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The number of marine protected areas (MPAs) has increased dramatically in the last decade and poses a major logistic challenge for conservation practitioners in terms of spatial extent and the multiplicity of habitats and biotopes that now require assessment. Photographic assessment by autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) enables the consistent description of multiple habitats, in our case including mosaics of rock and sediment. As a case study, we used this method to survey the Greater Haig Fras marine conservation zone (Celtic Sea, northeast Atlantic). We distinguished 7 biotopes, detected statistically significant variations in standing stocks, species density, species diversity, and faunal composition, and identified significant indicator species for each habitat. Our results demonstrate that AUV-based photography can produce robust data for ecological research and practical marine conservation. Standardizing to a minimum number of individuals per sampling unit, rather than to a fixed seafloor area, may be a valuable means of defining an ecologically appropriate sampling unit. Although composite sampling represents a change in standard practice, other users should consider the potential benefits of this approach in conservation studies. It is broadly applicable in the marine environment and has been successfully implemented in deep-sea conservation and environmental impact studies. Without a cost-effective method, applicable across habitats, it will be difficult to further a coherent classification of biotopes or to routinely assess their conservation status in the rapidly expanding global extent of MPAs. El número de áreas marinas protegidas (AMP) ha incrementado dramáticamente en la última década y ahora presenta un gran reto logístico para quienes practican la conservación en términos de extensión espacial y la multitud de hábitats y biotopos que ahora requieren ser evaluados. La evaluación fotográfica por medio de vehículos submarinos autónomos (VSA) habilita la descripción constante de múltiples hábitats, y en nuestro caso incluso mosaicos de rocas y sedimento. Como estudio de caso usamos este método para censar la zona marina de conservación de Greater Haig Fras (Mar Celta, noreste del Atlántico). En él distinguimossiete biotopos; detectamos variaciones estadísticamente significativas en el stock permanente, la densidad de especies, la diversidad de especies y la composición faunística; e identificamos especies indicadoras significativas para cada hábitat. Nuestros resultados demuestranque la fotografía basada en VSA puede producir datos sólidos para la investigación ecológica y la conservación marina práctica. La estandarización a unnúmero mínimode individuosporunidad de muestreo, en lugar de a un área fija del fondo marino, puede ser un recurso valioso para definir una unidad de muestreo ecológicamente adecuada. Aunque el muestreo compuesto representa un cambio en la práctica habitual, otros usuarios deberían considerar los beneficios potenciales de esta estrategia en los estudios de conservación. Este método puede aplicarse de manera generalizada en el ambiente marino y ha sido implementado exitosamente en la conservación y en estudios de impacto ambiental en mares profundos. Si no existe un método rentable, aplicable en todos los hábitats, será difícil avanzar hacia una clasificación coherente de los biotopos o hacia una evaluación rutinaria de su estado de conservación en la extensión mundial de rápida expansión de las AMP. 海洋保护区的数量在过去+ 年中急剧增加，这在空间尺度和目前需要评估的物种生境及群落生境多样性 的方面，对保护工作者的管理工作都提出了重大挑战。自动潜航器的影像评估可以对多种生境类型进行统一的 描述，在本研究的案例中就包括含有岩石和沉积物的镶嵌型生境。本研究用上述方法调查了位于大西洋东北部 凯尔特海的 Greater Haig Fras 海洋保护区。我们区分出七种群落生境，它们在物种总量、物种密度、物种多样 性和动物群组成上都有统计学上显著的差异；我们同时也找出了每种生境的重要指示性物种。研究结果表明， 自动潜航器拍摄的影像可以为生态学研究和海洋保护实践提供可靠的数据。对每个采样单位的最小个体数进 行标准化（而不是对固定的海底区域进行标准化X 可能是确定合适的生态学采样单位的重要方法。虽然这种综 合采样的方法在标准做法的基础上有所改变，但其他使用者也应考虑到它在保护研究中潜在的好处。这个方法 广泛适用于各种海洋环境，并已成功应用于深海保护和环境影响研究。如果没有这样一种适用于不同生境的经 济有效的方法，就很难进一步对群落生境进行统一分类，也难以定期评估全球迅速扩增的海洋保护区的保护现 状。

First published in 1930. 'The book is full of splendour and strange scenes' NationThe Relations of Fernão Guerreiro, from which the three narratives in this volume have been taken, constitute a complete history of the missionary undertakings of the Society of Jesus in the East Indies, China, Japan and Africa during the first decade of the seventeenth century. The work was compiled from the annual letters and reports sent to Europe from the various missionary centres. The original work, which until this edition was published in 1930, had never been reprinted. The only complete copy exists in the British Museum Library, in London.

