Benthic biodiversity of seamounts in the southwest Indian Ocean

西南印度洋海山底栖生物多样性

• 批准号: NE/F005504/1
• 负责人: Alex Rogers
• 金额: $ 45.31万
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2011 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FF005504%2F1
• 关键词: Benthic; biodiversity; seamounts; southwest; Indian

Benthic biodiversity of seamounts in the southwest Indian Ocean Seamounts are centres of biological diversity and are ecological hotspots in the deep ocean but their inaccessibility poses major challenges for research. In consequence, there are conspicuous sampling gaps of which the equatorial regions and most of the Indian Ocean are the most extensive. The southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) is a major geological feature which extends from the central Indian Ocean to join the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the Southern Ocean. It is rich in seamounts and supports a productive deep-water fishery yet, in terms of biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, it is one of the least sampled regions of the global ocean. We propose to study the diversity and distribution of benthic assemblages, from meiofauna to megafauna, on seamounts in the central section of the SWIR between 41 degrees S 42 degrees E and 33 degrees S 58 degrees E. The benthos of this region is completely unstudied and is of particular interest in terms of its position in relation to major ocean currents, gradients of primary productivity, and recent predictions as to the global distribution of cold-water corals. The region may be regarded as the most significant gap in our understanding of the seamount fauna globally. By studying the associations between faunal assemblages and habitat types, the genetic relatedness of populations, and the relationships between surface productivity, currents, and benthic distributions, we will enhance understanding of the processes governing the distribution, abundance, diversity and evolution of fauna on oceanic seamounts. A new habitat-suitability model based on environmental niche factor analysis (ENFA) has predicted that hard substrata in the southern Indian Ocean, down to ca. 2,500 m, are prime habitats for cold-water scleractinian corals. We propose to test these predictions by comparing the distributions and abundances of coral species across the study area with modelled distributions. Confirmation of the model predictions would lend support to recent concerns that increases in anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions are likely to cause range shifts in calcareous marine organisms. A recent initiative from the deep-sea fishing industry working with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has proposed a number of voluntary benthic protected areas (BPAs) on the SWIR in which no bottom trawling will take place: three of these are within the proposed study area. This is an unprecedented event in international waters and presents a unique opportunity to study the effectiveness of BPAs in protecting deep-sea habitats and species in the high seas. Detailed information on fishing effort at the study sites, available through industry collaboration, will allow us to assess the effects of trawling on slow-growing deep-sea benthic assemblages, and to gather baseline information against which the process of recovery following cessation of fisheries can be assessed.

西南印度洋海山的底栖生物多样性海山是生物多样性的中心，也是深海的生态热点，但其难以进入给研究工作带来了重大挑战。因此，存在着明显的采样空白，其中赤道区域和印度洋大部分地区的空白最大。西南印度洋海脊（英语：Southwest Indian Ridge）是一个主要的地质特征，它从印度洋中部延伸到南大洋的大西洋中部海脊。该区域海隆丰富，支持富有成效的深水渔业，但就生物多样性和生态系统功能而言，它是全球海洋中采样最少的区域之一。我们建议研究南纬41度42度至南纬33度58度之间南纬红外线中段海山上从小型动物到巨型动物的底栖生物组合的多样性和分布。这一区域的底栖生物完全没有得到研究，特别令人感兴趣的是其相对于主要洋流的位置、初级生产力的梯度以及最近对冷水珊瑚全球分布的预测。该区域可被视为我们在了解全球海山动物方面的最大差距。通过研究动物群组合与生境类型之间的联系、种群的遗传相关性以及表层生产力、海流和海底分布之间的关系，我们将增进对海洋海山动物群的分布、丰度、多样性和演变过程的了解。基于环境生态位因子分析（ENFA）的一个新的栖息地适宜性模型预测，南印度洋的硬底质，下降到约。2，500米，是冷水石珊瑚的主要栖息地。我们建议通过比较整个研究区域的珊瑚物种的分布和丰度与模拟分布来测试这些预测。模型预测的确认将支持最近的关切，即人为二氧化碳排放量的增加可能导致钙质海洋生物的范围转移。深海捕鱼业最近与联合国粮食及农业组织（粮农组织）合作提出了一项倡议，建议在西南大西洋沿岸建立一些自愿的底栖生物保护区，在这些保护区内不会进行底拖网捕捞：其中三个在拟议的研究区内。这是国际沃茨中前所未有的事件，为研究海底保护区在保护公海深海生境和物种方面的效力提供了一个独特的机会。通过行业合作获得的关于研究地点捕捞努力量的详细信息，将使我们能够评估拖网捕捞对缓慢生长的深海底栖生物群落的影响，并收集基线信息，据此可以评估停止捕捞后的恢复过程。

项目成果

The heart of a dragon: 3D anatomical reconstruction of the 'scaly-foot gastropod' (Mollusca: Gastropoda: Neomphalina) reveals its extraordinary circulatory system.

• DOI: 10.1186/s12983-015-0105-1
• 发表时间: 2015
• 期刊: Frontiers in zoology
• 影响因子: 2.8
• 作者: Chen C;Copley JT;Linse K;Rogers AD;Sigwart JD
• 通讯作者: Sigwart JD

Burrow forms, growth rates and feeding rates of wood-boring Xylophagaidae bivalves revealed by micro-computed tomography

微型计算机断层扫描揭示钻木食者科双壳类的洞穴形式、生长速率和摄食率

• DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2015.00010
• 发表时间: 2015
• 期刊: Frontiers in Marine Science
• 影响因子: 3.7
• 作者: Amon D

Observations of fauna attending wood and bone deployments from two seamounts on the Southwest Indian Ridge

• DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2015.07.003
• 发表时间: 2017-02-01
• 期刊: DEEP-SEA RESEARCH PART II-TOPICAL STUDIES IN OCEANOGRAPHY
• 影响因子: 3
• 作者: Amon, Diva J.;Copley, Jonathan T.;Glover, Adrian G.
• 通讯作者: Glover, Adrian G.

Pristinaspinidae, a new family of Cretaceous kiwaiform stem-lineage squat lobster (Anomura, Chirostyloidea)

Pristinaspinidae，白垩纪奇异茎谱系蹲龙虾新科（Anomura，Chirostyloidea）

• 发表时间: 2014
• 期刊: Scripta Geologica
• 作者: Ahyong ST

The distribution of pelagic sound scattering layers across the southwest Indian Ocean

• DOI: 10.1016/j.dsr2.2015.06.023
• 发表时间: 2017-02-01
• 期刊: DEEP-SEA RESEARCH PART II-TOPICAL STUDIES IN OCEANOGRAPHY
• 影响因子: 3
• 作者: Boersch-Supan, Philipp H.;Rogers, Alex D.;Brierley, Andrew S.
• 通讯作者: Brierley, Andrew S.