Browsing by Author "Barbosa, Andres"

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    Chinstrap penguin population genetic structure: one or more populations along the Southern Ocean?
    (2018) Mura-Jornet, Isidora; Pimentel, Carolina; Dantas, Gisele P. M.; Petry, Maria Virginia; Gonzalez-Acuna, Daniel; Barbosa, Andres; Lowther, Andrew D.; Kovacs, Kit M.; Poulin, Elie; Vianna, Juliana
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    Shifting Perspectives in Polar Research: Global Lessons on the Barriers and Drivers for Securing Academic Careers in Natural Sciences
    (2021) Figuerola, Blanca; Valiente, Nicolas; Barbosa, Andres; Brasier, Madeleine J.; Colominas-Ciuro, Roger; Convey, Peter; Liggett, Daniela; Fernandez-Martinez, Miguel Angel; Gonzalez, Sergi; Griffiths, Huw J.; Jawak, Shridhar D.; Merican, Faradina; Noll, Daly; Prudencio, Janire; Quaglio, Fernanda; Pertierra, Luis R.
    The polar regions provide valuable insights into the functioning of the Earth's regulating systems. Conducting field research in such harsh and remote environments requires strong international cooperation, extended planning horizons, sizable budgets and long-term investment. Consequently, polar research is particularly vulnerable to societal and economic pressures during periods of austerity. The global financial crisis of 2008, and the ensuing decade of economic slowdown, have already adversely affected polar research, and the current COVID-19 pandemic has added further pressure. In this article we present the outcomes of a community survey that aimed to assess the main barriers and success factors identified by academic researchers at all career stages in response to these global crises. The survey results indicate that the primary barriers faced by polar early and mid-career researchers (EMCRs) act at institutional level, while mitigating factors are developed at individual and group levels. Later career scientists report pressure toward taking early retirement as a means of institutions saving money, reducing both academic leadership and the often unrecognized but vital mentor roles that many play. Gender and social inequalities are also perceived as important barriers. Reorganization of institutional operations and more effective strategies for long-term capacity building and retaining of talent, along with reduction in non-research duties shouldered by EMCRs, would make important contributions toward ensuring continued vitality and innovation in the polar research community.
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    TerrANTALife 1.0 Biodiversity data checklist of known Antarctic terrestrial and freshwater life forms
    (Springer, 2024) Pertierra, Luis R.; Varliero, Gilda; Barbosa, Andres; Biersma, Elisabeth M.; Convey, Peter; Chown, Steven L.; Cowan, Don; De Los Rios, Asuncion; Escribano-Alvarez, Pablo; Fontaneto, Diego; Fraser, Ceridwen; Harris, Mathew; Hughes, Kevin; Griffiths, Huw; le Roux, Peter; Liu, Xiaoyue P.; Lynch, Heather; Majewska, Roksana; Martinez, Pablo A.; Molina-Montenegro, Marco; Olalla-Tarraga, Miguel A.; Peck, Lloyd; Quesada, Antonio; Ronquillo, Cristina; Ropert-Coudert, Yan; Sancho, Leopoldo; Terauds, Aleks; Vianna, Juliana; Wilmotte, Annick; Hortal, Joaquin; Greve, Michelle; CEDEUS (Chile)
    Background Incomplete species inventories for Antarctica represent a key challenge for comprehensive ecological research and conservation in the region. Additionally, data required to understand population dynamics, rates of evolution, spatial ranges, functional traits, physiological tolerances and species interactions, all of which are fundamental to disentangle the different functional elements of Antarctic biodiversity, are mostly missing. However, much of the fauna, flora and microbiota in the emerged ice -free land of the continent have an uncertain presence and/or unresolved status, with entire biodiversity compendia of prokaryotic groups (e.g. bacteria) being missing. All the available biodiversity information requires consolidation, cross -validation, re -assessment and steady systematic inclusion in order to create a robust catalogue of biodiversity for the continent. New information We compiled, completed and revised eukaryotic species inventories present in terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems in Antarctica in a new living database: terrANTALife (version 1.0). The database includes the first integration in a compendium for many groups of eukaryotic microorganisms. We also introduce a first catalogue of amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) of prokaryotic biodiversity. Available compendia and literature to date were searched for Antarctic terrestrial and freshwater species, integrated, taxonomically harmonised and curated by experts to create comprehensive checklists of Antarctic organisms. The final inventories comprises 470 animal species (including vertebrates, freeliving invertebrates and parasites), 306 plants (including all Viridiplantae: embryophytes and green algae), 997 fungal species and 434 protists (sensu lato). We also provide a first account for many groups of microorganisms, including non-lichenised fungi and multiple groups of eukaryotic unicellular species (Stramenophila, Alveolata and Rhizaria (SAR), Chromists and Amoeba), jointly referred to as "protists". In addition, we identify 1753 bacterial (obtained from 348117 ASVs) and 34 archaeal genera (from 1848 ASVs), as well as, at least, 14 virus families. We formulate a basic tree of life in Antarctica with the main lineages listed in the region and their "known-accepted-species" numbers.