Eva Cacabelos

Hydrosphere · Environmental laboratory for the study of aquatic ecosystems

Coastal sprawl is among the main drivers of global degradation of shallow marine ecosystems. Among artificial substrates, quarry rock can have faster recruitment of benthic organisms than traditional concrete, which is instead more versatile for construction. However, the factors driving these differences are poorly understood. In this context, thi...

Marinas are hubs for non-indigenous species (NIS) and constitute the nodes of a network of highly modified water bodies (HMWB) connected by recreational maritime traffic. Floating structures, such as pontoons, are often the surfaces with higher NIS abundance inside marinas and lead the risk for NIS introduction, establishment and spread. However, t...

The synergistic effects of biological invasions have long been considered significant causes of biodiversity loss worldwide. Therefore, early detection monitoring is crucial in mitigating nonindigenous species (NIS) threats. In the marine environment, settlement plates were used as monitoring devices in ports, but this method was mainly applied to...

The brown macroalgae Rugulopteryx okamurae is described as one of the most severe and threatening invasive marine macroalgae in European waters. This study reports the first record of R. okamurae in the Madeira archipelago, which represents a new southern distribution limit of this species in NE Atlantic European waters. Morphological and molecular...

Brown canopy-forming macroalgae species form complex assemblages known as marine forests, which are highly productive systems and provide multiple ecosystem services. In many regions worldwide, these key foundation species are being replaced by generalist species due to numerous underlying impacts acting at local, regional and global scales (i.e. o...

Aims The present study is the first attempt to grasp the scale and richness of marine biological invasions in Macaronesia. We pioneered a comprehensive non‐native species (NNS), inventory in the region to determine their diversity patterns and native distribution origins. NNS were defined here as the result of both introductions and range expansion...

Habitat loss and fragmentation, and biological invasions are widely considered the most significant threats to global biodiversity. While marine invasions have already shown dramatic impacts around the world’s coasts, many of these habitats are becoming increasingly urbanized, resulting in fragmentation of natural landscape worldwide. This study de...

The present study adds 19 species (15 Rhodophyta, one Chlorophyta and three Ochrophyta) to the Azorean marine macroalgal flora, increasing the current total of species recorded in this region to 521 (349 Rhodophyta, 76 Chlorophyta and 96 Ochrophyta), and showing that this isolated island group supports a relatively rich marine macroalgal flora. Som...

The present study reports the recent occurrence and expansion of Rugulopteryx okamurae in the Azores archipelago (NE Atlantic). Morphological and molecular characters confirmed the species identification. Quick surveys around the island of São Miguel showed that it has successfully colonized the island and is quickly expanding. In some locations, R...

Experiment about trophic transfer of microplastic, comparing native and invasive species. Funded by Assemble+ Transnational Access

Species of the genera Cystoseira, Ericaria, Gongolaria, and Sargassum (family Sargassaceae) are key components of the Mediterranean-Atlantic marine forests, essential for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Populations of these foundational species are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts, likely to be intensified under future scena...

The present study reports the recent occurrence and expansion of Rugulopteryx okamurae in the Azores archipelago (NE Atlantic). Morphological and molecular characters confirmed the species identification. Quick surveys around the island of São Miguel showed that it has successfully colonized the island and is quickly expanding. In some locations, R...

Global warming is increasing the frequency, duration and intensity of extreme events such as marine heat waves (MHWs). The effects of MHWs include a variety of negative environmental impacts. Extreme weather events can interact with other environmental stressors such as invasion by marine non-indigenous species (NIS). The aim of this study was to (...

The global lockdown to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic health risks has altered human interactions with nature. Here, we report immediate impacts of changes in human activities on wildlife and environmental threats during the early lockdown months of 2020, based on 877 qualitative reports and 332 quantitative assessments from 89 different studies. Hundr...

Marine forests ecosystems are typical of temperate rocky benthic areas. These systems are formed by canopy-forming macroalgae (Laminariales, Tilopteridales and Fucales) of high ecological value that provide numerous ecosystem services. These key species are also indicators of good environmental status. In recent decades, marine forests have been th...

The macroalgal flora of the Island of São Miguel (eastern group of the Azores Archipelago) has attracted the interest of many researchers in the past, the first publications going back to the nineteenth century. Initial studies were mainly taxonomic, resulting in the publication of a checklist of the Azorean benthic marine algae. Later, the establi...

