Conservações e áreas afins - Comunicações orais

Marine underwater wildlife and seascape components offer unique opportunities for humans’ personal and emotional connections with nature. Yet people may perceive or value reef characteristics differently. We assessed the aesthetic value of Brazilian reefs according to different reef users (e.g., recreational divers, researchers, recreational and commercial fishers, and tourists) through an online questionnaire. We accounted reef aesthetics using pictures of 82 fish species and 65 seascapes. To measure respondents’ perceptions, we related the aesthetic value of each picture to bony and cartilaginous fishes’ traits (e.g., body size, body shape and body colour) and the seascape components such as the presence of top predators or mesopredators, fish schools, benthic organisms and the presence (or absence) of emerged reef components. Further, we developed an index to map the aesthetic value of nine reef sites along the Brazilian Province. A total of 320 reef users answered the questionnaire. Different users had similar aesthetic perceptions about fishes, underwater and out-of-the-water components. The unique body shape of manta rays and colourful species were the most valued attributes of cartilaginous and bony fishes, respectively. The most valued underwater seascapes were those with the presence of marine predators and large fish schools. Also, out-of-the-water seascapes were most valued when presenting emerged reef patches. When combining these distinct components of aesthetic values, we found that reefs in Northeast Brazil (i.e., Parrachos, Rocas’ Atoll and Costa dos Corais) had the highest aesthetic values among evaluated sites. Reefs in this region are fundamental to Brazilian tourism economic revenue, while hosting threatened species with high aesthetic values and key ecological functions.