MARINE BIODIVERSITY IN VENEZUELA: STATUS AND … · MARINE BIODIVERSITY IN VENEZUELA: STATUS AND...

275

Gayana 67(2): 275-301, 2003 ISSN 0717-652X

MARINE BIODIVERSITY IN VENEZUELA: STATUS AND PERSPECTIVES

BIODIVERSIDAD MARINA EN VENEZUELA: ESTADO ACTUAL YPERSPECTIVAS

Patricia Miloslavich1,2, Eduardo Klein1,2, Edgard Yerena1 & Alberto Martin1,2

1Departamento de Estudios Ambientales, Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela.2Instituto de Tecnología y Ciencias Marinas (INTECMAR), Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela.

ABSTRACT

Venezuela is among the ten countries with the highest biodiversity in the world, both in the terrestrial and themarine environment. Due to its biogeographical position, Venezuelan marine flora and fauna are composed ofspecies from very different marine bioregions such as the Caribbean and the Orinoco Delta. The ecosystems inthe Caribbean have received considerable attention but now, due to the tremendous impact of human activitiessuch as tourism, over-exploitation of marine resources, physical alteration, the oil industry, and pollution,these environments are under great risk and their biodiversity highly threatened. The most representative eco-systems of this region include sandy beaches, rocky shores, seagrass beds, coral reefs, soft bottom communi-ties, and mangrove forests. The Orinoco Delta is a complex group of freshwater, estuarine, and marine ecosys-tems; the habitats are very diverse but poorly known. This paper summarizes the known, which is all of theinformation available in Venezuela about research into biodiversity, the different ecosystems and the knowl-edge that has become available in different types of publications, biological collections, the importance andextents of the Protected Areas as biodiversity reserves, and the legal institutional framework aimed at theirprotection and sustainable use. As the unknown, research priorities are proposed: a complete survey of the area,the completion of a species list, and an assessment of the health status of the main ecosystems on a broadnational scale. This new information must be integrated and summarized in nationwide Geographic Informa-tion Systems (GIS) databases, accessible to the scientific community as well as to the management agencies. Inthe long term, a genetic inventory must be included in order to provide more detailed knowledge of the biologi-cal resources. Future projects at the local (Venezuela), regional (Southern Caribbean: Colombia, Venezuela,and the Netherlands Antilles), and global (South America) scales are recommended.

KEYWORDS: Venezuela, marine biodiversity, conservation, protected areas, biological collections.

RESUMEN

Venezuela se encuentra entre los primeros 10 países con la mayor biodiversidad en el mundo, tanto en el ambienteterrestre como en el marino. Dada su posición biogeográfica, la flora y fauna marina venezolana está compuestapor especies de biorregiones muy distintas como lo son el Caribe y el Delta del Orinoco. En el Caribe, losecosistemas han recibido una atención considerable, sin embargo, debido al tremendo impacto de actividadeshumanas tales como el turismo, sobreexplotación de recursos marinos, alteración física, la industria petrolera ycontaminación, entre otras, estos ambientes se encuentran bajo un gran riesgo y su biodiversidad está altamenteamenazada. Los ecosistemas más representativos de esta región incluyen las playas arenosas, litorales rocosos,praderas de fanerógamas marinas, arrecifes coralinos, comunidades de fondos blandos y bosques de manglar.El Delta del Orinoco está constituido por un grupo muy complejo de ecosistemas marinos, estuarinos ydulceacuícolas, los hábitats son muy diversos pero hay muy poca información disponible acerca de este sistema.En este trabajo resumimos lo conocido, lo cual es toda la información disponible en Venezuela acerca de la investigacióncientífica en biodiversidad, los diferentes ecosistemas y el grado de conocimiento que ha sido generado a través dediversos tipos de publicaciones, las colecciones biológicas, la importancia y el alcance de las áreas protegidascomo reservas de biodiversidad y el marco legal institucional dirigido hacia su protección y uso sustentable.

Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.275

276

Gayana 67(2), 2003

Igualmente, para lo desconocido, proponemos como prioridad de investigación la estimación de área, el listadocompleto de las especies y el estado de salud de los principales ecosistemas a una escala a nivel nacional. Estanueva información debe ser integrada y resumida en bases de datos de sistemas de información geográfica, accesiblea la comunidad científica así como a las agencias encargadas de los planes de manejo. A largo plazo, un inventariogenético debería incluirse como una necesidad para establecer un mejor conocimiento de los recursos biológicos.Proponemos posibles proyectos a futuro en una escala local (Venezuela), regional (Caribe Sur: Colombia, Venezuelay las Antillas) y global (América del Sur).

PALABRAS CLAVES: Venezuela, biodiversidad marina, conservación, áreas protegidas, colecciones biológicas.

INTRODUCTION

Venezuela is among the ten countries with thehighest biodiversity in the world. This richness ofspecies is present in both the terrestrial and themarine environments. Due to its biogeographicalposition, the flora and fauna of Venezuela are char-acterized by species from the very different marinebioregions of the Caribbean and the Orinoco Delta,as well as the continental bioregions such as theAndes, the Amazon, and Guyana. The Caribbeancoastal ecosystems have received considerable at-tention but, due to the great impact of human ac-tivities such as tourism, the over-exploitation ofmarine resources, physical alteration, the oil indus-try, and pollution, among others, these environmentsand their biodiversity are highly threatened. Thisregion includes sandy beaches, rocky shores,seagrass habitats, coral reefs, soft bottom commu-nities, and mangrove forests.The Orinoco River has a basin of 990,000 km² andits delta is made up of a complex group of freshwa-ter, estuarine and marine ecosystems. The habitatsare very diverse and the whole system plays an im-portant role in regulating the input of almost 36,000m3 of water per second to the Atlantic Ocean (Meadeet al. 1983; Millman & Meade 1983), the Orinocobeing the third largest river in the world in terms ofdischarge (Palacios 1999). This deltaic ecosystemis little studied but, in 2001, the Ministerio delAmbiente y de los Recursos Naturales (Ministry ofEnvironment and Natural Resources, MARN) de-cided to support a rapid ecological assessment ofthis biosphere reserve with a view to its future con-servation and sustainable use. This program is verybroad, being the subproject of aquatic fauna underthe coordination of the Universidad Simón Bolívar,it is considered to be a national priority and will bea long term study (9 years) supported by the Glo-bal Environmental Fund (GEF).

This paper firstly outlines the physical and oceano-graphic features of the Venezuelan marine domainand describes the bioregions of the country. Then,in relation to the status of marine biodiversity inVenezuela, the projects implemented to promote thesustainable use of marine resources-scientific re-search, the establishment of protected areas, bio-logical collections, the legal institutional frameworkthat protects the environment and natural resources,and other initiatives such as non-governmental or-ganizations (NGOs)-are discussed.

THE PHYSICAL AND OCEANOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF

THE VENEZUELAN MARINE DOMAIN

Venezuela is located at the north of South America,between 00°45’ and 15°40’N and between59°47’and 73°22’W. Its northern limits are the Do-minican Republic and the Caribbean Sea (the WestIndies, Puerto Rico, the French islands Martiniqueand Guadalupe, and the American Virgin Islands).In the east, it extends to Guyana, the Atlantic Ocean,and the Caribbean Sea (Trinidad and Tobago). Itssouthern neighbors are Brazil and Colombia, thelatter also being at its western limit.The terrestrial domain covers 916,425 km² and themaritime territory, 860,000 km² (Lara de Gonzálezet al. 1997; Rodríguez-Altamiranda 1999). Thecoastal zone of the Venezuelan Caribbean is verydiverse in geological and topographical features. Ithas approximately 3,964 km of continental coast-line of which 68% fronts the Caribbean Sea and21%, the Atlantic Ocean (Rodríguez-Altamiranda1999). The remaining 12% of the Venezuelan coast-line corresponds to clusters of more than 300 is-lands and keys with a total dry land area of about1270 km2; most of the islands and keys are includedin 14 archipelago complexes located south of 12°12´N, with the exception of the Isla de Aves which islocated north of 15° N (MARNR 1979).

Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.276

277

The climate of continental Venezuela is influencedby the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) ofthe trade winds from the northeast and southeast,but that of the maritime region is mainly depen-dent upon only the northeast trade winds and theITCZ. The coast is in the normal path of the Carib-bean hurricanes which affect the area (with the ex-ception of the Isla de Aves) during the rainy sea-son. Even their passage away from the mainlandcan influence the coastal weather by causing sig-nificant rainfall, sea swell, and high winds. As aconsequence and due to the geomorphological char-acteristics of Venezuela, the country has a range ofclimatic situations. Annual precipitation may varyfrom less than 400 mm in the arid and semiaridzones of the coastal and central regions to morethan 4000 mm in the south of the country. Meandaily temperatures vary between 28°C in most ofthe country and 0°C in the mountains of the Andes(MARN 2000).The sea surface temperature (SST) along the Ven-ezuelan coastline is affected by several cold up-welling fronts which vary in form, extent, and in-tensity. The SST varies annually between 20º and29°C with a daily oscillation of between 0º and2.5°C (Penchaszadeh et al. 2000). The north-southoscillation of the ITCZ constitutes the main causeof seasonal changes in the salinity and temperatureof Caribbean Sea surface waters (Muller-Karger &Varela 1989).Twelve upwelling zones have been identified alongthe coast of Venezuela by means of Advanced VeryHigh Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) images ofSST which, during upwelling events, may decreaseby between 5º and 7°C from the normal 24-26°C.On the west coast, the upwelling zones are locatedwest of the Goajira Peninsula, in the Gulf of Ven-ezuela, and at Punto Fijo near the Paraguaná Pen-insula, Cabo San Román, and Puerto Cumarebo.On the central coast, the upwelling at Cabo Coderais unusual since, on occasions, it has been observedwhen there were no other upwelling fronts. Thereare also several important upwelling systems on theeast coast between Puerto La Cruz and Cumaná,north of the Araya Peninsula and Margarita Island,and close to Carúpano. Upwelling occurs simulta-neously at all of these locations, driven by the strongwinds during the first 6 months of the year. Its in-tensity and propagation are considerable, spread-ing over 200,000 km² and contributing to the most

productive area known in the Caribbean Sea. Offthe Paria Peninsula and north of Trinidad, upwellingtakes place for only a limited period and is of vari-able intensity, the cold water sometimes formingmesoscale eddies towards the northwest, probablydue to the displacement of less dense, warmer wa-ters from the Gulf of Paria (Penchaszadeh et al.2000).The productivity of the coastal waters is determinedmainly by the upwelling dynamics and the uptakeof alochthonous material coming from large riversand lakes. The eastern part of the coast is the mostproductive area, though seasonal, depending on thestrength of upwelling and the Orinoco river dis-charge. This zone maintains seasonal concentrationsof chlorophyll a of more than 3 mg l-1 and a totalannual fish production of between 200,000 and250,000 tons. The productivity of the Gulf of Ven-ezuela is also sustained by the nutrients comingfrom the Maracaibo Lake basin. The Gulf and itscoastal areas have been affected by oil extractionand the petrochemical industry for more than 60years, so that moderate to high levels of contami-nation are found in some local environments suchas Tablazo Bay (at the mouth of the Maracaibo Lakeestuary) and Amuay Bay (Paraguaná Península).

