A pioneering longterm experiment on mesophotic macrofouling communities in the North Atlantic.

ABSTRACT: The mesophotic zone represents one of our planet's largest and least explored biomes. An increasing number of studies evidence the importance of macrofouling species in marine ecosystems, but information on these communities and the factors influencing their structures at mesophotic depths remain poor. This lack of understanding limits our ability to predict anthropogenic impacts or conduct restoration operations in the mesophotic and the lower boundary of the euphotic zones. In this study, we performed a 24-month experiment in a natural environment to investigate three factors influencing the macrobenthic community structure of the mesophotic and the euphotic lower boundary: depth, substrate orientation and substrate material. Using a manned submersible, several recruitment panels of two

SUBMITTER: Canning-Clode J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11618506 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature