On February 18-19, 2025, I participated in the EXPER Regional Event at TERINOV Science Park, Terceira Island, Azores, as part of the EXPER project. The event brought together academia, businesses, and public entities to foster collaboration in blue and green economy research.
I engaged in MATCH MAKING MOMENTS, dynamic sessions connecting researchers with industry stakeholders to explore potential collaborations. Discussions focused on funding opportunities, innovation, and sustainability, reinforcing the importance of strategic partnerships in advancing research impact.
For more on EXPER, visit: https://exper-project.eu
I am excited to share that my latest scientific article, titled "Application of Shape Analysis for the Identification of Pelagic Fish Stocks," has been published in the journal Hydrobiologia. This study highlights the power of otolith shape analysis techniques in identifying and differentiating fish stocks within pelagic environments, contributing valuable insights to fisheries management and conservation efforts.
You can access the article through this link: here
From January 13th to 17th, I had the pleasure of conducting a research stay in Madeira (Portugal). This stay provided an incredible opportunity to advance one of my current research projects, which focuses on a fascinating marine species.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Dr. Pedro Neves for his invaluable support in acquiring the specimens needed for this study. I am also deeply thankful to Dr. Manuel Biscoito for granting me access to the laboratory at the Marine Station of Funchal, which served as an excellent facility for my research activities.
Madeira’s unique marine environment continues to inspire my work, and I look forward to sharing more about this project as it unfolds.
I’m excited to announce the publication of the article, "Twenty Years of AFORO: New Developments and Connections Enhancing Otolith Research", in Fisheries Research on December 6, 2024.
The paper highlights the advancements in AFORO (Anàlisi de FORmes d’Otòlits) over the past two decades. Key developments include improvements in otolith shape classification using Wavelet transforms, 3D otolith descriptions, and geographic filters. These enhancements allow for more accurate predator-prey studies and classification of otoliths. Additionally, the introduction of Deep Learning algorithms promises to advance classification further.
Read the full article here
Since October 30, I have been working in Doha, Qatar, as part of an Erasmus+ fellowship, collaborating with Dr. Pedro Range from Qatar University. This opportunity has allowed me to engage in exciting research while exchanging ideas with an international team.
Despite the challenges of being far from home, I’ve embraced the experience wholeheartedly, dedicating time to our project even on weekends from my hotel. This fellowship not only underscores the importance of international academic collaboration but also provides a unique platform to broaden my research horizons.
I look forward to sharing the results of this productive partnership in the coming months.
New Research on Wavelet Methods for Otolith Contour Studies accepted in Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries
We are pleased to announce that the article titled "Choosing Wavelet Methods for Otolith Contour Studies" by Dr. Joana Vasconcelos and colleagues has been accepted for publication in the prestigious journal Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries.
This study presents a comparative analysis of wavelet-based methods for identifying populations and phenotypes. Specifically, it contrasts the results from the shapeR package with the AFORO methodology, both widely used in fisheries science. The blue jack mackerel (Trachurus picturatus) was selected as the focal species for this research, offering valuable insights into its population structure.
The findings from this study are expected to make a significant contribution to the field, providing researchers with a clearer understanding of how to select the most suitable method for otolith contour analysis. Stay tuned for the article’s release to uncover the full details and implications of this innovative research!
New Research Publication: "Rising Temperatures, Falling Fisheries: Causes and Consequences of Crossing the Tipping Point in a Small-Pelagic Community"
We are thrilled to announce the publication of our latest research article, titled "Rising Temperatures, Falling Fisheries: Causes and Consequences of Crossing the Tipping Point in a Small-Pelagic Community," in the esteemed journal Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries.
This study, published today, addresses the profound impacts of global climate change on marine species, communities, and ecosystems, with a particular focus on small pelagic fish. These species serve as valuable indicators for detecting regime shifts in fish stocks due to their swift and measurable responses to changes in oceanic conditions.
Published in a journal with an impressive impact factor of 5.9, this work contributes vital knowledge to the ongoing discourse on climate change and marine biodiversity.
We invite you to explore the full article (here.) to delve into the detailed analyses and insights that underpin our conclusions.
Thank you for your support and happy reading! 🐟📖
New article publushed in Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
I'm thrilled to share that my latest research article has just been published online today in ScienceDirect! 🎉 The article is titled: "Phenotypic response of a geographically expanding species, Scomber colias: Clues in the fish otolith shape".
In this study, we delve into the fascinating world of the Atlantic chub mackerel, Scomber colias, and explore how its otolith shape—those tiny, intricate ear bones—reveals crucial insights about its adaptation and expansion. Our findings offer new perspectives on the phenotypic responses of this species as it navigates changing environments.
Curious to know more? Dive into the full article here: Read the Article.
