Overview of the history of biological oceanography in the Southwestern Atlantic, with emphasis on plankton

BOLTOVSKOY, DEMETRIO; VALENTIN, JEAN LOUIS

Plankton ecology of Atlantic South America. From the Subtropical to the Subantarctic realm

Springer

Lugar: Cham; Año: 2018; p. 3 - 34

The first data on the biological features of the Southwestern Atlanticwere the result of European expeditions of the eighteenth to nineteenth and earlytwentieth centuries. Around the 1920s to 1940s, European-born specialists and theirlocal disciples started playing a central role, and locally produced knowledge grewconsistently. Early surveys centered on inventorial and distributional aspects of theflora and fauna, in particular mollusks and fishes, followed by community-levelinvestigations including causal relationships with oceanographic settings (watermasses, temperature, salinity, nutrients), red-tide outbursts, prospection of fishinggrounds, etc. In Argentina, logistical support for the oceanographic cruises was historicallyassociated with the Naval Hydrographic Service and in Brazil with theBrazilian Navy and the Universities of São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul. As of2017, in both these countries, there are >30 teaching and/or research institutionstotally or partly dedicated to marine studies. Presently, knowledge of the taxonomyand biogeography of the plankton of the Southwestern Atlantic varies greatly amongtaxa, but several aspects (e.g., vertical distribution patterns, seasonal and especiallymultiannual variations, life histories, and many others) have received very littleattention. Despite limited financial support and adequate floating platforms andequipment, lack of coordinated efforts, and political turbulences, the scientific outputof Argentina, and especially Brazil, has grown in the last two decades, doublingfrom ~1.2% of the world total in 1996 to ~2.4% in 2016.