Habitat variability and faunal zonation at the Ægir Ridge, a canyon-like structure in the deep Norwegian Sea
The Ægir Ridge System (ARS) is an ancient extinct spreading axis in the Nordic seas extending from the upper slope east of Iceland (∼550 m depth), as part of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), to a depth of ∼3,800 m in the Norwegian basin. Geomorphologically a rift valley, the ARS has a canyon-like...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:527bb97bbaad4dff80c6de717d384c94 2023-10-01T03:53:59+02:00 Habitat variability and faunal zonation at the Ægir Ridge, a canyon-like structure in the deep Norwegian Sea Saskia Brix Stefanie Kaiser Anne-Nina Lörz Morgane Le Saout Mia Schumacher Frederic Bonk Hronn Egilsdottir Steinunn Hilma Olafsdottir Anne Helene S. Tandberg James Taylor Simon Tewes Joana R. Xavier Katrin Linse 2022-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13394 https://doaj.org/article/527bb97bbaad4dff80c6de717d384c94 EN eng PeerJ Inc. https://peerj.com/articles/13394.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/13394/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.13394 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/527bb97bbaad4dff80c6de717d384c94 PeerJ, Vol 10, p e13394 (2022) Iceland Deep sea Marine invertebrates Arctic circle EBSA VME Medicine R article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13394 2023-09-03T00:42:16Z The Ægir Ridge System (ARS) is an ancient extinct spreading axis in the Nordic seas extending from the upper slope east of Iceland (∼550 m depth), as part of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), to a depth of ∼3,800 m in the Norwegian basin. Geomorphologically a rift valley, the ARS has a canyon-like structure that may promote increased diversity and faunal density. The main objective of this study was to characterize benthic habitats and related macro- and megabenthic communities along the ARS, and the influence of water mass variables and depth on them. During the IceAGE3 expedition (Icelandic marine Animals: Genetics and Ecology) on RV Sonne in June 2020, benthic communities of the ARS were surveyed by means of a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) and epibenthic sledge (EBS). For this purpose, two working areas were selected, including abyssal stations in the northeast and bathyal stations in the southwest of the ARS. Video and still images of the seabed were usedtoqualitatively describebenthic habitats based on the presence of habitat-forming taxa and the physical environment. Patterns of diversity and community composition of the soft-sediment macrofauna, retrieved from the EBS, were analyzed in a semiquantitative manner. These biological data were complemented by producing high-resolution bathymetric maps using the vessel’s multi-beam echosounder system. As suspected, we were able to identify differences in species composition and number of macro- and megafaunal communities associated with a depth gradient. A biological canyon effect became evident in dense aggregates of megafaunal filter feeders and elevated macrofaunal densities. Analysis of videos and still images from the ROV transects also led to the discovery of a number ofVulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) dominated by sponges and soft corals characteristic of the Arctic region. Directions for future research encompass a more detailed, quantitative study of the megafauna and more coherent sampling over the entire depth range in order to fully capture ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Iceland Nordic Seas Norwegian Sea Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Norwegian Sea PeerJ 10 e13394 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Iceland Deep sea Marine invertebrates Arctic circle EBSA VME Medicine R |
spellingShingle |
Iceland Deep sea Marine invertebrates Arctic circle EBSA VME Medicine R Saskia Brix Stefanie Kaiser Anne-Nina Lörz Morgane Le Saout Mia Schumacher Frederic Bonk Hronn Egilsdottir Steinunn Hilma Olafsdottir Anne Helene S. Tandberg James Taylor Simon Tewes Joana R. Xavier Katrin Linse Habitat variability and faunal zonation at the Ægir Ridge, a canyon-like structure in the deep Norwegian Sea |
topic_facet |
Iceland Deep sea Marine invertebrates Arctic circle EBSA VME Medicine R |
description |
The Ægir Ridge System (ARS) is an ancient extinct spreading axis in the Nordic seas extending from the upper slope east of Iceland (∼550 m depth), as part of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), to a depth of ∼3,800 m in the Norwegian basin. Geomorphologically a rift valley, the ARS has a canyon-like structure that may promote increased diversity and faunal density. The main objective of this study was to characterize benthic habitats and related macro- and megabenthic communities along the ARS, and the influence of water mass variables and depth on them. During the IceAGE3 expedition (Icelandic marine Animals: Genetics and Ecology) on RV Sonne in June 2020, benthic communities of the ARS were surveyed by means of a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) and epibenthic sledge (EBS). For this purpose, two working areas were selected, including abyssal stations in the northeast and bathyal stations in the southwest of the ARS. Video and still images of the seabed were usedtoqualitatively describebenthic habitats based on the presence of habitat-forming taxa and the physical environment. Patterns of diversity and community composition of the soft-sediment macrofauna, retrieved from the EBS, were analyzed in a semiquantitative manner. These biological data were complemented by producing high-resolution bathymetric maps using the vessel’s multi-beam echosounder system. As suspected, we were able to identify differences in species composition and number of macro- and megafaunal communities associated with a depth gradient. A biological canyon effect became evident in dense aggregates of megafaunal filter feeders and elevated macrofaunal densities. Analysis of videos and still images from the ROV transects also led to the discovery of a number ofVulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs) dominated by sponges and soft corals characteristic of the Arctic region. Directions for future research encompass a more detailed, quantitative study of the megafauna and more coherent sampling over the entire depth range in order to fully capture ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Saskia Brix Stefanie Kaiser Anne-Nina Lörz Morgane Le Saout Mia Schumacher Frederic Bonk Hronn Egilsdottir Steinunn Hilma Olafsdottir Anne Helene S. Tandberg James Taylor Simon Tewes Joana R. Xavier Katrin Linse |
author_facet |
Saskia Brix Stefanie Kaiser Anne-Nina Lörz Morgane Le Saout Mia Schumacher Frederic Bonk Hronn Egilsdottir Steinunn Hilma Olafsdottir Anne Helene S. Tandberg James Taylor Simon Tewes Joana R. Xavier Katrin Linse |
author_sort |
Saskia Brix |
title |
Habitat variability and faunal zonation at the Ægir Ridge, a canyon-like structure in the deep Norwegian Sea |
title_short |
Habitat variability and faunal zonation at the Ægir Ridge, a canyon-like structure in the deep Norwegian Sea |
title_full |
Habitat variability and faunal zonation at the Ægir Ridge, a canyon-like structure in the deep Norwegian Sea |
title_fullStr |
Habitat variability and faunal zonation at the Ægir Ridge, a canyon-like structure in the deep Norwegian Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Habitat variability and faunal zonation at the Ægir Ridge, a canyon-like structure in the deep Norwegian Sea |
title_sort |
habitat variability and faunal zonation at the ægir ridge, a canyon-like structure in the deep norwegian sea |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13394 https://doaj.org/article/527bb97bbaad4dff80c6de717d384c94 |
geographic |
Arctic Norwegian Sea |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Norwegian Sea |
genre |
Arctic Iceland Nordic Seas Norwegian Sea |
genre_facet |
Arctic Iceland Nordic Seas Norwegian Sea |
op_source |
PeerJ, Vol 10, p e13394 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://peerj.com/articles/13394.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/13394/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.13394 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/527bb97bbaad4dff80c6de717d384c94 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13394 |
container_title |
PeerJ |
container_volume |
10 |
container_start_page |
e13394 |
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1778521091295150080 |