Browsing by Author "Martins, Filipa"
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- Diagnosis of malnourished elderly with low income in Braganza, Portugal and intervention strategiesPublication . Miguel, Catarina; Martins, Filipa; Costa, José Filipe Ramos; Vener, Marco; Pires, Nuno; Ferro-Lebres, VeraThere are poor people who do not always supply basic human needs like food, shelter, clothing, education, health care or hunger. Of those who daily diet, not always brings the energy required to maintain the body and for the daily activities of human beings.(1) 800 million people around the world are still hungry,(2) in Portugal poverty reaches values of around 20% of the population.(3) The demographic changes of the last century resulted in the modification, and sometimes reversal of the age pyramids and gave governments, families and the Portuguese society in general, challenges for which they were not prepared, namely regarding the support and care to the elderly. (4) Good health, and thus a good nutritional status is essential for older people to maintain an acceptable quality of life and their contribution in society.(5) Since active and healthy older people beyond remain autonomous, they may be an important resource for their families, communities and economies. (6) Among the risk factors that influence nutritional status, the socioeconomic condition seems to strongly influence the limitation of fruits, vegetables or milk products consumption, and also the involuntary loss in weight. A study conducted in the USA, in a sample of 1.010 elderly people receiving meals at home, 24% reported not always having money to buy food.(7) There is a gap in literature relating aging with poverty, this study pretends to contribute to a better knowledge of this situation in the northeast of Portugal. The relevance of this project it is its application to a increasingly aging population, evaluate the nutritionalst atus of elderly people living in their own houses and being accompanied by old care services and study the relation with the socio-economic condition.
- Improving freshwater biodiversity assessment: application of molecular tools on preservative ethanol from macroinvertebrate bulksPublication . Martins, Filipa; Galhardo, M.; Teixeira, Amílcar; Pinheiro, Paulo; Filipe, Ana Filipa; Alves, Paulo C.; Beja, PedroTraditional biodiversity assessment methods rely on morphological identification of bioindicators species such as benthic macroinvertebrates. This is the case of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), the key legislation for the protection and sustainable use of European freshwater resources (2000/60/EC). The possibility of identifying all life stages is particularly relevant, but it requires high levels of specialization and expertise and entail procedures that are expensive and time consuming. Also, the majority of these bioindicator taxa are in their larval stage, which imposes constrains on their morphological identification at lower taxonomic levels (e.g. genus or species). Advanced molecular tools, such as metabarcoding, allow the processing of complex multi-species assemblages at greater resolution (up to species level), by combining DNA taxonomy with high-throughput DNA sequencing. Here, we demonstrate the potential use of preservative ethanol from macroinvertebrate bulk and metabarcoding tools to assess macroinvertebrate communities and biological quality of surface water bodies. We examined etanol samples collected from five macroinvertebrate bulks of Tua subbasin (Douro) and morphologically identified organisms down to the lowest practical taxonomic level. Our results showed that 60% of the taxa found in ethanol were macroinvertebrate taxa targeted by WFD, while the remaining percentage was identified as e.g. Bacteria, Stramenopiles, terrestrial invertebrates, amphibians and fishes. In comparison with morphological identification, molecular methods detected in average 70% of the WFD families and 86% of the EPTO (Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera and Odonata) families. Yet, the percentage of families matching between etanol metabarcoding and morphological identification increased when rare families (<5 individuals) were excluded (80 and 92.2% respectively) and was maximum on groups well represented in DNA reference databases, such as the order Trichoptera. Also, 113 species were successfully identified from ethanol samples but only half was detected morphologically. Ethanol metabarcoding can potentially be a faster, low-priced and more refined approach for assessing biological quality than traditional methods, by increasing taxonomic resolution and thus sensitivity of metrics to fine variations in stream Ecosystem functioning. Nevertheless, further validation is needed as well as expanding the existing DNA reference databases.
- Multiple introductions and first record of Phoxinus phoxinus in the Douro basin revealed by molecular dataPublication . Garcia-Raventós, Aina; Martins, Filipa; Magalhães, Maria Filomena; Ramião, José; Ferreira, Mário; Carona, Sara; Carvalho, Francisco; Sousa, Ronaldo; Froufe, Elsa; Teixeira, Amílcar; Varandas, Simone; Lopes-Lima, Manuel; Beja, Pedro; Filipe, Ana FilipaBiological invasions are a major threat to global biodiversity. Freshwater ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic introductions. This is the case of the minnows (Phoxinus genus), which have been used as a live bait since the 1900s. Until recently, Phoxinus phoxinus was thought to be distributed across most of the European watercourses, including the Iberian Peninsula (Ebro Basin and Cantabrian region). In 2007, these Iberian populations were identified as Phoxinus bigerri, including the traslocated populations in the Douro Basin near Burgos (Spain). Currently, little is known about the distribution of Phoxinus bigerri in the Douro Basin. During early summer 2017, we sampled 75 stream reaches using electrofishing across the Douro Basin (Portugal and Spain). We identified 267 individuals as the Pyrenean minnow P. bigerri, and we cliped and stored fin tissues from 153 individuals in 96% ethanol for DNA reference collection. Among those, 26 were barcoded for cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and cytochrome b (Cytb) genes to confirm the taxonomic identification at the species level. Results confirmed for the first time the presence of the common minnow P. phoxinus in the Douro basin, being five individuals collected in the western Douro (Portugal near Porto) closely related to populations from Adour Basin in France. The remaining 21 individuals from eastern Douro (Spain near Brugos) were identified as P. bigerri, as expected. Our study is the first record of P. phoxinus in the Douro Basin, which can be easly missidentified when using only morphologically identifications. The study highlights the value of using molecular approaches for detecting new introductions and tracking spread histories, which can be relevant for designing proper management plans. The P. phoxinus introduction in western Douro (Portugal) seem to be related with human activities (sport fisheries by Portuguese immigrants living in France) rather than geographical proximity.