THE MAJOR MARINE ECOSYSTEMS AND BIOREGIONS OF

VENEZUELA

The coast of Venezuela is very diverse in geologi-cal and topographical terms and the shallow watermarine environments include sandy beaches, rockyshores, seagrass beds, coral reefs, mangroves, andcoastal lagoons (Penchaszadeh et al. 2000).Sandy beaches have been classified according towave energy, sediment origin and particle size as:(1) dissipative beaches with fine and very finesediments, rich in organic matter; (2) high energybeaches with coarse sediments and an intermediatecontent of organic matter; and (3) low energybeaches of carbonate biogenic sediments with avariable content of organic matter. Biodiversity inthe first type is very low, with few though veryabundant and dominant species; these beaches arehowever very important since they are used by fishas nursery grounds and food sources. High energybeaches have a diverse taxonomic composition withno dominant species and scarce ichthyofauna while,in the third type of beaches, biodiversity is again

Marine biodiversity in Venezuela: MILOSLAVICH, P. ET AL.

Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.277

278

Gayana 67(2), 2003

very low and the fish fauna are usually associatedwith nearby coral reefs and seagrass beds(Penchaszadeh et al. 2000)Rocky shores are areas of great diversity with a va-riety of microhabitats. They have characteristic zo-nation patterns and 3 zones can be distinguished:(1) supralittoral, (2) midlittoral, and (3) infralittoral.The upper and lower supralittorals are character-ized by, respectively, a Littorina zone and a bar-nacle zone. The midlittoral is populated mainly byalgae, the species composition depending on waveexposure, and the crevices and holes in the rocksare inhabited by several types of echinoderm andother invertebrates. The sublittoral zone is charac-terized by small aggregations of corals and hydro-corals (Penchaszadeh et al. 2000).Seagrasses are widely distributed along the coast.Eight species have been reported in Venezuela,Thalassia testudinum being the most common(Acosta 1974, Ganesan 1989, Vera 1992, Pérez1997). The biodiversity of invertebrates and fishassociated with Thalassia beds has been found tobe very high due to the great productivity of thisseagrass and the diversity of microhabitats in theenvironments studied, the National Parks ofMorrocoy, Mochima, and Los Roques (Bitter 1988,Villamizar 1993, Isea 1994, Díaz 1997, Galindo1997, Bone et al. 1998, Noriega 1998, Atienza2000; Huck 2001).Coral reefs are well developed around the offshoreislands. The reef fauna are similar to those in therest of the Caribbean with more than 40 scle-ractinian coral species. Few localities on thecontinental coastline have significant reefdevelopment due to river discharge though, in thewestern sector of the coast, reefs can be found inthe Morrocoy and San Esteban National Parks andin the center of the coast in Turiamo Bay (Woodleyet al. 1997, Bone et al. 2001)Mangrove forests cover an area of approximately673,000 ha along the coastline (Conde & Alarcón1993), the greatest areas of mangrove being locatedin the Orinoco Delta and the Gulf of Paria. Man-grove forests have horizontal zonations from thesea to inland, Rhizophora mangle being the mostseaward species followed by Avicennia germinans,Laguncularia racemosa, and Conocarpus erectuswhich prospers on firm sandy soil away from thetides (Pannier & Pannier 1989). Vertically, the man-grove community is also very complex; the sedi-

ments underneath the trees are muddy with severalinfaunal bivalve species and the roots are coveredmainly with sponges with a highly diverse associ-ated fauna and hydrocorals (Sutherland 1980, Morao1983, Ordosgoitti 1985, Díaz et al. 1992).Coastal lagoons cover an area of approximately26,900 ha, distributed between 25 lagoons presentfrom the Goajira Peninsula in the west to Sucre Stateand Nueva Esparta State (Margarita, Coche, andCubagua islands) in the east, each of them charac-terized by a particular ecosystem (Penchaszadeh etal. 2000).Venezuela has been classified into 7 biogeographi-cal regions, or simply bioregions, based on topog-raphy, climate, and vegetation (Eisenberg & Redford1979). More recently MARN (2000), taking intoaccount other ecological variables such as flora, al-titude, temperature, annual precipitation, andwhether it was a continental or marine environment,defined 10 bioregions. Of these, three are maritime:(1) Continental coastal, (2) Marine, and (3) Insular.

THE CONTINENTAL COASTAL BIOREGION

This region constitutes 3,964 km of continentalcoastline and includes all of the coastal systemsbetween altitudes of 0 and 100 m. The tempera-tures are high (28°C) and the main type of vegeta-tion is mangroves. The coasts are classified as high(cliffs) or low. The high coasts correspond to el-evated relieves that descend abruptly to the sea andhave vertical zonations in horizontal fringes withcharacteristic marine flora and fauna. The lowcoasts are represented by muddy, sandy, and mixedbeaches, as well as by numerous wetlands. On theAtlantic coast, the latter are characterized by vastflooded plains like the San Juan River and theOrinoco Delta and, on the Caribbean coast, bycoastal lagoons.

THE MARINE BIOREGION

This region, the Venezuelan economic exclusivezone (EEZ), occupies about 860,000 km² of ma-rine and submarine areas of the territorial waters, asurface which is comparable to that of the conti-nental territory. The floral and faunal diversity onthe Atlantic side is relatively low but very little in-formation exists regarding the habitats there, whichare dominated by great quantities of mud and sand

Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.278

279

brought down by the Orinoco, Esequibo, and Ama-zon rivers. The Caribbean side is more diverse wa-ter transparency is higher and increases from eastto west and from south to north. The ecosystemsfound throughout this region are basically soft bot-toms, with and without seagrass beds, and coral reefswith a high biological diversity.

THE INSULAR BIOREGION

This region is made up of 314 territories. The is-lands Margarita, Coche, and Cubagua form theNueva Esparta State and the remaining 311 keys,islets and islands constitute the Federal Dependen-

cies. Several of these islands are grouped in archi-pelagos such as Los Roques, Los Frailes, LosTestigos, Los Hermanos, and Las Aves among oth-ers. The island of Patos is the only federal depen-dency in the Atlantic Ocean, the remainder being inthe Caribbean Sea. The insular territories are char-acterized by mangroves, coral reefs, seagrass beds,sandy beaches, and rocky shores.From a more ecological point of view, however, andtaking into account the types of marine ecosystemsfound on the coast of Venezuela, it is here proposedthat a better and more accurate breakdown of themarine domain would be its division into 12 eco-regions (Fig. 1).

FIGURE 1. Coastal marine protected areas and marine ecoregions of Venezuela.

FIGURA 1. Areas costeras marinas protegidas y ecorregiones marinas de Venezuela.


Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.279

280

Gayana 67(2), 2003

Ecoregion 1: The Orinoco Delta and the Atlanticcoast, estuarine and marine ecosystems, heavy sedi-ment loads, high turbidity, sandy and muddy bot-toms. Well developed mangrove communities.Ecoregion 2: The eastern upwelling region, fromthe east of the Paria Peninsula to Mochima Bay. Itis characterized by shallow continental shelf withcoarse sandy bottoms and rocky shores. No impor-tant reef formation but limited coral development.High primary and secondary production due to sea-sonal upwelling fronts. Includes the Cariaco trenchand the islands of Margarita, Coche, Cubagua, LosFrailes, Los Hermanos, and Los Testigos.Ecoregion 3: Píritu-Tacarigua region. FromBarcelona to Cabo Codera. Shallow coastal lagoonsand sandy beaches, high sediment loads from theUnare and Tuy rivers. It is characterized by highsecondary production, mostly of crustaceans andbivalves.Ecoregion 4: Central coast. From Cabo Codera toPatanemo Bay. It is characterized by narrow conti-nental margin regions, by rocky shores and coarsesandy beaches. Coral communities associated to therocky substrates. It has high water transparency.Ecoregion 5: Golfo Triste region. From PatanemoBay to Tocuyo River. Shallow continental shelf,moderate secondary production, sandy beaches, andwell developed coastal coral reefs. It has coral keyformations in the Morrocoy and San Esteban Na-tional Parks.Ecoregion 6: Tocuyo region. From the TocuyoRiver, to the east of the Paraguaná Peninsula Isth-mus. Characterized by sandy beaches and rockycliffs. High sediment load from the Tocuyo, Huequeand Ricoa rivers. Low water transparencyEcoregion 7: Paraguaná region. From the ParaguanáIsthmus to Punta Cardón. Characterized by emergedrocky shores, with large beds of macroalgaes. Car-bonate sand beaches. High primary productivity dueto upwelling fronts.Ecoregion 8: Golfete de Coro region. From PuntaCardón to the mouth of the Maracaibo Estuary,including Golfete de Coro. Shallow water regionwith high sediment loads due to resuspended matterfrom Golfete de Coro. Characterized by high secon-dary production, mainly shrimps and sciaenid fish.Ecoregion 9: Maracaibo estuary region. It is an es-tuarine system, maintained by the dredging of anavigation channel through the Maracaibo strait.Characterized by high primary and secondary pro-

duction of shrimps and bivalves. High pollution risksdue to oil industry.Ecoregion 10: Golfo de Venezuela region. Charac-terized by wide platform shelf and shallow bottoms(< 50m). High primary and secondary productionof shrimp due to large upwelling fronts. Bottomcommunities dominated by detritivorous organisms.Ecoregion 11: The insular region. Includes allemerged territories with the exception of those in-cluded in the eastern upwelling region. Character-ized by solitary islands and archipielagos. Welldeveloped reefs and seagrass beds, with very highdiversity. Mangrove forests on some islands. Somesea turtle nest beaches and rich marine bird com-munities.Ecoregion 12: The oceanic region. The territorialand EEZ waters, ranging from 100m to more than3000m deep. Biodiversity poorly known. Some ar-eas have moderately high pelagic productivity dueto the effects of adjacent upwelling areas.

