Carlos Melo

University of Lisbon | UL · Department of Geology

Solen marginatus Pulteney, 1799 was reported from São Miguel Island (Azores Archipelago, central North Atlantic) by Drouet in 1858, but the occurrence of this species in the archipelago was questioned by authors. We herein report a novel population from Terceira Island, located in the central island group of the Azores Archipelago. This new record...

In order to understand the complex evolutionary processes and patterns that explain current island biodiversity, large datasets and long-term analysis are required. The Last Interglacial (LIG) was one of the warmest interglacials during the last million years. How species mobility changed during this period in the Macaronesia geographical region ha...

O turismo subaquático em Santa Maria é uma das vertentes do turismo de Natureza sustentável com maior sucesso nesta ilha do Arquipélago dos Açores. Lugares como a “Baixa do Ambrósio” e as suas jamantas (entre outros grandes pelágicos), a “Pedrinha” e os peixes e grandes “leques” bivalves da espécie Pinna rudis (Linnaeus, 1758) que aí se avistam, ou...

Cadmium (Cd) is a highly toxic heavy metal particularly susceptible to mobilization by anthropogenic and natural processes. The volcanic nature of oceanic islands in the Macaronesia geographical region such as the Azores archipelago, located near the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, is reflected in deep-sea and shallow-water hydrothermal activities that release...

CIBIO-Açores/ InBIO/ BIOPOLIS Para quem, como os autores deste texto, trabalha em ilhas oceânicas e tenta decifrar os processos e padrões evolutivos que aqui decorrem atualmente, bem como os que decor-reram ao longo do tempo geológico, assume particular relevo o conhecimento que é ne-cessário ter acerca da ontogenia de cada ilha, ou seja, da histór...

Rhodoliths occur extensively around the shores of Fuerteventura Island in the Canary Archipelago, with Lithothamnion cf. corallioides being the most prominent species. A large number of rhodoliths end up washed onshore, the debris from which contributes to the formation of sediments constituting modern beaches. In a previous study by one of the co-...

Corrigendum to: Wave-influenced deposition of carbonate-rich sediment on the insular shelf of Santa Maria Island, Azores. Sedimentology, 69: 1547-1572.

ÁVILA S.P., R.S. RAMALHO, C.M. DA SILVA, M.E. JOHNSON, A. UCHMAN, B. BERNING, R. QUARTAU, P. MADEIRA, C.S. MELO, A.C. REBELO, L. BAPTISTA, S. ARRUDA, E. GONZÁLEZ, M.W. RASSER, A. HIPÓLITO, R. CORDEIRO, R. MEIRELES, V. RAPOSO, J. POMBO, R. CÂMARA, M.X. KIRBY, J. TITSCHACK, J.M. HABERMANN, R. VULLO, A. KROH, J.H. LIPPS, M. CACHÃO & J. MADEIRA, 2022....

It was with much interest that we read the comment made by Meco et al. (2022), regarding our work on "Range expansion of tropical shallow-water marine molluscs in the NE Atlantic during the last interglacial (MIS 5e): Causes, consequences and utility of ecostratigraphic indicators for the Macaronesian archipelagos". We welcome the discussion genera...

Formulae for sediment thresholds of motion are commonly based on flume experiments on rounded quartz particles and it is unclear how well they predict thresholds in natural settings. Here, sediment threshold shear stresses were calculated from one such formula using surface grain-size data from 112 sites around Santa Maria Island. To compare with t...

The Cabo Verde Archipelago holds a remarkable sedimentary record of tsunami inundations, as highlighted by recent finds on Santiago and Maio Islands. Santiago, in particular, constitutes an exceptional site to study in detail the proximal impacts of the megatsunami(s) triggered by the well-known catastrophic flank collapse of Fogo volcano (~60 km t...

Controlled by ecological and physical factors, marine species distribution may vary due to global climatic changes that result from range expansion or contraction (the latter caused by local disappearances, i.e., extirpations). Spanning from 13° to 39°N, the Macaronesian region encompasses five archipelagos located within warm-temperate to tropical...

