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Orientadora: Profa. Dra. Natalia Pirani Ghilardi-Lopes Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal do ABC, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Evolução e Diversidade, São Bernardo do Campo, 2018. Apesar da importância do monitoramento das unidades de conservação (UCs) marinhas, problemas logísticos e orçamentários dificultam sua realização e, consequentemente, a gestão efetiva dessas áreas. Por isso, é necessária a busca por alternativas de baixo custo que possam auxiliar nessas questões. A abordagem por biótopos associada à ciência cidadã mostra-se adequada para o monitoramento de comunidades marinhas bentônicas por possibilitar extensa amostragem em curto período de tempo e com baixo custo, além de integrar cidadãos ativamente em produções de conhecimento. Essa pode ser uma ferramenta interessante para o monitoramento de UCs marinhas; porém, é importante que a elaboração do protocolo de monitoramento e sua validação sejam realizadas considerando-se as recomendações da literatura. Nesse sentido, este trabalho se propôs a (1) avaliar o status dos protocolos de ciência cidadã para bentos marinho e costeiro no mundo e (2) a propor, aplicar e validar o uso da ciência cidadã associada à abordagem por biótopos como uma ferramenta para o monitoramento de comunidades bentônicas em UCs marinhas. Para isso, realizamos o levantamento e comparação da estrutura de protocolos de ciência cidadã para bentos costeiro e marinho, incluindo o protocolo proposto no presente estudo. Apesar da maioria dos projetos encontrados apresentarem várias das características recomendadas pela literatura, seus principais interesses são a coleta de dados e os resultados oriundos destes, ficando a educação dos CCs, sua inclusão no processo de desenvolvimento do protocolo e sua avaliação em segundo plano. Sugerimos que os protocolos considerem a educação científica e ambiental dos CCs como um objetivo a ser atingido, e nosso protocolo leva tais ideias em consideração. Para embasar a elaboração do nosso protocolo, realizamos um levantamento prévio dos biótopos de um trecho do infralitoral consolidado da Ilha das Palmas (Estação Ecológica Tupinambás, Ubatuba/SP). Nesse levantamento, foram identificados 20 biótopos e três animais vágeis associados em apenas um mergulho. Também foram detectados organismos invasores e a dominância de tapetes na área de estudo. Isso é um demonstrativo de que a caracterização de comunidades marinhas bentônicas utilizando o método visual por biótopos pode agilizar a identificação de possíveis impactos negativos e a realização de planos de prevenção ou mitigação dos mesmos. Cientistas cidadãos (CCs) voluntários foram capacitados no uso do protocolo, que foi dividido em duas etapas: (1) a coleta de dados, que consistiu de registros fotográficos padronizados do costão rochoso; e (2) o processamento das fotografias, que consistiu da identificação (ID) dos biótopos nas fotos em um curso presencial. As fotos obtidas durante a Etapa 1 estão disponíveis na plataforma Zooniverse, através do projeto Monitore Tupinambás (https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/larissakawabe/monitore-tupinambas), no qual qualquer voluntário pode contribuir com as análises, seguindo o tutorial disponível. A avaliação educacional da pesquisa, realizada através de questionários pré e pós-atividade, mostrou principalmente que houve mudanças de percepção dos CCs em relação ao ambiente estudado. Para a validação dos dados da Etapa 2, comparamos as IDs dos biótopos realizadas pelas pesquisadoras (grupo controle) e CCs (grupo experimental), analisando a precisão e acurácia das respostas. Apesar das limitações inerentes do método utilizado (ID por foto) e das necessidades de modificação do protocolo identificadas por CCs e pesquisadoras; os resultados de acurácia e precisão foram comparáveis aos de outros trabalhos similares, demonstrando que esse protocolo, o primeiro a ser desenvolvido com foco em bentos marinho no Brasil, é uma ferramenta promissora para o monitoramento participativo e de longo prazo das UCs marinhas do país, auxiliando na gestão dessas áreas e na educação ambiental e científica dos cidadãos participantes. Despite the importance of monitoring the marine protected areas (MPAs), logistical and budgetary problems make it difficult to carry out and, consequently, affect the effective management of these areas. Therefore, it is necessary to search for low-cost alternatives that could help with these issues. The biotope approach associated with citizen science could be interesting for the monitoring of marine benthic communities because it allows extensive sampling in a relatively short period of time and at low cost. At the same time, citizens are integrated as active contributors in the knowledge production. This can be an interesting tool for the MPA monitoring; however, it is important that the elaboration of the monitoring protocol and its validation consider the literature recommendations. In this sense, this