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First insights into the biodiversity and biogeography of the Southern Ocean deep sea

Nature volume 447, pages 307–311 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Shallow marine benthic communities around Antarctica show high levels of endemism, gigantism, slow growth, longevity and late maturity, as well as adaptive radiations that have generated considerable biodiversity in some taxa1. The deeper parts of the Southern Ocean exhibit some unique environmental features, including a very deep continental shelf2 and a weakly stratified water column, and are the source for much of the deep water in the world ocean. These features suggest that deep-sea faunas around the Antarctic may be related both to adjacent shelf communities and to those in other oceans. Unlike shallow-water Antarctic benthic communities, however, little is known about life in this vast deep-sea region2,3. Here, we report new data from recent sampling expeditions in the deep Weddell Sea and adjacent areas (748–6,348 m water depth) that reveal high levels of new biodiversity; for example, 674 isopods species, of which 585 were new to science. Bathymetric and biogeographic trends varied between taxa. In groups such as the isopods and polychaetes, slope assemblages included species that have invaded from the shelf. In other taxa, the shelf and slope assemblages were more distinct. Abyssal faunas tended to have stronger links to other oceans, particularly the Atlantic, but mainly in taxa with good dispersal capabilities, such as the Foraminifera. The isopods, ostracods and nematodes, which are poor dispersers, include many species currently known only from the Southern Ocean. Our findings challenge suggestions that deep-sea diversity is depressed in the Southern Ocean and provide a basis for exploring the evolutionary significance of the varied biogeographic patterns observed in this remote environment.

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Figure 1: Station map.
Figure 2: Selected important ANDEEP taxa.
Figure 3: Isopod phylogenetic relationships and multiple colonizations of the deep sea.
Figure 4: Phylogenetic relationships of deep-sea foraminifera.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support for the ANDEEP I–III expeditions was provided by the German Science Foundation. We are also grateful for support from the Swiss National Science Foundation and UK Natural Environment Research Council. S.N.B. received financial support from the DAAD, CAPES, Scar and Synthesys. We thank L. Excoffier, J. Fahrni, J. Guiard, D. Longet and B. Lecroq for help in obtaining the foraminiferal sequence data. We are grateful to D. Fütterer, chief scientist on Polarstern cruise ANT XIX/3-4, and E. Fahrbach, chief scientist on Polarstern cruise ANT XXII/3, and to the captain and crew of RV Polarstern, for help on board. The DZMB is thanked for financial support of sorting animals from samples and for a research grant for F. Kavanagh, who kindly identified the ANDEEP III Ischnomesidae (Isopoda) and compared these with those species from ANDEEP I and II. We are grateful to many colleagues for constant help on board, helpful and stimulating discussions, and comments, which improved the manuscript. This is ANDEEP publication no. 85 and CAML publication no. 6. This publication also contributes to the CoML field project CeDAMar.

Author Contributions A.B. and A.J.G. assembled and wrote most of the text and were responsible for the theory. J.H. contributed to sedimentology and B. Diaz to sediment analysis, bioturbation and megafauna visible in underwater images. B. Danis and D.C.G. worked on archaebacteria. Foraminiferal data are from N.C., T.C., A.J.G. and J.P.; J.P. was responsible for the molecular work on the Foraminifera. I.D.M. and A.V. delivered the data for Nematoda. A.B., S.B., W.B., M.C., S.K. and M.M. were responsible for the isopod analysis, M.R. was mainly responsible for the molecular isopod data. S.N.B. was responsible for the Ostracoda, B.E. for the Polychaetes, K.L. for the Mollusca and D.J. for the Porifera analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zoological Museum Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146 Hamburg, Germany,

    Angelika Brandt, Simone N. Brandão, Saskia Brix, Wiebke Brökeland, Madhumita Choudhury & Stefanie Kaiser

  2. National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK,

    Andrew J. Gooday & Nils Cornelius

  3. Department of Marine Ecology, University of Åarhus, Finlandsgade 14, 8200 Århus N, Denmark,

    Tomas Cedhagen

  4. Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, 29 Rue Vautier, 1000 Brussels, Belgium,

    Bruno Danis

  5. Biology Department, Marine Biology Section, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281/S8, 9000 Ghent, Belgium,

    Ilse De Mesel & Ann Vanreusel

  6. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062, USA,

    Robert J. Diaz

  7. Marine Biology Laboratory, CP160/15, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 Avenue Roosevelt, 1050 Brussels, Belgium,

    David C. Gillan

  8. Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg, DZMB-CeDAMar, c/o Forschungsmuseum König, Adenauerallee 160, 53113 Bonn, Germany,

    Brigitte Ebbe

  9. Scottish Association for Marine Science, Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory, Dunbeg, Oban, Argyll PA37 1QA, UK,

    John A. Howe

  10. Forschungs und Naturmuseum Senckenberg, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany,

    Dorte Janussen

  11. British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environmental Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0ET, UK,

    Katrin Linse

  12. Institute of Marine Biology, FEB RAS, Palchevskogo, 17, 690041 Vladivostok, Russia,

    Marina Malyutina

  13. Department of Zoology & Animal Biology, University of Geneva, 30 Quai Ernest Ansermet, CH 1211 Genève 4, Switzerland,

    Jan Pawlowski

  14. Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätstrasse 150, 44780 Bochum, Germany,

    Michael Raupach

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  1. Angelika Brandt
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Angelika Brandt.

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Supplementary Information

This file contains Supplementary Methods, Supplementary Discussion, Supplementary Tables 1-5, Supplementary Figures 1-5 with Legends and additional references. (PDF 4387 kb)

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Brandt, A., Gooday, A., Brandão, S. et al. First insights into the biodiversity and biogeography of the Southern Ocean deep sea. Nature 447, 307–311 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05827

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