Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2022-06"
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- Reproductive cycle of the golden carpet shell (Polititapes aureus) in the Ria Formosa lagoon (southern Portugal)Publication . Moura, Paula; Matias, Ana Catarina; Vasconcelos, Paulo; Roque, Cláudia; Joaquim, Sandra; Matias, Domitília; Gaspar, MiguelThe present study described the gametogenesis and assessed the pattern of energy storage throughout the reproductive cycle of the golden carpet shell (Polititapes aureus) from the Ria Formosa lagoon (southern Portugal). Monthly sampling was performed for two years (March 2016–February 2018) and the study was based on gonad histology, complemented by the estimation of the mean gonadal index, body condition index and biochemical composition. The species’ reproductive cycle presented a seasonal pattern, with a resting period mainly between October and January and gametogenesis beginning around February– March. The spawning season of P. aureus was shorter in 2016 (June–September) than in 2017 (May–October). Furthermore, ripe individuals were very scarce (1.3%) in 2017 compared with the previous year (11.4%). Mean gonadal index (GI) reflected the species’ reproductive cycle and the body condition index (CI) and biochemical composition of the individuals exhibited high variation between years. Regarding the biochemical composition, proteins ranged between 190.6 and 595.2 μg mg−1 , glycogen from 5.7 to 102.6 μg mg−1 and total lipids between 31.6 and 80.7 μg mg−1 . The reproduction of P. aureus was strongly influenced by fluctuations in both seawater temperature and chlorophyll a, as reflected through the temporal variation in the gonadal cycle, condition index and biochemical composition. Overall, the information gathered in this study is valuable to propose scientifically based harvesting management measures for the long-term sustainable exploitation of this shellfish resource, further reinforcing the importance of implementing adaptive fishery management strategies to cope with global climate change.
- Eight new Halophytophthora species from marine and brackish-water ecosystems in Portugal and an updated phylogeny for the genusPublication . Maia, Cristiana; Jung, M. Horta; Carella, G.; Milenković, I.; Janoušek, J.; Tomšovský, M.; Mosca, S.; Schena, L.; Cravador, Alfredo; Moricca, S.; Jung, T.During an oomycete survey in December 2015, 10 previously unknown Halophytophthora taxa were isolated from marine and brackish water of tidal ponds and channels in saltmarshes, lagoon ecosystems and river estuaries at seven sites along the Algarve coast in the South of Portugal. Phylogenetic analyses of LSU and ITS datasets, comprising all described Halophytophthora species, the 10 new Halophytophthora taxa and all relevant and distinctive sequences available from GenBank, provided an updated phylogeny of the genus Halophytophthora s.str. showing for the first time a structure of 10 clades designated as Clades 1-10. Nine of the 10 new Halophytophthora taxa resided in Clade 6 together with H. polymorphica and H. vesicula. Based on differences in morphology and temperature-growth relations and a multigene (LSU, ITS, Btub, hsp90, rpl10, tigA, cox1, nadh1, rps10) phylo-geny, eight new Halophytophthora taxa from Portugal are described here as H. brevisporangia, H. cele-ris, H. frigida, H. lateralis, H. lusitanica, H. macrosporangia, H. sinuata and H. thermoambigua. Three species, H. frigida, H. macrosporangia and H. sinuata, have a homothallic breeding system while the remaining five species are sterile. Pathogenicity and litter decomposition tests are underway to clarify their pathological and ecological role in the marine and brackish-water ecosystems. More oomycete surveys in yet undersurveyed regions of the world and population genetic or phylogenomic analyses of global populations are needed to clarify the origin of the new Halophytophthora species.
