Megafaunal variation in the abyssal landscape of the Clarion Clipperton Zone

Simon-Lledó, Erik; Bett, Brian J.; Huvenne, Veerle A.I.; Schoening, Timm; Benoist, Noëlie M.A.; Jeffreys, Rachel M.; Durden, Jennifer M.; Jones, Daniel O. B.

doi:10.1016/j.pocean.2018.11.003

Cited by 88 publications

(119 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…Our finding that peracarid biomass, richness (Figure a), and evenness vary depending on the elevation of a sampling point compared with its surrounds (“Bathymetric Position Index”; Table ) builds upon a number of recent studies demonstrating increased taxon richness and faunal biomass on abyssal hills relative to plains or troughs for both meiofauna and megafauna (Durden et al, ; Morris et al, ; Simon‐Lledó et al, ; Stefanoudis et al, ). These studies link increased faunal biomass on hills, relative to plains, to elevated food availability as a result of topographically enhanced currents.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

“…These studies link the biological signature of canyon environments to their tendency to entrain organic detritus from shallower waters (Levin & Sibuet, ). In abyssal environments, recent work has demonstrated increased taxon richness and faunal biomass on hills relative to plains or troughs for both meiofauna and megafauna (Durden et al, ; Morris et al, ; Simon‐Lledó et al, ; Stefanoudis et al, ), these studies ascribing their observations to elevated food availability on hills relative to plains as a result of topographically enhanced current speeds. We hypothesize that peracarid diversity will be positively correlated with habitat heterogeneity and that peracarid diversity, density, and biomass will be enhanced on ridges and in canyons relative to surrounding slope habitats (Table ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Topographic variation over multiple spatial scales is thought to be important in promoting high diversity in deep‐sea benthic communities (Levin, Sibuet, Gooday, Smith, & Vanreusel, ), and Levin et al () specified a positive linear relationship between the two variables (Figure ). Efforts to quantify the detailed form of this association in the deep sea have been relatively limited (Levin et al, ), with only a few studies considering it in detail (Durden, Bett, Jones, Huvenne, & Ruhl, ; Morris et al, ; Simon‐Lledó et al, ; Stefanoudis, Bett, & Gooday, ; Vanreusel et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investigating the environmental drivers of deep‐seafloor biodiversity: A case study of peracarid crustacean assemblages in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Ashford

Kenny

Froján

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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The deep‐sea benthos covers over 90% of seafloor area and hosts a great diversity of species which contribute toward essential ecosystem services. Evidence suggests that deep‐seafloor assemblages are structured predominantly by their physical environment, yet knowledge of assemblage/environment relationships is limited. Here, we utilized a very large dataset of Northwest Atlantic Ocean continental slope peracarid crustacean assemblages as a case study to investigate the environmental drivers of deep‐seafloor macrofaunal biodiversity. We investigated biodiversity from a phylogenetic, functional, and taxonomic perspective, and found that a wide variety of environmental drivers, including food availability, physical disturbance (bottom trawling), current speed, sediment characteristics, topographic heterogeneity, and temperature (in order of relative importance), significantly influenced peracarid biodiversity. We also found deep‐water peracarid assemblages to vary seasonally and interannually. Contrary to prevailing theory on the drivers of deep‐seafloor diversity, we found high topographic heterogeneity (at the hundreds to thousands of meter scale) to negatively influence assemblage diversity, while broadscale sediment characteristics (i.e., percent sand content) were found to influence assemblages more than sediment particle‐size diversity. However, our results support other paradigms of deep‐seafloor biodiversity, including that assemblages may vary inter‐ and intra‐annually, and how assemblages respond to changes in current speed. We found that bottom trawling negatively affects the evenness and diversity of deep‐sea soft‐sediment peracarid assemblages, but that predicted changes in ocean temperature as a result of climate change may not strongly influence continental slope biodiversity over human timescales, although it may alter deep‐sea community biomass. Finally, we emphasize the value of analyzing multiple metrics of biodiversity and call for researchers to consider an expanded definition of biodiversity in future investigations of deep‐ocean life.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 57%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Investigating the environmental drivers of deep‐seafloor biodiversity: A case study of peracarid crustacean assemblages in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

Ashford

Kenny

Froján

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Simon‐Lledó et al. () reached similar conclusions in their assessment of the effect of sampling‐unit size on the description of deep‐sea megabenthos assemblages based on AUV photography.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 67%

“…In the case of faunal composition, unit size affected the variability (precision) of resulting assessments (i.e., the ability to define, discriminate, or monitor the status of a given assemblage or biotope). Simon-Lledó et al (2019a) reached similar conclusions in their assessment of the effect of samplingunit size on the description of deep-sea megabenthos assemblages based on AUV photography. Anderson and Santana-Garcon (2015) tackled the issue of variability in faunal composition in a manner similar to ours.…”

Section: Practical Conservationmentioning

confidence: 58%

Monitoring mosaic biotopes in a marine conservation zone by autonomous underwater vehicle

Benoist

Morris

Bett

et al. 2019

Conservation Biology

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The number of marine protected areas (MPAs) has increased dramatically in the last decade and poses a major logistic challenge for conservation practitioners in terms of spatial extent and the multiplicity of habitats and biotopes that now require assessment. Photographic assessment by autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) enables the consistent description of multiple habitats, in our case including mosaics of rock and sediment. As a case study, we used this method to survey the Greater Haig Fras marine conservation zone (Celtic Sea, northeast Atlantic). We distinguished 7 biotopes, detected statistically significant variations in standing stocks, species density, species diversity, and faunal composition, and identified significant indicator species for each habitat. Our results demonstrate that AUV‐based photography can produce robust data for ecological research and practical marine conservation. Standardizing to a minimum number of individuals per sampling unit, rather than to a fixed seafloor area, may be a valuable means of defining an ecologically appropriate sampling unit. Although composite sampling represents a change in standard practice, other users should consider the potential benefits of this approach in conservation studies. It is broadly applicable in the marine environment and has been successfully implemented in deep‐sea conservation and environmental impact studies. Without a cost‐effective method, applicable across habitats, it will be difficult to further a coherent classification of biotopes or to routinely assess their conservation status in the rapidly expanding global extent of MPAs.

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