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Baco AR, Ross R, Althaus F, Amon D, Bridges AEH, Brix S, Buhl-Mortensen P, Colaco A, Carreiro-Silva M, Clark MR, Du Preez C, Franken ML, Gianni M, Gonzalez-Mirelis G, Hourigan T, Howell K, Levin LA, Lindsay DJ, Molodtsova TN, Morgan N, Morato T, Mejia-Mercado BE, O’Sullivan D, Pearman T, Price D, Robert K, Robson L, Rowden AA, Taylor J, Taylor M, Victorero L, Watling L, Williams A, Xavier JR, Yesson C. Towards a scientific community consensus on designating Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems from imagery. PeerJ 2023; 11:e16024. [PMID: 37846312 PMCID: PMC10576969 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.16024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/08/2022] [Accepted: 08/13/2023] [Indexed: 10/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Management of deep-sea fisheries in areas beyond national jurisdiction by Regional Fisheries Management Organizations/Arrangements (RFMO/As) requires identification of areas with Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs). Currently, fisheries data, including trawl and longline bycatch data, are used by many RFMO/As to inform the identification of VMEs. However, the collection of such data creates impacts and there is a need to collect non-invasive data for VME identification and monitoring purposes. Imagery data from scientific surveys satisfies this requirement, but there currently is no established framework for identifying VMEs from images. Thus, the goal of this study was to bring together a large international team to determine current VME assessment protocols and establish preliminary global consensus guidelines for identifying VMEs from images. An initial assessment showed a lack of consistency among RFMO/A regions regarding what is considered a VME indicator taxon, and hence variability in how VMEs might be defined. In certain cases, experts agreed that a VME could be identified from a single image, most often in areas of scleractinian reefs, dense octocoral gardens, multiple VME species' co-occurrence, and chemosynthetic ecosystems. A decision flow chart is presented that gives practical interpretation of the FAO criteria for single images. To further evaluate steps of the flow chart related to density, data were compiled to assess whether scientists perceived similar density thresholds across regions. The range of observed densities and the density values considered to be VMEs varied considerably by taxon, but in many cases, there was a statistical difference in what experts considered to be a VME compared to images not considered a VME. Further work is required to develop an areal extent index, to include a measure of confidence, and to increase our understanding of what levels of density and diversity correspond to key ecosystem functions for VME indicator taxa. Based on our results, the following recommendations are made: 1. There is a need to establish a global consensus on which taxa are VME indicators. 2. RFMO/As should consider adopting guidelines that use imagery surveys as an alternative (or complement) to using bycatch and trawl surveys for designating VMEs. 3. Imagery surveys should also be included in Impact Assessments. And 4. All industries that impact the seafloor, not just fisheries, should use imagery surveys to detect and identify VMEs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy R. Baco
- Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States
| | | | | | - Diva Amon
- SpeSeas, D’Abadie, Trinidad and Tobago
- Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California, United States
| | - Amelia E. H. Bridges
- School of Biological and Marine Science, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom
| | - Saskia Brix
- Senckenberg am Meer, German Center for Marine Biodiversity Research (DZMB), Senckenberg Nature Research Society, Hamburg, Germany
| | | | - Ana Colaco
- Okeanos-University of the Azores, Horta, Portugal
| | | | - Malcolm R. Clark
- National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Cherisse Du Preez
- Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Sidney, Canada
- University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
| | | | | | | | - Thomas Hourigan
- National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, Washington, D.C., United States
| | - Kerry Howell
- School of Biological and Marine Science, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom
| | - Lisa A. Levin
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, California, United States
| | - Dhugal J. Lindsay
- Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokosuka, Japan
| | | | - Nicole Morgan
- Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States
| | - Telmo Morato
- Okeanos-University of the Azores, Horta, Portugal
| | - Beatriz E. Mejia-Mercado
- Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, United States
| | | | - Tabitha Pearman
- South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute, Stanley, Falkland Islands
| | - David Price
- Okeanos-University of the Azores, Horta, Portugal
- The National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, United Kingdom
- University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
| | - Katleen Robert
- Fisheries and Marine Institute of Memorial University, St. John’s, Canada
| | - Laura Robson
- Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough, United Kingdom
| | - Ashley A. Rowden
- National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research, Wellington, New Zealand
- Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - James Taylor
- Senckenberg am Meer, German Center for Marine Biodiversity Research (DZMB), Senckenberg Nature Research Society, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Michelle Taylor
- School of Life Sciences, University of Essex, Essex, United Kingdom
| | - Lissette Victorero
- Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Bergen, Norway
- University of Aveiro, CESAM, Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Les Watling
- University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, United States
| | | | - Joana R. Xavier
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- CIIMAR, Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research, CIIMAR, University of Porto, Matsosinhos, Portugal
| | - Chris Yesson
- Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom
