Description: Benthic fauna refers to all fauna that live in or on the seafloor, which researchers typically divide into size classes meiobenthos (32/64 µm–0.5/1 mm), macrobenthos (250 µm–1 cm), and megabenthos (〉1 cm). Benthic fauna play important roles in bioturbation activity, mineralization of organic matter, and in marine food webs. Evaluating their role in these ecosystem functions requires knowledge of their global distribution and biomass. We therefore established the BenBioDen database, the largest open-access database for marine benthic biomass and density data compiled so far. In total, it includes 11,792 georeferenced benthic biomass and 51,559 benthic density records from 384 and 600 studies, respectively. We selected all references following the procedure for systematic reviews and meta-analyses, and report biomass records as grams of wet mass, dry mass, or ash-free dry mass, or carbon per m2 and as abundance records as individuals per m2. This database provides a point of reference for future studies on the distribution and biomass of benthic fauna.

Description: Highlights: • Higher representation of picophytoplankton in land-terminating glacier fjord. • Smaller phytoplankton cells associated with glacial retreat. • Intermediate baroclinic circulation influences phytoplankton distribution. • Glacial retreat likely to have major implications for summer productivity. Abstract: Along Greenland's coastline, the magnitude and timing of primary production in fjords is influenced by meltwater release from marine-terminating glaciers. How local ecosystems will adapt as these glaciers retreat onto land, forcing fundamental changes in hydrography, remains an open question. To further our understanding of this transition, we examine how marine- and land-terminating glaciers respectively influence fjord bloom phenology. Between spring and autumn 2019, we conducted along-fjord transects of hydrographic variables, biogeochemical properties and pico- and nanophytoplankton counts to illustrate the contrasting seasonal bloom dynamics in the fjords Nuup Kangerlua and Ameralik. These fjords are in the same climatic region of west Greenland but influenced by different glacial structures. Nuup Kangerlua, a predominantly marine-terminating system, was differentiated by its sustained second summer bloom and high Chl a fluorescence in summer and autumn. In Ameralik, influenced by a land-terminating glacier, we found higher abundances of pico- and nanophytoplankton, and high cyanobacteria growth in autumn. The summer bloom in Nuup Kangerlua is known to be coincident with subglacial freshwater discharge sustaining renewed nutrient supply to the fjord. We observe here that the intermediate baroclinic circulation, which creates an inflow at subsurface depths, also plays an important role in increasing nutrient availability at shallower depths and potentially explains the distribution of primary producers. Our observations suggest that the retreat of marine-terminating glaciers onto land, with consequent increases in surface water temperature and stratification, and reduced light availability, may alter the magnitude, composition, and distribution of summer productivity.

Description: Polymetallic nodule fields provide hard substrate for sessile organisms on the abyssal seafloor between 3000 and 6000 m water depth. Deep-seabed mining targets these mineral-rich nodules and will likely modify the consumer-resource (trophic) and substrate-providing (non-trophic) interactions within the abyssal food web. However, the importance of nodules and their associated sessile fauna in supporting food-web integrity remains unclear. Here, we use seafloor imagery and published literature to develop highly-resolved trophic and non-trophic interaction webs for the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCZ, central Pacific Ocean) and the Peru Basin (PB, South-East Pacific Ocean) and to assess how nodule removal may modify these networks. The CCZ interaction web included 1028 compartments connected with 59,793 links and the PB interaction web consisted of 342 compartments and 8044 links. We show that knock-down effects of nodule removal resulted in a 17.9% (CCZ) to 20.8% (PB) loss of all taxa and 22.8% (PB) to 30.6% (CCZ) loss of network links. Subsequent analysis identified stalked glass sponges living attached to the nodules as key structural species that supported a high diversity of associated fauna. We conclude that polymetallic nodules are critical for food-web integrity and that their absence will likely result in reduced local benthic biodiversity.

