Distributional patterns of macro- and megafauna associated with a reef of the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa on the Swedish west coast

Abstract

MEPS Marine Ecology Progress Series Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections MEPS 284:163-171 (2004) - doi:10.3354/meps284163 Distributional patterns of macro- and megafauna associated with a reef of the cold-water coral Lophelia pertusa on the Swedish west coast L. G. Jonsson1,2,*, P. G. Nilsson1,2, F. Floruta1,2, T. Lundälv2 1Department of Marine Ecology, Göteborg University, 2Tjärnö Marine Biological Laboratory, 452 96 Strömstad, Sweden *Email: lisbeth.jonsson@tmbl.gu.se ABSTRACT: In this study the distributional pattern of the macro- and megafauna of a small (ca. 300 m2) Lophelia pertusa (L., 1758) reef was studied with a ROV (remotely operated vehicle). The reef is situated in a shallow fjord off the Swedish west coast. The number of taxa and their abundance in transects from the reef itself and from 3 zones (Zone 1 = 50 m, Zone 2 = 100 m and Zone 3 = 200 m) around the reef were compared. Both the number of taxa (from 30 to 33 transect-1) and the abundance of individuals (from 21 to 7 m-2) decreased with increasing distance from the reef. Divided into ecological guilds, predators and filter-feeders decreased with distance from the reef (predators from 7 to 0.3 ind. m-2, and filter-feeders from 13 to 6 ind. m-2 from Zone 0 to Zone 3), while deposit-feeders increased with increasing distance from 0.04 to 0.4 ind. m-2 from Zone 0 to Zone 3. Sessile species decreased more with increasing distance than mobile species, from 19 to 7 ind. m-2 and from 1 to 0.7 ind. m-2, respectively. Our results also show that small deep-water coral reefs enhance local biodiversity, but the advantage to individual species depends on their mode of feeding and mobility. KEY WORDS: Lophelia pertusa · Associated fauna · Remotely operated vehicle · Deep-water coral Full text in pdf format PreviousNextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in MEPS Vol. 284. Online publication date: December 21, 2004 Print ISSN: 0171-8630; Online ISSN: 1616-1599 Copyright © 2004 Inter-Research.