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Molodtsova TN, Moskalenko VN, Lipukhin EV, Antokhina TI, Ananeva MS, Simakova UV. Cerianthus lloydii (Ceriantharia: Anthozoa: Cnidaria): New Status and New Perspectives. Biology (Basel) 2023; 12:1167. [PMID: 37759567 PMCID: PMC10525267 DOI: 10.3390/biology12091167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2023] [Revised: 08/02/2023] [Accepted: 08/09/2023] [Indexed: 09/29/2023]
Abstract
Subclass Ceriantharia is a well-defined and probably ancient group of marine benthic organisms renowned for their bilateral symmetry, which is reflected in the arrangement of tentacles and mesenteries. Four species of Ceriantharia have been reported in the Arctic, including Cerianthus lloydii Gosse, 1859, also known from the Northern Atlantic and Northern Pacific. The integrity of this species was questioned in the literature, so we performed a molecular study of C. lloydii from several geographically distant locations using 18S and COI genes. The phylogenetic reconstructions show that specimens of C. lloydii form a single group with high support (>0.98), subdivided into distinctive clades: (1) specimens from Northern Europe, the Black and Barents seas, and (2) specimens from the White, Kara, Laptev, and Bering seas and also the Canadian Arctic and the Labrador Sea available via the BOLD database. There are several BOLD COI sequences of Pachycerianthus borealis (Verrill, 1873), which form a third clade of the C. lloydii group, sister to the European and Arctic clades. Based on low similarity (COI 86-87%) between C. lloydii and the type species of the genus Cerianthus Delle Chiaje, 1841-C. membranaceus (Gmelin, 1791), we propose a new status for the genus Synarachnactis Carlgren, 1924, and a new family Synarachnactidae to accommodate C. lloydii.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tina N. Molodtsova
- Shirshov Institute of Oceanology RAS, 36 Nakhimovsky Prospect, Moscow 117218, Russia
| | | | - Elizabeth V. Lipukhin
- Shirshov Institute of Oceanology RAS, 36 Nakhimovsky Prospect, Moscow 117218, Russia
| | - Tatiana I. Antokhina
- Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution RAS, 33 Leninski Prospect, Moscow 119071, Russia
| | - Marina S. Ananeva
- Shirshov Institute of Oceanology RAS, 36 Nakhimovsky Prospect, Moscow 117218, Russia
| | - Ulyana V. Simakova
- Shirshov Institute of Oceanology RAS, 36 Nakhimovsky Prospect, Moscow 117218, Russia
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Molodtsova TN, Opresko DM, Wagner D. Description of a new and widely distributed species of Bathypathes (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Antipatharia: Schizopathidae) previously misidentified as Bathypathes alternata Brook, 1889. PeerJ 2022; 10:e12638. [PMID: 35186449 PMCID: PMC8833236 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.12638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2021] [Accepted: 11/24/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
For many years an undescribed species of the genus Bathypathes has been misidentified as Bathypathes alternata Brook, 1889 (a species currently re-assigned to the genus Alternatipathes). This new species is rather common at mid- and lower bathyal depths of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, often in areas with high concentrations of commercially valuable cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts, where it was observed in underwater photo and video transects to occur in high densities. Under the name B. alternata this species is recorded in several inventories and databases. There is an urgent need for a formal description of this misidentified and widely distributed species to avoid further confusion. The new species is superficially similar to A. alternata in having a monopodial corallum and simple, bilateral and alternately arranged pinnules. However, it differs from the former in that it has an upright corallum with a straight pinnulated part (vs. a horizontally bent pinnulated part), pinnules of uniform length and density (vs. decreasing regularly distally), and a constant distal angle formed by the pinnules and the stem along different parts of the corallum (vs. a decreasing distal angle near the top). The new species can therefore be easily distinguished from A. alternata in underwater imagery. We formally describe this new species in the genus Bathypathes and assign it the new name B. pseudoalternata. An extensive synonymy list with previous misidentified records is provided. To evaluate the distributional patterns of the new species we review the geographic distribution of antipatharians reported below 800 m. The majority of the hitherto described lower bathyal and abyssal species have been recorded from one biogeographic province; however, 20 species are known from more than two provinces, and only three species are widely distributed (>5 provinces), including the newly described Bathypathes pseudoalternata. Members of the family Schizopathidae, to which the new species belongs, represent the majority of the lower bathyal (50.54%) and abyssal (82.35%) species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tina N. Molodtsova
- P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Dennis M. Opresko
- U.S. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States
| | - Daniel Wagner
- Conservation International, Center for Oceans, Arlington, VA, United States
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Opresko DM, Molodtsova TN. New species of deep-sea Antipatharians from the North Pacific (Cnidaria: Anthozoa: Antipatharia), Part 2. Zootaxa 2021; 4999:401-422. [PMID: 34811337 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4999.5.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2021] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Five new species of deep-sea antipatharian corals are described from the North Pacific primarily collected off the coast of Alaska and on adjacent seamounts. All the species are referred to the family Schizopathidae. Described as new are: Alternatipathes mirabilis, Bathypathes ptiloides, Bathypathes tiburonae, Bathypathes alaskensis, and Parantipathes pluma. Illustrations of the type material of Bathypathes patula, B. patula var. plenispina and B. tenuis are provided for comparative proposes. Bathypathes patula var. plenispina is here recognized as a species distinct from B. patula, and B. tenuis is considered incertae sedis due to the poor condition of the type material.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dennis M Opresko
- Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA..
