Biodiversity, biogeography, and connectivity of polychaetes in the world's largest marine minerals exploration frontier

Autor: Eva C. D. Stewart, Guadalupe Bribiesca‐Contreras, Sergi Taboada, Helena Wiklund, Ascensão Ravara, Ellen Pape, Bart De Smet, Lenka Neal, Marina R. Cunha, Daniel O. B. Jones, Craig R. Smith, Adrian G. Glover, Thomas G. Dahlgren
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2023
Předmět:
Popis: [Aim]: The abyssal Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), Pacific Ocean, is an area of commercial importance owing to the growing interest in mining high-grade polymetallic nodules at the seafloor for battery metals. Research into the spatial patterns of faunal diversity, composition, and population connectivity is needed to better understand the ecological impacts of potential resource extraction. Here, a DNA taxonomy approach is used to investigate regional-scale patterns of taxonomic and phylogenetic alpha and beta diversity, and genetic connectivity, of the dominant macrofaunal group (annelids) across a 6 million km2 region of the abyssal seafloor.
[Location]: The abyssal seafloor (3932–5055 m depth) of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, equatorial Pacific Ocean.
[Methods]: We used a combination of new and published barcode data to study 1866 polychaete specimens using molecular species delimitation. Both phylogenetic and taxonomic alpha and beta diversity metrics were used to analyse spatial patterns of biodiversity. Connectivity analyses were based on haplotype distributions for a subset of the studied taxa.
[Results]: DNA taxonomy identified 291–314 polychaete species from the COI and 16S datasets respectively. Taxonomic and phylogenetic beta diversity between sites were relatively high and mostly explained by lineage turnover. Over half of pairwise comparisons were more phylogenetically distinct than expected based on their taxonomic diversity. Connectivity analyses in abundant, broadly distributed taxa suggest an absence of genetic structuring driven by geographical location.
[Main Conclusions]: Species diversity in abyssal Pacific polychaetes is high relative to other deep-sea regions. Results suggest that environmental filtering, where the environment selects against certain species, may play a significant role in regulating spatial patterns of biodiversity in the CCZ. A core group of widespread species have diverse haplotypes but are well connected over broad distances. Our data suggest that the high environmental and faunal heterogeneity of the CCZ should be considered in future policy decisions.
This research was supported by funding from UK Seabed Resources Ltd to the ABYSSLINE project (Lead PI C. R. Smith) and the Natural Environmental Research Council grants NE/S007210/1 and 'SMARTEX - Seabed Mining and Resilience to experimental Impact' NE/T002913/1, with additional support from the JPI-Oceans programme (Swedish Research Council FORMAS grant # 210-2014-1737 and The Norwegian Research Council for JPIO MiningImpact II grant #290931), and Portuguese funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, within the special support to the pilot action “Ecological aspects of deep-sea mining”. Financial support was also provided by FCT/MCTES to CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020+UIDB/50017/2020+LA/P/0094/2020) and its team through national funds. ECDS was also funded by the Natural Environmental Research Grant NE/S007210/1. AR was funded by national funds (OE), through FCT, I.P., in the scope of the framework contract foreseen in the numbers 4, 5 and 6 of the article 23, of the Decree-Law 57/2016, of August 29, changed by Law 57/2017, of July 19. ST received funding from the grant PID2020-117115GA-100 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/50110001103 and from the grant PID2020-117115GA-100 funded by the MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the Ramón y Cajal grant RYC2021-03152-I, funded by the MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union «NextGenerationEU»/PRTR». EP and BDS were funded by a service agreement between Ghent University and Global Sea Mineral Resources NV.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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