Marine ecosystems of South America: from organisms to communities

Abstract

Marine Sciences have a very high scientific production worldwide and there are always new research topics, which evidence the continuous progress of these disciplines. In Latin America, Marine Sciences development has had a significant advance in the last 20 years but has not yet achieved the ideal level, and fundamental aspects of some ecosystems and environments in the continent are still unknown. Nowadays, it is very important to promote new challenges in the topic as a way to develop research and management of oceans and their coasts. For this reason, the events conducted along 30 years by the Latin American Association of Researchers in Marine Sciences (ALICMAR-Asociacion Latinoamericana de Investigadores en Ciencias del Mar) show a strong enthusiasm among the scientific community. The Latin American Congress of Marine Sciences (COLACMAR-Congreso Latinoamericano de Ciencias del Mar) is a biannual scientific meeting carried out in different cities of Latin America and the Caribbean uninterruptedly since 1983. These meetings have contributed to encourage research on marine science and related disciplines and to promote sustainable management of aquatic ecosystems.The last edition, the XV COLACMAR “Connecting Marine Sciences in Latin America” was held from 27th to 31th October 2013 in Punta del Este (Uruguay). In this opportunity it was organized by the Faculty of Sciences (University of the Republic-UdelaR) and involved more than 1,000 researchers from 18 countries that presented over a thousand scientific research results. In these five intense days of work and broad discussion scientific results were presented through 16 thematic symposia, which included oral and poster presentations; conferences, seminars, and mini-courses. These activities allowed highlighted important results and recommendations in diverse marine topics developed in universities and management institutions from Latin America and the Caribbean, that was enriched by the relevant contribution of 23 speakers from international cutting-edge research worldwide, who are referents in their subjects.As a result of these intensive days of presentations and discussions, the idea of embodying all these knowledge by publishing the results in a scientific journal arose. This idea is original in the scope of COLACMAR, since it never was done until now, and promoted the search and structuring of a dedicated volume in the