Revealing the Potential of Linnaeus for Cosmetic Purposes: Chemical Profile and Biological Activities of Commercial and Wild Samples.

The natural products industry is gaining increasing interest, not only due to modern lifestyles becoming more aware of environmental and sustainability issues but also because of the loss of efficacy and undesirable side effects of synthetic ingredients. This pioneering study provides a comprehensive comparison between extracts obtained from wild and commercial samples of Linnaeus, highlighting their multifaceted benefits in cosmetic applications. The antiaging potential of acetone (70 and 90%) and ethanol 60% extracts from wild and commercial samples of , focusing on their application in cosmetics, was explored.

Restoration of degraded estuarine and marine ecosystems: A systematic review of rehabilitation methods in Europe.

This article provides a comprehensive study of ecosystem rehabilitation methods widely used in the 21st century, focusing on Europe. The review covers the evolution and trends in scientific article publication, identification of European countries demonstrating high publication outputs, collaboration patterns, leading journals, and thematic areas. Additionally, it examines primary stressors in European aquatic ecosystems, and different methods and treatments commonly employed for remediation purposes.

A roadmap to define and select aquatic biological traits at different scales of analysis.

Trait-based approaches are a powerful tool, as they not only improve understanding of ecological complexity and functioning but also allow comparison across different ecosystems and biogeographical regions. They may be used to unveil ecosystem processes and assess community structures, but their great potential becomes limited when dealing with scattered trait data and historically unstandardised trait nomenclature. The lack of standardisation allows authors to use the terminology of their preference, which inevitably leads to ambiguous misunderstandings and limits comparison between different studies.

Using seagrass as a nature-based solution: Short-term effects of Zostera noltei transplant in benthic communities of a European Atlantic coastal lagoon.

Seagrass meadows provide several ecological functions that improve the overall ecological health of coastal systems and therefore, it is urgent to promote the restoration of such habitats. In Ria de Aveiro, a coastal lagoon in the Atlantic Coast of Portugal, a restoration initiative was responsible for transplanting the dwarf eelgrass Zostera noltei into a highly degraded area. This eelgrass was used as a nature-based solution (NbS) to mitigate some of the impacts of historical mercury contamination.

The effect of Zostera noltei recolonization on the sediment mercury vertical profiles of a recovering coastal lagoon.

Mercury's extreme toxicity and persistence in the environment justifies a thorough evaluation of its dynamics in ecosystems. Aveiro Lagoon (Portugal) was for decades subject to mercury effluent discharges. A Nature-based Solution (NbS) involving Zostera noltei re-colonization is being tested as an active ecosystem restoration measure.

An Overview of Rhodoliths: Ecological Importance and Conservation Emergency.

Red calcareous algae create bio-aggregations ecosystems constituted by carbonate calcium, with two main morphotypes: geniculate and non-geniculate structures (rhodoliths may form bio-encrustations on hard substrata or unattached nodules). This study presents a bibliographic review of the order Corallinales (specifically, rhodoliths), highlighting on morphology, ecology, diversity, related organisms, major anthropogenic influences on climate change and current conservation initiatives. These habitats are often widespread geographically and bathymetrically, occurring in the photic zone from the intertidal area to depths of 270 m.

Functional threshold responses of benthic macroinvertebrates to environmental stressors in reservoirs.

Reservoirs are aquatic ecosystems created by humans to supply water needs. They can impair aquatic diversity due to the lack of connectivity, reduced water volume, and pressures exerted by surrounding human activities. These changes are expected to produce abrupt fluctuations in the reservoirs' environment, thus influencing the structure and functioning of aquatic communities.

Extreme drought scenario shapes different patterns of Chironomid coexistence in reservoirs in a semi-arid region.

Semi-arid regions are particularly prone to extreme climate events such as droughts, which result in drastic fluctuations in the water volume of aquatic ecosystems, including artificial ones. As these climate extremes intensify, species must adapt, however, not all species can persist under new climate regimes in such a short period of time. In this study, we evaluated how fluctuations in the water levels of reservoirs, caused by drought, affect Chironomidae diversity patterns in a semi-arid region.

