The arrival order of species, also known as priority effects, can have big impacts on the future plant community assembly and diversity. Knowledge about priority effects can be of importance in grassland restoration and to counteract invasive species invasion. The aim of this study was to evaluate if and how much plant traits change with arrival order. Here, 15 grassland species, divided into functional groups (forbs, grasses, and legumes) were sown in a greenhouse. The plants were subject to one of three treatments: ‘Control Alone’ (CA), where each plant was grown alone, ‘Control Together’ (CT), where two plants arrived at the same time and ‘Priority effect’ where the first plant (PE.1) arrived three weeks before the second plant (PE.2). For plants grown alone, there was significant differences between the functional groups for the traits mass relative growth rate, height relative growth rate, plant height, plant width and width of stolons. Forbs had significantly largest relative growth rate (RGR), smallest height after three and six weeks of growth as well as largest stolons at both times. Grasses showed significant largest width at three weeks of growth and legumes reached about the same width as grasses after six weeks of growth. The plants that arrived second showed significantly less growth compared to the other treatments which imply that priority effects occurred. The growth strategy for forbs was fast RGR and production of stolons, for grasses it was primarily an increased width and for legumes it was a combination of reaching large height and width.

This thesis explores the surface assembly of mechanically interlocked molecular architectures at gold surfaces for potential applications in molecular switches, anion sensing and stimuli (redox and optical) responsive molecular films. <b>Chapter One</b> introduces the field of mechanically interlocked molecules focusing on rotaxane and catenane surface assemblies in the form of single molecule thick self-assembled monolayers. A review of the surface-attached characteristics of mechanically interlocked molecules is given before exploring specific anion template directed strategies for their construction. The potential to incorporate both redox-active and optically-active functional groups within these mechanically interlocked molecules is also discussed. <b>Chapter Two</b> provides the experimental details and procedures employed in this thesis to characterise the molecular systems under investigation. <b>Chapter Three</b> introduces several surface characterisation techniques such as; ellipsometry, contact angle, X-ray reflectivity and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, with a particular focus of applying these tools to probe the surface co-conformation of switchable and interlocked molecules at surfaces. Electroanalytical techniques such as cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and electrical impedance spectroscopy are also introduced. <b>Chapter Four</b> details the surface assembly of a series of ferrocene containing anion templated catenane self-assembled monolayers on gold. Detailed electrochemical and angle resolved X- ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterisation elucidates the co-conformation upon surface attachment. <b>Chapter Five</b> details the anion templated surface assembly of a redox-active rotaxane self- assembled monolayer on gold. Subsequent electroanalysis and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy characterisation confirms the structural integrity of the film and a possible co- conformation at the surface is discussed. <b>Chapter Six</b> describes efforts towards constructing optically responsive hybrid d-f lanthanide containing mechanically interlocked molecules. Initial work focuses on switching characteristics of a redox switchable antennae and its ability to modulate the luminescence of a series of lanthanide complexes in solution. Subsequent surface attachment of the lanthanide complexes in the form of emissive self-assembled monolayers is also investigated.

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T14:38:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Crislei Larentis2.pdf: 1264579 bytes, checksum: d887f3f8144dfd017d8ce3c1529edd37 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-02-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The present paper aimed to evaluate the functional structural of the fish fauna in streams with different land uses in their micro basin. The fish fauna was sampled in fourteen streams, belonging to four watershed, between 2006 and 2014, by electric fishing technique. The streams were categorized according to land use and occupation and the species were classified according to their functional traits. Were sampled 81 fish species distributed in different functional groups related with the tolerance to hypoxia, food use (trophic guilds), reproduction (parental care) and habitat use. Bidimensional graphics were built with the data biomass of the functional groups, showing that the groups that stood out, independent of the land use, were the omnivorous, benthics, and nonguarders species. The Monte Carlo test proved there is dependence between the functional traits and land use. The functional diversity analyses showed that the functional metrics decreased substantially as