Sérgio P. Ávila

Sérgio P. Ávila
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Sérgio verified their affiliation via an institutional email.
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Sérgio verified their affiliation via an institutional email.
University of the Azores | UAc · Department of Biology

PhD.

About

233
Publications
0
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Citations
Introduction
My team has been studying the patterns and processes of dispersal, colonization and speciation of shallow-water marine invertebrates in oceanic islands. Main interests: the geological evolution of the NE-Atlantic islands, and the palaeontology, palaeoecology and palaeobiogeography of Neogene to Recent ecosystems in reefless volcanic oceanic islands. My team developed the Sea Level Sensitive dynamic model, that explains the marine global biogeographic processes and patterns in oceanic islands.
Additional affiliations
December 1994 - present
Associação BIOPOLIS - Rede de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Biologia Evolutiva
Position
  • Principal Investigator
Description
  • Coordinator of the MPB - Marine Palaeontology and Biogeography laboratory (CIBIO-Azores/InBIO/BIOPOLIS).
January 2016 - September 2024
University of the Azores
Position
  • Principal Investigator
November 2009 - November 2014
University of Porto
Position
  • Research Associate

Publications

Publications (233)
Article
Taxonomic impediment and taxonomic gap are two major problems that challenge the advancement of biological and palaeontological sciences such as (palaeo)ecology and (palaeo)biogeography. In an effort to overcome these difficulties, the Last Interglacial fossiliferous deposits from the Island of Santa Maria (Azores Archipelago, Portugal) have been i...
Data
This database provides state-of-the-art data for functional and taxonomic biogeographic analysis on the Atlantic (from the Arctic to the Antarctic) and Mediterranean shallow-water bivalve species (0-100 m depth). It includes information on the species’ geographic distribution and on 33 functional traits (longevity, shell composition, locomotion, li...
Data
This database provides state-of-the-art data for functional and taxonomic biogeographic analysis on the Atlantic (from the Arctic to the Antarctic) and Mediterranean shallow-water gastropod species (0-50 m depth). It includes information on the species’ geographic distribution and on 38 functional traits (longevity, shell composition, locomotion, l...
Article
Full-text available
Geographic distribution, as well as evolutionary and biogeographic processes and patterns of marine invertebrate benthic species are strongly shaped by dispersal ability during the life cycle. Remote oceanic islands lie at the brink of complex biotic and abiotic interactions which have significantly influenced the biodiversity patterns we see today...
Preprint
Volcanic oceanic islands are some of the Earth’s most geologically and ecologically dynamic habitats, where continuous volcanic activity and erosion lead to the formation of habitats that drastically change throughout their ontogeny. Shallow-water sandy habitats, specifically, repetitively disappeared and regenerated due to seasonal oceanographic a...
Article
Full-text available
The processes shaping population dynamics of benthic marine invertebrates with nonplanktotrophic larvae are still poorly understood but have seen a renewed interest in applying integrative taxonomic approaches. We used mitochondrial and microsatellite (SSR-GBAS) data to estimate connectivity across islands and seamounts in the central North Atlanti...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Esta investigación se centra en la evolución de una playa de bloques en una barrera a lo largo de un lagoon en la isla de São Jorge. Las islas Azores están expuestas a condiciones de alta energía de oleaje. La respuesta geomorfológica de este sector ha llevado al desarrollo de un programa de seguimiento para evaluar las variaciones morfológicas a c...
Technical Report
O trabalho efetuado para o presente relatório envolveu o estudo de populações de Phorcus sauciatus nas ilhas do Pico e da Graciosa. A metodologia utilizada cumpriu os princípios do método de captura-marcação-recaptura com a seguinte ordem de procedimentos: em condições de baixa-mar propícia (sempre com altura menor ou igual a 0,4 m e entre as 07:00...
Article
Full-text available
This work was done on 1996 and 1997, and presents an extremely valuable baseline to compare the recent and future changes on the insular shallow habitats of the Azorean islands. We examined the structure of the molluscan communities of the macroalgae Halopteris scoparia in São Miguel Island (Azores, Portugal). This island was chosen because it is t...
