PhD Candidate

Gehrmann Building , Level 8

School of Biological Sciences – UQ  

Brisbane, QLD 4072

Australia

T.: +61  7 3365 1475

m.prazeres@uq.edu.au

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Research interests

Benthic foraminifers’ ecology and palaeoecology, physiological responses to water quality and climate changes, use of benthic foraminifers as bioindicators of water quality

Current project

Foraminifera as tools for analysis of interactions between water quality and climate change effects on the Great Barrier Reef: historical reconstruction and biology at community, individual and cellular scales

Reef-dwellers symbiont-bearing foraminifera species will be used as tools for environmental assessment and historical reconstruction at selected inshore reefs on the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). These foraminifera share some characteristics with reef-building corals, such as their dependence upon algal endosymbionts for growth and calcification. However, they are very sensitive and respond faster than corals to environmental changes, both physiologically and morphologically. Moreover, they are well preserved in the fossil record. Therefore, morphological analyses of shells of symbiont-bearing foraminifera obtained from sediment cores will be performed to evaluate conditions prior and subsequent to European settlement of the GBR. In addition, field and laboratory experiments using recent symbiont-bearing foraminifera will be carried out to interpret past reef conditions and also to distinguish local from global impacts. Morphological and cellular biomarkers will be measured to elucidate the mechanisms involved on the interaction of stress response. The main goal is to understand how changes in water quality caused by local and global changes may affect growth and calcification in selected symbiont-bearing foraminifera through biomarker analysis. Comparison of these physiological changes with concurrent morphological ones will be used to interpret results from morphological analyses of fossil foraminifera obtained from sediment cores aged from 1500 years ago to the present.

SUPERVISORS: Prof. John M. Pandolfi (UQ) & Dr. Sven Uthicke (AIMS)

Qualifications

MSc in Biological Oceanography – Universidade Federal do Rio Grande – FURG, Brazil

BSc in Marine Biology – Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil

Publications

Prazeres MF, Martins SE, Bianchini A. 2012. Assessment of water quality in coastal waters of Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, Brazil: Biomarkers analysis in Amphistegina lessonii. Journal of Foraminiferal Research 42, 56-65

Prazeres MF, Martins SE, Bianchini A. 2011. Biomarkers response to zinc exposure in the symbiont-bearing foraminifer Amphistegina lessonii (Amphisteginidae, Foraminifera). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 407, 116-121

Barbosa CF, Prazeres MF,  Ferreira BP, Seoane JCS. 2009. Foraminiferal assemblage and reef check census in coral reef health monitoring of East Brazilian margin. Marine Micropaleontology 73, 62-69