Luisa Borges

L3 Scientific Solutions

Background: Bivalve teredinids inflict great destruction to wooden maritime structures. Yet no comprehensive study was ever carried out on these organisms in European coastal waters. Thus, the aims of this study were to: investigate the diversity of teredinids in European coastal waters; map their past and recent distributions to detect range expa...

The Gastropoda is one of the best studied classes of marine invertebrates. Yet, most species have been delimited based on morphology only. The application of DNA barcodes has shown to be greatly useful to help delimiting species. Therefore, sequences of the cytochrome c oxidase I gene from 108 specimens of 34 morpho-species were used to investigate...

New data from barcode index numbers (BINs) and 28S rRNA gene sequences confirm a cryptic species pair in Lyrodus pedicellatus from the eastern Mediterranean and European Atlantic coasts. Therefore, it is paramount to associate the new species to a scientific name for a reliable reference system of biological information. To this end, we describe Ly...

Only a fraction of species found so far has been described, particularly cryptic species uncovered by molecular data. The latter might require the use of molecular data for its diagnosis, but it is important to make use of the diagnostic content of the molecular data itself. The molecular character-based model provides discrete molecular diagnostic...

Cryptic species are a common phenomenon in cosmopolitan marine species. The use of molecular tools has often uncovered cryptic species occupying a fraction of the geographic range of the original morphospecies. Ship-worms (Teredinidae) are marine bivalves, living in drift and fixed wood, many of which have a conserved morphology across cosmopolitan...

Do you want to do more to help mitigate climate change, but don’t know where to start? Do you have the motivation to improve your environmentally-friendly behaviours and habits, but neither the time nor energy to research how to do this? Do you feel overwhelmed with the amount of information out there and yet don’t know what to believe? Then you’ve...

Construction using timber has seen a resurgence in light of global climate mitigation policies. Wood is a renewable resource, and engineered wood products are proving to be competitive against concrete and steel while having several advantages. However, while the renewable nature of wood in construction is a beneficial property for climate mitigati...

The accuracy of specimen identification through DNA barcoding and metabarcoding relies on reference libraries containing records with reliable taxonomy and sequence quality. The considerable growth in barcode data requires stringent data curation, especially in taxonomically difficult groups such as marine invertebrates. A major effort in curating...

Adult shipworms (Bivalvia, Teredinidae) have greatly elongate bodies, and thus, the organs have a different orientation than those of other bivalves. Studies on the anatomy of the digestive system have been carried out in a number of genera and species in the Teredinidae, but are now over 50 years old and most were carried in only a few preserved s...

The accuracy of the identification of unknown specimens using DNA barcoding and metabarcoding relies on reference libraries containing records with reliable taxonomy and sequence quality. A rampant growth in barcode data led to a stringent need for data curation, especially in taxonomically difficult groups such as marine invertebrates. A major eff...

DNA metabarcoding provides a rapid and effective identification tool of macroinvertebrate species. The accuracy of species-level assignment, and consequent taxonomic coverage, relies on comprehensive DNA barcode reference libraries, which, due to incompleteness, are currently a recognized limitation for metabarcoding applications. In this study, we...

Lignocellulose, the most abundant and under valorized raw material on the Earth, is considered an attractive source of bioenergy and bio-based chemicals. But efficient lignocellulases are needed for its enzymatic hydrolysis. One of nature's most efficient animals, having an exclusive wood diet, are the shipworms, bivalves found in the sea worldwide...

Timber structures in marine applications are often exposed to severe degradation conditions caused by mechanical loads and wood-degrading organisms. This paper presents the use of timber in marine environments in Europe from a wood protection perspective. It discusses the use of wood in coastline protection and archeological marine wood, reviews th...

Timber structures in marine applications are often exposed to severe degradation conditions caused by mechanical loads and wood-degrading organisms. This paper presents the use of timber in marine environments in Europe from a wood protection perspective. It discusses the use of wood in coastline protection and archeological marine wood, reviews th...

Lignocellulose, the most abundant and under valorized raw material on the Earth, is considered as an attractive source of bioenergy and bio-based chemicals. But efficient lignocellulases are needed for its enzymatic hydrolysis. One of nature most efficient animals having an exclusive wood diet are the shipworms, bivalves found in the sea worldwide....

The Tohoku tsunami of March 2011 ejected a vast amount of debris into the Pacific Ocean. Wood boring shipworms (Bivalvia: Teredinidae) were either already present in, or settled on, the wooden fraction of this debris, offering a unique opportunity to study shipworm diversity in rafted wood of a known origin and time of ocean entry. Lumber and other...