BIODIVERSITY IN VENEZUELA

The book, “Venezuela: Un país megadiverso” ed-ited by Aguilera et al. (2003) demonstrates veryclearly the high level of biodiversity in the coun-try. The concept of biodiversity is complex and in-corporates the idea of the richness of the biota atthe genetic, specific and ecological level, each ofthem sharing particular characteristics and interre-lationships (Crisci et al. 1996). Species and eco-system diversities have received the greatest atten-tion, genetic diversity being known only partiallyfor some species.As far as the biodiversity of marine species isconcerned, the best studied groups are fish(Cervigón 1966, 1989, 1991a, 1991b, 1994,1996; Cervigón & Fisher 1979; Cervigón et al.1992; Cervigón & Alcalá 1999, 2000), decapodcrustaceans (Rodríguez 1980), amphipod crus-taceans (Díaz, 2001; Martín 2002), corals(Ramírez-Villaroel 2001), and molluscs(Lodeiros et al. 1999).Aguilera (2000) stated that the most importantfacilities available in Venezuela for promotingthe conservation and sustainable use of the bio-logical resources are:(1) Research carried out by highly qualified per-sonnel with an extensive scientific backgroundactively working on biodiversity;

Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.280

281

(2) The national system of Protected Areas (PA)and Areas under a special administrative regime(ABRAE) which include more than half of the Ven-ezuelan continental territory and some importantarchipelagos;(3) The biological collections of preserved and liv-ing organisms; and(4) All of the laws, rules, and regulations as well asinternational agreements which engage the countryin structuring a strategy for gathering knowledgeabout the sustainable use of biological resourceswithout reducing diversity.

(1) RESEARCH PRIORITIES IN THE STUDY OF BIODIVERSITY

IN VENEZUELA

For a country such as Venezuela, research and evalu-ation of its biological diversity will be a long termstudy, given the enormous biotic richness within itsterritory. The Agreement on Biological Diversitydefines, in Article 12, the special need of the devel-oping countries to promote research programs andmethods in the identification, conservation, andsustainable use of the biological resources. Most ofthis research in Venezuela is carried out in nationaluniversities and research institutes. In the westernsector of the coast, past and future research on theestuarine system of Lake Maracaibo has been andwill be centered on the Institute for the Conserva-tion of Lake Maracaibo (ICLAM) and Universidaddel Zulia (LUZ). Studies at the Universidad Centralde Venezuela (UCV), Universidad Simón Bolívar(USB), and the Venezuelan Institute of ScientificResearch (IVIC) in Caracas and the UniversidadExperimental Francisco de Miranda (UNEFM) arefocused mostly on the central west coast and on theeast coast, the largest research centers being theUniversidad de Oriente (UDO) and the FundaciónLa Salle de Ciencias Naturales (FLASA). The Na-tional System in Science and Technology is coordi-nated by CONICIT (the National Council for Sci-entific Research), renamed FONACIT (the NationalFund for Science, Technology and Innovation) in2002. FONACIT has two committees which dealwith biological diversity: the National Commissionfor Biotechnology and the National Commission forOceanology. Currently, FONACIT has 4 priorityprograms concerned with the environment and bio-logical resources, two of them directly related tomarine ecology: (1) biological diversity and (2)

oceanology.Within the biological diversity agenda, there are 15projects, but only one dealing with marine ecosys-tems. This is a study of the biodiversity of theOlivitos system, Zulia State, at the mouth of LakeMaracaibo. The oceanology program has fourthemes which were identified as priorities during aworkshop on Marine Science and Technology heldin 1996: (1) Fisheries and aquaculture; (2) MorrocoyNational Park; (3) the Orinoco Delta and Paria Gulf;and (4) Research on coastal processes.

THE MORROCOY NATIONAL PARK: AN EXAMPLE OF A

NATIONAL OCEANOLOGY PROGRAM

Morrocoy National Park (10°52’N, 69°16’W) islocated on the northwestern coast of Golfo Triste(Betz & Bock 1981). The diurnal temperature varia-tion of the surface waters fluctuates between 27°and 32°C where oceanic influences prevail. The sa-linity ranges from 30 to 38‰ (Bitter, 1988) but var-ies much less. away from the coast. Mean annualprecipitation is 1,213 mm and varies seasonally. The32,090 ha (320 km²) park includes continental, in-sular, and marine ecosystems. Two marine zones,offshore and inshore, are distinguishable. The off-shore zone is connected to the open ocean and char-acterized by coralline communities, moderateswells, low turbidity, and water depths of up to 20m. In the inshore zone, wave activity is low, turbid-ity is high, and the shallow waters host mangroves(mainly Rhizophora mangle) and seagrass beds(Thalassia testudinum); these two communities de-velop mainly along the lea shores of the keys and insandy sediments near the mouths of ocean inlets andin the internal lagoons. The seagrass ecosystem ofT. testudinum is well represented in submerged ar-eas of the park where extensive monospecific bedsof this species and associated algae are found (Boneet al. 1998, 2001).Since 1974, the park has been subject to intense tour-ism, which greatly stresses the coral reefs. In Janu-ary 1996, due to a combination of atmospheric andoceanographic phenomena (anomalous upwelling,large river outputs, very calm seas, and low windspeeds), there was a mass mortality of many of thereef and seagrass communities in the park whichleft less than 1% of living massive coral cover atPlaya Caimán, one of the most important reefs(Villamizar 2000, Laboy et al. 2001). The recovery


Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.281

282

Gayana 67(2), 2003

of the seagrass community at one location (LasLuisas) was followed by Klein and Cruz (1998)who found that, after an impressive colonizationby the gastropod Bittium varium, the whole com-munity returned to its normal composition after6 months. In December 1999, heavy rainfallthroughout the central and western coasts ofVenezuela also caused severe damage; salini-ties within the park decreased to 6‰, this timecausing mass mortalities of fish and invertebrates(Bone & Spiniello 2000).At present, the park is still being used for recre-ational purposes, but efforts are underway to pre-serve it and to carry out scientific research withthe goal of conservation and the protection of itsbiological diversity along with sustainable use.This will involve cooperation at both the national(Oceanology program) and international(CARICOMP program) level.The CARICOMP network (Caribbean CoastalMarine Productivity Program) was established in1990 by 16 Caribbean countries to conduct stan-dardized, synoptic measurements of the structure,productivity and associated physical parametersof relatively undisturbed coral reefs, seagrasses,and mangroves. In Venezuela, the CARICOMPprotocol has been carried out since 1993 at 2 sites:in Margarita island, by EDIMAR (Estación deInvestigaciones Marinas, Fundación La Salle deCiencias Naturales), and in Morrocoy NationalPark, by INTECMAR (Institute of Technologyand Marine Sciences) (CARICOMP 1997, Boneet al. 2001).The Morrocoy National Park Agenda (an inte-grated study of the Morrocoy National Park sys-tem with considerations on the development ofplans for its management and sustainable use) isa multidisciplinary and inter-institutional re-search project involving about 25 Venezuelanscientists from the Universidad Central deVenezuela, Universidad Simón Bolívar,Universidad Nacional Experimental Francisco deMiranda, and FONAIAP-CATIE (now INIA, theNational Institute of Agropecuary Research). Themain objective of the Morrocoy Agenda is toevaluate the degree of alteration, disturbance, andpollution in the different marine environmentsof the Park through a coordinated study that in-tegrates all of the components of the ecosystemsthere. The new data will be compared with pre-

vious information in order to discover what mighthave determined the present condition of the sys-tem. This project started in January 2000 and isnow in its third and last year. There are 16 themes,grouped within three subprograms:Physical: environmental parameters, water qual-ity, hydrodynamics, geomorphology, and pollut-ant transport;Biological: coastal marine communities (plank-ton, macroalgae, seagrasses, mangroves, coralreefs, fish, and invertebrates);Social: the carrying capacity for tourism andartisanal fisheries.The ultimate goal of this Agenda is to define anenvironmental reference baseline for the Park thatwill serve as a basis for the development of plansfor its sustainable use, organization, and man-agement, and to formulate a contingency plan foran early warning system capable of rapidly mo-bilizing the scientific community in the event ofa major environmental emergency.The results of the Morrocoy Agenda are yet tobe published in scientific journals, but there areseveral technical reports available that includeextensive lists of the species, genera, and fami-lies of flora (phytoplankton, macroalgae, sea-grasses) and fauna (zooplankton, invertebrates,and fish) found in the different ecosystems of thePark and demonstrate the impressive diversity ofits biota (Bone & Spiniello 2000).

AN ANALYSIS OF VENEZUELAN PUBLICATIONS IN THE

MARINE SCIENCES

Research on the marine environment in Venezu-ela increased significantly after 1958 followingthe creation of the Instituto Oceanográfico deVenezuela (Oceanographic Institute of Venezu-ela) at the Universidad de Oriente (Sucre State),and the Facultad de Ciencias (Faculty of Sci-ences) of the Universidad Central de Venezuela.The products of this work have been compiled inbibliographical lists, elaborated for several ar-eas of marine science. At least 12 lists detailingdifferent areas, environments, and taxonomicgroups have been made available since 1964. Themost recent list, published by INTECMAR(Universidad Simón Bolívar), was a compilationof the literature relating to marine sciences andbiodiversity (Martín & Díaz 2000). It cites a to-

Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.282

283

tal of 7490 references covering a period of 42years (from 1958 to 2000) and includes scien-tific papers in national and international journals,abstracts of scientific meetings, books, technicalreports, and undergraduate and graduate theses.The ecosystems most thoroughly studied, accord-

ing to Martín & Díaz (2000), are coastal lagoons,mangrove forests and seagrasses. The main top-ics were biology and ecology, and the taxonomicgroups that received more attention were the crus-taceans among the invertebrates and the fishamong the vertebrates (Table I, Fig. 2).