Between July 10th and 12th, the IX International Symposium on Marine Science took place in Valencia, Spain. Dr. Vasconcelos presented a poster on "Phenotypic Plasticity in the Otolith Contour of Blackbelly Rosefish, Helicolenus dactylopterus (Delaroche, 1809), in Response to Environmental Factors".
On June 28, 2024, my master's student, Olivia Martinéz, successfully defended her final master's thesis on "Unravelling the key environmental drivers in the limpets of a highly anthropogenised region" with distinction, earning a score of 9.8 out of 10. I couldn't be more pleased and happy with all her hard work and accomplishments.
This work was funded in part by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT).
We took our international studens from the Erasmus Mundus Master's Program in Islands and Sustainability to camp at Ervatão in Boa Vista, Cape Verde, where they helped monitor sea turtles alongside Cabo Verde Natura 2000.
Our LAPACOM project, funded by FCT, was highlighted on a local radio station in the Canary Islands. Dr. Rodrigo Riera, the Co-Principal Investigator, discussed "The Survival of the Lapa, a Small Giant of the Sea" on the Explora Podcast.
I am currently participating in a 3-week scientific research project at the Institute of Coastal Research (Kustlaboratoriet) within the
Department of Aquatic Resources (SLU Aqua) as part of an Erasmus+ fellowship. Under the mentorship of Dr. Yvette Limburg,
I am focusing on studying the otolith shape of the cod (Gadus morhua), one of the Baltic Sea's most valuable species.
This opportunity is made possible through the EU's Erasmus+ program, which aims to support education, training, youth, and sport initiatives across Europe.
Since my research visit in November 2023 at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, under the guidance of Dr. Karin Limburg, I've been diligently working on our fascinating project on the American Shad, Alosa sapidissima, in every spare moment between lectures and student supervision.
The histological examination of the gonads from the species Patella aspera and Patella crenata for Pablo's final Degree Thesis is progressing remarkably well. Within just 1 to 2 weeks, we have successfully embedded 57 gonads in paraffin and conducted histological cuts on 15 of them. This accomplishment was made possible by the tremendous support from the Master's student, Alberto Rodríguez Díaz.
We are delighted to welcome Fabiana Rosano as our new member. During her tenure, which spans 4 months as part of an Erasmus+ Scholarship, she will collaborate with our team. Under the supervision of Dr. Víctor Tuset and myself, she will focus on practical work involving otolith contour analysis and geometric morphometrics in species of the genus Trachurus.
We initiated the histological procedure to examine the gonads of limpets from the species Patella aspera and Patella crenata, with the aim of assessing their fecundity.
We are delighted to welcome Rita Santana as our new member. Her degree work focuses on "Intraspecific variability in otoliths of Helicolenus dactilopterus from the NE Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea."
Today, Olivia resumed capturing and sampling limpets for morphometric analysis and histology, while María has initiated the process of capturing images of the otoliths collected in the recent samplings.
Olivia is moving ahead quickly with the practical work for her Master's thesis. She has just taken photographs of the shells of the limpet species Patella aspera and P. crenata (formerly P. candei).
With the invaluable and meticulous assistance of Dr. Karin Limburg in cleaning the otoliths, we concluded this scientific stay @ESF_SUNY by acquiring 1234 photos of American Shad otoliths captured from Florida to Canada.
From the 5th to the 14th, Dr. Joana Vasconcelos will be conducting research at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry under the supervision of Dr. Karin Limburg. The primary objective of this study is to gain insights into how populations of the American Shad, Alosa sapidissima, in key large rivers have responded to environmental changes by analyzing the contour of their otoliths. The funding for this research stay was provided by the ERASMUS+ Program.
From the 24th to the 26th, Dr. Joana Vasconcelos visited the SLU-Aqua headquarters in Uppsala. The purpose of this trip was to collaborate on a joint project proposal with the researcher Dr. Yvette Heimbrand.
The seventh edition of the International Otolith Symposium took place in Viña del Mar (Chile) between 9 and 13 October.
Two posters were presented on the use of wavelets in the study of otolith contours and species identification.
Today we welcomed Pablo Jesús Angulo Falcón, a student at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. He will be doing his externship and final degree work with supervisor Dr Joana Vasconcelos.
On September 26th, we initiated laboratory practical work as part of the external practicals and final degree project for María Cirera Díaz, a student at the University of Las Palmas of Gran Canaria. She will be working with her supervisor, Dr. Joana Vasconcelos, on the project titled "Application of Morphometry and Shape Analysis in Coastal Stock Identification".
On 19 September, we began the practical work in the field and laboratory as part of the external practicals and final Master's work of Olivia Martínez Ruiz, a student at the University of Coruña. The student recently joined the University of Las Palmas of Gran Canaria to work with her supervisors, Dr Rodrigo Riera and Dr Joana Vasconcelos.
