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Introduction
Eduardo Klein is a associate professor at the Departamento de Estudios Ambientales, Simon Bolívar University. Researcher of the Institute of Technology and Marine Science INTECMAR and head of the Remote Sensing and Geo-Spatial Analysis Laboratory. Eduardo does research in Marine Ecology focus on biodiversity patterns and indicators. Also is co-chair of the steering group of OBIS (Ocean Biogeographic Information System). Their current project is 'Bleaching patterns and prediction tools for the GBR'
Additional affiliations
January 1993 - present
Publications
Publications (82)
Standardized methods for effectively and rapidly monitoring changes in the biodiversity of marine ecosystems are critical to assess status and trends in ways that are comparable between locations and over time. In intertidal and subtidal habitats, estimates of fractional cover and abundance of organisms are typically obtained with traditional quadr...
Acquiring marine biodiversity data is difficult, costly, and time-consuming, making it challenging to understand the distribution and abundance of life in the ocean. Historically, approaches to biodiversity sampling over large geographic scales have advocated for equivalent effort across multiple sites to minimize comparative bias. When effort cann...
Identifying susceptible regions where biodiversity changes occur at fast rates is essential in order to protect and ameliorate affected areas. Large-scale coastal monitoring programs that focus on long-term variability are scarce, yet the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network Pole to Pole is currently developing a regional collaboration throughou...
Aim: We evaluated whether patterns of species diversity (α, β and γ) of rocky shore
assemblages followed latitudinal gradients (i.e. LDGs) along the South American
coasts, and tested hypotheses related to potential processes sustaining or disrupting
the expected LDG pattern at various spatial scales.
Location: Coasts of South America.
Taxon: Macroa...
Knowledge on the status and trends in marine biodiversity, and associated drivers of biodiversity change across the Americas is sparse and geographically uneven. International cooperation is needed to fill observational gaps at these geographic scales and provide information to satisfy policy targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development a...
This mini-review paper analyses the achievements of the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS), as a distributed global data system and as a community of data contributors and users. We highlight some issues and challenges and identify ways OBIS is trying to address these with developing community standards, protocols and best practices, app...
Marine ecosystems have numerous benefits for human societies around the world and many policy initiatives now seek to maintain the health of these ecosystems. To enable wise decisions, up to date and accurate information on marine species and the state of the environment they live in is required. Moreover, this information needs to be openly access...
Developing enduring capacity to monitor ocean life requires investing in people and their institutions to build infrastructure, ownership, and long-term support networks. International initiatives can enhance access to scientific data, tools and methodologies, and develop local expertise to use them, but without ongoing engagement may fail to have...
Measurements of the status and trends of key indicators for the ocean and marine life are required to inform policy and management in the context of growing human uses of marine resources, coastal development, and climate change. Two synergistic efforts identify specific priority variables for monitoring: Essential Ocean Variables (EOVs) through th...
Sustained observations of marine biodiversity and ecosystems focused on specific conservation and management problems are needed around the world to effectively mitigate or manage changes resulting from anthropogenic pressures. These observations, while complex and expensive, are required by the international scientific, governance and policy commu...
The biodiversity and high productivity of coastal terrestrial and aquatic habitats are the foundation for important benefits to human societies around the world. These globally distributed habitats need frequent and broad systematic assessments, but field surveys only cover a small fraction of these areas. Satellite-based sensors can repeatedly rec...
[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0188564.].
Coastal ecosystems and the livelihoods they support are threatened by stressors acting at global and local scales. Here we used the data produced by the Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity program (CARICOMP), the longest, largest monitoring program in the wider Caribbean, to evidence local-scale (decreases in water quality) and global-scale (incr...
Mixed effect models results.
Word file including non-linear mixed effect model fits for temperature and visibility.
(DOCX)
Site metadata.
Word file including metadata for all CARICOMP stations included in the database and mixed effect model fits for temperature and visibility.
(DOCX)
CARICOMP environmental database.
Text file including all CARICOMP’s weekly environmental data.