TABLE I. The main publications, ecosystems, taxonomic groups and institutes involved in marine scientificresearch.

TABLA I. Las principales publicaciones, ecosistemas, grupos taxonómicos e institutos involucrados eninvestigaciones científicas marinas.


Type Congress Paper Undergraduate Technical Chapter in book Booksof publication abstract in scientific and reports

journal graduate thesis41.0% 29.5% 15.7% 3.9% 3.7% 3.3%

Ecosystem Coastal Mangrove Seagrasses Coral reefs Sandy beaches Rockystudied lagoons forests shores

11.5% 4.1% 3.7% 1.4% 1.1% 0.5%

Taxonomic Fishes Reptiles Birds andgroup mammalsVertebrates 87.9% 6.7% 5.9%

Taxonomic Crustaceans Mollusks Cnidarians Echinodermsgroup 37.0% 36.6% 7.6% 4.6%Invertebrates

Institution UDO USB UCV IVIC FLASA LUZ56.3% 11.4% 10.1% 6.0% 5.1% 2.8%

UDO: Universidad de OrienteUCV: Universidad Central de VenezuelaUSB: Universidad Simón BolívarLUZ: Universidad del ZuliaFLASA: Fundación La Salle de Ciencias NaturalesIVIC: Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas

Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.283

284

Gayana 67(2), 2003

FIGURE 2. The number of publications between 1958 and 2000 in the different areas of marine science (Data fromMartín & Díaz 2000).

FIGURA 2. Número de publicaciones entre 1958 y 2000 en las distintas áreas de las ciencias marinas. (Información deMartín & Díaz 2000).

TABLE II. Numbers of documents, concerning aspects of marine science in Venezuela, which appeared in the decadesfrom 1940 to 1990 (Martín & Díaz 2000).

TABLA II. Número de documentos respecto a los aspectos de la ciencia marina en Venezuela, entre las décadas de1940 a 1990 (Martín & Díaz 2000).

Decade Number of total publications (*) Number of papers and books

1940-1949 45 43

1950-1959 79 59

1960-1969 448 331

1970-1979 1102 547

1980-1989 2605 781

1990-1999 3006 690

* Includes published books and papers, as well as unpublished “gray literature” (thesis, technical reports,

and unpublished monographs)

Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.284

285

In the l as t s ix decades , the number o fpubl ica t ions in the mar ine sc iences inVenezuela has increased significantly (TableII), demonstrating the remarkable increase inthe knowledge of th i s f i e ld and thecommitment of Venezuelan researchers to theirwork.

(2) COASTAL AND MARINE PROTECTED AREAS OF

VENEZUELA

Historical background and general consider-ations.

Protected areas (PAs), as considered in this pa-per (Fig.1), are those whose primary objec-tive is the protection of ecosystem or bioticresources. Accord with this, out of the ABRAEcategories, only the National Parks, NaturalMonuments, Wildlife Refuges, and WildlifeReserves (MARNR 1985) will be referred toas PAs and these correspond to the IUCN(1994) categories as indicated in Table III.• National Parks (República de Venezuela1966) aim to maintain ecosystems and scenicresources as pristine as possible, though ac-cepting some degree of human intervention forrecreational purposes, non-industrial fisheries,and other forms of “sustainable use”, accord-ing to a zoning and management plan.• Natural Monuments (República de Venezu-ela 1966) aim to preserve relevant physicalfeatures, but within a framework of ecosys-tem and biotic resources protection, function-ing, in fact, as small national parks that, de-pending upon the specific management plansand zoning, might be even more strictly con-trolled than National Parks.• Wildlife Refuges (República de Venezuela1970) have as a primary goal the preservationof faunal populations. Historically, these pro-grams have focused on migratory vertebrates(i.e. sea turtles and birds) and their habitats,but legally, they include all biotic resources.• Wildlife Reserves (República de Venezuela1970) have, as a primary objective, the sus-tainable use of faunal resources, includingsport hunting and fishing.The first PAs established specifically to con-serve marine ecosystems were Archipiélago

Los Roques National Park and Isla de AvesWildlife Refuge in 1972. Politically, this wasregarded as a commitment by Venezuela toconserve marine ecosystems, honoring the sec-ond World Conference on National Parks heldin Yellowstone in 1972 (see Amend 1992). Todate, Venezuela has designated 21 PAs thatinclude, partially or totally, coastal and ma-rine ecosystems; three of them are parts ofLake Maracaibo.

REPRESENTATION OF COASTAL AND MARINE PROTECTED

AREAS

Venezuela has legal rights or sovereignty overapproximately 900,000 km² of marine environ-ment (MARN 2000). PAs represent only 0.6%of this (5,470 km², Table III), relatively littlein comparison with the nearly 15% (142,306km²) occupied by the continental PAs (MARN2000). However, in terms of ecosystem pro-tection, the difference is exaggerated becausemost of the maritime area is ocean, the Ven-ezuelan continental shelf covering about100,000 km².Coastal PAs incorporate 18.2% (682 km, TableII) of the 3,964 km of Venezuelan continentalcoastline and almost all of the major reef eco-systems are included and protected withinthem. Two PAs alone, Los Roques and Isla deAves, comprise 68.7% (3,758 km²) of the pro-tected marine space, a reflection of the greatimportance they have in quantitative terms,and these two represent the nucleus of the Ven-ezuelan marine PAs system. From another per-spective, however, strictly marine areas (seeTable III) comprise only 3.84% of the totalPAs of Venezuela, indicating a strong bias to-wards the mainland.All Venezuelan coastal and marine PAs are inthe central Caribbean marine ecoregion (IUCN1994), which is ranked as being of the highestpriority for conservation among the coastalbiogeographical provinces of Latin Americaand the wider Caribbean (Sullivan & Busta-mante 1999). The extent to which these PAsinclude representative regions of coastal andmarine biodiversity in Venezuela is still notclear.


Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.285

286

Gayana 67(2), 2003

THREATS AND LEVELS OF RISK IN COASTAL AND MA-RINE PROTECTED AREAS

A number of significant threats to these PAsare listed in Table III; it is clear that coastaland marine areas are under pressure. The levelof risk faced by the National Parks and Natu-ral Monuments of Venezuela was recently as-sessed (Rivero Blanco et al. 2001). Risk wasconsidered to be the degree to which an areais prone to reach a high level of deterioration,given the intrinsic sensitivity of and the pres-sures exerted on each PA. The results of thiswork indicate that 7 of the 43 National Parksin Venezuela have a risk level of >80 (on ascale of 0-100), 4 of these being in the coastal-marine category - Mochima, Morrocoy, SanEsteban, and the Península de Paria, in de-creasing order of risk. The lowest level amongthe coas ta l -mar ine parks i s he ld byArchipiélago Los Roques, with a rating of 60,the rest having risk levels between 60 and 80.On the other hand, only two coastal-marineNatural Monuments have ratings around 60,the Laguna de Las Marites and the Tetas deMaría Guevara (Nueva Esparta State), which rankeighth and eleventh out of 21 Natural Monu-ments. A similar analysis remains to be conductedfor Wildlife Reserves and Refuges, but the re-sults are not expected to be significantly differ-ent from those for the National Parks.

MANAGEMENT

There is no doubt that the management of thecoastal and marine areas is the most demand-ing and difficult of all the PAs in Venezuela.All of them are subject to impacts coming fromoutside their legal boundaries and, thus, be-yond the reach of the administrative agency,INPARQUES (Instituto Nacional de Parques),responsible for PAs management and law en-forcement. Little or no coordination betweencentral government agencies and state and lo-cal government makes it difficult to resolveor diminish the effects of these impacts. Littleattention is paid politically to coastal and ma-rine environmental problems. Twelve of thesePA have adequate management zoning andmanagement plans, but real management ef-

fectiveness is more dependent on issues be-yond formal planning. Institutional strengthand professional capability are the most ur-gent needs of the PAs management agencies.Public support for strong management is evenmore necessary, in addition to the significantinvolvement of universities and non-govern-mental organizations (NGOs) in research,monitoring, and assisting with specific re-source management. Morrocoy, Cuare, andnow the Orinoco Delta are good examples ofsuch involvement.

(3) BIOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS

The collections of preserved and living ani-mals and plants represent powerful means forconserving, ex situ, biodiversity. Herbariumsand zoological collections exist, in the main,for species identification and to make this typeof information available to the general publicin the form of a database. Venezuela has 25herbariums (15 of them registered in the In-dex Herbarium) which contain 626,000 speci-mens and 5,494 “types”. There are also zoo-logical museums and collections with a totalof 2,080,000 vertebrate specimens and about3,000,000 specimens of invertebrates as wellas 59 “types”. The 10 botanical gardens and18 zoos with living specimens need to be im-proved to properly function as centers for theconservation of biodiversity (Aguilera 2000).The most important collections of marinefauna in Venezuela are on Margarita Island atthe Museo Marino de Margarita, and in theFundación La Salle de Ciencias Naturales,Caracas and Margarita Island and the Museode Ciencias Biológicas, UCV, Caracas. The outcome of a workshop on zoological di-versity Guanare city (Portuguesa State) in1999, where more than 30 Venezuelan re-searchers participated, will be published inActa Biológica Venezuelica by the end of2003. It consists basically of a list of species,genera, and families of each major phylum.From this workshop, the diversity of marineinvertebrates reported in Venezuela is made upof about 558 families, 1,382 genera, and 2,697species as specified in Table IV; this is con-sidered to be highly underestimated.

Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.286

287

Marine biodiversity in V

enezuela: MIL

OS

LA

VIC

H, P. ET A

L.

TABLE III. The marine protected areas in Venezuela: area, ecosystems, management plans and significant threats.

