Abstract
Declines in the abundance of long-lived and habitat-forming species on continental shelves have attracted particular attention given their importance to ecosystem structure and function of marine habitats. The study of undisturbed habitats defined as “pristine areas” is essential in creating a frame of reference for natural habitats free of human interference. Gorgonian species are one of the key structure-forming taxa in benthic communities on the Antarctic continental shelf. Current knowledge of the diversity, distribution and demography of this group is relatively limited in Antarctica. To overcome this lack of information we present original data on pristine and remote populations of gorgonians from the Weddell Sea, some of which display the largest colony sizes ever recorded in Antarctica. We assessed the distribution patterns of seven gorgonian species, a morphogroup and a family in front of the Filchner Ronne Ice Shelf (Weddell Sea) by means of quantitative analysis of video transects. Analysis of these videos showed a total of 3140 colonies of gorgonians with the highest abundance in the southern section and a significantly clumped distribution. This study contributes to the general knowledge of pristine areas of the continental shelf and identifies the eastern Weddell Sea as a hotspot for habitat-forming species.
Highlights
The current state of the oceans is very different from what it was in the past[1,2]
The majority of studies on Antarctic benthos have been carried out using semi-quantitative techniques like Agassiz and bottom trawls[61,62], non-destructive image methodology has been commonly used in the high Antarctic to provide quantitative information on the distributional patterns of benthic megafauna communities over large spatial and bathymetrical doma ins[28,53,58,63,64,65]
Knowledge of demographic processes and spatial distribution patterns is a prerequisite to understand their role in benthic communities and provide basic information on their underlying dynamics and resilience, as well as to facilitate their management and conservation[66,67]
Summary
Most marine ecosystems are affected by climate change (e.g. ocean warming, acidification, sea level rise)[3,4,5] and other multiple human-derived threats (e.g. overfishing, pollution, habitat destruction)[6,7,8] which threaten marine global biodiversity and modify oceanic environments[5] to the point of being considered “unnatural oceans”[9] nearly devoid of “pristine” areas[10] Such pristine areas are minimally affected by major human threats, providing a unique opportunity to better understand how marine ecosystems are structured and behave[11,12]. This study attempts to be a benchmark for the investigation of continental shelf habitats modified by anthropogenic pressure and to contribute to the general knowledge of pristine areas with habitat-forming species
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