30 mag. 2019 - Paulo Castro

Freshwater mussels vs climate change: to be or not to be?

Presenta: Paulo Castro

Department of Biology, University of Minho, Portugal

Humans are now appropriating more than 50% of freshwater runoff, many species are overexploited, ecosystems are polluted, over 1 million dams globally widespread fragment rivers and species introductions in freshwater ecosystems. In ecosystems already disturbed, climate change will most likely exacerbate this state. Freshwater mussels (FM: Bivalvia: Unionida) are one of the most imperiled faunal groups on Earth, and their conservation is urgent. Indeed, FM are responsible for numerous important ecosystem services (e.g. water purification), and are a link for the interaction of other aquatic organisms (e.g. pelagic-benthic processes). In addition, due to their high vulnerability, FM can be used as a model organism to assess how may climate change, and its interaction with other stressors, affect freshwater ecosystems. This project is focused on assessing the limits and responses of native mussels to climate change, with a multidisciplinary approach including physiology, phenology, distribution and molecular tools (gene expression and genetic diversity). Composition and salinity of the copepod Leptodiaptomus cf. sicilis from one of the hyposaline lakes will be shown.

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