TABLA III. Areas marinas protegidos en Venezuela: área, ecosistemas, planes de manejo y amenazas significantes.

Name *(State)

Ciénagas del

Catatumbo (NP)

(Zulia)

Ciénagas de Juán

Manuel de Aguas

Blancas y Aguas

Negras (WRs)

(Zulia)

Ciénaga La

Palmita e Isla de

Pájaros (WRs)

(Zulia)

Ciénaga de Los

Olivitos (WRf)

(Zulia and Falcón)

IUCN Category 1

(Ramsar Site) 10

II

VI

VI

IV

(1996)

Totalarea2

(km2)

2500.00

706.80

25.26

222.04

Marinearea 3

(km2)

159.2

(lake

area)

104

(lake

area)

65

Islandsarea 4

(km2)

——

——

4.6

Continentalcoast line 5 (km)

90.1 (lake coast)

56 (lake coast)

NA (lake coast)

44

Marine andcoastal habitattypes present 6, 7

Ecosystems

Estuarine:

Flooded savannas

Flooded forests

(freshwaters)

Estuarine:

Flooded savannas

Flooded forests

(freshwaters)

Interconnected

with Ciénagas del

Catatumbo

Coastal lagoon:

Mangroves

Sandy beaches

(estuarine brack-

ish waters)

Coastal lagoon:

Mangroves

Sandy and muddy

beaches

Year of legaldesignation 8

(Managementplan) 8

1991

(——)

1975

(——)

2000

(——)

1986

(2001)

Significant Threats 9

Poaching and overfishing.

Oil spills by terrorist activities.

Pollution from oil pro-

duction and transport

systems.

Poaching and overfish-

ing.

Oil spills by terrorist

activities.



systems.



systems.


Impacts from industrial

salt production systems.

Sim

posio.p6502-04-04, 09:34 a.m

.287

288

Gayana 67(2), 2003

Boca de Caño

(WRf)

(Falcón)

Médanos de Coro

(NP)

(Falcón)

Tucurere (WRs)

(Falcón)

Cuare (WRf)

(Falcón)

Morrrocoy

IV

II

VI

IV

(1988 only 84%

of total area)

II

4.53

912.80

178.00

118.53

320.90

——

598.80

NA

18.92

205.00

——

——

NA

NA

42.00

——

96.8

NA

24

101.0

(estuarine brackish

waters)

Coastal lagoon:

Sandy beaches

Mangroves

Flat sandy coast:

Sandy beaches

Mangroves

Soft bottoms

Estuarine coastal

lagoon:

Sandy beaches

Mangroves

Coastal lagoon:

Seagrasses

Mangroves

Sandy beaches

Rocky shores

Coral reefs

Soft bottoms

Coral keys system:

1989

(——)

1974

(1995)

2001

(——)

1972

(1993)

1975

Impacts from adjacent

tourism developments.

Mangrove extraction.

Pollution from marine

transportation systems.

Impacts from human

settlements.


Impacts from human

settlements.



Impacts from human

settlements.



Recreational activities.

Continuación Tabla III

Name *(State)

IUCN Category 1

(Ramsar Site) 10Totalarea2

(km2)

Marinearea 3

(km2)

Islandsarea 4

(km2)



Ecosystems


(Managementplan) 8


Sim

posio.p6502-04-04, 09:34 a.m

.288

289


enezuela: MIL

OS

LA

VIC

H, P. ET A

L.

(NP)

(Falcón)

San Esteban (NP)

(Carabobo)

Henri Pittier

(NP)

(Aragua)

Archipiélago Los

II

II

II

435.00

1078.00

2211.20

36.25

——

2178.35

0.88

——

32.85

22.0

56.0

Sandy beaches

Rocky shores

Seagrasses

Coral reefs

Mangroves

Soft bottoms

Interconnected

with Cuare

Coral keys system:

Sandy beaches

Rocky shores

Seagrasses

Coral reefs

Mangroves

Coastal lagoons

Soft bottoms

Steep coast:

Rocky shores

Seagrasses

Coral reefs

Mangroves

Sandy beaches

Coral keys system:

(1995)

1987

(1996)

1937

(1995)

1972


transportation and in-

dustrial systems.

Sedimentation from the

upper watersheds.




upper watersheds.

Impacts from human

settlements.

Recreational and naval

activities

Impacts from human

settlements.


ing.

Recreational activities


Name *(State)

IUCN Category 1


(km2)

Marinearea 3

(km2)

Islandsarea 4

(km2)



Ecosystems


(Managementplan) 8


Sim

posio.p6502-04-04, 09:34 a.m

.289

290

Gayana 67(2), 2003

Roques (NP)

(Federal Depen-

dencies)

Laguna de

Tacarigua (NP)

(Miranda)

Mochima (NP)

(Sucre and Fed-

eral Dependen-

cies)

Tetas de María

Guevara (NM)

(Nueva Esparta)

(1996)

II

(1996)

II

III

391.00

949.35

16.70

207.00

491.70

4.0

All

emerged

areas

——

42.87

——

——

23.0

104.7

10.0 (insular

coast line)

Sandy beaches,

rocky shores,

seagrasses, coral

reefs, mangroves,

soft bottoms

Coastal lagoon:

Sandy beaches

Mangroves

Soft bottoms

Steep coast:

Sandy beaches

Rocky shores

Seagrasses

Coral reefs

Mangroves

Soft bottoms

Coastal lagoons

Coastal lagoon:

Mangroves

Coastal lagoons

Sandy beaches

(1991)

1974

(1991)

1973

(1993)

1974

(1995)

Impacts from human

settlements



upper watersheds.

Impacts from human

settlements

Poaching and overfishing


Impacts from human

settlements


upper watersheds.

Impacts from human

settlements





Name *(State)

IUCN Category 1


(km2)

Marinearea 3

(km2)

Islandsarea 4

(km2)



Ecosystems


(Managementplan) 8


Sim

posio.p6502-04-04, 09:34 a.m

.290

291


enezuela: MIL

OS

LA

VIC

H, P. ET A

L.

Laguna de La

Restinga (NP)

(Nueva Esparta)

Laguna de Las

Marites (NM)

(Nueva Esparta)

Península de

Paria (NP)

(Sucre)

Isla Aves (WRf)

(Federal Depen-

dencies)

Turuépano (NP)

(Sucre)

II

(1996)

III

II

IV

II

171.80

36.74

375.00

1580.21

700.00

63.64

0.9

——

1580.17

20.5

——

——

1.26

0.04

Single

emerged

area

——

35.0 (insular

coast line)

4.0 (insular coast

line)

64.0

0.7

(insular coast

line)

46.6

Coastal lagoon:

Sandy beaches

Coral reefs

Rocky shores

Mangroves

Coastal lagoons

Soft bottoms

Coastal lagoon:

Mangroves

Soft bottoms

Steep coast:

Rocky shores

Mangroves

Coastal lagoons

Coral keys sys-

tem:

Sandy beaches

Coral reefs

Soft bottoms

Flat coast:

Sandy and

muddy beaches

Mangroves

1974

(1991)

1974

(1993)

1979

(——)

1972

(1978, regula-

tions only)

1992

(——)


Impacts from human

settlements


ing.

Impacts from human

settlements


Impacts from human

settlements.


ing.

Moderate impacts from

Navy post.

Pollution from maritime

transportation

Influence of human

settlements.


Name *(State)

IUCN Category 1


(km2)

Marinearea 3

(km2)

Islandsarea 4

(km2)



Ecosystems


(Managementplan) 8


Sim

posio.p6502-04-04, 09:34 a.m

.291

292

Gayana 67(2), 2003

Delta del Orinoco

(NP)

(Delta Amacuro)

TOTAL

II 3310.00

16243.86

——

5733.43

(5470,23

strictly

marine)

——

124.5

Coastal lagoons

Flooded savan-

nas

Flooded forests

River Delta:

Sandy and

muddy beaches

Mangroves

Flooded savan-

nas

Flooded forests

(estuarine brack-

ish waters)

50.0

827.9

(681.8

strictly

marine)

1992

(——)


Name *(State)

IUCN Category 1


(km2)

Marinearea 3

(km2)

Islandsarea 4

(km2)



Ecosystems


(Managementplan) 8


Pollution from maritime

transportation Poaching

and overfishing

Sim

posio.p6502-04-04, 09:34 a.m

.292

293


Notes:*: NP=National Park, NM=Natural Monuent,WRf=Wildlife Refuge, WRs=Wildlife Reserve

1: Protected Areas categories applyingIUCN(1994) criteria: II=managed mainly for eco-system protection and recreation; III= managedmainly for conservation of specific natural fea-tures; IV= managed mainly for conservationthrough management intervention; VI= man-aged mainly for the sustainable use of naturalecosystems.

2: Inparques (Venezuelan National Parks Ser-vice) and MARN (Biological Diversity NationalOffice)3: Luis Romero (INPARQUES), Vicente Vera(MARN), Jorge Padrón. Predominantly marine,except where indicated between parenthesis (-).4: Luis Romero (INPARQUES), Vicente Vera(MARN).5: Continental sea shore line. Edgard Yerena.Rolando Vera. Predominantly marine, exceptwhere indicated between parenthesis (-).