it increases the land use and occupation, mainly in urban streams. It follows that the land use exerts direct influence on functional diversity of fish species in streams. / O presente trabalho objetivou avaliar a estrutura funcional da fauna de peixes de riachos em riachos com diferentes usos do solo em suas microbacias. A fauna de peixes foi amostrada em 14 riachos, pertencentes a quatro bacias hidrográficas, entre 2006 e 2014, por meio da técnica de pesca elétrica. Os riachos foram categorizados de acordo com o uso e ocupação do solo e as espécies foram classificadas de acordo com suas características funcionais. Foram amostradas 81 espécies distribuídas em diferentes grupos funcionais relacionados à tolerância a hipóxia, uso do alimento (grupos tróficos), reprodução (cuidado parental) e uso do hábitat. Gráficos bidimensionais foram construídos com os dados de biomassa dos grupos funcionais, mostrando que os grupos que se destacaram, independente do uso do solo, foram os omnívoros, os bentônicos e não guardadores. O teste de Monte Carlo atestou que há dependência entre as características funcionais e o uso do solo. A análise de diversidade funcional (DF) mostrou que as métricas funcionais diminuíram consideravelmente a medida que aumentou o uso e ocupação do solo, principalmente nos riachos urbanos. Conclui-se que o uso do solo exerce influência direta sobre a diversidade funcional das espécies de peixes em riachos

Wetlands contain both aquatic and terrestrial environments which generates high biodiversity. However, they are commonly associated with mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae), and mosquitoes are usually regarded as negative by humans because they can cause nuisance and transmit diseases. This thesis aimed to clarify the association between mosquitoes and wetlands and to achieve a more balanced view of biodiversity in wetlands by including mosquito diversity. Studies on adult mosquito diversity and assemblages were performed in 18 wetlands spread over Sweden. The Swedish mosquito species were organized in ten functional groups based on four life-history characteristics. This classification was used as an additional diversity measurement and as a tool for presentation of mosquito data. Mosquito diversity showed several of the well-established diversity patterns such as a latitudinal gradient, a species-area relationship and a distribution-abundance relationship. In a landscape perspective, diversity of both mosquitoes and dytiscids (Coleoptera: Dytiscidae) were positively influenced by a high proportion of permanent water and a high amount of open areas, indicating co-varying diversity patterns. Mosquito assemblages in the Nedre Dalälven region were mainly structured by the extent of flooded areas and wetland type (wet meadow, swamp and bog). In addition to the influence of the proportion of temporary wetlands at a local scale, the proportion of forest gained importance at larger spatial scales and in relation to dispersal distances of species. In southern Sweden, mosquito faunas differed between natural and constructed wetlands, partly reflecting differences in wetland size. In an experiment, different responses of two co-occurring mosquito species to rapid larval habitat desiccation indicate that weather conditions after a flood could influence mosquito assemblages. The conclusions of this thesis provide suggestions on how to construct and position wetlands for increased insect diversity, and indicate that low abundance of major nuisance species might be crucial for acceptance of wetlands near human settlements.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:30:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 5863.pdf: 7083877 bytes, checksum: 4178701e4246ba2359818734ccaf16cf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-07 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / Reservoirs are ecologically complex and heterogenous environments subject to impacts caused by increased human activities in its hydrographic basin, causing among other disorders, the eutrophication. The phytoplanktonic and zooplanktonic communities can be used as bioindicators for responding quickly to changes that occur in water bodies. The aim this study was to analyze the phytoplanktonic and zooplanktonic communities in Guarapiranga reservoir in relation to different ecological parameters searching to correlate them to hydrodynamic factors and eutrophication. Intensive studies were performed with sampling surveys in both horizontal and vertical axis. Physical and chemical characteristics and also the trophic status of the reservoir were evaluated, and the phytoplanktonic and zooplanktonic communities were studied in relation to species richness, population densities, biomass, secondary production, diversity, uniformity and dominance. The Guarapiranga reservoir is a heterogeneous water body with a small oligotrophic portion, some mesotrophic portions and a larger part eutrophic with high richness of planktonic organisms. The results from two diel cycles characterized the system studied in this period as polymitic, with thermal stratifications interspersed by periods of partial circulation. The air temperature and wind speed were the most important meteorological factors that altered the thermal structure of the reservoir. The phytoplankton was