Urban areas' population has grown during the last century and it is expected that over 60% of the world population will live in cities by 2050. Urban parks provide several ecosystem services that are valuable to the well-being of city-dwellers and they are also considered a nature-based solution to tackle multiple environmental problems in cities. However, the type and amount of ecosystem services provided will vary with each park vegetation type, even within same the park. Our main goal was to quantify the trade-offs in ecosystem services associated to different vegetation types, using a spatially detailed approach. Rather than relying solely on general vegetation typologies, we took a more ecologically oriented approach, by explicitly considering different units of vegetation structure and composition. This was demonstrated in a large park (44ha) located in the city of Almada (Lisbon metropolitan area, Portugal), where six vegetation units were mapped in detail and six ecosystem services were evaluated: carbon sequestration, seed dispersal, erosion prevention, water purification, air purification and habitat quality. The results showed that, when looking at the park in detail, some ecosystem services varied greatly with vegetation type. Carbon sequestration was positively influenced by tree density, independently of species composition. Seed dispersal potential was higher in lawns, and mixed forest provided the highest amount of habitat quality. Air purification service was slightly higher in mixed forest, but was high in all vegetation types, probably due to low background pollution, and both water purification and erosion prevention were high in all vegetation types. Knowing the type, location, and amount of ecosystem services provided by each vegetation type can help to improve management options based on ecosystem services trade-offs and looking for win-win situations. The trade-offs are, for example, very clear for carbon: tree planting will boost carbon sequestration regardless of species, but may not be enough to increase habitat quality. Moreover, it may also negatively influence seed dispersal service. Informed practitioners can use this ecological knowledge to promote the role of urban parks as a nature-based solution to provide multiple ecosystem services, and ultimately improve the design and management of the green infrastructure. This will also improve the science of Ecosystem Services, acknowledging that the type of vegetation matters for the provision of ecosystem services and trade-offs analysis.

The impact of allergens emitted by urban green spaces on health is one of the main disservices of ecosystems. The objective of this work is to establish the potential allergenic value of some tree species in urban environments, so that the allergenicity of green spaces can be estimated through application of the Index of Urban Green Zones Allergenicity (I_UGZA). Multiple types of green spaces in Mediterranean cities were selected for the estimation of I_UGZ. The results show that some of the ornamental species native to the Mediterranean are among the main causative agents of allergy in the population; in particular, Oleaceae, Cupressaceae, Fagaceae, and Platanus hispanica. Variables of the strongest impact on I_UGZA were the bioclimatic characteristics of the territory and design aspects, such as the density of trees and the number of species. We concluded that the methodology to assess the allergenicity associated with urban trees and urban areas presented in this work opens new perspectives in the design and planning of urban green spaces, pointing out the need to consider the potential allergenicity of a species when selecting plant material to be used in cities. Only then can urban green areas be inclusive spaces, in terms of public health.

Acacia longifolia, a species native to Australia, is an aggressive invasive in Mediterranean-type ecosystems worldwide. Its success in diverse habitats, expanding from coastal dunes to forests, is often attributed to its ability to establish interactions with a variety of microbes, including bacteria and fungi. This study investigates the seed and root-nodule microbiomes of A. longifolia to understand the roles these microbial communities play in its adaptation and invasive behaviour. Using high-throughput sequencing, we characterized the bacteriome and mycobiome associated with the plant, considering nodules and seeds, and the surrounding soil in three different locations in Portugal with different climate conditions (North, Center and South), and a comparison between two different habitats (Dune versus Forest). Our results reveal a dynamic interaction between A. longifolia and its microbial partners, supporting the importance of these plant-microbe interactions in nutrient acquisition and stress tolerance for A. longifolia, ultimately leading to their impact in an invaded ecosystem. The seed microbiome of A. longifolia was less diverse than for nodules but with more functions assigned, while nodules showed a broader diversity, assigned to more specific functions. Here we provide evidence for the role of seed microbiota in germination and seed-to-seedling transition along with the beneficial role of nodulation in development and seedling-to-sapling switch. We also propose a local signature for microbial communities as we found a dissimilarity in microbial partners when considering habitat, with dune communities showing a functional plasticity, aiding A. longifolia to cope in such nutrient-limiting environment. For forests, functions more related with plant and microbe associations are evidenced, possibly facilitating interspecific competition. These findings contribute to an understanding of the plant-microbe interactions and dynamics that underpin A. longifolia ecological success as an invasive plant.

No presente artigo apresentamos um esboço do panorama das diversas produções – teses, dissertações, artigos publicados em periódicos e comunicações científicas publicadas em anais de eventos – que fazem menção direta em seu título à noção de relação ao saber, no período de 2015 a 2018. A natureza da pesquisa foi exploratória e a metodologia se norteou pelo mapeamento em pesquisa educacional. No período analisado, foi possível inventariar um conjunto de 91 referências bibliográficas constituído por (08) teses, 16 dissertações, 33 artigos e 34 comunicações científicas. Identificamos que a Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco e a Universidade Federal de Sergipe foram, respectivamente, as instituições com maior número de teses e dissertações defendidas. Verificamos também que os principais veículos de difusão da noção de relação ao saber foram as revistas Investigações em Ensino de Ciências e Ciência & Educação e o Colóquio Internacional Educação e Contemporaneidade-EDUCON.

Plant-microbe interactions are important for plant development, particularly mutualisms where host promiscuity allows associations with diverse microbial partners. This flexibility is crucial for adaptation, especially in invasive species. Understanding microbial community dynamics is therefore key to explain invasion success. Acacia longifolia , a member of the Fabaceae family, is an aggressive invader capable of establishing symbioses with several microorganisms including rhizobia within root nodules. These interactions promote growth and play a role in its invasive capacity. However, the nodulation process remains poorly understood, regarding microbial succession and the dynamics of these communities, following nodule development. We assessed microbial profiles in root nodules from 1-year-old saplings in two habitats using Next-Generation Sequencing, targeting 16 S and 25-28 S rRNA genes. Nodules were classified by size as a proxy for developmental stage. Our findings show that (i) different developmental stages have a characteristic microbial community; (ii) there is a shift in dominance (i.e., abundance) from early to fully developed stage, with nodules containing respectively more microbes from seed or from soil; (iii) microbial partners change in each habitat. The microbial succession indicates a shift in abundance over time, highlighting mostly the changes in recruitment: while several genera that dominate early-stage nodules are mostly found in seeds, fully developed nodules have a community mostly acquired from the surrounding soils and showed a much more specialized fungal community. Our study shows a dynamic assembly of root nodules communities within invasive range that might contribute to the plasticity and adaptative strategy of A. longifolia in these new habitats.