Carlos Manuel AlexandreMARE - Marine and Environmental Science Centre
Carlos Manuel Alexandre
PhD
Contracted Researcher at University of Évora & MARE - Marine and Environmental Science Centre
About
49
Publications
7,153
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
433
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
Additional affiliations
October 2015 - January 2017
MARE - Marine and Environmental Science Centre
Position
- PostDoc Position
January 2013 - September 2015
January 2006 - December 2006
Publications
Publications (49)
Migratory species travelling long distances between habitats to spawn or feed are well adapted to optimize their swimming economy. However, human activities, such as river regulation, represent potential threats to fish migration by changing environmental parameters that will have impact on their metabolism. The main objective of this study was to...
The threespine stickleback is a freshwater fish listed as endangered in Portugal, near the southern limit of the species global distribution. However, few measures have been proposed aiming at the conservation of this species in suboptimal environments. From existing databases and specific sampling campaigns, we obtained occurrence data of threespi...
Hybridization between native and nonnative fish species is a major conservation issue,
especially in ecosystems with high levels of endemism, such as Iberian streams. To date, hybridization with the invasive bleak Alburnus alburnus has been reported for the Iberian chub Squalius alburnoides and S. pyrenaicus and in scattered locations only. However...
Dam construction and streamflow regulation are increasing throughout the world, with impacts in impounded aquatic ecosystems. Hydropower dams, some of them causing a phenomenon called “hydropeaking” during their operation, are known for having a variety of impacts on downstream aquatic biota, particularly fish, and respective habitat. This can resu...
The Iberian barbel (Luciobarbus bocagei Steindachner, 1864) and the Iberian nase (Pseudochondrostoma polylepis Steindachner, 1864) are two potamodromous species that migrate upstream in freshwater environments to reproduce. Thus, river fragmentation is a major threat to these species, and fish passes are one of the most-used mitigation measures to...
The meagre is among the largest Sciaenidae in the world (max: 230 cm, 103 kg), with a wide distribution range encompassing the NE and CE Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. The life cycle in Atlantic waters includes migratory movements from feeding and overwintering areas at sea to spawning and nursery areas in estuaries and coastal waters. H...
Hybridization between native and exotic species is a major conservation issue. In Iberian rivers, which are simultaneously among the most invaded and diverse ecosystems, harboring a high proportion of endemic fishes, this issue is becoming highly concerning. To date, hybridization has been reported to occur between the invasive bleak Alburnus albur...
Hydropeaking negatively affects fish assemblages, but knowledge gaps still constrain our ability to rank and mitigate the impacts of different hydropower operation regimes at particular power plants. This is especially relevant for species and rivers for which the effects of hydropeaking are less investigated, such as the Iberian Cypriniformes and...
Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides Lacépède, 1802) is one of the most searched species in sports fishing, being culturally consumed over the last century. The aim of this study was to characterize the proximate composition and nutritional lipid quality of wild bass from the south of Portugal and compare it temporally (winter vs summer) and spat...
Atlantic salmon is often a focal species of restoration efforts throughout the north Atlantic and it is therefore an excellent case study for how best to design programmes to address and mitigate threats and correct population declines. This perspective is written to promote the work that has been accomplished towards restoration of Atlantic salmon...
The thinlip grey mullet (Chelon ramada Risso, 1827) is a catadromous fish that performs massive migrations to freshwater habitats for feeding purposes that can assume a structuring role on riverine ecology due to the biomass involve in these movements. Seasonal movements of thinlip grey mullet through a vertical slot fish pass located in River Mond...
Hydropeaking is widely known for changing the quantity and quality of the available habitat downstream of hydroelectric facilities, thus affecting all stages of fish life cycles. Hydropeaking impacts on salmonids are widely studied, but knowledge of its effects on cyprinids, which are dominant in Mediterranean areas, is scarce. In this study, 11 Ib...
Fish pass monitoring is essential to ensure the device´s effectiveness as a mitigation measure for river impoundment, guaranteeing the longitudinal continuity of rivers, which is particularly important for diadromous fish that depend on obligatory migrations to freshwater reproduction (anadromous) or feeding areas (catadromous) to complete their li...
Swimming performance is a determinant characteristic for the survival of fish species and is related to their response to environmental disturbance. In this study, we evaluated how seasonal environmental variability of Mediterranean intermittent rivers influences swimming performance of a resident Iberian fish, the ruivaco, Achondrostoma oligolepis...
Regulation for hydroelectric production (i.e., hydropeaking) can impact aquatic species life cycle. During 2016–2017, radiotelemetry was used to track 22 Iberian barbels during a 1‐year cycle in a flow regulation scenario. Periodic samples of scales and biometric data were collected in a regulated (hydropeaking regime) and non‐regulated river withi...
The catadromous life cycle of the European eel encompasses a spawning migration to the Sargasso Sea. Prior to their migration, eels develop a silver coloration being referred to as “silver eels.” Due to the dramatic European eel recruitment decline, it is crucial to quantify silver eel escapement to evaluate the success of measures taken under Eel...
Movement of sea lamprey through a vertical‐slot fishway (built at the Coimbra dam, in central Portugal) was continuously monitored between 2013 and 2016 by a video recording system. Visual counts data was used to quantify the overall successful movements and identify seasonal and circadian patterns of fishway use. Explicative models (BRT ‐ Boosted...
Streamflow is considered a driver of inter and intra‐specific life‐history differences among freshwater fish. Therefore, dams and related flow regulation, can have deleterious impacts on their life‐cycles. The main objective of this study was to assess existing differences in the growth and reproduction patterns of a non‐migratory fish species (the...
Stickleback fishes in the family Gasterosteidae have become model organisms in ecology and evolutionary biology. However, even in the case of the most widely studied species in this family - the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) - the worldwide phylogenetic relationships and colonization history of the different populations and line...