Marine invertebrates associated with rhodoliths/maërl beds from northeast Brazil (State of Paraíba).

Background: This study investigates the marine macroinvertebrate fauna of rhodolith beds (non-geniculated red corallinaceaous algae) in northeast Brazilian. A total of 57 species were identified, belonging to six phyla (Platyhelminthes, Annelida, Sipuncula, Mollusca, Arthropoda and Echinodermata), of which 50 are considered here as new records for the Paraíba State. Annelids (Class Polychaeta) were the most representative taxa in Miramar and Seixas Beaches, while molluscs were dominant in Maceió Beach.

Assessing tropical coastal dynamics across habitats and seasons through different dimensions of fish diversity.

Coastal habitat mosaics are among the most productive ecosystems around the globe, with many ecological and social-economic services provided. Their natural challenging conditions have always been a subject of concern for ecologist and conservationist, with a particular interest in understanding how its spatial and temporal dynamics influence ecosystem functioning. In this context, we aimed to assess tropical coastal dynamics using an integrative approach, measuring the different facets of fish diversity across space (habitats) and time (seasons).

Benthic estuarine communities' contribution to bioturbation under the experimental effect of marine heatwaves.

Marine heatwaves are increasing worldwide, with several negative impacts on biological communities and ecosystems. This 24-day study tested heatwaves' effect with distinct duration and recovery periods on benthic estuarine communities' diversity and contribution to ecosystem functioning experimentally. The communities were obtained from a temperate estuary, usually subjected to high daily thermal amplitudes.

Mild Effects of Sunscreen Agents on a Marine Flatfish: Oxidative Stress, Energetic Profiles, Neurotoxicity and Behaviour in Response to Titanium Dioxide Nanoparticles and Oxybenzone.

UV filters are potentially harmful to marine organisms. Given their worldwide dissemination and the scarcity of studies on marine fish, we evaluated the toxicity of an organic (oxybenzone) and an inorganic (titanium dioxide nanoparticles) UV filter, individually and in a binary mixture, in the turbot (). Fish were intraperitoneally injected and a multi-level assessment was carried out 3 and 7 days later.

Immunological and oxidative stress responses of the bivalve Scrobicularia plana to distinct patterns of heatwaves.

As a consequence of global warming, extreme events, such as marine heatwaves (MHW), have been increasing in frequency and intensity with negative effects on aquatic organisms. This innovative study evaluated for the first time, the immunological and physiological response of the estuarine edible bivalve Scrobicularia plana to different heatwaves, with distinct duration and recovery periods. So, extensive immune (total haemocyte count - THC, haemocyte viability, phagocytosis rate, respiratory oxidative burst of haemocytes, total protein, protease activity, nitric oxide and bactericidal activity of plasma) and oxidative stress (lipid peroxidation - LPO, superoxide dismutase - SOD, catalase - CAT and glutathione-S-Transferase - GST) analyses were performed in an experimental study that tested the impact of heatwaves during 25 days.

Realistic scenarios of environmental disturbance lead to functionally important changes in benthic species-environment interactions.

Changes in community structure concurrent with environmental forcing often form a precursor to changes in species diversity, and can have substantive consequences for ecosystem functioning. Here, we assess the effects of altered levels of evenness that are representative of different levels of eutrophication and changes in salinity associated with altered precipitation patterns, on the mediation of nutrient release by sediment-dwelling invertebrate communities. We find that an adjustment towards a more even distribution of species corresponds with an increase in sediment particle reworking that, in general, translates to increased levels of nutrient release.

Functional traits of a native and an invasive clam of the genus Ruditapes occurring in sympatry in a coastal lagoon.

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the functional traits regarding bioturbation activity and its influence in the nutrient cycling of the native clam species Ruditapes decussatus and the invasive species Ruditapes philippinarum in Ria de Aveiro lagoon. Presently, these species live in sympatry and the impact of the invasive species was evaluated under controlled microcosmos setting, through combined/manipulated ratios of both species, including monospecific scenarios and a control without bivalves. Bioturbation intensity was measured by maximum, median and mean mix depth of particle redistribution, as well as by Surface Boundary Roughness (SBR), using time-lapse fluorescent sediment profile imaging (f-SPI) analysis, through the use of luminophores.

