Search Results (77)

Altitudinal gradients offer powerful natural frameworks to investigate how environmental factors shape biodiversity, especially on young oceanic volcanic islands where short spatial distances encompass sharp climatic transitions. This study documents bryophyte diversity and examines how elevation, substrate, and environmental variables influence the structure of bryophyte communities on Flores Island (Azores). Across five sites and 385 microplots, 89 species from 37 families were recorded, with liverworts predominating (liverwort-to-moss ratio of 1.41). Species richness and abundance followed a unimodal pattern, peaking at mid-elevations (400–600 m a.s.l.), where humid and thermally stable conditions favor the coexistence of lowland and montane taxa. Even modest altitudinal shifts corresponded to pronounced turnover in community composition, revealing strong ecological filtering along the gradient. Substrate type further influenced diversity patterns, with liverworts dominating epiphytic and lignicolous habitats, while mosses were more diverse on terricolous and rupicolous substrates. The presence of several Azorean and Macaronesian endemics, including threatened taxa, highlights the conservation importance of mid-elevation habitats. Overall, these results show that fine-scale altitudinal variation generates substantial ecological differentiation, underscoring the role of montane forests as refugia for hygrophilous and endemic bryophytes and as sensitive indicators of environmental change in island ecosystems. Full article

Microsporidia are a group of obligate intracellular parasites with a broad host range. These parasites can cause mild to severe harm to their hosts, making them important targets for research. However, studies on common wild-caught fish from the Atlantic Eastern Central Zone (FAO Area 34) remain scarce. 576 individuals across 35 fish species from this region were collected from local markets between 2011 and 2019. The specimens were dissected, and lesions were examined using histology, wet mounts, PCR, and transmission electron microscopy. However, microsporidian infection was detected only in round sardinella (Sardinella (S.) aurita), with 19 out of 39 individuals infected. Parasitized fish weighed nearly half as much as non-infected ones, indicating a potentially significant economic impact. Molecular and ultrastructural analyses identified the parasite as Glugea (G.) thunni, a species previously reported only from the Mediterranean Sea. This study provides the first record of G. thunni in FAO Area 34, with round sardinella likely serving as its primary host. This and other closely related sequences may represent a single taxonomic entity or, more likely, a complex of a few cryptic species geographically separated across the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern and western North Atlantic regions. Full article

Coastal erosion has become a significant problem in the context of global warming and sea level rise. The combination of these factors which, in some cases, produces sedimentary deficit, is causing flooding problems that affect coastal ecosystems such as dune systems. This problem is of particular concern in the context of oceanic islands, where sandy coasts and dune systems are considered to be of significant value. As terminal areas of encapsulated sedimentary systems, sink areas are subject to the downwind effects of current and historical management and uses developed throughout the entire system. The objective of this research is to analyze the evolution of the Sink Zones (they mainly demonstrate behaviors akin to those exhibited by beaches), in various dune systems in Macaronesia, with a particular focus on the Canary Islands (Maspalomas in Gran Canaria, Jandía in Fuerteventura and La Graciosa Island) and Cabo Verde (Costa Fragata-Ponta Preta in Sal Island). A multiscale spatio-temporal approach was employed, utilizing historical and contemporary orthophotos and topographic data (obtained from LiDAR flights with airplanes and photogrammetric flights with drones) to analyze the evolution of the coastline using DSAS software (version 6.0). In the specific instance of the island of La Graciosa, these data were integrated with detailed fieldwork data on wind conditions and sediment characterization. This methodology was utilized to ascertain the morphodynamical response of the aforementioned Sink Zones. The results obtained from the analyses reveal the presence of erosion processes, thus prompting a comprehensive discussion concerning the management and utilization of these natural systems, in addition to the potential impact of climate change. Full article

