{"id":143664,"date":"2014-01-30T18:05:36","date_gmt":"2014-01-30T20:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/?p=143664"},"modified":"2015-09-21T18:28:10","modified_gmt":"2015-09-21T21:28:10","slug":"secrets-ocean-blue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revistapesquisa.fapesp.br\/en\/secrets-ocean-blue\/","title":{"rendered":"Secrets of the ocean blue"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Tambja

VINICIUS PADULA<\/span>Tambja stegosauriformis mollusk: isolated substances with potential for drug developmentVINICIUS PADULA<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

From the coastal region of Cape Orange in the Brazilian state of Amap\u00e1, to Arroio Chu\u00ed, a simple stream on the southern tip of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, including the archipelagos of Fernando de Noronha and Saint Peter and Saint Paul and the islands of Trindade and Martim Vaz, the coast of Brazil is famous for the beauty and diversity of its landscapes of beaches, rocky coasts, dunes, sea cliffs, and other environments. But the least-known part of the country\u2019s coastal area is what can be found underwater and partially hidden by the shoreline, in a subsurface world that hosts extremely rich, complex ecosystems. \u201cOf the world\u2019s 2.2 million known marine species, only 9% have been described. This means we have no knowledge of over 90% of the biodiversity of our coastal environments,\u201d commented biologist Mariana Cabral de Oliveira of the Biosciences Institute at the University of S\u00e3o Paulo (IB-USP), in a lecture she delivered on October 24 in S\u00e3o Paulo at the second-to-last meeting of the BIOTA-FAPESP Education Conference Cycle.<\/p>\n

At the same time, she said, the high rates of extinction brought about by human activities such as overfishing, pollution, urbanization and the transfer of organisms that can become invasive have further complicated the work of identifying marine species. To get an idea of the scope, studies estimate that today\u2019s international scientific community would require about 360 years and $263 million just to identify these animals. \u201cWe\u2019re facing an enormous challenge,\u201d Oliveira cautions. \u201cMuch of the marine biodiversity remains unknown, while degradation and overexploitation of the natural resources provided by these environments remain on the rise. In addition, we don\u2019t have enough human and financial resources to conduct a thorough study of such a large variety of organisms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"From

L\u00c9O RAMOS<\/span>From left, Maria Gasalla, Roberto Berlinck and Mariana Cabral de OliveiraL\u00c9O RAMOS<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

One approach that would facilitate the process, in the biologist\u2019s opinion, is DNA barcoding (see Pesquisa FAPESP<\/i> Issue No. <\/i>167<\/a>). The idea is simple: create a molecular tag based on a small sequence of DNA for each species to facilitate identification. \u201cIt would be a uniform, practical system for species identification on a global scale,\u201d she said. This approach would also require a carefully-structured database.<\/p>\n

Such a database already exists in The Barcode of Life Data Systems. \u201cAs it is fed collected information such as photographs, taxonomic data, etc., new tags are created, and they can be compared with other sequences,\u201d she explained. According to Oliveira, this system can be used even when traditional taxonomic methods are not viable. \u201cTo identify a species, taxonomists generally need the complete organism. With DNA barcoding, it is possible to work with fragments of these organisms, provided that their genetic material can be extracted.\u201d Projects developed under the BIOTA-FAPESP program are already using this approach. One such project, implemented through a partnership between the USP Biosciences Institute, the Botanic Institute and the Universidade Estadual Paulista in S\u00e3o Jos\u00e9 do Rio Preto, has studied the diversity, morphology and geographic distribution of red microalgae in the state of S\u00e3o Paulo.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ana Paula Campos<\/span><\/a>Many marine species also have considerable socioenvironmental importance, as in the case of algae. \u201cUp to 50% of the available oxygen on the planet is produced by algae,\u201d Oliveira noted. Planktonic microalgae are essential to global geochemical cycles, and multicellular microalgae can be a food source for a wide variety of marine organisms as well as for humans. According to a 2012 study published in the journal PLoS One<\/i>, Brazil has the world\u2019s largest, most continuous banks of calcareous algae, which play a role in the formation of natural reefs. They are equivalent in size to Australia\u2019s Great Barrier Reef. The Abrolhos Bank alone stretches over an area of about 20,900 square kilometers (km2<\/sup>).<\/p>\n

Algae, in fact, are a natural resource that has been increasingly exploited by man. The cultivation of nori (Pyropia <\/i>spp.)\u2014the algae used as a wrapper for sushi\u2014drives a $3 billion industry in Japan alone. Other very important industries based on the cultivation of these organisms include the production of hydrocolloids, a type of gelatin extracted from some species of algae, and the production of biomass for biofuel or as a source of molecules for a wide range of applications. \u201cUsed as biofactories, algae also have a positive differential: they are able to utilize solar energy and remove carbon dioxide (CO2<\/sub>) from the atmosphere, while they create economically important bioproducts,\u201d Oliveira emphasized. All told, about 2,000 species of algae have been described in Brazil. The groups with the largest number of identified species are diatoms, Rhodophyta (red algae) and Dynophyceae.<\/p>\n

The diversity of species living in Brazilian coastal environments is not limited solely to marine flora. Surveys by Brazilian researchers estimate that coastal fauna account for over 10,000 species. \u201cIt is a curious thing to observe the contrast between the two South American coasts when it comes to species diversity and abundance,\u201d said biologist Maria de los Angeles Gasalla of the Oceanographic Institute of USP (IO-USP). She pointed out that the Atlantic coast has more fish species than the Pacific coast. On the Brazilian coast, 10.5% of the fish species that inhabit the coral reefs are endemic. In the southern and southeastern regions, many fish have significant commercial value, such as King weakfish (Macrodon ancylodon<\/i>), Brazilian sardines (Sardinella brasiliensis<\/i>) and skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis<\/i>).<\/p>\n