Article
Full-text available
Solen marginatus Pulteney, 1799 was reported from São Miguel Island (Azores Archipelago, central North Atlantic) by Drouet in 1858, but the occurrence of this species in the archipelago was questioned by authors. We herein report a novel population from Terceira Island, located in the central island group of the Azores Archipelago. This new record...
Article
Full-text available
In a recent review article, Lima & Meneses (2023, Geoconservation Research, 6 (1): 114-127) reported on the Azores Geopark, introducing a new geosite for São Miguel Island. We here express our concerns regarding the data presented in this review article. In our commentary, we focus mainly on the use of out-of-date bibliographic sources and inaccura...
Book
Full-text available
Livro de fotografias acerca dos Açores, com FOTOS de Sérgio Ávila, TEXTO de Sidónio Bettecourt, PREFÁCIO por João Bosco Mota Amaral: Fim de tarde de um Domingo. Abro cautelosamente a embalagem, entregue por Sidónio Bettencourt, contendo, já impressas, as fotografias e os textos do livro que vai publicar conjuntamente com Sérgio Ávila. É sobre os...
Article
Full-text available
In order to understand the complex evolutionary processes and patterns that explain current island biodiversity, large datasets and long-term analysis are required. The Last Interglacial (LIG) was one of the warmest interglacials during the last million years. How species mobility changed during this period in the Macaronesia geographical region ha...
Article
Full-text available
Despite a long history of taxonomic studies on the genus Tricolia Risso, 1826, there is a shortfall on thorough systematic molecular reviews of the taxon from the NE Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. Aiming to assess the genetic distinctness among morphospecies and the taxonomic status of currently accepted large sized species in these areas, we c...
Article
In this work, all the Lower Pliocene gastropod assemblages of Santa Maria Island are revised. These all form part of the Touril Complex. Seventy-seven species are identified representing 61 genera. Two species are described as new: Bittium miradouroense nov. sp. and Erato mayeri nov. sp. The name Tritonium secans Bronn in Reiss 1862 is considered a...
Book
Full-text available
O turismo subaquático em Santa Maria é uma das vertentes do turismo de Natureza sustentável com maior sucesso nesta ilha do Arquipélago dos Açores. Lugares como a “Baixa do Ambrósio” e as suas jamantas (entre outros grandes pelágicos), a “Pedrinha” e os peixes e grandes “leques” bivalves da espécie Pinna rudis (Linnaeus, 1758) que aí se avistam, ou...
Article
Full-text available
CIBIO-Açores/ InBIO/ BIOPOLIS Para quem, como os autores deste texto, trabalha em ilhas oceânicas e tenta decifrar os processos e padrões evolutivos que aqui decorrem atualmente, bem como os que decor-reram ao longo do tempo geológico, assume particular relevo o conhecimento que é ne-cessário ter acerca da ontogenia de cada ilha, ou seja, da histór...
Article
Knowledge of how carbonates are produced on shelves is needed for working out how these “carbonate factories” generate stratigraphy by providing particles for potential export or local deposition. Production rates can be derived straightforwardly in low-energy environments from one-dimensional analysis (age–depth variations) but rates are less easi...
Article
Full-text available
Rhodoliths occur extensively around the shores of Fuerteventura Island in the Canary Archipelago, with Lithothamnion cf. corallioides being the most prominent species. A large number of rhodoliths end up washed onshore, the debris from which contributes to the formation of sediments constituting modern beaches. In a previous study by one of the co-...
Article
Full-text available
ABSTRACT Background: As in most bryozoans, taxonomy and systematics of species in the genus Reteporella Busk, 1884 (family Phidoloporidae) has hitherto almost exclusively been based on morphological characters. From the central North Atlantic Azores Archipelago, nine Reteporella species have historically been reported, none of which have as yet bee...
Article
Corrigendum to: Wave-influenced deposition of carbonate-rich sediment on the insular shelf of Santa Maria Island, Azores. Sedimentology, 69: 1547-1572.
