japonica. A sampling program was conducted in two Islands (São Miguel and São Jorge) in the summer of 2022.
- Is there Hope for Nassau grouper?Publication . Barreiros, João P.In February 2020, Yvonne Sadovy de Mitcheson published a commentary in the journal PNAS (see reference below), which sheds some “light of hope” for the Nassau Grouper, Epinephelus striatus (Bloch, 1792) stemming from successful work in the Cayman Islands and recently published by Waterhouse et al. (2020) . In her commentary, Yvonne briefly describes how, once abundant and healthy populations of this grouper in the 1970’s and 1980’s in The Bahamas, were subsequently overfished for decades by artisanal and traditional fisheries. Such heavy exploitation occurred as a result of fisheries adopting better technology, growing commercialization and an increase in the grouper’s market value alongside weak management and lack of adequate monitoring of the fishery to understand trends in catches. This fishery situation led to the loss of an estimated 30 to 50 known spawning aggregation sites in the Bahamas, including some that were once famous at the time (Erisman et al., 2013). Without aggregation for spawning, the species does not reproduce and so the fish numbers declined leading to smaller and smaller catches.