Journal article
Productivity enhances benthic species richness along an oligotrophic Indian Ocean continental margin
AW Mccallum, S Woolley, M Blazewicz-Paszkowycz, J Browne, S Gerken, R Kloser, GCB Poore, D Staples, A Syme, J Taylor, G Walker-Smith, A Williams, RS Wilson
Global Ecology and Biogeography | WILEY-BLACKWELL | Published : 2015
DOI: 10.1111/geb.12255
Abstract
Aims: Marine soft sediments cover much of the deep ocean and are one of the largest habitats in the world, yet much of our understanding about their diversity is based on sampling in the North Atlantic. The deep-sea benthos provides a simplified environment in which to explore the processes which maintain species richness. Here we investigate the influence of energy and habitat complexity on benthic species richness along an oligotrophic continental margin within the Indian Ocean. Location: The upper continental margin of western Australia (c. 13-35°S, 100-1000m depth). Methods: We examined the species richness of selected polychaetes (Annelida) and crustaceans in sediment grab samples. We u..
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Awarded by National Science Centre, Poland
Funding Acknowledgements
We are grateful to many colleagues from CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research for their contributions to the Voyages of Discovery research programme. We acknowledge the Department of Environment and the CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship for financial support and the field and laboratory components of the Voyages of Discovery programme. This work has been funded through the National Environmental Research Program (NERP) program, an Australian Government initiative supporting world class, public good research. The NERP Marine Biodiversity Hub is a collaborative partnership between the University of Tasmania, CSIRO Wealth from Oceans Flagship, Geoscience Australia, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Museum Victoria, Charles Darwin University, and the University of Western Australia (http://www.nerpmarine.edu.au). The contribution of M.B.-P. was supported by the National Science Centre, Poland (contract 7984/B/P01/2011/40). The paper contributes to COMARGE (Continental Margin Ecosystems) (http://www.ifremer.fr/comarge/en/index.html), one of 14 Census of Marine Life (CoML http://www.coml.org/) field projects, dedicated to the description and understanding of biodiversity patterns on continental margins. We appreciate the valuable contribution of Jim Lowry (Australian Museum), who identified some amphipods; M. Warne, who identified podocopid ostracods; and E. Greaves, C. Glasby and C. Watson who identified some polychaetes. We thank Rachel Przeslawski and Anna Potter of Geoscience Australia for assisting with data on sediments. Lastly, we acknowledge Melanie MacKenzie (Museum Victoria) for assisting with collection management of this material.