The Laboratório de Biologia de Porifera is in the Zoology Department, Biology Institute of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and was funded in 2002. Since then, the team studies the biodiversity, evolution, ecology and reproduction of sponges, specially from the class Calcarea. We use several methodologies envolving scuba diving, integrative taxonomy, developmental techniques, optical and electronical microscopy and molecular analyses. Our aim is to understand the biology of these animals and etry to explain its distribution, phylogenetic relantionships and the evolution of morphological characters.

                 The team, under the lead of Prof. Dr. Michelle Klautau, has participated or develops scientific expeditions to several localities not only in Brazil but also in South America and Caribbean. The laboratory  also develops scientific researches in collaboration with several researches in Brazil and other countries (France, Australia, Norway and EUA).

 

Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

Instituto de Biologia - Departamento de Zoologia

Av. Carlos Chagas Filho 373, CCS, Bloco A, Sala A0-100,

Rio de Janeiro - RJ, Brasil. CEP: 21941-902

E-mail para contato: mklautau@biologia.ufrj.br

Portuguese version