Historical macrobenthic community assemblages in the Avilés Canyon, N Iberian Shelf: Baseline biodiversity information for a marine protected area

Deep-sea ecosystems are highly diverse, and European countries seek to protect these environments by identifying conservation targets. One of these is the Avilés Canyon, southern Bay of Biscay, NE Atlantic, Spain. We present the first analysis of historical benthic communities (1987–1988) of this ca...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of marine systems Vol. 80; no. 1; pp. 47 - 56
Main Authors:	Louzao, Maite, Anadón, Nuria, Arrontes, Julio, Álvarez-Claudio, Consuelo, Fuente, Dulce María, Ocharan, Francisco, Anadón, Araceli, Acuña, José Luis
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Elsevier B.V 20-02-2010
Subjects:	Baseline biodiversity information Bay of Biscay Biodiversity Canyons Cnidaria Communities Ecosystems Focusing Habitats Historic biological data Lophelia pertusa Macrobenthic assemblages Madrepora oculata Marine Marine protected areas Pennatulacea Stations ANE, Europe, Biscay Bay ANE, Spain, Galicia ANE, Atlantic, Aviles Canyon Macrobenthic assemblages Baseline biodiversity information Marine protected areas Bay of Biscay Historic biological data
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Summary:	Deep-sea ecosystems are highly diverse, and European countries seek to protect these environments by identifying conservation targets. One of these is the Avilés Canyon, southern Bay of Biscay, NE Atlantic, Spain. We present the first analysis of historical benthic communities (1987–1988) of this canyon ecosystem, which is a valuable source of biodiversity baseline information. We found 810 taxa divided in five main macrobenthic assemblages, showing a highly diverse benthic community. Bathymetry was the major structuring agent of benthic community, separating shallow (assemblages I and II, 31 to 307 m depth) from deep stations (assemblages III, IV and V, 198 to 1400 m depth). Especially diverse was assemblage IV, located at the easternmost part of the continental slope (378–1100 m depth) where we found reef-forming corals Lophelia pertusa and Madrepora oculata. These and other communities (sea-pens [Order Pennatulacea, Phylum Cnidaria] and burrowing macrofauna) represent key habitats in NE Atlantic continental slopes, which are currently threatened. The present dataset has produced the most comprehensive assessment of diversity in this area to date, focusing on the taxonomic groups which may best reflect the health of the marine ecosystem and supporting previous studies which indicate that the continental slope of the southern Bay of Biscay hosts key benthic habitats.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0924-7963 1879-1573
DOI:	10.1016/j.jmarsys.2009.09.006