Distribution of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems at the South Sandwich Islands: Results From the Blue Belt Discovery Expedition 99 Deep-Water Camera Surveys
The South Sandwich Islands (SSI) are a chain of volcanic islands located to the east of the Scotia Sea, approximately 700 km south-east of South Georgia. To date, knowledge of the SSI benthic environment remains limited. In this context, the Blue Belt Programme conducted a scientific survey in the S...
Published in: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.662285 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.662285/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/fmars.2021.662285 2024-03-31T07:55:15+00:00 Distribution of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems at the South Sandwich Islands: Results From the Blue Belt Discovery Expedition 99 Deep-Water Camera Surveys Downie, Anna-Leena Vieira, Rui P. Hogg, Oliver T. Darby, Chris Government of the United Kingdom 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.662285 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.662285/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Marine Science volume 8 ISSN 2296-7745 Ocean Engineering Water Science and Technology Aquatic Science Global and Planetary Change Oceanography journal-article 2021 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.662285 2024-03-05T00:15:44Z The South Sandwich Islands (SSI) are a chain of volcanic islands located to the east of the Scotia Sea, approximately 700 km south-east of South Georgia. To date, knowledge of the SSI benthic environment remains limited. In this context, the Blue Belt Programme conducted a scientific survey in the SSI Marine Protected Area (MPA) during February/March 2019 to examine the biodiversity and distribution of benthic communities and their potential vulnerability to licensed longline research fisheries. Here we report results from analysis of multibeam echosounder (MBES) data and drop camera imagery data collected in selected locations around the SSI. A total of eight vulnerable marine ecosystem (VME) indicator morphotaxa were mapped along the slopes of the SSI, showing a substantial variation in taxon composition and frequency of occurrence, both along bathymetric and latitudinal gradients. Our results suggest that VME indicator taxa are mostly restricted to waters shallower than 700 m. As such, based on our present understanding of the region’s benthic environment the MPA, as currently established, offers effective protection for the majority of the VME indicator taxa. Article in Journal/Newspaper Scotia Sea South Sandwich Islands Frontiers (Publisher) Scotia Sea Sandwich Islands South Sandwich Islands South Georgia ENVELOPE(-33.000,-33.000,-56.000,-56.000) Frontiers in Marine Science 8 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Frontiers (Publisher) |
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language |
unknown |
topic |
Ocean Engineering Water Science and Technology Aquatic Science Global and Planetary Change Oceanography |
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Ocean Engineering Water Science and Technology Aquatic Science Global and Planetary Change Oceanography Downie, Anna-Leena Vieira, Rui P. Hogg, Oliver T. Darby, Chris Distribution of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems at the South Sandwich Islands: Results From the Blue Belt Discovery Expedition 99 Deep-Water Camera Surveys |
topic_facet |
Ocean Engineering Water Science and Technology Aquatic Science Global and Planetary Change Oceanography |
description |
The South Sandwich Islands (SSI) are a chain of volcanic islands located to the east of the Scotia Sea, approximately 700 km south-east of South Georgia. To date, knowledge of the SSI benthic environment remains limited. In this context, the Blue Belt Programme conducted a scientific survey in the SSI Marine Protected Area (MPA) during February/March 2019 to examine the biodiversity and distribution of benthic communities and their potential vulnerability to licensed longline research fisheries. Here we report results from analysis of multibeam echosounder (MBES) data and drop camera imagery data collected in selected locations around the SSI. A total of eight vulnerable marine ecosystem (VME) indicator morphotaxa were mapped along the slopes of the SSI, showing a substantial variation in taxon composition and frequency of occurrence, both along bathymetric and latitudinal gradients. Our results suggest that VME indicator taxa are mostly restricted to waters shallower than 700 m. As such, based on our present understanding of the region’s benthic environment the MPA, as currently established, offers effective protection for the majority of the VME indicator taxa. |
author2 |
Government of the United Kingdom |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Downie, Anna-Leena Vieira, Rui P. Hogg, Oliver T. Darby, Chris |
author_facet |
Downie, Anna-Leena Vieira, Rui P. Hogg, Oliver T. Darby, Chris |
author_sort |
Downie, Anna-Leena |
title |
Distribution of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems at the South Sandwich Islands: Results From the Blue Belt Discovery Expedition 99 Deep-Water Camera Surveys |
title_short |
Distribution of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems at the South Sandwich Islands: Results From the Blue Belt Discovery Expedition 99 Deep-Water Camera Surveys |
title_full |
Distribution of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems at the South Sandwich Islands: Results From the Blue Belt Discovery Expedition 99 Deep-Water Camera Surveys |
title_fullStr |
Distribution of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems at the South Sandwich Islands: Results From the Blue Belt Discovery Expedition 99 Deep-Water Camera Surveys |
title_full_unstemmed |
Distribution of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems at the South Sandwich Islands: Results From the Blue Belt Discovery Expedition 99 Deep-Water Camera Surveys |
title_sort |
distribution of vulnerable marine ecosystems at the south sandwich islands: results from the blue belt discovery expedition 99 deep-water camera surveys |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.662285 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.662285/full |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-33.000,-33.000,-56.000,-56.000) |
geographic |
Scotia Sea Sandwich Islands South Sandwich Islands South Georgia |
geographic_facet |
Scotia Sea Sandwich Islands South Sandwich Islands South Georgia |
genre |
Scotia Sea South Sandwich Islands |
genre_facet |
Scotia Sea South Sandwich Islands |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science volume 8 ISSN 2296-7745 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.662285 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
8 |
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1795036883740262400 |