The Red-legged Partridge (Alectoris rufa, Phasianidae) is a non-migrant gamebird endemic to southwestern Europe that was introduced into Mediterranean and Atlantic islands in historical times. This is the case for Madeira, Portugal, where a population morphologically assigned to A. r. hispanica has been present since the XV century. We assessed its genetic identity using 2248 (Cytochrome-b, Cyt-b + Control Region, CR) and 297 bp-long (CR) mitochondrial DNA sequences obtained from modern and archival (1900–1964, including Caccabis rufa maderensis syntypes) partridges, respectively. These sequences were compared against an already published dataset covering the entire Iberian A. rufa range. We found that all the haplotypes of modern birds from Madeira were private to this island. The putative subspecies was confirmed, and northern Portugal with northwestern Spain turned out to host the closest mainland populations. This result was in line with the origin of the first human settlers of Madeira from, among other historical provinces, Douro Litoral and Minho, the latter neighboring Galicia. Despite relatively recent A. rufa importations from continental Europe, we did not find any significant change over time in the haplotypic pattern of Madeiran partridges as well as any evidence for maternal introgression from species such as the congeneric Chukar Partridge (A. chukar). Studies relying on genome-wide markers and including the only captive-bred population of Madeira are needed to gain more comprehensive information for the management of the local A. rufa. Full article

Ichnological research on trace fossils from the volcanic islands of Macaronesia (North Atlantic) is reviewed in light of significant advances over the past two decades. These studies contribute to the interpretation of paleoenvironments and enhance our understanding of the biota preserved in Miocene–Holocene shallow marine and non-marine deposits across the Azores, Cape Verde, Canary, Madeira, and Salvagens archipelagos. Trace fossils provide evidence of organisms not always known from body fossils, or whose potential tracemakers are absent from the extant island fauna. They include sedimentary burrows, borings in hard substrates, and traces of plant–insect interactions. Some ichnotaxa are widespread and common (e.g., Bichordites monastiriensis, Dactyloidites ottoi, Macaronichnus segregatis, Ophiomorpha nodosa, Thalassinoides isp.), whereas others are rare. Several new ichnotaxa have also been described from the islands, including Alaichnus kabuverdiensis (cumulative trace of bivalve siphons), Centrichnus dentatus (attachment trace of verrucid barnacles), Diopatrichnus santamariaensis (polychaete tubes armored with shell debris), Ericichnus bromleyi and E. asgaardi (bioerosion grooves of regular echinoids), and Rebuffoichnus guanche (coleopteran pupation chambers). Despite these advances, ichnological research in Macaronesia remains uneven, with many topics still underexplored and significant gaps in the geographic and inventory record. Full article

Mapping marine habitats is fundamental for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem-based management in oceanic regions under increasing anthropogenic and climatic pressures. In the context of global initiatives—such as marine protected area expansion and international agreements—habitat mapping has become mandatory for regional and global conservation policies. It provides spatial data to delineate essential habitats, support connectivity analyses, and assess pressures, enabling ecosystem-based marine spatial planning aligned with EU directives (2008/56/EC; 2014/89/EU). Beyond biodiversity, macrophytes, rhodolith beds, and coral reefs deliver key ecosystem services—carbon sequestration, coastal protection, nursery functions, and fisheries support—essential to local socioeconomies. This systematic review (PRISMA guidelines) examined 69 peer-reviewed studies across Central-Eastern Atlantic archipelagos (Macaronesia: the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, and Cabo Verde) and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. We identified knowledge gaps, methodological trends, and key challenges, emphasizing the integration of cartographic, ecological, and technological approaches. Although methodologies diversified over time, the lack of survey standardization, limited ground truthing, and heterogeneous datasets constrained the production of high-resolution bionomic maps. Regional disparities persist in technology access and habitat coverage. The Azores showed the highest species richness (393), dominated by acoustic mapping in corals. Madeira was most advanced in the remote mapping of rhodoliths; the Canaries focused on shallow macrophytes with direct mapping; and Cabo Verde remains underrepresented. Harmonized protocols and regional cooperation are needed to improve data interoperability and predictive modeling. Full article

