Deep-sea biodiversity: pattern and scale

TLDR

The deep sea, once thought hostile, is now known to host a rich and diverse fauna across novel habitats, reshaping our understanding of global biodiversity. The authors synthesize patterns and causes of biodiversity among sediment‑dwelling deep‑sea organisms. They map geographic diversity patterns, integrate ecological drivers across time and space, and review molecular genetics to explain evolutionary origins of the unique fauna. Their analysis reveals geographic variation in benthic abundance and biomass, providing insights essential for ecologists and responsible resource exploitation.

Abstract

Frigid, dark, and energy-deprived, the deep sea was long considered hostile to life. However, new sampling technologies and intense international research efforts in recent decades have revealed a remarkably rich fauna and an astonishing variety of novel habitats. These recent discoveries have changed the way we look at global biodiversity. In Deep-Sea Biodiversity, Michael Rex and Ron Etter present the first synthesis of patterns and causes of biodiversity in organisms that dwell in the vast sediment ecosystem that blankets the ocean floor. They provide the most comprehensive analysis to date of geographic variation in benthic animal abundance and biomass. The authors document geographic patterns of deep-sea species diversity and integrate potential ecological causes across scales of time and space. They also review the most recent molecular population genetic evidence to describe how and where evolutionary processes have generated the unique deep-sea fauna. Deep-Sea Biodiversity offers a new understanding of marine biodiversity that will be of general interest to ecologists and is crucial to responsible exploitation of natural resources at the deep-sea floor.