Beatrice Ferreira

Federal University of Pernambuco | UFPE · Departamento de Oceanografia

Laws protecting the Atlantic Goliath Grouper Epinephelus itajara from fishing in federal and state waters of the United States (US) occurred in 1990 after the species was identified as being severely overfished. Population increases that occurred during the first 20 years of the closure were followed by a decline in the 10 years thereafter. Despite...

Overfishing of large herbivorous fishes is connected to the rise of algal-dominated states on coral reefs. The recovery of their populations is challenging, and future herbivore assemblages may be composed of smaller fish. With fisheries now targeting these smaller-sized herbivore populations, coral reef benthic communities may face unknown outcome...

Given the increasing exploration of endemic Brazilian parrotfishes and their classification as threatened, there is an emergent need to gather biological and fisheries information to assess their stocks. We performed a comprehensive review of 134 studies addressing key topics of information related to stock assessments: (1) the distribution and pop...

This chapter reviews participatory practice and its outcomes in the Brazilian coastal zone. A number of instruments and policies were generated in the immediate post-constitution era after 1988 to foster social participation in coastal management. New actors and initiatives, practices and networks have opened up additional pathways for social parti...

This work describes the spatio-temporal distribution of suspected plastic and microplastic (MP) particles in estuarine plumes and analyzes the microplastic/zooplankton ratio. Subsurface hauls with a conical-cylindrical net were deployed in the coastal area of Tamandare (Pernambuco, Brazil), covering the plume of two rivers and a bay adjacent to cor...

Here, the authors investigate the evolution of scientific literature on the Atlantic goliath grouper (Epinephelus itajara), the largest grouper species in the Atlantic. This species was considered threatened according to the IUCN for nearly three decades due to overfishing and has been protected from fishing in a large part of its range. For the pu...

Alterations to the functions and connectivity of mangrove–seagrass–patch reef (MSP) seascapes have the potential to impact the survival, foraging activities, and movement of reef-dependent invertebrates (e.g., crabs and shrimp) and fishes. In the current study, we examined carbon flow in the Guánica Biosphere Reserve in southwestern Puerto Rico usi...

Diverse and inclusive marine research is paramount to addressing ocean sustainability challenges in the 21st century, as envisioned by the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. Despite increasing efforts to diversify ocean science, women continue to face barriers at various stages of their career, which inhibits their progression...

The level of habitat availability influences genetic divergence among populations and the genetic diversity within populations. In the marine environment, near-shore species are among the most sensitive to habitat changes. Knowledge of how historical environmental change affected habitat availability and genetic variation can be applied to the deve...

Despite the marine environment being typified by a lack of obvious barriers to dispersal, levels of genetic divergence can arise in marine organisms from historical changes in habitat availability, current oceanographic regimes and anthropogenic factors. Here we describe the genetic structure of the Gray Parrotfish, Sparisoma axillare, and identify...

Accurate stock assessments are the basis of adequate fisheries management. In the Southwest Atlantic, fisheries of the Lane snapper (Lutjanus synagris) have been growing in importance in the last decades, following declines in other snapper fisheries since the late 1970 s, with evidence of overexploitation accumulating since the mid-2000 s. Contras...

O Centro Nacional de Pesquisa e Conservação da Biodiversidade Marinha do Nordeste/ Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade (CEPENE/ICMBio), dentro de suas atribuições dedicadas à conservação da biodiversidade marinha, mantém uma coleção biológica. O objetivo deste trabalho é apresentar a Coleção Biológica do CEPENE em seus aspectos...

Interdisciplinary research is paramount to addressing ocean sustainability challenges in the 21st century. However, women leaders have been underrepresented in interdisciplinary marine research, and there is little guidance on how to achieve the conditions that will lead to an increased proportion of women scientists in positions of leadership. Her...

The extensive oil spill (> 2,900 km) that occurred in the southwestern Atlantic (2019/2020) increased the vulnerability of the Brazilian coast, affecting marine and coastal protected areas (MPAs). In addition to supporting conservation, MPAs are sustainably used by local populations to help maintain ocean-dependent livelihoods. In this sense, we ai...

Mycteroperca bonaci (black grouper) is one of the most sought species of grouper along its entire distribution, being a prime target for demersal line fisheries because of its high commercial value. Nonetheless, because of population declines the species is considered near threatened according to the IUCN red list. The present study aimed to determ...

This study implemented Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) to evaluate temporal acoustic patterns in a protected coastal reef area in Tamandaré beach (100 km south of Recife city, Pernambuco State, Brazil). We used an autonomous underwater recorder that allowed continuous recordings from December to March. The sounds detected in the marine protected...

