Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T03:41:36.021Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Biogeographical patterns among deep sea megabenthic communities across the Drake Passage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 July 2017

Steven R. Auscavitch  and
Rhian G. Waller
Steven R. Auscavitch*
Affiliation:
Darling Marine Center, University of Maine, Walpole, ME 04573, USA
Rhian G. Waller
Affiliation:
Darling Marine Center, University of Maine, Walpole, ME 04573, USA
*
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Biogeographical patterns among deep sea benthic communities in the Drake Passage remain poorly understood as a consequence of poor sampling resolution and the spatial remoteness of many sea floor features. Hard-bottom features, including at least 20 seamounts, remain uncharacterized with respect to their benthic megafaunal community assemblages. Here, we present community assemblage patterns from several locations across the Drake Passage to better understand the faunal relationships between deep sea floor communities in the region. Towed camera surveys were conducted on nine topographical features ranging from shelf environments on the southern Chilean Margin, the western Antarctic Peninsula shelf and seamounts in the central Drake Passage. These are the first quantitative measurements of megafaunal abundance at two seamount complexes in the central Drake Passage and multivariate analyses are used to examine the factors influencing species distributions. Three biogeographical groupings were identified based on species assemblages and environmental variables specific to major water mass boundaries in the region: sub-Antarctic Mode Water (318–523 m), Antarctic Intermediate Water (504–1128 m) and Circumpolar Deep Water (1837–3034 m). Further examination of megafaunal associations between sea floor structures may provide clues as to how sub-Antarctic communities are connected throughout the greater Southern Ocean.