- Multiple introductions and first record of Phoxinus phoxinus in the Douro basin revealed by molecular dataPublication . Garcia-Raventós, Aina; Martins, Filipa; Magalhães, Maria Filomena; Ramião, José; Ferreira, Mário; Carona, Sara; Carvalho, Francisco; Sousa, Ronaldo; Froufe, Elsa; Teixeira, Amílcar; Varandas, Simone; Lopes-Lima, Manuel; Beja, Pedro; Filipe, Ana FilipaBiological invasions are a major threat to global biodiversity. Freshwater ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic introductions, including in the Iberian Peninsula where the number of introduced species has been increasing during the last decades. This is the case of the minnows (Phoxinus genus), which have been used as a live bait since the 1900s. Until recently, Phoxinus phoxinus was thought to be distributed across most of the European watercourses, including the Iberian Peninsula in the Ebro Basin and some streams of the Cantabrian region. In 2007, these Iberian populations were identified as Phoxinus bigerri, including the traslocated populations in the Douro Basin near Burgos (Spain). Currently, little is known about the distribution of Phoxinus bigerri in the Douro Basin. During early summer 2017, we sampled 75 stream reaches using electrofishing across the Douro Basin (Portugal and Spain). We identified 267 individuals as the Pyrenean minnow P. bigerri, and we cliped and stored fin tissues from 153 individuals in 96% etanol for DNA reference collection. Among those, 26 were barcoded for cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and cytochrome b (Cytb) genes to confirm the taxonomic identification at the species level. Results confirmed, for the first time, the presence of the common minnow P. phoxinus in the Douro basin, being five individuals collected in the western Douro (Portugal near Porto) closely related to populations from Adour Basin in France. The remaining 21 individuals from eastern Douro (Spain near Brugos) were identified as P. bigerri, as expected. Our study is the first record of P. phoxinus in the Douro Basin, which can be easly missidentified when using only morphologically identifications. The study highlights the value of using molecular approaches for detecting new introductions and tracking spread histories, which can be relevant for designing proper management plans dealing with erradication, control or containemnt of invasive species. Importantly, the P. phoxinus introduction in western Douro river (Potugal) seem to be related with human activities (sport fisheries by Portuguese immigrants living in France) rather than geographical proximity.
- Multiple introductions and first record of Phoxinus phoxinus in the Douro Basin revealed by molecular dataPublication . Garcia-Raventós, Aina; Martins, Filipa; Magalhães, Maria Filomena; Ramião, José; Ferreira, Mário; Carona, Sara; Carvalho, Francisco; Sousa, Ronaldo; Froufe, Elsa; Teixeira, Amílcar; Varandas, Simone; Lopes-Lima, Manuel; Beja, Pedro; Filipe, Ana FilipaBiological invasions are a major threat to global biodiversity. Freshwater ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic introductions. This is the case of the minnows (Phoxinus genus), which have been used as a live bait since the 1900s. Until recently, Phoxinus phoxinus was thought to be distributed across most of the European watercourses, including the Iberian Peninsula (Ebro Basin and Cantabrian region). In 2007, these Iberian populations were identified as Phoxinus bigerri, including the traslocated populations in the Douro Basin near Burgos (Spain). Currently, little is known about the distribution of Phoxinus bigerri in the Douro Basin. During early summer 2017, we sampled 75 stream reaches using electrofishing across the Douro Basin (Portugal and Spain). We identified 267 individuals as the Pyrenean minnow P. bigerri, and we cliped and stored fin tissues from 153 individuals in 96% ethanol for DNA reference collection. Among those, 26 were barcoded for cytochrome oxidase I (COI) and cytochrome b (Cytb) genes to confirm the taxonomic identification at the species level. Results confirmed for the first time the presence of the common minnow P. phoxinus in the Douro basin, being five individuals collected in the western Douro (Portugal near Porto) closely related to populations from Adour Basin in France. The remaining 21 individuals from eastern Douro (Spain near Brugos) were identified as P. bigerri, as expected. Our study is the first record of P. phoxinus in the Douro Basin, which can be easly missidentified when using only morphologically identifications. The study highlights the value of using molecular approaches for detecting new introductions and tracking spread histories, which can be relevant for designing proper management plans. The P. phoxinus introduction in western Douro (Portugal) seem to be related with human activities (sport fisheries by Portuguese immigrants living in France) rather than geographical proximity.