Spiny lobster fishery on the southwest coast of Portugal: conciliating fisheries and conservation

Dissertação de mest., Aquacultura e Pescas (Pescas), Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Univ. do Algarve, 2011

An overview of the submerged sea caves of Sagres (South of Portugal-Algarve)

The submerged sea caves of Sagres are located within the “Parque Natural do Sudoeste Alentejano e Costa Vicentina (PNSACV)” Marine Protected Area (MPA). This MPA integrates the national network of protected areas, addressed by the National Institute for Nature Conservation and Forest (ICNF) and was declared Site of Community Importance (SCI) under the Habitats Directive. Under the Annex I from the Habitat Directive these habitat caves are included in “8330 Submerged or partially submerged sea caves”. This conservation status should provide sufficient concern to have detailed information on biodiversity. However, among marine researcher, little is still known about these submerged sea caves and tunnels habitats. The only well-known study dealing with the Sagres sea caves was conducted in the late 80s and was only published in 2001. For effective management of such specific habitats a clear understanding of their localization and extension, the assessment of the biological communities, its conservation importance, its monitoring options and their sensitivity to natural change and human disturbance need to be a relatively clear. This report, produced under the MeshAtlantic Project, provides an overview of the available published and unpublished information relevant for the conservation management of the subtidal caves of Sagres. It mainly aims to be a base contribution for future studies.

Feeding habits of the two-banded sea bream (Diplodus vulgaris) and the black sea bream (Spondyliosoma gantharus) (Sparidae) from the south-west coast of Portugal

The stomach contents of Diplodus vulgaris and Spondyliosoma cantharus were: analysed using three simple methods (numeric, gravimetric and frequency of occurrence) and a composite index (I.R.I - Index of Relative Importance). To compare the species, the Schoener index was used. The diet of D. vulgaris consisted mainly of ophiuroids, polychaetes, amphipods and echinoids, while polychaetes, amphipods and hydrozoans dominated in the case of S. cantharus. There were some size-related differences in S. cantharus feeding. Diet overlap was relatively slight, with significant differences in feeding between the two species, notably in terms of greater consumption of echinoderms by D. vulgaris and hydrozoans by S. cantharus. As is the case for the majority of sea breams, D. vulgaris and S. cantharus are characterised by a diverse diet in terms of prey reflecting available prey items in their environment.

Non-indigenous Japanese oyster drill Pteropurpura (Ocinebrellus) inornata (Récluz, 1851) (Gastropoda: Muricidae) on the south-west coast of Portugal

The Japanese oyster drill or rock snail Pteropurpura (Ocinebrellus) inornata (Récluz, 1851), a marine mollusc, belonging to the family Muricidae, is reported from Portugal for the first time. This non-indigenous species, most likely introduced accidentally from French oyster rearing areas into mainland Portugal, has been regularly sampled in shellfish-culture and nearby environments in Sagres, Algarve, Southwest Portugal since 2005–2008. Detailed studies are urgently needed in order to assess whether or not it has become an invasive species due to a range expansion beyond its point of initial introduction. Outputs should provide information to decision-makers to predict and limit further spread which might result in biodiversity loss and negative economical consequences in locally species-rich areas.

First record of Calcinus tubularis on the southern coast of Portugal (Crustacea: Decapoda: Anomura: Diogenidae)

Twenty-five specimens of the hermit crab Calcinus tubularis were observed during SCUBA dives for fauna and flora assessment in the shallow rocky reefs of the southern coast of Portugal between 2003 and 2008. Of the specimens observed, only one specimen used a tube gallery, while the others occupied unidentified gastropod shells with strong bio-cover. Calcinus tubularis is here recorded from the mainland Portuguese coast for the first time. This is the first record of the species in European coastal waters outside the Mediterranean Sea (excluding the Atlantic Islands) and extends the known geographical distribution of the species further north in the north-eastern Atlantic.

First record of Anachis aliceae (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Columbellidae) in the Algarve, south coast of Portugal

The marine gastropod Anachis aliceae (Pallary, 1900) is reported with certainty for the first time from the Algarve, south coast of Portugal from species-rich rocky priority biotope. Several live specimens of this species belonging to the Columbellidae family were collected and identified from by-catch samples, recovered from octopus traps set at depths between 50 and 70 m off Ponta da Piedade. Taxonomic validation of the newly recorded species is based on the comparison to other related species within the genus.

DNA damage in two bivalve species: Mytilus galloprovincialis and Ruditapes decussatus from the South coast of Portugal

Dissertação de mest., Estudos Marinhos e Costeiros, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2009

Estimation of unemployment rates in small areas of Portugal: a best linear unbiased prediction approach versus a hierarchical Bayes approach

The high level of unemployment is one of the major problems in most European countries nowadays. Hence, the demand for small area labor market statistics has rapidly increased over the past few years. The Labour Force Survey (LFS) conducted by the Portuguese Statistical Office is the main source of official statistics on the labour market at the macro level (e.g. NUTS2 and national level). However, the LFS was not designed to produce reliable statistics at the micro level (e.g. NUTS3, municipalities or further disaggregate level) due to small sample sizes. Consequently, traditional design-based estimators are not appropriate. A solution to this problem is to consider model-based estimators that "borrow information" from related areas or past samples by using auxiliary information. This paper reviews, under the model-based approach, Best Linear Unbiased Predictors and an estimator based on the posterior predictive distribution of a Hierarchical Bayesian model. The goal of this paper is to analyze the possibility to produce accurate unemployment rate statistics at micro level from the Portuguese LFS using these kinds of stimators. This paper discusses the advantages of using each approach and the viability of its implementation.

