https://socictopen.socict.org/items/show/20204
title: Diversity, dynamics and biogeography of Chilean benthic nearshore ecosystems: an overview and guidelines for conservation Diversidad, dinámica y biogeografía del ecosistema costero bentónico de Chile: revisión y bases para conservación marina
subject: Chile, biogeographical patterns, community structure, conservación marina, estructura comunitaria, human impact, impacto humano, marine conservation, patrones biogeográficos
description: Despite Chile has been one of the pioneering countries in studies of human impact on marine communities, and despite the enormous economic and social significance that the marine environment has for the country, the development of marine conservation programs and the scientific basis for sustainability has not kept pace, with the exploitation rate of marine fisheries and the increasing use of the coast for other purposes. Although we think that the establishment of any conservation policies along the vast coastline of Chile must be based on a multitude of approaches and considerations, scientific, biological, and ecological principles should guide much of these efforts. In this paper, we attempt to present a general overview of the current knowledge about the ecology and biogeography of nearshore systems in Chile. Based on the most relevant existing information, our goals are to: 1) Identify major biogeographic and ecological features of nearshore ecosystems, and the obvious gaps in information, 2) identify the most harmful human activities impacting the structure and dynamics of these systems, and 3) suggest the possible use of indicators to assess the conservational status of different environments along the coast. This overview shows, on one side, the geographic areas of deficitary knowledge on nearshore environments that are critical for future marine conservation and management plans, and on the other, the availability of high quality information for other geographic areas along the coast. Regarding the taxonomy and large-scale patterns of species distribution, important gaps in information were detected, however no big changes in the total number of species are expected in the future. There are few large-scale patterns of species distribution are reported in the literature, and in this contribution, but more work needs to be done, particularly for some taxa, to identify areas of high species diversity as well as areas which possess unique characteristics in te…
creator: SERGIO A NAVARRETE, F. PATRICIO OJEDA, MIRIAM FERNANDEZ, EDUARDO JARAMILLO, PABLO A MARQUET, CARLOS A MORENO, CLAUDIO R VALDOVINOS, JULIO A VASQUEZ
source: Revista Chilena de Historia Natural
publisher: BMC
date: 2000
relation: http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0716-078X2000000400021
coverage: Botany, Zoology