Leena Luís

• PhD
• Pos doc at University of Lisbon

Depositional systems such as lagoons and estuaries are natural archives of information about coastal and environmental changes that occurred in the past. In the particular case of the Portuguese coastal fringe an evolutionary model based on sedimentological, palaeoecological and geochronological data has been proposed. To improve the resolution of...

Freshwater ecosystems and their associated organisms are among the most endangered in the world. Here we focus on bryophyte communities in streams characterized by a strong altitudinal gradient. The main purpose of this study was to determine the most important environmental variables affecting bryophyte species richness and composition and to quan...

In regions of Europe with dry hot summers, the cost of watering green roofs can outweigh the benefits. A low-water use solution is under development in the frame of the project NativeScapeGR, by associating native plant species and biocrusts to build a new type of green roof. The use of these species aims at creating valued and valuable landscape u...

The EU Water Framework Directive legislates for sustainable, catchment level water management across the European Union. Principal goals of the Directive are that water bodies achieve Good status by 2015 and the use of biological quality elements in routine monitoring of surface water bodies. The bryophytes form a significant biotic component of ri...

The names of all mosses published up to the end of August 2011 in the countries of the Mediterranean basin, the Macaronesian Islands and Bulgaria are compiled in an annotated checklist. The list comprises accepted names and synonyms, and provides explanatory annotations for ambiguous and disputed names. Literature references supporting the reports...

The Madeiran laurel forest (Laurisilva) is a subtropical forest with a very rich bryophyte flora and is considered as one of the most important remnants of the evergreen laurel forest from the Tertiary period. The effect of the laurel forest tree species on the epiphytic bryophyte species richness and composition in Madeira Island was studied in 40...

Madeira Archipelago's bryoflora includes 23 Fissidens taxa of which four are endemic to Macaronesia (Fissidens coacervatus, F. microstictus, F. nobreganus and F. sublineaefolius), including two exclusive to Madeira (F. microstictus, F. nobreganus), and several others that are considered rare or threatened in Europe. However, the distribution and th...

The bryofl ora of the Selvagens Archipelago is characterised and updated based on results from recent fi eldwork, and compared with those of Madeira and Canary Islands. The bryofl ora of Selvagens Islands includes 16 taxa, four of which are reported for the fi rst time for these islands. As a result of its small area and strong saline infl uence, l...

Atrichum androgynum, is reported for the first time for Europe. The species was found in mainland Portugal, Madeira and Azores Archipelagos.

Relationships of the eight species of the liverwort genus Radula occurring in Portugal (mainland, the Madeira and Azores archipelagos), including the Macaronesian endemics R. jonesii and R. wichurae, were evaluated based on molecular, phytochemical and morphological–anatomical data. Maximum parsimony and Bayesian analyses were performed with sequen...

We studied 16 streams evenly distributed over the northern and southern slopes of Madeira in order to investigate the riparian bryoflora. Within each stream, three positions (upper, middle and lower reaches) were delimited and within each position two areas were selected. Within each area two plots (each composed of six microplots of 0.2 m2) were s...

The volatiles isolated by distillation-extraction from 48 samples of seven liverwort Radula species collected on Azores and Madeira archipelagos and mainland Portugal, as well as one from Switzerland, were analysed by GC and GC–MS. Cluster analysis of the volatiles composition resulted in two major clusters. The chemically very diverse cluster I in...

A bryophyte check list for the Ilhas Desertas (Madeira archipelago) is presented, including 36 taxa, new to the islands. Altogether, 95 bryophytes are known now from the islands, among them, Syntrichia montana var. calva new for the Madeira archipelago. In addition, nine taxa from Bugío are reported, representing the first collections of this south...

The liverwort Anastrophyllum minutum, and the mosses Campylopus brevipilus, Pohlia melanodon and Syntrichia latifolia are reported from Madeira for the first time, based on records from riparian habitats. The current threat status in Madeira is assessed for these four species and updated for two other ones.

Asterella africana (Mont.) A. Evans was collected on Madeira and in mainland Portugal at distinct locations and collection dates. The morphology of this marchantioid liverwort was analysed by scanning electron microscopy. The Madeiran A. africana showed a large variability in spore and elater dimensions, but marked differences have not been found i...

The genus Radula is represented in Madeira Archipelago by seven species and by four species in mainland Portugal. Present known distributions are presented, for each of the mentioned areas, for R. aquilegia, R. carringtonii, R. complanata, R. holtii, R. jonesii, R. lindenbergiana, R. nudicaulis and R. wichurae. Notes on habitat preferences and cons...