Geographic coverage, taxonomic coverage, habitats
diversity & functional forms
Brazil has 17 geopolitical states along its coastline and they were all
included in this synthesis (Table 2). The geopolitical state with the
largest number of articles reporting at least one sample site inside its
borders was the Rio de Janeiro (48%, 93 studies), followed by São Paulo
(46%, 89 studies) and Bahia (44%, 86 studies). The least sampled
states were Piauí (4%, eight studies), Sergipe and Amapá (6%, 12
studies). Only 16 high-ranked taxonomic groups were identified in all
articles (Fig. 3B). The state with the largest number of studied taxa
was São Paulo with 14 taxa followed by Rio de Janeiro (13 taxa) and
Santa Catarina (12 taxa). The states with the smallest number of sampled
taxa were Amapá and Alagoas with only 4 taxa each (Table 2).
Three taxa presented sample sites located within only one state: otaries
(Rio Grande do Sul: Artico et al., 2010), echinoderms (Rio de Janeiro:
Calderón, Ventura, Turon, & Lessios, 2010; Duarte, Ventura, & Silva,
2016; Pazoto et al., 2018; Wangensteen, Turon, Pérez-Portela, &
Palacín, 2012), and Kinorhynchs (São Paulo: Randsø, Domenico, Herranz,
Lorenzen, & Sørensen, 2018). Together with flatworms (=
Platyhelminthes, Marigo et al., 2015), phylogeographic studies targeting
these taxa concentrated their sampling in the southern Brazil
(> 21° S). Fishes and mollusks presented the most
comprehensive and spatially widespread sampling across Brazil (100%
states), followed by crustacean (16/17 states), and plants (14/17
states). Fishes were the most studied taxon encompassing 32% of all
studies, followed by crustaceans (21%) and mollusks (10%) (Fig. 3B).
Of all studied taxa, 49% were invertebrates, followed by 47% of
vertebrates, and 4% plants, including algae (Fig. 3C). Regarding
habitat, 63% studies targeted benthic species, 34% pelagic, and 3%
aerial (i.e. coastal and marine birds) (Fig. 3D).