Viés e lacunas de coleta na biota do Oceano Atlântico Ocidental

Abstract

The Atlantic Ocean biota has sampling gaps that are a consequence of the collection bias. Understanding which factors contribute to the collection bias is important for estimating biodiversity indicators. The present study analyzed the possible causes of the collection bias in the Western Atlantic Ocean biota. Thirteen taxonomic groups were selected on the GBIF and OBIS platforms. We downloaded the records from 46 territories. We performed autocorrelation analysis to check for collection bias. Subsequently, we analysed the correlation between the sampling effort of the records and two groups of variables to verify what could cause the bias. One of the groups of variables is a factor that guarantees greater accessibility to collections. Another group of variables was related to the habitats of the taxa, which we called environmental preference. We performed a correlation analysis of the sampling effort with the species richness and endemism. All taxonomic groups showed collection bias, the majority of collections concentrated near the coast of North America and the Caribbean. The correlation of the sampling effort with variables of accessibility and environmental preference was related to a fraction of the records. The sample effort result is more related to species richness than the observed endemism. Thus, sampling bias influences patterns in marine invertebrate richness, but not endemism, in the western Atlantic Ocean.