Lara Baptista

Researcher

I hold a BSc in Genetics and Biotechnology from UTAD and completed my MSc in Biodiversity, Genetics and Evolution in November 2017 in FCUP/CIBIO-InBIO, with a project focused on the evolution of the family Rissoidae in the northeast Atlantic Ocean.

Evolutionary processes operating in marine life on remote archipelagos such as the Azores constitute my main interest of research. Currently, with my PhD project, I am interested in unravelling the evolution of marine invertebrate taxa in remote oceanic islands, by applying population genetics and phylogeographic approaches to gastropods and bryozoan species naturally occurring in the northeast Atlantic Ocean.

By integrating knowledge from several sources, I hope to enlighten the diversity and biogeographical patterns observed in marine invertebrates, clarify the evolution of life in remote islands (particularly the Azores) and understand the role of seamounts, ocean-currents and periodic climatic changes in the long-distance dispersal/invasion process of the archipelago.

This work is being developed under the supervision of Dr. Sérgio Ávila, Dr. António Múrias dos Santos and Dr. Manuel Curto, as well as Dr. Björn Berning as external advisor.

Contact Info

Curriculum Vitae

Publications

Álvaro, N.V., Sinigaglia, L., Madeira, P., Hipólito, A., Melo, C.S., Arruda, S., et al. (2024). The razor clam Solen marginatus Pulteney, 1799: A new anthropogenic marine introduction in the Azores Archipelago, 70, 103387.

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsma.2024.103387

Sinigaglia, L., Baptista, L., Alves, C., Feldmann, F., Sacchetti, C., Rupprecht, C., et al. (2024). Oceanic islands act as drivers for the genetic diversity of marine species: Cardita calyculata (Linnaeus, 1758) in the NE Atlantic as a case-study, 24, 138.

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-024-02322-2

Baptista, L., Curto, M., Waeschenbach, A., Berning, B., Santos, A.M., Ávila, S.P., et al. (2024). Population genetic structure and ecological differentiation in the bryozoan genus Reteporella across the Azores Archipelago (central North Atlantic), 10.

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e38765

Melo, C.S., da Silva, C.M., Scarponi, D., Martín-González, E., Rólán, E., Rojas, A., et al. (2023). Palaeobiogeography of NE Atlantic archipelagos during the last Interglacial (MIS 5e): A molluscan approach to the conundrum of Macaronesia as a marine biogeographic unit, 319, 108313.

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2023.108313

Baptista, L., Fassio, G., Gofas, S., Oliverio, M., Ávila, S.P. & Santos, A.M. (2023). Evaluating the taxonomic status of the large sized Tricolia Risso, 1826 in the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea, 186, 107857.

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2023.107857

laracbaptista

Publications