Overview of the history of biological oceanography in the Southwestern Atlantic, with emphasis on plankton

Abstract

The first data on the biological features of the Southwestern Atlantic were the result of European expeditions of the eighteenth to nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Around the 1920s to 1940s, European-born specialists and their local disciples started playing a central role, and locally produced knowledge grew consistently. Early surveys centered on inventorial and distributional aspects of the flora and fauna, in particular mollusks and fishes, followed by community-level investigations including causal relationships with oceanographic settings (water masses, temperature, salinity, nutrients), red-tide outbursts, prospection of fishing grounds, etc. In Argentina, logistical support for the oceanographic cruises was historically associated with the Naval Hydrographic Service and in Brazil with the Brazilian Navy and the Universities of São Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul. As of 2017, in both these countries, there are >30 teaching and/or research institutions totally or partly dedicated to marine studies. Presently, knowledge of the taxonomy and biogeography of the plankton of the Southwestern Atlantic varies greatly among taxa, but several aspects (e.g., vertical distribution patterns, seasonal and especially multiannual variations, life histories, and many others) have received very little attention. Despite limited financial support and adequate floating platforms and equipment, lack of coordinated efforts, and political turbulences, the scientific output of Argentina, and especially Brazil, has grown in the last two decades, doubling from ~1.2% of the world total in 1996 to ~2.4% in 2016.