Benthos Lab - Laboratório de Bentos
Center for Marine Studies, Federal University of Paraná | Brazil
Meet the team
The Benthos Lab team includes undergraduate students gaining research experience and graduate students studying a pretty varied range of topics. We encourage the exchange of individual expertise and the collaborative interaction among lab members, thus creating an enriching and pleasant workplace. We love what we do! { Click here to find out our past members! }
Paulo da Cunha Lana, DSc
Founder & Main investigator
Full Professor, Biological Oceanography
Paulo Lana is a biological oceanographer, marine ecologist and taxonomist (DSc in Biological Oceanography, University of São Paulo, 1984). He is a Full Professor at Universidade Federal do Paraná. He is interested in understanding why benthic animals are where they are, how they have arrived there, how they live and persist and why they are likely to disappear from time to time. He hopes that benthic animals will continue to be a source of scientific interest and aesthetical wonder. He likes marine worms, but he likes people better.
Kalina Manabe Brauko
Post Doc
Kalina M. Brauko is a biologist with a MSc and PhD in Zoology at the Federal University of Paraná. She is currently a postdoc at the Oceanography Program of the Federal University of Santa Catarina and carries out conjoined research with Prof. Lana's team. Her work involves environmental impact assessment using marine benthos as indicators of stress. Her thesis work on the spatio-temporal variations of biotic indices for marine health assessment was supervised by Prof. Paulo Lana and Prof. Pablo Muniz, from Universidad de la Republica, Uruguay. She has also worked with Prof. Daniel M. Dauer in Old Dominion University (Norfolk, VA, USA) and Paul Renaud (at Aqvaplan-NIVA, in Norway) to assess the changes in macrofaunal trophic guilds and secondary production in response to sewage discharges. She is currently a post-doc fellow at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, in southern Brazil. Kalina likes cooking with friends (listening to nice Brazilian music) and stand up paddling!
Gisele Cavalcante Morais
Post Doc
Gisele Morais is a biologist with a MSc in Fisheries & Aquatic Ecology (Federal University of Pará, 2011) and a PhD in Coastal and Oceanic Systems (Federal University of Paraná, 2015). She is currently a temporary lecturer on the undergraduate course in Oceanography at the Federal University of Paraná. Her work involves responses of benthic fauna exposed to contaminants. She also works with benthic diversity responses to environmental estuarine gradients. Her interests span over ecophysiology of marine invertebrates on the basis of Dynamic Energy Budgets (DEB) theory, Scientific creationism and Intelligent design. She loves walking, singing, and reading God's Word daily.
Leonardo Sandrini Neto
Post Doc
Leonardo Sandrini Neto is an oceanographer with a MSc degree in Coastal and Oceanic Systems (2010) and a PhD in Zoology (2015). He is interested in assessing the effects of petroleum hydrocarbons in marine organisms at different levels of biological organization. He is carrying out an experimental analysis of processes and environmental impacts that determine patterns of variation of benthic assemblages in coastal habitats, particularly tidal flats, salt marshes and mangroves. His areas of expertise include benthic ecology, design of complex field experiments, data analysis, statistical programming in R language and biomarker analysis. He is currently an associate professor at the Center for Marine Studies.
André Cattani
PhD
I am an oceanographer with MSc and PhD degrees in Coastal and Oceanic Systems from the Federal University of Paraná. I have research experience in fish ecology, fisheries and coastal management. Currently, I'm working in a project that focuses on the socioecological resilience of the fishing communities around the Paranaguá Estuary Complex, by using a complex nets approach.
Daphne Spier Moreira Alves
PhD Student
Daphne Spier is a graduate in Biology (2008), MSc in Zoology (2011) and PhD in Coastal and Oceanic Systems (2016) by Federal University of Paraná – UFPR, Brazil. Her interests span over macroecology, spatial conservation planning and species responses to climate changes. Her current work is focused on new methods on ecological niche modeling to improve prediction making in marine environments. Daphne has a special interest in data analysis and statistical programming in R language. She loves to dive and to play with her daughters.
João Bosco Leite Gusmão Junior
PhD Student
João Bosco Gusmão Junior has a BSc degree in Marine Biology (2010) and a MSc degree in Coastal and Oceanic Systems (2013). He got a PhD in Coastal and Oceanic Systems, under the supervision of Paulo Lana and Britas Klemens Eriksson, from the University of Gronigen, in the Netherlands. He is currently a post-doc fellow at the Department of Marine Sciences from the Universidad Catolica del Norte, in Chile. He is interested in developing field sampling protocols and applying uni- and multivariate statistical analyses to characterize the biodiversity of coastal ecosystems. Recently he has worked as an instructor/monitor of short courses for undergraduate students in marine GIS and biological illustration. His research interests include ecosystem functioning, patterns of biodiversity distribution, and the structure of marine benthic ecosystems.
Adriana Sardi
PhD Student
I am currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at Université de Bordeaux and my research focuses on gaining insights into the effects of climate change and pollution in the marine environment at a non-species-specific level. I am interested in using DEB and GUTS models for assessing the synergistic impact of climate change (temperature) and contaminant exposure on physiological responses in fish. The species I want to work with is the flatfish Solea solea, an important nutritional item of economic relevance. This fish species has an interesting life cycle, with a pelagic larva mainly occurring in nursery estuarine coastal areas. These habitats are subjected to important contaminant discharges and thus, there is concern on the effects that pollutant exposure have on metamorphosis success and further settlement. Added to this, predicted temperature water rise might affect the age and size at metamorphosis and as a consequence the ultimate size. Long term research goals include proposing a methodological framework to improve the management and policy of marine ecosystems and their resources.