Profiles of ageing in the South of Portugal: education and cognitive functioning in elderly persons living in institutionalized and community contexts

The region of the Algarve shows huge differences between the coastline where population in the urban areas grows, and the inland rural areas, in some cases very isolated, which frequently have high ageing indexes. This general scenario, with an elderly population with very different economic and social conditions, frames the ongoing PhD research designed as a cross-sectional study of an intentional sample of elderly persons. The basic theoretical framework departs from the perspective of developmental psychology of life-span and the model of selection, optimisation and compensation for optimal ageing (Baltes & Baltes, 1990; Freund & Baltes, 2002). The present study is a first step in the analysis of empirical data collected in the PhD sample (N=156; age range 65 to 97 years; M = 80.4 years; SD = 7.2 years). Its purpose is to assess the cognitive functioning of participants, screening for cognitive impairment and examine the relations between the cognitive status of the subjects and a number of selected variables including educational level, age, physical activity and living contexts of the subjects. We accessed the cognitive status of the participants with the Portuguese version of Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) finding a 10.3% prevalence of positive cases with cognitive impairment. The results also show significant relationships between the cognitive status accessed by the MMSE and educational level, professional qualification, age, living arrangement and activity level of the participants. The relationship verified between educational level and cognitive status of the participants was the largest correlation found in the study with the variability in educational level accounting for 44.8% of the variability in MMSE score. This results points in the same direction of several lines of research that corroborate the strong intercorrelation between education and cognitive functioning in old age.

Water framework directive implementation: intercalibration exercise for biological quality elements: a case study for the south coast of Portugal

This work summarises the Intercalibration Exercise (IE) required for the Common Implementation Strategy of the Water Framework Directive (WFD; 2000/60/EC) that was carried out in Portugal, and applied to a coastal region. The WFD aims to achieve good ec ological status for all waters in the European Community by 2015. The Ecological Status of a water body is determined us ing a range of Hydromorphological and Physico-Chemical Quality Elements as well Biological Quality Elements (BQE ). In coastal waters, the Biological Elements include Phytoplankton, Other Aquatic Flora and Benthic Inverteb rate Fauna. Good cooperation with the other Member States allowed the IE to proceed without a complete da ta set, and Portugal was ab le to intercalibrate and harmonise methods within the North Ea st Atlantic Geographica l Intercalibration Group for most of the BQE. The appropriate metrics and corre sponding methods were agreed under the framework of the RECITAL (Reference Conditions and Intercalibra tion) project, funded by the Port uguese Water Institu te, INAG. Some preliminary sampling was undertaken, but not su fficient to establish the Reference Conditions. The study area was a coastal lagoon in the southern part of Portugal. The focus was on the Phytoplankton Quality Element, but other BQE were also taken into account. Two sampli ng stations in Ria Formosa coastal lagoon were considered in this exercise: Ramalhete a nd Ponte. The metrics adopted by the Intercalibration Exercise groups were applied enabli ng the classification for the two sta tions of Good/High Status for the majority of the BQE parameters.

Identification of descendants of an extinct bovine population from the Algarve region of Portugal using numerical taxonomy analysis of morphological traits

The morphology of a sample of four bulls and 43 cows, presumed to be descendants of the extinct cattle breed ‘Algarvia’ (AG), was used to assign their relationship with animals from other Portuguese autochthonous breeds – Arouquesa (AR), Barrosa˜ (BA), Cachena (CA), Marinhoa (MA), Maronesa (MO), Minhota (MN), Mirandesa (MI), (only bulls), Alentejana (AL), Garvonesa (GA), Mertolenga (ME) and Preta (PR). Standard numerical taxonomic methods were applied to a set of 183 (cows) and 170 (bulls) traits, to derive average pairwise taxonomic distances among the sample of 257 cows and 76 bulls. Distance coefficients (morphological index of distance) ranged from 0.22 to 2.62 (cows) and from 0.49 to 2.13 (bulls). Unweighted pair group method using arithmetic averages (UPGMA)-based phenograms and a principal coordinate analysis showed that bulls were highly clustered and cows showed a tendency to cluster according to their geographical and breed origin. The AG population grouped together with GA, AL, ME and MN breeds in the Red Convex group. The average taxonomic distance among breeds was 1.02, the highest being 1.39 (ME versus BA) and the lowest being 0.64 (MA versus AR). The approach allowed for the identification of a phenotypically differentiated set of animals, comprising 19 cows and four bulls representative of the AG breed, and which can be targeted in further studies aiming at the recovery of this extinct breed.

