Submarine canyons as coral and sponge habitat on the eastern Bering Sea slope
Submarine canyons have been shown to positively influence pelagic and benthic biodiversity and ecosystem function. In the eastern Bering Sea, several immense canyons lie under the highly productive “green belt” along the continental slope. Two of these, Pribilof and Zhemchug canyons, are the focus o...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:1d4188196fac4455844bd8bfb903a0a7 2023-05-15T15:43:25+02:00 Submarine canyons as coral and sponge habitat on the eastern Bering Sea slope Robert J. Miller Claudette Juska John Hocevar 2015-07-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2015.05.009 https://doaj.org/article/1d4188196fac4455844bd8bfb903a0a7 EN eng Elsevier http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989415000633 https://doaj.org/toc/2351-9894 2351-9894 doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2015.05.009 https://doaj.org/article/1d4188196fac4455844bd8bfb903a0a7 Global Ecology and Conservation, Vol 4, Iss C, Pp 85-94 (2015) Marine benthos Foundation species Sessile invertebrates Bottom trawling Maxent Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2015 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2015.05.009 2022-12-31T15:57:11Z Submarine canyons have been shown to positively influence pelagic and benthic biodiversity and ecosystem function. In the eastern Bering Sea, several immense canyons lie under the highly productive “green belt” along the continental slope. Two of these, Pribilof and Zhemchug canyons, are the focus of current conservation interest. We used a maximum entropy modeling approach to evaluate the importance of these two canyons, as well as canyons in general, as habitat for gorgonian (alcyonacean) corals, pennatulacean corals, and sponges, in an area comprising most of the eastern Bering Sea slope and outer shelf. These invertebrates create physical structure that is a preferred habitat for many mobile species, including commercially important fish and invertebrates. We show that Pribilof canyon is a hotspot of structure-forming invertebrate habitat, containing over 50% of estimated high-quality gorgonian habitat and 45% of sponge habitat, despite making up only 1.7% of the total study area. The amount of quality habitat for gorgonians and sponges varied in other canyons, but canyons overall contained more high-quality habitat for structure-forming invertebrates compared to other slope areas. Bottom trawling effort was not well correlated with habitat quality for structure-forming invertebrates, and bottom-contact fishing effort in general, including longlining and trawling, was not particularly concentrated in the canyons examined. These results suggest that if conserving gorgonian coral habitat is a management goal, canyons, particularly Pribilof Canyon, may be a prime location to do this without excessive impact on fisheries. Article in Journal/Newspaper Bering Sea Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Bering Sea Pribilof Canyon ENVELOPE(-170.000,-170.000,55.583,55.583) Global Ecology and Conservation 4 85 94 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Marine benthos Foundation species Sessile invertebrates Bottom trawling Maxent Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
Marine benthos Foundation species Sessile invertebrates Bottom trawling Maxent Ecology QH540-549.5 Robert J. Miller Claudette Juska John Hocevar Submarine canyons as coral and sponge habitat on the eastern Bering Sea slope |
topic_facet |
Marine benthos Foundation species Sessile invertebrates Bottom trawling Maxent Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
Submarine canyons have been shown to positively influence pelagic and benthic biodiversity and ecosystem function. In the eastern Bering Sea, several immense canyons lie under the highly productive “green belt” along the continental slope. Two of these, Pribilof and Zhemchug canyons, are the focus of current conservation interest. We used a maximum entropy modeling approach to evaluate the importance of these two canyons, as well as canyons in general, as habitat for gorgonian (alcyonacean) corals, pennatulacean corals, and sponges, in an area comprising most of the eastern Bering Sea slope and outer shelf. These invertebrates create physical structure that is a preferred habitat for many mobile species, including commercially important fish and invertebrates. We show that Pribilof canyon is a hotspot of structure-forming invertebrate habitat, containing over 50% of estimated high-quality gorgonian habitat and 45% of sponge habitat, despite making up only 1.7% of the total study area. The amount of quality habitat for gorgonians and sponges varied in other canyons, but canyons overall contained more high-quality habitat for structure-forming invertebrates compared to other slope areas. Bottom trawling effort was not well correlated with habitat quality for structure-forming invertebrates, and bottom-contact fishing effort in general, including longlining and trawling, was not particularly concentrated in the canyons examined. These results suggest that if conserving gorgonian coral habitat is a management goal, canyons, particularly Pribilof Canyon, may be a prime location to do this without excessive impact on fisheries. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Robert J. Miller Claudette Juska John Hocevar |
author_facet |
Robert J. Miller Claudette Juska John Hocevar |
author_sort |
Robert J. Miller |
title |
Submarine canyons as coral and sponge habitat on the eastern Bering Sea slope |
title_short |
Submarine canyons as coral and sponge habitat on the eastern Bering Sea slope |
title_full |
Submarine canyons as coral and sponge habitat on the eastern Bering Sea slope |
title_fullStr |
Submarine canyons as coral and sponge habitat on the eastern Bering Sea slope |
title_full_unstemmed |
Submarine canyons as coral and sponge habitat on the eastern Bering Sea slope |
title_sort |
submarine canyons as coral and sponge habitat on the eastern bering sea slope |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2015.05.009 https://doaj.org/article/1d4188196fac4455844bd8bfb903a0a7 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-170.000,-170.000,55.583,55.583) |
geographic |
Bering Sea Pribilof Canyon |
geographic_facet |
Bering Sea Pribilof Canyon |
genre |
Bering Sea |
genre_facet |
Bering Sea |
op_source |
Global Ecology and Conservation, Vol 4, Iss C, Pp 85-94 (2015) |
op_relation |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989415000633 https://doaj.org/toc/2351-9894 2351-9894 doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2015.05.009 https://doaj.org/article/1d4188196fac4455844bd8bfb903a0a7 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2015.05.009 |
container_title |
Global Ecology and Conservation |
container_volume |
4 |
container_start_page |
85 |
op_container_end_page |
94 |
_version_ |
1766377544444018688 |