Catarina Melo

University of the Azores | UAc · Grupo da Biodiversidade dos Açores

The impact of climate change on islands is expected to cause dramatic consequences on native biodiversity. However, limited data are available for arthropod communities in island agroecosystems. In this study, we simulate a small-scale climatic change (average of +1.2°C), using Open Top Chambers (OTCs) in forage crops in the Azores Archipelago (Por...

The data we present are part of the project PASTURCLIM (Impact of climate change on pasture’s productivity and nutritional composition in the Azores). The project aims to assess the consequences of climate change (e.g. temperature increase) on the grass production and its quality for forage, as well as to assess changes in the arthropod communities...

Citation: : Melo, C.D.; Maduro Dias, C.S.A.M.; Wallon, S.; Borba, A.E.S.; Madruga, J.; Borges, P.A.V.; Ferreira, M.T.; Elias, R.B. Influence of Climate Variability and Soil Fertility on the Forage Quality and Productivity in Azorean Pastures. Agriculture 2022, 12, 358. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture12030358 Abstract: This work aimed to determi...

In this contribution we present detailed distribution and abundance data for arthropod species identified during the BALA – Biodiversity of Arthropods from the Laurisilva of the A zores (1999-2004) and BALA2 projects (2010-2011) from 18 native forest fragments in seven of the nine Azorean islands (all excluding Graciosa and Corvo islands, which hav...

The beneficial association of seedlings with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) is thought to improve early tree establishment through increased uptake of poorly labile soil nutrients (particularly P) and enhancing plant tolerance to biotic and abiotic factors. Seedlings of Juniperus brevifolia, an endemic woody plant of the Azores archipelago with...

More knowledge of community composition of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in ecosystems in relation to habitat type and land use intensity is needed. We studied AMF in 106 soil samples from pristine natural forests and a gradient of disturbance including semi-natural and intensively managed pastures of Terceira, Azores. Altogether, 42 spore morp...

The data, presented here, come from samples collected during three research projects which aimed to assess the impact of land-use type on Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi (AMF) diversity and community composition in pastures of Terceira Island (Azores, Macaronesia, Portugal) and also in the native forest of two Azorean Islands (Terceira and São Miguel;...

Purpose Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) play important key roles in the soil ecosystems as they link plants to the root-inaccessible part of soil. The aims of this study were to investigate which environmental factors influence the spatial and temporal structuring of AMF communities associated to Picconia azorica in two Azorean islands (Terceira...

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) from the rhizosphere of the endemic Laurisilva tree, Picconia azorica, were characterised at two sites in each of two Azorean islands (Terceira and São Miguel). Forty-six spore morphotypes were found, and DNA extraction was attempted from individual spores of each of these. DNA was obtained from 18 of the morphoty...

The communities of glomeromycotan fungi (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, AMF) under native Juniperus brevifolia forest from two Azorean islands, Terceira and S~ ao Miguel, were compared, mainly by spore morphology, and when possible, by molecular analysis. Thirty-nine morphotypes were detected from 12 genera. Glomeromycotan fungal richness was simila...

Background In this contribution we present detailed distribution and abundance data for arthropod species identified during the BALA – Biodiversity of Arthropods from the Laurisilva of the Azores (1999-2004) and BALA2 projects (2010-2011) from 18 native forest fragments in seven of the nine Azorean islands (all excluding Graciosa and Corvo islands,...

Appendix 2 - Metadata from Appendix 1

Appendix 5 -Abundance data

Appendix 1 - Detailed data on the distribution and abundance of the studied species

Appendix 3 - Sites UTM coordinates

Appendix 4. Complete list of new records per island.

Nothing is published about the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) of the Azores archipelago, either with regard to individual species, or at the community level. This study, based on identification through spore morphological characteristics, compares the AMF community structure of semi-natural and intensively managed pastures. Thirty-nine glomerom...

Knowledge of the levels and distribution of genetic diversity is important for designing conservation strategies for threatened and endangered species so as to guarantee sustainable survival of populations and to preserve their evolutionary potential. Picconia azorica is a valuable Azorean endemic species recently classified as endangered. To contr...

Aim This paper has two objectives. First, we examine how a variety of biotic, abiotic and anthropogenic factors influence the endemic and introduced arthropod richness on an oceanic island. Second, we look at the relationship between the endemic and introduced arthropod richness, to ask whether areas with high levels of endemic species richness det...

outreach paper in Magazine: Pingo de Lava

Habitat destruction is the leading cause of species extinctions. However, there is typically a time-lag between the reduction in habitat area and the eventual disappearance of the remnant populations. These ‘‘surviving but ultimately doomed’’ species represent an extinction debt. Calculating the magnitude of such future extinction events has been h...

Habitat destruction is the leading cause of species extinctions. However, there is typically a time-lag between the reduction in habitat area and the eventual disappearance of the remnant populations. These “surviving but ultimately doomed” species represent an extinction debt. Calculating the magnitude of such future extinction events has been ham...

Nineteen areas in seven of the nine Azorean islands were evaluated for species diversity and rarity based on soil epigean arthropods. Fifteen out of the 19 study areas are managed as Natural Forest Reserves and the remaining four were included due to their importance as indigenous forest cover. Four of the 19 areas are not included in the European...

This article explores patterns of insect herbivore distribution in the canopy of the Laurisilva forests on seven islands in the Azores archipelago. To our knowledge, this is one of the first extensive study of this type in tree or shrub canopies of oceanic island ecosystems. One of the most frequently debated characteristics of such ecosystems is t...

RESUMO. O vírus da tristeza dos citrinos (CTV - Citrus tristeza virus) é o agente patogénico viral dos citrinos com maior impacto económico a nível mundial e que, dependendo da estirpe, pode levar ao declínio total de um pomar. Este vírus tem como vectores diferentes espécies de afídeos, nomeadamente Toxoptera citricidus (=T.citricida), T. aurantii...