6: Names according to Penchaszadeh et al. (2000)Names in italics translated from Rodriguez-Altamiranda (1999). “Muddy beaches”, accord-ing to Cowardin et al (1979). “Soft bottoms”,according to Miloslavich (pers. com), referedonly to soft bottoms habitats at open sea. Pre-dominantly marine waters, except where indi-cated between parenthesis (-) and coastal la-goons where conditions are locally variable.7: Edgard Yerena, Hedelvy Guada, Vicente Vera,Jorge Padrón, Profauna 1998.8: Year of legal designation as protected area orapproval of management plan, as published inOfficial Gazette. All approved management plansare in force and include regulations. Source:INPARQUES and MARN (Biological DiversityNational Office)9: Three most important threats or sources ofthreats. Source: For NP and NM: Rivero-Blancoet al (2001); For WRf and WRs: Lentino andBruni (1994); Vicente Vera (MARN); EdgardYerena.10: Year of acceptance as Ramsar Site.——: Data does not apply to such area.NA: Data not available

Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.293

294

Gayana 67(2), 2003

(4) THE LEGAL INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK IN THE

COUNTRY

One of the first steps taken in Venezuela towardsan environmental policy aimed at the conservationof ecosystems and pristine areas and the preserva-tion of biological diversity was the setting-up, in1973, of INPARQUES. However, it was in 1976that a formal environmental policy was initiatedwith the promulgation of the Organic Law of theEnvironment (June 7, 1976) and the Organic Lawof Central Administration (December 28, 1976).This led to the creation of the Ministry of Environ-ment and Natural Renewable Resources (MARNR)and was the institutional response of the State tothe need to reconcile the physical demands of eco-nomic growth and development with the sustain-able use of renewable natural resources. Its strate-gic goals are the conservation, defense, and im-provement of the environment.Venezuela actively participated in the 1992 NairobiConvention for the establishment of Agenda 21 andin the elaboration of the Agreement on BiologicalDiversity itself, which was signed at the Conven-tion on Biological Diversity at The Earth Summit(the United Nations conference about Environmentand Development) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil,in 1992. This commitment was supported by an Ap-

TABLE IV. Estimated diversity of marine invertebrates in Venezuela.

TABLA IV. Diversidad estimada de los invertebrados marinos en Venezuela.

proving Law on September 12, 1994. This commit-ted Venezuela to formulate strategies, plans, andprograms aimed at the conservation and sustain-able use of the biota and its diversity and to incor-porate them into the country’s future schemes. Thenew Venezuelan constitution, approved in Decem-ber 15, 1999, estipulates in Article 127 as an obli-gation of the State, the protection of the environ-ment, biological and genetic diversity, ecologicalprocesses, and the areas of special ecological im-portance. Finally, on May 24, 2000, the Law onBiological Diversity was signed and the NationalOffice of Biological Diversity (Oficina Nacionalde Diversidad Biológica, ONDB) was establishedin the now MARN, which replaced the formerMARNR to develop a national strategy inbiodiversity.

THE NATIONAL STRATEGY IN BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AND

PLAN OF ACTION

The National Strategy in Biological Diversity wasundertaken by MARN and ONDB. The projectstarted in 1997 with the first stage, an assessmentof the status of biological diversity in Venezuela,supported financially by the Global Environmen-tal Fund (GEF) through the United Nations Pro-gram for Development (UNPD). There were 3

Group Number of Families Number of Genera Number of Species

Porifera 31 55 86Cnidaria 38 65 108

Platyhelminthes 4 4 6Nemertina 1 1 1Rotifera 6 8 14

Nematoda 28 79 166Annelida 47 158 287Mollusca 185 395 815Sipuncula 3 7 14Crustacea 161 498 1024

Chelicerata (Pycnogonida) 4 10 10Chaetognatha 1 3 12

Echinodermata 42 85 139Urochordata 6 13 14

Cephalocordata 1 1 1TOTAL 558 1382 2697

Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.294

295

themes: state of knowledge, conservation, andsustainable use. Following this, MARN organizedseveral workshops and then presented a NationalStrategy with a clear mission: “the State will pro-mote the necessary actions to increase knowl-edge, ensure the conservation and the sustainableuse of Biological Diversity, and incorporate theseactions into the national, regional, and munici-pal development plans. To carry out the proposedobjectives, national and international strategic al-liances will be established”.The general objectives of the National Strat-egy are:• To establish actions to increase knowledgeabout biological diversity at the ecosystem andcommunity level, about wild and domestic spe-cies, about genetic resources and about envi-ronmental services.• To establish the necessary actions to ensurethe conservation of biological diversity, tak-ing into account their importance, strategiccharacter, economic value, and significance foraccomplishing the sustainable use of thecountry’s resources.• To promote programs for the sustainable useof biological resources;• To contribute with the active participationof the local and indigenous populations in theconservation and sustainable use of biologi-cal resources.• To promote the divulgation of and createawareness in society about the importance ofbiological diversity.• To prevent, mitigate, and restore any dam-age caused to the ecosystems by economic ac-tivities such as mining, oil activities, fisher-ies, farming, forestry, tourism, urban and in-dustrial development.• To prevent and control the introduction ofinvasive exotic species to the different ecosys-tems in the country.• To promote the outreach of biotechnologiesthat will allow the sustainable use of the bio-logical resources, properly regulating accessto the genetic wealth of the country.• To prevent and control the risks derived fromthe use of genetically modified living organ-isms.

• To promote the concepts of ecosystem fo-cus and bioregional planning in the develop-ment of the country.• To promote the participation of society at largein the conservation, management, and dissemi-nation of knowledge of biological diversity.• To fulfill the commitments acquired by sign-ing the Treaty of Biological Diversity and otheragreements.• To achieve a fair and equitable national par-ticipation in the benefits produced by the accessto genetic resources.

Following meetings, workshops, and other dis-cussions, 15 projects or lines of research wereestablished as the National Strategy:

1. The valuation and dissemination of informa-tion about biological diversity.2. The promotion of conservation in situ.3. The promotion of conservation ex situ.4. The assurance and promotion of the participa-tion of society in the management of biologicalresources and their diversity.5. The incorporation of knowledge about biologi-cal diversity in formal and informal educationand the training of human resources.6. The involvement of local and indigenous com-munities in the management of biological re-sources.7. The prevention, mitigation, and control of theimpact of human activities on biological diver-sity.8. The promotion of the sustainable use of bio-logical resources.9. The establishment of mechanisms regulatingaccess to genetic resources.10. The development of biotechnologies for aid-ing the sustainable use of biological resources.11. The strengthening of international, regionaland subregional cooperation.12. The strengthening of the institutions dedi-cated to the conservation of biological diversityand of conducting the National Strategy.13. The promotion of funding for the NationalStrategy on biological diversity.14. The development of programs to fulfill in-ternational commitments within the frameworkof the Treaty of Biological Diversity.


Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.295

296

Gayana 67(2), 2003

15. The development of other programs of na-tional priority.Item 14 includes several programs relevant to themarine environment: (1) the conservation of thewetland ecosystems and their biodiversity; (2) theuse and carrying capacity of the ecosystems fortourist activities; (3) the prevention and controlof exotic invasive species; and (4) the conserva-tion and sustainable use of coral reefs. Amongthe projects developed in Item 15, the most im-portant is the conservation of biodiversity andthe sustainable use of biological resources inmarine coastal and insular areas.

OTHER INITIATIVES RELATED TO THE CONSERVATION OF

BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

Venezuela has also been an active participant innon-governmental organizations (NGOs) on thesubject of biological diversity, being the soleLatin American country participating as a founderof the UICN and the first Latin American Stateto request membership. One of the most impor-tant recent contributions to the subject was theworkshop, “Management in the VenezuelanNGOs involved with the Conservation of Bio-logical Diversity”, held in Caracas in June, 1996and organized by Fundación Polar, the Venezu-elan Association for the Conservation of NaturalAreas (ACOANA) and the Interamerican Centerfor the Development of and Research on theTerritorial Environmental (CIDIAT). Notablethemes included: the management of natural re-sources, environmental education, the manage-ment of protected areas, research and monitor-ing, ecosystem recovery, and threatened species.All of these projects are being carried out thanksto the support, coordination, and direction of theNGOs, particularly FUDENA, PROVITA, andEconatura in the marine areas.

CONCLUSIONS: THE UNKNOWN

This paper has documented the information avail-able in Venezuela regarding scientific researchin biodiversity, the different ecosystems, and de-gree of knowledge that has been generated, theimportance and extent of the PAs as biodiversityreserves, and the legal institutional framework

aimed at their protection and sustainable use.Further ecological and biogeographical studiesare needed in order to determine in more detailthe biodiversity in the marine PAs. More PAs willprobably be needed to reach an adequate repre-sentation of the biodiversity of all of the ecosys-tems. The risk levels faced by PAs are high andmanagement effectiveness is poor. Stronger sup-port of PA agencies, local governments, scien-tific institutions, and NGOs is needed in order toreverse this situation.Table V summarizes, within the main objectives ofthe Concepción Census of Marine Life SouthAmerica workshop, what is known on a local scale,what we want to know on a broader scale, and ideasfor new integrated projects concerned with the ma-rine ecosystems and their associated biodiversity.In the short term (10 years), priorities are the esti-mation of the areas of and the completion of spe-cies lists and health status assessments for the mainecosystems. The resulting information must be com-piled and summarized in nationwide GeographicInformation Systems (GIS) databases, accessible toboth the scientific community and the managementagencies. In the longer term, a genetic inventory willalso be required in order to provide more detailedknowledge of the biological resources. In both cases,the training of human resources in taxonomy, sys-tematic; and techniques in molecular biology is nec-essary.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We wish to thank Geog. Rolando Vera for thedesign of the map and Geog. Vicente Vera forhelping with the compilation of the maps usedfor Figure 1. We are also indebted to Dr. VíctorAriel Gallardo, Centro de InvestigacionesOceanográficas en el Pacífico Sur-Oriental(COPAS), Universidad de Concepción, Chile, forhis invaluable help in promoting the First SouthAmerican Workshop on Marine Biodiversity, andthe sponsors of this workshop, Dr. ShuhaSathyendranath (POGO), Dr. Ronald O’Dor(Census of Marine Life) and Dr. Jesse Ausebel(Sloan Foundation). This work was partially sup-ported by a Decanato de Investigación yDesarrollo, Universidad Simón Bolívar grants tothe Grupo de Ciencias Marinas.

Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.296

297

TABLE V. Current knowledge and research needs for the marine ecosystems in Venezuela.

TABLA V. Conocimientos actuales y necesidades para la investigación de los ecosistemas marinos en Venezuela.


What we need to

know Beyond 10

year program

Dynamics of the

biological commu-

nities, energy/

matter fluxes

Dynamics of the

biological commu-

nities, energy/

mater fluxes. Inter-

actions between

hydrodynamics

and communities

Interaction with

other ecosystems,

with genetic and

energetic flow

Consolidate Car-

ibbean wide stud-

ies. Genetic stud-

ies

Ecosystem

Sandy

Beaches

Rocky

Shores

Sea

grasses

Coral reefs

Man-

groves

Area

?

?

?

(Morrocoy

373 has)

?

(Los

Roques

150,000

has)

(Las Aves

30,000 has)

300,000

has

What we know

Species list, trophic

structure (few), popula-

tion studies (few), re-

productive biology of

mollusks

Local horizontal zona-

tion, macroalgae spe-

cies list

Species list of associ-

ated fauna (few local),

production and produc-

tivity, biomass, demo-

graphic studies (local,

few)

Species List (corals,

fishes, macro-inverte-

brates). Health status

(local). Coral cover (lo-

cal). Coral and fish com-

munity structure (local)

Area, species composi-

tion, uses, associated

What we need to know

10 year program

GIS: area, physical charac-

teristics, production and

associated fauna

GIS: area, horizontal and

vertical zonation, associated

species, temporal variability.



associated fauna.

Human impacts

GIS: area, health status, and

species cover. Epidemiologi-

cal approach to coral dis-

eases. Impacts (fisheries,

tourism), population inter-

connections, influence area

studies (Hinterland ap-

proach)

GIS: area, vertical zonation

(sediment, roots and

canopy)

Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.297

298

Gayana 67(2), 2003

Continuación Tabla V.

Coastal

Lagoons

Orinoco

Delta

Non-

vegetated

soft

bottoms

Pelagic

realms

673,700

has

3,000,000

has

?

90,000,000

has

fauna (birds, terrestrial

and marine), legislation

Area, species list (lo-

cal)

Area, fish community

composition in the

southern delta. Cover

of mangrove forest and

mangrove species com-

position.

Limited knowledge of

indigenous use of local

flora and fauna

Species list (incomplete

and local)

General oceanographic

characteristics (out-

dated), upwelling dy-

namics, fisheries (in-

dustrial, artisan), fish

species list

GIS: area, species composi-

tion, circulation dynamics.

Impacts (fisheries, aquacul-

ture, tourism)

GIS: physical characteristics.

Complete species inventory

and community structure



associated fauna

Updated inventory list,

natural barriers

GIS

More remote sensing capa-

bilities. Circulation measure-

ments. Plankton dynamics

(horizontal, vertical and tem-

poral)

Hydrodynamics

and community

interactions.

Integrated pro-

grams for sustain-

able use of the

ecosystems

Sustained moni-

toring of bottom

communities. Con-

tinental shelf

Sustained moni-

toring program of

deep sea research

(beyond continen-

tal shelf). Species

lists and habitat

characterization

What we need to

know Beyond 10

year programEcosystem Area What we know

What we need to know

10 year program

Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.298

299

POSSIBLE FUTURE PROJECTS: LOCAL, REGIONAL AND

GLOBAL

Local (Venezuela)

• Charting and the production of maps (Geo-graphical Information Systems) of key coastlineand island ecosystems, the extent and status of eachof them. Comparison of systems and of biodiversity.Crosslink between floral and faunal inventories.• Integration of the information about local ecosys-tems.• Elaboration of a biodiversity database.

Regional (Southern Caribbean: Colombia, Venezuela,and the Netherlands Antilles)

• Upwelling zones

• Natural barriers (rivers)

• Global (South America)

• Pacific-Atlantic north-south gradients of sandyand rocky ecosystems• Comparative studies of estuarine and deltaic sys-tems

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ACOSTA, J. M. 1974. Estudio de las comunidadesvegetales de la Bahía de Los Totumos. BoletínSociedad Venezolana de Ciencias Naturales,Caracas, 31(128/129): 79-112.

AGUILERA, M. 2000. Especiación y Biodiversidad.Trabajo de Ascenso, Universidad Simón Bolívar,Caracas 238 pp.

AGUILERA, M., A. AZÓCAR & E. GONZÁLEZ-JIMÉNEZ. (Eds.)(IN PRESS). Venezuela: Un País Megadiverso.CONICIT-Fundación Polar. Caracas.

AMEND, T. (Ed.). 1992. Parque Nacional Archipiélago LosRoques. Parques Nacionales y ConservaciónAmbiental Nº 3. Fundación Polar e InstitutoNacional de Parques. Caracas. 225 pp.

ATIENZA, D. 2000. Taxonomía y ecología de losanfípodos asociados a praderas de Thalassiatestudinum en el Parque Nacional Morrocoy.Undergraduate Thesis, Universidad SimónBolívar, Caracas, 129 pp.

BETZ, M. & M. BOCK. 1981. La situación hidrográficaen Golfo Triste. Boletín Instituto OceanográficoUniversidad de Oriente 20(1/2): 63-78.

BITTER, R. 1988. Análisis multivariado de la comunidadasociada a Thalassia testudinum en el ParqueNacional Morrocoy. Ph.D Thesis, UniversidadCentral de Venezuela, 240 pp.

BONE, D. & P. SPINIELLO (Eds). 2000. Estudio Integral delsistema Parque Nacional Morrocoy con miras aldesarrollo de planes de uso y gestión para suconservación. III Informe Técnico, Tomos I y II,FONACIT, Caracas.

BONE, D., D. PÉREZ, A. VILLAMIZAR, P.E. PENCHASZADEH

& E. KLEIN. 1998. Parque Nacional Morrocoy,Venezuela. In: Kjerfve B. (Ed.). CARICOMP-Caribbean Coral Reef, Seagrass and Mangrovesites. UNESCO, París: 151-159 pp.

BONE, D., A. CROQUER, E. KLEIN, D. PÉREZ, F. LOSADA, A.MARTIN, C. BASTIDAS, M. RADA, L. GALINDO & P.PENCHASZADEH. 2001. Programa CARICOMP:Monitoreo a largo plazo de los ecosistemasmarinos del Parque Nacional Morrocoy,Venezuela. Interciencia 26(19): 457-462.

CARICOMP. 1997. Caribbean Coastal Marine Produc-tivity (CARICOMP): a research and monitoringnetwork of marine laboratories, parks and re-serves. Proceedings of the 8th InternationalCoral Reef Symposium 1: 641-646.

CERVIGON, F. 1966. Los peces marinos de Vene-zuela.Tomos I y II. Fundación La Salle deCiencias Naturales, (Eds.). Fundación La Sallede Ciencias Naturales.Caracas, 941 pp.

CERVIGON, F. 1989. Los peces marinos de Venezuela.Caracas. Editorial Arte.

CERVIGON, F. 1991a. Los peces marinos de Venezuela.Volumen I. 2nd edition, Fundación CientíficaLos Roques, Caracas, Cromotip, 425 pp.

CERVIGON, F. 1991b. Los peces marinos de Venezuela.Volumen II. 2nd ed. Fundación Científica LosRoques.Caracas, Cromotip, 497 pp.

CERVIGON, F. 1994. Los peces marinos de Venezuela.Volumen III. Editorial Exlibris. Caracas, 295 pp.

CERVIGON, F. 1996. Los peces marinos de Venezuela. 2nded. Caracas: 254 pp.

CERVIGON, F. & A. ALCALA. 1999. Los peces marinos deVenezuela. Tiburones y rayas. Fundación Museodel Mar, (Eds.). 230 pp.

CERVIGON, F. & A. ALCALA. 2000. Peces del Archipiélagode Los Roques. Fundación Museo del Mar yFundación Científica Los Roques (Eds).Caracas, 79 pp.

CERVIGON, F. & W. FISHER. 1979. Catálogo de especiesmarinas de interés económico actual o potencialpara América Latina, Parte 1-Atlántico centro ysuroccidental. Infopesca, FAO/UNDP SIC/79/1,372 pp.

CERVIGON, F., R. CIPRIANI, W. FISHER, L. GARIBALDI, M.HENDRICKX, A. J. LEMUS, R. MÁRQUEZ, J. M.POUTIERS, G. O. ROBAINA & B. RODRÍGUEZ. 1992.Guía de campo de las especies comercialesmarinas y de aguas salobres de la costaseptentrional de Sur América. FAO FisheriesReport, 513 pp.

CONDE, J. E. & C. ALARCON. 1993. Mangroves ofVenezuela. In: Lacerda L. D. (Ed.). Conser-vation and sustainable utilization of mangroveforests in the Latin America and Africa Regions.


Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.299

300

Gayana 67(2), 2003

Part I. Latin America. Mangrove EcosystemsTechnical Reports series Vol 2. The InternationalSociety for Mangrove Ecosystems (ISME) &The International Tropical Timber Organization.Okinawa, Japan: 211-243.

COWARDIN, L., V. CARTER, F. GOLET & E. LAROE. 1979.Classification of Wetlands and Deepwater Habi-tats of the United States. Biological ServicesProgram, FWS/OBS-79/31. Fish and WildlifeService. U.S. Department of the Interior, 103 pp.

CRISCI, J.V., P.E. POSADAS & J.J. MORRONE. 1996. LaBiodiversidad en los umbrales del siglo XXI.Ciencia Hoy 6(36): 34-40.

EISENBERG, J.F. & REDFORD. 1979. Vertebrate Ecologyof the Northern neotropics. Smithsonian Insti-tution Press, Washington, D.C. USA.

DÍAZ, H., J. E. CONDE & B. ORIHUELA. 1992. Estimatingthe species number and cover of a mangrove-root community: a comparison of methods. Aus-tralian Journal of Marine and Freshwater Re-search 43:707-714.

DÍAZ, Y. 1997. Relaciones tróficas en la ictiofaunaasociada a praderas de Thalassia en el P. N.Morrocoy. Undergraduate Thesis, UniversidadSimón Bolívar, Caracas, 120 pp.

DÍAZ, Y. 2001. Contribución al conocimiento del ordenAmphipoda de la costa centro-occidental deVenezuela. M. Sc. Thesis, Universidad SimónBolívar, Caracas, 542 pp.

GALINDO, L. I. 1997. Variación espacial y temporal delos poliquetos asociados a praderas de Thalassiatestudinum. Undergraduate Thesis, UniversidadSimón Bolívar, Caracas, 101 pp.

GANESAN, E. K. 1989 A catalogue of benthic marine al-gae and seagrasses of Venezuela. Fondo Edito-rial CONICIT, Caracas, 247 pp.