Understanding and promoting guest satisfaction is central to the economic sustainability of the hospitality industry. Satisfaction influences consumers’ booking intentions, hotel choice, loyalty, and the reputation and performance of accommodation establishments. Thus, accurate decision making by hotel managers relies on trustworthy and easily accessible information on the variables that affect guest satisfaction. Nowadays, this information is available through reviews and ratings provided by online platforms, such as TripAdvisor. Indeed, much research into guest satisfaction uses TripAdvisor reviews. However, this study aims to analyse guest satisfaction using only TripAdvisor ratings. These ratings can be more succinct and tractable indicators than reviews. A sample of 118 hotels in Cape Verde and the Azores, two archipelagos belonging to Macaronesia, and a descriptive, predictive, and discriminant methodology are employed for this purpose. Four main results are obtained. First, the rated items on TripAdvisor are consistent with the scientific literature on this topic. Second, TripAdvisor ratings are valid and reliable. Third, TripAdvisor ratings can predict guest satisfaction based on the perceived quality of hotel services. Fourth, there are significant differences in ratings depending on the tourism destination chosen. These results are of interest to researchers, tourists, as well as hotel, destination, and platform managers. Full article

In the present work, two species new to science, Bacidia subheterochroa and Bacidina terceirae, are reported among one hundred and five lichens and lichenicolous species reported from the islands Graciosa and Terceira (Azores Archipelago, Portugal). Updated phylogenetic studies of the family Ramalinaceae including these samples show that species of Bacidia are grouped in three different clades: Bacidia s. str. (type species B. rosella), Bacidina (type species Bn. phacodes), and Woessia (type species W. fusarioides). As a result, seven new combinations in the resurrected genus Woessia are here proposed. In addition, a comprehensive checklist of lichens and lichenicolous fungi of two of the islands (including locality and substrate) is provided, with five species being reported from Azores for the first time. Full article

Island ecology plays an important role in explaining various ecological and evolutionary processes. Small, isolated oceanic islands, exemplified by the Azores Archipelago, are especially vulnerable to adverse environmental conditions and human impact. The study aims to evaluate the impact of urbanization, especially the urban greening space, on the structure and dynamics of avian communities associated with various landforms in an urbanized landscape in one of the nine islands of the Azores Archipelago, São Miguel Island, in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. Samples were collected in the second half of April 2024. The line transect method (43 transects with a total of 37.4 km) was employed to count all bird species breeding in different landforms distinguished in the city: coastal land, urbanized land, rural land, and urban greening space. The obtained results showed that the number of breeding species was much higher in urban greening spaces (n = 20) than in the other lands (n = 10–14 species). Both cumulative dominance and dominance indices were much lower in urban greening space than in the other landforms. The Sørensen Index of Similarity between the four main land categories distinguished in the city varied between 0.62 and 0.96, being the lowest between the coastal and urban greening space, and the highest between the urbanized and rural lands. Two main feeding guilds were distinguished in the study area: granivores and insectivores. The former guild clearly dominated over the latter in all major land categories distinguished. Clearly, the proportion of granivores increased with urbanization. Also, two nesting guilds were distinguished: buildings and trees/shrubs. The former was dominant in all land categories except for the urban greening space where the tree/shrub nesting guild was more numerous than the building guild. The tree/shrub guild declined with urbanization. A general trend was recorded: the higher the level of urbanization, the lower the percentage of urban greening space, and in consequence, the lower the number of bird species and diversity indices, but the higher the cumulative dominance and dominance indices. The overall density of birds remains, however, distinctively similar. In the future, data on the population densities and dominance of particular species should be collected in urbanized landforms in other towns of the Azores Archipelago and Macaronesia at large. Full article

