From Satellite to the Benthos: Multidisciplinary Approaches to Estimate the Effects of Climate Change Across Marine Habitats at a LTER Site.

Modeling and forecasting ocean ecosystems in a changing world will require advances in observational efforts to monitor marine biodiversity. The Long-term Ecological Research Coastal Habitats of Espírito Santo (LTER HCES), is using multidisciplinary remote sensing and in situ ecological data (i.e. photo-quadrats, 3D-imagery, BRUVs, benthic assemblages, biogeochemistry, and eDNA) to optimize the generation of baseline information across marine habitats to evaluate predicted climate change effects on coastal ecosystem health. This program focuses on monitoring spatial-temporal variability in marine biodiversity for critical marine coastal habitats that sustain important ecosystem services to increase climate change resilience and coastal adaptation. Satellite remote sensing products facilitate synoptical coverage of oceanic-climatic conditions. The first results highlight the strong sensitiveness of tropical benthic biodiversity (from early stages to adults) to increased sea temperatures and potential community shifts under future climatic scenarios. This program contributes to improving global understanding of tropical coastal habitats in the South Atlantic.