Frontiers | The First Cut Is the Deepest: Trawl Effects on a Deep-Sea Sponge Ground Are Pronounced Four Years on
1Department of Oceanography and Fisheries, University of the Azores, Horta, Portugal 2Department of Biological Sciences and K.G. Jebsen Centre for Deep-Sea Research, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway Few studies have described the effects of physical disturbance and post-recovery of deep-sea benthic communities. Here, we explore the status of deep-sea sponge ground communities four years after being impacted by an experimental bottom trawl. The diversity and abundance of epibenthic megafauna of two distinct benthic communities in disturbed versus control areas were surveyed using a remotel...
Source: frontiersin.org