work aimed to (1) evaluate the status of citizen science protocols for marine and coastal benthos in the world and (2) to propose, apply and validate the use of citizen science associated with the biotope approach as a tool for monitoring benthic communities in MPAs. For this, we conducted a survey and comparison of the structure of citizen science protocols for coastal and marine benthos, including the protocol proposed in the present study. Although most of the projects found present several of the characteristics recommended by the literature, their main interests are the data collection and their results, being the education of citizen scientists, their inclusion in the protocol development process and their evaluation in the background. We suggest that the protocols consider the scientific and environmental education of citizen scientists as a goal to be achieved, and our protocol takes such ideas into account. To support the elaboration of our protocol, we carried out a preliminary biotopes survey of a consolidated subtidal section of the Ilha das Palmas (Tupinambás Ecological Station, Ubatuba/SP). In this survey, 20 biotopes and three associated animals were identified in only one dive. Invasive organisms and carpet dominance were also detected in the study area. This is a demonstration that the benthic marine communities characterization using the biotope visual method can speed up the identification of possible negative impacts and the implementation of prevention or mitigation plans. Volunteer citizen scientists were trained in the use of the protocol, which was divided into two steps: (1) data collection, which consisted of standardized photographic records of the rocky reef; and (2) the processing of the photographs, which consisted of identification (ID) of the biotopes in the photos in a classroom course. The photos obtained during Stage 1 are available on the Zooniverse platform through the Monitore Tupinambás project (https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/larissakawabe/monitore-tupinambas), in which any volunteer can contribute to the analyzes, following the tutorial available. The educational evaluation of the research, performed through pre and post-activity questionnaires, showed mainly that there were changes in perception of citizen scientists in relation to the studied environment. For the data validation of Stage 2, we compared the biotope IDs performed by the researchers (control group) and citizen scientists (experimental group), analyzing their accuracy and precision. Despite the inherent limitations of the method used (ID per photo) and the identification by citizen scientists and researchers of protocol modification needs; the results of accuracy and precision were comparable to those of other similar studies, demonstrating that this protocol, the first developed with a focus on marine benthos in Brazil, is a promising tool for the participatory and long-term monitoring of the country's MPA, assisting in the management of these areas and in the environmental and scientific education of the citizens scientists.

The sub-Antarctic Magellan region in southern Chile belongs to the most extensive fjord regions of the world and the coastal and marine environments are exposed to natural and anthropogenic perturbations. Research on the marine ecosystems have received some attention, however, research on the flow of energy is rather limited. To trace energy flow and resource distribution across communities are of considerable concern to current ecological studies, thus understanding how the marine benthic ecosystems are organized, on the base of which food sources they are built upon and how benthic organisms utilize resources. Heterogeneous environmental conditions along the Sub-Antarctic Magellan region, however, suggest the possibility of a great heterogeneity in community structure and population dynamics. Studies of the trophic structure and energy flow are essential in this context. The aim of this thesis is to increase the knowledge of the ecological role ofbenthic species to communities living in the sub-Antarctic Magellan region. The main objectives of this research include: (i) to investigate the trophic ecology of conspicuous species and their ecological role in the marine benthic communities of the Magellan region; (ii) to describe the trophic structure of two shallow-water benthic community types in the Strait of Magellan in order to establish baseline descriptions of trophic relationships for community structure and function, and (iii) to estimate benthic secondary production in this sub-Antarctic region as a proxy for energy flow along latitudinal gradients. The main results indicate that local/regional environmental conditions and biological features may originate clear differences on the trophic structure and energy flow patterns. This research gives valuable insight into ecological functioning of marine benthic communities present in the sub-Antarctic Magellan region and may offer useful information to build food web models.

