The importance of the species Mussismilia braziliensis for the Abrolhos National Marine Park

Abstract

The species Mussismilia braziliensis (Verrill 1868), endemic to the Abrolhos bank, was of great importance for the creation of the Abrolhos National Marine Park (ParNaM-Abrolhos). In order to present the impacts that affect the species and to describe the works carried out in this unit that deal with the Environmental Education (EA) theme, a literature review on the theme and the voluntary internship in the unit was carried out. Whitening, white plague and black band are some of the problems that affect the species studied, being that overfishing, climate change, degradation of the coastal zone, tourism, pollution due to the installation of industrial projects, oil exploration, variations in the level of the sea, some of the actions that have threatened the corals. Among the EE work, the following stand out: Volunteer Program, Open your eyes to Science, Community in Abrolhos and Conscious Conduct, which are some of the existing programs in this unit. Finally, the works developed in EE at ParNaM-Abrolhos are important, as they assist in the formation of conscious citizens, aiming at the importance of the existing corals at Banco dos Abrolhos, including the species that is the focus of the study for environmental balance of the Protect Area.