Restructuring of the ‘Macaronesia’ biogeographic unit: a marine multi-taxon biogeographical approach

The Azores, Madeira, Selvagens, Canary Islands and Cabo Verde are commonly united under the term "Macaronesia". This study investigates the coherency and validity of Macaronesia as a biogeographic unit using six marine groups with very different dispersal abilities: coastal fishes, echinoderms, gastropod molluscs, brachyuran decapod crustaceans, polychaete annelids, and macroalgae. We found no support for the current concept of Macaronesia as a coherent marine biogeographic unit. All marine groups studied suggest the exclusion of Cabo Verde from the remaining Macaronesian archipelagos and thus, Cabo Verde should be given the status of a biogeographic subprovince within the West African Transition province. We propose to redefine the Lusitanian biogeographical province, in which we include four ecoregions: the South European Atlantic Shelf, the Saharan Upwelling, the Azores, and a new ecoregion herein named Webbnesia, which comprises the archipelagos of Madeira, Selvagens and the Canary Islands.Funding Agency Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology UID/Multi/04326/2019 UID/AGR/04129/2019 SFRH/BD/60366/2009 SFRH/BD/61146/2009 SFRH/BD/135918/2018 FEDER funds through the Operational Programme for Competitiveness Factors - COMPETE Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology UID/Multi/04326/2013 UID/BIA/50027/2013 UID/BIA/00329/2013 UID/BIA/00329/2019 POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006821 European Union (EU) Instituto de Salud Carlos III Azorean Public funds through Operational Program Azores 2020, under the project AZORESBIOPORTAL - PORBIOTA ACORES-01-0145-FEDER-000072 Campus do Mar International Campus of Excellence PhD program (DO*MAR) from University of Vigo, Spain Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology European Union (EU) MAC/2.3d/015 European Union (EU) MAC/2.3d/097 EU ERA-Chair project EcoAqua 621341 FRCT/Acores 2020 by Fundo Regional para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FRCT) M3.1.a/F/100/2015 Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology IF/00465/2015 DRCT-M1.1.a/005/Funcionamento-C-/2016 MACDIV-FCT-PTDC/BIABIC/0054/2014 CVAgrobiodiversity/333111699