The southernmost Errina antarctica hydrocoral savannah in Patagonian waters

Marine animal forest (MAF) are animal-dominated megabenthic communities that support high biodiversity levels and play key roles in ecosystem functioning. However, there is limited data available in Patagonian waters related to the presence of these vulnerable benthic communities. We report a monosp...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2024-04, Vol.14 (1), p.9579-9579, Article 9579
Main Authors: De la Torriente, Ana, Espinoza-León, Ingrid M., Valenzuela-Lobos, Lorena A., Antolinez, Ana, Serrano, Alberto
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/158/670
631/158/672
704/829/826
Animals
Antarctic Regions
Aquatic Organisms - physiology
Benthic communities
Biodiversity
Calcification
Colonies
Ecological function
Ecosystem
Ecosystems
Environmental conditions
Forests
Geographical distribution
Grassland
Habitats
Humanities and Social Sciences
Invertebrates
Invertebrates - classification
Invertebrates - physiology
Islands
multidisciplinary
Oceans
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Species diversity
Species richness
Wildlife conservation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Marine animal forest (MAF) are animal-dominated megabenthic communities that support high biodiversity levels and play key roles in ecosystem functioning. However, there is limited data available in Patagonian waters related to the presence of these vulnerable benthic communities. We report a monospecific MAF of Errina antartica in Angostura Tomms, which represents the southernmost known living MAF of this species. With coverages reaching up to 28.5% of the substrate from 1.23 m to, at least, 33 m depth is the shallowest stylasterid assemblage described worldwide to date. The size of the colonies ranged from 0.14 to 15.8 cm, with small colonies (
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-024-60207-2