M3.3 Abyssal plains

M3. Deep sea floors biome

M3

Profile summary

Full profile at https://global-ecosystems.org/explore/groups/M3.3

Brief description

These ecosystems on the very deep seafloors (3000-6000m) of all oceans support a low biomass but high diversity of small invertebrates and microbes, along with larger crustaceans, demersal fish and echinoderms like starfish. Tracks and burrows of larger organisms in fine sediments that may be up to thousands of metres thick, structure habitat for smaller invertebrates. The absence of light, scarcity of food, and extreme hydrostatic pressures limit the density and biomass of organisms as well as the interactions among them. Inaccessible and little known, exploration of these ecosystems continue to reveal large numbers of species new to science.

Key features

Largest benthic heterotrophic system, mostly of fine sediment, supporing high biodiversity of small organisms (microbes, meio- and macro-fauna).

Overview of distribution

Seafloor between 3000 and 6000 m depth.

Map description

Major occurrences of Abyssal plains was based on the ‘plains’ and ‘hills’ classes within the abyssal geomorphic unit of Harris et al. (2014b). Occurrences were converted to 30 arc second spatial resolution..

Map code and version: M3.3.web.orig v1.0. DOI

Version history

Profile versions

  • v2.1 (2022-04-06): E Ramirez-Llodra; IG Priede; DA Keith.1
  • v2.01 (NA): NA.
  • v2.0 (2020-05-28): E Ramirez-Llodra; IG Priede; DA Keith.
  • v1.0 (2020-01-20): E Ramirez-Llodra; DA Keith.

Available maps

Read more details about the current map versions here.

  • Indicative Map (code: M3.3.IM.orig, version v1.0)
  • Web navigation (code: M3.3.web.orig, version v1.0)

Read more details about older or alternative versions of maps for this functional group.

  • Web navigation: in preparation (code: M3.3.WM.nwx, version v1.0)

References

Main references

References used in the different versions of the profiles.

  • Smith CR, De Leo FC, Bernardino AF, Sweetman AK, Martinez Arbizu P (2008) Abyssal food limitation, ecosystem structure and climate change Trends in Ecology and Evolution 23: 518-528 DOI:10.1016/j.tree.2008.05.002

Map references

References used in the different versions of the maps (current and discarded).

  • Harris PT, Macmillan-Lawler M, Rupp J, Baker EK (2014) Geomorphology of the oceans. Marine Geology 352: 4-24. 10.1016/j.margeo.2014.01.011

Footnotes

  1. This is the current version available at official site.↩︎