The family Teredinidae (shipworms) contains 70-plus species of boring bivalves specialized to live in and digest wood. Traditional means of species identification and taxonomy of this group encounter numerous challenges, often compounded by the diverse and dynamic nature of shipworm ecology and distribution. Modern integrative taxonomic methods are...

Shipworms (Teredinidae) are marine borers that utilize wood for both housing and food, and are present in coastal, shelf, and pelagic habitats. Our current research includes distribution, dispersal, ocean circulation, wood degradation, phylogeny, ecology, reproductive biology, and other aspects of this bivalve group; These ˜termites of the sea’ are...

This poster covers shipworm biology, their role in marine ecosystems, and various projects carried out by the authors.

The Tohoku tsunami of March 2011 ejected a vast amount of debris into the Pacific Ocean. Lumber and other Tohoku-sourced wood began appearing on Eastern and Central Pacific (Hawaii) beaches in 2013 and 2014 respectively. Wood boring mollusks (Teredinidae) settled on this debris, offering a unique opportunity to study shipworm diversity in rafted wo...

In this study we compared DNA barcode-suggested species boundaries with morphology-based species identifications in the amphipod fauna of the southern European Atlantic coast. DNA sequences of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I barcode region (COI-5P) were generated for 43 morphospecies (178 specimens) collected along the Portuguese coast which, to...

Naturally durable species of timber are used as an alternative to preservative-treated timber for marine structures, but many species have not been evaluated for their potential for use in this environment. BS EN 275 evaluates marine borer resistance and specifies a 5-year test period: too long a period for screening tests to be economically viable...

Peracarida is a Superorder of the subphylum Crustacea and one of the most diverse and widely distributed groups of crustaceans. In marine coasts, peracaridean species are among the most ecologically important invertebrates, with high relevance in trophic interactions and constituting one of the dominant groups and key components of marine benthic c...

Problem statement Peracarida is a Superorder of the subphylum Crustacea and one of the most diverse and widely distributed groups of crustaceans. In marine coasts, peracaridean species are among the most ecologically important invertebrates, with high relevance in trophic interactions and constituting one of the dominant groups and key components o...

http://www.frontiersin.org/10.3389/conf.fmars.2016.05.00132/event_abstract

http://www.frontiersin.org/10.3389/conf.fmars.2016.05.00132/event_abstract

Wooden material has been used for shipbuilding and structural purposes in the marine environment since ancient times. Wood being used in the sea water can be damaged by marine wood boring organisms, which can turn marine wooden structures unserviceable with great economic cost. Using naturally durable species and preservative treated wood can incre...

The common shipworm Teredo navalis is one of the most widespread marine wood-boring bivalves of the world and probably one of the most wood destructive and cost-incurring marine invertebrates. First reports on T. navalis for Europe date back to 1731 for the North Sea (The Netherlands) and to 1835 for the Baltic Sea (Germany). It is still unclear, h...

The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 ejected a vast amount of debris into the Western Pacific Ocean. Lumber and other Tohoku-sourced wood began appearing on Eastern Pacific beaches in the spring of 2013. Wood boring mollusks of the family Teredinidae settled on this debris, offering a unique opportunity to study North Pacific shipworm di...

Background: The Gastropoda are among the most diverse taxonomic groups of marine invertebrates and, together with other dominantclasses, such as Bivalvia, Malacostraca, and Polychaeta, constitute major components of marine benthic communities. As part of a wider effort to compile reference libraries for dominant benthic invertebrates of the NE Atla...

Background: Amphipods are one of the most diverse and widely distributed groups of crustaceans, often constituting dominant or key elements of marine and coastal communities. As with many other marine invertebrate taxa, rigorous species identifications can be rather challenging, and cryptic species reports have been increasing. In this study we com...

Background: The estuarine and coastal intertidal areas have a large number of benthic invertebrates, where the annelid polychaetes are one of the most representative classes and, therefore, important indicators of environmental quality in these ecosystems. Yet, these organisms have been poorly studied, in comparison to other taxa of similar ecologi...

The Teredinidae possess specialised calcareous paddle-like structures, the pallets, which flank the siphons. The external segmentation/non-segmentation of the pallets is used as the main diagnostic character to distinguish between the Teredininae (non-segmented pallet line) and the Bankiinae (segmented pallet line). The internal segmentation of the...

Annelid polychaetes have been seldom the focus of dedicated DNA barcoding studies, despite their ecological relevance and often dominance, particularly in soft-bottom estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems. Here we report the first assessment of the performance of DNA barcodes in the discrimination of shallow water polychaete species from the sout...

