Estudo da distribuição do plâncton em fina escala na área norte da plataforma sudeste brasileira

Abstract

For many years, our knowledge about plankton has been obtained through trawl sampling. Although this method has advantages, it can be time-consuming to analyze plancton diversity. To overcome the specific limitations of trawl sampling, in situ cameras have been used since the early 1990s to detect, measure, and identify plankton and marine particles. These tools demonstrate the efficiency of high-resolution and high-speed sampling, allowing for distribution studies on precise scales across different geographic regions and depths. Given the innovation of the imaging system, this thesis is composed of two chapters, in which we use images obtained in situ with the Lightframe On-sight Key Species Investigation (LOKI) system in order to expand knowledge of the distribution of plankton in the northern of South Brazilian Shelf. In the first chapter, we study different data management tools, focused on developing a framework that enables intercomparison between different formats. Our results highlight the importance of using data harmonization systems predefined by international initiatives and expanded by the FAIR principles. In the second chapter, we use the database standardized in the first chapter to study the relationship between ocean stratification and planning distribution. Our results show that by combining imaging and modeling systems, we have the potential to predict the three-dimensional distribution of different organisms at surprisingly small scales. Through these two chapters, we demonstrate how the intercomparison of different information can be used to better understand ecological patterns at different spatial scales.