Diversity and Conservation of Reef Fishes in Mesophotic Ecosystems

• Grant number: 24/13767-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: October 01, 2024
• End date: May 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Applied Zoology
• Principal Investigator: Hudson Tercio Pinheiro
• Grantee: Guilherme Loyola da Cruz
• Host Institution: Centro de Biologia Marinha (CEBIMAR). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Sebastião , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 19/24215-2 - Biodiversity, biogeography and conservation of mesophotic coral ecosystems in the Atlantic Ocean, AP.BTA.JP

Abstract

Situated between 30 to 150 meters of depth, the mesophotic coral ecosystems(MCEs) host distinct communities compared to shallow reefs (0 - 30m). Yet,despite both being severe affected by environmental stressors, the managementand conservation policies are mainly conditioned to the shallower one. Using dataobtained from geoprocessing and underwater visual census, this project aims toquantify the bathymetric distribution of marine protected areas (MPAs) andcharacterize the reef fish assemblages in different localities. Species-area ratioswill be used to estimate the diversity of fish protected and to calculate, in shallowand deep ecosystems, the area needed to protect local species. Preliminaryresults show that just a little fraction of MCEs are protected when compared toshallow reefs, despite shelters a high concentration of endemic species. Thus,besides generating data for regions and ecosystems less studied, this project willcontribute to the management and conservation of MCEs on a global scale.