(TXT)
Data providers in the Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) network are not just recording species occurrences, they are also recording sampling methodology details and measuring environmental and biotic variables. In order to make OBIS an effective data sharing platform, it needs to be able to store and exchange these data in such a way th...
The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) aims to integrate smaller, isolated datasets into a larger, more comprehensive picture of life in our oceans. Therefore, OBIS provides a gateway to many datasets containing information on where and when marine species have been observed. The datasets within OBIS are contributed by a network of hundr...
The Ocean Biogeographic Information System (OBIS) is the world’s most comprehensive online, open-access database of marine species distributions. OBIS grows with millions of new species observations every year. Contributions come from a network of hundreds of institutions, projects and individuals with common goals: to build a scientific knowledge...
The long shadow cast by British Petroleum’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, perhaps the largest environmental disaster wrought by the petroleum industry to date, brings into question the calculation of costs against gains earned from offshore oil and gas drilling. Truthfully, however, the question is moot. Today’s industrial nations depend on oil...
Antarctic benthos has been a main target in Antarctic research, but very few quantitative studies have been carried out in the littoral zone, which may be seasonally covered by macroalgae. In this work, we studied (1) cover and biomass of the macroalgae Iridaea cordata and Adenocystis utricularis, and (2) composition of macrobenthic assemblage asso...
Marine Benthos: Biology, Ecosystem Functions and Environmental Impact is a book dedicated to show a series of case studies about how benthic habitats are organized and how they function as a tool for any environmental impact studies. The present book documents how the natural condition of these communities is and aims to expand our present knowledg...
Rocky shores are areas of high diversity and productivity providing goods and services. Since humans are altering nature at an unprecedented rate, producing shifts in important parameters for life such as temperature, habitat availability, water quality, among others, it is expected that species will respond by changing their natural distributions...
The recent invasion of lionfish (Pterois volitans) in the Atlantic is considered a new threat to benthic and fish communities in the Caribbean region. This species was first reported in Venezuela in 2009 at various sites. Increasing reports in the past five years suggest lionfish has expanded its range of distribution and habitats. Nevertheless, th...
The recent invasion of lionfish (Pterois volitans) in the Atlantic is considered a new threat to benthic and fish communities in the Caribbean region. This species was first reported in Venezuela in 2009 at various sites. Increasing reports in the past five years suggest lionfish has expanded its range of distribution and habitats. Nevertheless, th...
The order Amphipoda is one of the most diverse within Peracarids, and comprises 6 950 described marine species. Amphipod research in the Caribbean Sea began in the late 1 800s, but has increased significantly since 1 980. In this study, we analized the amphipod biodiversity (Caprellidea, Gammaridea, Hyperiidea, and Ingolfiellidea) of the Caribbean...
The order Amphipoda is one of the most diverse within Peracarids, and comprises 6950 described marine species. Amphipod research in the Caribbean Sea began in the late 1800s, but has increased significantly since 1980. In this study, we analized the amphipod biodiversity (Caprellidea, Gammaridea, Hyperiidea, and Ingolfiellidea) of the Caribbean Sea...
Gastropod assemblages from nearshore rocky habitats were studied over large spatial scales to (1) describe broad-scale patterns in assemblage composition, including patterns by feeding modes, (2) identify latitudinal pattern of biodiversity, i.e., richness and abundance of gastropods and/or regional hotspots, and (3) identify potential environmenta...
Ecosystem engineers can modify habitat, creating structural microhabitats. This structural complexity can affect species richness. Marine ecosystem engineers are able to produce local effects in combination with environmental variables (e.g. to create more humid habitat during low tides). We tested the hypotheses that if there is a relationship bet...
This study is aimed to be carried out in most countries of the entire South American
continent. As of today, scientists from Colombia (Pacific coast), Venezuela, Trinidad and
Tobago, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Ecuador and Chile have agreed to participate in
this project.
Sources of information used to estimate total number of marine species for
different taxa of the Patagonian Shelf region of South America.
