Ana Fávaro

• Master of Science
• Ph.D. Student at University of Minnesota

Premise Methods to evaluate lichen thalli hydrophobicity have previously been described, but only recently has hydrophobicity been shown to be an important functional trait related to water regulation dynamics that could be used to predict future climate change effects. We describe a novel protocol to measure lichen thallus hydrophobicity that aims...

Reproductive strategies in lichens are a rarely studied field, and little is known about which variables affecting the production of reproductive structures are most important. Here, we investigated how lichen size and cardinal direction affected the density of apothecia in the cyanolichen Leptogium marginellum. We hypothesized that larger thalli a...

Resource allocation to reproduction can change depending on size, as predicted by the size-dependent sex allocation. This theory is based on the fact that small individuals will allocate to the sex with a lower production cost, usually male gender. In plants, there are some andromonoecy species that present hermaphrodite and male flowers in the sam...

Cyanobacteria perform biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in specialized cells called heterocysts, and their differentiation is closely associated with the balance between carbon and nitrogen quantities. Although BNF is an important ecosystem function, there are no studies verifying the production of heterocysts in cyanolichens from different habita...

Patterns of resource allocation reflect the plastic strategies that result from different selective pressures imposed by the environment. However, biomass allocation can be limited by architectural restrictions that change with the plant size. Our knowledge about sex allocation in heterosporous aquatic ferns remains scarce and studies on the reprod...

Microalgae, microscopic prokaryotic or eukaryotic organisms that perform photosynthesis, can be found freely in the water column or associated with the roots of aquatic macrophytes, forming the periphyton. Periphytic microalgae play an important role in the stabilization of aquatic ecosystems. However, despite their relevance, microalgae are little...