Statistically Classified Marine Epifaunal Bioregions on the Southern Benguela Margin, South Africa.

ABSTRACT: Marine bioregional maps often underpin effective management and conservation planning. Bioregional maps determined by statistical models can predict the most probable bioregion at unsampled locations and have many advantages over expert-derived approaches, such as including measures of uncertainty. Here, we aim to statistically determine and map marine epifaunal bioregions on the Southern Benguela margin of South Africa, including their associated spatial uncertainty, utilising survey collected abundance data (70-800 m). Regions of Common Profile (RCP) models were implemented using the 'ecomix' R package to model and map bioregions of epifaunal assemblages and their environment. Epifaunal abundance data from 46 species collected across 325 sites by research trawl surveys between 2017 and 2

SUBMITTER: Wozniak D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12690162 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature