Diversity, distribution and environmental drivers of coralline red algae – the major reef builders in the Southwestern Atlantic

CRA are currently affected by global and local stressors, and little is known about their biodiversity and the environmental drivers that influence their distribution patterns in the SWA.

In the present study, we quantified the species richness of CRA in the region based on DNA-based species delimitation methods, verified their distribution and identified the main drivers shaping the macroecological patterns of richness and β-diversity. We found 79 phylogenetic species in the tropical and warm temperate SWA, and temperature, nutrients and water current velocity were the most relevant acting as environmental filters selecting particular flora for most of the evaluated ecoregions.