Dissertação(mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Programa de Pós–Graduação em Oceanografia Biológica, Instituto de Oceanografia, 2010. / Submitted by Cristiane Gomides (cristiane_gomides@hotmail.com) on 2013-12-16T02:03:18Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Paloma Lumi Costa.pdf: 5921417 bytes, checksum: f675464f8e1a0f393d83b8cfc5e4ed76 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Sabrina Andrade (sabrinabeatriz@ibest.com.br) on 2013-12-18T18:15:15Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Paloma Lumi Costa.pdf: 5921417 bytes, checksum: f675464f8e1a0f393d83b8cfc5e4ed76 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-12-18T18:15:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Paloma Lumi Costa.pdf: 5921417 bytes, checksum: f675464f8e1a0f393d83b8cfc5e4ed76 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / O presente estudo teve como objetivo principal a realização de um mapeamento de fundo, através de metodologia acústica, para a região da Bacia de Pelotas e, de correlacionar tipos de substratos à diversidade e abundância de teleósteos demersais. O mapeamento foi realizado utilizando o parâmetro de refletividade da superfície do fundo, definido como a razão entre a intensidade acústica que atinge o leito marinho e é refletida pelo mesmo, registrando dessa forma características de fundo associadas a impedância do substrato. Os dados referentes a peixes foram obtidos na bibliografia ou disponibilizados por pesquisadores. Inicialmente foi realizado um estudo piloto em um setor costeiro da Bacia de Pelotas, Banco do Capela (RS), onde foram adquiridos dados de BSBS, posteriormente separados em quatro classes de valores: -5 a -10dB; -10 a -15dB; - 15 a -20dB e < -20dB. Um mapa com estas classes foi gerado por meio da interpolação dos valores BSBS e comparado a um mapa sedimentológico. Os resultados indicaram coerência para a classe de -15 a -20 dB, a qual foi predominante em áreas com a presença de sedimentos arenosos. No entanto, altos valores de refletividade foram encontrados nos setores mais costeiros onde o mapa sedimentológico apontou a predominância de sedimentos lamosos. Interpreta-se este resultado à presença de beach rocks presentes em sub-superfície. O passo seguinte foi a elaboração de um mapa de classes de BSBS utilizando dados referentes a quatro cruzeiros realizados em uma área da Bacia de Pelotas, em profundidades entre 100 e 1000 m, mapa este que apresentou coerência quando comparado a mapas sedimentológicos. Quatro feições com altos valore de BSBS foram identificadas entre as profundidades de 100 e 200m, a maior delas na altura do Cabo de Santa Marta e atribuídas principalmente a fundos consolidados ou com presença de material biodetrítico. Acima dos 500 m predominaram fundos com baixa refletividade acústica, atribuídos a presença de sedimento lamoso. Ao mapa acústico foram sobrepostas as ocorrências de nove espécies de teleósteos demersais cujas distribuições mostraram-se não aleatórias em relação às classes de refletividade acústica de fundo. Mullus argentinae, Nemadactylus bergi, Prionotus punctatus, Genypterus brasiliensis, Cynoscion guatucupa e Lopholatilus villarii ocorreram com mais freqüência e abundancia nas classes com menores valores de refletividade. Já o Pagrus pagrus teve maior abundancia e ocorrência em fundos com maiores valores de refletividade acústica, atribuídos a presença de sedimentos consolidados e biodetríticos. Posteriormente, o mapa foi analisado frente a informações de ocorrência de corais de profundidade, disponíveis na literatura. A comparação dos mapas gerados com base em informações dos corais de profundidade apresentou forte relação com áreas alta refletividade. / The main aim of this study was conduct a seabed mapping, using acoustic methods, in the region of Pelotas Basin and to correlate different types of substratum to the occurrence and abundance of demersal bonefishes. The map was created using the parameter BSBS, defined as the ratio between the acoustic intensity which reaches the ocean bottom and is backscattered and it is a function of the seabed surface acoustic impedande. Fish data were gathered from the literature or made available by researchers and overlaid to the map. Initially an experiment study was conducted in a coastal sector of the Pelotas Basin, Banco do Capela (RS) where BSBS data were acquired, post processed and grouped in four classes of values, namely: -5 to -10dB, -10 to -15 dB, -15 to -20dB and < -20dB. A map was created with these classes and compared with a sedimentological map. The results were consistent with in the class of - 15 to -20 dB, which was dominant and coincident with the presence of sandy sediments. However, high values of reflectivity were found in the most coastal sectors where the sedimentological map indicated the presence of muddy sediments. It is suggested that these results might be associated with the presence of beack rocks in the subbottom. Next was generated a map using BSBS data from four large scales cruises in the Pelotas Basin area, between 100 and 1000 m deep. This map was consistent when compared to sedimentological maps of the region. Four features with high acoustic reflectivity were identified between depths of 100 and 200 m, the largest in the Cabo de Santa Marta area. These features were attributed mainly to consolidated sediments or to the presence of biodetritus. Deeper than 500 m the map showed bottoms with low reflectivity associated to the presence of muddy sediments. To the BSBS map was overlayed the occurrences of nine species of demersal bonyfishes which showed not to be randomly distributed with relation to the BSBS classes. Mullus argentinae, Nemadactylus bergi, Prionotus punctatus, Genypterus brasiliensis, Cynoscion guatucupa and Lopholatilus villarii occurred more often and in higher abundances in classes with low values of reflectivity. In addition, Pagrus pagrus showed greater abundances and occurrences in higher acoustic reflectivity bottoms, related to the presence of biodetritus and consolidated bottoms. The acoustic map was also compared with the presence of deep sea corals as obtained from the literature. The comparison showed strong similarities among areas with high reflectivity identified in this work.

The deep ocean (> 200-m depth) covers more than 65 percent of earth's surface and is known as the largest active carbon sink of the planet. Photosynthesis fixes inorganic carbon into organic rich-compounds to fuel the biological production in the upper ocean. A small portion of the photosynthetic carbon eventually sinks to the seafloor to support diverse deep-sea life. In this dissertation, the phytoplankton production and export flux of particulate organic carbon (POC) to the seafloor were linked to standing stocks and compositional changes of the deep-sea soft bottom assemblages. The pattern and processes of energy transfer from the surface ocean to the deep sea was examined by modeling the global benthic bacteria, meiofauna, macrofauna, and megafauna biomass from remotely sensed ocean color images and the seafloor relief. The analysis was then scaled down to the macrofauna of the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) to examine the global pattern on regional oceanic features with contrasting productivity regimes. These results suggested a universal decline of benthic standing stocks down the continental margins that is caused by an exponential decrease of export POC flux with depth. A revisit of historical epibenthic invertebrate sampling in the North Atlantic showed that both individual species and multi-species assemblages occurred in narrow depth bands that hugged the topography from the upper continental slope out to the Hatteras Abyssal Plain. The continuum compositional change suggested that the continuous decline of benthic food supply with depth was the potential driving force for the pattern of bathymetric faunal zonation. A broad, systematic survey across multiple depth transects in the northern GoM suggested that macrofauna zonation is not only taking place across isobaths, but also form the northeast to the northwest GoM due to a horizontal productivity gradient created by the nutrient-laden Mississippi River. Analyses of long-term demersal fish data from 1964 to 2002 in the northern GoM showed no evidence of large-scale faunal change across different sampling times. Base on the pooled data, a shift in rate of fish species replacement may be caused by complex biological interactions or changes in environmental heterogeneity along depth or productivity gradients.