Scleractinian corals are key organisms in structuring reef habitats and coral cover is being lost... more Scleractinian corals are key organisms in structuring reef habitats and coral cover is being lost due to local and global stressors caused and/or exacerbated by anthropogenic activities. Despite being hardly touched upon, studies of size-frequency distributions serve as snapshots of coral populations’ status and provide information on population decline or growth over time. In our study we have intermittently monitored two Brazilian scleractinians species, the endemic Mussismilia hispida and Siderastrea stellata, since 2000 in an important coral marginal reef site at Armação dos Búzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We measured length, width and arc of all colonies from both species found across transects at eleven sites. In total, over 5,000 colonies have been measured over the past 17 years. Although the frequency of small and medium colonies remained relatively constant, we observed a clear decline in the frequency of larger colonies (> 30 cm) for both species, particularly the most...
AimOur aim was to uncover patterns of distribution of marine subtidal rocky reef communities acro... more AimOur aim was to uncover patterns of distribution of marine subtidal rocky reef communities across six taxonomic groups and decompose the relative roles of species loss and turnover in total community variation. Additionally, we propose an easily calculated index that can be used to highlight areas with unique species composition for conservation planning. We estimated the strengths of associations between environmental factors and species richness and rarity.LocationIlha Grande Bay, Brazil, covering about 150,000 ha harbouring different marine habitats.MethodsWe used the Marine Rapid Assessment Protocol at 42 sites to gather information on environmental variables and species in six subtidal marine groups. We determined “singular” sites as the regions harbouring higher numbers of rare species. Then, we estimated the roles of species loss and turnover on the observed total variation among sites. We used Generalized Linear Model to partition the relative importance of the selected en...
Many studies have assessed in unison specific biological attributes and certain environmental imp... more Many studies have assessed in unison specific biological attributes and certain environmental impacts but few studies have analyzed multiple biological variables and pressures from multiple sites at the same time. Our study's goal was to quantify the major potential human pressures in the shallow subtidal rocky reefs along a tropical Atlantic coast; propose a relative environmental pressure index and investigate the relationships between environmental pressures, the benthic community and coral population attributes. The analysis of human pressures suggests that one-third of sites were under high or very high proportional stress. Sites with high human pressure had lower live cover, higher percent of recent mortality and density of Siderastrea stellata. These relations were species specific. The coral species S. stellata seemed to be the best indicator of present environmental stress. These findings demonstrate the need to include multiple species and stressors in monitoring programs designed to contribute to coastal management initiatives.
In order to compare stress on marine coastal ecosystems at different sites and over time we devel... more In order to compare stress on marine coastal ecosystems at different sites and over time we developed an Environmental Pressure Index (EPI). The index was composed of twenty-four parameters which could be observed and quantified at each site or from maps. The parameters metrics were taken in water, on shore or from the catchment and were grouped into eight ecosystem degrading stressors: Urban development, shoreline development, presence of sewage outfalls, presence of human debris, constructions on the shore, nautical gas stations, fishing pressure, recreational activities and nautical and shipping activities. The parameters were standardized to a maximum and had different weighting established from the literature, giving an EPI which varies from 0 to 1. We applied the Index to the tropical rocky shores and marginal reef ecosystem of the Armação dos Búzios, a tourist destination situated on a peninsula in Southeastern Brazil. The region has experienced rapid urbanization since the 1...
Abstract Sun corals Tubastraea spp. from the Indo-Pacific have invaded hard grounds in the Caribb... more Abstract Sun corals Tubastraea spp. from the Indo-Pacific have invaded hard grounds in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Brazil and Canary Islands where they cause significant ecological and economic damage to native systems, industry and society. In Brazil the National Plan for the Prevention, Control and Monitoring of the Sun Coral requires that sun corals are reduced to acceptable levels in nature and eradicated from vectors. Here we tested the efficiency of manual removal as a management tool at three sites along 260 km of Brazil's coastline with different oceanographic conditions (Ilha Grande, Rio de Janeiro and Cabo Frio). Four treatments were applied to shorelines undergoing management: (a) community removal (the whole benthic community scraped and stripped to bare rock), (b) sun coral single removal (c) sun coral repeated removal at 2 mo revisit) and (d) control areas naturally devoid of Tubastraea spp. Benthic communities were sampled over time using cover estimated from underwater photographs and larvae quantified in plankton trawls during management. The act of manual removal had no significant effect on sun coral larval abundance. The repeated removal method reduced cover at all sites to zero but a single removal was sufficient at sites with low densities of sun coral. The treatment effects varied systematically between sites, depending on local propagule pressure and invasion history. Manual removal is efficient and readily available and should be implemented in synergy with other methods to slow the spread of invaders, promote ecosystem recovery and allow time for the development of additional tools.
