Spatial patterns of benthic megahabitats and conservation planning in the Abrolhos Bank

• DOI: 10.1016/j.csr.2013.04.036
• Publication Date: 2013-05-02T17:10:19Z
• Authors: Rodrigo Leão Moura; Nélio Augusto Sec...; Gilberto Menezes ...; Ronaldo Bastos Fr...; Matheus Oliveira ...; Carolina Viviana ...; João Batista Teix...; Fabiano Lopes Tho...; Guilherme Fraga D...; Paulo Yukio Gomes...; Arthur Zigliatti ...; Rubens Mendes Lopes; Alex Cardoso Bastos
• Keywords: Dredging; Benthic Habitat; Marine Spatial Planning; Marine protected area

Abstract Application of sidescan sonar at the regional scale of the Abrolhos Bank, with ground-truthing by remotely operated vehicles and mixed-gas diving operations, revealed a much more complex habitat mosaic than previously recognized. The regional benthic habitat map indicates 8844 km2 of reefs (earlier estimates from remote sensing were around 500 km2) and 20,904 km² of rhodolith habitat—the world's largest continuous bed. Integration of the regional megahabitat map with spatially explicit data on the distribution of marine protected areas (