The commonness of rarity in a deep‐sea taxon

McClain, Craig R.

doi:10.1111/oik.07602

Cited by 19 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 127 publications

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“…Commonly reported species (i.e., Abyssorchomene gerulicorbis, A. chevreuxi, Eurythenes maldoror, and E. magellanicus) were found in very low numbers in our samples, in at least one of the three sites. This is in accordance with previous findings in amphipods (Mohrbeck et al, 2021) and gastropods (McClain and Hardy, 2010;McClain, 2021), suggesting that local rarity is not necessarily linked to small geographic ranges. There was also overlap of species with narrow ranges in adjacent areas.…”

Section: Morphological Diversity Of Scavenging Amphipodssupporting

confidence: 93%

Biogeography and Connectivity Across Habitat Types and Geographical Scales in Pacific Abyssal Scavenging Amphipods

et al. 2021

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Recently, there has been a resurgent interest in the exploration of deep-sea mineral deposits, particularly polymetallic nodules in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), central Pacific. Accurate environmental impact assessment is critical to the effective management of a new industry and depends on a sound understanding of species taxonomy, biogeography, and connectivity across a range of scales. Connectivity is a particularly important parameter in determining ecosystem resilience, as it helps to define the ability of a system to recover post-impact. Scavenging amphipods in the superfamilies Alicelloidea Lowry and De Broyer, 2008 and Lysianassoidea Dana, 1849 contribute to a unique and abundant scavenging community in abyssal ecosystems. They are relatively easy to sample and in recent years have become the target of several molecular and taxonomic studies, but are poorly studied in the CCZ. Here, a molecular approach is used to identify and delimit species, and to investigate evolutionary relationships of scavenging amphipods from both abyssal plain and deep (>3000 m) seamount habitats in three APEIs (Areas of Particular Environmental Interest, i.e., designated conservation areas) in the western CCZ. A total of 17 different morphospecies of scavenging amphipods were identified, which include at least 30 genetic species delimited by a fragment of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) barcode gene. The scavenging communities sampled in the western CCZ included the most common species (Abyssorchomene gerulicorbis (Shulenberger and Barnard, 1976), A. chevreuxi (Stebbing, 1906), Paralicella caperesca Shulenberger and Barnard, 1976, and P. tenuipes Chevreux, 1908) reported for other ocean basins. Only four morphospecies, representing five genetic species, were shared between APEIs 1, 4, and 7. The two abyssal plain sites at APEIs 4 and 7 were dominated by two and three of the most common scavenging species, respectively, while the APEI 1 seamount site was dominated by two species potentially new to science that appeared to be endemic to the site. The presence of common species in all sites and high genetic diversity, yet little geographic structuring, indicate connectivity over evolutionary time scales between the areas, which span about 1500 km. Similar to recent studies, the differences in amphipod assemblages found between the seamount and abyssal sites suggest that ecological conditions on seamounts generate distinct community compositions.

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Section: Morphological Diversity Of Scavenging Amphipodssupporting

confidence: 93%

Biogeography and Connectivity Across Habitat Types and Geographical Scales in Pacific Abyssal Scavenging Amphipods

et al. 2021

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“…Between 310 and 411 species were found in particular strata and 132-228 in individual cores or core splits (Table 2). The combined dataset included a few relatively common (>100 specimens) morphospecies but the majority were uncommon and 29% were represented by singletons (Supplementary Figure 1), a pattern that is typical for the deep sea (Rex and Etter, 2010;McClain, 2021), including for benthic foraminifera (Douglas and Woodruff, 1981). Species were still being added after 11 samples (Figure 3), and rarefaction curves for individual cores did not reach an asymptote (Supplementary Figure 2), suggesting that the total number of species (>150 µm) was higher.…”

Section: Biodiversity and Assemblage Composition Morphological Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