Critical swimming speed of the southern straight-mouth nase Pseudochondrostoma willkommii (Steindachner, 1866), a potamodromous cyprinid from southern Europe Critical swimming speed (U crit) of the potamodromous southern straight-mouth nase was assessed in a modified Blazka-type swim tunnel. Forty-one P. willkommii were tested and exhibited a mean...
In 2011, a vertical-slot fish pass was built at the Coimbra Açude-Ponte dam (Mondego River, Portugal), approximately 45km upstream from the river mouth. The performance of this infrastructure for sea lamprey passage was evaluated between 2011 and 2015 using several complementary methodologies, namely radio telemetry [conventional and electromyogram...
In 2011, the construction of a vertical slot fishway at the Açude-Ponte dam in Coimbra, has allowed the migration of adult sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinus L.) to important upstream spawning areas that were unreachable for the last 30 years. In the present study, conventional radio and sensor (electromyogram) telemetry was used to evaluate the migr...
River regulation tends to modify flow patterns, causing a reduction of discharge variability and disturbing environmentally cued life cycles of fishes. The objective of this study was to assess the changes in some of the most important life-cycle patterns of a resident freshwater fish species, the Iberian chub (Squalius carolitertii Doadrio 1988),...
River regulation for hydroelectricity production results in rapid changes of flow and habitat features, but its effects in the movement patterns of freshwater fish are not well understood. Radiotelemetry was used to track Iberian barbel (Luciobarbus bocagei Steindachner, 1864) during a year cycle in non-regulated and regulated rivers. We applied a...
Natural streamflow variability is important for riverine ecosystems but river regulation modifies flow patterns, disturbing fish bio-ecology. This thesis includes a characterization of basal biological differences between non-regulated permanent and temporary Mediterranean rivers and analyzes the effects of three types of regulation on fish assembl...
Streamflow variability, natural and human-induced, has been suggested as a driver of life-history differences among freshwater fish populations. During one year we collected bi-monthly and fortnightly samples from four populations of Iberian barbel, inhabiting permanent and temporary Mediterranean rivers with non-regulated and regulated flow regime...
River regulation modifies flow patterns, disturbing the bio-ecology of freshwater fishes. In this study we identified which hydrologic variables are more affected by two types of regulation, for hydroelectricity/derivation and agriculture, and analyzed their effects on fishes from, respectively, permanent and temporary Mediterranean rivers at three...
This study addresses the differences in food availability, diet and feeding activity of the Iberian barbel, between permanent and temporary nonregulated rivers, and the effect of flow regulation on feeding parameters. A total of 267 adult barbels were seasonally collected in four nonregulated and regulated rivers from permanent and temporary basins...
Spatial variability in streamflow characteristics is responsible for a large range of habitat variations to which fish are adapted through life-cycle strategies and morphological adaptations. In this study, we compared the swimming performance and related morphology of two Iberian barbel populations from permanent and temporary rivers. The permanen...
The European river lamprey, Lampetra fluviatilis (L.), and the European brook lamprey, Lampetra planeri (Bloch, 1784), are considered highly threatened in Portugal. However, the lack of information about the ecology and distribution of these species poses difficulties to the identification of concrete actions directed to their conservation. A total...
The effects of river regulation on the hydrological cycle of a river and on the respective fish assemblage may differ according to dam oper-ation purpose and type of river analysed. To assess the spatial and temporal variation of fish assemblages and their response to the hydro-logical changes caused by two different types of flow regulation, we se...
Conservation and management of threatened lamprey populations requires the ability to evaluate and predict patterns in larval habitat preferences at several spatial scales. In this study we describe the methodological approach used to determine the distribution of the European lampreys Lampetra fluviatilis and L. planeri in Portugal and, at the sam...
Habitat characteristics associated with lamprey ammocoetes (Lampetra fluviatilis, L. and Lampetra planeri, Block 1784) were investigated at three different spatial scales: regional (Portugal), catchment (two river basins with different hydromorphological characteristics) and microhabitat. The main objective of this study was to identify the environ...
Many studies have assessed the effects of large dams on fishes but few have examined the effects of small obstacles. Fishes were sampled and environmental variables were characterized at 28 sites in two Iberian streams, 14 located immediately downstream, upstream and between five small obstacles at river Muge and 14 at river Erra, considered as the...
Summer survival and habitat characteristics of a threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) Southern european population In April 2006, the relationships between the spatial distribution of a threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.) sout-hern European population during breeding season and the environmental parameters were investig...
Projects
Projects (2)
Non-native species are one of the leading causes of global change, causing enormous and irreversible damages to ecosystems. Yet, the rate of arrival of new biota continues to accelerate, being particularly detrimental in freshwater ecosystems. Fishes are the most introduced vertebrate group across the globe, being mainly introduced in freshwater ecosystems. However, invasions in aquatic environments generally occur ?far from our sight?, being difficult to detect species in early stages of invasion. This hampers an efficient management of invasive species. Interestingly, more than 800 fish species are known to produce sounds, some of which have been introduced in freshwater ecosystems. In this project, we aim to evaluate the use of passive acoustics to detect invasive fish and therefore its potential use as tool to early invasion stages, focusing on two non-native fishes that recently arrived to the Tagus River and still have a restricted distribution.
The main goal of this project is to propose a management plan for small-to-medium reservoirs from Alentejo that can promote them for recreational fisheries. This plan will be directed for (i) the promotion of a sustainable fisheries production, especially of the more interesting species for anglers (e.g., carp, largemouth bass); (ii) the prevention of massive mortality phenomena in periods of water scarcity; and (iii) the integration of non-indigenous fish species, which normally are highly abundant on these ecosystems, in fisheries management programs.
