Interconnected marine habitats form a single continental-scale reef system in South America

Carneiro, Pedro Bastos de Macêdo; Neto, Antônio Chaves Assis; Jucá-Queiroz, Bruno; Teixeira, Cláudia Fernanda Almeida; Feitosa, Caroline Vieira; Matthews-Cascon, Helena; Morais, Jáder Onofre de; Freitas, João Eduardo Pereira de; Santander‐Neto, Jones; Araújo, Jorge Thé de; Monteiro, Leonardo H. U.; Pinheiro, Lidriana de Souza; Braga, Marcus Davis Andrade; Cordeiro, Ralf T. S.; Rossi, Sergio; Bejarano, Sonia; Salani, Sula; Garcia, Tatiane Martins; Lotufo, Tito Monteiro da Cruz; Smith, Tyler B.; Faria, Vicente Vieira; Soares, Marcelo de Oliveira

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-21341-x

Cited by 22 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…(Rabelo et al, 2013;Soares and Rabelo, 2014;Soares et al, 2019). Notably, the South American reef system is quite heterogeneous, and information about its lowlatitude reefs, affected by coral bleaching, is still insufficient (Carneiro et al, 2022); hence, there is a need to describe and understand the equatorial reef habitats (Camp et al, 2018;Burt et al, 2020) that are crucial stepping stones connecting the eastern Brazilian reefs, the Amazon, and the Caribbean reefs (Carneiro et al, 2022).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The South American Reef System stretches 4,000 km along the southwestern Atlantic (Carneiro et al, 2022). This large reef system is unique because it occurs in moderately turbid waters with high sedimentation rates (Segal and Castro, 2011) compared to clear-water coral reefs with less sedimentation, such as in several parts of the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean areas (Hughes et al, 2017;Hughes et al, 2018).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…In this regard, modeling analysis indicates that Siderastrea can survive on these equatorial reefs in the optimistic (RCPrepresentative concentration pathway-2.6) and moderate (RCP 4.5) climate change scenarios but will lose the current studied area in the pessimistic scenario (RCP 8.5) (Principe et al, 2021). This is concerning, considering that Siderastrea dominates the majority of coral cover in low-latitude shallow and mesophotic habitats in the South American Reef System (Soares et al, 2017;Soares et al, 2019;Carneiro et al, 2022).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Heatwaves and a decrease in turbidity drive coral bleaching in Atlantic marginal equatorial reefs

Lucas

Teixeira²,

Braga³

et al. 2023

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Tropical reefs can occur naturally under suboptimal environmental conditions, where few reef-building corals thrive. These unique reefs are especially important for understanding resistance to global warming, but they are understudied. We studied a coral bleaching event that occurred in turbid reefs (~ 19 m deep) in the equatorial southwestern Atlantic. Mass bleaching was observed in 91% of the Siderastrea stellata colonies in 2020, whereas only 7.7% of the colonies were bleached in 2019 and 10.9% in 2022. The year 2020 had the highest heat stress recorded in this century in this region according to the degree of heating weeks such as 17.6°C-week. In the first semester of 2020, the region also underwent three marine heatwaves (MHWs) above the average temperatures (1.3, 1.5, and 2.0°C). The lowest turbidity and wind speed matched long-lasting, repeated, and severe MHWs. These reef-building corals are dominant under moderate turbid waters and high sea temperature (26–29°C), however they are near the maximum tolerance limit. In this regard, these low-latitude reefs are warming twice as fast (0.2°C/decade) as other regions (e.g., Abrolhos and Coral Coast) (0.1 to 0.13°C/decade) in the South America reef system demonstrating that they cannot be considered climate-change refugia. These results suggest that even turbid marginal reefs and tolerant corals are highly susceptible to mass bleaching, especially when heatwaves and a decrease in turbidity occur simultaneously.

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

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Heatwaves and a decrease in turbidity drive coral bleaching in Atlantic marginal equatorial reefs

Lucas

Teixeira²,

Braga³

et al. 2023

Front. Mar. Sci.

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“…Afterward, Marceniuk et al (2019) recorded extensive reef fisheries and listed 93 reef associated fish species in the GARS. Finally, reefs covered with living organisms were recently recorded to the north (Guyana) (Giresse et al, 2022) and south (Ceara) (Carneiro et al, 2022) of the GARS.…”

Section: History Of the Garsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Great Amazon Reef System: A fact

et al. 2022

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“…While IVs are relatively sparse mesoscale structures, rhodolith beds (RB) [ sensu 18] represent the most extensive benthic megahabitat in the outer Brazilian tropical shelf, where they cover ~167,000 km 2 [ 19 , 20 ]. Indeed, RBs represent the largest biogenic hard bottom expanses in the Southwestern Atlantic, and Eastern Brazil’s RBs are among the world’s largest [ 20 , 21 ]. When compared with coral reefs, RBs are less structurally complex, but they may encompass higher diversity and biomass of several benthic and demersal groups [e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Incised valleys drive distinctive oceanographic processes and biological assemblages within rhodolith beds

Castro,

Vargens,

Carlos-Júnior

et al. 2023

PLoS ONE

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Continental shelves encompass gently sloped seascapes that are highly productive and intensively exploited for natural resources. Islands, reefs and other emergent or quasi-emergent features punctuate these shallow (<100 m) seascapes and are well known drivers of increased biomass and biodiversity, as well as predictors of fishing and other human uses. On the other hand, relict mesoscale geomorphological features that do not represent navigation hazards, such as incised valleys (IVs), remain poorly charted. Consequently, their role in biophysical processes remains poorly assessed and sampled. Incised valleys are common within rhodolith beds (RBs), the most extensive benthic habitat along the tropical and subtropical portions of the mid and outer Brazilian shelf. Here, we report on a multi-proxy assessment carried out in a tropical-subtropical transition region (~20°S) off Eastern Brazil, contrasting physicochemical and biological variables in IVs and adjacent RBs. Valleys interfere in near bottom circulation and function as conduits for water and propagules from the slope up to the mid shelf. In addition, they provide a stable and structurally complex habitat for black corals and gorgonians that usually occur in deeper water, contrasting sharply with the algae-dominated RB. Fish richness, abundance and biomass were also higher in the IVs, with small planktivores and large-bodied, commercially important species (e.g. groupers, snappers and grunts) presenting smaller abundances or being absent from RBs. Overall, IVs are unique and vulnerable habitats that sustain diverse assemblages and important ecosystem processes. As new IVs are detected by remote sensing or bathymetric surveys, they can be incorporated into regional marine management plans as conservation targets and priority sites for detailed in situ surveys.

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Interconnected marine habitats form a single continental-scale reef system in South America

Cited by 22 publications

References 72 publications

Heatwaves and a decrease in turbidity drive coral bleaching in Atlantic marginal equatorial reefs

Heatwaves and a decrease in turbidity drive coral bleaching in Atlantic marginal equatorial reefs

The Great Amazon Reef System: A fact

Incised valleys drive distinctive oceanographic processes and biological assemblages within rhodolith beds

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