This article aims to study the still ongoing process of resettlement of the village of Bento Rodrigues, in Mariana, Brazil, from the Fundão tailings dam rupture moment, through the temporary resettlement solution proposed in the city of Mariana, and finally the approval of the new settlement’s urban design in 2018, more than two years after the disaster. In 2022, more than six years after the disaster, the community has not been resettled yet. Through varied literature research, we will discuss the resettlement process of this community by analyzing the community’s participation in it, the urban design process and two of the urban design solutions presented for the new settlement. Through the study of this resettlement process, it will be possible to identify some key factors that have influenced it and that can significantly influence the success or lack thereof of whole community resettlement operations of forcibly displaced people.

Primary production in the eutrophic Baltic Sea is limited by nitrogen availability; hence denitrification (natural transformation of nitrate to gaseous N₂ ) in the sediments is crucial in mitigating the effects of eutrophication. This study shows that dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) process, where nitrogen is not removed but instead recycled in the system, dominates nitrate reduction in low oxygen conditions (O₂ <110 μM), which have been persistent in the central Gulf of Finland during the past decade. The nitrogen removal rates measured in this study show that nitrogen removal has decreased in the Gulf of Finland compared to rates measured in mid-1990s and the decrease is most likely caused by the increased bottom water hypoxia.

Increasing anthropogenic pressures urge enhanced knowledge and understanding of the current state of marine biodiversity. This baseline information is pivotal to explore present trends, detect future modifications and propose adequate management actions for marine ecosystems. Coralligenous outcrops are a highly diverse and structurally complex deep-water habitat faced with major threats in the Mediterranean Sea. Despite its ecological, aesthetic and economic value, coralligenous biodiversity patterns are still poorly understood. There is currently no single sampling method that has been demonstrated to be sufficiently representative to ensure adequate community assessment and monitoring in this habitat. Therefore, we propose a rapid non-destructive protocol for biodiversity assessment and monitoring of coralligenous outcrops providing good estimates of its structure and species composition, based on photographic sampling and the determination of presence/absence of macrobenthic species. We used an extensive photographic survey, covering several spatial scales (100s of m to 100s of km) within the NW Mediterranean and including 2 different coralligenous assemblages: Paramuricea clavata (PCA) and Corallium rubrum assemblage (CRA). This approach allowed us to determine the minimal sampling area for each assemblage (5000 cm2 for PCA and 2500 cm2 for CRA). In addition, we conclude that 3 replicates provide an optimal sampling effort in order to maximize the species number and to assess the main biodiversity patterns of studied assemblages in variability studies requiring replicates. We contend that the proposed sampling approach provides a valuable tool for management and conservation planning, monitoring and research programs focused on coralligenous outcrops, potentially also applicable in other benthic ecosystems.

Climate change and land use and land cover (LULC) change are impacting the species’ geographic distribution, causing range shifts and reducing suitable habitats. Asphodelus bento-rainhae subsp. bento-rainhae (AbR) is an endangered endemic plant restricted to Serra da Gardunha (Portugal), and knowledge of those changes will help to design conservation measures. MaxEnt was used to model AbR’s current distribution and project it into the future, 2050, using the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway SSP3-7. The Portuguese LULC maps from 1951–1980, 1995, 2007, and 2018 were used to assess and quantify LULC changes over time. The results showed that the AbR current predicted distribution matches its actual known distribution, which will not be affected by future predicted climate change. The significant LULC changes were observed during the study periods 1951–1980 to 2018, particularly between 1951–1980 and 1995. Scrubland and Agriculture decreased by 5% and 2.5%, respectively, and Forests increased by 4% in the study area. In the occurrence area, Agriculture increased, and Forests decreased between 1980 and 2018, due to Orchard expansion (34%) and declines in Chestnut (16.9%) and Pine (11%) areas, respectively. The use of species distribution models and the LULC change analysis contributed to understanding current and future species distribution. The LULC changes will have a significant impact on future species distribution. To prevent the extinction of this endemic species in the future, it is crucial to implement conservation measures, namely species monitoring, replantation, and germplasm conservation, in addition to guidelines for habitat conservation.

