SE_BrazilRockyShores

A fundamental goal in ecology is to understand how environmental drivers affect patterns and processes, and ultimately ecosystem functioning. The effect of single local factors on populations and communities has long been documented but less is understood on the influence of simultaneous environmental drivers emerging at multiple spatial scales. The importance of environmental drivers as mediators of cascade trophic effects and direct regulation of rocky shore populations is subject of vast literature for temperate regions where these landscapes are conspicuous. Despite of that, other regions on tropical and subtropical domains are poorly explored, including the Southwest Atlantic coasts. Knowledge about such ecological patterns is key to access ecological function and ecosystem functioning, allowing predictive capacity and managing of natural systems. Thus, the activities of this project focused on issues related to the assessment of spatial variation at multiple scales of producers and consumers and their association with the composition and population structure of intertidal organisms on rocky shores in SE Brazil. To achieve that, the geographical area covered by the project extended from the north of Rio de Janeiro to the south of São Paulo, comprising a broad gradient of productivity, coastal complexity and anthropic impact. This collection corresponds to the species registered on benthic fauna of 62 rocky shores from spanning 530 km of coasts using standardized sampling protocols using a nested hierarchical design. This dataset comprises measurements of individual size, density or relative cover of dominant species found in intertidal rocky shores in SE Brazil coast sampled in 2015. Species include filter feeders (mussel Mytilaster solisianus, barnacles Tetraclita stalactifera and Chthamalus bisinuatus), a predatory gastropod (whelk Stramonita haemastoma) and grazers (limpets Lottia subrugosa and Fissurela rosea, and periwinkle Echinolittorina lineolata). Sampling, materials and personnel were financed by grants provided by CNPq and FAPESP (Brazil).

生态学的核心目标之一是阐明环境驱动因子如何影响生态格局与过程，并最终调控生态系统功能。长期以来，学界已对单一局地因子对种群与群落的影响开展了大量研究，但对多空间尺度下同时出现的多重环境驱动因子的协同影响，人们的认识仍较为有限。在温带区域，岩岸生境分布显著，相关研究已就环境驱动因子作为级联营养效应的媒介以及岩岸种群的直接调控因子的重要性展开了大量文献报道。然而，热带与亚热带区域的相关研究仍较为匮乏，西南大西洋沿岸便是其中之一。厘清此类生态格局，是解析生态过程与生态系统功能的关键，可为自然系统的预测与管理提供支撑。为此，本项目的研究内容聚焦于多尺度下生产者与消费者的空间变异特征，及其与巴西东南部岩岸潮间带生物的群落组成与种群结构的关联。本项目的研究区域覆盖从里约热内卢北部至圣保罗南部的沿岸海域，涵盖了生产力、海岸复杂性与人为影响的广泛梯度。本数据集采集自该区域530千米海岸线上的62处岩岸生境，采用嵌套分层设计的标准化采样方案获取底栖动物物种记录。数据集包含2015年对巴西东南部沿岸岩岸潮间带优势物种的个体大小、密度或相对盖度的测定数据。所记录的物种包括滤食性生物（贻贝 *Mytilaster solisianus*、纹藤壶 *Tetraclita stalactifera* 与双凹藤壶 *Chthamalus bisinuatus*）、掠食性腹足类（红皱峨螺 *Stramonita haemastoma*）以及植食性生物（柔纹莲花青螺 *Lottia subrugosa*、玫瑰裂螺 *Fissurela rosea* 与带纹滨螺 *Echinolittorina lineolata*）。本次采样的物资、耗材与人员费用均由巴西国家科学技术发展委员会（CNPq）与圣保罗研究基金会（FAPESP）的资助项目提供支持。