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- Variability in Carcinus maenas Fecundity Along lagoons and estuaries of the Portuguese coastPublication . N. Monteiro, J.; Ovelheiro, Andreia; Ventaneira, Ana M.; Vieira, Vasco; Teodosio, Maria; Leitão, FranciscoAlthough Carcinus maenas as a species is widely studied, research focusing on fecundity is still scarce. The main objective of this study was to evaluate size-fecundity relationships across diferent lagoons and estuaries, along the Portuguese coast, to understand how the local environment afects reproductive patterns. Between 2019 and 2020, ovigerous females were collected from the Southern (Ria Formosa and Ria de Alvor), Central (Rio Sado) and Northern regions (Ria de Aveiro) of Portugal, and the fecundity of each female was estimated by counting and weighing eggs. Morphometric relationships (carapace width–egg counting; egg counting–egg weight; body wet weight–egg weight; carapace width–body wet weight) were inferred from 180 egg-bearing females with a carapace width between 26.96 and 61.25 mm. A positive correlation between fecundity and the morphological parameters was observed. Diferences in fecundity were found among all systems, from northern to southern Portugal, varying between 22121 and 408538 eggs per female. Furthermore, a regional gradient was observed across regions, with lower temperature estuaries (Ria de Aveiro) displaying an increase in fecundity. The fecundity in Rio Sado was also afected by salinity. Fecundity diferences across regions were associated with hydrodynamics, temperature, and salinity diferences among systems. No statistically signifcant diferences were observed between Carapace Width—Body Wet Weight regressions performed in each studied system, indicating that, contrary to fecundity, the somatic growth of C. maenas is not afected by latitudinal or environmental conditions.
- Responses of the haploid-to-diploid ratio of isomorphic biphasic life cycles to time instabilityPublication . Vieira, Vasco; Santos, RuiPrevious modelling of the haploid-to-diploid ratio (H:D) in biphasic life cycles relied on estimates of the stable population growth rate and structure. This is a projective analysis that estimates the population dynamics given current conditions. However, the environment is rarely constant and has both periodicity and random instabilities. The objective of this work was to unveil how the H:D responds to them. It was found that ploidy phase dissimilarities on the demographic matrix and/or in the initial population structure cause an inevitable H:D time variability as a consequence of the life-cycle structure and independent of the environmental seasonal cycle. This variability depends on the type of life strategy, demographic processes involved and ploidy dissimilar vital rates. Furthermore, ploidy dissimilar fertility or growth rates cause cyclic oscillations mismatching the seasonal cycle, whereas ploidy dissimilarities in the ramet looping rates (survival related) induce a monotonical variation.
- Temperature effects on gametophyte life-history traits and geographic distribution of two cryptic kelp speciesPublication . Valeria Oppliger, L.; Correa, Juan A.; Engelen, Aschwin H.; Tellier, Florence; Vieira, Vasco; Faugeron, Sylvain; Valero, Myriam; Gomez, Gonzalo; Destombe, ChristopheA major determinant of the geographic distribution of a species is expected to be its physiological response to changing abiotic variables over its range. The range of a species often corresponds to the geographic extent of temperature regimes the organism can physiologically tolerate. Many species have very distinct life history stages that may exhibit different responses to environmental factors. In this study we emphasized the critical role of the haploid microscopic stage (gametophyte) of the life cycle to explain the difference of edge distribution of two related kelp species. Lessonia nigrescens was recently identified as two cryptic species occurring in parapatry along the Chilean coast: one located north and the other south of a biogeographic boundary at latitude 29-30 degrees S. Six life history traits from microscopic stages were identified and estimated under five treatments of temperature in eight locations distributed along the Chilean coast in order to (1) estimate the role of temperature in the present distribution of the two cryptic L. nigrescens species, (2) compare marginal populations to central populations of the two cryptic species. In addition, we created a periodic matrix model to estimate the population growth rate (lambda) at the five temperature treatments. Differential tolerance to temperature was demonstrated between the two species, with the gametophytes of the Northern species being more tolerant to higher temperatures than gametophytes from the south. Second, the two species exhibited different life history strategies with a shorter haploid phase in the Northern species contrasted with considerable vegetative growth in the Southern species haploid stage. These results provide strong ecological evidence for the differentiation process of the two cryptic species and show local adaptation of the life cycle at the range limits of the distribution. Ecological and evolutionary implications of these findings are discussed.