Functional, size and taxonomic diversity of fish along a depth gradient in the deep sea
Biodiversity is well studied in ecology and the concept has been developed to include traits of species, rather than solely taxonomy, to better reflect the functional diversity of a system. The deep sea provides a natural environmental gradient within which to study changes in different diversity me...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:e020100462ca4895af27114dec86b7ee 2024-01-07T09:45:26+01:00 Functional, size and taxonomic diversity of fish along a depth gradient in the deep sea Beth L. Mindel Francis C. Neat Clive N. Trueman Thomas J. Webb Julia L. Blanchard 2016-09-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2387 https://doaj.org/article/e020100462ca4895af27114dec86b7ee EN eng PeerJ Inc. https://peerj.com/articles/2387.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/2387/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.2387 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/e020100462ca4895af27114dec86b7ee PeerJ, Vol 4, p e2387 (2016) Bathymetry Deep scattering layer Environmental gradient Morphometrics Rockall Trough Trait-based approach Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 article 2016 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2387 2023-12-10T01:50:59Z Biodiversity is well studied in ecology and the concept has been developed to include traits of species, rather than solely taxonomy, to better reflect the functional diversity of a system. The deep sea provides a natural environmental gradient within which to study changes in different diversity metrics, but traits of deep-sea fish are not widely known, hampering the application of functional diversity to this globally important system. We used morphological traits to determine the functional richness and functional divergence of demersal fish assemblages along the continental slope in the Northeast Atlantic, at depths of 300–2,000 m. We compared these metrics to size diversity based on individual body size and species richness. Functional richness and size diversity showed similar patterns, with the highest diversity at intermediate depths; functional divergence showed the opposite pattern, with the highest values at the shallowest and deepest parts of the study site. Species richness increased with depth. The functional implications of these patterns were deduced by examining depth-related changes in morphological traits and the dominance of feeding guilds as illustrated by stable isotope analyses. The patterns in diversity and the variation in certain morphological traits can potentially be explained by changes in the relative dominance of pelagic and benthic feeding guilds. All measures of diversity examined here suggest that the deep areas of the continental slope may be equally or more diverse than assemblages just beyond the continental shelf. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northeast Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Rockall Trough ENVELOPE(-15.036,-15.036,53.825,53.825) PeerJ 4 e2387 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Bathymetry Deep scattering layer Environmental gradient Morphometrics Rockall Trough Trait-based approach Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
spellingShingle |
Bathymetry Deep scattering layer Environmental gradient Morphometrics Rockall Trough Trait-based approach Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Beth L. Mindel Francis C. Neat Clive N. Trueman Thomas J. Webb Julia L. Blanchard Functional, size and taxonomic diversity of fish along a depth gradient in the deep sea |
topic_facet |
Bathymetry Deep scattering layer Environmental gradient Morphometrics Rockall Trough Trait-based approach Medicine R Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
description |
Biodiversity is well studied in ecology and the concept has been developed to include traits of species, rather than solely taxonomy, to better reflect the functional diversity of a system. The deep sea provides a natural environmental gradient within which to study changes in different diversity metrics, but traits of deep-sea fish are not widely known, hampering the application of functional diversity to this globally important system. We used morphological traits to determine the functional richness and functional divergence of demersal fish assemblages along the continental slope in the Northeast Atlantic, at depths of 300–2,000 m. We compared these metrics to size diversity based on individual body size and species richness. Functional richness and size diversity showed similar patterns, with the highest diversity at intermediate depths; functional divergence showed the opposite pattern, with the highest values at the shallowest and deepest parts of the study site. Species richness increased with depth. The functional implications of these patterns were deduced by examining depth-related changes in morphological traits and the dominance of feeding guilds as illustrated by stable isotope analyses. The patterns in diversity and the variation in certain morphological traits can potentially be explained by changes in the relative dominance of pelagic and benthic feeding guilds. All measures of diversity examined here suggest that the deep areas of the continental slope may be equally or more diverse than assemblages just beyond the continental shelf. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Beth L. Mindel Francis C. Neat Clive N. Trueman Thomas J. Webb Julia L. Blanchard |
author_facet |
Beth L. Mindel Francis C. Neat Clive N. Trueman Thomas J. Webb Julia L. Blanchard |
author_sort |
Beth L. Mindel |
title |
Functional, size and taxonomic diversity of fish along a depth gradient in the deep sea |
title_short |
Functional, size and taxonomic diversity of fish along a depth gradient in the deep sea |
title_full |
Functional, size and taxonomic diversity of fish along a depth gradient in the deep sea |
title_fullStr |
Functional, size and taxonomic diversity of fish along a depth gradient in the deep sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
Functional, size and taxonomic diversity of fish along a depth gradient in the deep sea |
title_sort |
functional, size and taxonomic diversity of fish along a depth gradient in the deep sea |
publisher |
PeerJ Inc. |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2387 https://doaj.org/article/e020100462ca4895af27114dec86b7ee |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-15.036,-15.036,53.825,53.825) |
geographic |
Rockall Trough |
geographic_facet |
Rockall Trough |
genre |
Northeast Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Northeast Atlantic |
op_source |
PeerJ, Vol 4, p e2387 (2016) |
op_relation |
https://peerj.com/articles/2387.pdf https://peerj.com/articles/2387/ https://doaj.org/toc/2167-8359 doi:10.7717/peerj.2387 2167-8359 https://doaj.org/article/e020100462ca4895af27114dec86b7ee |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2387 |
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PeerJ |
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4 |
container_start_page |
e2387 |
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