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Does Presence of a Mid-Ocean Ridge Enhance Biomass and Biodiversity?

Priede, Imants G.; Bergstad, Odd Aksel; Miller, Peter I.; Vecchione, Michael; Gebruk, Andrey; Falkenhaug, Tone; Billett, David S.M.; Craig, Jessica; Dale, Andrew C.; Shields, Mark A.; Tilstone, Gavin H.; Sutton, Tracey T.; Gooday, Andrew J.; Inall, Mark E.; Jones, Daniel O.B.; Martinez-Vicente, Victor; Menezes, Gui M.; Niedzielski, Tomasz; Sigurðsson, Þorsteinn; Rothe, Nina; Rogacheva, Antonina; Alt, Claudia H.S.; Brand, Timothy; Abell, Richard; Brierley, Andrew S.; Cousins, Nicola J.; Crockard, Deborah; Hoelzel, A. Rus; Høines, Åge; Letessier, Tom B.; Read, Jane F.; Shimmield, Tracy; Cox, Martin J.; Galbraith, John K.; Gordon, John D.M.; Horton, Tammy; Neat, Francis; Lorance, Pascal

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Authors

Imants G. Priede

Odd Aksel Bergstad

Peter I. Miller

Michael Vecchione

Andrey Gebruk

Tone Falkenhaug

David S.M. Billett

Jessica Craig

Andrew C. Dale

Mark A. Shields

Gavin H. Tilstone

Tracey T. Sutton

Andrew J. Gooday

Mark E. Inall

Daniel O.B. Jones

Victor Martinez-Vicente

Gui M. Menezes

Tomasz Niedzielski

Þorsteinn Sigurðsson

Nina Rothe

Antonina Rogacheva

Claudia H.S. Alt

Timothy Brand

Richard Abell

Andrew S. Brierley

Nicola J. Cousins

Deborah Crockard

Åge Høines

Tom B. Letessier

Jane F. Read

Tracy Shimmield

Martin J. Cox

John K. Galbraith

John D.M. Gordon

Tammy Horton

Francis Neat

Pascal Lorance



Abstract

In contrast to generally sparse biological communities in open-ocean settings, seamounts and ridges are perceived as areas of elevated productivity and biodiversity capable of supporting commercial fisheries. We investigated the origin of this apparent biological enhancement over a segment of the North Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) using sonar, corers, trawls, traps, and a remotely operated vehicle to survey habitat, biomass, and biodiversity. Satellite remote sensing provided information on flow patterns, thermal fronts, and primary production, while sediment traps measured export flux during 2007–2010. The MAR, 3,704,404 km2 in area, accounts for 44.7% lower bathyal habitat (800–3500 m depth) in the North Atlantic and is dominated by fine soft sediment substrate (95% of area) on a series of flat terraces with intervening slopes either side of the ridge axis contributing to habitat heterogeneity. The MAR fauna comprises mainly species known from continental margins with no evidence of greater biodiversity. Primary production and export flux over the MAR were not enhanced compared with a nearby reference station over the Porcupine Abyssal Plain. Biomasses of benthic macrofauna and megafauna were similar to global averages at the same depths totalling an estimated 258.9 kt C over the entire lower bathyal north MAR. A hypothetical flat plain at 3500 m depth in place of the MAR would contain 85.6 kt C, implying an increase of 173.3 kt C attributable to the presence of the Ridge. This is approximately equal to 167 kt C of estimated pelagic biomass displaced by the volume of the MAR. There is no enhancement of biological productivity over the MAR; oceanic bathypelagic species are replaced by benthic fauna otherwise unable to survive in the mid ocean. We propose that globally sea floor elevation has no effect on deep sea biomass; pelagic plus benthic biomass is constant within a given surface productivity regime.

Citation

Priede, I. G., Bergstad, O. A., Miller, P. I., Vecchione, M., Gebruk, A., Falkenhaug, T., …Lorance, P. (2013). Does Presence of a Mid-Ocean Ridge Enhance Biomass and Biodiversity?. PLoS ONE, 8(5), Article e61550. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0061550

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 11, 2013
Online Publication Date May 2, 2013
Publication Date May 2, 2013
Deposit Date May 15, 2018
Publicly Available Date May 15, 2018
Journal PLoS ONE
Publisher Public Library of Science
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 8
Issue 5
Article Number e61550
DOI https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0061550

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
© 2013 Priede et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.





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