Keywords

biogeographycold-water coralsseamountsSouthern Oceansponges
Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 29 , Issue 6 , December 2017 , pp. 531 - 543
Check for updates
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allcock, A.L. & Strugnell, J.M. 2012. Southern Ocean diversity: new paradigms from molecular ecology. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 10.1016/j.tree.2012.05.009.Google Scholar
Arntz, W.E. 2006. Bouvet Island: a stepping stone in the Southern Ocean? Polar Biology, 29, 81–82.Google Scholar
Barnes, D.K.A., Griffiths, H.J. & Kaiser, S. 2009. Geographic range shift responses to climate change by Antarctic benthos: where we should look. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 10.3354/meps08246.Google Scholar
Beu, A.G., Griffin, M. & Maxwell, P.A. 1997. Opening of Drake Passage gateway and late Miocene to Pleistocene cooling reflected in Southern Ocean molluscan dispersal: evidence from New Zealand and Argentina. Tectonophysics, 281, 83–97.Google Scholar
Bowden, D.A., Schiaparelli, S., Clark, M.R. & Rickard, G.J. 2011. A lost world? Archaic crinoid-dominated assemblages on an Antarctic seamount. Deep-Sea Research II - Topical Studies in Oceanography, 10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.09.006.Google Scholar
Brandt, A. 2005. Evolution of Antarctic biodiversity in the context of the past: the importance of the Southern Ocean deep sea. Antarctic Science, 10.1017/S0954102005002932.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandt, A., Gooday, A.J., Brandao, S.N., Brix, S., Brokeland, W., Cedhagen, T., Choudhury, M., Cornelius, N., Danis, B., De Mesel, I., Diaz, R.J., Gillan, D.C., Ebbe, B., Howe, J.A., Janussen, D., Kaiser, S., Linse, K., Malyutina, M., Pawlowski, J., Raupach, M. & Vanreusel, A. 2007. First insights into the biodiversity and biogeography of the Southern Ocean deep sea. Nature, 10.1038/nature05827.Google Scholar
Buhl‐Mortensen, L., Vanreusel, A., Gooday, A.J., Levin, L.A., Priede, I.G., Buhl‐Mortensen, P., Gheerardyn, H., King, N.J. & Raes, M. 2010. Biological structures as a source of habitat heterogeneity and biodiversity on the deep ocean margins. Marine Ecology - An Evolutionary Perspective, 31, 21–50.Google Scholar
Clarke, A. & Crame, J.A. 2010. Evolutionary dynamics at high latitudes: speciation and extinction in polar marine faunas. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society - Biological Sciences, 10.1098/rstb.2010.0270.Google Scholar
Clarke, A., Griffiths, H.J., Barnes, D.K.A., Meredith, M.P. & Grant, S.M. 2009. Spatial variation in seabed temperatures in the Southern Ocean: implications for benthic ecology and biogeography. Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences, 10.1029/2008jg000886.Google Scholar
Clarke, K. & Gorley, R. 2006. User manual/tutorial. Plymouth: PRIMER-E.Google Scholar
De Broyer, C., Danis, B. & Allcock, L. & 61 others . 2011. How many species in the Southern Ocean? Towards a dynamic inventory of the Antarctic marine species. Deep-Sea Research II - Topical Studies in Oceanography, 58, 5–17.Google Scholar
Downey, R.V., Griffiths, H.J., Linse, K. & Janussen, D. 2012. Diversity and distribution patterns in high southern latitude sponges. PLoS One, 10.1371/journal.pone.0041672.Google Scholar
Ekman, S.P. 1953. Zoogeography of the sea. London: Sidgwick and Jackson, 417 pp.Google Scholar
El-Sayed, S. & Weber, L. 1982. Spatial and temporal variations in phytoplankton biomass and primary productivity in the south-west Atlantic and the Scotia Sea. Polar Biology, 1, 83–90.Google Scholar
Figuerola, B., Gordon, D.P., Polonio, V., Cristobo, J. & Avila, C. 2014. Cheilostome bryozoan diversity from the south-west Atlantic region: is Antarctica really isolated? Journal of Sea Research, 85, 1–17.Google Scholar
Grange, L.J. & Smith, C.R. 2013. Megafaunal communities in rapidly warming fjords along the west Antarctic Peninsula: hotspots of abundance and beta diversity. PLoS One, 10.1371/journal.pone.0077917.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Griffiths, H.J. 2010. Antarctic marine biodiversity – what do we know about the distribution of life in the Southern Ocean? PLoS One, 10.1371/journal.pone.0011683.Google Scholar
Griffiths, H.J., Barnes, D.K.A. & Linse, K. 2009. Towards a generalized biogeography of the Southern Ocean benthos. Journal of Biogeography, 10.1111/j.1365-2699.2008.01979.x.Google Scholar
Gutt, J., Fricke, A., Teixidó, N., Potthoff, M. & Arntz, W.E. 2006. Mega-epibenthos at Bouvet Island (south Atlantic): a spatially isolated biodiversity hot spot on a tiny geological spot. Polar Biology, 29, 97–105.Google Scholar
