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Macrobenthic animal assemblages of the continental margin off Chile (22° to 42°S)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2005

Maritza Palma
Affiliation:
Programa de Doctorado en Ciencias Biológicas, Departamento de Zoología, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile Centro de Investigación Oceanográfica en el Pacífico Sur-Oriental (COPAS), Departamento de Oceanografía, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile
Eduardo Quiroga
Affiliation:
Programa Doctorado Oceanografía, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile
Victor A. Gallardo
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigación Oceanográfica en el Pacífico Sur-Oriental (COPAS), Departamento de Oceanografía, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile
Wolf Arntz
Affiliation:
Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstrasse D-27568, Bremerhaven, Germany
Dieter Gerdes
Affiliation:
Alfred-Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstrasse D-27568, Bremerhaven, Germany
Wolfgang Schneider
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigación Oceanográfica en el Pacífico Sur-Oriental (COPAS), Departamento de Oceanografía, Universidad de Concepción, Casilla 160-C, Concepción, Chile
Dierk Hebbeln
Affiliation:
Geowissenschaften, Universitat Bremen, Postfach 330440, D-28334 Bremen, Germany

Abstract

A quantitative study of macrobenthos was carried out on three transects on the shelf and continental slope off Chile (22° to 42°S; from 100 to 2000 m water depth) within and beneath the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ). Macrobenthos mean densities ranged from 104 to 13 808 ind m−2, with highest values off Concepción (∼36°S), where highest chloroplastic pigment equivalents were also measured. Polychaetes were the numerically dominant group in all transects and depths, followed by peracarid crustaceans. Species richness and diversity correlated with observed changes in bottom-water oxygen concentrations and sediment-bound pigments. Our results show that the shelf macrobenthic communities were negatively affected by low oxygen. The non-metric multidimensional scaling (nMDS) analysis evidenced depth-related station groups which may be related to the different environments provided by the water masses involved. Indeed, the depth ranges of stations groups with their specific species inventories coincide quite well with the boundaries of the three important water masses in the region, the Equatorial Subsurface Water (∼50 m to ∼400 m depth), the Antarctic Intermediate Water (∼400 to ∼1200 m depth), and the Pacific Deep Water (>1200 m depth).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
2005 Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom

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