Long-term monitoring across elevational gradients to assess ecological hypothesis : a description of standardized sampling methods in oceanic islands and first results

We are launching a long-term study to characterize the biodiversity at different elevations in several Azorean Islands. Our aim is to use the Azores as a model archipelago to answer the fundamental question of what generates and maintains the global spatial heterogeneity of diversity in islands and to be able to understand the dynamics of change across time. An extensive, standardized sampling protocol was applied in most of the remnant forest fragments of five Azorean Islands. Fieldwork followed BRYOLAT methodology for the collection of bryophytes, ferns and other vascular plant species. A modified version of the BALA protocol was used for arthropods. A total of 70 plots (10 m x 10 m) are already established in five islands (Flores, Pico, São Jorge, Terceira and São Miguel), all respecting an elevation step of 200 m, resulting in 24 stations examined in Pico, 12 in Terceira, 10 in Flores, 12 in São Miguel and 12 in São Jorge. The first results regarding the vascular plants inventory include 138 vascular species including taxa from Lycopodiophyta (N=2), Pteridophyta (N=27), Pinophyta (N=2) and Magnoliophyta (N=107). In this contribution we also present the main research question for the next six years within the 2020 Horizon.

Marine palaeo-ecological and depositional processes on the shallow-waters of the Azores archipelago: the mobile Ostracoda (Crustacea) and the sessile Bryozoa as case-studies

Tese de Doutoramento, Biologia (Taxonomia Zoológica), 11 de Outubro de 2013, Universidade dos Açores.

Conectividade em populações de lapas nas ilhas da Macaronésia (Atlântico-NE): uma abordagem multidisciplinar

Jornadas "Ciência nos Açores – que futuro? Tema Ciências Naturais e Ambiente", Ponta Delgada, 7-8 de Junho de 2013.

Population structure in high shore littorinids: contrast between riprap and rocky shores

World Congress of Malacology, Ponta Delgada, July 22-28, 2013.

Variabilidade genética, conectividade e reiliência de populações de lapas nas ilhas da Macronésia (Atlântico-NE)

Jornadas "Ciência nos Açores – que futuro? Tema Ciências Naturais e Ambiente", Ponta Delgada, 7-8 de Junho de 2013.

Development and characterization of microsattelite Loci for the harvested limpets Patella Candei (D'orbigny, 1839) and Patella Aspera (Röding, 1798) using 454 sequencing

World Congress of Malacology, Ponta Delgada, July 22-28, 2013.

Conservation of limpet populations: a heavily exploited resource in Azores, NE-Atlantic

10th International Temperate Reefs Symposium, The University of Western Australia, 12-17 de janeiro.

Reproductive dynamics of Sterna hirundinacea Lesson, 1831 in Ilha dos Cardos, Santa Catarina, Brazil

In this work, we intend to describe the reproductive dynamics of Sterna hirundinacea in an island fromSouth Brazil.We studied the reproductive biology of this species in its natural environment and provide data on their growth, survival, and reproductive success in Ilha dosCardos, SantaCatarina, South Brazil. Samplingswere carried out daily on the island throughout the reproductive seasons of 2003, 2005, and 2006 and the different stages of development of the chicks were characterized according to age, length of the beak, and plumage characteristics.We provide a basic equation Lm = 167.91 (1 – e −0.062t−(−0.23)) to determine the approximate age of individuals using their body mass. The main cause of chick mortality on the island was natural (63.17% in 2003, 81.41% in 2005, and 79.96% in 2006), whereas predation contributed to mortality in a proportion of 38.83% in 2003, 18.59% in 2005, and 20.04% in 2006.The absence in the area of the chicks’ main predator, Kelp gull (Larus dominicanus), the large number of chicks that reached the final stages of development, and their reproductive success demonstrate that Ilha dos Cardos is an important breeding site for the species in southern Brazil.