Sciences Department, Museum Victoria, Melbourne 3001, Australia.
Curr Biol. 2011 Feb 8;21(3):226-30. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2011.01.002. Epub 2011 Jan 20.
The large-scale spatial distribution of seafloor fauna is still poorly understood. In particular, the bathyal zone has been identified as the key depth stratum requiring further macroecological research, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere. Here we analyze a large biological data set derived from 295 research expeditions, across an equator-to-pole sector of the Indian, Pacific, and Southern oceans, to show that the bathyal ophiuroid fauna is distributed in three broad latitudinal bands and not primarily differentiated by oceanic basins as previously assumed. Adjacent faunas form transitional ecoclines rather than biogeographical breaks. This pattern is similar to that in shallow water despite the order-of-magnitude reduction in the variability of environmental parameters at bathyal depths. A reliable biogeography is fundamental to establishing a representative network of marine reserves across the world's oceans.
海底动物的大规模空间分布仍然知之甚少。特别是深海区被确定为需要进一步进行宏观生态学研究的关键深度层，尤其是在南半球。在这里，我们分析了一个源自 295 次研究考察的大型生物数据集，这些考察覆盖了印度洋、太平洋和南大洋的从赤道到极地的扇区，结果表明深海蛇尾动物群分布在三个宽阔的纬度带，而不是像以前假设的那样主要由海洋盆地来区分。相邻的动物群形成过渡的生态渐变群，而不是生物地理上的间断。尽管在深海深度环境参数的可变性呈数量级降低，但这种模式与浅水区的模式相似。可靠的生物地理学对于在世界海洋中建立一个具有代表性的海洋保护区网络是至关重要的。
