Biodiversity Associated with Rhodolith Beds in Brazil
摘要
Brazilian rhodolith-associated flora and fauna are abundant and diverse, providing a scenario of multicolored marine forests. The Brazilian coast has a high diversity of seaweeds, with 381 taxa associated with rhodolith beds. This includes the Phylum Chlorophyta (65), Ochrophyta (46), and Rhodophyta (270), comprising ~30% of seaweed taxa known to Brazil. In this context, the cryptofauna associated with Brazilian rhodoliths is significantly more abundant, with eight times higher density and greater taxonomic richness than the unconsolidated sediment. The rhodolith beds are an oasis of diversity in the Brazilian continental shelf with many singularities, interacting with different coastal and ocean ecosystems, with countless relationships and species intertwined by the evolutionary history and environments built by coralline algae. All these biodiversity and ecological functions are threatened due to the combined effects of global and local stressors, mainly represented by oil exploitation, trawling, ocean warming, and acidification.