dominated by the cyanobacterium Aphanocapsa delicatissima West and West and the zooplankton by microzooplankton (rotifers and Cyclopoida nauplii). The most eutrophic reservoir compartments were Parelheiros, Embu-Mirim and Guavirutuba. The rotifer Conochlius unicornis Rousselet and the cladoceran Bosminopsis deitersi Richard were indicators of Embu-Guaçu oligo/mesotrophic compartment. The high biomass of Filinia longiseta Ehrenberg in Parelheiros indicated tolerance of this species to extremely eutrophic conditions. The Guarapiranga reservoir is a system with high secondary productivity when compared to other environments of different trophic degree, having as dominant groups the Cyclopoida and rotifers. It was found that Guarapiranga reservoir has high secondary production, but the great load of nutrients needs to be stopped in order to reverse the eutrophication process and to recover the water quality of this important water resource. / Os reservatórios são ambientes ecologicamente complexos e heterogêneos, sujeitos a impactos ocasionados pelo aumento das atividades antrópicas em seu entorno, causando entre outros distúrbios a eutrofização. As comunidades fito e zooplanctônicas podem ser utilizadas como ferramentas de avaliação dos impactos por responderem rapidamente às alterações que ocorrem nos corpos d água. O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar as comunidades fito e zooplanctônica no reservatório de Guarapiranga em relação a diferentes parâmetros ecológicos buscando correlacioná-las aos fatores hidrodinâmica e eutrofização. Foram feitos estudos intensivos com amostragem em varredura tanto no eixo horizontal como vertical, avaliando as características físicas, químicas e estado trófico do reservatório, bem como as comunidades fito e zooplanctônicas em relação à riqueza de espécies, densidade, biomassa, produção secundária, diversidade, uniformidade e dominância. O reservatório de Guarapiranga é um corpo d água heterogêneo com pequena porção oligotrófica, algumas porções mesotróficas e na maior parte eutrófico, com elevada riqueza de organismos planctônicos. Os resultados da variação nictemeral caracterizaram o sistema neste período estudado como polimítico, com estratificações térmicas intercaladas por períodos de circulação parcial. A temperatura do ar e velocidade do vento foram os fatores meteorológicos mais importantes que alteraram a estrutura térmica do reservatório. O fitoplâncton foi dominado pela cianobactéria Aphanocapsa delicatissima West e West e o zooplâncton pelo microzooplâncton (rotíferos e náuplios de Cyclopoida). As porções mais eutrofizadas foram Parelheiros, Embu-Mirim e Guavirutuba. As espécies Conochlius unicornis Rousselet e Bosminopsis deitersi Richard foram indicadoras do compartimento oligo/mesotrófico Embu-Guaçu. A elevada biomassa de Filinia longiseta Ehrenberg em Parelheiros indicou tolerância da espécie a condições extremamente eutróficas. O reservatório de Guarapiranga é um sistema com elevada produtividade secundária quando comparado a outros ambientes de diferentes graus de trofia, tendo como grupos dominantes Cyclopoida e Rotifera. Concluiu-se que o reservatório de Guarapiranga tem elevada produção secundária, mas o grande aporte de nutrientes precisa ser interrompido para reverter o processo de eutrofização e levar à recuperação da qualidade da água deste importante recurso hídrico.

Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais / This thesis deals with the study of the tree component in a seasonal semideciduous forest (FES) with a good state of conservation. Initially, it was prepare a general introduction, showing the importance of the detailing study of forests well preserved, as comparative basis with disturbed forests. After this context, the thesis has been divided into two chapters. The first chapter tries to characterize the tree component of a hectare of FES, through the studies of floristic composition and horizontal and vertical structure, and the characterization of the soil. The species were classified accord the dominant stratum and in sucessional group. In this chapter were calculate the floristic similarities with other FES southeastern Brazil, based on the richness and abundance. In the second chapter was searched the formation of functional groups based on ecological attributes of the species. Therefore, it was used a similarity s dendrogram based on the presence/absence of attributes. The results showed that even in preserved forests have high spatial heterogeneity caused by natural gaps. The division of groups successional point to the concentration of late secondary species and low presence of pioneers in the strata. The similarity s analysis based on richness allowed the formation of four groups, and the similarity based on the abundance allowed closer areas with similar degree of conservation, even approaching the FES studied with other FESs in well conserved stage. These results demonstrate the high degree of maturity of the FES studied. In the delimitation of functional groups, four major groups were determined by their attributes: G1 - ornitocoric and light-demanding group; G2 - mastocoric and canopy light-demanding group; G3 - canopy, abiotic dispersion group and G4 - ornitocoric, shade-tolerant and the only group predominant in the understory. The G4 was the more abundant