Biodiversity and functioning of a subtropical coastal ecosystem: a contribution to an integrated managment

• ¹ Universidade de Campinas, Instituto de Biologia, Brazil
• ² Universidade de São Paulo, Instituto de Oceanografia, Brazil
• ³ Centro de Biologia Marinha da Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
• ⁴ Instituto de Pesca, Brazil
• ⁵ Universidade de São Paulo, Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades, Brazil
• ⁶ Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Departamento de Engenharia Civil, Brazil

Coastal regions has been subject to pressures of different origins, types, and magnitudes, which compromise environmental services and lessen the quality of life for the population that depends on coastal resources. The aim of coastal management is to integrate economic, social, and environmental interests, and to seek regional sustainability. This project has the main objective of carrying out an investigation that is effectively integrated and guided to understand how a coastal region functions in systemic terms, considering physical, biological, and social processes, such as circulation, sediment dynamics, trophic interactions, matter and energy flows, fisheries production and dynamics, among other subjects. In addition, this study will characterize the services offered by this environment, including economic and non-economic ones, with emphasis on those derived from marine biodiversity; and will also evaluate the socioeconomic importance of the region. Our intention is to develop, in a participatory manner, proposals for action with a view toward maintaining the sustainability of the region. As a strategy for its execution, this project considers Araçá Bay as a model, with future applications to other coastal regions. To achieve the project’s goal it was structured in modules: 1- Plankton System; 2- Nekton System; 3- Benthic System; 4- Mangrove System; 5- Hydrodynamics; 6- Sediment Dynamics; 7- Trophic Interactions; 8- Fisheries Assessment; 9- Identification and Valuation of Ecosystem Services; 10- Integrated Management; 11- Ecological Modeling; and 12- Management and Data Sharing. At present, the Biota/Fapesp-Araçá Project assembles 170 participants, among researchers, postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students, and technicians, from 35 Brazilian and foreign educational and research institutions. Our proposal constitutes an initiative to integrate different areas of knowledge, investigators, educational and research institutions, in a strategy for the development of human resources, generation of new knowledge, and broadening capabilities for studies in the areas of biodiversity, conservation, and management of marine resources. The Araçá Bay is located in the Southern part of the São Sebastião Channel, Northern Coast of São Paulo State (23.30ºS). The bay is part of the Marine Protected Area of the Northern Coast of São Paulo State (Área de Proteção Ambiental Marinha do Litoral Norte do Estado de São Paulo) and the Environmental Protected Area of the Alcatrazes Municipality (Área de Proteção Ambiental Municipal de Alcatrazes). The Araçá Bay is rather sheltered, and its water exchange with the São Sebastião Channel mainly due to tidal currents, waves and winds. The Araçá Bay encompasses four beaches, two small islands, mangrove stands, rocky shores, and an extensive mudflat intertidal area. The latter comprises a vast intertidal formation up to 300 meters wide, linked with a shallow subtidal zone; both characterized by muddy and silty bottoms, with some gravel contribution. At its outermost area, close to the São Sebastião Channel, the bay reaches up to 35 meters in depth. This highly diverse environment propitiates countless interactions of physical, biological, geological, and human elements, what makes of this bay an ideal study location for human-environment interactions. Due to its proximity to the municipality urban area, this system has been for a long time exposed to human actions, such as irregular housing, sewage discharge, and the establishment circa 1940-1960 of two major ports (Port of São Sebastião and Oil Terminal Almirante Barroso – one of the most important Brazilian’s maritime oil terminals). Invaluable unpublished new results about local biodiversity and the environment’s dynamics are being generated every day. Such results reveal great richness and species diversity. More than 1,300 taxa (types of organisms) have been found in the area, from which 140 are first observations, and more than 50 are completely new for science. We believe that these numbers will continue to grow as the project goes on. Alongside with all cited results, the discussions for the integration of biological and physical variables and the ecosystem services have already generated subsidies for the debates over the bay’s integrated management. This will feed a strategic framework to be adapted to and applied to other coastal areas. The results of the Biota/Fapesp-Araçá Project will show the Araçá Bay’s ecological, social, economic and political importance, and so allowing the perception of how vulnerable is this area as a whole. This knowledge will build capacity for scientists, civil society and stakeholders to better develop public policies towards the area’s conservation and sustainable use.