The Baía da Ilha Grande (BIG) was characterized as extremely rich in benthic species, reef and be... more The Baía da Ilha Grande (BIG) was characterized as extremely rich in benthic species, reef and beach associated fish. The BIG is found in a unique oceanographic situation and its biodiversity is subjected to a series of human pressures. This situation means that the BIG is very important for the conservation, sustainable use and the distribution of Brazil’s marine biodiversity resources. Using the results of the sub-project RAP Ilha Grande: a biodiversity assessment as a foundation for future actions, and using the experience acquired during the study, recommendations are made regarding four different areas: how to better adapt the Marine Rapid Assessment Program (Marine RAP) methods to the BIG and Brazil; actions aimed at making available and integrating the data; proposals for future studies, aimed at bettering our knowledge of biodiversity and its conservation; actions aimed at implementing, consolidating and creating marine nature reserves.
Coastal marine ecosystems provide important services yet have been under increased local and glob... more Coastal marine ecosystems provide important services yet have been under increased local and global anthropogenic pressures worldwide. Hence, health assessment studies are necessary to guide management actions ensuring biodiversity conservation and the maintenance of ecosystem services. We applied a protocol previously developed by our group for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to assess the health of a marginal reef ecosystem at Armação dos Búzios, Southeastern Brazil - a touristic destination that has experienced a rapid urbanization since the last decades. The protocol evaluates temporal trends in Ecological Indicators (diversity, singularity and species substitution) and an Environmental Pressure Index. Quantitative benthic and pressure data obtained for 11 sites in 2000/2001 were used as the baseline and compared to data generated in 2016/2017. Most sites showed a decreased singularity and increased diversity over time. This suggests sites are becoming more homogenou...
Scleractinian corals are key organisms in structuring reef habitats and coral cover is being lost... more Scleractinian corals are key organisms in structuring reef habitats and coral cover is being lost due to local and global stressors caused and/or exacerbated by anthropogenic activities. Despite being hardly touched upon, studies of size-frequency distributions serve as snapshots of coral populations’ status and provide information on population decline or growth over time. In our study we have intermittently monitored two Brazilian scleractinians species, the endemic Mussismilia hispida and Siderastrea stellata, since 2000 in an important coral marginal reef site at Armação dos Búzios, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We measured length, width and arc of all colonies from both species found across transects at eleven sites. In total, over 5,000 colonies have been measured over the past 17 years. Although the frequency of small and medium colonies remained relatively constant, we observed a clear decline in the frequency of larger colonies (> 30 cm) for both species, particularly the most...
AimOur aim was to uncover patterns of distribution of marine subtidal rocky reef communities acro... more AimOur aim was to uncover patterns of distribution of marine subtidal rocky reef communities across six taxonomic groups and decompose the relative roles of species loss and turnover in total community variation. Additionally, we propose an easily calculated index that can be used to highlight areas with unique species composition for conservation planning. We estimated the strengths of associations between environmental factors and species richness and rarity.LocationIlha Grande Bay, Brazil, covering about 150,000 ha harbouring different marine habitats.MethodsWe used the Marine Rapid Assessment Protocol at 42 sites to gather information on environmental variables and species in six subtidal marine groups. We determined “singular” sites as the regions harbouring higher numbers of rare species. Then, we estimated the roles of species loss and turnover on the observed total variation among sites. We used Generalized Linear Model to partition the relative importance of the selected en...
Many studies have assessed in unison specific biological attributes and certain environmental imp... more Many studies have assessed in unison specific biological attributes and certain environmental impacts but few studies have analyzed multiple biological variables and pressures from multiple sites at the same time. Our study's goal was to quantify the major potential human pressures in the shallow subtidal rocky reefs along a tropical Atlantic coast; propose a relative environmental pressure index and investigate the relationships between environmental pressures, the benthic community and coral population attributes. The analysis of human pressures suggests that one-third of sites were under high or very high proportional stress. Sites with high human pressure had lower live cover, higher percent of recent mortality and density of Siderastrea stellata. These relations were species specific. The coral species S. stellata seemed to be the best indicator of present environmental stress. These findings demonstrate the need to include multiple species and stressors in monitoring programs designed to contribute to coastal management initiatives.
