THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OF ZOOPLANKTON STUDIES IN A TROPICAL ESTUARINE ECOSYSTEM: WHAT IS COMING NEXT?

Estuarine environments are among the most important ecosystems on the planet because they are extremely productive and act like a refuge to several species. This work presents a synthesis of 35 years of knowledge on zooplankton biodiversity, composition, distribution, abundance and other biological parameters of zooplanktonic organisms from the estuarine system of Santa Cruz Channel (Pernambuco – Brazil). For that, a bibliographic survey was realized, where 52 scientific studies were analyzed. The Copepoda and Decapoda groups were the most studied ones, being the Copepoda well studied during all the 35 years and the Decapoda from the 1990 decade. From all the studies already performed until today, it is possible to affirm that the Santa Cruz Channel is a rich and key coastal ecosystem in the Northeastern of Brazil, being essential the development of new research projects to assist the sustainable management in this area.