Biogeography of the Southwestern Atlantic: current problems and prospects.

BOLTOVSKOY DEMETRIO

UNESCO Technical Papers in Marine Science, 49

UNESCO Press

Lugar: Paris; Año: 1986 vol. 49 p. 14 - 24

0503-4299

The  Southwestern Atlantic (SWA) is one of the least studied areas of the world Ocean (see D. Boltovskoy, 1979). Therefore, much basic descriptive work is needed before this area can be subject of more or less ample and comprehensive biogeographic studies. However, a retrospective glance at the advances over the past decades and comparison with the results achieved elsewhere can yield some reflections on the implications of the methods used, the aims of the investigations performed, and the biogeographic significance of the results achieved. The review and discussions that follow are based on an ecological prospective inasmuch the divisions analyzed are assumed to separate discrete communities or ecosystems.  Figure 1A outlines the general hydrological setting of the area. Figure 1C illustrates the water masses present in the area as recognized by distinctive TS curves (Fig. 1B). A review of the biological features of the SWA is given by D. Boltovskoy (1978, 1981).