|
:: Current research projects
The pelagic realm of the deep sea surrounding Madeira and
the Selvagens stretches in a vast oceanic area with little
human use and exploration. The way these ecosystems function
and how they are structured are central questions that remain
unknown. Here, important nesting colonies of seabirds are
found, but little is known about their feeding areas, prey
and interactive competitors. Work addressing these questions
has been mainly performed on Cory´s shearwater Calonectris
diomedea using morphological stomach content analysis and,
recently, GPS tracking. While important feeding areas and
interactions to other predators have been already shown for
this species, no information on the feeding habitats of predator
communities is available.
My research aims to provide new insights into the functioning
and dynamics of these ecosystems, by specifically addressing
predator prey interactions of seabird and fish communities
using DNA based methodologies and GPS to assess the diet composition,
foraging areas and trophic positions of these top-predators.
FCT grant: SFRH/BD/73656/2010
|
