National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR), Dona Paula, Goa, India.
PLoS One. 2011 Jan 31;6(1):e16162. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0016162.
Species rich benthic communities have been reported from some seamounts, predominantly from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, but the fauna and habitats on Indian Ocean seamounts are still poorly known. This study focuses on two seamounts, a submarine volcano (cratered seamount--CSM) and a non-volcano (SM2) in the Andaman Back-arc Basin (ABB), and the basin itself. The main purpose was to explore and generate regional biodiversity data from summit and flank (upper slope) of the Andaman seamounts for comparison with other seamounts worldwide. We also investigated how substratum types affect the megafaunal community structure along the ABB. Underwater video recordings from TeleVision guided Gripper (TVG) lowerings were used to describe the benthic community structure along the ABB and both seamounts. We found 13 varieties of substratum in the study area. The CSM has hard substratum, such as boulders and cobbles, whereas the SM2 was dominated by cobbles and fine sediment. The highest abundance of megabenthic communities was recorded on the flank of the CSM. Species richness and diversity were higher at the flank of the CSM than other are of ABB. Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (nMDS) analysis of substratum types showed 50% similarity between the flanks of both seamounts, because both sites have a component of cobbles mixed with fine sediments in their substratum. Further, nMDS of faunal abundance revealed two groups, each restricted to one of the seamounts, suggesting faunal distinctness between them. The sessile fauna corals and poriferans showed a significant positive relation with cobbles and fine sediments substratum, while the mobile categories echinoderms and arthropods showed a significant positive relation with fine sediments only.
报告称，一些海山拥有丰富的底栖生物群落，主要分布在大西洋和太平洋，但印度洋海山的动物群和栖息地仍知之甚少。本研究聚焦于安达曼弧后盆地（ABB）中的两个海山，一个是海底火山（火山口海山-CSM），另一个是非火山（SM2），以及盆地本身。主要目的是从安达曼海山的山顶和侧翼（上斜坡）探索和生成区域性生物多样性数据，以便与世界其他海山进行比较。我们还研究了基质类型如何影响 ABB 沿线的大型动物群落结构。使用电视引导抓斗（TVG）下放的水下视频记录来描述 ABB 和两个海山沿线的底栖生物群落结构。我们在研究区域发现了 13 种基质类型。CSM 具有硬基质，如巨石和卵石，而 SM2 则以卵石和细沉积物为主。CM 侧翼的大型底栖生物群落丰度最高。CSM 侧翼的物种丰富度和多样性高于 ABB 的其他区域。基质类型的非度量多维标度（nMDS）分析显示，两个海山的侧翼之间有 50%的相似性，因为这两个地点的基质都有一部分卵石与细沉积物混合。此外，faunal abundance 的 nMDS 揭示了两组，每组都局限于一个海山，这表明它们之间的动物群有明显的区别。固着动物群珊瑚和多孔动物与卵石和细沉积物基质呈显著正相关，而移动动物群棘皮动物和节肢动物与细沉积物呈显著正相关。
