Percorrer por autor "Goncalves, Duarte Vasconcelos"
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- Joint species distribution models unveil co-occurrences between freshwater mussels and their fish hostsPublication . Silva, Janine P.; Goncalves, Duarte Vasconcelos; Garcia-Raventós, Aina; Lopes-Lima, Manuel; Varandas, Simone; Froufe, Elsa; Teixeira, Amílcar; Hui, Francis K.C.; Filipe, Ana Filipa; Sousa, RonaldoFreshwater mussels are among the most threatened taxa in the world, partially due to the dependence on fish hosts to complete their life cycle. Knowledge about the role of environmental and biotic drivers in determining mussels' distribution is currently lacking. We aimed to assess the role of environmental and biotic drivers in determining the distribution of mussels and their fish hosts and to test if co-occurrence patterns were able to identify mussel-host interactions.Location: Douro River basin (Iberian Peninsula).Taxon: Four freshwater mussels and ten fish hosts.Methods: Joint species distribution models (JSDMs) were fitted to presence-absence records for mussel and fish assemblages. Variance partitioning among environmental variables and latent variables was conducted to determine the environmental versus biotic drivers of species distributions. Resulting matrices of pairwise species co-occurrences were used to identify co-occurrence patterns.Results: The distribution of host generalist mussel species was mainly explained by environmental variables related to climate and topography. The distribution of the host specialist Margaritifera margaritifera was mainly explained by land use. Strong positive correlations between mussels and the most relevant fish hosts were consistently captured by JSDMs. Co-occurrence patterns were mainly explained by residual factors, indicating the potential role of biotic interactions.Main Conclusions: Biotic interactions were expected to play an important role in explaining mussels' distribution, but the contribution of this factor was only meaningful for the host specialist M. margaritifera. Correlations between mussels and suitable hosts allowed to infer important fish hosts for freshwater mussels in the Douro River basin from distributional data alone. By finding similarities between the ecological requirements of co-occurring species, conservation measures can be oriented towards several species, which brings a more holistic perspective to the protection of biodiversity.
- Streams in the Mediterranean Region are not for mussels: predicting extinctions and range contractions under future climate changePublication . Silva, Janine P.; Sousa, Ronaldo; Goncalves, Duarte Vasconcelos; Miranda, Rafael; Reis, Joaquim; Teixeira, Amílcar; Varandas, Simone; Lopes-Lima, Manuel; Filipe, Ana FilipaClimate change is becoming the leading driver of biodiversity loss. The Mediterranean region, particularly southwest-ern Europe, is already confronting the consequences of ongoing global warming. Unprecedented biodiversity declines have been recorded, particularly within freshwater ecosystems. Freshwater mussels contribute to essential ecosystem services but are among the most threatened faunal groups on Earth. Their poor conservation status is related to the de-pendence on fish hosts to complete the life cycle, which also makes them particularly vulnerable to climate change. Species Distribution Models (SDMs) are commonly used to predict species distributions, but often disregard the poten-tial effect of biotic interactions. This study investigated the potential impact of future climate on the distribution of freshwater mussel species while considering their obligatory interaction with fish hosts. Specifically, ensemble models were used to forecast the current and future distribution of six mussel species in the Iberian Peninsula, including envi-ronmental conditions and the distribution of fish hosts as predictors. We found that climate change is expected to se-verely impact the future distribution of Iberian mussels. Species with narrow ranges, namely Margaritifera margaritifera and Unio tumidiformis, were predicted to have their suitable habitats nearly lost and could potentially be facing regional and global extinctions, respectively. Anodonta anatina, Potomida littoralis, and particularly Unio delphinus and Unio mancus, are expected to suffer distributional losses but may gain new suitable habitats. A shift in their distribution to new suitable areas is only possible if fish hosts are able to disperse while carrying larvae. We also found that includ-ing the distribution of fish hosts in the mussels' models avoided the underprediction of habitat loss under climate change. This study warns of the imminent loss of mussel species and populations and the urgent need of management actions to reverse current trends and mitigate irreversible damage to species and ecosystems in Mediterranean regions.