General biological features of the South Atlantic
Biological characteristics

Table Gb1 (refer also to (Gb2) ) summarizes some relevant traits of the various biologically distinct areas that can be recognized in the South Atlantic. These results are chiefly based on one of the most comprehensive set of surveys carried out so far in the South Atlantic after the German "Meteor" expeditions of 1925-1927, yet it should be noticed that some of them are based on few observations and therefore probably do not represent adequately average values for the corresponding area. For example, differences in primary production levels between the Benguela Current and other areas seem too high when compared with other estimates. Nevertheless, because they constitute the results of a major interdisciplinary effort and for some parameters (e.g., bioluminescence, biomass proportions of the various trophic levels, zooplanktonic production, bacterioplankton biomass) are the only large-scale estimates available for the area, their usefulness for a general characterization of the South Atlantic is beyond doubt.