Heterogeneity on the abyssal plains: A case study in the Bering Sea
The abyssal plains are vast areas without large scale relief that occupy much of the ocean floor. Although long considered relatively featureless, they are now known to display substantial biological heterogeneity across different spatial scales. Ecological research in these regions benefits increas...
Published in: | Frontiers in Marine Science |
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2023
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1037482 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.1037482/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/fmars.2022.1037482 2024-03-31T07:52:00+00:00 Heterogeneity on the abyssal plains: A case study in the Bering Sea Sigwart, Julia D. Brandt, Angelika Di Franco, Davide Briones, Elva Escobar Gerken, Sarah Gooday, Andrew J. Grimes, Candace J. Głuchowska, Kamila Hoffmann, Sven Jażdżewska, Anna Maria Kamyab, Elham Kelch, Andreas Knauber, Henry Kohlenbach, Katharina Miguez-Salas, Olmo Moreau, Camille Ogawa, Akito Poliseno, Angelo Santín Muriel, Andreu Tandberg, Anne Helene S. Theising, Franziska I. Walter, Thomas Wölfl, Anne-Cathrin Chen, Chong Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung National Science Foundation University of the Ryukyus 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1037482 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.1037482/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Marine Science volume 9 ISSN 2296-7745 Ocean Engineering Water Science and Technology Aquatic Science Global and Planetary Change Oceanography journal-article 2023 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1037482 2024-03-05T00:12:56Z The abyssal plains are vast areas without large scale relief that occupy much of the ocean floor. Although long considered relatively featureless, they are now known to display substantial biological heterogeneity across different spatial scales. Ecological research in these regions benefits increasingly from non-destructive visual sampling of epifaunal organisms with imaging technology. We analysed images from ultra-high-definition towed camera transects at depths of around 3500 m across three stations (100–130 km apart) in the Bering Sea, to ask whether the density and distribution of visible epifauna indicated any substantial heterogeneity. We identified 71 different megafaunal taxa, of which 24 occurred at only one station. Measurements of the two most abundant faunal elements, the holothurian Elpidia minutissima and two xenophyophores morphotypes (the more common identifiable as Syringammina limosa ), indicated significant differences in local densities and patchy aggregations that were strikingly dissimilar among stations. One station was dominated by xenophyophores, one was relatively depauperate in both target taxa as well as other identified megafauna, and the third station was dominated by Elpidia . This is an unexpected level of variation within comparable transects in a well-mixed oceanic basin, reinforcing the emerging view that abyssal habitats encompass biological heterogeneity at similar spatial scales to terrestrial continental realms. Article in Journal/Newspaper Bering Sea Frontiers (Publisher) Bering Sea Frontiers in Marine Science 9 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Frontiers (Publisher) |
op_collection_id |
crfrontiers |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Ocean Engineering Water Science and Technology Aquatic Science Global and Planetary Change Oceanography |
spellingShingle |
Ocean Engineering Water Science and Technology Aquatic Science Global and Planetary Change Oceanography Sigwart, Julia D. Brandt, Angelika Di Franco, Davide Briones, Elva Escobar Gerken, Sarah Gooday, Andrew J. Grimes, Candace J. Głuchowska, Kamila Hoffmann, Sven Jażdżewska, Anna Maria Kamyab, Elham Kelch, Andreas Knauber, Henry Kohlenbach, Katharina Miguez-Salas, Olmo Moreau, Camille Ogawa, Akito Poliseno, Angelo Santín Muriel, Andreu Tandberg, Anne Helene S. Theising, Franziska I. Walter, Thomas Wölfl, Anne-Cathrin Chen, Chong Heterogeneity on the abyssal plains: A case study in the Bering Sea |
topic_facet |
Ocean Engineering Water Science and Technology Aquatic Science Global and Planetary Change Oceanography |
description |
The abyssal plains are vast areas without large scale relief that occupy much of the ocean floor. Although long considered relatively featureless, they are now known to display substantial biological heterogeneity across different spatial scales. Ecological research in these regions benefits increasingly from non-destructive visual sampling of epifaunal organisms with imaging technology. We analysed images from ultra-high-definition towed camera transects at depths of around 3500 m across three stations (100–130 km apart) in the Bering Sea, to ask whether the density and distribution of visible epifauna indicated any substantial heterogeneity. We identified 71 different megafaunal taxa, of which 24 occurred at only one station. Measurements of the two most abundant faunal elements, the holothurian Elpidia minutissima and two xenophyophores morphotypes (the more common identifiable as Syringammina limosa ), indicated significant differences in local densities and patchy aggregations that were strikingly dissimilar among stations. One station was dominated by xenophyophores, one was relatively depauperate in both target taxa as well as other identified megafauna, and the third station was dominated by Elpidia . This is an unexpected level of variation within comparable transects in a well-mixed oceanic basin, reinforcing the emerging view that abyssal habitats encompass biological heterogeneity at similar spatial scales to terrestrial continental realms. |
author2 |
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung National Science Foundation University of the Ryukyus |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sigwart, Julia D. Brandt, Angelika Di Franco, Davide Briones, Elva Escobar Gerken, Sarah Gooday, Andrew J. Grimes, Candace J. Głuchowska, Kamila Hoffmann, Sven Jażdżewska, Anna Maria Kamyab, Elham Kelch, Andreas Knauber, Henry Kohlenbach, Katharina Miguez-Salas, Olmo Moreau, Camille Ogawa, Akito Poliseno, Angelo Santín Muriel, Andreu Tandberg, Anne Helene S. Theising, Franziska I. Walter, Thomas Wölfl, Anne-Cathrin Chen, Chong |
author_facet |
Sigwart, Julia D. Brandt, Angelika Di Franco, Davide Briones, Elva Escobar Gerken, Sarah Gooday, Andrew J. Grimes, Candace J. Głuchowska, Kamila Hoffmann, Sven Jażdżewska, Anna Maria Kamyab, Elham Kelch, Andreas Knauber, Henry Kohlenbach, Katharina Miguez-Salas, Olmo Moreau, Camille Ogawa, Akito Poliseno, Angelo Santín Muriel, Andreu Tandberg, Anne Helene S. Theising, Franziska I. Walter, Thomas Wölfl, Anne-Cathrin Chen, Chong |
author_sort |
Sigwart, Julia D. |
title |
Heterogeneity on the abyssal plains: A case study in the Bering Sea |
title_short |
Heterogeneity on the abyssal plains: A case study in the Bering Sea |
title_full |
Heterogeneity on the abyssal plains: A case study in the Bering Sea |
title_fullStr |
Heterogeneity on the abyssal plains: A case study in the Bering Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Heterogeneity on the abyssal plains: A case study in the Bering Sea |
title_sort |
heterogeneity on the abyssal plains: a case study in the bering sea |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1037482 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2022.1037482/full |
geographic |
Bering Sea |
geographic_facet |
Bering Sea |
genre |
Bering Sea |
genre_facet |
Bering Sea |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science volume 9 ISSN 2296-7745 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.1037482 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
9 |
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1795030926853406720 |