group. It was concluded that the tree community, although present natural gaps, is in a mature stage; the proximity between fragments of FES is a determinant factor in the floristic composition; fragments in similar conservation state have higher floristic similarity; the community tree has, at least, four big functional groups, which play different function in the ecosystem. The results obtained here have great contribution to the understanding of the ecological patterns and processes involved in these ecosystems. But there is a need for further studies that can for detail the communities tree structure and involves the formation of functional groups for better understanding of high diversity forests. / Esta dissertação trata do estudo do componente arbóreo em uma floresta estacional semidecidual (FES) em bom estado de conservação. Inicialmente, foi elaborada uma introdução geral, ressaltando a importância de estudos ecológicos detalhados em florestas preservadas, como base comparativa com florestas alteradas. Após esta contextualização, a dissertação foi dividida em dois capítulos. O primeiro buscou caracterizar, por meio da composição florística e da estrutura, horizontal e vertical, o componente arbóreo de um hectare de FES; além da caracterização do solo da área. As espécies foram classificadas conforme seu estrato dominante e quanto ao grupo sucessional. No mesmo capitulo, também foram calculadas similaridades florísticas, baseadas na riqueza e na abundância, com outras FES do sudeste brasileiro. No segundo capitulo buscou-se a formação de grupos funcionais baseados em atributos ecológicos das espécies. Para isso, foi utilizado um dendrograma de similaridade com base na presença/ausência dos atributos. Os resultados apontaram que mesmo florestas preservadas possuem alta heterogeneidade espacial, causada pelas clareiras naturais. A delimitação dos grupos sucessionais apontou para uma maior concentração de espécies secundárias tardias e pouca presença de pioneiras nos estratos formados. A análise de similaridade baseada na riqueza permitiu a formação de quatro grupos, e a similaridade baseado na abundância permitiu aproximar áreas com semelhante grau de conservação, inclusive aproximando a FES estudada com outras FESs em bom estágio de conservação. Foi possível, assim, determinar o elevado grau de maturidade da FES estudada. Na delimitação de grupos funcionais formaram-se quatro grandes grupos, determinados pelos seus atributos: G1 - grupo ornitocórico, demandante de luz direta, G2 - grupo mastocórico, de dossel demandante de luz direta, G3 - grupo formado por dispersão abiótica e do dossel e G4 - grupo ornitocórico, predominante do subdossel e sub-bosque e único grupo tolerante à sombra e o mais abundante em número de indivíduos. Concluiu-se que a comunidade arbórea, apesar de apresentar clareiras naturais, encontra-se em um estágio maduro; a proximidade entre fragmentos de FES é um fator importante na similaridade na composição florística; fragmentos em semelhante estado de conservação podem ter sua similaridade florística aproximada; a comunidade arbórea apresenta pelo menos quatro grandes grupos funcionais, que desempenham papeis distintos no ecossistema. Os resultados aqui obtidos trazem uma contribuição importante para o entendimento sobre os padrões e processos ecológicos envolvidos nesses ecossistemas, e reforça a necessidade de novos estudos, tanto para detalhamento da estrutura das comunidades arbóreas, quanto estudos que envolvam a formação de grupos funcionais para uma maior compreensão das florestas com alta diversidade. / Mestre em Ecologia e Conservação de Recursos Naturais

Spatial distribution and seasonal succesion of phytoplankton along the longitudinal axis of a eutrophic Římov reservoir was investigated in 2007. Inflow, transitional and lacustrine zones were distinquished in the reservoir according to physical, chemical and biological parameters. Using a functional group concept, typical phytoplankton assemblages were found.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T16:21:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Fernanda_Carneiro.pdf: 770577 bytes, checksum: ecd73b29cfa1d3a59407aa0869b0fc54 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-12-11 / Classification systems are necessary to organize the huge complexity of biological systems. Frequently, these systems are useful to studies focusing on environmental monitoring, conservation plans and biodiversity assessments. Studies on phytoplankton ecology are, in general, conducted with the identification of organisms up to the species level. This is a costly, laborious and complex task that demands experienced biologists. However, for some purposes, higher taxonomic levels may be enough, mainly when main trends are identified by either data at low or higher resolution (taxonomic and numeric). In this study, it was evaluated if the temporal trajectories described by a lotic phytoplankton community, which were first summarized by an ordination technique, were dependent or not on the taxonomic/numerical resolution used to represent the data. The phytoplankton classification system in functional groups was also contrasted against simple taxonomic classifications in order to verify if they really offer distinct patterns of ordination. Procrustean analyses indicated that patterns of