South American Research Group on Coastal Ecosystems: a NaGISA regional legacy.

CRUZ-MOTTA, J.J.; P. MILOSLAVICH, BARROS F.; BIGATTI G.; CARRANZA A., FLORES A., GOBIN J., GUERRA-CASTRO E., GUIMARAES S., KAZANDJIAN A., KLEIN E., LONGOÑO-CRUZ E., MARQUES S., MORA C., MOREIRA-ROCHA R., NAVARRETE S.,, G. PALOMO, PELLIZZARI F., ROCHA-FARRAPEIRA C., ROMERO L., WIETERS E. A. & N. YOYOKA

Congreso; World Conference on Marine Biodiversity; 2011

NaGISA was a collaborative effort aimed at inventorying and monitoring biodiversity from theintertidal to the subtidal shore worldwide. By 2010, NaGISA had sampled >250 sites within 28countries (from 77.85°S-70.38°N, and 178.59°W-179.31°E). Building on the NaGISA experience,the South American Research Group on Coastal Ecosystems was established to assess marinediversity and biomass along both coasts of South America that will allow to: i) test hypothesesabout latitudinal gradients and patterns of local and regional biodiversity, ii) identify therelationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning and iii) asses the effect ofenvironmental gradients and anthropogenic stressors. The group is now an unprecedentedinitiative in the region involving 9 countries, 23 researchers, and 46 localities, that will addresschallenging questions in marine ecology which can be scaled up to a global level. A simplified andcommon sampling protocol has already been implemented, and further efforts will generate thenecessary information and data that will help society to find solutions to several specific problemsrelated to coastal monitoring and the identification of environmental impacts at different scalesand the effects of global change.