Skip to main content
Mónica Maria Tavares de Moura
Researcher

PhD: Plant Physiology – Universidade dos Açores (2006).

Main domain of research: Mónica Moura has been working since 1991 in biodiversity conservation, having specialized in the fields of propagation of Azorean endemic plants by seed and by in vitro culture, and in molecular genetics, in the areas of phylogenetics and population genetics of Azorean endemic and native plant taxa. She has recently taken interest in the field of metagenomics.

Key Words: Conservation; Biodiversity; Molecular genetics; Phylogenetics; Population genetics; Taxonomy; In vitro culture; Germination.

Publications: Mónica Moura has over 35 published or accepted papers in ISI recognized journals and over 10 papers in other publications, such as refereed journals without Impact Factor or proceedings of symposia. She also edited an ISI journal special number, published 2 books as author or editor and authored one book chapter.

Other scientific outputs: She has also over 50 other scientific outputs including reports, species files and GenBank sequences, in addition to over 100 participations in scientific meetings with presentations or posters. Eleven of these meetings were organized by her.

Scientific projects: Since 1991, M. Moura coordinated/participated in 20 main research projects, funded by different agencies (10 international, 6 national (FCT) and 4 regional). In the last years she coordinated in the Azores two MAC PCT projects obtaining about 400,000 Euros in funding and is currently coordinating a PO Açores 2020 project.

Supervisions: She has supervised Post-Doc project researchers (1), PhD (5, two ongoing), MSc (7) and BSc (9) students, in addition to other scientific project trainees (7).

Outreach projects: Mónica Moura coordinated the exhibit “Discovering the Botanical History of the Azores; Plants and Scientists” at the Universidade dos Açores, Ponta Delgada campus, from December 2010 to April 2011. The exhibit was visited by several schools and was accompanied by a companion interactive CD and electronic book. She is currently developing an electronic flora of the Azores (eAZFlora) for mobile devices.

Publications

Crawford, D.J., Hauber, D.P., Silva, L.B., de Sequeira, M.M., Moura, M., Santos-Guerra, A., et al. (2016). Breeding Relationships in Macaronesian Tolpis (Asteraceae-Cichorieae): F-1 Hybrid Pollen Fertility Within and Among Populations from the Azores, Canary Islands, and Madeira. Systematic Botany, 41, 881-893.
Romeiras, M.M., Vieira, A., Silva, D.N., Moura, M., Santos-Guerra, A., Batista, D., et al. (2016). Evolutionary and Biogeographic Insights on the Macaronesian Beta-Patellifolia Species (Amaranthaceae) from a Time-Scaled Molecular Phylogeny. Plos One, 11.
Mort, M.E., Crawford, D.J., Kelly, J.K., Santos-Guerra, A., de Sequeira, M.M., Moura, M., et al. (2015). Multiplexed-shotgun-genotyping data resolve phylogeny within a very recently derived insular lineage. American Journal of Botany, 102, 634-641.
Silva, L., Dias, E.F., Sardos, J., Azevedo, E.B., Schaefer, H. & Moura, M. (2015). Towards a more holistic research approach to plant conservation: the case of rare plants on oceanic islands. Aob Plants, 7.
Dias, E.F., Moura, M., Schaefer, H. & Silva, L. (2015). Interactions between temperature, light and chemical promoters trigger seed germination of the rare Azorean lettuce, Lactuca watsoniana (Asteraceae). Seed Science and Technology, 43, 133-144.