Data from: Large-scale patterns of benthic marine communities in the Brazilian Province

As marine ecosystems are influenced by global and regional processes,
standardized information on community structure has become crucial for
assessing broad-scale responses to natural and anthropogenic disturbances.
Extensive biogeographic provinces, such as the Brazilian Province in the
southwest Atlantic, present numerous theoretical and methodological
challenges for understanding community patterns on a macroecological
scale. In particular, the Brazilian Province is composed of a complex
system of heterogeneous reefs and a few offshore islands, with contrasting
histories and geophysical-chemical environments. Despite the large extent
of the Brazilian Province (almost 8,000 kilometers), most studies of
shallow benthic communities are qualitative surveys and/or have been
geographically restricted. We quantified community structure of shallow
reef habitats from 0° to 27°S latitude using a standard photographic
quadrat technique. Percent cover data indicated that benthic communities
of Brazilian reefs were dominated by algal turfs and frondose macroalgae,
with low percent cover of reef-building corals. Community composition
differed significantly among localities, mostly because of their
macroalgal abundance, despite reef type or geographic region, with no
evident latitudinal pattern. Benthic diversity was lower in the tropics,
contrary to the general latitudinal diversity gradient pattern. Richness
peaked at mid-latitudes, between 20°S to 23°S, where it was ~3.5-fold
higher than localities with the lowest richness. This study provides the
first large-scale description of benthic communities along the
southwestern Atlantic, providing a baseline for macroecological
comparisons and evaluation of future impacts. Moreover, the new
understanding of richness distribution along Brazilian reefs will
contribute to conservation planning efforts, such as management strategies
and the spatial prioritization for the creation of new marine protected
areas.