ROCÍO PÉREZ PORTELA
Post-doctoral fellow

E-mail: rportela@ispa.pt
Phone: + 351 21 8811700
Fax: + 351 21 8860954

Curriculum vitae

Identifying the influence of reproductive modes and larval development of marine benthonic species is important to understand the distribution of genetic diversity of species and the patterns of connectivity and gene flow among populations. However, other biological and physical factors, both past and present, are also involved in patterning the genetic structure and variation among populations.

The main objective of the present project is identifying contemporaneous and demographic historical events, based on the analysis of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences, modelling the genetic structure of benthic invertebrates occurring along the shores of the Iberian Peninsula, Madeira and Azores. We are particularly interested in comparing the connectivity, the phylogeography and historical demography of populations of closely related species of neogastropods (Nucella lapillus and Hinia reticulata), starfish and sea anemones that differ in their larval development, degree of parental care, egg protection and level of asexual reproduction (in the case of the cnidarians). We also want to explore how climatic and geographic events have been involved in speciation processes.

Funded by: FCT-SFRH/BPD/41055/2007

:: Publications

Riesgo, A., Arroyo NL & Pérez-Portela R. (In press). Spatial distribution of the Halacarid mites associated to the North-Atlantic kelp Laminaria ochroleuca. Journal of the Marine Biological Association.

Pérez-Portela, R., Villamor, A. & V. Almada. 2010. Phylogeography of the sea star Marthasterias glacialis (Asteroidea, Echinodermata): Deep genetic divergence between mitochondrial lineages in the North-western Mediterranean. Marine Biology 157(9): 2015-2028. DOI: 10.1007/s00227-010-1470-0.

Almada V. C., Pérez-Portela R., Robalo J. I. & Brito, A. 2009. Phylogenetic relationships of Gymnothorax bacalladoi Böhlke and Brito 1987 a poorly known moray of the Macaronesian islands. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 52: 252–256. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2009.01.007.

Pérez-Portela R, Bishop J, Davis A & Turon X. 2009. Phylogeny of the families Pyuridae and Styelidae (Stolidobranchiata, Ascidiacea) inferred from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 50: 560- 570.

Pérez-Portela R. & Turon X. 2008. Cryptic divergence and strong population structure in the colonial invertebrate Pycnoclavella communis (Ascidiacea) inferred from molecular data. Zoology, 111:163-178.

Pérez-Portela R & Turon X. 2008. Phylogenetic relationships of the Clavelinidae and Pycnoclavellidae (Ascidiacea) inferred from mtDNA data. Invertebrate Biology, 127:108-120.

Pérez-Portela R & Turon X. 2007. Prey preferences of the polyclad flatworm Prostheceraeus roseus among Mediterranean species of the ascidian genus Pycnoclavella. Hydrobiologia, 592:535–539.

Pérez-Portela R., Duran S., Palacín C., Turon X. 2007. Biological traits of three closely related species of Pycnoclavella (Ascidiacea) in the Western Mediterranean. Marine Biology, 152:1031–1038.

Pérez-Portela R., Duran S., Palacín C., Turon X. 2007. The Genus Pycnoclavella (Ascidiacea) in the Atlanto-Mediterranean region: a combined molecular and morphological approach. Invertebrate Systematics 21: 187-205.

Pérez-Portela R., Duran S., Estoup A., Turon X. 2006. Polymorphic microsatellite loci isolated from the Atlanto-Mediterranean colonial ascidian Pycnoclavella sp. (Ascidiacea, Tunicata). Molecular Ecology Notes 6: 518-520.

Arroyo N. L., Maldonado M., Pérez-Portela R., Benito J. 2004. Distribution patterns of meiofauna associated with a sublittoral Laminaria bed in the Cantabrian Sea (North-eastern Atlantic). Marine Biology 144: 231- 242.