As part of a biodiversity study on intertidal invertebrates, several sea anemones from the west coast of the Baja California Peninsula were collected in June 2016. The taxonomic features of four specimens agree well with those of the species Anthopleura radians, a recently described sea anemone from northern Chile. This study is the first published report on this species outside the range of distribution documented in the original description, including new images of A. radians’ external and internal features and complete characterization of their cnidae. Differences between A. radians from other species of the genus reported from the eastern Pacific are also discussed.

Background/Aim: Obese individuals are often said to eat fast. Given that obese individuals are often reported to consume fast food more frequently, we hypothesized that fast food can be eaten more quickly. This study aimed to examine the effects of meal type on meal duration, considering meal sequence. Methods: Meal duration, number of chews and bites, and chewing tempo were measured among 41 participants (18 males, 23 females; average age, 41.1 years) using two meals: pizza (301 kcal) and hamburger steak bento (hamburger, rice and broccoli, 304 kcal; two eating sequences: vegetables first or last). Results: Compared with pizza, bento meals (vegetables first or last) were associated with longer meal durations (sec) (mean differences in pizza-bento (vegetable first): −182 [−245.6, −118.9], p < 0.0001; pizza-bento (vegetables last): −216.0 [−273.3, −158.7], p < 0.0001). In contrast, no differences in meal duration (sec) were observed regardless of the order of vegetable consumption (p = 0.14). These findings were consistent with the number of chews and chewing tempos across both sexes. The number of bites was similar among pizza, bento (vegetable fast), and bento (vegetable last). Meal duration was positively associated with the number of chews and bites and meal type and negatively associated with age and sex. BMI was not associated with meal duration. Conclusions: Meal type affected meal duration, the number of chews, and the chewing tempo, independent of meal sequence. To eat more slowly, it is important to pay attention to the meal type.

Root tubers of Asphodelus bento-rainhae subsp. bento-rainhae (AbR), a vulnerable endemic species, and Asphodelus macrocarpus subsp. macrocarpus (AmR) have traditionally been used in Portugal to treat inflammatory and infectious skin disorders. The present study aims to evaluate the in vitro antimicrobial activity of crude 70% and 96% hydroethanolic extracts of both medicinal plants, specifically against multidrug-resistant skin-related pathogens, to identify the involved marker secondary metabolites and also to assess the pre-clinical toxicity of these medicinal plant extracts. Bioguided fractionation of the 70% hydroethanolic extracts of both species using solvents of increasing polarity, namely diethyl ether (DEE: AbR-1, AmR-1), ethyl acetate (AbR-2, AmR-2) and aqueous (AbR-3, AmR-3) fractions, enabled the identification of the DEE fractions as the most active against all the tested Gram-positive microorganisms (MIC: 16 to 1000 µg/mL). Furthermore, phytochemical analyses using TLC and LC-UV/DAD-ESI/MS techniques revealed the presence of anthracene derivatives as the main constituents of DEE fractions, and five known compounds, namely 7′-(chrysophanol-4-yl)-chrysophanol-10’-C-beta-D-xylopyranosyl-anthrone (p), 10,7′-bichrysophanol (q), chrysophanol (r), 10-(chrysophanol-7′-yl)-10-hydroxychrysophanol-9-anthrone (s) and asphodelin (t), were identified as the main marker compounds. All these compounds showed high antimicrobial activity, particularly against Staphylococcus epidermidis (MIC: 3.2 to 100 µg/mL). Importantly, no cytotoxicity against HepG2 and HaCaT cells (up to 125 µg/mL) for crude extracts of both species and genotoxicity (up to 5000 µg/mL, with and without metabolic activation) for AbR 96% hydroethanolic extract was detected using the MTT and Ames tests, respectively. Overall, the obtained results contribute to the concrete validation of the use of these medicinal plants as potential sources of antimicrobial agents in the treatment of skin diseases.