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| Author(s): |
Julia Marx de Souza
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | São Paulo. |
| Institution: | Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Biociências (IBIOC/SB) |
| Defense date: | 2024-12-17 |
| Examining board members: |
Hudson Tercio Pinheiro;
Thiago Costa Mendes
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| Advisor: | Hudson Tercio Pinheiro |
| Abstract | |
The Atlantic Ocean hosts distinct biogeographic provinces, whose diversity is shaped by natural barriers, such as the open ocean, oceanographic currents, freshwater plumes by river discharges, and gradients of temperature and depth. These barriers influence the distribution and composition of marine communities, leading to the emergence of specialized and endemic communities. Among the ecosystems present, mesophotic reefs, located between 30 and 150 meters in depth, harbor unique biodiversity. Despite their ecological relevance, these ecosystems remain under-sampled and are increasingly subjected to anthropogenic impacts, such as fishing and climate change. In this context, functional diversity emerges as a key approach to understanding how biological communities and their ecological functions respond to environmental changes, contributing to more effective conservation strategies. This study, for the first time, investigates how biogeographic, historical, and environmental factors influence the distribution of reef fish along the depth gradient. The study was carried out across three distinct provinces: Fernando de Noronha Archipelago (FNA) and the São Pedro & São Paulo Archipelago (SPSPA) in Brazil, Bermuda, Honduras, and Curaçao in the Caribbean, and Cape Verde in Africa. In Brazil, the results highlighted marked differences between the reef fish communities of the two studied locations. While AFN exhibited higher species richness, ASPSP stood out for its functional diversity, with communities characterized by unique attributes and specializations, particularly at greater depths. This underscores how ecological and biogeographic factors shape communities in distinct ways. From a broader perspective, considering all three studied provinces, both provinciality and depth were significant factors in structuring reef fish communities. However, while taxonomic composition revealed independent depth gradient patterns across provinces, functional diversity analyses indicated that traits were predominantly influenced by depth. These results suggest that depth plays a more significant role in the variation of the functional aspects of communities, while biogeography primarily influences species distribution. These findings highlight the importance of evolutionary processes shaping isolated and deep communities and reinforce the need for conservation strategies that account for functional diversity in these vulnerable systems. (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 22/08684-5 - Fish community structure in mesophotic ecosystems: an analysis between depth gradients in biogeographic provinces of the Atlantic Ocean |
| Grantee: | Julia Marx de Souza |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Master |