Häussermann, V. & Försterra, G. 2007. Extraordinary abundance of hydrocorals (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa, Stylasteridae) in shallow water of the Patagonian fjord region. Polar Biology, 10.1007/s00300-006-0207-5.Google Scholar
Hunter, R.L. & Halanych, K.M. 2008. Evaluating connectivity in the brooding brittle star Astrotoma agassizii across the Drake Passage in the Southern Ocean. Journal of Heredity, 10.1093/jhered/esm119.Google Scholar
Kaiser, S., Griffiths, H.J., Barnes, D.K.A., Brandão, S.N., Brandt, A. & O’Brien, P.E. 2011. Is there a distinct continental slope fauna in the Antarctic? Deep-Sea Research II - Topical Studies in Oceanography, 10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.05.017.Google Scholar
Kaiser, S., Brandão, S.N., Brix, S., Barnes, D.K.A., Bowden, D.A., Ingels, J., Leese, F., Schiaparelli, S., Arango, C.P., Badhe, R., Bax, N., Blazewicz-Paszkowycz, M., Brandt, A., Brenke, N., Catarino, A.I., David, B., De Ridder, C., Dubois, P., Ellingsen, K.E., Glover, A.G., Griffiths, H.J., Gutt, J., Halanych, K.M., Havermans, C., Held, C., Janussen, D., Lörz, A.-N., Pearce, D.A., Pierrat, B., Riehl, T., Rose, A., Sands, C.J., Soler-Membrives, A., Schüller, M., Strugnell, J.M., Vanreusel, A., Veit-Köhler, G., Wilson, N.G. & Yasuhara, M. 2013. Patterns, processes and vulnerability of Southern Ocean benthos: a decadal leap in knowledge and understanding. Marine Biology, 10.1007/s00227-013-2232-6.Google Scholar
Margolin, A.R., Robinson, L.F., Burke, A., Waller, R.G., Scanlon, K.M., Roberts, M.L., Auro, M.E. & van de Flierdt, T. 2014. Temporal and spatial distributions of cold-water corals in the Drake Passage: insights from the last 35,000 years. Deep-Sea Research II - Topical Studies in Oceanography, 10.1016/j.dsr2.2013.06.008.Google Scholar
O’Loughlin, P.M., Paulay, G., Davey, N. & Michonneau, F 2011. The Antarctic region as a marine biodiversity hotspot for echinoderms: diversity and diversification of sea cucumbers. Deep-Sea Research II - Topical Studies in Oceanography, 10.1016/j.dsr2.2010.10.011.Google Scholar
Orsi, A.H, Whitworth III, T. & Nowlin JR, W.D. 1995. On the meridional extent and fronts of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Deep-Sea Research I - Oceanographic Research Papers, 10.1016/0967-0637(95)00021-W.Google Scholar
Page, T.J. & Linse, K. 2002. More evidence of speciation and dispersal across the Antarctic Polar Front through molecular systematics of Southern Ocean Limatula (Bivalvia: Limidae). Polar Biology, 10.1007/s00300-002-0414-7.Google Scholar
Rowden, A.A., Dower, J.F., Schlacher, T.A., Consalvey, M. & Clark, M.R. 2010. Paradigms in seamount ecology: fact, fiction and future. Marine Ecology, 10.1111/j.1439-0485.2010.00400.x.Google Scholar
Stankovic, A., Spalik, K., Kamler, E., Borsuk, P. & Weglenski, P. 2002. Recent origin of sub-Antarctic notothenioids. Polar Biology, 25, 203–205.Google Scholar
Thresher, R.E., Adkins, J., Fallon, S.J., Gowlett-Holmes, K., Althaus, F. & Williams, A. 2011. Extraordinarily high biomass benthic community on Southern Ocean seamounts. Scientific Reports, 10.1038/srep00119.Google Scholar
Thresher, R.E., Althaus, F., Adkins, J., Gowlett-Holmes, K., Alderslade, P., Dowdney, J., Cho, W., Gagnon, A., Staples, D., McEnnulty, F. & Williams, A. 2014. Strong depth-related zonation of megabenthos on a rocky continental margin (~700–4000 m) off southern Tasmania, Australia. PLoS One, 10.1371/journal.pone.0085872.Google Scholar
Vinogradova, N.G. 1997. Zoogeography of the abyssal and hadal zones. Advances in Marine Biology, 32, 325–387.Google Scholar
Waller, R.G. & Robinson, L.F. 2012. Southern ocean corals: Cabo de Hornos. Coral Reefs, 10.1007/s00338-011-0852-1.Google Scholar
Waller, R.G., Scanlon, K.M. & Robinson, L.F. 2011. Cold-water coral distributions in the drake passage area from towed camera observations – initial interpretations. PLoS One, 10.1371/journal.pone.0016153.Google Scholar
Watling, L., Guinotte, J., Clark, M.R. & Smith, C.R. 2013. A proposed biogeography of the deep ocean floor. Progress in Oceanography, 10.1016/j.pocean.2012.11.003.Google Scholar
Whitworth III, T. 1980. Zonation and geostrophic flow of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current at Drake Passage. Deep-Sea Research I - Oceanographic Research Papers, 27, 497–507.Google Scholar
Williams, A., Althaus, F. & Schlacher, T.A. 2015. Towed camera imagery and benthic sled catches provide different views of seamount benthic diversity. Limnology and Oceanography - Methods, 10.1002/lom3.10007.Google Scholar
Zezina, O.N. 1997. Biogeography of the bathyal zone. Advances in Marine Biology, 32, 389–426.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Auscavitch and Waller supplementary material

Figure S1 and Tables S1-S12

Download Auscavitch and Waller supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 306.4 KB