Background: The algal flora of the Island of Santa Maria (eastern group of the Azores archipelago) has attracted interest of researchers on past occasions (Drouët 1866, Agardh 1870, Trelease 1897, Schmidt 1931, Ardré et al. 1974, Fralick and Hehre 1990, Neto et al. 1991, Morton and Britton 2000, Amen et al. 2005, Wallenstein and Neto 2006, Tittley...

The role of the human-made structures in coastal ecosystems can determine the spatial distribution or patterns of spatial abundances of marine organisms. To contribute to the understanding of linkages between different components of habitats (i.e. natural and artificial structures), we explored the role of type of larval development (planktotrophic...

For centuries, coastal populations have harvested seaweeds for numerous and very diverse uses and applications. However, there is still a lot to be done in terms of management and regulation to foster sustainable practices on the exploitation of seaweeds worldwide. Here, we present a short flyer about current policies and guidelines on seaweed harv...

For centuries, coastal populations have harvested seaweeds for numerous and very diverse uses and applications. However, there is still a lot to be done in terms of management and regulation to foster sustainable practices on the exploitation of seaweeds worldwide. Here, we present a review about current policies and guidelines on seaweed harvestin...

Microbial biofilms can be key mediators for settlement of macrofoulers. The present study examines the coupled effects of microbial biofilms and local environmental conditions on the composition, structure and functioning of macrofouling assemblages. Settlement of invertebrates over a gradient of human-impacted sites was investigated on local biofi...

Marine protected areas (MPAs) can be an effective tool for the conservation and management of marine coastal habitats. MPAs have been shown to halt habitat degradation, enhance the biomass of exploited species and diversity in general. Yet, we still know little about its role in halting the spread of non-native species. In this study, we assessed t...

Assessing the resistance of fouling communities to anthropogenic disturbances is an important goal for the development of effective management and control strategies. In this context, we conducted a manipulative experiment on natural and artificial habitats to examine fouling communities that developed outside and inside a marina on Madeira Island...

List of seaweed species that can be harvested in Azores is restricted and is differentiated between macroalgae for direct human consumption and macroalgae for processing industries

Rocky intertidal communities have proved to be tractable systems for experimental ecology, contributing much to our general understanding of population and community ecology. Physical environmental factors are usually considered strong structuring elements for these assemblages. In this study, we adopted a mixed model sampling design to study the e...

Long-term studies are a powerful and fundamental tool to investigate environmental changes over prolonged periods. Long-term research will be especially important for tacking large-scale emerging problems confronting humanity such as resource management, increasing human population and climate change, mitigation and adaptation. Here we investigate...

Plastic debris is one of the most extensive pollution problems our planet is facing today and a particular concern for marine environment conservation. The dimension of the problem is so large that it is possible our current era will generate an anthropogenic marker horizon of plastic in earth's sedimentary record. Here we present a new type of pla...

This paper reports a recently discovered population of Caulerpa prolifera in the Azores (NE Atlantic), which becomes the westernmost record of this species in European waters. Morphological, anatomical and molecular characters were investigated for species recognition. The occurrence of the species in the Azores represents a northern expansion of i...

Human activities are contributing to the homogenization of the world's biota by transporting thousands of species to areas outside their native range. Some of these species can lead to profound changes in the structure and function of natural ecosystems in areas where they are introduced, with dramatic economic and ecological impacts. The red alga...

• Urbanization of coastal habitats is increasing worldwide. However, most man‐made structures are poor surrogates for the habitats they replace and can strongly impact the diversity and functioning of coastal habitats. • The value of coastal engineering can be enhanced by the provision of microhabitats that facilitate colonization by marine life. O...

A benthic survey in the Azores Archipelago revealed the presence of the microgastropod Eatonina fulgida, herein reported for the first time. This finding expands the known geographical distribution of this species in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. The Azorean specimens are described and additional observations on the shell features of the species ar...

O aumento exponencial de CO2 na atmosfera tem resultado em alterações profundas das condições climáticas em todo o globo. Estas incluem, aumento da temperatura média da atmosfera e água do mar, aumento da frequência de eventos extremos (i.e., tempestades, secas), acidificação dos oceanos, alterações dos regimes de pluviosidade, etc. No Grupo de Bio...