6-7 September 2023, University of Groningen, Netherland
University of Groningen - Faculty of Spatial Sciences 1st and 2nd Research Master Students (including the ISLANDS MSc) and teaching staff (also from ISLANDS MSc consortium universities: University of Groningen, University of the Aegean, University of Las Palmas of Gran Canaria and University of Iceland).
6-7 September 2023, University of Groningen, Netherland
On the 7th, Dr. Vasconcelos presented a talk on "The primary sector in touristic islands: the case of artisanal fisheries in Madeira" in the scope of ISLANDS, the international joint research Master programme (Erasmus Mundus) of the University of Groningen, the University of the Aegean, the University of Iceland and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC).
This Conference took place at the University of Groningen between 6-7 September 2023.
6-7 September 2023, University of Groningen, Netherland
In the scope of ISLANDS, a new international joint research Master programme (Erasmus Mundus) of the University of Groningen, the University of the Aegean, the University of Iceland and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), Dr. Joana Vasconcelos and Dr. Rodrigo Riera from the IU-ECOAQUA ULPGC, were invited by Prof. Dr. Dimitris Ballas (Faculty of Spatial Sciences at the University of Groningen), as Keynotes in the 1st ISLANDS Conference.
This Conference will take place at the University of Groningen between 6-7 September 2023.
On June 2nd, Dr. Vasconcelos has been granted an Erasmus+ scholarship for training purposes by ULPGC.
This scholarship will enable Dr. Vasconcelos to undertake a 5-day scientific visit at The State University of New York (SUNY), College of Environmental Science and Forestry in the United States of America. During this visit, she will collaborate with Distinguished Professor Dr. Karin Limburg, a highly esteemed scientist in the field of fisheries ecology.
Dr. Limburg boasts an impressive publication record with over 150 papers, an h-index of 45, and more than 41,000 citations (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3716-8555).
On May 22nd, the paper on the "Fecundity, an overlooked life-history trait for coastal management of commercial molluscs?" was published online in the Journal Frontiers in Marine Science 10 (doi: 10.3389/fmars.2023.1173629).
This work was funded by funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under the Project "Metacommunity dynamics of complex life cycle species in exploited ecosystems" (LAPACOM, EXPL/MAT-APL/0262/2021).
Here, we use fecundity of two exploited limpets (Patella ordinaria and P. aspera) to demonstrate its potential as a conservation tool to preserve the harvested populations of both species.
Between May 8th and 12nd, the 4rd meeting and workshop of the Project LAPACOM, funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), is taking place at the Polivalente II building of the Parque Cientifico y Tecnologico of University of Las Palmas of Gran Canaria (ULPGC).
On May 2nd, the paper on the "Fecundity, an overlooked life-history trait for coastal management of commercial molluscs?" was accepted for publication in the Journal Frontiers in Marine Science (doi: 10.3389/fmars.2023.1173629).
This work was funded by funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under the Project "Metacommunity dynamics of complex life cycle species in exploited ecosystems" (LAPACOM, EXPL/MAT-APL/0262/2021).
Here, we use fecundity of two exploited limpets (Patella ordinaria and P. aspera) to demonstrate its potential as a conservation tool to preserve the harvested populations of both species.
Between March 27th and 31st, the 3rd meeting and workshop of the Project "Metacommunity dynamics of complex life cycle species in exploited ecosystems" (LAPACOM, EXPL/MAT-APL/0262/2021), funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), is taking place at the "NEXO" building of the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC).
Are participating in this meeting, the researchers Dr. Joana Vasconcelos (UMa/ULPGC, Portugal/Spain), Dr. Rodrigo Riera (ULPGC, Spain), Dr. Carlos Melián (EAWAG, Switzerland) and the fellow Eros Geppi (ULPGC, Spain).
On March 22, researchers Dr. Joana Vasconcelos (BIOCON, ULPGC), Dr. Víctor Tuset (IOCAG, ULPGC), Dr. Alba Jurado-Ruzafa (IEO, CSIC) and Dr. Antoni Lombarte (ICM-CSIC) met at the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to prepare the contributions to be presented at the 7th Otolith Symposium. One of these presentations is part of the LAPACOM project (EXPL/MAT-APL/0262/2021) funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).
Following task 2 (Fecundity estimation) of the LAPACOM project approved by FCT (EXPL/MAT-APL/0262/2021), the first scientific article was published online in "Fecundity strategy of the highly exploited limpet Patella ordinaria from an oceanic archipelago".