HUCK, E. 2001. Composición y ecología de gasterópodosasociados a tres praderas de Thalassiatestudinum del Parque Nacional Morrocoy.Undergraduate Thesis, Universidad SimónBolívar, Caracas, 83 pp.

ISEA, J. A. 1994. Variación espacial y temporal de laepifauna móvil asociada a las praderas deThalassia testudinum. Undergraduate Thesis,Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas, 101 pp.

IUCN. 1994. Guidelines for Protected Area ManagementCategories. CNPPA with assistance of WCMC.IUCN, Cambridge, UK and Gland, Switzerland.

KLEIN, E. & J. J. CRUZ. 1998. Recovery of the molluscanepibenthic fauna alter a severe decline at a Car-ibbean turtle grass community. In: Bieler R. &P. Mikkelsen (Eds). World Congress of Malacol-ogy, Washington, DC: 177.

LABOY, E. N., E. KLEIN, J. E. CONDE, F. J. LOSADA, J. J.CRUZ & D. BONE. 2001. Mass mortality of marineorganisms in the Morrocoy National Park.Bulletin of Marine Science, 68: 163-179.

LARA DE GONZÁLEZ, S., C. SUÁREZ-RUÍZ & E. MARCUCCI.1997. Atlas Morfodinámico Costero de Vene-zuela. Universidad Pedagógica Experimental

Libertador, Instituto Pedagógico de Caracas,Caracas, 99 pp.

LENTINO, M. & C. BRUNI. 1994. Humedales costeros deVenezuela: situación ambiental. SociedadConservacionista Audubon de Venezuela.Caracas. 188 pp.

LODEIROS, C. J. M., B. MARIN & A. PRIETO. 1999. Catálogode moluscos marinos de las costas nororientalesde Venezuela: Clase Bivalvia. Edición Apudons,Venezuela, 109 pp.

MARNR-MINISTERIO DEL AMBIENTE Y DE LOS RECURSOS

NATURALES RENOVABLES. 1979. Atlas deVenezuela. Dirección General de Información eInvestigación del Ambientes. Dirección deCartografía Nacional, 2a edición, Caracas, 331 pp.

MARNR-MINISTERIO DEL AMBIENTE Y DE LOS RECURSOS

NATURALES RENOVABLES. 1985. Plan del SistemaNacional de Areas Protegidas. Primera Etapa.Marco Conceptual. DGSPOA.

MARN-MINISTERIO DEL AMBIENTE Y DE LOS RECURSOS

NAT U R A L E S. 2000. Primer informe deVenezuela sobre Diversidad Biológica. OficinaNacional de Diversidad Biológica, Fondo parael Medio Ambiente Mundial y Programa delas Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo(PNUD) Caracas, 227 pp.

MARN -MINISTERIO DEL AMBIENTE Y DE LOS RECURSOS

NATURALES. 2001. Estrategia Nacional sobreDiversidad Biológica y su plan de acción.República Bolivariana de Venezuela, OficinaNacional de Diversidad Biológica. Fondo parael Medio Ambiente Mundial (FMAM) yPrograma de las Naciones Unidas para elDesarrollo (PNUD), Caracas, 135 pp.

MARTIN, A. 2002. Anfípodos (Crustacea) de Golfo Tristey áreas adyacentes: biodiversidad, taxonomía yalgunos aspectos ecológicos. Trabajo deAscenso. Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas,197 pp.

MARTIN, A. & Y. DÍAZ. 2000. Bibliografía sobre lasCiencias Marinas de Venezuela. EditorialComala, S.A. Caracas, ISBN 980-07-5824-0.436 pp.

MEADE, R. H., C. F. NORDIN, D. PÉREZ-HERNÁNDEZ, A.MEJÍA & J. M. GODOY. 1983. Sediment and waterdischarge in Río Orinoco, Venezuela andColombia. Proceedings of the SecondInternational Symposium on river sedimenta-tion, Beijing. Water Resources and ElectricPower Press, Beijing, China: 1134-1144.

MILLMAN, J. D. & R. H. MEADE. 1983. Worlwide deliv-ery of river sediment to the oceans. Journal ofGeology 91(1): 1-21.

MORAO, A. 1983. Diversidad y fauna de moluscos ycrustáceos asociada a las raíces sumergidas delmangle rojo, Rhizophora mangle, en la Lagunade la Restinga, Isla de Margarita, Venezuela.Undergraduate Thesis, Universidad de Oriente,Cumaná, 95 pp.

MULLER-KARGER, F. & R. VARELA. 1989. Influjo del Río

Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.300

301

Orinoco en el Mar Caribe: Observaciones con elCZCS desde el espacio. Memorias SociedadCiencias Naturales La Salle, Caracas, 186: 361-390.

NORIEGA, N. 1998. Caracterización de las comunidadesde erizos presentes en praderas de Thalassiatestudinum y comunidades coralinas de la Bahíade Mochima, Parque Nacional Mochima.Undergraduate Thesis, Universidad Central deVenezuela, Caracas, 97 pp.

ORDOSGOITTI, R. I. 1985. Estudio ecológico de la epifaunaen raíces sumergidas del mangle Rhizophoramangle (L) en la Bahía de Mochima, EstadoSucre, Venezuela. Undergraduate Thesis.Universidad de Oriente, Cumaná, 89 pp.

PALACIOS, M. O. 1999. El Orinoco, tercer río del mundo.Fundación AVENSA / Fundación TERRAMAR,Caracas, 132 pp.

PANNIER, F. & R. F. PANNIER. 1989. Manglares de Ve-nezuela. Cuadernos Lagoven, Caracas, 67 pp.

PENCHASZADEH, P., C. A. LEÓN, H. ALVAREZ, D. BONE, P.CASTELLANO, M. M. CASTILLO, Y. DIAZ, M. P.GARCÍA, M. LEMUS, F. LOSADA, A. MARTIN, P.MILOSLAVICH, C. PAREDES, D. PÉREZ, M.SEBASTIANI, D. STECCONI, V. ROA & A. VILLAMIZAR.2000. Venezuela. In: Sheppard C (Ed.). Seas atthe millenium. An environmental evaluation.University of Warwick, UK, Volume I: Europe,The Americas and West Africa, 643-661.

PÉREZ, D. 1997. Variabilidad espacio-temporal delcrecimiento, la productividad y las característicasestructurales y demográficas de praderas deThalassia testudinum en Venezuela. Trabajo deAscenso. Universidad Simón Bolívar, Caracas,144 pp.

PROFAUNA. 1998. Areas Naturales Protegidas para laConservación de la Fauna. Servicio Autónomopara la Protección, Restauración, Fomento yRacional Aprovechamiento de la Fauna Silvestrey Acuática (Profauna). Ministerio del Ambientey de los Recursos Naturales Renovables.Venezuela. Mecanografiado. 26 pp.

RAMÍREZ-VILLAROEL, P. 2001. Corales de Venezuela.Consejo de Investigación de la Universidad deOriente, Fundaconferry, Comisión de Inves-tigación del Núcleo de Nueva Esparta de laUniversidad de Oriente, Porlamar, 219 pp.

REPÚBLICA DE VENEZUELA. 1966. Ley Forestal de Suelos yAguas. Gaceta Oficial de la República deVenezuela. Nº 1.004 Ext.-Caracas-(1966), enero26.

REPUBLICA DE VENEZUELA. 1970. Ley de Protección a laFauna Silvestre. Gaceta Oficial de la Repúblicade Venezuela.-Nº 29.289.-Caracas.-(1970), agosto11.

RIVERO-BLANCO, C., E. YERENA, E. ANGEL & H. MARTÍNEZ.2001. Estado Actual de los Parques Nacionales ylos Monumentos Naturales de Venezuela: Visión2001. Fundación para la Defensa de la Naturaleza– Instituto Nacional de Parques. Caracas. Julio2001.

RODRÍGUEZ, G. 1980. Los crustáceos decápodos deVenezuela. Instituto Venezolano de Inves-tigaciones Científicas, Caracas, 494 pp.

RODRÍGUEZ-ALTAMIRANDA, R. (Ed.). 1999. Conservación dehumedales en Venezuela: Inventario, diagnósticoambiental y estrategia. Comité Venezolano de laUICN, Caracas, 110 pp.

SULLIVAN, K. & G. BUSTAMANTE. 1999. Setting geographicpriorities for marine conservation in LatinAmerica and the Caribbean. The Nature Conser-vancy, Arlington. 125 pp.

SUTHERLAND, J. P. 1980. Dynamics of the epibenthic com-munity on roots of the mangrove Rhizophoramangle, at Bahía de Buche, Venezuela. MarineBiology 58:75-84.

VERA, B. 1992. Seagrasses of the Venezuelan coast: dis-tribution and community components. In: Coastalplant communities of Latin America, AcademicPress, 135-140 pp.

VILLAMIZAR, E. 1993. Evaluación de la comunidad depeces en praderas de fanerógamas marinas delParque Nacional Archipiélago de Los Roques. Ph.D. Thesis, Universidad Central de Venezuela,Caracas, 239 pp.

VILLAMIZAR, E. 2000. Estructura de una comunidadarrecifal en Falcón, Venezuela, antes y despuésde una mortalidad masiva. Revista de BiologíaTropical 48(1): 19-30.

WOODLEY, J. D., K. DE MEYER, P. BUSH, G. E. BANKS-PETRIE,J. GARZON-FERREIRA, E. KLEIN, L. P. J. J. PORS &C. M. WILSON. 1997. Status of coral reefs in thesouth central Caribbean. Proceedings of the 8thInternational Coral Reef Symposium 1: 357-362.

Fecha de recepción: 05/05/03Fecha de aceptación: 101/09/03


Simposio.p65 02-04-04, 09:34 a.m.301

MARINE BIODIVERSITY IN VENEZUELA: STATUS AND … · MARINE BIODIVERSITY IN VENEZUELA: STATUS AND...

Documents

Transcript of MARINE BIODIVERSITY IN VENEZUELA: STATUS AND … · MARINE BIODIVERSITY IN VENEZUELA: STATUS AND...