Tropical Marine Environments of Brazil

Book excerpt: This book provides an overview of the tropical marine environments of Brazil and a multi-disciplinary assessment of the impact of ongoing climate change in these environments. These changes will affect physical, biological and biogeochemical characteristics of coastal zones and oceans, modifying their ecological structure, their functions and the various services provided to humans and have the potential of causing severe socioeconomic impacts in local (coastal zone), regional (continental shelf and shallow seas) and global (ocean) scales. The Tropical Brazil presents a unique opportunity to evaluate how spatial and temporal heterogeneity influences the response and resilience of marine environments to climate changes. This region comprises the main reef constructions of the Western South Atlantic Ocean, the majority of the Brazilian deltas, one of the longest mangrove areas of the world, a very narrow and shallow continental shelf, extreme variations in sediment and nutrient flows, as well as undeniable importance in transferring heat and mass between hemispheres.