School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2011 Jan 25;6(1):e16153. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016153.
Seamounts are unique deep-sea features that create habitats thought to have high levels of endemic fauna, productive fisheries and benthic communities vulnerable to anthropogenic impacts. Many seamounts are isolated features, occurring in the high seas, where access is limited and thus biological data scarce. There are numerous seamounts within the Drake Passage (Southern Ocean), yet high winds, frequent storms and strong currents make seafloor sampling particularly difficult. As a result, few attempts to collect biological data have been made, leading to a paucity of information on benthic habitats or fauna in this area, particularly those on primarily hard-bottom seamounts and ridges. During a research cruise in 2008 six locations were examined (two on the Antarctic margin, one on the Shackleton Fracture Zone, and three on seamounts within the Drake Passage), using a towed camera with onboard instruments to measure conductivity, temperature, depth and turbidity. Dominant fauna and bottom type were categorized from 200 randomized photos from each location. Cold-water corals were present in high numbers in habitats both on the Antarctic margin and on the current swept seamounts of the Drake Passage, though the diversity of orders varied. Though the Scleractinia (hard corals) were abundant on the sedimented margin, they were poorly represented in the primarily hard-bottom areas of the central Drake Passage. The two seamount sites and the Shackleton Fracture Zone showed high numbers of stylasterid (lace) and alcyonacean (soft) corals, as well as large numbers of sponges. Though data are preliminary, the geological and environmental variability (particularly in temperature) between sample sites may be influencing cold-water coral biogeography in this region. Each area observed also showed little similarity in faunal diversity with other sites examined for this study within all phyla counted. This manuscript highlights how little is understood of these isolated features, particularly in Polar regions.
海山是独特的深海特征，它们形成的生境被认为具有高度特有的动物群、多产的渔业和容易受到人为影响的海底生物群落。许多海山是孤立的特征，位于公海，那里的进入受到限制，因此生物数据稀缺。德雷克海峡（南大洋）内有许多海山，但大风、频繁的风暴和强流使得海底采样特别困难。因此，很少有尝试收集生物数据的情况，导致该地区的海底生境或动物群信息匮乏，特别是那些主要是硬底海山和海脊的生境或动物群。在 2008 年的一次研究航行中，在六个地点进行了检查（两个在南极边缘，一个在沙克尔顿断裂带，三个在德雷克海峡内的海山），使用带有 onboard 仪器的拖曳式相机来测量电导率、温度、深度和浊度。从每个地点的 200 张随机照片中对优势动物群和底部类型进行了分类。冷水珊瑚在南极边缘和当前冲刷的德雷克海峡海山的生境中数量众多，尽管Orders 的多样性有所不同。虽然石珊瑚（硬珊瑚）在沉积边缘丰富，但它们在德雷克海峡中部主要硬底地区的代表性较差。两个海山地点和沙克尔顿断裂带显示出大量的 Stylasteridae（ Lace 珊瑚）和 Alcyonacea（软珊瑚），以及大量的海绵。尽管数据是初步的，但样本地点之间的地质和环境变化（特别是温度）可能会影响该地区冷水珊瑚的生物地理学。观察到的每个区域与本研究中其他检查的其他地点的所有门的动物群多样性都几乎没有相似性。本文强调了人们对这些孤立特征的了解甚少，特别是在极地地区。
