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Deep-Sea Faunal Zonation of Benthos along Beaufort-Bermuda Transect in the North-western Atlantic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

Robert Y. George  and
Robert J. Menzies
Robert Y. George
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 32306, USA
Robert J. Menzies
Affiliation:
Department of Oceanography, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, 32306, USA
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Synopsis

In this paper the subject of faunal zonation in the ocean floor from the intertidal, and over the continental shelf, slope and rise and to the abyssal plain is examined on the basis of faunal change at the generic and species level. The region investigated over a period of five years aboard R/V Eastward is a Beaufort-Bermuda transect, approximately 75 kilometres wide and 500 kilometres long and bounded between 32° and 36°N latitude and 64° and 79°W longitude. A new method, involving numerical indices reflecting changes in the composition of taxa, endemism and diversity between adjacent depth levels, was developed for defining faunal boundaries. Isotherms and isobaths utilised by earlier authors for characterising deep-sea boundary on a global scale do not coincide with natural faunal boundaries. This study analyses the vertical distribution of 128 species of isopod crustaceans and 28 species of large epibenthic invertebrates. The zonation patterns seem to correspond with correlations in environmental conditions such as currents, topography and sediments.

We suggest four major vertical faunal provinces, characterised at the generic level, namely (1) the Intertidal Faunal Province; (2) the Shelf Faunal Province; (3) the Archibenthal Zone of Transition; and (4) the Abyssal Faunal Province and internal zones within these characterised at the species level. The main aspects of interest include the presence of a narrow ‘meso abyssal zone’ with a species maximum, the demonstration of the true transitional nature of the Archibenthal Zone in biotic and abiotic factors and the characteristic low-biomass Red Clay environment showing definite faunal isolation from the continental margin.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 73: Challenger Expedition Centenary Proceedings 2 , 1972 , pp. 183 - 194
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1972

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