Facultad de Ciencias

Seminario del 11 de noviembre de 2022

Seminario Departamento de Biología. María Belén Arias Mella (University of Essex, UK)

The advent of genomics is opening exciting new opportunities to study how species establish, maintain, and connect their populations. This information provides an opportunity to develop suitable management or/and conservation strategies for the species studied. 

The first study case will focus on a comprehensive approach including population genomics and microbial diversity, to investigate the gene flow patterns, origin, and routes of cross-continent colonization pathways of the worldwide distributed agriculture pest, Ceratitis capitata (medfly).

The second part of this talk will focus on deep-sea cold-water corals and sponges. It is known that their colonies create three-dimensional structures, providing crucial complex habitat for many marine species enhancing local biodiversity. However, it is known they are currently under threat by different anthropogenic activities (i.e., bottom-contact fisheries), which highlights the necessity of conservation strategies for these unique ecosystems. Here, I will discuss results on how used the genetic diversity, dispersal, gene flow, and population connectivity information to consider in the design of ecologically relevant networks of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean. 

 
Finally, I will present results of a novel methodology using the natural filter capacity that characterised sponges to assess and monitoring the biodiversity associated to sponge grounds in the North Atlantic.