Seamount physiography and biology in the north-east Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea
| Type | Article | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | 2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | English | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Author(s) | Morato T.1, 2, 3, Kvile K. O.1, 2, 3, Taranto G. H.1, 2, 3, Tempera Fernando 1, 2, 3, Narayanaswamy B. E.4, Hebbeln D.5, Menezes G. M.1, 2, 3, Wienberg C.5, Santos R. S.1, 2, 3, Pitcher T. J.1, 2, 3, 6 |
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| Affiliation(s) | 1 : Univ Azores, Ctr IMAR, P-9901382 Horta, Portugal. 2 : Univ Acores, Dept Oceanog & Pescas, P-9901382 Horta, Portugal. 3 : Univ Acores, LARSyS Associated Lab, P-9901382 Horta, Portugal. 4 : Scottish Marine Inst, Scottish Assoc Marine Sci, SAMS, Oban, Argyll, Scotland. 5 : Univ Bremen, Ctr Marine Environm Sci, MARUM, D-28359 Bremen, Germany. 6 : Univ British Columbia, Fisheries Ctr, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9, Canada. |
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| Source | Biogeosciences (1726-4170) (Copernicus Gesellschaft Mbh), 2013 , Vol. 10 , N. 5 , P. 3039-3054 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DOI | 10.5194/bg-10-3039-2013 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| WOS© Times Cited | 40 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Note | Special issue : Deep-sea ecosystems in European seas Editor(s): R. Danovaro, S. Heussner, R. S. Santos, A. Freiwald, A. Boetius, S. van den Hove, J. Middelburg, and P. Weaver | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | This work aims at characterising the seamount physiography and biology in the OSPAR Convention limits (north-east Atlantic Ocean) and Mediterranean Sea. We first inferred potential abundance, location and morphological characteristics of seamounts, and secondly, summarized the existing biological, geological and oceanographic in situ research, identifying examples of well-studied seamounts. Our study showed that the seamount population in the OSPAR area (north-east Atlantic) and in the Mediterranean Sea is large with around 557 and 101 seamount-like features, respectively. Similarly, seamounts occupy large areas of about 616 000 km(2) in the OSPAR region and of about 89 500 km(2) in the Mediterranean Sea. The presence of seamounts in the north-east Atlantic has been known since the late 19th century, but overall knowledge regarding seamount ecology and geology is still relatively poor. Only 37 seamounts in the OSPAR area (3.5% of all seamounts in the region), 22 in the Mediterranean Sea (9.2% of all seamounts in the region) and 25 in the north-east Atlantic south of the OSPAR area have in situ information. Seamounts mapped in both areas are in general very heterogeneous, showing diverse geophysical characteristics. These differences will likely affect the biological diversity and production of resident and associated organisms. |
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