| | - Tina N Molodtsova
- P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, RAS, 36 Nakhimovsky prospect, Moscow 117997, Russia.
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Smith CR, Tunnicliffe V, Colaço A, Drazen JC, Gollner S, Levin LA, Mestre NC, Metaxas A, Molodtsova TN, Morato T, Sweetman AK, Washburn T, Amon DJ. Environmental Protection Requires Accurate Application of Scientific Evidence. Trends Ecol Evol 2020; 36:14-15. [PMID: 33199049 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2020.10.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2020] [Accepted: 10/26/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Craig R Smith
- Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA.
| | - Verena Tunnicliffe
- Department of Biology and School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8W 2Y2, Canada
| | - Ana Colaço
- Instituto do Mar - Okeanos Research Centre, University of the Azores, 9901-842 Horta, Azores, Portugal
| | - Jeffrey C Drazen
- Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA
| | - Sabine Gollner
- Department of Ocean Systems, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research and Utrecht University, Den Burg, The Netherlands
| | - Lisa A Levin
- Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0218, USA
| | - Nelia C Mestre
- Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIMA), Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal
| | - Anna Metaxas
- Department of Oceanography, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 4R2, Canada
| | - Tina N Molodtsova
- P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117997 Moscow, Russia
| | - Telmo Morato
- Instituto do Mar - Okeanos Research Centre, University of the Azores, 9901-842 Horta, Azores, Portugal
| | - Andrew K Sweetman
- The Lyell Centre for Earth and Marine Science and Technology, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, UK
| | - Travis Washburn
- Department of Oceanography, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA
| | - Diva J Amon
- Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK
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Kolbasov GA, Chan BKK, Molodtsova TN, Achituv Y. Revision of the coral-inhabiting genus Conopea (Cirripedia: Archaeobalanidae) with description of two new species of the genera Conopea and Acasta. Zootaxa 2016; 4178:182-208. [PMID: 27811720 DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4178.2.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2016] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
The morphology of archaeobalanid barnacles of the genera Conopea and Acasta inhabiting cnidarians of the orders Alcyonacea and Antipatharia was surveyed. Based on morphological characteristics, it became evident that the species of the nominal genus Conopea fell into three natural groups affiliated to three archaeobalanid genera, Conopea s.s., Acasta and Solidobalanus. The relationships between the species of Conopea s.l. and those of Acasta inhabiting alcyanaceans are analyzed using a cladistic approach. The barnacles of the genus Conopea s.s. are characterized by a strong, firm shell; the orifice is not dentate; rostral and sometimes carinal plates are often elongated in their basal parts; the rostro-carinal axis of the basis is often elongated and clasps the axis of the host coral; the radii have summits parallel to the basal margin of the parietes, and denticulated sutural margins; the scutum has simple growth ridges without longitudinal striation or ribs; the basitergal angle is truncated (sinusoid); and the basidorsal point of the penis is developed. The genus Conopea s.s. encompasses 20 epizoic species from tropical and temperate seas, inhabiting alcyonaceans (sea fans or gorgonians) and antipatharians. A new species of Conopea and a new species of Acasta are described, and a key to the species of Conopea s.s. is provided.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory A Kolbasov
- White Sea Biological Station, Biological Faculty, Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia.;
| | - Benny K K Chan
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan;
| | - Tina N Molodtsova
- Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan, ; unknown
| | - Yair Achituv
- The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel.;
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