Barbara Carolina Garcia Gimenez
PhD Student
Barbara Gimenez is a biologist by training with a MSc degree in Environmental Sciences (State University of Maringá) and a PhD degree in Coastal and Oceanic Systems (Federal University of Paraná). She has worked over the years in the field of ecological research, focusing mainly on the functional diversity patterns of benthic fauna of freshwater (graduation and MSc degree) and marine (PhD degree) ecosystems. Currently Barbara is engaged in understanding the patterns of functional diversity of polychaetes in coastal environments.
Serena Mucciolo
PhD Student
From Italy with love…for polychaetes! Graduated in marine biology at the University of Bologna, Italy, Serena Mucciolo is now a PhD student in Zoology at UFPR. Her research focuses on the genetic connectivity of some target estuarine polychaete species among subtropical bays from Southern Brazil, taking into account the biological processes and the historical drivers that have shaped their current distribution. Other passions? Being surrounded by nature and good friends, food and music! (Serena likes to laugh A LOT).
Mariana Araki
MSc Student
Mariana is a biologist graduated by the Center-West State University of Paraná. As an undergrad, she worked with soil macrofauna, cytogenetics and crustacean ecology, besides taking part in several social projects and research focused on education. She holds a M Sc degree in Zoology from Federal University of Paraná, based on ecotoxicological experiments with polychaetes and bivalves to assess the genotoxicity of diesel oil. The resulting paper “Cytotoxicity and enzymatic biomarkers as early indicators of benthic responses to the soluble-fraction of diesel oil” is a nice job, modestly!:-) Currently, she is a PhD candidate in Coastal and Oceanic Systems and works with food security in fisherfolk communities of Paranaguá Bay, in Southern Brazil. She loves marine invertebrates, especially polychaetes, and she is greatly interested in addressing (and solving) in marine pollution. She loves cats, sugar-free strong coffee, thrillers and small talk.
Thayanne Lima Barros
MSc
Thayanne Barros has a BSc degree in Biological Sciences from the Federal University of Pernambuco and a master’s degree in Zoology from the Federal University of Paraná. Marine conservation and experimental ecology are her main scientific interests. She has experience with ecotoxicology, larval development, population dynamics, and secondary production of benthic communities. In addition to that, her work has always been related to environmental pollution in estuarine environments. Thay is currently traveling around New Zealand under a Working Holiday Visa Scheme. In a few months (second half of 2019) she will be a PhD candidate at Sydney University, in Australia.
Bruno Gabriel Costelini
PhD Student
Bruno Gabriel Costelini has recently received his BSc degree in Oceanography from UFPR is now pursuing a PhD at Durham University (UK). He's working on the regulatory challenges for the environmental conservation and exploitation of the resources of the deep seabed. Bruno has also a knack for historical research and is developing his senior thesis on the sailings and dredgings of 19th century naturalist Louis Agassiz (supervised by Prof. Lana) into a book.
Ricardo Álvarez
PhD Student
Ricardo is a Chilean PhD candidate in Coastal and Ocean Systems at the Federal University of Paraná, Brazil. He graduated in Biology (2017) and MSc in Animal Biology (2019). He is interested in the taxonomy of polychaetes associated with rocky shores, including Terebellidae, Nereididae and Sabellidae. He attended courses on polychaetes taxonomy from South America, including the Chilean coast, Costa Rica and the Panamanian Caribbean. After his MSc he published the paper “Redescription of Naineris aurantiaca (Müller, 1858) and designation of a neotype from the Brazilian coast (Annelida: Orbiniidae)”. This paper was determinant to define his PhD project, which will focus on integrative taxonomy of the genus Naineris, He will review the species of that genus and will study the ontogeny of Brazilian species. Ricardo is very interested in learning different languages. He likes tea, red wine, avocado, Brazilian coffee and black beer.
Patrick Derviche
MSc Student
Patrick Derviche is an oceanographer graduated at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and currently a MSc student at the Coastal and Oceanic Systems Graduate Program at UFPR. He researches the invasive brittle star Ophiotella mirabilis, focusing on its patterns of distribution and effects of the interspecific relationship, and using scientific diving as a methodological tool. Patrick has a great esteem for the sea, is an amateur captain, scuba diver and surfer.
Estela Pires
Undergraduate Student
Estela Pires was a former Oceanography student at the Center for Marine Studies. She is now carrying out her MSc, studies which will focus on ecotoxicological effects of algal toxins on marine worms. She loves reading and traveling.
Gustavo Leutner
Undergraduate Student
Gustavo Marques Leutner is an oceanography student at the Center for Marine Studies. He will work with Paulo Lana, Hedda and André Cattani in a project called "Sociological Resilience and Sustainability of the estuary complex of paranagua". In this project he will be responsible for sampling and processing data on physical - chemical properties of water all over the bay. Gustavo is really interested about new things in the ocean and is excited since he was called to do this project. In addition, Gustavo loves computers and electronic games, being an enthusiast and defender of the modality.
Victor Skroch
Undergraduate Student
Victor is a second-year undergraduate student in Oceanography at the Federal University of Paraná. He is now just discovering his research interests as a future oceanographer. He is currently interested in coastal dynamics in general, and in beach microphytobentic communities in particular. For the time being he does not have any published papers but eagerly waits for the near future. He is interested in listening to music and reading fiction books in his spare time, but mostly he likes to be surrounded by people who are interested in creating knowledge and who really like to work in group.
{ Where are our past members now? }
We are proud to showcase the wide variety of students formed in the Benthos Lab. Explore the map below to discover where our past members are and their current working positions. The list of past students is organized through different layers that represent the Zoologia Program, SISCO Program, Other Graduate Programs, and those who have passed here only as undergrad students.