Book
Full-text available
ÁVILA S.P., R.S. RAMALHO, C.M. DA SILVA, M.E. JOHNSON, A. UCHMAN, B. BERNING, R. QUARTAU, P. MADEIRA, C.S. MELO, A.C. REBELO, L. BAPTISTA, S. ARRUDA, E. GONZÁLEZ, M.W. RASSER, A. HIPÓLITO, R. CORDEIRO, R. MEIRELES, V. RAPOSO, J. POMBO, R. CÂMARA, M.X. KIRBY, J. TITSCHACK, J.M. HABERMANN, R. VULLO, A. KROH, J.H. LIPPS, M. CACHÃO & J. MADEIRA, 2022....
Article
It was with much interest that we read the comment made by Meco et al. (2022), regarding our work on "Range expansion of tropical shallow-water marine molluscs in the NE Atlantic during the last interglacial (MIS 5e): Causes, consequences and utility of ecostratigraphic indicators for the Macaronesian archipelagos". We welcome the discussion genera...
Article
Formulae for sediment thresholds of motion are commonly based on flume experiments on rounded quartz particles and it is unclear how well they predict thresholds in natural settings. Here, sediment threshold shear stresses were calculated from one such formula using surface grain-size data from 112 sites around Santa Maria Island. To compare with t...
Presentation
The Cabo Verde Archipelago holds a remarkable sedimentary record of tsunami inundations, as highlighted by recent finds on Santiago and Maio Islands. Santiago, in particular, constitutes an exceptional site to study in detail the proximal impacts of the megatsunami(s) triggered by the well-known catastrophic flank collapse of Fogo volcano (~60 km t...
Conference Paper
METEOR Cruise M150 BIODIAZ provided material from sublittoral down to deep-sea stations to incorporate innovative aspects into the study of seamount and island productivity and their potential role for the establishment of benthic assemblages comprising all size classes (George et al. 2021). The aim was to get a baseline on the diversity, faunal co...
Conference Paper
The Cruise M150 BIODIAZ provided a unique opportunity to study the ecology, diversity, abundance, and geographical distribution of epibenthos in mid-shelf to bathyal waters around the Azores. Among the target taxa were bryozoans, a globally distributed group of aquatic, colonial, benthic, suspension-feeding invertebrates represented by over 6,500 d...
Article
Full-text available
Atualmente não existe um projeto de música que pode ser implementado de maneira geral no ambiente intermareal. No presente estudio se propõem modificações a um método tradicional e se desmistificam as diferenças em suas estimativas. A través de um registro fotográfico, o método permite censor com rapidez e mais detalhes da composição da comunidade...
Article
Controlled by ecological and physical factors, marine species distribution may vary due to global climatic changes that result from range expansion or contraction (the latter caused by local disappearances, i.e., extirpations). Spanning from 13° to 39°N, the Macaronesian region encompasses five archipelagos located within warm-temperate to tropical...
Article
Full-text available
Currently there is no ecology sampling design that can be implemented in a general way to intertidal environments. In this study, we propose and demonstrate that modifications to traditional methods exhibit differences in their estimates. The modified method allows a quick and more detailed census of the composition of the macrobenthic community th...
Article
Full-text available
Research in Macaronesia has led to substantial advances in ecology, evolution and conservation biology. We review the scientific developments achieved in this region, and outline promising research avenues enhancing conservation. Some of these discoveries indicate that the Macaronesian flora and fauna are composed of rather young lineages, not Tert...
Article
Located on the northern coast of Santa Maria Island (Azores Archipelago, central North Atlantic), the Lagoinhas section preserves a carbonate buildup correlated with Marine Isotope Substage (MIS) 5e, the warmest interval of the Last Interglacial. The buildup is formed mainly by crustose coralline algae (CCA) identified as Spongites sp., and some su...
Article
Full-text available
Background In the marine realm, dispersal ability is among the major factors shaping the distribution of species. In the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, the Azores Archipelago is home to a multitude of marine invertebrates which, despite their dispersal limitations, maintain gene flow among distant populations, with complex evolutionary and biogeographic...
