Life Sciences Commons^™

Megafauna Of The German Exploration Licence Area For Seafloor Massive Sulphides Along The Central And South East Indian Ridge (Indian Ocean), Klaas Gerdes, Terue Cristina Kihara, Pedro Martínez Arbizu, Thomas Kuhn, Ulrich Schwarz-Schampera, Christopher L. Mah, Jon L. Norenburg, Thomas D. Linley, Kate Shalaeva, Enrique Macpherson, Dennis Gordon, Sabine Stöhr, Charles G. Messing, Simon Bober, Theresa Guggolz, Magdalini Christodoulou, Andrey Gebruk, Antonina Kremenetskaia, Andreas Kroh, Karen Sanamyan, Kathrin Bolstad, Leon Hoffman, Andrew J. Gooday, Tina Molodtsova

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Background

The growing interest in mineral resources of the deep sea, such as seafloor massive sulphide deposits, has led to an increasing number of exploration licences issued by the International Seabed Authority. In the Indian Ocean, four licence areas exist, resulting in an increasing number of new hydrothermal vent fields and the discovery of new species. Most studies focus on active venting areas including their ecology, but the non-vent megafauna of the Central Indian Ridge and South East Indian Ridge remains poorly known.

In the framework of the Indian Ocean Exploration project in the German license area for seafloor massive …

Temperature Stress And Disease Drives The Extirpation Of The Threatened Pillar Coral, Dendrogyra Cylindrus, In Southeast Florida, Nicholas P. Jones, Lystina Kabay, Kathleen Semon Lunz, David S. Gilliam

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Rare species population dynamics can elucidate the resilience of an ecosystem. On coral reefs, climate change and local anthropogenic stressors are threatening stony coral persistence, increasing the need to assess vulnerable species locally. Here, we monitored the threatened pillar coral, Dendrogyra cylindrus, population in southeast Florida, USA, in relation to consecutive heat stress events in 2014 and 2015. In the fall of each year, D. cylindrus colonies bleached following intense thermal stress and by June 2020 all monitored colonies died from a white-syndrome type disease. This resulted in the ecological extinction of D. cylindrus in the Southeast Florida Coral …

Editorial: Deep Pelagic Ecosystem Dynamics In A Highly Impacted Water Column: The Gulf Of Mexico After Deepwater Horizon, Tracey Sutton, Kevin M. Boswell, Heather Bracken-Grissom, Jose V. Lopez, Michael Vecchione, Marsh Youngbluth

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The intermediate-sized midwater fauna (fishes, shrimps, and cephalopods; “micronekton” collectively) are dominant components of the pelagic ocean, which is by far the largest ecosystem type on Earth by several metrics (volume, organismal numbers, biomass, and productivity). Deep-pelagic micronekton, those animals residing in the water column below 200 m depth during the day, are the direct link between plankton and oceanic top predators, and through the linked processes of feeding and daily vertical migration facilitate one of Earth's most important ecosystem services to humans, carbon sequestration. Despite increasing recognition of this importance, a disconnect exists between stewardship and human impact; only …

Taxonomic Richness And Diversity Of Larval Fish Assemblages In The Oceanic Gulf Of Mexico: Links To Oceanographic Conditions, Corinne R. Meinert, Kimberly Clausen-Sparks, Maëlle Cornic, Tracey Sutton, Jay R. Rooker

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Biodiversity enhances the productivity and stability of marine ecosystems and provides important ecosystem services. The aim of this study was to characterize larval fish assemblages in pelagic waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico (NGoM) and identify oceanographic conditions associated with areas of increased taxonomic richness (T ) and Shannon diversity (H’). Summer ichthyoplankton surveys were conducted in the NGoM in 2015 and 2016 using neuston net (surface layer; upper 1 m) and oblique bongo net (mixed layer; 0–100 m) tows. Over 17,000 fish larvae were collected over the two-year study, and 99 families of fish larvae were present. Catch …

