4.2 Article

Shining a light on the composition and distribution patterns of mesophotic and subphotic fish communities in Hawai'i

期刊

MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES
卷 630, 期 -, 页码 161-182

出版社

INTER-RESEARCH
DOI: 10.3354/meps13135

关键词

Coral reef ecosystems; Mesophotic zone; Subphotic zone; Mesophotic coral ecosystems; Community structure; Generalized additive models; Spatial distribution maps; Fish

资金

  1. State of Hawai'i Division of Aquatic Resources
  2. Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration program [F17R38]
  3. NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP Project) [381]
  4. NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research

向作者/读者索取更多资源

As agencies shift from single-species management to ecosystem-based fisheries management, ecosystem models are gaining interest for understanding species dynamics in relation to oceanographic and ecological processes and human marine uses. However, information on community structure or distribution of many species that occupy deep (>30 m) waters is largely unavailable. We amassed a total of 24 686 fish observations of 523 species/taxa for the 30-410 m depth areas surrounding the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI). We also obtained estimates of geomorphological variables, including substrate type, slope, rugosity, and ridge-like features. Using these 2 data sources, we (1) identified distinct fish communities along the 30-410 m depth gradient, and (2) generated relative biomass maps for fish functional groups. We showed that the mesophotic zone ranges between 30 and 129 m, with a fish faunal break at 60 m. Beyond this zone, 4 subphotic zones were identified: upper rariphotic (130-169 m), mid-rariphotic (170-239 m), lower rariphotic (240-319 m), and upper bathyal (320-410 m). We assigned fish species to functional groups partly based on identified depth ranges and fitted general additive models (GAMs) integrating geomorphological covariates to the functional group relative biomass estimates to determine the environmental variables that best predict the probability of encounter and relative biomass of each fish functional group. Finally, GAM predictions were employed to map functional group relative biomass distributions. These distribution maps showed a high relative biomass of many groups in the center of the MHI chain. This study contributes to a better understanding of fish community structure around the MHI and will inform ecosystem model parameterization.

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