BIOTA-FAPESP launches e-book on benthic organisms

Open access work presents the results of the Thematic Project which conducted an inventory of biodiversity and benthic marine ecosystems on the northern coast of São Paulo

By Fábio de Castro

Agência FAPESP – The BIOTA-FAPESP program recently released its e-book, Biodiversity and Benthic Marine Ecosystems on the Northern São Paulo Coast, Southeastern Brazil. In 550 illustrated pages, the publication presents an integrated inventory of fauna associated with marine substrates – benthic organisms – on the northern São Paulo coast. This highly diverse and complex biota includes important organisms in the biogeochemical cycles of oceans and seas.

The content is the result of the Thematic Project “Benthic Marine Biodiversity in São Paulo State,” funded by FAPESP from 2000 to 2005 and coordinated by Antonia Cecília Zacagnini Amaral, of the Department of Zoology at the Biology Institute of Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP).

Organized by Amaral and Silvana Henriques Nallin, of the Marine Biology Laboratory of UNICAMP’s Biology Institute, production of the e-book involved more than 100 researchers in the areas of zoology, taxonomy and ecology.

According to Amaral, the benthos has a fundamental role in energy flow, different trophic levels and marine and estuarine food chains and webs. The book consolidates data obtained under the auspices of the BIOTA-FAPESP Program in a broad, consistent and integrated study of this biota on the northern São Paulo coast.

“The main objective of the study consisted of making the data obtained in the project available in the most rational and basic format so that they are available to graduate students, specialists of all levels, and mainly, government organizations, which can use this information for development of public conservation policies,” commented Amaral in an interview with Agência FAPESP.

The e-book’s format was chosen to increase public access as much as possible. “The most specific results of the research project – which dealt with topics like populational dynamics, reproduction of organisms and description of new species, – were published in international magazines. The e-book, however, presents easy to understand information,” affirmed Amaral.

“We collected samples of broad array of marine substrates in the greatest number of beaches, sandy areas, shores, submerged substrates and fauna associated with algae on the northern coast of São Paulo. After gathering all the material, we invited taxonomists specializing in several groups to analyze them,” Amaral said.

Ecosystems

In addition to an introduction to the context of the northern coast of São Paulo and a description of the methodology used in the study, the book is divided into two sections: “Biodiversity” and “Ecosystems.”

“In the part on biodiversity, 63 taxonomists dealt with the knowledge acquired on the diversity of species. For certain biological groups, there were no specialists in São Paulo, which is why we invited researchers from other states and countries that were connected to BIOTA-FAPESP. These specialists, in addition to participating in the project, trained Brazilian students to work with these groups,” explained Amaral.

The section on biodiversity describes the current state of knowledge on the taxonomy of each of the most common groups of benthic organisms in the various ecosystems in the region.

“What gave more strength to this description of knowledge about benthic macrofauna is that the book’s production involved specialists in each of the groups. The work was not conducted in a generalized manner,” affirmed Amaral.

The section on ecosystems includes a set of articles on ecology based on the taxonomy findings. “The ecological section of the book is focused on the environments and relates all groups of species that were detailed in the biodiversity section,” Amaral said.

With these data, it is possible to associate the occurrence of certain species in specific environments with different morphodynamics.

“If we have a specific environment, such as a beach with fine compact sand in which waves dissipate, we can determine which species will probably adapt to these conditions and have the greatest probability of being found there,” said Amaral.

 

• Biodiversity and Benthic Marine Ecosystems on the Northern Coast of São Paulo, Southeast of Brazil
  Organizers:: Antonia Cecília Zacagnini Amaral and Silvana Henriques Nallin
  Lançamento: 2012
  Páginas: 573
  Mais informações: www.bibliotecadigital.unicamp.br/document/?code=000812694&opt=1