In order to compare stress on marine coastal ecosystems at different sites and over time we devel... more In order to compare stress on marine coastal ecosystems at different sites and over time we developed an Environmental Pressure Index (EPI). The index was composed of twenty-four parameters which could be observed and quantified at each site or from maps. The parameters metrics were taken in water, on shore or from the catchment and were grouped into eight ecosystem degrading stressors: Urban development, shoreline development, presence of sewage outfalls, presence of human debris, constructions on the shore, nautical gas stations, fishing pressure, recreational activities and nautical and shipping activities. The parameters were standardized to a maximum and had different weighting established from the literature, giving an EPI which varies from 0 to 1. We applied the Index to the tropical rocky shores and marginal reef ecosystem of the Armação dos Búzios, a tourist destination situated on a peninsula in Southeastern Brazil. The region has experienced rapid urbanization since the 1...
Abstract Sun corals Tubastraea spp. from the Indo-Pacific have invaded hard grounds in the Caribb... more Abstract Sun corals Tubastraea spp. from the Indo-Pacific have invaded hard grounds in the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, Brazil and Canary Islands where they cause significant ecological and economic damage to native systems, industry and society. In Brazil the National Plan for the Prevention, Control and Monitoring of the Sun Coral requires that sun corals are reduced to acceptable levels in nature and eradicated from vectors. Here we tested the efficiency of manual removal as a management tool at three sites along 260 km of Brazil's coastline with different oceanographic conditions (Ilha Grande, Rio de Janeiro and Cabo Frio). Four treatments were applied to shorelines undergoing management: (a) community removal (the whole benthic community scraped and stripped to bare rock), (b) sun coral single removal (c) sun coral repeated removal at 2 mo revisit) and (d) control areas naturally devoid of Tubastraea spp. Benthic communities were sampled over time using cover estimated from underwater photographs and larvae quantified in plankton trawls during management. The act of manual removal had no significant effect on sun coral larval abundance. The repeated removal method reduced cover at all sites to zero but a single removal was sufficient at sites with low densities of sun coral. The treatment effects varied systematically between sites, depending on local propagule pressure and invasion history. Manual removal is efficient and readily available and should be implemented in synergy with other methods to slow the spread of invaders, promote ecosystem recovery and allow time for the development of additional tools.
The Baía da Ilha Grande (BIG) was characterized as extremely rich in benthic species, reef and be... more The Baía da Ilha Grande (BIG) was characterized as extremely rich in benthic species, reef and beach associated fish. The BIG is found in a unique oceanographic situation and its biodiversity is subjected to a series of human pressures. This situation means that the BIG is very important for the conservation, sustainable use and the distribution of Brazil’s marine biodiversity resources. Using the results of the sub-project RAP Ilha Grande: a biodiversity assessment as a foundation for future actions, and using the experience acquired during the study, recommendations are made regarding four different areas: how to better adapt the Marine Rapid Assessment Program (Marine RAP) methods to the BIG and Brazil; actions aimed at making available and integrating the data; proposals for future studies, aimed at bettering our knowledge of biodiversity and its conservation; actions aimed at implementing, consolidating and creating marine nature reserves.
Coastal marine ecosystems provide important services yet have been under increased local and glob... more Coastal marine ecosystems provide important services yet have been under increased local and global anthropogenic pressures worldwide. Hence, health assessment studies are necessary to guide management actions ensuring biodiversity conservation and the maintenance of ecosystem services. We applied a protocol previously developed by our group for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to assess the health of a marginal reef ecosystem at Armação dos Búzios, Southeastern Brazil - a touristic destination that has experienced a rapid urbanization since the last decades. The protocol evaluates temporal trends in Ecological Indicators (diversity, singularity and species substitution) and an Environmental Pressure Index. Quantitative benthic and pressure data obtained for 11 sites in 2000/2001 were used as the baseline and compared to data generated in 2016/2017. Most sites showed a decreased singularity and increased diversity over time. This suggests sites are becoming more homogenou...
Uploads