Sónia Costa

ARDITI - Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação, Tecnologia e Inovação

Marine litter is a global problem. Education has been acclaimed as a potential tool to tackle this issue, yet, integrative, student-centered, and over weeks studies to raise awareness on the theme that compares pre-with post-intervention results are limited in the literature. Furthermore, almost no studies rely on the basis of previous experience o...

Marine litter is a global threat, particularly on oceanic islands where the problem is exacerbated. Perceptions, knowledge, awareness, and attitudes towards the theme are crucial in its mitigation and prevention. This study assessed these points through a questionnaire to the inhabitants of a Portuguese archipelago. Data revealed that people associ...

Marine litter is claimed to be one of the most meaningful environmental crises of the century. Education that supports behavior change is a tool to tackle this problem. However, there is a lack of research linking educational initiatives and marine litter issues. A literature review was conducted through a bibliometric and content analysis to explo...

A survey of fish and seafood consumption habits was carried out in Madeira archipelago, in the Eastern Atlantic. A total of 465 valid questionnaires were obtained from all municipalities of Madeira and Porto Santo islands. Cod, an imported product, but a traditional Portuguese staple food, was the most frequently consumed species, surpassing locall...

Mass mortality events involving marine taxa are increasing worldwide. The long-spined sea urchin Diadema africanum is considered a keystone herbivore species in the northeastern Atlantic due to its control over the abundance and distribution of algae. After a first registered mass mortality in 2009, another event off the coasts of Madeira archipela...

Since the term “ocean literacy” (OL) was proposed in 2004 by a group of professionals dedicated to ocean sciences, marine education, and general education policies, its principles have spread worldwide. In order to better understand OL-related research a bibliometric analysis was performed with data from databases obtained from Scopus and Web of Sc...

Estuaries are among the most pressured ecosystems, including by environmental contaminants resulting from anthropogenic activities, alterations due to global changes, and invasions by exotic species. The ecological risk assessment (ERA) of these pressures in complex ecosystems such as estuaries is often challenging and methods for the improvement o...

The influence of long-term exposure to background pollution on the response and recovery of the invasive species Corbicula fluminea to ammonia stress was investigated using a multi-marker approach. Wild clams of the tidal freshwater areas of two estuaries of the NW Iberian coast with different levels of pollution, the estuaries of Minho river (refe...

AbstrAct The present paper quantifies and summarizes the research performed in the Mondego estuary (Portugal) over the last decades. Online databases were used to quantitatively assess the international publications, the master dissertations and PhD theses focused in the research about that estuary, from 1989 to 2012. In general, there had been a n...

The use of an Estuarine System (Mondego estuary, Portugal) as Didactic Tool to incorporate Education for Sustainable Development into School Curricula * O uso de um sistema estuarino (Estuário do Mondego) como ferramenta didáctica na incorporção da Educação para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável nos curricula escolares Revista da Gestão Costeira Integr...

The present paper reviews and discusses the use of the Mondego estuary (Portugal) ecosystem as educational tool for science and environmental teachers/educators. The Mondego estuary is a coastal area of acknowledged high socioeconomic and environmental value (National Ecological Reserve, Important Bird Area and RAMSAR site) whose characteristics (e...

The present paper quantifies and summarizes the research performed in the Mondego estuary (Portugal) over the last decades. Online databases were used to quantitatively assess the international publications, the master dissertations and PhD theses focused in the research about that estuary, from 1989 to 2012. In general, there had been a notable gr...

Parasitism is increasingly recognized as an important factor that can influence the structure and function of natural communities. The presence of externae of the parasite Sacculina carcini Thompson, 1836 was investigated in a population of the crab Carcinus maenas (Linnaeus, 1758) from the Mondego estuary, Portugal. A seasonal pattern of the S. ca...

Parasitism is increasingly recognized as an important factor that can influence the structure and function of natural communities. The presence of externae of the parasite Sacculina carcini Thompson, 1836 was investigated in a population of the crab Carcinus maenas (Linnaeus, 1758) from the Mondego estuary, Portugal. A seasonal pattern of the S. ca...

Carcinus maenas is an invasive species of recognised economical and ecological importance in which mercury accumulation could be a pathway for bioamplification through food webs. Little informa-tion is available about differential accumulation between crab sexes and morphotypes. Taking this in mind, a set of different industrial discharge scenarios...

The research on metals effect on macroalgae has been focused on Cd, Cu, Zn and Pb, and no study dealt with the effects of mercury on macroalgae growth rate. Also, the kinetic of accumulation is not well known. The main aim of this work was to assess the mercury accumulation kinetics of Ulva lactuca and its effects on growth rate. Three concentratio...