- The HUB: Designing an interactive social space for pre-adolescents’ well-beingPublication . Rodrigues, Pedro; Mitic, Marija; Krammer, Ina; Dias, João; Prada, Rui; Schrank, BeateFriendships are a fundamental source of support during challenging times, especially among pre-adolescents. The current pandemic situation makes it even harder to rely on support from their peers or strengthen friendships. To accompany and support pre-adolescents outside of school at a moment where most interactions happen online, we propose the HUB, a novel online interactive social space. The HUB is a safeguarded and monitored social space which seeks to improve social well-being and positive reinforcement practices between peers by design. This paper's key contributions derived from designing the HUB are threefold: an online social space which follows an iterative user-centered design approach; it is grounded on a theoretical model of friendship development to scaffold interactions of dyadic relationships that occur on the HUB; and it employs a set of gamification strategies, such as quests, achievements and rewards to keep pre-adolescents motivated, and, particularly, an acknowledgement system that encourages peers to work on, and acknowledge, character strengths and social skills in others, which are fundamental for their development as individuals.
- A large-scale environmental strontium isotope baseline map of Portugal for archaeological and paleoecological provenance studiesPublication . James, Hannah F.; Adams, Shaun; Willmes, Malte; Mathison, Kate; Ulrichsen, Andrea; Wood, Rachel; Valera, António Carlos; Frieman, Catherine J.; Grün, RainerStrontium isotopes (Sr-87/Sr-86) provide valuable information to help reconstruct past mobility. For the analysis of archaeological tooth enamel to provide a direct assessment of mobility, a comparison to the baseline Sr-87/Sr-86 in a region is required. In this study, a large-scale Sr-87/Sr-86 baseline of Portugal is created based on 151 paired plant and soil leachate samples combined with previously published data (20 additional plant and 33 additional soil leachate sites). Spatial patterns of Sr-87/Sr-86 are evident, following Portugal's geology and terrain, with higher Sr-87/Sr-86 in the granite dominated north and further inland. Influences from sea spray are observed along the coastal regions of the country. The bioavailable strontium range for Portugal is 0.70575-0.73487, and paired plant-soil leachate site measurements show a strong positive relationship. Empirical Bayesian Kriging (EBK) alongside mean Sr-87/Sr-86 per geological unit are used to provide predictive surfaces for bioavailable Sr-87/Sr-86. We find that the addition of archaeological site-specific measurements is required in archaeological mobility studies to ensure local-scale Sr-87/Sr-86 variation is captured, illustrated in this study using the Late Middle Neolithic to Early Bronze Age site of Perdigoes. The bioavailable strontium isoscape for Portugal provides a baseline map for future archaeological and palaeoecological studies in this region and contributes to the global efforts to map strontium isotope variability.
- Valorisation of microalga Tetradesmus obliquus grown in brewery wastewater using subcritical water extraction towards zero wastePublication . Ferreira, Alice; Molnar Jazić, Jelena; Gouveia, Luisa; Maletić, Snežana; Tomić, Milan; Agbaba, Jasmina; Vladić, Jelenan this study, green technology was applied for extraction of compounds from wastewater-grown microalga biomass with the final goal of obtaining microbiologically safe products within a sustainable biorefinery process with zero waste. Tetradesmus obliquus biomass resulting from brewery wastewater treatment, with (To-CO2) and without CO2 supplementation (To), was submitted to subcritical water extraction (SWE) at temperatures 120-220 degrees C for 10 min. The impact of the different SWE conditions in the obtained liquid extracts and solid residues were investigated for metal content and chemical and microbiological profiles. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis indicated that of T. obliquus extracts and residues are valuable sources of aliphatic saturated, unsaturated, and alkylated (mostly methylated) hydrocarbons, phenols, esters, and ketones. Polyphenolic content and antioxidant activity were enhanced approximately 4 times by increasing the temperature from 120 to 220 degrees C. Also, the content of polyphenols doubled when T. obliquus was supplemented with CO2 for all the tested temperatures (To: 0.249-1.016 mg GAE mL(-1); To-CO2: 0.437 - 1.767 mg GAE mL(-1)). The microbiological analysis determined that liquid extracts and residues represent safe sources of bioactive components that can be used in different industries. In addition, the lower content of heavy metals in residues suggests the possibility of using the solid waste as animal feed or soil conditioner in agricultural applications.