Located on the northern coast of Santa Maria Island (Azores Archipelago, central North Atlantic), the Lagoinhas section preserves a carbonate buildup correlated with Marine Isotope Substage (MIS) 5e, the warmest interval of the Last Interglacial. The buildup is formed mainly by crustose coralline algae (CCA) identified as Spongites sp., and some su...

Pliocene body fossils from Santa Maria Island, Azores, have been studied for decades, but only more recently have ichnofossils received their due attention. Calcareous Pliocene deposits from the Baía de Nossa Senhora section contain numerous, diverse, well-preserved natural casts of invertebrate borings. The study of this type of fossils adds to kn...

This project examines the role of North Atlantic storms degrading a Late Pleistocene rocky shoreline formed by basaltic rocks overlying hyaloclastite rocks on a small volcanic peninsula connected to Gran Canaria Island in the central region of the Canary Archipelago. Conglomerate dominated by large, ellipsoidal to angular boulders eroded from an ad...

Unattached nodules of calcareous red algae (Rhodophyta), known as rhodoliths, are widely reported and studied in places that extend from the tropics to polar latitudes. Factors controlling the distribution of the rhodolith-forming species remain poorly understood. A review of the global distribution of present-day rhodolith beds was undertaken, col...

The presence of crustacean decapods in the Pliocene and Pleistocene (MIS 5e) fossil record of Santa Maria Island (Azores Archipelago) is herein reviewed. Our study raises the number of fossil crabs from this island from one species to ten taxa (3 for the Pliocene and 7 for the Last Interglacial). Five out of these ten taxa are reported for the firs...

The marine topshell Phorcus sauciatus is currently found along the temperatesubtropical shores of the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. Although present in the Iberian Peninsula, Madeira and Canaries for centuries, P. sauciatus has only recently reached another oceanic volcanic archipelago in the region. In 2013, a small population was recorded for the fir...

Modern and palaeo-shores from Pleistocene Marine Isotope Substage 5e (MIS 5e) featuring prominent cobble/boulder deposits from three locations, on the southern and eastern coast of Santa Maria Island in the Azores Archipelago, are compared, in order to test the idea of higher storminess during the Last Interglacial. A total of 175 basalt clasts fro...

The worldwide study of the geological record of the Last Interglacial is key to reconstruct the climatic and oceanographic conditions during that time interval. Here we present preliminary results of a comprehensive field analysis of one of the most extensive and least studied Quaternary fossiliferous sequences in Cabo Verde attributed to the Last...

Sedimentary rocks are rarely preserved on reefless volcanic oceanic islands, because they are mostly exported from coastal areas towards the abyssal plains and such islands typically undergo subsidence. In contrast, the exceptional geological record of the uplifted Santa Maria Island (Azores) provides a unique opportunity to gain insight on such ro...

Ongoing work shows that species richness patterns on volcanic oceanic islands are shaped by surface area changes driven by longer time scale (>1 ka) geological processes and natural sea level fluctuations. A key question is: what are the rates and magnitudes of the forces driving spatial changes on volcanic oceanic islands which in turn affect evol...

Fossil fishes are among the rarest in volcanic oceanic islands, their presence providing invaluable data for the understanding of more general (palaeo)biogeographical patterns and processes. Santa Maria Island (Azores Archipelago) is renowned for its palaeontological heritage, with representatives of several phyla, including the Chordata. Herein, w...

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, po...

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, po...

Fossiliferous outcrops are golden gates for the study of past events. The Quaternary is a period marked by several oscillations of the sea level, resulting in several glacial and interglacial events. The Last Interglacial period, with the warmest interval occurring between ~128 ka to ~116 ka (Marine Isotopic Stage 5e or MIS 5e) had a mean global te...

Their geographic isolation and relatively young age make volcanic oceanic islands important for understanding evolutionary and biogeographic processes. While apparently easily reachable for marine planktotrophic organisms, those with short-lived non-planktotrophic larvae are expected to be underrepresented in remote islands such as the Azores Archi...

