Mapping benthic ecological diversity and interactions with bottom-contact fishing on the Flemish Cap (northwest Atlantic)
The ecological diversity of benthic invertebrates from bottom trawl surveys was mapped for the Flemish Cap, a plateau of ~200 km radius in the northwest Atlantic. Species density (SpD), the exponential Shannon diversity index (eH′) and Heip’s index of evenness (') were measured at different spa...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10508/14675 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106135 |
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ftieo:oai:repositorio.ieo.es:10508/14675 2023-06-11T04:15:24+02:00 Mapping benthic ecological diversity and interactions with bottom-contact fishing on the Flemish Cap (northwest Atlantic) Murillo, F.J. (Francisco Javier) Kenchington, E. (Ellen) Koen-Alonso, M. (Mariano) Guijarro, J. Kenchington, T.J. Sacau-Cuadrado, M.M. (María del Mar) Beazley, Lindsay Rapp, H.T. (Hans Tore) 2020 http://hdl.handle.net/10508/14675 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106135 eng eng Elsevier BV Centro Oceanográfico de Vigo 1470-160X http://hdl.handle.net/10508/14675 doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106135 Atribución 3.0 España http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ open access Benthic invertebrates Biodiversity Fishing impact Flemish Cap Deep-sea Vulnerable marine ecosystems research article 2020 ftieo https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106135 2023-05-02T23:49:27Z The ecological diversity of benthic invertebrates from bottom trawl surveys was mapped for the Flemish Cap, a plateau of ~200 km radius in the northwest Atlantic. Species density (SpD), the exponential Shannon diversity index (eH′) and Heip’s index of evenness (') were measured at different spatial scales. Continuous surfaces of each were created to 2000 m depth using predictive distribution models based on random forest (RF) algorithms. When fishing effort was included as an independent variable in the RF models, it was the most important predictor of sample SpD but unimportant in predicting eH′ and only a minor predictor of '. In the absence of a historical baseline, we used a novel approach to evaluate spatial impacts of fishing on diversity by simulating and comparing spatial SpD prediction surfaces using response data associated with different levels of fishing effort. Although it is not possible to fully evaluate the precise nature of the impact of fishing on the ecological diversity, our models have identified Sackville Spur, Flemish Pass and south of Flemish Cap as the areas of greatest impact. Combining minimum bottom salinity, annual primary production range, fishing effort and biomass of sponges and small gorgonian corals, resulted in the best performing generalized additive model, explaining 73% of the total variance in SpD. Although current closures to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems from the adverse impacts of bottom fishing activities protect an important part of the ecological diversity associated with the deeper communities, unique and representative habitats on top of the Cap remain unprotected. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northwest Atlantic Instituto Español de Oceanografía: e-IEO Ecological Indicators 112 106135 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Instituto Español de Oceanografía: e-IEO |
op_collection_id |
ftieo |
language |
English |
topic |
Benthic invertebrates Biodiversity Fishing impact Flemish Cap Deep-sea Vulnerable marine ecosystems |
spellingShingle |
Benthic invertebrates Biodiversity Fishing impact Flemish Cap Deep-sea Vulnerable marine ecosystems Murillo, F.J. (Francisco Javier) Kenchington, E. (Ellen) Koen-Alonso, M. (Mariano) Guijarro, J. Kenchington, T.J. Sacau-Cuadrado, M.M. (María del Mar) Beazley, Lindsay Rapp, H.T. (Hans Tore) Mapping benthic ecological diversity and interactions with bottom-contact fishing on the Flemish Cap (northwest Atlantic) |
topic_facet |
Benthic invertebrates Biodiversity Fishing impact Flemish Cap Deep-sea Vulnerable marine ecosystems |
description |
The ecological diversity of benthic invertebrates from bottom trawl surveys was mapped for the Flemish Cap, a plateau of ~200 km radius in the northwest Atlantic. Species density (SpD), the exponential Shannon diversity index (eH′) and Heip’s index of evenness (') were measured at different spatial scales. Continuous surfaces of each were created to 2000 m depth using predictive distribution models based on random forest (RF) algorithms. When fishing effort was included as an independent variable in the RF models, it was the most important predictor of sample SpD but unimportant in predicting eH′ and only a minor predictor of '. In the absence of a historical baseline, we used a novel approach to evaluate spatial impacts of fishing on diversity by simulating and comparing spatial SpD prediction surfaces using response data associated with different levels of fishing effort. Although it is not possible to fully evaluate the precise nature of the impact of fishing on the ecological diversity, our models have identified Sackville Spur, Flemish Pass and south of Flemish Cap as the areas of greatest impact. Combining minimum bottom salinity, annual primary production range, fishing effort and biomass of sponges and small gorgonian corals, resulted in the best performing generalized additive model, explaining 73% of the total variance in SpD. Although current closures to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems from the adverse impacts of bottom fishing activities protect an important part of the ecological diversity associated with the deeper communities, unique and representative habitats on top of the Cap remain unprotected. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Murillo, F.J. (Francisco Javier) Kenchington, E. (Ellen) Koen-Alonso, M. (Mariano) Guijarro, J. Kenchington, T.J. Sacau-Cuadrado, M.M. (María del Mar) Beazley, Lindsay Rapp, H.T. (Hans Tore) |
author_facet |
Murillo, F.J. (Francisco Javier) Kenchington, E. (Ellen) Koen-Alonso, M. (Mariano) Guijarro, J. Kenchington, T.J. Sacau-Cuadrado, M.M. (María del Mar) Beazley, Lindsay Rapp, H.T. (Hans Tore) |
author_sort |
Murillo, F.J. (Francisco Javier) |
title |
Mapping benthic ecological diversity and interactions with bottom-contact fishing on the Flemish Cap (northwest Atlantic) |
title_short |
Mapping benthic ecological diversity and interactions with bottom-contact fishing on the Flemish Cap (northwest Atlantic) |
title_full |
Mapping benthic ecological diversity and interactions with bottom-contact fishing on the Flemish Cap (northwest Atlantic) |
title_fullStr |
Mapping benthic ecological diversity and interactions with bottom-contact fishing on the Flemish Cap (northwest Atlantic) |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mapping benthic ecological diversity and interactions with bottom-contact fishing on the Flemish Cap (northwest Atlantic) |
title_sort |
mapping benthic ecological diversity and interactions with bottom-contact fishing on the flemish cap (northwest atlantic) |
publisher |
Elsevier BV |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10508/14675 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106135 |
genre |
Northwest Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Northwest Atlantic |
op_relation |
1470-160X http://hdl.handle.net/10508/14675 doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106135 |
op_rights |
Atribución 3.0 España http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ open access |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106135 |
container_title |
Ecological Indicators |
container_volume |
112 |
container_start_page |
106135 |
_version_ |
1768372202199056384 |