Abstract
An international effort is underway to establish a representative system of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean to help provide for the long-term conservation of marine biodiversity in the region. Important to this undertaking is knowledge of the distribution of benthic assemblages. Here, our aim is to identify the areas where benthic marine assemblages are likely to differ from each other in the Southern Ocean including near-shore Antarctica. We achieve this by using a hierarchical spatial classification of ecoregions, bathomes and environmental types. Ecoregions are defined according to available data on biogeographic patterns and environmental drivers on dispersal. Bathomes are identified according to depth strata defined by species distributions. Environmental types are uniquely classified according to the geomorphic features found within the bathomes in each ecoregion. We identified 23 ecoregions and nine bathomes. From a set of 28 types of geomorphic features of the seabed, 562 unique environmental types were classified for the Southern Ocean. We applied the environmental types as surrogates of different assemblages of biodiversity to assess the representativeness of existing MPAs. We found that 12 ecoregions are not represented in MPAs and that no ecoregion has their full range of environmental types represented in MPAs. Current MPA planning processes, if implemented, will substantially increase the representation of environmental types particularly within 8 ecoregions. To meet internationally agreed conservation goals, additional MPAs will be needed. To assist with this process, we identified 107 spatially restricted environmental types, which should be considered for inclusion in future MPAs. Detailed supplementary data including a spatial dataset are provided.
Highlights
The high-latitude Southern Ocean, south of the Polar Front, is globally significant for conservation due to its unique species and environments
An international effort is underway to establish a representative system of marine protected areas (MPAs) for the Southern Ocean and CCAMLR has the primary responsibility for developing this system [8,9]
The international effort overseen by CCAMLR to establish a representative network of MPAs within the Southern Ocean has already made a significant step in declaring the world’s first MPA within the high seas located outside national jurisdiction
Summary
The high-latitude Southern Ocean, south of the Polar Front, is globally significant for conservation due to its unique species and environments. Exploitation has occurred across all its major marine ecosystems [5] This has prompted the establishment of international agreements, in particular, the Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to conserve the biodiversity while, among other roles, managing exploitation of marine living resources in the region [5,6,7]. Our aim is to complement this process by identifying the areas where benthic marine assemblages are likely to differ in near-shore Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. We achieve this by using a hierarchical spatial classification of the benthic environment and assessing the extent to which the existing system of MPAs encompasses the benthic diversity
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