Article
Pliocene body fossils from Santa Maria Island, Azores, have been studied for decades, but only more recently have ichnofossils received their due attention. Calcareous Pliocene deposits from the Baía de Nossa Senhora section contain numerous, diverse, well-preserved natural casts of invertebrate borings. The study of this type of fossils adds to kn...
Article
Full-text available
This project examines the role of North Atlantic storms degrading a Late Pleistocene rocky shoreline formed by basaltic rocks overlying hyaloclastite rocks on a small volcanic peninsula connected to Gran Canaria Island in the central region of the Canary Archipelago. Conglomerate dominated by large, ellipsoidal to angular boulders eroded from an ad...
Article
Full-text available
Unattached nodules of calcareous red algae (Rhodophyta), known as rhodoliths, are widely reported and studied in places that extend from the tropics to polar latitudes. Factors controlling the distribution of the rhodolith-forming species remain poorly understood. A review of the global distribution of present-day rhodolith beds was undertaken, col...
Article
The presence of crustacean decapods in the Pliocene and Pleistocene (MIS 5e) fossil record of Santa Maria Island (Azores Archipelago) is herein reviewed. Our study raises the number of fossil crabs from this island from one species to ten taxa (3 for the Pliocene and 7 for the Last Interglacial). Five out of these ten taxa are reported for the firs...
Article
Full-text available
The marine topshell Phorcus sauciatus is currently found along the temperatesubtropical shores of the Northeast Atlantic Ocean. Although present in the Iberian Peninsula, Madeira and Canaries for centuries, P. sauciatus has only recently reached another oceanic volcanic archipelago in the region. In 2013, a small population was recorded for the fir...
Technical Report
Este Relatório é o terceiro e final contributo para o “Plano de Ação do PaleoParque Santa Maria” e contempla os seguintes itens: A) Discussão da possibilidade de zonas tampão B) Propostas para uma adequada estratégia de divulgação do PaleoParque Santa Maria, com o respetivo custo por medida – Conclusão C) Apresentação de objetivos de gestão exequív...
Technical Report
Este Relatório é o segundo contributo para o “Plano de Ação do PaleoParque Santa Maria” e contempla os seguintes itens: A) Descrição detalhada de todas as jazidas fósseis de Santa Maria (2ª parte: jazidas visitáveis por turistas): Gruta dos Icnofósseis; B) Descrição detalhada de todas as jazidas fósseis de Santa Maria (1ª parte: jazidas não visitáv...
Article
Full-text available
Modern and palaeo-shores from Pleistocene Marine Isotope Substage 5e (MIS 5e) featuring prominent cobble/boulder deposits from three locations, on the southern and eastern coast of Santa Maria Island in the Azores Archipelago, are compared, in order to test the idea of higher storminess during the Last Interglacial. A total of 175 basalt clasts fro...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The worldwide study of the geological record of the Last Interglacial is key to reconstruct the climatic and oceanographic conditions during that time interval. Here we present preliminary results of a comprehensive field analysis of one of the most extensive and least studied Quaternary fossiliferous sequences in Cabo Verde attributed to the Last...
Article
Full-text available
Sedimentary rocks are rarely preserved on reefless volcanic oceanic islands, because they are mostly exported from coastal areas towards the abyssal plains and such islands typically undergo subsidence. In contrast, the exceptional geological record of the uplifted Santa Maria Island (Azores) provides a unique opportunity to gain insight on such ro...
Article
Full-text available
Ongoing work shows that species richness patterns on volcanic oceanic islands are shaped by surface area changes driven by longer time scale (>1 ka) geological processes and natural sea level fluctuations. A key question is: what are the rates and magnitudes of the forces driving spatial changes on volcanic oceanic islands which in turn affect evol...
Article
Full-text available
Fossil fishes are among the rarest in volcanic oceanic islands, their presence providing invaluable data for the understanding of more general (palaeo)biogeographical patterns and processes. Santa Maria Island (Azores Archipelago) is renowned for its palaeontological heritage, with representatives of several phyla, including the Chordata. Herein, w...
Article
Full-text available
The Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary Islands and Cabo Verde are commonly united under the term "Macaronesia". This study investigates the coherency and validity of Macaronesia as a biogeographic unit using six marine groups with very different dispersal abilities: coastal fishes, echinoderms, gastropod molluscs, brachyuran decapod crustaceans, po...
