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Macrofauna abundance, species diversity and turnover at three sites in the Clipperton-Clarion Fracture Zone

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Abstract

The fauna of three sites in the Clipperton-Clarion Fracture Zone Region of the North Pacific Ocean were evaluated as part of multiple programs supported by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. These localities (Site A in the west and Site C and a prospective reserve area 2893–2561 km to the east) cover the range of depths and productivity observed for the region. Macrofauna densities varied with productivity, with Site A with the lowest densities and the reserve area with the highest densities. Species diversities of Polychaeta, Isopoda and Tanaidacea showed differing trends compared to export productivity, using a bootstrapped lognormal method to estimate total species. Polychaeta had the highest estimated species at the high-productivity reserve site and the lowest values at the low-productivity site A. Tanaidacea had a similar trend to that of the polychaetes. Isopoda showed an opposite species–productivity trend, with highest estimated species at the low-productivity site A and lowest values at the high-productivity reserve site. Polychaetes were most similar between sites, while isopod similarities were low. Tanaid similarities between sites A and C resembled the polychaetes value. Species turnover for isopods was high, but much less so for polychaetes and tanaids, and may be related to the dispersal potential for each taxocene. Beta diversity predicts that the average isopod species in the CCFZ has a range of approximately 2200 km2 while a polychaete species range might exceed 10,000 km2. Data from a single taxocene cannot be used as a proxy for the entire deep-sea fauna because each group has its own ecological and evolutionary responses, as well as its own history.

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Acknowledgements

Peter A. Jumars, Robert R. Hessler and Fred N. Spiess directed the initial NOAA programs and provided much of the intellectual overview to the ongoing programs. The captains, chief engineers, crews, and scientific parties of the research vessels Melville, Oceanographer, New Horizon and Moana Wave tirelessly provided their expertise to collect the samples on which this research is based. Taxonomic expertise for the macrofauna was provided by Jurgen Sieg, Kristian Fauchald, Kirk Fitzhugh, Timothy Ragen, and Elana Varnum. Susan Garner and coworkers in my Scripps lab, and Liko Self and coworkers in the Jumars lab at the University of Washington were invaluable in sorting the samples and organizing the large datasets that resulted from the field programs. George Sugihara (SIO) provided the original Fortran of the lognormal estimation algorithm that I extended with a bootstrap estimator. Eugene D. Gallagher (University of Massachusetts, Boston) provided the corrected Fortran NEWNESS program and advised on various analytical issues. I am grateful to Dwight Trueblood, who found Jumars (1980) in his NOAA office files. This research was funded by NOAA contracts 03-78-B01-17, 83-SAC-00659, NA-84-ABH-0300, 40-AANC-701124, 50-DGNC-8-00113, 50-DSNC-9-00108. Two anonymous referees kindly provided helpful advice, who requested clarifications on the methods employed, productivity estimates and probable disperal modes. I am grateful to these people and institutions for their contributions to this research.

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    George D. F. Wilson

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Wilson, G.D.F. Macrofauna abundance, species diversity and turnover at three sites in the Clipperton-Clarion Fracture Zone. Mar Biodiv 47, 323–347 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12526-016-0609-8

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