Search

The occurrence of scyphozoan blooms is frequently reported in coastal areas, suggesting a need to assess its impacts on trophic webs. However, many scyphozoan species remain understudied with regard to their feeding ecology. Here, feeding selectivity experiments were conducted to learn about the possible prey preference of Catostylus tagi among mesozooplankton prey and estimate feeding rates. In general, C. tagi demonstrated a relative positive selection on small prey as cyclopoid copepods (Oithona spp. and Oncaea spp.), copepod nauplii as well as non-swimming prey (fish eggs), and ingestion rates increased with prey concentration. Further in situ studies must be conducted during summer blooms, to determine the predatory impact, retrieving data of C. tagi and prey abundance, particularly in important nursery areas such as estuaries.

Este relatório resulta do estágio curricular do Mestrado em Engenharia Alimentar da Escola Superior Agrária de Coimbra. O estágio decorreu entre os dias 1 de fevereiro e 1 de agosto de 2021, na VS Consultoria Alimentar, sedeada em Coimbra. Esta empresa presta serviços relacionados com a área de consultoria alimentar, nomeadamente a gestão de ementas, sendo um dos seus clientes o Centro Social e Cultural N.ª Sr.ª do Ó de Aguim, cujas principais missões são receber, apoiar e garantir os direitos e necessidades das crianças, jovens e pessoas mais idosas, o que é feito através das sua diferentes valências. Entre essas valências contam-se um Centro de Dia, um Lar e um Serviço de Apoio Domiciliário que, entre as sua diversas funções, serverm refeições. O principal objetivo deste estágio foi a elaboração dos planos mensais de ementas para estas valências.Tratando-se de uma população particularmente vulnerável, é de extraordinária importância a garantia da segurança alimentar. É também fundametal garantir uma alimentação adequada e equilibrada, que contribua para um desempenho adequado das atividades diárias e, também, contribua positivamente para um bom estado de saúde geral. São estes os critérios fundamentais a ter em consideração na elaboração das ementas para os utentes das referidas valências. Para além do planeamente das ementas, foi também avaliada a satisfação dos utentes. Esta avaliação foi feita com recurso a inquéritos, cujos resultados são apresentados neste relatório. É também apresentada a avaliação quantitativa das ementas do mês de março, considerando o seu aspeto nutricional. A avaliação qualitativa mostrou que existe bastabte satisfação relativamente à alimentação fornecida. Já a valiação quantitativa mostra que poderá ser necessária uma revisão das quantidades fornecidas This report results from the curricular internship of the Master's in Food Engineering at Escola Superior Agrária de Coimbra. This internship took place between February 1st and August 1st, 2021, at VS Consultoria Alimentar, based in Coimbra.This company provides services related to the area of food consultancy, namely menu management, and one of its clients is the N.ª Sr.ª do Ó de Aguim Social and Cultural Center, whose main missions are to receive, support and guarantee rights and the needs of children, young people and older people, which is done through their different aspects. Among these features are a Day Centre, a Home and a Home Support Service which, among its various functions, serve meals. The main objective of this internship was the elaboration of monthly menu plans for these areas.As this is a particularly vulnerable population, it is extremely important to guarantee food security. It is also essential to ensure an adequate and balanced diet, which contributes to an adequate performance of daily activities and, also, contributes positively to a good general state of health. These are the fundamental criteria to be taken into account when preparing menus for users of the aforementioned areas.In addition to planning the menus, user satisfaction was also evaluated. This assessment was carried out using surveys, the results of which are presented in this report. The quantitative assessment of the March menus is also presented, considering their nutritional aspect.The qualitative evaluation showed that there is enough satisfaction regarding the food provided. Quantitative evaluation, on the other hand, shows that a review of the quantities supplied may be necessary.

The consumption of edible aquatic inva sive species has gained popularity as a means to minimize their impacts while easing pressure on native resources and ecosystems. Weakfish Cynoscion regalis (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) is one of the most recent invasive fish species in the Iberian Peninsula (Europe) which once sustained an important fishery in the native range (Northwest Atlantic Ocean). Portugal ranks third in the list of the world’s fish consumers, so promoting a weakfish fishery could at least minimize the impacts upon native species, since weakfish have innate traits that are appreciated by Portuguese fish consumers. However, introducing a new species to consumers is challenging owing to consumers’ habits and unfamiliarity with the species. So, we aimed to (i) evaluate the acceptance of weakfish by a panel of Portuguese fish consumers and (ii) create outreach actions—partnerships with local Chefs and press releases—to explain to a broader audience what invasive species are and promote the consumption of edible aquatic invasive species. We conducted a consumers survey that showed that weakfish has great chances of being well accepted by Portuguese fish consumers– 90% would buy weakfish because they appreciated its appearance, flavor, and texture, besides being a wild fish. The outreach actions reached a few million people because 46 online articles were pub lished, and three news pieces were broadcasted on national television. Our strategy increased the public’s awareness about weakfish as an invasive species, which could be adapted for other non-indigenous marine species elsewhere in the world. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Promoting the consumption of edible aquatic invasive species has gained popularity to minimize its impacts while easing pressure on native resources. Weakfish Cynoscion regalis (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) is one of the most recent invasive fish species in the Iberian Peninsula (Europe) which once sustained an important fishery in the native range (Northwest Atlantic Ocean). Portugal ranks third in the list of the world’s top fish consumers, so promoting a weakfish fishery could at least help minimize the impacts upon native species, since weakfish have innate traits that are likely appreciated by Portuguese fish consumers. However, introducing a new species to consumers is challenging owing to consumers’ habits and unfamiliarity with the species. So, we aimed to (i) evaluate the acceptance of weakfish by a panel of Portuguese fish consumers and (ii) create outreach actions – partnerships with local Chefs and press releases – to explain to a broader public what invasive species are and promote the consumption of edible aquatic invasive species. The survey that we conducted to Portuguese fish consumers showed that weakfish has great chances of being well accepted by the public – 90% of consumers would buy weakfish because they appreciated its appearance, flavour, and texture, besides being a wild fish. The outreach actions reached a few million people because 46 online articles were published, and three news pieces broadcasted on national television. Overall, our strategy greatly increased the public’s awareness about invasive species, which can be replicated elsewhere in the world.