ordination generated by incidence data of genus were significantly concordant with the patterns generated by density of species. Temporal trajectories of scores derived from functional groups significantly matched those derived from analyses based on the quantitative data (density or biovolume) of genus or family. Thus, at least for the system investigated here, the complexities associated with this classification criterion may be unwarranted. In general, the results indicated that some simplifications were justifiable, mainly when one takes into account the need of uninterrupted biomonitoring programs over large spatial scales in a continental-sized country, with increasing environmental problems, and with a paucity of scientists / Os sistemas de classificação são necessários para organizar a grande complexidade das informações biológicas. Freqüentemente, esses sistemas são utilizados para estudos de monitoramento ambiental, planos de conservação e avaliação da biodiversidade. Estudos sobre ecologia de fitoplâncton são, em geral, conduzidos com a identificação dos organismos em nível de espécie. Contudo, para alguns objetivos, maiores níveis taxonômicos podem ser suficientes, principalmente quando as principais tendências são identificadas por dados com baixas resoluções (taxonômica e numérica). Nesse estudo, a trajetória temporal da comunidade fitoplanctônica de um ecossistema lótico que foi, primeiramente, sumarizada por uma técnica de ordenação, foi utilizada para avaliar os efeitos da resolução taxonômica/numérica dos dados. O sistema de classificação do fitoplâncton em grupos funcionais também foi comparado com a classificação taxonômica. A análise de Procrustes indicou que o padrão de ordenação gerado pelos dados de incidência de gêneros foi significativamente concordante com o padrão gerado com os dados de densidade de espécies. As trajetórias temporais dos escores derivados de grupos funcionais foram significativamente associadas com as trajetórias dos escores obtidas com dados quantitativos (densidade ou biovolume) de gêneros ou famílias. Assim, ao menos para o sistema aquático investigado nesse estudo, o aumento da complexidade associado com esta classificação é um critério injustificável. Em geral, os resultados indicaram a validade de algumas simplificações para o estudo do fitoplâncton, principalmente quando se considera a necessidade de garantir a continuidade dos programas de biomonitoramento em grandes escalas espaciais e em um país com dimensões continentais, que apresenta crescentes problemas ambientais e com carência de recursos humanos qualificado

Orientadores: Thomas Michael Lewinsohn, Sergio Ricardo Floeter / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-26T00:38:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Hachich_NayaraFernanda_M.pdf: 4072850 bytes, checksum: 402173284f31340380ff1c754afa1e48 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Os recifes são ecossistemas marinhos fortemente ameaçados. Pressões antrópicas desencadeiam mudanças ambientais e climáticas que interferem direta ou indiretamente na qualidade dos recifes. Estudos sobre ecossistemas marinhos ainda são escassos se comparados à vasta literatura acerca de ecossistemas terrestres. Compreender como a biodiversidade recifal está distribuída e quais os processos que agem sobre a estruturação das comunidades recifais é essencial para a conservação destes ecossistemas. Esta dissertação tem como objetivo investigar os padrões espaciais da distribuição da biodiversidade de organismos recifais no oceano Atlântico. Tais padrões possibilitam inferências acerca dos processos que estruturam as comunidades estudadas. O primeiro capítulo é composto por uma introdução geral da dissertação, que apresenta um referencial teórico e contextual para a compreensão das pesquisas desenvolvidas durante o mestrado. Nessa introdução, apresento brevemente as teorias sobre processos estruturadores de comunidades ecológicas e a contribuição da Biogeografia de Ilhas, Ecologia Funcional e Ecologia Filogenética para o estudo de padrões e processos em comunidades ecológicas. Em seguida, contextualizo a região de estudo, apresentando brevemente a história do oceano Atlântico e o conhecimento dos processos ecológicos e histórico-evolutivos que influenciam a estruturação das comunidades de peixes recifais desse oceano. O segundo capítulo, em forma de artigo científico, trata de padrões de biogeografia de ilhas de peixes recifais, gastrópodes e macroalgas. Neste estudo investiguei como a área de plataforma rasa, isolamento e idade geológica das ilhas oceânicas do Atlântico influenciam a riqueza de espécies e endemismo de organismos recifais que as compõem. Mostrei que os padrões de biogeografia de ilhas de organismos recifais são distintos daqueles encontrados para organismos terrestres e, ainda, que há especificidade taxonômica nos padrões de biogeografia de ilhas entre grupos de organismos recifais. O terceiro capítulo, também em forma de artigo científico, trata de padrões qualitativos da distribuição de duas famílias de peixes recifais (Labridae e Pomacentridae). O objetivo foi compreender a contribuição relativa do ambiente e posição espacial dos recifes na variação da diversidade de peixes recifais entre os recifes do Atlântico ocidental. Neste estudo, investigo como a betadiversidade