A Global Biogeographic Classification Of The Mesopelagic Zone, Tracey Sutton, Malcolm R. Clark, Daniel C. Dunn, Patrick N. Halpin, Alex D. Rogers, John Guinotte, Steven J. Bograd, Martin V. Angel, Jose Angel A. Perez, Karen Wishner, Richard L. Haedrich, Dhugal Lindsay, Jeffrey C. Drazen, Alexander Vereshchaka, Uwe Piatkowski, Telmo Morato, Katarzyna Blachowiak-Samolyk, Bruce H. Robison, Kristina Gjerde, Annelies Pierrot-Bults, Patricio Bernal, Gabriel Reygondeau, Mikko Heino

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

We have developed a global biogeographic classification of the mesopelagic zone to reflect the regional scales over which the ocean interior varies in terms of biodiversity and function. An integrated approach was necessary, as global gaps in information and variable sampling methods preclude strictly statistical approaches. A panel combining expertise in oceanography, geospatial mapping, and deep-sea biology convened to collate expert opinion on the distributional patterns of pelagic fauna relative to environmental proxies (temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen at mesopelagic depths). An iterative Delphi Method integrating additional biological and physical data was used to classify biogeographic ecoregions and to identify …

Sponge Distribution And The Presence Of Photosymbionts In Moorea, French Polynesia, Christopher J. Freeman, Cole Easson

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Photosymbionts play an important role in the ecology and evolution of diverse host species within the marine environment. Although sponge-photosymbiont interactions have been well described from geographically disparate sites worldwide, our understanding of these interactions from shallow water systems within French Polynesia is limited. We surveyed diverse habitats around the north coast of Moorea, French Polynesia and screened sponges for the presence of photosymbionts. Overall sponge abundance and diversity were low, with <1% cover and only eight putative species identified by 28S barcoding from surveys at 21 sites. Of these eight species, seven were found predominately in shaded or semi-cryptic habitats under overhangs or within caverns. Lendenfeldia chondrodeswas the only species that supported a high abundance of photosymbionts and was also the only species found in exposed, illuminated habitats. Interestingly, L. chondrodes was …

Environmental Variability And Biodiversity Of Megabenthos On The Hebrides Terrace Seamount (Northeast Atlantic), Lea-Anne Henry, Johanne Vad, Helen S. Findlay, Javier Murillo, Rosanna Milligan, J. Murray Roberts

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

We present the first remotely operated vehicle investigation of megabenthic communities (1004–1695 m water depth) on the Hebrides Terrace Seamount (Northeast Atlantic). Conductivity-temperature-depth casts showed rapid light attenuation below the summit and an oceanographic regime on the flanks consistent with an internal tide, and high short-term variability in water temperature, salinity, light attenuation, aragonite and oxygen down to 1500 m deep. Minor changes in species composition (3–14%) were explained by changes in depth, substratum and oceanographic stability, whereas environmental variability explained substantially more variation in species richness (40–56%). Two peaks in species richness occurred, the first at 1300–1400 m where …

Does Presence Of A Mid-Ocean Ridge Enhance Biomass And Biodiversity?, Imants G. Priede, Odd Aksel Bergstad, Peter I. Miller, M. Vecchione, Andrey Gebruk, Tone Falkenhaug, David S. M. Billett, Jessica Craig, Andrew C. Dale, Mark A. Shields, Gavin H. Tilstone, Tracey Sutton, Andrew J. Gooday, Mark E. Inall, Daniel O. B. Jones, Victor Martinez-Vicente, Gui Menezes, Tomasz Niedzielski, Thorsteinn Sigurdsson, Nina Rothe, Antonina Rogacheva, Claudia H. S. Alt, Timothy Brand, Richard Abell, Andrew S. Brierley, Nicola J. Cousins, Deborah Crockard, A. Rus Hoelzel, Age Hoines, Tom B. Letessier, Jane F. Read, Tracy Shimmield, Martin J. Cox, John K. Galbraith, John D. M. Gordon, Tammy Horton, Francis Neat, Pascal Lorance

