University of the Algarve

About: University of the Algarve is a education organization based out in Faro, Portugal. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Tourism. The organization has 3649 authors who have published 10303 publications receiving 233536 citations.

Resolution of the ordinal phylogeny of mosses using targeted exons from organellar and nuclear genomes.

Abstract: Mosses are a highly diverse lineage of land plants, whose diversification, spanning at least 400 million years, remains phylogenetically ambiguous due to the lack of fossils, massive early extinctions, late radiations, limited morphological variation, and conflicting signal among previously used markers. Here, we present phylogenetic reconstructions based on complete organellar exomes and a comparable set of nuclear genes for this major lineage of land plants. Our analysis of 142 species representing 29 of the 30 moss orders reveals that relative average rates of non-synonymous substitutions in nuclear versus plastid genes are much higher in mosses than in seed plants, consistent with the emerging concept of evolutionary dynamism in mosses. Our results highlight the evolutionary significance of taxa with reduced morphologies, shed light on the relative tempo and mechanisms underlying major cladogenic events, and suggest hypotheses for the relationships and delineation of moss orders.

The effect of food deprivation and refeeding on the liver, thyroid hormones and transthyretin in sea bream

Abstract: There was a significant reduction in body weight of sea bream Sparus aurata and the hepatosomatic index after 3 weeks food deprivation. Liver biochemical indices and morphology were altered by food deprivation, there was a loss of eosin staining in hepatocyte cytoplasm and the appearance of large depleted vacuoles. Cell and nuclear area were significantly reduced (P<0.001) and did not return to control values after 1 week of refeeding. The water, lipid, glycogen and protein content of the liver was significantly reduced by 3 weeks fasting but recovered rapidly after 1 week refeeding. Food restriction also had a marked effect on circulating thyroid hormones and the concentration of plasma T 3 (33.98 ± 12.47 ng ml -1 ) and T 4 (16.54 ± 9.5 ng ml -1 ) was significantly (P<0.001) lower than the control (66.52 ± 13.4 and 56.83 ± 7.3, respectively). Refeeding for 1 week restored circulating T 3 (P<0.05) close to control levels but did not significantly affect the concentration of T 4 . Northern blotting with an homologous probe for transthyretin (TTR) demonstrated clearly the expression of a single mRNA transcript of 0.7 kb for this protein in the liver. The level of TTR message was substantially reduced below control levels in the liver of fasted fish and I week refeeding failed to restore expression.

Afternoon Depression In Photosynthesis in Grapevine Leaves—Evidence for a High Light Stress Effect

Abstract: Recherche des causes de la diminution des echanges gazeux l'apres-midi chez la vigne. Apres avoir verifie que cette diminution de l'activite photosynthetique avait bien lieu dans les feuilles de plantes correctement arrosees et en absence de stress dus a la temperature ou a l'humidite de l'air; les caracteristiques photosynthetiques des feuilles exposees a des densites de flux de photons fortes et moderees ont ete comparees afin de comprendre le role d'une exposition prolongee a une forte luminosite

Restructuring of the 'Macaronesia' biogeographic unit: A marine multi-taxon biogeographical approach.

Abstract: The Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary Islands and Cabo Verde are commonly united under the term “Macaronesia”. This study investigates the coherency and validity of Macaronesia as a biogeographic unit using six marine groups with very different dispersal abilities: coastal fishes, echinoderms, gastropod molluscs, brachyuran decapod crustaceans, polychaete annelids, and macroalgae. We found no support for the current concept of Macaronesia as a coherent marine biogeographic unit. All marine groups studied suggest the exclusion of Cabo Verde from the remaining Macaronesian archipelagos and thus, Cabo Verde should be given the status of a biogeographic subprovince within the West African Transition province. We propose to redefine the Lusitanian biogeographical province, in which we include four ecoregions: the South European Atlantic Shelf, the Saharan Upwelling, the Azores, and a new ecoregion herein named Webbnesia, which comprises the archipelagos of Madeira, Selvagens and the Canary Islands.