1. There is world-wide concern about the effects of bottom-dredging on benthic communities in soft sediments. In autumn 1988, almost a third of the 50-km(2) intertidal system around the island of Griend in the western Dutch Wadden Sea was suction-dredged for edible cockles Cerastoderma edule and this study assessed subsequent effects. An adjacent area not directly touched by this fishery and an area from which the mussel Mytilus edulis beds were removed, served as reference areas.2. Sediment characteristics, together with the total stock size and settlement densities of Cerastoderma, Baltic tellin Macoma balthica and soft-shelled clam Mya arenaria, were documented during 11 successive autumns before (August-September 1988) and after (August-September 1989-98) the suction-dredging event in fished and unfished areas. Four other areas in the Dutch Wadden Sea, where changes in densities of juvenile bivalves from 1992 to 1998 were measured, served as additional reference locations.3. Between 1988 and 1994, median sediment grain size increased while silt was lost from sediments near Griend that were dredged for cockles. The initial sediment characteristics were re-attained by 1996.4. After the removal of all Mytilus and most Cerastoderma, the abundance of Macoma declined for 8 years. From 1989 to 1998, stocks of Cerastoderma, Macoma and Mytilus did not recover to the 1988 levels, with the loss of Cerastoderma and Macoma being most pronounced in the area dredged for cockles. Declines of bivalve stocks were caused by particularly low rates of settlement in fished areas until 1996, i.e. 8 years after the dredging.5. A comparison of settlement in the short (1992-94) and medium term (1996-98) after cockle-dredging in several fished and unfished areas spread over the entire Dutch Wadden Sea, showed a significant negative effect of dredging on subsequent settlement of Cerastoderma. Macoma also declined, but not significantly.6. We conclude that suction-dredging of Cerastoderma had long-lasting negative effects on recruitment of bivalves, particularly the target species, in sandy parts of the Wadden Sea basin. Initially, sediment reworking by suction-dredging (especially during autumn storms) probably caused losses of fine silts. Negative feedback processes appeared to follow that prevented the accumulation of fine-grained sediments conducive to bivalve settlement.

The literature on the ecology of marine assemblages includes frequent examples of data analysis with no well-defined alternative hypotheses for the definition of environmental variables (independent matrix for multivariate methods). Alternative models, whereby spatial or temporal patterns are investigated, should be explicitly assumed. We present a parsimonious procedure for model selection in multivariate data combined with canonical correspondence analysis to determine the measure of explained variance for each tested model, using Akaike’s information criterion (AIC) for model selection. The AIC procedure is an effective tool for model selection and, in contrast to other conventional procedures that use only 1 implicit model and ignore other community patterns, it provides a framework for ranking hierarchical patterns that adds an alternative non-disjunctive perspective to assemblage analysis. Hierarchical patterns are revealed as layers in a scale-dependent framework Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología; REN2000-0446

1. There is world-wide concern about the effects of bottom-dredging on benthic communities in soft sediments. In autumn 1988, almost a third of the 50-km(2) intertidal system around the island of Griend in the western Dutch Wadden Sea was suction-dredged for edible cockles Cerastoderma edule and this study assessed subsequent effects. An adjacent area not directly touched by this fishery and an area from which the mussel Mytilus edulis beds were removed, served as reference areas. 2. Sediment characteristics, together with the total stock size and settlement densities of Cerastoderma, Baltic tellin Macoma balthica and soft-shelled clam Mya arenaria, were documented during 11 successive autumns before (August-September 1988) and after (August-September 1989-98) the suction-dredging event in fished and unfished areas. Four other areas in the Dutch Wadden Sea, where changes in densities of juvenile bivalves from 1992 to 1998 were measured, served as additional reference locations. 3. Between 1988 and 1994, median sediment grain size increased while silt was lost from sediments near Griend that were dredged for cockles. The initial sediment characteristics were re-attained by 1996. 4. After the removal of all Mytilus and most Cerastoderma, the abundance of Macoma declined for 8 years. From 1989 to 1998, stocks of Cerastoderma, Macoma and Mytilus did not recover to the 1988 levels, with the loss of Cerastoderma and Macoma being most pronounced in the area dredged for cockles. Declines of bivalve stocks were caused by particularly low rates of settlement in fished areas until 1996, i.e. 8 years after the dredging. 5. A comparison of settlement in the short (1992-94) and medium term (1996-98) after cockle-dredging in several fished and unfished areas spread over the entire Dutch Wadden Sea, showed a significant negative effect of dredging on subsequent settlement of Cerastoderma. Macoma also declined, but not significantly. 6. We conclude that suction-dredging of Cerastoderma had long-lasting negative effects on recruitment of bivalves, particularly the target species, in sandy parts of the Wadden Sea basin. Initially, sediment reworking by suction-dredging (especially during autumn storms) probably caused losses of fine silts. Negative feedback processes appeared to follow that prevented the accumulation of fine-grained sediments conducive to bivalve settlement.