- Comportamento informacional dos Técnicos de Radiologia: um estudo sobre as necessidades, hábitos e preferências na gestão das fontes de informaçãoPublication . Almeida, Rui; Silva, Carlos; Gama, ZenewtonIntrodução: A prática profissional do Técnico de Radiologia deve ser constantemente revista e questionada com base nas melhores evidências científicas, potenciando a melhoria da qualidade do serviço e a segurança do utente. Desta forma, o objetivo deste trabalho de investigação consistiu em analisar o comportamento informacional dos técnicos de radiologia durante a sua prática clínica. Materiais e Métodos: Estudo quantitativo do tipo descritivo, tendo-se recorrido à aplicação de um inquérito por questionário auto-aplicativo a todos os técnicos de radiologia a exercerem funções nos serviços de radiologia da região do Algarve (Portugal) de médio ou grande dimensão. Resultados: Os participantes (n=62, taxa de resposta de 61.4%) pertenciam a quatro serviços de radiologia e indicaram que as fontes de informação mais utilizadas pelos técnicos de radiologia são os motores de busca na Internet (48.4%), seguidos pela consulta a colegas mais experientes (38.7%) e sites de saúde ou outras ferramentas de pesquisa médica (37.1%). 9.7% não utilizou qualquer fonte de informação no último mês. Além disso, constatou-se que as dúvidas mais frequentes no contexto clínico do técnico de radiologia são relativas ao princípio da “Otimização” (29.8%), aos “Parâmetros técnicos de aquisição” (16.1%) e ao princípio da Justificação (13.7%). Conclusão: Os técnicos de radiologia devem melhorar os seus estadios de desenvolvimento no processo de busca de informações, através de capacitação adequada, de forma a garantirem o suporte e estratégias necessárias ao aumento da eficácia na pesquisa de informações úteis para uma prática clínica de excelência.
- State of play in marine soundscape assessmentsPublication . Havlik, Michelle-Nicole; Predragovic, Milica; Duarte, Carlos ManuelA soundscape is the recording of all sounds present in an area, creating a holistic view of the acoustic profile in an ecosystem. Studying acoustic parameters of marine soundscapes as a whole has been shown to give an indication of the health status of the location, as well as correlate to which species may be present and using the area. With the rapid innovation of technology, especially data storage and declining cost of equipment, marine soundscape research is fast increasing, and these previous limitations have been switched for computing capacity for data analysis. Here, we perform a systematic assessment of literature of marine soundscape studies, from 1978, when the first soundscape study was reported, until 2021. We identified 200 primary research studies that recorded soundscapes and captured their geographical location, depth, habitat, duration of the study, and number of sites in each study. Using this data, we summarize the state of play in marine soundscapes studies, and identify knowledge gaps in the spatial coverage, depth profiles, habitat representation and study duration. Spatially, studies are biased towards the northern hemisphere. They are also more prevalent in more easily accessible ecosystems, in order from most to least studied, in coastal (38%), pelagic (20%), tropical coral reef (17%), rocky reef (7%), polar (5.5%), seagrass meadows, oyster reef and kelp/algal forest (<5% each) areas, with zones of cold-water coral the least studied (0.3%). Continuing the trend of accessibility, studies also tended to focus on shallow ecosystems. Most recordings (68%) were conducted in the upper 50 m, with 13% in 50-200 m depths, and only 0.6% at a depth >4000 m. With anthropogenic noise and other pollution sources increasing globally, these gaps in research should be further addressed, especially as they pertain to vulnerable ecosystems, many of which are affected by global climate change and anthropogenic influences. It is crucial that marine soundscape studies continue to be developed and pursued, to establish baselines for healthy ecosystems and/or document recovery following management actions.
