| Summary: | Dissertação de mestrado em Ecologia The study of the composition of the microbial community harbored by marine mammals has been recently indicated as a tool to assess the health status of these populations and, indirectly, of marine ecosystem. Moreover, it serves to assess the risk of new emerging infectious diseases and zoonotic events. Nowadays, there is much information about the bacterial microbiome, however knowledge about the fungal microbiome is very reduced. The aim of this thesis is to characterize the cultivable fungal microbiome of free- ranging dolphin populations of northern Portugal shores, to determine if it may be used as a health screening tool of communities and ecosystem, as well as to assess the role of dolphins as vectors of fungal pathogens. To do this, fungal strains were isolated from cultured tissue samples collected by the Sociedade Portuguesa de Vida Selvagem from blowhole and oral cavity of stranded individuals of Phocoena phocoena, Delphinus delphis and Stenella coeruleoalba, found along Portuguese beaches in 2014. The isolates were identified by sequencing factor (EF- genes. Identification was achieved by comparing the obtained the ITS regions of rDNA genes and, in some cases, the ß-tubulin and elongation sequences with online databases. 25 different fungal species were identified from 122 isolates, indicating that a rich and diverse fungal community is hosted by free-ranging dolphins. Several of the identified species were of clinical interest, especially as opportunistic pathogens, and their presence in dolphins may result from high stress factors in the ecosystem. The analysis of similarity among dolphins indicates that the fungal microbiome may be community specific, suggesting a potential in ecology studies. This work represents the first characterization of the fungal microbial community of free-ranging dolphins of Portugal. A composição da comunidade microbiana presente em mamíferos marinhos foi recentemente indicada como uma ferramenta para avaliar o estado de saúde das ...
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