Microplastics ingestion and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) by breeding seabirds in the east tropical Atlantic: Associations with trophic and foraging proxies (δN and δC).

In this study we found that endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) were omnipresent in a tropical seabird community comprising diverse ecological guilds and distinct foraging and trophic preferences. Because EDCs tend to bioaccumulate within the food web and microplastics can absorb and release harmful chemical compounds, our findings draw attention to the potential threats to wildlife. Thus, the goal of this study was to investigate the role of plastic ingestion, trophic and foraging patterns (δN and δC) of five tropical seabird species breeding in sympatry, on the exposure to EDCs, namely Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), methoxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers (MeO-PBDEs) and personal care products (PCPs, e.

Temporal and spatial variability in the isotopic composition of sea urchins along Portuguese coast.

Paracentrotus lividus is a sea urchin widely distributed throughout Mediterranean basin and Atlantic coast, highly appreciated for its gonads. It is broadly distributed along the Portuguese coast and its exploitation has potential to grow. Nevertheless, fluctuations on nutritional composition and sensory traits of P.

Show your beaks and we tell you what you eat: Different ecology in sympatric Antarctic benthic octopods under a climate change context.

Sympatry can lead to higher competition under climate change and other environmental pressures, including in South Georgia, Antarctica, where the two most common octopod species, Adelieledone polymorpha and Pareledone turqueti, occur side by side. Since cephalopods are typically elusive animals, the ecology of both species is poorly known. As beaks of cephalopods are recurrently found in top predator's stomachs, we studied the feeding ecology of both octopods through the evaluation of niche overlapping and specific beak adaptations that both species present.

Atmospheric CO enrichment effect on the Cu-tolerance of the C cordgrass Spartina densiflora.

A glasshouse experiment was designed to investigate the effect of the co-occurrence of 400 and 700ppm CO at 0, 15 and 45mM Cu on the Cu-tolerance of C cordgrass species Spartina densiflora, by measuring growth, gas exchange, efficiency of PSII, pigments profiles, antioxidative enzyme activities and nutritional balance. Our results revealed that the rising atmospheric CO mitigated growth reduction imposed by Cu in plants grown at 45mM Cu, leading to leaf Cu concentration bellow than 270mgKg Cu, caused by an evident dilution effect. On the other hand, non-CO enrichment plants showed leaf Cu concentration values up to 737.

Interactions between seagrasses and seaweeds during surge nitrogen acquisition determine interspecific competition.

Seagrasses dominate shallow coastal environments where nitrogen (N) availability in the water column is often sporadic and mainly in the form of pulses. We investigated the N uptake competition between seagrasses and seaweeds through a series of N surge uptake experiments combining single-species and mixed incubations across ammonium concentrations. N surge uptake rates of seagrasses were 2 to 14-fold higher than those of seaweeds in the majority of combinations, showing that seagrasses are generally in a competitive advantage over seaweeds in N-poor environments with N-pulses.

delta(15)N and delta(13)C in the Mondego estuary food web: seasonal variation in producers and consumers.

Assessments of temporal variation in stable carbon and nitrogen ratios were used to examine seasonal trends of the water column and benthic food webs in the Mondego estuary (Portugal). There was a marked seasonality in weather and water column conditions, including nutrient supply and chlorophyll concentrations. In spite of the pronounced environmental changes, we found little evidence of seasonal variation in delta(13)C and delta(15)N of producers and consumers in the Mondego estuary, with a few notable exceptions.