Marine wood-borers of the Limnoriidae cause great destruction to wooden structures exposed in the marine environment. In this study we collated occurrence data obtained from field surveys, spanning over a period of 10 years, and from an extensive literature review. We aimed to determine which wood-boring limnoriid species are established in Europea...

Specimens of the morpho-species Lyrodus pedicellatus (Bivalvia: Teredinidae) and Limnoria tripunctata and L. quadripunctata (Isopoda: Limnoridae) were extracted from wood samples collected during July 2012. Limnoria tripunctata and L. quadripunctata coexisted in the same wood piece, which is rare for limnoriids. All three species were recorded for...

Bivalves of the family Teredinidae are among the most destructive wood-boring species in the sea. We report the first occurrences of the warm-water shipworm Teredo bartschi in Mersin, Turkey, and Olhão, Portugal. The colonisation of the site in Mersin is likely to have occurred by rafting adults originating from the Red Sea, which passed through th...

Teredinids, commonly referred to as shipworms, are wood-boring bivalves estimated to cause over one billion dollars’ worth of damage to submerged wooden structures per annum. This paper reports the detection and establishment of the Caribbean shipworm Teredothyra dominicensis (Bivalvia, Teredinidae) in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Identification...

Marine borers can destroy wooden structures exposed to the marine environment and cause great monetary loss. In the region of Amasra of the Black Sea in Turkey, ships continue to be built from wood, mainly Castanea sativa (sweet chestnut) and Quercus petraea (sessile oak) and therefore are subject to destruction by marine borers. Copper-chromium-ar...

Marine wood-boring teredinids, some of the most destructive wood borers in the sea, are a particularly difficult group to identify from morphological features. While in most bivalve species shell features are used as diagnostic characters, in the teredinids shell morphology shows high intraspecific variation and thus identification is based almost...

Aim: Marine wood borers are an ecological and economical important group of organisms. In Europe they cause destruction in wooden structures evaluated in millions of euros each year. In spite of the economic importance, there is no comprehensive study on teredinids in European coastal waters. In this study we investigate the biogeography and divers...

In recent years an increased shift in the geographical range of species has been documented, which coincides with global warming. On the Portuguese coast the raising of sea-surface temperatures and salinity has also been affecting the intertidal species range. The aim of the present study was to assess changes in the wood boring community present i...

Commercial timbers from Turkey used in coastal construction and boat building were tested for their resistance to marine wood-boring invertebrates in a marine trial and in a laboratory screening test. The timbers tested were beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky), oak (Quercus petraea (Mattuschka) Liebl.), chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.), and Scots pine...

Quick simple testing methods are needed to evaluate alternative wood materials for marine construction because traditional borer resistant materials are becoming scarce or are no longer permitted due to concerns over environmental emissions of preservatives. Laboratory tests can provide species-specific information on rates of wood biodeterioration...

Commercial timbers from Turkey used in coastal construction and boat building were tested for their resistance to marine wood-boring invertebrates in a marine trial and in a laboratory screening test. The timbers tested were beech (Fagus orientalis), oak (Quercus petraea), chestnut (Castanea sativa) and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). The marine tri...

The marine borer Limnoria ingests essential wood components including the extractives the wood contains. Some extractives may confer borer resistance on certain timbers. Feeding by Limnoria correlates with the rate of production of faecal pellets. The faecal pellet production rate and mortality on over 40 test timbers and non-resistant Pinus sylves...

Chemically modified wood may be an alternative to preservative treated timber for marine structures. In this study a screening laboratory test using the wood-boring isopod crustacean Limnoria quadripunctata was used to assess the durability of chemically modified Pinus sylvestris, Pinus radiata and Picea sp. Most of the treatments used a combinatio...

Resistance of Corynanthe pachyceras Welw. and stained and unstained Glyphaea brevis (Sprengel) Monachino sapwood and heartwood to the crustacean wood borer Limnoria quadripunctata Holthius was assessed by measuring faecal pellet production and mortality following feeding over 2 weeks in the laboratory. Greatest resistance to feeding was seen in C....

Chemically modified wood may be an alternative to preservative treated timber for marine structures. In this study a screening laboratory test using the wood-boring isopod crustacean Limnoria quadripunctata was used to assess the durability of chemically modified Pinus sylvestris, Pinus radiata and Picea sp. Most of the treatments used a combinatio...

Resistance of a number of Ghanaian hardwoods to attack by the crustacean Limnoria quadripunctata was assessed by measuring the production of faecal pellets under forced feeding conditions over a two week period. Small sticks of commercially available, lesser known timber species, were leached in seawater for one week then placed in a cell culture c...

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