The distribution and demographic patterns of marine organisms in the north Atlantic were largely shaped by climatic changes during the Pleistocene, when recurrent glacial maxima forced them to move south or to survive in northern peri-glacial refugia. These patterns were also influenced by biological and ecological factors intrinsic to each species, namely their dispersion ability. The ballan wrasse (Labrus bergylta), the largest labrid fish along Europe's continental margins, is a target for fisheries and aquaculture industry. The phylogeographic pattern, population structure, potential glacial refugia and recolonization routes for this species were assessed across its full distribution range, using mitochondrial and nuclear markers. The existence of a marked population structure can reflect both recolonization from three distinct glacial refugia and current and past oceanographic circulation patterns. Although isolated in present times, shared haplotypes between continental and Azores populations and historical exchange of migrants in both directions point to a common origin ofL. bergylta. This situation is likely to be maintained and/or accentuated by current circulation patterns in the north Atlantic, and may lead to incipient speciation in the already distinct Azorean population. Future monitoring of this species is crucial to evaluate how this species is coping with current environmental changes.

DNA barcoding based on the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene in mitochondrial DNA has been adopted as a global biological identification system for animals due to its accuracy compared with other classical taxonomic methods. The objective of this study was to establish a reference library with generated barcodes. A total of 84 fish specimens belonging to 37 commercially important marine fish species, representing five orders, 14 families and 30 genera, were sampled along the Tunisian coast and barcoded for the first time, obtaining 637 bp sequences. The average Kimura 2-parameter (K2P) distances within species, genera and families were 0.52, 6.86 and 14.60%, respectively. The Maximum likelihood (ML) tree revealed distinct clusters in concurrence with the taxonomic status of the species. Our results confirmed the authentication of the barcode approach for the identification of the species examined and provide valuable information that would help ichthyologists to achieve better monitoring, conservation and management of fisheries in Tunisia.

Background: Understanding the interplay between climate and current and historical factors shaping genetic diversity is pivotal to infer changes in marine species range and communities’ composition. A phylogeographical break between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean has been documented for several marine organisms, translating into limited dispersal between the two basins. Methods: In this study, we screened the intraspecific diversity of 150 individuals of the Madeira rockfish (Scorpaena maderensis) across its distributional range (seven sampling locations in the Atlantic and Mediterranean basins) using the mitochondrial control region and the nuclear S7 first intron. Results: The present work is the most comprehensive study done for this species, yielding no genetic structure across sampled locations and no detectable Atlantic-Mediterranean break in connectivity. Our results reveal deep and hyper-diverse bush-like genealogies with large numbers of singletons and very few shared haplotypes. The genetic hyper-diversity found for the Madeira rockfish is relatively uncommon in rocky coastal species, whose dispersal capability is limited by local oceanographic patterns. The effect of climate warming on the distribution of the species is discussed.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the potential of Urochloa brizantha cv. Marandu and Panicum maximum cv. Mombasa in phytoremediation of soil treated with 2,4-D + picloram herbicide, using Raphanus sativus Crimson Gigante as a bioindicator plant. The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse, in a completely randomized design in two stages. In the first stage the treatments were: cultivation of U. brizantha and P. maximum treated with and without the herbicide dose, with five replications. In the second stage, the treatments consisted of cultivating R. sativus in soil: free of herbicide residue; and soil contaminated with cultivation: prior to U. brizantha; P. maximum; and without previous cultivation of grass, with five replications. The units were treated with the herbicide, individually in pre-emergence, after 15 days the grasses were sown. After 50 days, forages were harvested and segregated in aerial and root parts, analyzing fresh and dry biomass (g) and height (cm). After removing phytoremediation plants, R. sativus was transplanted, evaluating visual phytotoxicity at 5, 10, 15 and 20 days after emergence (DAE) and at 20 DAE, the accumulation of green and dry matter (g), height (cm). The evaluated grasses have phytoremediation characteristics for auxinic herbicides; R. sativus can be used as a bioindicator of the herbicide 2,4-D + picloram; the evaluated period was not enough to fully remove the effects of the herbicide.