The deep-water crustacean and pycnogonid fauna of the Americas in a global context
Schnabel, K.E.; Ahyong, S.T.; Gomez, A.J.; Hendrickx, M.E.; Peart, R.A.; Weston, J.N.J. (2020). The deep-water crustacean and pycnogonid fauna of the Americas in a global context, in: Hendrickx, M.E. Deep-sea pycnogonids and crustaceans of the Americas. pp. 1-24. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58410-8_1
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| Authors | | Top |
- Schnabel, K.E.
- Ahyong, S.T.
- Gomez, A.J.
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- Hendrickx, M.E., more
- Peart, R.A.
- Weston, J.N.J.
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| Abstract |
Uniting arthropods and the deep sea as a research focus allows us to combine the largest habitat on Earth with the most abundant and successful animal group on our planet. To set the stage for this volume, we briefly introduce the deep-sea environment, the history of its exploration and gaps in our knowledge in terms of global distributions of biodiversity, before we discuss the current understanding of the Crustacea and Pycnogonida within the phylum Arthropoda. The ecological context in the deep sea of the Americas is addressed and briefly outlined, including the geological history, biogeographic boundaries, and the effect of a large oxygen minimum zone in the region. Deep-water (>200 m) areas of the Americas represent roughly 72% of the national exclusive economic zones (EEZ) in the west Atlantic Ocean and 86% in the east Pacific Ocean. As in other regions of the world, our knowledge of the diversity and ecology of deep-water arthropod communities of the Americas is still very limited. Comprehensive research programs aimed at exploring the vast offshore areas off the Americas must increase rapidly to study the deep-water fauna before it is substantially, and possibly, irreversibly impacted by human activities and global climate change. |
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