Individual animals across all taxa differ consistently in behaviour, i.e. they show personality traits. This inter-individual variability has significant ecological and evolutionary consequences, since it affects a range of population-level processes. Here, we focus on the selection and recruitment of nursery habitats in temperate fish larvae. The "Sense Acuity and Behavioural Hypothesis" has proposed that fish larvae could detect and follow environmental cues to actively choose suitable nursery habitats. We empirically tested this hypothesis questioning if this non-random active process occurs and if it could be linked to consistency in individual behaviours. Individual larvae of the white seabream Diplodus sargus (Linnaeus, 1758) were tested repeatedly at different ages in a two-channel choice-chamber apparatus exposing them to a flow with different stimuli, as nursery habitats (lagoon, coastal), different temperatures or salinities and recording exploratory activity and preference in the different conditions. Most larvae changed behaviour during ontogeny, but they were also significantly consistent in their behaviour, revealing strong individuality; yet, no significant preference for the presented stimuli emerged, nor it was related to individuality. Exploratory activity was higher when larvae showed unresponsive or inconclusive behaviours, meaning that the larvae tried to find a different stimulus from the one that we were offering or had random habitat selection. Individual behavioural consistency could influence the process of searching for suitable nursery habitats and, consequently, dispersion and connectivity of white seabream population. Characterizing the behaviour of temperate pelagic marine fish larvae may shed light on fish recruitment variability, help refining larval dispersion models and possibly help understanding effects of climate change on population distribution and connectivity. Significance statement A Chinese idiom says that "It is easier to change mountains and rivers than to alter one's character." What about fish? Well, fish can exhibit individuality traits that control autoecological and demecological processes. For example, shy fish have lower fitness while the rate of invasion progress is faster in populations with bolder individuals. Individuality studies rarely focused on fish larvae, except for coral fish. So, we tested if temperate fish larvae display consistent behaviour throughout ontogeny. This goal delves into the Sense Acuity And Behavioural Hypothesis which incorporated behaviour into the hypotheses deeming to explain fish recruitment variability. We found that temperate fish larvae display consistent individual behavioural differences in exploratory activity since early in ontogeny. This confirms the deterministic role of pelagic fish larvae behaviour on population connectivity processes, namely to control their dispersion and choose a nursery habitat. SFRH/BD/104209/2014, UID/Multi/04326/2019, DL57/2016/CP1361/CT0008, info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Weakfish Cynoscion regalis (Bloch and Schneider, 1801) is one of the most recent invasive fish in the Iberian Peninsula (Europe). Weakfish has established in the Sado estuary (Portugal) since the early 2010s, and fishers and anglers have expressed concern about its impacts on native prize fish. However, almost a decade later, there is no information on the ecology of weakfish in the non-native area. So, we aimed to assess weakfish feeding strategy and feeding plasticity through stomach content analysis to evaluate if these factors may contribute to its invasiveness, as well as to determine the ecological overlap between weakfish and three native prize fish - European bass, white seabream, and particularly meagre (since they are taxonomically closer), through carbon and nitrogen stable isotopes. Our results demonstrate that Sado's weakfish has a generalist feeding strategy and preys the same functional groups it targets in the native area, therefore feeding strategy may weigh on invasiveness but not feeding plasticity. Weakfish, meagre, and European bass were in the same trophic level and weakfish exhibited higher trophic overlap with meagre, suggesting that weakfish could directly impact meagre if food and habitat become limiting. This study is the first assessment about weakfish ecology in the non-native area and our findings are an excellent starting point to understand this invasion. It can also be useful for management programmes that promote weakfish consumption to minimize its impacts, alleviate fishing pressure on native species, and raise public awareness. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The Atlantic blue crab Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, 1896 is native in the western Atlantic, however it is a non-indigenous species across Europe since 1900, among other world regions. In this paper, we report the first occurrences of this species in the Ria Formosa lagoon and in the Guadiana estuary (SW-Iberian Peninsula, Europe) which occurred in 2016 and July 2017, respectively. We hypothesize that the introduction of this species into these ecosystems might be due to the expansion of the Guadalquivir estuary population through natural processes (larval advection, active movement), or due to unintended introduction events after being transported aboard fishing boats, or, less likely, through ballast water. Changes in Guadiana's river flow after the construction of the Alqueva dam might also explain the presence of another non-indigenous species in the Guadiana estuary. The hypotheses presented, regarding the introduction of the Atlantic blue crab into these ecosystems and of its co-occurrence with other decapod species, are framed in a broader context to serve as a future research framework. The use of the Atlantic blue crab as a new fishing resource is also proposed, namely if it is to be used exclusively by local communities and if no deleterious impacts upon other fisheries and the ecosystem occur from this new fishery. Agência financiadora / Número do projeto Delta Stewardship Council Delta Science Program 1167 Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) UID/Multi/04326/2013 European Regional Development Fund (COMPETE program-Operational Competitiveness Programme) FCT IF/00661/2014/CP1234 SFRH/BD/104209/2014 SFRH/BPD/108949/2015 Berkeley Research Impact Initiative (BRII) - UC Berkeley Library 16-01-04-FMP-0005 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion