Dijous 11 de juny. Conferència Prof. Deborah M Power, acadèmica corresponent. Secció 5

“From Molecule to Ecosystem and Beyond in the Anthropocene”

Human activity is having a profound impact on the environment. The aquatic domain that covers over 70% of the planet’s surface is rapidly changing due to warming and the increased deposition of atmospheric CO2 in the oceans. Calcifying organisms are particularly at risk due to changes in water chemistry. The bivalves that belong to the Mollusca, are the second largest phyla of invertebrate, provide essential ecosystem services, and their evolutionary success has been attributed to their hard calcified shell. Identification of the tipping point, or the critical threshold that can lead to a significant change in shell construction requires a fundamental understanding of organism biology. The way biotic and abiotic information is integrated in bivalves and modulates shell growth is a puzzle. A comparative approach considering the pacific oyster (Magallana gigas, a.k.a. Crassostrea gigas), that has a soft foliated shell, and the Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis), that has a hard brittle shell, will be taken to explore the complex genetic machinery that underpins shell growth and associated regulatory systems and factors. Novel regulatory processes and molecules emerging from invertebrate models challenge the conventional vision of endocrine regulation and provide insight into factors that will affect the relative adaptability and survival of bivalves.

Acknowledgements: I am grateful for continuous support of FCT – Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology including institutional projects UIDB/04326/2020, UIDP/04326/2020, and LA/P/0101/2020, CRESC Algarve 2020 and COMPETE 2020 through project EMBRC.PT ALG-01-0145-FEDER-022121 and research projects.