Movement is a key factor that shapes the distribution and structure of fish populations and influences the extent of the benefits provided by conservation and management measures, such as the implementation of marine no-take zones (NTZs). We used visual surveys and acoustic telemetry to investigate density and movement of 2 Brazilian endemic and hi...

This paper presents three datasets of anomalies of oceanic physical parameters and surface atmospheric fluxes in the northeast region of Brazil, geographically limited by 42.5°W-29.75°W / 20.5°S-1.25°N, calculated from the SODA, TROPFLUX and GPCP datasets. The DASAF-BNE (Daily Anomalies of the Surface Atmospheric Fluxes of the Brazilian Northeast),...

Ecosystems are connected through the movement of organisms, nutrients, energy, and matter. The connection and dependence between aquatic habitats enhances our capacity to understand the functioning of the seascape. In this paper, we investigated the trophic ecology of two snapper species, Lutjanus analis and Lutjanus alexandrei, along a tropical co...

Small-scale reef fisheries are important commercial and subsistence activities that support the livelihoods of millions of people in tropical regions. Tropical marine fisheries typically target a diversity of species caught with a matching diversity of fishing gears and practices. Here, we explored how multiple fishing gears select for distinct fun...

Flow-Topography Interaction can be considered as a particular set of processes resulting of the currents interaction with a topographic gradient, specially associated with submarine canyon areas, which are important morphological features with potential to upwelling and cross-isobath transport on the continental margins. The South Pernambuco Contin...

The Sixth Status of Corals of the World: 2020 Report Status and trends of coral reefs of the Brazil region The flagship product of the GCRMN is the Status of Coral Reefs of the World report that describes the status and trends of coral reefs worldwide. This sixth edition of the GCRMN Status of Coral Reefs of the World report is the first since 200...

The sinking of artificial structures has become increasingly common around the world, but whether the artificial structures favour or disfavour fish diversity remain under debate. Sinking may empty the nearby natural reefs locally and regionally by attracting their biota. Conversely, it may improve environmental conditions for species survival and...

Mapping habitats is essential to assist strategic decisions regarding the use and protection of coral reefs. Coupled with machine learning (ML) algorithms, remote sensing has allowed detailed mapping of reefs at meaningful scales. Here we integrated WorldView-3 and Landsat-8 imagery and ML techniques to produce a map of suitable habitats for the oc...

Example photos of the benthic covers found in the coastal reefs of Tamandaré Figures S4 to S17 present the 14 benthic habitats found in the coral reefs of the study area, pictured by representative video-frames and photos taken during field survey (all videos and photos were made by the author). Additionally, we provide example areas of each benth...

Tropical small-scale fisheries (SSFs) are characterised by their multidimensionality (fleets, gears, habitats, and species). As many targeted species move between habitats throughout their life cycle, managing coexisting fleets exploiting the same resource is challenging. However, the SSFs operating over multiple habitats target a variety of specie...

Parrotfishes contribute to important reef processes through their feeding. Individuals may join groups with distinctive social behavior, with unknown implications for their feeding ecology and, ultimately, their functional roles in reef systems. Using Scarus iseri populations in Isla Colón, Panama, we investigated whether individuals belonging to t...

Inferring pathways used by organisms within ecosystems is essential to the design, management and evaluation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). This study aimed to present a systematic review on the literature regarding the use of acoustic telemetry to monitor marine fish movement and its application on MPAs. Searches were conducted on electronic da...

Behavioural patterns and distributions of crustaceans, fish and mammals can be inferred from acoustic recordings of the extremely noisy marine acoustic environment. In this study, we determined the soundscape of protected and non-protected marine areas between January and April 2016. Sonobuoy (a device for sound monitoring) recordings began at suns...

The Brazilian oil spill, from August 2019 to January 2020, was considered the most extensive accident in tropical oceans.We estimated the concentration of oil droplets that may be available for ingestion by microzooplankton.The collection was carried out in three areas: estuarine plume, bay and reef (Tamandaré, Pernambuco coast). We highlight the c...

1. The deep reef refugia hypothesis (DRRH) predicts that deep reef ecosystems may act as refugium for the biota of disturbed shallow waters. Because deep reefs are amongst the most understudied habitats on Earth, formal tests of the DRRH remain scarce. If the DRRH is valid at the community level, the diversity of species, functions and lineages of...

The Northern Brazilian shelf is dominated by the interface between the world´s largest river and the Atlantic Ocean, which results in a hypossaline/nutrient-rich offshore plume that reaches up to 2.10⁶ km² across the North Atlantic. The Amazonian-Orinoco Influence Zone is considered an Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area by the United Na...

Ocean grabbing occurs when traditional users, such as small-scale fishers, are pushed aside by new development activities. This grabbing must be prevented to avoid sea uses that maintain or increase social inequity. In this paper, we show that in tropical Atlantic countries, such as Brazil and Senegal, examples of ocean grabbing already occur. In t...