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

In contrast to generally sparse biological communities in open-ocean settings, seamounts and ridges are perceived as areas of elevated productivity and biodiversity capable of supporting commercial fisheries. We investigated the origin of this apparent biological enhancement over a segment of the North Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) using sonar, corers, trawls, traps, and a remotely operated vehicle to survey habitat, biomass, and biodiversity. Satellite remote sensing provided information on flow patterns, thermal fronts, and primary production, while sediment traps measured export flux during 2007–2010. The MAR, 3,704,404 km² in area, accounts for 44.7% lower bathyal habitat (800–3500 m depth) in the …

Global Human Footprint On The Linkage Between Biodiversity And Ecosystem Functioning In Reef Fishes, Camilo Mora, Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, Arturo Ayala Bocos, Paula M. Ayotte, Stuart Banks, Andrew G. Bauman, Maria Beger, Sandra Bessudo, David J. Booth, Eran Brokovich, Andrew Brooks, Pascale Chabanet, Josh Eli Cinner, Jorge Cortes, Juan J. Cruz-Motta, Amilcar Cupul Magaña, Edward E. Demartini, Graham J. Edgar, David A. Feary, Sebastian C. A. Ferse, Alan M. Friedlander, Kevin J. Gaston, Charlotte Gough, Nicholas A. J. Graham, Alison Green, Hector M. Guzman, Marah Hardt, Michel Kulbicki, Yves Letourneur, Andres López Pérez, Michel Loreau, Yossi Loya, Camilo Martinez, Ismael Mascareñas-Osorio, Tau Morove, Marc-Olivier Nadon, Yohei Nakamura, Gustavo Paredes, Nicholas V.C. Polunin, Morgan S. Pratchett, Hector Reyes Bonilla, Fernando Rivera, Enric Sala, Stuart A. Sandin, German Soler, Rick Stuart-Smith, Emmanuel Tessier, Derek P. Tittensor, Mark Tupper, Paolo Usseglio, Laurent Vigliola, Laurent Wantiez, Ivor D. Williams, Shaun K. Wilson, Fernando A. Zapata

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Difficulties in scaling up theoretical and experimental results have raised controversy over the consequences of biodiversity loss for the functioning of natural ecosystems. Using a global survey of reef fish assemblages, we show that in contrast to previous theoretical and experimental studies, ecosystem functioning (as measured by standing biomass) scales in a non-saturating manner with biodiversity (as measured by species and functional richness) in this ecosystem. Our field study also shows a significant and negative interaction between human population density and biodiversity on ecosystem functioning (i.e., for the same human density there were larger reductions in standing biomass at more …

Comparison Of Bacterial Diversity Within The Coral Reef Sponge, Axinella Corrugata, And The Encrusting Coral Erythropodium Caribaeorum, Jose V. Lopez, L. K. Ranzer, A. Ledger, B. Schoch, A. Duckworth, P. J. Mccarthy, R. G. Kerr

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

We compared the Caribbean reef sponge, Axinella corrugata, with the Caribbean reef coral, Erythropodium caribaeorum for differences in their resident microbial communities. This cursory survey of bacterial diversity applied 16S rRNA gene sequences. Over 100 culture-independent sequences were generated from five different Axinella 16S rRNA libraries, and compared with 69 cultured isolates. The cultureindependent 16S rDNA clones displayed a higher diversity of Proteobacteria, including “uncultured” or “unknown” representatives from the Deltaproteobacteria. Arcobacterium, and Cyanobacteria were also found. We have also confirmed that Axinella sponges appeared to host specific microbial symbionts, similar to the previously identified clones termed “OSO” …

Animal-Sediment Relations In A Tropical Lagoon: Discovery Bay, Jamaica, Robert C. Aller, Richard E. Dodge

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The distribution of many macrobenthic species in the back-reef lagoon of Discovery Bay, Jamaica can be related to a gradient in bottom stability. This gradient is defined by increasing rates of biogenic reworking and sediment resuspension in the western part of the lagoon. Infaunal diversity and coral growth decrease in the western, unstable areas. The infauna of the carbonate sand consists mainly of deposit feeders. In the western lagoon, the feeding activities of this group result in high biogenic reworking rates (up to 6-7 cm/week) producing loose surface sediment easily resuspended by waves. A maximum, mean resuspension rate of 19 …