Biodiversity of Sessile Fauna on Rocky Shores of Coastal Islands in Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil

Abstract

The epilithic sessile fauna of coastal islands off Santa Catarina, southern Brazil, was analyzed along two 30 m long sublitoral transects. A total o f 111 taxa were identified of wh ich 55 are new records fo r the South Atlantic epilithic assemblages. Exotic sponges, bryozoans and ascidians (Paraleucilla magna, Sch izoporella errata, Bugula dentata, Styela plicata respectively) were found at Marine Protected Areas. This paper gives further knowledge on the marine sessile fauna of the coastal islands of southern Brazil for environ mental monitoring programs. A more co mplete list of epilithic species will certainly provide a baseline to detect future environmental changes and local anthropogenic impacts on the biodiversity of southern Brazilian ecosystems.

The effect of climate change on the distribution of a tropical zoanthid (Palythoa caribaeorum) and its ecological implications

“…Lastly, temperature range seems to influence the species in a typical latitudinal fashion, presenting higher values in the northernmost and southernmost regions of the study area due to the intrusion of colder waters onto the continental shelf at higher latitudes. Although P. caribaeorum exhibits high tolerance to changes in temperature and water properties in tide pool environments ( Bastidas & Bone, 1996 ) and in southeastern Brazil ( Bouzon, Brandini & Rocha, 2012 ), extreme variations in temperature and decreases in salinity caused by rain can cause mortality ( Sebens, 1977 ). For current environmental conditions, the latitudes 30°north and 30°south can be recognized as limits to the distribution of this organism, mainly due to the temperature range: between 9°C and 13°C in the south and 13°C and 24°C in the north.…”

“…Palythoa caribaeorum (Duchassaing & Michelotti, 1860) is a sessile colonial anthozoan common along the west coast of the Atlantic Ocean ( Kemp et al, 2006 ). This species can be found from Florida in the US ( Kemp et al, 2006 ) to Arvoredo Island in Brazil ( Bouzon, Brandini & Rocha, 2012 ), as well as around many oceanic islands in the Atlantic, such as Bermuda ( Lesser et al, 1990 ) and the São Pedro e São Paulo archipelago ( Edwards & Lubbock, 1983 ). Its distribution is not limited to the western side of the Atlantic Ocean, however, with records in the Cape Verde islands ( Reimer, Hirose & Wirtz, 2010 ).…”

Zoobotryon verticillatum (Bryozoa: Ctenostomatida: Vesiculariidae), a new occurrence on the Mediterranean coast of Israel

“…It is challenging to distinguish introduced species from naturally widespread ones. In the warm waters of the western Atlantic and Caribbean Sea Z. verticillatum inhabits seagrass meadows, mangroves, oyster reefs and rocky shores, in addition to fouling man-made habitats (Osburn, 1940;Winston, 1995Winston, , 2004Bouzon et al, 2012). It occurs worldwide in tropical and warm-temperate waters, mostly in ports and marinas, or anthropologically altered areas such as shell farming bays and lagoons (Mawatari & Kobayashi, 1954;Occhipinti-Ambrogi, 2000), and it has been identified in vessel biofouling communities.…”

Spread of the non-indigenous ascidian Aplidium accarense (Millar, 1953) in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea: morphological and molecular tools for an accurate identification

“…Nowadays, its geographical distribution includes also Brazilian and Venezuelan coasts (Rodrigues et al, 1998 as Aplidium sp. ;Rocha et al, 2005Rocha et al, , 2010Bouzon et al, 2012), where it was possibly introduced, as hypothesized by (Fig. 1A).…”