Decapod crustacean larvae dynamics in the west continental coast of Portugal: the region adjacent to Aveiro coastal lagoon as model

Tese de dout., Ciências do Mar, Faculdade de Ciências do Mar e do Ambiente, Univ. do Algarve, 2010

Germination requirements of Plantago algarbiensis seeds, an endangered species endemic to the Algarve region (South of Portugal)

The ecdysteroid, 20-hydroxyecdysone or beta-ecdysone, is a steroid hormone which plays a crucial role in molting, metamor- phosis and reproduction of arthropods. This ecdysteroid and its analogues have high potential to be used as insecticides. Previous studies in our laboratory have demonstrated that Vitex glabrata R.Br. (commonly known as Khai-Nao), an indigenous herbaceous plant of Thailand, synthesized and accumulated high quantity of 20-hydroxyecdysone. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of precursor and elicitors feeding on cell growth and 20-hydroxyecdysone production of V. glabrata suspension cultures. Plant cells were cultured in half strength MS medium containing 30 g/l glucose and supplemented with 2.0 mg/l 6- benzylaminopurine (BAP) and 1.0 mg/l 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). Cells were incubated on a rotary shaker at 120 rpm under continuous light of 2000 lux at 25 °C. Sterilized cholesterol (5 and 10 mg/l) as precursor was added to the cell cultures on the day of inoculation, while chitosan (50, 100 and 200 mg/l) and methyl jusmonate (100 and 200 mM) as elicitors were added to the cell cultures on day 6 after cultivation.

Bycatch and discards of commercial trawl fisheries in the south coast of Portugal

Bycatch and discards are a cause of great concern in commercial world fisheries, with important ecological, economic and conservation implications. With the recent inclusion of a discards ban (‘landing obligation’), in the reform of the EU CFP, these issues have gained a tremendous attention from the economic, scientific, political and social point of view. Demersal trawl fisheries off the southern coast of Portugal capture an extraordinary diversity of species and generate considerable amounts of bycatch and discards. Bycatch includes commercially valuable target-species and bycatch species with low or no commercial value, but the great majority consists of unmarketable species, that are discarded. Bony fishes are dominant in bycatch and discards and the most discarded are of low or no commercial value. The reasons for discarding are fundamentally economic in nature (lack of commercial value) for bycatch species, and legal and administrative (legal minimum landing size) for commercially important species. The study of the reproductive biology of Galeus melastomus, discarded by crustacean trawls, suggests that a minimum landing size should be established for this species, and explains the importance of such a study in the assessment and management of fisheries. The discovery of a new species of the ray Neoraja iberica n. sp. contributes to the knowledge of the local marine biodiversity in Portuguese waters and of the global marine biodiversity. The three cases of abnormal hermaphroditism recorded in Etmopterus spinax, are the first cases known to date of hermaphroditism in this species. There is a need to find solutions to the problem of bycatch and discards of trawl fisheries in the Algarve coast. A combination of technical, regulatory and economic measures to minimize bycatch and reduce discards, before implementing a ‘landing obligation’, is thought to be the best approach to apply in the southern Portuguese multispecies trawl fisheries.

Socio-economic characterization of olive groves in a region in the south of Portugal

Serpa and Moura region, in the South of Portugal, have important agricultural potential as well as important agricultural resources that can and should be used and developed, in spite of economic and social depression signs reinforced by demographic difficulties that can lead to desertification in some areas. The main farms' Technical-Economic Orientation (TEO) is olives production, to produce olive oil, since this region has excellent conditions for the activity development. Some mobilizations traditionally made in olive groves lead to soil erosion and make the farm vehicles mobility much more difficult, namely those used in cultural operations. The maintenance of a soil cover in the olive grove space between lines is good, both because it favours the vehicles mobility, it promotes the rain water infiltration and, last but not the least, the soil airing. The objective of this work has been to make a socio-economic characterization of a zone of Serpa and Moura Councils in which a project of soil covers under olive trees is being developed. At the same time cultural accounts were made for the different situations under the study - irrigated olive grove with spontaneous vegetation in the space between lines, irrigated olive grove with seeded vegetation in the space between lines, irrigated olive grove with herbicide application in the space between lines, dry olive grove with spontaneous vegetation in the space between lines, dry olive grove with seeded vegetation in the space between lines and dry olive grove with herbicide application in the space between lines. The survey shows farmers in this area are younger then usual, although they don't have a high level of formal education, general or specific in agriculture. Farm areas are usually high, which can be determinant for the proposed technology adoption. Installation and operation costs for the olive grove are higher on the irrigated olive grove, but of course expected productions are also higher. For this production technology profits coming from olives production are higher then the operation costs. However, in the dry olive grove technology costs are always higher then the profits, being profitability only due to subsidies. The importance of soil cover maintenance, in this region, beside the benefits in what concerns erosion, infiltration and soil airing, is also due to its capacity to minimize the risk farmer's face.