Description: This is the original abstract of the paper: Cold-water corals (CWCs) form large mounds on the seafloor that are hotspots of biodiversity in the deep sea, but it remains enigmatic how CWCs can thrive in this food-limited environment. Here, we infer from model simulations that the interaction between tidal currents and CWC-formed mounds induces downwelling events of surface water that brings organic matter to 600-m deep CWCs. This positive feedback between CWC growth on carbonate mounds and enhanced food supply is essential for their sustenance in the deep sea and represents an example of ecosystem engineering of unparalleled magnitude. This 'topographically-enhanced carbon pump' leaks organic matter that settles at greater depths. The ubiquitous presence of biogenic and geological topographies along ocean margins suggests that carbon sequestration through this pump is of global importance. These results indicate that enhanced stratification and lower surface productivity, both expected consequences of climate change, may negatively impact the energy balance of CWCs. In this data repository, we store the model output as 4 csv files: lon: longitude of each model box lat: latitude of each model box iscoral: a 0/1 matrix indicating whether corals are predicted to be present (1) or absent (0) as returned from the habitat suitability model of Rengstorf et al. (see paper for details) MeanCordepo: a matrix with mean OC deposition rates (mmol C m-2 d-1, averaged over the 3 months of model run, see paper) of the model run with corals present (i.e. the data underlying Fig. 5A).

Description: The Working Group on Fisheries Benthic Impact and Trade-offs (WGFBIT) develops methods and performs assessments to evaluate benthic impact from fisheries at regional scale, while con- sidering fisheries and seabed impact trade-offs. In this report, new fishery benthic impact assessments (ToR A) are shown out for several sub- regions in (French Mediterranean, Celtic Seas). For other regions, updates of the whole assess- ment or specific steps only were presented. To further standardise the different components of the WGFBIT approach across all (sub-)re- gional assessments, a more detail overview of those components was compiled. These compo- nents were slightly different among those regions, related to variation in data availability, envi- ronmental characteristics and implementation possibilities among the (sub-)regions. In WGFBIT, assessments are sometimes based on trawl or grab data, which are sampling differ- ent components of the seafloor ecosystem and can have consequences on the created sensitivity layer. Therefore, there is looked in more detail how the sensitivity outcome (and layers) can dif- fer due to the use of benthic data gathered with different gears (grab/core, trawl or video). The preliminary comparability analyses are performed on different levels: (1) based on co-located sampling; (2) comparing sensitivity maps of the (sub-) area, based on different gears. There were differences observed in longevity distribution at locations sampled with different gears and dif- ferences in data and models lead also to differences in the sensitivity layers. The WGFBIT seafloor assessment framework is not the only way to assess benthic impacts from physical disturbance. A discussion session was held on how the future workflow on advice that ICES WGFBIT assessment contribute to, will be organized. Marine sediments harbour significant levels of biodiversity that play a key role in ecosystem functions and services such as biogeochemical cycling, carbon storage and the regulation of cli- mate. Through the removal of fauna, changes in physico-chemical nature and resuspension of sediment, bottom trawling may result in significant changes in the ecosystem functioning of shelf seas. An assumption of the current PD model is that high community biomass implies higher ecosystem functioning. However, total community biomass does not necessarily reflect changes in species and functional trait composition which play a key role in regulating ecosystem func- tions. ToR D is working on an improved understanding of the link between species functional effect traits and proxies and processes for specific ecosystem functions to improve our ability to predict the impact of fishing disturbance on benthic ecosystem functioning more accurately. Links between species traits and biogeochemical parameters and the impact of trawling on these links are being explored using multivariate ordination analyses using different fauna and bioge- ochemical datasets collected in the North Sea, Celtic Sea, Kattegat, Baltic Sea and the eastern Mediterranean. Changes due to trawling in the trajectories of species densities over time and the concurrent changes in the bioturbation and bioirrigation potential of communities are being modelled using a combination of data-driven mechanistic model and a biogeochemical model. We report on the different data analysis methods that ToR D members have developed over the last year.

Description: ICES

Description: Published

Description: Refereed