Flávio Berchez

Global environmental changes: setting priorities for Latin American coastal habitats

As the effects of the Global Climate Changes on the costal regions of Central and South Americas advance, there is proportionally little research being made to understand such impacts. This commentary puts forward a series of propositions of strategies to improve performance of Central and South American science and policy making in order to cope with the future impacts of the Global Climate Changes in their coastal habitats.

Culture of Hypnea musciformis (Rhodophyta, Gigartinales) on artificial substrates attached to linear ropes

Hypnea musciformis is the only species so far exploited in Brazil as raw material for the production of k-carrageenan. Due to the erratic production in space and time, increasing harvest and transportation costs, experiments have been performed in order to assess the viability of H. musciformis mariculture.

Management of natural beds and standing stock evaluation of Hypnea musciformis (Gigartinales, Rhodophyta) in south-eastern Brazil

Hypnea musciformis, a source ofκ-carrageenan, is abundant along the coast ofBrazil. Although the species has been exploitedsporadically on the north-east coast, this has beendone in the absence of data on seasonal fluctuationsin stock and on management of the natural beds. Thispaper evaluates the stock of a population from theUbatuba Bay, S-E Brazilian Coast, and how thepopulation recovers from monthly harvests. Dry monthlyyield ranged from 4.9 to 201.2 g m-2 and showedno obvious seasonal pattern. The mean recovery rateafter harvesting is estimated as 35 days, and thestanding stock in the Bay (1.5 km) is approximately3.68 t y-1 dry wt.

CURRENT KNOWLEDGE STATUS OF THE ECOLOGY OF HARD BOTTOM BENTHIC COMMUNITIES IN BRAZIL AND THE NEED FOR NEW APPROACHES

Since most environments on the planet are being threatened by anthropogenic activities, the ecological characterization and monitoring of extensive areas becomes urgent. In Brazil, 33 papers dealing with descriptive ecology of hard bottom communities were published, characterizing a total area of about 3,550m 2 . Most of these studies focused on the midlittoral zone, employed transect sampling methods and considered species as the operational units. Data obtained this way is finely detailed, but cannot be extrapolated to the whole area being studied. This happens not only in Brazil, but all over the world, and the amount of sampled area is way below desirable levels. Some studies proposed the employement of functional-form groups, higher taxonomic ranks or considered dominant species to increase the sampling velocity. Time-saving approaches in association with random sampling, photographic and remote sensing techniques are a feasible alternative to increase the size of the sampled area and consequently our knowledge about the environment being studied. The “Physiognomic Assessment” method is one of these alternatives and it made possible the characterization of 29,605m 2 of rocky shores over a five-year period.

Ecology and Education in Marine Protected Areas: Insights from Brazil and South America

South American coastal habitats include a wide range of benthic ecosystems, many of which are unique and constitute hotspots of biodiversity. Marine protected areas (MPAs), instituted mostly during the second half of the twentieth Century, are considered a key management tool to conserve regional biodiversity, prevent overexploitation, and generate economic benefits. Educational actions to promote changes in basic values, principles, and attitudes – although considered also as a main objective – frequently have a poor conceptual basis. In conjunction with the evaluation of their effectiveness by long-term, site-based ecological and socio-economic research, in Brazil MPAs are aiming to implement a holistic approach. This will allow the development and testing of environmental practices that integrate ecology, economy, ethics, and conflict resolution in the different uses of marine space. However, ecological long-term studies, socio-economic long-term evaluation, and the integration of education and ethics are still incipient. With the recent creation of some independent networks in different South American countries related to the assessment of biological communities, marine biologists of this continent are now focusing more on: (1) sharing methodologies and data to allow comparative and integrated continental analyses, and (2) integrating social components, including not only economic but also ethical values and participatory approaches. Toward this aim, the Chilean Long Term Socio- Ecological Research network (LTSER-Chile) has developed a Field Environmental Philosophy program that could be adapted to MPAs educational programs, and also contribute to the integration of ecology and ethics in theory and praxis for an Earth Stewardship initiative.