taxonômica, funcional e filogenética desses organismos varia entre recifes, de acordo com a distância geográfica e a dissimilaridade ambiental entre eles. Os resultados mostraram que a variação na composição de peixes entre recifes do Atlântico ocidental é influenciada principalmente por filtros ambientais e fracamente influenciada por processos que causam autocorrelação espacial na distribuição da biodiversidade. Ainda, as variáveis ambientais que melhor explicaram a diversidade beta de peixes entre os recifes variou fortemente, principalmente entre escalas e regiões biogeográficas, mas também entre famílias de peixes recifais. A dissertação se completa com uma conclusão geral que sintetiza as principais fontes de variação nos padrões de distribuição de organismos recifais no oceano Atlântico (entre escalas, regiões biogeográficas, grupos taxonômicos ou aspectos da biodiversidade) e apresenta um resumo das evidências de processos ecológicos, histórico-evolutivos ou neutros na estruturação das comunidades recifais do oceano Atlântico / Abstract: Reefs are among the most threatened marine systems on earth. Anthropic pressures lead to environmental and climate changes that are able to affect reefs quality, directly or indirectly. Compared to terrestrial ecosystems, marine ones are barely studied. The conservation of reef ecosystems requires the comprehension of reef biodiversity distributional patterns and the processes that modulate them. The aim of this study was to investigate spatial patterns on the distribution of reef biodiversity in the Atlantic Ocean. The study of these patterns allows the inference of processes that structure these communities. The first chapter comprises a general introduction that contextualizes and gives a theoretical framework for the comprehension of the research conducted in this thesis. In this introduction I briefly show the theories concerning processes that structure ecological communities and the potential contribution of Island Biogeography, Functional Ecology and Phylogenetic Ecology to the study of patterns and processes on ecological communities. Then, I contextualize the study region, briefly covering the history of the Atlantic Ocean and the knowledge on the ecological and historical-evolutionary processes that affect the structure of reef fish community in the Atlantic Ocean. In the second chapter, formatted in scientific paper style, I investigate the island biogeographic patterns of reef fish, gastropods and seaweeds. I tested how the shallow shelf area, isolation and geological age of Atlantic oceanic islands influence species¿ richness and endemism of reef organisms. I showed that the patterns observed in reef organisms are different from those observed in the terrestrial ones and, furthermore, that for reef organisms the patterns are taxon-dependent. The third chapter, also formatted in scientific paper style, explore qualitative patterns on the distribution of two families of reef fish (Labridae e Pomacentridae) in the Atlantic Ocean. The aim of this study was to understand the relative contribution of reef environment and spatial location to variation of fish diversity between reefs in the Western Atlantic Ocean. To this end I investigated how the taxonomic, functional and phylogenetic aspects of biodiversity of the two reef fish families vary with spatial distance or environmental dissimilarity between reefs. Results showed that the variation of reef fish composition in Western Atlantic reefs is mainly driven by environmental filters and weakly influenced by processes that cause spatial autocorrelation of species distributions. However, the environmental variables that best explained reef fish beta diversity varied strongly, especially between scales and biogeographical regions, but also between reef fish families. This thesis ends with a general conclusion about the main sources of variation in the patterns of distribution of reef organisms in the Atlantic Ocean (including variation due to scale, biogeographic region, taxonomic group or aspect of biodiversity), as well as with a summary of the evidences of ecological, historical-evolutionary and neutral processes in structuring reef communities in the Atlantic Ocean / Mestrado / Ecologia / Mestra em Ecologia

Recent research has shown that small hydrogen bonding catalysts can catalyze the hetero Diels-Alder reaction. In this thesis such hydrogen bonding catalysts in conjunction with varying functional groups and their effect on the hetero Diels-Alder reaction have been investigated. The influence of the different solvents has been investigated as well. The activation barriers for the different region- and stereo isomeric pathways have been compared in order to determine the stereo specificity of the reactions. These calculations have been done using the B3LYP functional for the geometry optimizations and then M06-2X for single point calculations. For the solvated cases the cPCM model and the M06-2X functional were used. It was shown that for the catalyzed systems bulkier groups in the endo position tend to have a lower activation barrier, allowing for control over the stereoselectivity. Electron withdrawing groups have an activating effect and are also synergistic with the hydrogen bonding catalysts. The solvent with the lowest dielectric constant gave the lowest activation barrier.