OpenAIRE , the point of reference for Open Access in Europe, is now addressing the problem of enabling the Open Science paradigm. To this aim it will provide services to: (i) overcome the limits of today’s scientific communication landscape, by allowing research communities and the relative e-infrastructures to fully publish, interlink, package and reuse their research artefacts (e.g. literature, data, and software) and their funding grants within the European and global ecosystem as supported/promoted by...

Coastal and freshwater cetaceans are particularly vulnerable due to their proximity to human activity, localized distributions and small home ranges. These species include Sotalia guianensis, found in the Atlantic and Caribbean coastal areas of central and South America, and Sotalia fluviatilis, distributed in the Amazon River and tributaries. We investigated the population structure and genetic diversity of these two species by analyses of mtDNA control region and 8-10 microsatellite loci. MtDNA analyses revealed strong regional...

Artigo de Rotura - Revista de Comunicação, Cultura e Artes ROTURA, 2 (2021): 25-32 eISSN: 2184-8661

The exploration of different behaviors is part of the adaptation repertoire of individuals to new environments. Here, we explore how the evolution of cooperative behavior is affected by the interplay between exploration dynamics and social learning, in particular when individuals engage on the Prisoner's Dilemma along the edges of a social network. We show that when the population undergoes a transition from strong to weak exploration rates a decline in the overall levels of cooperation...

Aim: DNA metabarcoding has great potential to improve biomonitoring in island’s marine ecosystems, which are highly vulnerable to global change and non-indigenous species (NIS) introductions. However, the depth and accuracy of the taxonomic identifications are largely dependent on reference libraries containing representative and reliable sequences for the targeted species. In this study, we evaluated the gaps in the availability of DNA sequences and their accuracy, for macroinvertebrates inhabiting Macaronesia’s shallow marine habitats. Location: Macaronesia (Azores,...

The honeybee (Apis mellifera) has been threatened by multiple factors, including pests and pathogens, pesticides, and loss of locally adapted gene complexes due to replacement and introgression. In western Europe, the genetic integrity of the native A.m. mellifera (M-lineage) is endangered due to trading and intensive queen breeding with commercial subspecies of eastern European ancestry (C-lineage). Effective conservation actions require reliable molecular tools to identify purebred A.m. mellifera colonies. Microsatellites have been preferred for identification...

Natural populations are commonly exposed to complex stress scenarios, including anthropogenic contamination and their biological enemies (e.g., parasites). The study of the pollutant-parasite interplay is especially important, given the need for adequate regulations to promote improved ecosystem protection. In this study, a host-parasite model system (Daphnia spp. and the microparasitic yeast Metschnikowia bicuspidata) was used to explore the reciprocal effects of contamination by common agrochemical fungicides (copper sulphate and tebuconazole) and parasite challenge. We conducted...

Being at the Western fringe of Europe, Iberia had a peculiar prehistory and a complex pattern of Neolithization. A few studies, all based on modern populations, reported the presence of DNA of likely African origin in this region, generally concluding it was the result of recent gene flow, probably during the Islamic period. Here we provide evidence of much older gene flow from Africa to Iberia by sequencing whole genomes from four human remains from...