• Sites and periods of spawning aggregations of two important fishery resources, the mutton snapper, Lutjanus analis, and the dog snapper, Lutjanus jocu, were identified and validated along the Brazilian north‐east coast (latitude 8–15°S) using exploratory analysis of catch per unit effort (CPUE) data, gonadosomatic index analysis, and gonad histol...

Bottom trawling is a common fisheries method and also a widespread scientific sampling method for benthic and demersal species. Selectivity and catchability are usually estimated using different meshes and studies with alternative methods are rare. In this study, to improve the estimation of trawl selectivity, we compare bottom trawl catches and re...

Damselfishes are known keystone species of reef environments, however large-scale distribution patterns are poorly studied in the southwestern Atlantic. We evaluated main drivers of distribution of three conspicuous damselfishes, along tropical and subtropical coastal systems, in Brazil. Abundances were assessed against wave exposure, depth (within...

da Silveira, C.B.L.; Strenzel, G.M.R.; Maida, M.; Araújo, T.C.M., and Ferreira, B.P., 2020. Multiresolution satellite-derived bathymetry in shallow coral reefs: Improving linear algorithms with geographical analysis. Journal of Coastal Research, 36(6), 1247-1265. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Bathymetric maps are one of the first steps f...

Among threats to marine species, overfishing has often been highlighted as a major contributor to population declines and yet fishing effort has increased globally over the past decade. This paper discusses the decadal reassessment of groupers (family Epinephelidae), an important and valuable group of marine fishes subjected to high market demand a...

Continental shelves are areas of extreme environmental and economic importance and priority areas for management and planning efforts. However, there is a knowledge gap regarding many tropical shelves, mainly due to high costs associated with surveying large marine areas with traditional techniques. Carbonatic, sediment-starved shelves are distribu...

This study provides information about the feeding habits, population aspects and spatial distribution of the spot­ted goatfish, Pseudupeneus maculatus, along the coast of the tropical Brazilian continental shelf. Distribution patterns are described using length frequencies and catch rates. Stable isotope ratios of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N),...

Tetraodontiformes fishes play a critical role in benthic and demersal communities and are facing threats due to anthropogenic impacts and climate change. However, they are poorly studied worldwide. To improve knowledge on the socio‐ecological significance and conservation of Tetraodontiformes a review of literature addressing the diversity, ecology...

In this paper, we aim to provide optimal parameters for micro-computed tomography scans of fish otoliths. We tested fifteen different combinations to sagittae. The images were scaled to Hounsfield units, and segmented in two distinct volumes-of-interest (external and internal). The strategy we applied, for identifying optimum scan settings for otol...

Case study for Western (Brazil) and Eastern (Cape Verde, Senegal) tropical Atlantic countries, information on marine and coastal natural resources and their use and exploitation status

This study reports the results of 5 years of monitoring reef fish post‐larvae using light traps in the Bay of Tamandaré, north‐east Brazil. An annotated checklist of pre‐settlement fish species, their frequency of occurrence and taxonomic characteristics are provided. In total, 4,422 post‐larval fishes belonging to 36 families, 56 genera and 76 spe...

Mycteroperca acutirostris is a widely distributed, demersal species that inhabits a wide variety ofnearshore structured habitats. It is heavily targeted by commercial artisanal and recreational fisheries inparts of Brazil. Data is generally lacking, but localised declines have occurred in certain areas. It is nottargeted in part of its range, such...

This widely distributed, large-bodied species inhabits hard reef structure and mangrove areas. It is heavily targeted by fishers throughout its range, and has experienced historical population declines as a result. A variety of intrinsic characteristics (e.g., late-maturing, long-lived, aggregate spawning behaviour, predictable occurrence and lack...

This study provides the length‐weight relationship (LWR) for 13 demersal fish species belonging to 11 families and 8 orders. Data were collected in the northeast Brazilian continental shelf during two scientific surveys (2015 and 2017) using a bottom trawl net (side length of body mesh: 40 mm, side length of cod‐end mesh: 25 mm) at 35 stations betw...

The greenback parrotfish, Scarus trispinosus, is the largest herbivorous fish inhabiting Southwestern Atlantic reefs, and was recently included in the IUCN red list of threatened species as endangered due to the overexploitation of their populations. The aim of this work was to evaluate the existence of structured populations (i.e. genetic unities)...

Knowledge of the spatial distribution of fish assemblages biodiversity and structure is essential for prioritizing areas of conservation. Here we describe the biodiversity and community structure of demersal fish assemblages and their habitat along the northeast Brazilian coast by combining bottom trawl data and underwater footage. Species composit...