Functional, size and taxonomic diversity of fish along a depth gradient in the deep sea.

ABSTRACT: Biodiversity is well studied in ecology and the concept has been developed to include traits of species, rather than solely taxonomy, to better reflect the functional diversity of a system. The deep sea provides a natural environmental gradient within which to study changes in different diversity metrics, but traits of deep-sea fish are not widely known, hampering the application of functional diversity to this globally important system. We used morphological traits to determine the functional richness and functional divergence of demersal fish assemblages along the continental slope in the Northeast Atlantic, at depths of 300-2,000 m. We compared these metrics to size diversity based on individual body size and species richness. Functional richness and size diversity showed similar patter

SUBMITTER: Mindel BL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5028789 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature