title: Newly discovered reefs in the southern Abrolhos Bank, Brazil: Anthropogenic impacts and urgent conservation needs.
abstract: The Abrolhos Bank is an area of high ecological, socio-economic importance and harbour the richest and most-extensive coral reefs in the South Atlantic. Here we report the discovery of shallow (12-25m depth) reef complex with ten large biogenic structures, intermediate between the typical mushroom-shaped pinnacles of the northern Abrolhos Bank (17°-18° S) and the small patch reefs found on the central/southern coast of the Espírito Santo State (19°-20° S). The newly discovered reefs harbour a relatively rich and abundant reef community, with 73 fish and 14 benthic cnidarian species, including endangered and commercially important ones. We discuss on urgent needs of properly mapping and understanding the ecological functioning of this reef system. Information provided here is a baseline for future impact evaluations, particularly considering the recent worst environmental disaster of Brazil from a dam collapse in Doce river that affected the region.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Oceanografia e Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, ES, Brazil; Associação Ambiental Voz da Natureza, Brazil. Electronic address: ericmazzei@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: E F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Mazzei
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Biodiversidade Neotropical), Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil; Instituto Meros do Brasil, Curitiba, PR, Brazil.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Bertoncini
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Oceanografia e Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, ES, Brazil; Associação Ambiental Voz da Natureza, Brazil; California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA, USA; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department, University of California Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
authors.forename: H T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Pinheiro
authors.affiliation: Instituto Meros do Brasil, Curitiba, PR, Brazil; Departamento de Morfologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Botucatu, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Oceanografia e Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, ES, Brazil.
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Vilar
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Oceanografia e Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, ES, Brazil.
authors.forename: H C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Guabiroba
authors.affiliation: Associação Ambiental Voz da Natureza, Brazil.
authors.forename: T J F
authors.initials: TJF
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: Instituto Meros do Brasil, Curitiba, PR, Brazil; Instituto COMAR-Conservação Marinha do Brasil, Joinville, SC, Brazil.
authors.forename: L S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Bueno
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Biológicas (Biodiversidade Neotropical), Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.
authors.forename: L N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Centro de Ciências Aplicadas e Educacão, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Rio Tinto, PB, Brazil.
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Francini-Filho
authors.affiliation: Instituto Meros do Brasil, Curitiba, PR, Brazil; Centro Universitário Norte do Espírito Santo, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, São Mateus, ES, Brazil.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hostim-Silva
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Oceanografia e Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo, Vitória, ES, Brazil.
authors.forename: J-C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Joyeux
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000254:growth & development; D001938:Brazil; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D057894:Coral Reefs; D004463:Ecology; D004777:Environment; D005399:Fishes; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Abrolhos Bank; Conservation; Coral reefs; Environmental impact; Mining dam collapse; Reef fishes