With the aim of preparing and carrying out practical activities that mobilize knowledge from Biological Sciences, adapting them to the cognitive level of students and to the programs of the 1st and 2nd Cycles of Basic Education, students of the 3rd year of the Course in Basic Education at the University of Madeira (Curricular Unit Study of the Environment V), demonstrated their activities to students of the 2nd Cycle of the Basic School of the 2nd and 3rd Cycles Horácio Bento de Gouveia (HBG).
On November 15, the activity "Frequecy of beatings of cirri of barnacles of the spceies Megabalanus azoricus (Crustacea: CIRRIPEDIA) as a function of temperatureE" organized jointly with MARE-Madeira. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr. Patrício Ramalhosa in setting up the experience and providing support on the day of the activity.
Between November 7-11 2022, Dr. Alba Jurado-Ruzafa presented the poster communication "Using Otolith Phenotipic Variability to Infer Potential Population Differences of Scomber colias in the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea" in the Small Pelagic Fish: New Frontiers in Science and Sustainable Management in behalf of all co-authors.
With the aim of preparing and carrying out practical activities that mobilize knowledge from Biological Sciences, adapting them to the cognitive level of students and to the programs of the 1st and 2nd Cycles of Basic Education, students of the 3rd year of the Course in Basic Education at the University of Madeira (Curricular Unit Study of the Environment V), will demonstrate their activities to students of the 2nd Cycle of the Basic School of the 2nd and 3rd Cycles Horácio Bento de Gouveia (HBG).
As part of the Biosystematics subject of the 1st year of the Biology Course at the University of Madeira, the students went to the Lota do Funchal (Regional Directorate of Fisheries) where they took photographs of fish of different species to analyze their body shape.
As part of the Zoology I course unit, some fieldwork was carried out on October 12th. In this activity, Dr. Rodrigo Riera,
Professor at the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and partner in the LAPACOM Project gave a small lecture and showed how to sample epifauna from algae.
The International Sclerochronology Conference (vISC) takes place between the 13th and 15th of September, with a special focus on community networking and early-career research. On the 13th, Dr. Vasconcelos presented a lightning talk
and a poster with the preliminary results of an ongoing study on "WHO IS WHO? OTOLITH SHAPE ANALYSIS TO DIFFERENTIATE TWO EXTERNALLY IDENTICAL SCABBARDFISH (APHANOPUS SPP.)."
The second meeting of the project LAPACOM was held in the EAWAG headquarters in Horw (Lucerne, Switzerland) during August.
This meeting concurred with a workshop organized by Dr. C. Melián from EAWAG. Several researchers participated in this event, Dr. Joana Vasconcelos (UMa), Dr. Rodrigo Riera (ULPGC), Dr. Ali Vahdati (University of Zurich) and Dr. Victor M. Eguíluz (IFISC (CSIC-UIB).
Between 6-8 July 2022, Dr Joana Vasconcelos (Universisity of Madeira) and Dr. Rodrigo Riera (Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) attended the International Symposium on Artisanal and Recreational Fishing
in Islands Systems: Assessment, Vulnerabilities and Management (ISARFIS) to present some of the preliminary results on the fecundity of the limpet P. ordinaria, an issue included in a broader study that explores complex life cycles in metacommunities in order to predict future scenarios in human-exploited and fragmented ecosystems (LAPACOM Project, FCT).
Open call for the attribution of 1 Research Grant, to a student accepted in a master's degree, within the scope of the LAPACOM project that is financed by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, I.P.) through national funds.
Open call for the attribution of a Scientific Initiation Scholarship, for undergraduate students, within the scope of the LAPACOM Project, financed by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT, I.P.), through national funds.
Lecture “A day in the life of a Researcher” at the Horácio Bento de Gouveia School (Funchal, Madeira, Portugal), within the scientific outreach activities foreseen in the R&D Project approved by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), “Metacommunity dynamics of complex life cycle species in exploited ecosystems” (EXPL/MAT-APL/0262/2021). The invited speakers of this lecture were Dr. Rodrigo Riera (ULPGC), Dr. Carlos Melian (EAWAG) and Dr. Ali Vahdati (University of Zurich).
On the January 26th, at the University of Madeira (Edifício da Penteada), a series of lectures were given by researchers of the project entitled “Dynamics of metacommunities of species with complex life cycles in explored ecosystems (LAPACOM, EXPL/MAT-APL/0262/2021)”.
The 1st Kick-off meeting of the LAPACOM project supported by the Portuguese national funds through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia I.P. (FCT, EXPL/MAT-APL/0262/2021), is taking place between 24 and 28/01/2022 at the University of Madeira with representatives of the Institutions participating in the project, namely, Dr. Rodrigo Riera (ULPGC, Spain, Co-PI), Dr. Carlos Melián (EAWAG, Switzerland), Dr. Ali Vahdati (University of Zurich) and Dr. Ricardo Sousa (Regional Directorate for the Sea).
