In:
Frontiers in Marine Science, Frontiers Media SA, Vol. 8 ( 2021-3-23)
Abstract:
Benthic fauna form spatial patterns which are the result of both biotic and abiotic processes, which can be quantified with a range of landscape ecology descriptors. Fine- to medium-scale spatial patterns ( & lt;1–10 m) have seldom been quantified in deep-sea habitats, but can provide fundamental ecological insights into species’ niches and interactions. Cold-water coral reefs formed by Desmophyllum pertusum (syn. Lophelia pertusa ) and Madrepora oculata are traditionally mapped and surveyed with multibeam echosounders and video transects, which limit the ability to achieve the resolution and/or coverage to undertake fine-scale, centimetric quantification of spatial patterns. However, photomosaics constructed from imagery collected with remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) are becoming a prevalent research tool and can reveal novel information at the scale of individual coral colonies. A survey using a downward facing camera mounted on a ROV traversed the Piddington Mound (Belgica Mound Province, NE Atlantic) in a lawnmower pattern in order to create 3D reconstructions of the reef with Structure-from-Motion techniques. Three high resolution orthorectified photomosaics and digital elevation models (DEM) & gt;200 m 2 were created and all organisms were geotagged in order to illustrate their point pattern. The pair correlation function was used to establish whether organisms demonstrated a clustered pattern (CP) at various scales. We further applied a point pattern modelling approach to identify four potential point patterns: complete spatial randomness (CSR), an inhomogeneous pattern influenced by environmental drivers, random clustered point pattern indicating biologically driven clustering and an inhomogeneous clustered point pattern driven by a combination of environmental drivers and biological effects. Reef framework presence and structural complexity determined inhabitant distribution with most organisms showing a departure from CSR. These CPs are likely caused by an affinity to local environmental drivers, growth patterns and restricted dispersion reproductive strategies within the habitat across a range of fine to medium scales. These data provide novel and detailed insights into fine-scale habitat heterogeneity, showing that non-random distributions are apparent and detectable at these fine scales in deep-sea habitats.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2296-7745
DOI:
10.3389/fmars.2021.556313
DOI:
10.3389/fmars.2021.556313.s001
DOI:
10.3389/fmars.2021.556313.s002
DOI:
10.3389/fmars.2021.556313.s003
DOI:
10.3389/fmars.2021.556313.s004
DOI:
10.3389/fmars.2021.556313.s005
DOI:
10.3389/fmars.2021.556313.s006
DOI:
10.3389/fmars.2021.556313.s007
DOI:
10.3389/fmars.2021.556313.s008
Language:
Unknown
Publisher:
Frontiers Media SA
Publication Date:
2021
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2757748-X
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