Volcanic oceanic archipelagos are fascinating natural laboratories of evolutionary patterns and processes in remote, unique conditions. In the insular marine realm, deep-waters and sea-surface circulation hamper dispersal and, for marine invertebrates, this ability is linked to larval development: planktotrophic organisms disperse easily, whereas n...

A synthetic model is presented to enlarge the evolutionary framework of the General Dynamic Model (GDM) and of the Glacial Sensitive Model (GSM) of oceanic island biogeography from the terrestrial to the marine realm. The proposed “Sea-Level Sensitive” dynamic model (SLS) of marine island biogeography integrates historical and ecological biogeograp...

Supplementary Information file from: ÁVILA, S.P., C. MELO, N. SÁ, R. QUARTAU, K. RIJSDIJK, R.S. RAMALHO, B. BERNING, R. CORDEIRO, N.C. de SÁ, A. PIMENTEL, L. BAPTISTA, A. MEDEIROS, A. GIL & M.E. JOHNSON, 2019. Towards a “Sea-Level Sensitive Marine Island Biogeography” model: the impact of glacio-eustatic oscillations in global marine island biogeog...

The increasing interest in geotourism has prompted the need for quantitative assessments of geosites as a fundamental step for the application of geoconservation strategies, in order to assure sustainable planning, management and use of natural resources. The improvement of methodologies used to evaluate geosites dictates the revision of previous a...

The bowl-shaped trace fossil Piscichnus waitemata Gregory 1991 appears in Pliocene sandstones from Santa Maria Island (Azores Archipelago), extensively excavated during a stage of island evolution when the volcanic edifice was a guyot (flat-topped seamount) isolated in the NE Atlantic. The host sediments were deposited at depths from the intertidal...

A seabed sediment-sampling survey conducted on the Pico insular shelf found abundant rhodoliths between −64 and −73 m off the south coast of the island. These were small and mainly ellipsoidal in shape with a maximum diameter of 3.75 cm. Granules and small pebbles of eroded basalt were also a typical component of these samples. Thin algal crusts we...

Supratidal talus-platforms are low-relief subaerial accumulations of debris produced by mass wasting along high coastal cliffs, being particularly abundant at reefless volcanic islands subjected to high wave energy. Known as “fajãs” across the Portuguese-speaking Atlantic archipelagos, these coastal features on rare occasions may exhibit lagoons, c...

Past climate changes provide important clues for advancement of studies on current global change biology. We have tested large-scale biogeographic patterns through four marine groups from twelve Atlantic Ocean archipelagos and searched for patterns between species richness/endemism and littoral area, age, isolation, latitude and mean annual sea-sur...

Supplementary files from Marine Pollution Bulletin, 126: 101-112, Global change impacts on large-scale biogeographic patterns of marine organisms on Atlantic oceanic islands, by ÁVILA, S.P., R. CORDEIRO, P. MADEIRA, L. SILVA, A. MEDEIROS, A.C. REBELO, C. MELO, A.I. NETO, R. HAROUN, A. MONTEIRO, K. RIJSDIJK & M.E. JOHNSON (2018).

Diopatrichnus santamariensis isp. nov. from lower Pliocene sediments on Santa Maria Island in the Azores Archipelago (mid-North Atlantic) represents the third ichnospecies of Diopatrichnus Kern, as characterized by a vertical or inclined tube armored mainly with bivalve shells that are mostly perpendicular to the burrow axis and concave-up. The pol...

Stratigraphy is a key subject area in the geosciences that attracts a high number of researchers and students. This science also has witnessed interest from a growing number of people in society at large, due to its interrelated impacts on the economy, the broader environment, and technology. The Organizing Committee welcomes all interested researc...

The expansion and contraction of geographical range distribution of species (taxon cycles) is a common and well-studied biogeographical process. For terrestrial taxa, both fossil and extant records document poleward shifts, with range expansion of tropical species and range contraction of temperate species. For extant marine species, the geographic...

