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A major focus of the lab is the conservation of sharks and rays. Globally, these animals have been submitted to severe declines due to fisheries, habitat loss, and pollution. To contribute to the conservation of these animals here at EvolVe we conduct shark and ray research in the fields of conservation genetics, systematics, distribution, morphology, fisheries, biology, and marine pollution.
Reef fish evolution and conservation is also a focus of the Lab. Major questions investigated involve faunal inventory, behavior, population genetics, and molecular phylogeny of reef fish from coastal regions and oceanic islands.
Another effort conducted by the lab members are zoological collections. We currently curate the following collections at the Federal University of Ceará – UFC: (a) the fish collection, mostly marine, located at the Institute of Marine Sciences (Instituto de Ciências do Mar – Labomar; CIDRO-A) and at the Department of Biology, Science Center (Departamento de Biologia, Centro de Ciências; CIDRO-B); (b) the mammal collection (located at the Biology Department); and (c) a didactic collection to support Zoology classes at UFC and outreach activities.
Lastly, here at EvolVe we also participate in conservation efforts of other marine vertebrates vastly in need of help. Through collaborations with NGO Aquasis and Labomar/UFC we have also conducted research on behavior, beach stranding, and genetics of sea turtles, manatees, dolphins, and marine birds.
We are based at the Department of Biology, Science Center, UFC. Besides Labomar, other research partners at UFC include the electron microscopy facility (Central Analítica/UFC), the center for genomics and bioinformatics (Central de Genômica e Bioinformática – CeGenBio/ Núcleo de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento de Medicamentos – NPDM), and the Fisheries Engineering Department (Departamento de Engenharia de Pesca). Besides NGO Aquasis, another research partner in Ceará that is external to UFC is the EMBRAPA Tropical Agroindustry (EMBRAPA Tropical Agroindústria Tropical).
Our research has been funded by FUNCAP, CAPES, Shark Conservation Fund, and Save Our Seas Foundation.
