期刊
PROGRESS IN OCEANOGRAPHY
卷 148, 期 -, 页码 44-55出版社
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.pocean.2016.09.005
关键词
Deep-sea diversity; Foraminifera; Mesoscale; NE Atlantic; Seamounts
类别
资金
- UK Natural Environment Research Council [NE/H021787/1]
- Challenger Society through the Challenger Society Travel Award
- Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory (PAP-SO) programme
- Marine Environmental Mapping Programme (MAREMAP)
- NERC [noc010009, NE/H021787/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Natural Environment Research Council [NE/H021787/1, noc010009] Funding Source: researchfish
Abyssal plains, often thought of as vast flat areas, encompass a variety of terrains including abyssal hills, features that constitute the single largest landscape type on Earth. The potential influence on deep-sea benthic faunas of mesoscale habitat complexity arising from the presence of abyssal hills is still poorly understood. To address this issue we focus on benthic foraminifera (testate protists) in the >150-mu m fraction of Megacorer samples (0-1 cm layer) collected at five different sites in the area of the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory (NE Atlantic, 4850 m water depth). Three sites are located on the tops of small abyssal hills (200-500 m elevation) and two on the adjacent abyssal plain. We examined benthic foraminiferal assemblage characteristics (standing stock, diversity, composition) in relation to seafloor topography (hills vs. plain). Density and rarefied diversity were not significantly different between the hills and the plain. Nevertheless, hills do support a higher species density (i.e. species per unit area), a distinct fauna, and act to increase the regional species pool. Topographically enhanced bottom-water flows that influence food availability and sediment type are suggested as the most likely mechanisms responsible for these differences. Our findings highlight the potential importance of mesoscale heterogeneity introduced by relatively modest topography in regulating abyssal foraminiferal diversity. Given the predominance of abyssal hill terrain in the global ocean, we suggest the need to include faunal data from abyssal hills in assessments of abyssal ecology. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据