Marine biodiversity from zero to a thousand meters at Clipperton Atoll (Île de La Passion), Tropical Eastern Pacific

Alan M Friedlander; Jonatha Giddens; Enric Ballesteros; Shmulik Blum; Eric K Brown; Jennifer E Caselle; Bradley Henning; Christian Jost; Pelayo Salinas-de-León; Enric Sala

doi:10.7717/peerj.7279

Marine biodiversity from zero to a thousand meters at Clipperton Atoll (Île de La Passion), Tropical Eastern Pacific

PeerJ. 2019 Jul 16:7:e7279. doi: 10.7717/peerj.7279. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Alan M Friedlander^{1

2}, Jonatha Giddens^{1

2}, Enric Ballesteros³, Shmulik Blum⁴, Eric K Brown^{5

6}, Jennifer E Caselle⁷, Bradley Henning⁸, Christian Jost⁹, Pelayo Salinas-de-León^{1

10}, Enric Sala¹

Affiliations

¹ Pristine Seas, National Geographic Society, Washington, DC, United States of America.
² Fisheries Ecology Research Lab, University of Hawai'i, Honolulu, Hawai'i, United States of America.
³ Centre d'Estudis Avançats de Blanes-CSIC, Blanes, Girona, Spain.
⁴ DeepSee, UnderSea Hunter Group, San José, Costa Rica.
⁵ Kalaupapa National Historic Park, US National Park Service, Kalaupapa, HI, USA.
⁶ National Park of American Samoa, US National Park Service, Pago Pago, American Samoa.
⁷ Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, United States of America.
⁸ Exploration Technology, National Geographic Society, Washington, DC, United States of America.
⁹ Université de la Polynésie Française, Papeete, Tahiti, Polynésie Française.
¹⁰ Charles Darwin Research Station, Charles Darwin Foundation, Puerto Ayora, Galápagos, Ecuador.

Abstract

Clipperton Atoll (Île de La Passion) is the only atoll in the Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) ecoregion and, owing to its isolation, possesses several endemic species and is likely an important stepping stone between Oceania, the remainder of the TEP, including other oceanic islands and the west coast of Central America. We describe the biodiversity at this remote atoll from shallow water to depths greater than one thousand meters using a mixture of technologies (SCUBA, stereo baited remote underwater video stations, manned submersible, and deep-sea drop cameras). Seventy-four unique taxa of invertebrates were identified during our expedition. The majority (70%) of these taxa were confined to the top 400 m and consisted mostly of sessile organisms. Decapod crustaceans and black corals (Antipatharia) had the broadest depth ranges, 100-1,497 m and 58-967 m, respectively. Decapods were correlated with the deepest depths, while hard corals were correlated with the shallow depths. There were 96 different fish taxa from 41 families and 15 orders, of which 70% were restricted to depths <200 m. While there was a decreasing trend in richness for both fish and invertebrate taxa with depth, these declines were not linear across the depth gradient. Instead, peaks in richness at ∼200 m and ∼750 m coincided with high turnover due to the appearance of new taxa and disappearance of other taxa within the community and is likely associated with the strong oxygen minimum zone that occurs within the region. The overall depth effect was stronger for fishes compared with invertebrates, which may reflect ecological preferences or differences in taxonomic resolution among groups. The creation of a no-take marine reserve 12 nautical miles around the atoll in 2016 will help conserve this unique and relatively intact ecosystem, which possesses high predator abundance.

Keywords: Clipperton Atoll; Coral reefs; Deep sea; Depth gradients; Marine biodiversity; Marine reserve; Mesophotic reefs; Oxygen minimum zone; Tropical Eastern Pacific; Île de La Passion.

Grants and funding

This work was supported with funding from The Brooks Foundation, The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment, The Case Foundation, Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, Davidoff, The Don Quixote Foundation, Roger and Rosemary Enrico Foundation, Helmsley Charitable Trust, Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic Fund, Philip Stephenson Foundation, Vicki and Roger Sant, The Waitt Foundation, and The National Geographic Society. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.