CIMA's researcher Patrícia Nogueira was awarded a LinnéSys: Systematics Research Fund project financed by The Systematics Association and The Linnean Society of London. The project is entitled "Biodiversity of estuarine phytoplankton – the Guadiana estuary case study". This project intends to continue previous studies done by CIMA's Marine Microbiology Lab in the last two decades that evaluated the effect of the Alqueva dam on phytoplankton dynamics along the estuarine salinity gradient. This estuary has three well defined zones (marine, brackish, freshwater), each with different hydrological characteristics and impacted by distinct natural and anthropogenic pressures, hence covering a wide range of impacts and environmental conditions. The project aims to evaluate the seasonal variability of phytoplankton composition in the three estuarine zones, with special emphasis on harmful and bloom-forming species. Another goal is to study the long-term effects of the dam on phytoplankton biodiversity, given that the disappearance of cyanobacteria blooms in the freshwater estuarine zone has already been reported for the post-dam construction period. The project is financed for 1 year and it will be conducted at CIMA's Marine and Environmental Microbiology Lab.