- Contributes to the profile of the brazilian literary tourist: experience and motivationPublication . Baleiro, Rita; Viegas, Margarida; Faria, DiomiraThis exploratory and quantitative research aims to contribute data on individuals engaging in literary tourism regarding organisation and preparation practices, visited literary places, travel motivations and surprising aspects of the experience. To collect data, an online questionnaire survey was sent to the participants in a literary festival, enquiring about previous literary-inspired visits. The findings indicate that writers’ house museums are the most visited literary tourist attraction and that visitors in an upper-income bracket prepare their literary-inspired visits autonomously by conducting online research and (re)reading the literary texts. In contrast, those in a lower-income bracket often rely on viewing audio-visual adaptations of books. Concerning the motivation to go on literary touring, most respondents indicate the amplification of knowledge about the literary work and the author. In the experience of literary tourism, the analysis of the data reveals there is an emotional and intellectual interaction in which imagination and visualisation intervene to co-create the literary place. These findings are analysed after the concepts of experience, motivation and de-differentiation in tourism studies and the concept of “realisation” borrowed from the transactional theory of meaning formation.
- Ostracod response to monsoon and OMZ variability over the past 1.2 MyrPublication . Alvarez Zarikian, Carlos A.; Nadiri, Chimnaz; Alonso-Garcia, Montserrat; Rodrigues, Teresa; Huang, Huai-Hsuan M.; Lindhorst, Sebastian; Kunkelova, Tereza; Kroon, Dick; Betzler, Christian; Yasuhara, MoriakiWe present the first continuous middle through late Pleistocene record of fossil ostracods from the Maldives in the northern Indian Ocean, derived from sediment cores taken at Site U1467 by Expedition 359 of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP). Site U1467 lies at 487 m water depth in the Inner Sea of the Maldives archipelago, an ideal place for studying the effects of the South Asian Monsoon (SAM) system on primary productivity, intermediate depth ocean circulation, and the regional oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). The Inner Sea acts as a natural sediment trap that has undergone continuous sedimentation for millions of years with minor terrestrial influence. Our record spans from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 35 to the present, covering the mid Pleistocene transition (1.2-0.6 Ma) and the Mid-Brunhes Event (MBE, at similar to 480 ka) the time when ice age cycles transitioned from occurring every 40,000 years to 100,000 years. The ostracod data is interpreted alongside the existing datasets from the same site of sedimentological (grain-size) and XRF-elemental analyses, and new organic biomarker data also from Site U1467. These datasets support the paleoenvironmental interpretation of the ostracod assemblages. Ostracods are abundant and diverse, displaying a prominent change in faunal composition at the MBE related to the increase in the amplitude of glacial-interglacial cycles, which deeply affected the monsoon system and thereby the past oceanographic conditions of the Maldives Inner Sea. Furthermore, ostracods exhibit distinctly different assemblages across glacial-interglacial cycles, particularly after the MBE, and these changes convincingly correspond to variability of the OMZ. Glacial periods are characterized by ostracod indicators of well-oxygenated bottom water due to the intensification of the winter monsoon and the contraction of the OMZ. Abundant psychrospheric ostracods during glacials suggests that a southern sourced water mass, such as Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) and/or Subantarctic Mode water, bathed the Maldives Inner Sea during glacial periods. In contrast, interglacial stages are characterized by ostracod species and biomarker data that indicate low-oxygen conditions and sluggish bottom water circulation pointing to an expansion of the regional OMZ due to the strengthening of the summer monsoon. Our results highlight the sensitivity of ostracods to oceanographic and climate variability.
- Enhancing education continuity before an earthquake strikesPublication . Amaral Ferreira, Mónica; Estêvão, João M. C.; Morales-Esteban, Antonio; Sá, Luis; Oliveira, Carlos SousaPortugal and Spain are countries prone to earthquake hazard. An earthquake that occurs in the sea may trigger a tsunami threat, so in this case they are also prone to tsunami. After a disaster, the size and severity of the event, undermines the availability of systems and services to function properly, resulting in losses and impacts in human, social, environmental and economic spheres. One of the potential negative effectsfor children’s education is caused by damaged school buildings and lack of road access to schools. The PERSISTAH project aims to study the seismic risk of primary schools located in the regions of Algarve (Portugal) and Huelva (Spain). The present research has specific objectives: 1) to improve school seismic safety; 2) to protect learners and education workers from death, injury and harm in schools; 3) to safeguard education investments; and 4) to strengthen risk reduction and resilience through education