Reproductive biology patterns are crucial for understanding the dynamics and evolution of plants. This is particularly relevant in bryophytes, where sex expression and reproductive success can vary significantly with environmental conditions. Islands, with their isolated and diverse environments, provide natural laboratories to explore these dynamics. In this study, we investigate sex expression, the phenotypic sex ratio, and sporophyte production in one moss (Exsertotheca intermedia) and three liverwort species (Frullania polysticta, Frullania teneriffae, Porella canariensis) across their entire distribution range. Depending on the species, the geographic range includes the Canary Islands, Madeira, the Azores, the Iberian Peninsula, the British Isles, and the Faroe Islands. For the non-Macaronesian endemic species (F. teneriffae, P. canariensis) higher levels of sex expression and males were found in the Macaronesian archipelagos. In leafy liverworts, females appear to be correlated with lower temperatures and higher precipitation levels, while males seem to be associated with higher temperatures and relatively lower precipitation levels. In this study, we demonstrated that bryophyte populations from Macaronesia exhibited higher levels of sex expression compared to their continental counterparts, suggesting that the distinct environmental conditions of these islands play a crucial role in shaping their reproductive patterns. Full article

Plant-parasitic nematodes are highly damaging pests responsible for heavy losses in a considerable number of plant crops. Common pest management strategies rely on the use of synthetic chemical nematicides, which have led to serious concerns regarding their impact on human health and the environment. The essential oils (EOs) obtained from aromatic plant species can provide a good source of agents for the sustainable control of nematodes, due to higher biodegradability, generally low toxicity for mammals, fish, and birds, and lower bioaccumulation in the environment. This study aimed to evaluate the nematicidal and nematostatic properties of EOs extracted from plant species relevant to Macaronesia flora or with widespread use as culinary herbs in Mediterranean cuisine. Eighteen EOs were chemically characterized and evaluated by direct contact and hatching bioassays on the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne javanica. The EOs that showed a significant effect on M. javanica second-stage juveniles’ (J2) mortality (≥40%) were also used in chemotaxis assays. From the eighteen EOs, seven showed strong nematicidal activity (>80%) and hatching inhibition. The chemotaxis assays revealed that only Mentha pulegium exhibited repellent behavior for M. javanica J2, and the rest of EOs had attractive behavior. Furthermore, EOs were assessed against the root-lesion nematode Pratylenchus penetrans and the pinewood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus. Cinnamomum burmanni was the EO with the highest nematicidal activity for the three nematode species. Among the terpene-rich EOs, high mortality values and hatching inhibition for M. javanica were observed for the carvacrol chemotype Origanum vulgare, albeit with low activity for P. penetrans and B. xylophilus. Mentha pulegium, mainly composed of monoterpene ketones and monoterpenoids, demonstrated moderate-to-high mortality activity (from 30% for P. penetrans to 99% for M. javanica) for the three nematode species. Full article

Lotus, with about 120 species, is the largest genus of Leguminosae–Loteae. The last global classification recognized 14 sections, of which 13 were then sampled in molecular phylogenetic analyses. The section remaining unsampled is Lotus sect. Benedictella with one critically endangered and possibly extinct species, L. benoistii. This is an annual species known from Mediterranean-type vernal pools in the lowlands of northwestern Morocco that differs from other species of the genus in many-seeded indehiscent fruits with thin pericarp and pinnate leaves with 6–9 leaflets. This species was described in a monospecific genus and later transferred to Lotus on the basis of suggested morphological similarities with three mainly desert annuals from North Africa and Southwest Asia currently classified in Lotus sect. Chamaelotus. We provide the first molecular phylogenetic data on L. benoistii and show that it is far from L. sect. Chamaelotus. It is close to plants traditionally classified in Lotus sect. Lotus that have a center of diversity in Europe and temperate Asia. Phylogenetic analyses of plastid markers showed that L. sect. Chamaelotus belongs to a clade with major taxonomic diversity in Macaronesia, Africa, SW Asia, and Australia. Morphology does not provide arguments against the novel hypothesis on the relationships of L. benoistii. Its possible extinction is a great loss for the breeding programs of the pasture plant L. corniculatus. We provide the first anatomical data of L. benoistii, showing that its non-shattering condition has a peculiar nature that differs from all other instances of indehiscence in Loteae. Full article