Rhodoliths are a common producer of carbonates on modern and ancient shelves worldwide, and there is growing evidence that they thrive on volcanic insular shelves. However, little is still known on how rhodoliths cope with the demands of this particularly dynamic environment. In this study, the focus is placed on fossil rhodoliths from a Pliocene s...

The trace fossil Macaronichnus segregatis is interpreted to be produced by opheliid polychaetes that feed on epigranular microbes and organic matter commonly abundant in shallow marine foreshore sands. Resulting traces are horizontal and typically random in orientation, but sometimes perpendicular to the shoreline. However, M. segregatis in Neogene...

The application of geoconservation concepts and methodologies to the entire Azores archipelago led to the implementation of the Geopark Azores, recognized as such by the European and Global Geoparks Network. The current work re-evaluates and stresses the scientific and touristic value of the palaeontological sites of Santa Maria Island. Two new geo...

The trace fossil Macaronichnus segregatis is interpreted to be produced by opheliid polychaetes that feed on epigranular microbes and organic matter commonly abundant in shallow-marine foreshore sands. Resulting traces are horizontal and typically random in orientation, but sometimes perpendicular to the shoreline. However, M. segregatis in Neogene...

Coastal talus-platforms (fajãs) with pond systems - like Fajã da Caldeira de Santo Cristo and Fajã dos Cubres in São Jorge Island – constitute features of high geological, biological, and landscape value, even becoming one of the most iconic landscapes of the Azores Islands. Whilst the origin of fajãs is firmly established as being the product of l...

Knowledge of the Azores flora has historically relied on the study of collections obtained during sporadic and brief visits conducted by collectors and naturalists coming from abroad. However, the far oceanic location of the Azores made it more inaccessible to these early studies than other Atlantic archipelagos, such as the Canary Islands and Made...

Fossil remains of Cetacea are known globally from nearshore marine sediments along continental coastlines, but they are poorly known from volcanic oceanic island archipelagos. Here we report Pleistocene fossil cetacean material from late Neogene and Quaternary age outcrops on the Santa Maria Island of the Azores island archipelago in the North Atla...

Massive fossil shell accumulations require particular conditions to be formed and may provide valuable insights into the sedimentary environments favouring such concentrations. Shallow-water shell beds appear to be particularly rare on reefless volcanic oceanic islands on account of narrow, steep and highly-energetic insular shelves where the poten...

Massive fossil shell accumulations require particular conditions to be formed and may provide valuable insights into the sedimentary environments favouring such concentrations. Shallow-water shell beds appear to be particularly rare on reefless volcanic oceanic islands on account of narrow, steep and highly-energetic insular shelves where the poten...

In the Azores, a remote archipelago of nine volcanic oceanic islands located in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the most striking differences in assemblage composition in relation to mainland European Atlantic shores are the absences of topshells, Mytilus species and the predator Nucella lapillus in the intertidal zone (Hawkins et al., 1990, 2000;...

The privileged location of Santa Maria Island (Azores archipelago) in the middle of the North Atlantic makes the fossiliferous outcrops on this island of utmost importance to gain a better understanding of how coeval living communities relate to the broader evolutionary and biogeographic history of the Atlantic basin during the late Neogene and the...

In the Açores, the most important, ecologically significant and endangered intertidal habitats, not just here but worldwide, are lagoons and marshes. In the Açorean Archipelago, the largest marsh used to occur between Paúl and Ponta das Contendas at Praia da Vitória on the island of Terceira. The eminent Açorean and Terceiran scientist, Colonel Jos...

Prefácio O trabalho que agora se apresenta de Sérgio Ávila e colaboradores é mais um precioso contributo para a divulgação científica que emerge de trabalho de investigação académica da Universidade dos Açores. É um trabalho que procura conciliar um rigor e uma descrição exaustiva e profusamente ilustrada dos elementos factuais paleontológicos e ge...