Echinoderm research and diversity in Latin America

Abstract

Latin America (LA) includes all countries in the Americas that speak Spanish or Portuguese; in total it includes 22 countries including Mexico, Central America, the islands of the Caribbean and South America and Haiti (Hispaniola Island, shared with Dominican Republic). This book is divided in 16 chapters and two taxonomic lists with information about presence/absence, bathymetric range and the habitat or substrate where the species have been found. Fourteen chapters deal with studies done in countries, regions or islands. The final chapter has a biogeographical and diversity analysis of the two taxonomic lists. Each country chapter contains six sections. 1. An introduction. 2. A historic account of the investigations on echinoderms. 3. Distributional patterns and diversity. 4. Fishery or aquaculture activities. 5. Threats to echinoderms, and 6. A final section with general conclusions from the review and recommendations for future research to meet the needs of each country. Latin American echinoderm studies started a long time ago, as far back as the 13th century. The most common threats to echinoderms are bad coastal planning, coastal pollution, illegal fisheries, inefficient fisheries management, lack of protection, and lack of baseline studies. A total of 1,539 species (21.8 % of the worldwide species) are included in the taxonomic lists (appendix), with 717 species in the Pacific and 926 in the Caribbean and Atlantic. The richest class is Ophiuroidea followed by Asteroidea. All classes have more species in the Caribbean and Atlantic than the Pacific.