Species populations are variable in time and space as a response to biotic and/or environmental conditions. However, ecological stability is regarded as an important asset of diversity in natural communities. Here, we followed seasonal variation in a mid-shore rocky intertidal algal-dominated assemblage at 2 sites in the Azores for 1 yr. The assemb...

On a global scale, urbanization has resulted in substantial proportions of coasts being replaced by artificial structures such as marinas, breakwaters and seawalls. There is broad consensus that coastal defense structures are poor surrogates of the natural habitats that they replace. Here we investigated the effects of the type and roughness of mat...

The proposed project aims to gain insights into the effects of marine biological invasions on benthic communities of temperate oceanic islands, using São Miguel Island (Azores) as a case study. Starting with a thorough survey to gather information on spatial and temporal characterization of NIS inhabiting littoral rocky shores, their distribution w...

The additions of artificial structures to the landscape are usually translated into habitat loss and fragmentation, since they provide homogeneous habitats less diverse in types and number of microhabitats. Moreover, the smooth surface of artificial structures increases the degree of environmental stress (e.g. desiccation) experienced by intertidal...

The crustose calcareous red macroalgae Lithophyllum byssoides (Lamarck) Foslie is a common ecosystem engineer along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula. This species is threatened by several anthropogenic impacts acting at different spatial scales, such as pollution or global warming. The aim of this study is to identify s...

Climate-driven and biodiversity effects on the structure and functioning of ecosystems are increasingly studied as multiple stressors, which subsequently may influence species invasions. We used a mesocosm experiment to test how increases in temperature and CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) interact with functional diversity of resident macroalgal assemb...

Anthropogenically induced global climate change has important implications for marine ecosystems with unprecedented ecological and economic consequences. Climate change will include the simultaneous increase of temperature and CO 2 concentration in oceans. However, experimental manipulations of these factors at the community scale are rare. In this...

Detecting the pattern of variation in population abundance among different spatial scales gives much insight into the potential causal processes. Spatial patterns and processes of non-indigenous species show scale-dependent properties. Sargassum muticum is an invasive macroalga widely distributed along the north-western Iberian Peninsula. Despite b...

There are well-documented changes in abundance and geographical range of intertidal invertebrates related to climate change at north Europe. However, the effect of sea surface warming on intertidal invertebrates has been poorly studied at lower latitudes. Here we analyze potential changes in the abundance patterns and distribution range of rocky in...

Distribution and composition of polychaete assemblages inhabiting seagrass beds were studied in the Ensenada de O Grove (NW Spain) by means of quantitative sampling. The studied muddy bottoms were colonized by Zostera marina L., Zostera noltei Hornemann or a combination of both seagrass species. A total of 36131 polychaetes belonging to 91 taxa wer...

The Portuguese coast has overlapping distributions of species of both boreal and Lusitanian origins; a large number of cold- and warm-water species have their southern or northern distributional range edges here. A latitudinal gradient in ocean climate, particularly sea surface temperature (SST) and primary production, has been described along this...

Seagrasses are important habitat-formers and facilitator species that form the basis of complex ecosystems in estuaries throughout the world. However, general worldwide declines in seagrass beds have been reported with (invading) bloom-forming seaweeds, which threaten to displace the seagrasses and change the ecosystem fundamentally. We compared th...

The Portuguese coast has overlapping distributions of species of both boreal and Lusitanian origins; a large number of cold- and warm-water species have their southern or northern distributional range edges here. A latitudinal gradient in ocean climate, particularly sea surface temperature (SST) and primary production, has been described along this...

Cephalaspidean gastropods are common components of shallow soft-bottom benthic assemblages; they are, however, often overlooked in numerous studies because of the small size of many species. The diversity, composition and distribution of cephalaspidean assemblages at three different bays located in NW Iberian Peninsula are described from quantitati...

Ecological features of Terebellida fauna (Annelida, Polychaeta) from Ensenada de San Simon (NW Spain).-Ecological features of Terebellida (Annelida, Polychaeta) inhabiting the intertidal and subtidal soft-bottoms of Ensenada de San Simon (NW Spain) were analysed by means of quantitative sampling. A total of 4,814 specimens belonging to five familie...

Invasions are common in coastal marine environments where proximity to urban areas should influence the number of non-native organisms due to the likelihood of unintentional introductions from urban centers. Invasive species are widely recognised as important agents of global change, and can colonize new habitats and even cause local extinction of...