Background/Objectives: The colonization history of house mice reflects the maritime history of humans that passively transported them worldwide. We investigated western house mouse colonization in the Atlantic region through studies of mitochondrial D-loop DNA sequences from modern specimens. Methods: We assembled a dataset of 758 haplotypes derived from 2765 mice from 47 countries/oceanic archipelagos (a combination of new and published data). Our maximum likelihood phylogeny recovered five previously identified clades, and we used the haplotype affinities within the phylogeny to infer house mouse colonization history, employing statistical tests and indices. From human history, we predefined four European source areas for mice in the Atlantic region (Northern Europe excluding Scandinavia, Southern Europe, Scandinavia, and Macaronesia) and we investigated the colonization from these source areas to different geographic areas in the Atlantic region. Results: Our inferences suggest mouse colonization of Scandinavia itself from Northern Europe, and Macaronesia from both Southern Europe and Scandinavia/Germany (the latter likely representing the transport of mice by Vikings). Mice on North Atlantic islands apparently derive primarily from Scandinavia, while for South Atlantic islands, North America, and Sub-Saharan Africa, the clearest source is Northern Europe, although mice on South Atlantic islands also had genetic inputs from Macaronesia and Southern Europe (for Tristan da Cunha). Macaronesia was a stopover for Atlantic voyages, creating an opportunity for mouse infestation. Mice in Latin America also apparently had multiple colonization sources, with a strong Southern European signal but also input from Northern Europe and/or Macaronesia. Conclusions: D-loop sequences help discern the broad-scale colonization history of house mice and new perspectives on human history. Full article

Salmonella spp. are known pathogens in fish, with their presence potentially resulting from the contamination of the aquatic environment or improper handling. Accurate bacterial identification is crucial across various fields, including medicine, microbiology, and the food industry, and thus a range of techniques are available for this purpose. In this study, Salmonella spp. and other hydrogen sulphide-positive bacteria were investigated in the digestive contents of fish destined for consumption from the Atlantic area of Macaronesia. Two identification techniques were compared: the traditional API method and the MALDI-TOF MS technique. For the identification of Salmonella spp. carriers, 59 samples were processed following ISO 6579–1:2017. A total of 47 strains of Gram-negative bacilli were obtained. No Salmonella spp. isolates were detected. The most frequent genus was Enterobacter (76.50%), followed by Shewanella (10.63%). The MALDI-TOF MS technique showed a high concordance with the API technique, with 72.34% concordance at the species level. Both techniques demonstrated a high degree of concordance in the identification of Enterobacter cloacae, with 87.23% genus-level concordance and 12.76% non-concordant identifications. This study highlights the limitations of the API technique and the speed and precision of MALDI-TOF MS. The identified bacteria could pose a health risk to humans. Full article

Marennine is the specific bluish pigment produced by the marine diatom Haslea ostrearia Gaillon (Simonsen), responsible for the greening of oysters in France’s Atlantic coast. For decades, H. ostrearia was considered the only blue diatom and described as such. However, new blue Haslea species have been described recently, among which Haslea karadagensis Davidovich, Gastineau, and Mouget (Black Sea, Crimea, Ukraine); Haslea provincialis Gastineau, Hansen, and Mouget (Mediterranean Sea, southern France); Haslea silbo Gastineau, Hansen, and Mouget (West Atlantic Ocean, USA); and one not characterized yet, Haslea sp. nov., isolated in Tenerife (Spain). These species produce marennine-like pigments, for which little information is available yet. The present work aims at studying spectral characteristics of these pigments by UV–visible spectrometry, Raman spectrometry, infrared spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and cyclic voltammetry, and comparing them to those of marennine produced by H. ostrearia strains originating from the north Atlantic Ocean (western France and Macaronesia), and north Pacific Ocean (southwestern USA). Results show that marennine produced by H. ostrearia strains and marennine-like pigments produced by H. provincialis, H. silbo, and Haslea sp. nov. are quite similar regarding their polysaccharide skeleton, and absorption in the UV–visible, infrared, and Raman regions. The most different marennine-like pigment is produced by H. karadagensis, but all Haslea blue pigments studied so far belong to the same family of organic molecules. Full article