Ecological consequences of invasion across the freshwater-marine transition in a warming world.

The freshwater-marine transition that characterizes an estuarine system can provide multiple entry options for invading species, yet the relative importance of this gradient in determining the functional contribution of invading species has received little attention. The ecological consequences of species invasion are routinely evaluated within a freshwater versus marine context, even though many invasive species can inhabit a wide range of salinities. We investigate the functional consequences of different sizes of -an invasive species able to adapt to a wide range of temperatures and salinity-across the freshwater-marine transition in the presence versus absence of warming.

New climatic targets against global warming: will the maximum 2 °C temperature rise affect estuarine benthic communities?

The Paris Agreement signed by 195 countries in 2015 sets out a global action plan to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to remain below 2 °C. Under that premise, in situ experiments were run to test the effects of 2 °C temperature increase on the benthic communities in a seagrass bed and adjacent bare sediment, from a temperate European estuary. Temperature was artificially increased in situ and diversity and ecosystem functioning components measured after 10 and 30 days.

Changes in the fish assemblages of a coastal lagoon subjected to gradual salinity increases.

This study analyses fish data to understand how the gradual increase of salinity registered in a coastal lagoon and consequently, anthropogenic disturbance, affected the fish communities. For that, fish assemblages of the Ria de Aveiro were sampled monthly in 3 years from different decades (1988, 1997 and 2012). Dominant species were Atherina boyeri, A.

Climate influence on juvenile European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax, L.) populations in an estuarine nursery: A decadal overview.

Estuarine systems support the life cycle stages of commercially important marine fish and are influenced by large and local-scale climatic patterns. In this study, performed in the Mondego estuary, Portugal, we used an 11-year database (2003-2013) for analyzing the variability in the population of a marine juvenile migrant fish, the European sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax, regarding changes in abundance, population structure, growth rates, secondary production and annual day of peak abundance. Higher densities and production occurred in 2003, but no differences in 0-group growth could be observed.

Functional diversity of fish communities in two tropical estuaries subjected to anthropogenic disturbance.

The functional diversity of fish communities was studied along the salinity gradient of two estuaries in Northeast Brazil subjected to different anthropogenic pressures, to gain a better understanding of the response of fish communities to disturbance. We evaluated functional complementarity indices, redundancy and analysed functional composition through functional groups based on combinations of different traits. The fish communities in both estuaries share similar functions performed by few functional groups.

Effect of historical contamination in the fish community structure of a recovering temperate coastal lagoon.

This study aimed to assess the impact of trace element concentrations in fish assemblages of a recovering coastal lagoon. Fish, water and sediment were sampled in winter and summer in the Ria de Aveiro (Portugal). Multivariate analyses were used to examine the relationship between fish assemblages and environmental variables (physical-chemical parameters, contaminants and sediment grain size).

Do different degrees of human activity affect the diet of Brazilian silverside Atherinella brasiliensis?

The aim of the present study was to test whether different degrees of human activity affect the diet of the Brazilian silverside Atherinella brasiliensis in two tropical estuaries. Fish were collected along the salinity gradient of two Brazilian estuaries, the heavily impacted Paraiba Estuary and the less impacted Mamanguape Estuary, in the dry and wet seasons. The findings confirm that A.

An integrated Pan-European perspective on coastal Lagoons management through a mosaic-DPSIR approach.

A decision support framework for the management of lagoon ecosystems was tested using four European Lagoons: Ria de Aveiro (Portugal), Mar Menor (Spain), Tyligulskyi Liman (Ukraine) and Vistula Lagoon (Poland/Russia). Our aim was to formulate integrated management recommendations for European lagoons. To achieve this we followed a DPSIR (Drivers-Pressures-State Change-Impacts-Responses) approach, with focus on integrating aspects of human wellbeing, welfare and ecosystem sustainability.

Long-term functional changes in an estuarine fish assemblage.

The functional diversity of the fish assemblages of the Mondego estuary was studied for a discontinuous 30-year period (1988-2012). During this time, hydrological changes occurred due to man-induced alterations and weather extremes. These changes led to alterations in the structure and function of the fish community.