(0.06 MB DOC)
Summary of literature sources on marine biodiversity for the non-coastal
Brazilian deep-sea marine realms: (1) slope, (2) seamounts and oceanic
islands, and (3) abyssal plains.
(0.09 MB DOC)
Diversity, state of knowledge, and expertise of all taxonomic groups within
the Tropical West Atlantic region of South America. Sources of the reports:
databases, scientific literature, books, field guides, technical reports.
State of knowledge classified as: 5 = very well known
(>80% described, identification guides <20 years old, and
current taxo...
Diversity, state of knowledge, and expertise of all taxonomic groups within
the Humboldt Current region of South America. Sources of the reports:
databases, scientific literature, books, field guides, technical reports.
State of knowledge classified as: 5 = very well known
(>80% described, identification guides <20 years old, and
current taxonomic...
Diversity, state of knowledge, and expertise of all taxonomic groups within
the Patagonian Shelf region of South America. Sources of the reports:
databases, scientific literature, books, field guides, technical reports.
State of knowledge classified as: 5 = very well known
(>80% described, identification guides <20 years old, and
current taxonomic...
Sources of information used to estimate total number of marine species for
different taxa of the Tropical East Pacific region of South America.
(0.05 MB DOC)
Diversity, state of knowledge, and expertise of all taxonomic groups within
the Tropical East Pacific region of South America. Sources of the reports:
databases, scientific literature, books, field guides, technical reports.
State of knowledge classified as: 5 = very well known
(>80% described, identification guides <20 years old, and
current taxon...
Diversity, state of knowledge, and expertise of all taxonomic groups within
the Brazilian region of South America. Sources of the reports: databases,
scientific literature, books, field guides, technical reports. State of
knowledge classified as: 5 = very well known
(>80% described, identification guides <20 years old, and
current taxonomic experti...
Major Brazilian cruises that have taken samples in the deep sea, including
seamounts and abyssal plains.
(0.06 MB DOC)
The marine areas of South America (SA) include almost 30,000 km of coastline and encompass three different oceanic domains--the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Atlantic--ranging in latitude from 12∘N to 55∘S. The 10 countries that border these coasts have different research capabilities and taxonomic traditions that affect taxonomic knowledge. This...
Assemblages associated with intertidal rocky shores were examined for large scale distribution patterns with specific emphasis on identifying latitudinal trends of species richness and taxonomic distinctiveness. Seventy-two sites distributed around the globe were evaluated following the standardized sampling protocol of the Census of Marine Life Na...
This paper provides an analysis of the distribution patterns of marine biodiversity and summarizes the major activities of the Census of Marine Life program in the Caribbean region. The coastal Caribbean region is a large marine ecosystem (LME) characterized by coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrasses, but including other environments, such as sandy...
Diversity, state of knowledge, and expertise of all taxonomic groups within the Caribbean region. Sources of the reports: databases, scientific literature, books, field guides, technical reports. State of knowledge classified as: 5 = very well known (>80% described, identification guides <20 years old, and current taxonomic expertise); 4 = well kno...
List of zooxanthelate coral (Scleractinia) species of the Caribbean and countries by ecoregion where the species have been reported. Data compiled by Ernesto Weil, Jorge Cortés, and Carolina Bastidas.
(0.03 MB XLS)
List of polychaete (Polychaeta) species of the Caribbean and countries by ecoregion where the species have been reported. Data compiled by Judith Gobin.
(0.11 MB XLS)
List of echinoderm (Echinodermata) species of the Caribbean and countries by ecoregion where the species have been reported. Data compiled by Juan José Alvarado.
(0.10 MB XLS)
Summary of free-living and symbiont clades of Symbiodinium spp. sampled in the Caribbean.
(0.16 MB DOC)
List of sponge (Porifera) species of the Caribbean and countries by ecoregion where the species have been reported. Data compiled by Cristina Díaz.
(0.12 MB XLS)
List of mollusk (Mollusca) species of the Caribbean and countries by ecoregion where the species have been reported. Data compiled by Juan Manuel Díaz and Patricia Miloslavich.
