Hotspots for rockfishes, structural corals, and large-bodied sponges along the central coast of Pacific Canada.

ABSTRACT: Biological hotspots are places with outstanding biodiversity features, and their delineation is essential to the design of marine protected areas (MPAs). For the Central Coast of Canada's Northern Shelf Bioregion, where an MPA network is being developed, we identified hotspots for structural corals and large-bodied sponges, which are foundation species vulnerable to bottom contact fisheries, and for Sebastidae, a fish family which includes species that are long-lived (> 100 years), overexploited, evolutionary distinctive, and at high trophic levels. Using 11 years of survey data that spanned from inland fjords to oceanic waters, we derived hotspot indices that accounted for species characteristics and abundances and examined hotspot distribution across depths and oceanographic subregions.

SUBMITTER: Frid A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8578610 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature