Atlantic reef fish database

Detailed biogeographical studies of Atlantic reef-fishes were always hampered by the lack of up-to-date faunal checklists. Although we have excellent references available for certain regions (e.g. the Caribbean, Bermuda, Azores), as well as a recent checklist for Brazil (Floeter et al., 2001), no comprehensive database has ever been assembled for the entire tropical and subtropical Atlantic. Recent fieldwork and taxonomic research focusing on West Africa, the Brazilian coast, and isolated oceanic islands, revealed new extant species, and added considerable new information about the geographical distribution of tropical reef fishes. Concurrently, new works on the tectonic, eustatic, climatic, and oceanographic characteristics of the tropical Atlantic, as well as works on phylogeography of Atlantic species are available. Taking advantage of Internet's dynamic exchange of information, a multi-institutional international team of researchers - from both sides of the Atlantic - assembled the most accurate checklist possible for the whole tropical Atlantic. The checklist also includes important adjacent subtropical areas such as the Mediterranean Sea and Southern Africa. The present work aim to reevaluate biogeographical affinities in the Atlantic based on the new database compiled as well as evidences from recent phylogeographic works. The database consists of binary presence/absence information of reef fish species. There are currently 27 columns of sites, and over 2000 rows of reef fish species. Each species was assigned a trophic category and major habitat.

长期以来，大西洋礁栖鱼类（reef-fishes）的详细生物地理学研究一直受限于缺乏最新的动物区系名录（faunal checklists）。尽管目前针对加勒比海、百慕大、亚速尔群岛等部分海域已有优质参考资料，巴西海域也有最新的动物区系名录（Floeter等，2001），但迄今仍未针对整个热带及亚热带大西洋构建过完整的数据库。
近期针对西非、巴西沿岸及偏远大洋岛屿开展的野外调查与分类学研究，不仅发现了新的现生物种，还补充了大量关于热带礁栖鱼类地理分布的新数据。与此同时，针对热带大西洋构造特征、全球海平面变动（eustatic）、气候与海洋学特征的最新研究，以及大西洋物种种群系统生物地理学（phylogeography）的相关研究均已发表。
依托互联网高效的信息共享与交互机制，来自大西洋两岸多机构的国际研究团队整合构建了目前最为精准的全热带大西洋礁栖鱼类区系名录。该名录还涵盖了地中海、南非等重要的邻近亚热带海域。
本研究旨在基于本次构建的新数据库，结合近期系统生物地理学研究的证据，重新评估大西洋海域的生物地理学亲缘关系。该数据库包含礁栖鱼类物种的二元存在/缺失（presence/absence）数据，当前设有27个采样位点列，涵盖超过2000条礁栖鱼类物种记录行，且每个物种均被赋予了营养级类别与主要栖息生境信息。