Article
Full-text available
The Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary Islands and Cabo Verde are commonly united under the term “Macaronesia”. This study investigates the coherency and validity of Macaronesia as a biogeographic unit using six marine groups with very different dispersal abilities: coastal fishes, echinoderms, gastropod molluscs, brachyuran decapod crustaceans, po...
Technical Report
Na sequência de diversas expedições científicas por parte de equipas internacionais lideradas por investigadores da Universidade dos Açores, foi criada em 2014, com o apoio do Governo Regional dos Açores, a “Rota dos Fósseis”, e construída a “Casa dos Fósseis”, um centro interpretativo inaugurado a 19 de setembro de 2016, onde a exposição permanent...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
This study seeks to elucidate the long-distance dispersal of marine invertebrates under 26 complex oceanographic settings, the role of seamounts, ocean-currents and periodic climatic changes in the 27 colonization of the Azores. With the major goal of clarifying the Azorean Biogeographical Paradox, several 28 questions will be addressed: 1 - Are th...
Article
In more than 150 years of research in the waters surrounding the Azores, several publications on the fauna of echinoderms of the archipelago have been produced, in the form of papers, notes, reports, reviews, and monographs. This work attempts to summarize the present knowledge on this marine group in the Azorean exclusive economic zone (i.e., wate...
Article
In more than 150 years of research in the waters surrounding the Azores, several publications on the fauna of echinoderms of the archipelago have been produced, in the form of papers, notes, reports, reviews, and monographs. This work attempts to summarize the present knowledge on this marine group in the Azorean exclusive economic zone (i.e., wate...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Their geographic isolation and relatively young age make volcanic oceanic islands important for understanding evolutionary and biogeographic processes. While apparently easily reachable for marine planktotrophic organisms, those with short-lived non-planktotrophic larvae are expected to be underrepresented in remote islands such as the Azores Archi...
Article
Full-text available
Volcanic oceanic archipelagos are fascinating natural laboratories of evolutionary patterns and processes in remote, unique conditions. In the insular marine realm, deep-waters and sea-surface circulation hamper dispersal and, for marine invertebrates, this ability is linked to larval development: planktotrophic organisms disperse easily, whereas n...
Poster
Full-text available
The colonization of volcanic oceanic islands by marine invertebrates with different dispersal abilities constitutes interesting topics for island biogeographers. In the Azores Archipelago, the so-called “Azorean Biogeographical Paradox” (biogeographic affinities with European/Mediterranean taxa, despite the eastward sea-surface currents) poses some...
Article
Full-text available
The occurrence of the polychaete worm Nereiphylla paretti in Azorean waters is reported for the first time, increasing the total number of littoral marine polychaetes to 168 species in the archipelago. Our finding extends the known geographical distribution of this species in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. A list of the littoral marine polychaetes f...
Article
Full-text available
A synthetic model is presented to enlarge the evolutionary framework of the General Dynamic Model (GDM) and of the Glacial Sensitive Model (GSM) of oceanic island biogeography from the terrestrial to the marine realm. The proposed “Sea-Level Sensitive” dynamic model (SLS) of marine island biogeography integrates historical and ecological biogeograp...
Article
Full-text available
Supplementary Information file from: ÁVILA, S.P., C. MELO, N. SÁ, R. QUARTAU, K. RIJSDIJK, R.S. RAMALHO, B. BERNING, R. CORDEIRO, N.C. de SÁ, A. PIMENTEL, L. BAPTISTA, A. MEDEIROS, A. GIL & M.E. JOHNSON, 2019. Towards a “Sea-Level Sensitive Marine Island Biogeography” model: the impact of glacio-eustatic oscillations in global marine island biogeog...
Article
Full-text available
The increasing interest in geotourism has prompted the need for quantitative assessments of geosites as a fundamental step for the application of geoconservation strategies, in order to assure sustainable planning, management and use of natural resources. The improvement of methodologies used to evaluate geosites dictates the revision of previous a...