(0.57 MB XLS)
List of amphipod (Amphipoda) species of the Caribbean and countries by ecoregion where the species have been reported.
(0.08 MB XLS)
The population density, annual gametogenic cycle, and size at sexual maturity of two vermetid species, Eualetes tulipa (invasive) and Dendropoma corrodens was studied in the southern Caribbean at the Planta Centro power plant intake channel and at Punta Mayorquina, Morrocoy National Park, respectively. Minimal size of mature females of E. tulipa an...
In spite of their economic importance, coral reef communities of the world are rapidly decreasing, and an adequate management planification is needed. The benthic and fish communities of Dos Mosquises Sur and Madrizqui at Los Roques National Park, and Caiman and Cayo Norte at Morrocoy National Park, in Venezuela were monitored during 2003 and 2004....
This paper contains an analysis of the communications presented at the World Conference on Marine Biodiversity in Valencia,
Spain, November 2008. Our main interest was to determine the current global trends in marine biodiversity research in terms
of which areas, ecosystems and functional or taxonomic groups are receiving the most attention from re...
Changes in protein and carbohydrate content during larval development of Lytechinus variegatus were measured under two diet conditions, low concentration (600 algal cells ml−1 day−1) and high concentration (6,000 algal cells ml−1 day−1) to determine the larval stage at which these proximate constituents showed significant changes under different co...
From early 2004, Lake Maracaibo (northwest Venezuela) experienced an unprecedented invasion of duckweed Lemna obscura. Recurrent blooms of the plant in the past 2 years illustrate the need for an automatic monitoring method to follow the plant cover with time and to plan contingency measures. We present an approach that allows the cover of the duck...
The varved sediments accumulating in the Cariaco Basin are widely recognized as containing an incomparable archive of past tropical climate change. These sediments are used to study climate on multiple time scales, and to better determine the relationship and phasing between high latitude and low latitude climate change. The Cariaco Basin Ocean Tim...
Studies of environmental impact assessment (EIA) base their final conclusions and/or decisions, typically, on available information that has been extracted from existing environmental studies. To solve this, conclusions and desicisons taken after an EIA can be re-stated in the form of hypothyeses, and the appropriate monitoring programs are put in...
The brown garden eel Heteroconger longissimus had been reported for Venezuela only by observations of sport divers. In this work we confirm the species for Venezuela based on the examination of four leptocephalous specimens deposited in the fish collection of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP) and five adult specimens collected...
Brooding specimens of Crepidula aplysioides and Crepidula navicula were collected from La Restinga Lagoon, Margarita Island and Las Luisas Bay, Morrocoy, Venezuela at a depth of 0.5-1 m. Individuals of C. aplysioides were attached to mangrove oysters and mussels that were attached to the roots of Rhizophora mangle, while those of C. navicula were a...
Venezuela is among the ten countries with the highest biodiversity in the world, both in the terrestrial and the marine environment. Due to its biogeographical position, Venezuelan marine flora and fauna are composed of species from very different marine bioregions such as the Caribbean and the Orinoco Delta. The ecosystems in the Caribbean have re...
Venezuela is among the ten countries with the highest biodiversity in the world, both in the terrestrial and the marine environment. Due to its biogeographical position, Venezuelan marine flora and fauna are composed of species from very different marine bioregions such as the Caribbean and the Orinoco Delta. The ecosystems in the Caribbean have re...
Twenty-one forereef (about10m deep)
sites in the Caribbean region were monitored
annually to detect change between 1993 and 2000
using fixed transects. Most recently collected data
for mean live hard coral cover varied from 1.1 to
44.8%. With few exceptions, sites with >20%
coral cover were situated southeast of a line from
Panama to the Windward P...
The data collected during almost a decade by the CARICOMP (Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity) program at Morrocoy National Park are presented The aim of this program is to study the structure and function of the three principal Caribbean coastal ecosystems: man-groves, seagrass beds and coral reefs. Currently; more than 12 marine laboratories f...