The Biodiversity and Distribution of Abyssal Benthic Foraminifera and Their Possible Ecological Roles: A Synthesis Across the Clarion-Clipperton Zone

et al. 2021

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Benthic foraminiferal research in the North Pacific has a long history, with works published over a century ago providing important information about the taxonomy and distribution of morphospecies. These studies focused mainly on areas outside the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ). Our knowledge of foraminiferal faunas within the CCZ originates largely from recent baseline investigations related to likely future seabed mining of the polymetallic nodule deposits. These have revealed highly diverse assemblages of sediment-dwelling morphospecies among the meiofauna and macrofauna, as well as megafaunal xenophyophores and nodule-attached fauna. Morphological analyses have been complemented by metabarcoding studies that yielded even higher numbers of molecular species (Operational Taxonomic Units - OTUs). Monothalamids, the vast majority undescribed, constitute a substantial proportion of both morphological and molecular datasets, with multichambered agglutinated and calcareous foraminifera being less common. Their importance in this abyssal (>4,000 m depth) habitat likely reflects food limitation combined with carbonate dissolution close to and below the carbonate compensation depth. Literature records, supported in a few cases by genetic data, suggest that many morphospecies found in the CCZ have wide geographical distributions across the Pacific abyss and in other oceans. At smaller spatial scales (several 100s of kilometers) there is a general uniformity in assemblage composition. Nevertheless, many morphospecies are too rare to conclude anything about their geographical distributions. Similarly, the part played by benthic foraminifera in CCZ ecosystems is largely a matter of speculation, although their abundance across different size classes suggests that it is significant. Meiofauna-sized taxa that consume freshly-deposited organic detritus may be important in carbon cycling, particularly at the shallower, more eutrophic eastern end of the CCZ. Megafaunal xenophyophores can provide habitat structure for other organisms, potentially enhancing benthic biodiversity. Foraminifera of all sizes could be among the earliest recolonisers of disturbed or redeposited sediments. Their potential contributions in terms of both ecology and biodiversity make these protists significant members of benthic communities in the CCZ.

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“…We found a strong relationship between geographic range size and occupancy in that species being found at fewer locations had a more restricted spatial spread and could be thus classified as rare (McClain, 2021 ), compared to “abundant” species containing numerous records in our data set (Figure 4 ). In addition, widespread species could tolerate a wider variation for certain parameters, notably nitrate, phytobiomass, mean temperature, and velocity (Table 3 , Figure 5 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…Local rarity is not necessarily linked to small geographic ranges, but could also be a sampling artifact (McClain, 2021 ). This especially holds true for the deep sea, where many regions are hugely undersampled.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, rarity is a common feature also in better‐known regions and the form of rarity, with species having low frequencies and being limited in their distribution appears to be most widely occurring trait (McClain, 2021 ). By contrast, generalist species using a wide range of resources and habitats are relatively rare, which might also be linked to the energetic cost performing this life style (Gaston & Spicer, 2001 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Niche breadth and biodiversity change derived from marine Amphipoda species off Iceland

Lörz

Oldeland²,

Kaiser

2022

Ecology and Evolution

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Understanding the ecological requirements and thresholds of individual species is crucial to better predict potential outcomes of climate change on species distribution. In particular, species optima and lower and upper limits along resource gradients require attention. Based on Huisman‐Olff‐Fresco (HOF) models, we determined species‐specific responses along gradients of nine environmental parameters including depth in order to estimate niche attributes of 30 deep‐sea benthic amphipods occurring around Iceland. We, furthermore, examined the relationships between niche breadth, occupancy, and geographic range assuming that species with a wider niche are spatially more widely dispersed and vice versa. Overall, our results reveal that species react very differently to environmental gradients, which is independent of the family affiliation of the respective species. We could infer a strong relationship between occupancy and geographic range and also relate this to differences in niche breadth; that is specialist species with a narrow niche had a more limited distribution and may thus be more threatened by changing environmental conditions than generalist species, which are more widespread. Given the preponderance of rare species in the deep sea, this implies that many species could be at risk. However, this must be carefully weighed against geographical data gaps in this area, given that many deep‐sea areas are severely undersampled and the true distribution of most species is unknown. After all, our results underline that an accurate taxonomic classification is of crucial importance, without which ecological niche properties cannot be determined and which is hence fundamental for the assessment and understanding of changes in biodiversity in the face of increasing human perturbations.

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The commonness of rarity in a deep‐sea taxon

Cited by 19 publications

References 127 publications

Biogeography and Connectivity Across Habitat Types and Geographical Scales in Pacific Abyssal Scavenging Amphipods

Biogeography and Connectivity Across Habitat Types and Geographical Scales in Pacific Abyssal Scavenging Amphipods

The Biodiversity and Distribution of Abyssal Benthic Foraminifera and Their Possible Ecological Roles: A Synthesis Across the Clarion-Clipperton Zone

Niche breadth and biodiversity change derived from marine Amphipoda species off Iceland

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