Dynamics of the Continental Slope Demersal Fish Community in the Colombian Caribbean – Deep-Sea Research in the Caribbean
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Andrea Polanco Fernández Dynamics of the continental slope demersal fish community in the Colombian Caribbean – Deep-sea research in the Caribbean DYNAMICS OF THE CONTINENTAL SLOPE DEMERSAL FISH COMMUNITY IN THE COLOMBIAN CARIBBEAN Deep-sea research in the Caribbean by Andrea Polanco F. A Dissertation Submitted to the DEPARTMENT OF MINES (Universidad Nacional de Colombia) and the DEPARTMENT OF BIOLOGY & CHEMISTRY (Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany) in Fulfillment of the Requirements for obtaining the Degree of DOCTOR IN MARINE SCIENCES at UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE COLOMBIA (UNal) and DOCTOR RER. NAT. at THE JUSTUS-LIEBIG-UNIVERSITY GIESSEN (UniGiessen) 2015 Deans: Prof. Dr. John William Branch Bedoya (Unal) Prof. Dr. Holger Zorn (UniGiessen) Advisors: Prof. Dr. Arturo Acero Pizarro (Unal) Prof. Dr. Thomas Wilke (UniGiessen) Andrea Polanco F. (2014) Dynamics of the continental slope demersal fish community in the Colombian Caribbean - Deep-sea research in the Caribbean. This dissertation has been submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for a cotutelled advanced degree at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNal) and the Justus Liebig University of Giessen adviced by Professor Arturo Acero (UNal) and Professor Thomas Wilke (UniGiessen). A mi familia y al mar… mi vida! To my family and to the sea….. my life! Después de esto, jamás volveré a mirar el mar de la misma manera… Ahora, como un pez en el agua… rodeado de inmensidad y libertad. After this, I will never look again the sea in the same way Now, as a fish in the sea… surounded of inmensity and freedom. TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................................. I TABLE OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................................... III LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................................... IV LIST OF ANNEXES ....................................................................................................................................... V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................. VI ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................... 7 RESUMEN ..................................................................................................................................................... 9 1. RATIONALE ........................................................................................................................................ 11 2. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................. 13 3. OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESES .................................................................................................... 17 4. STUDY AREA ..................................................................................................................................... 18 5. CHAPTER I: Comprehensive assessment of Colombian Caribbean deep-sea demersal fish diversity below 200 m ................................................................................................................................................. 22 5.1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 22 5.2. MATERIALS AND METHODS ..................................................................................................... 24 5.3. RESULTS .................................................................................................................................... 26 5.4. DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................... 32 6. CHAPTER II: Structure patterns of the deep-sea demersal fish fauna of the continental slope of the Colombian Caribbean .................................................................................................................................. 36 6.1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 36 6.2. MATERIALS AND METHODS ..................................................................................................... 39 6.2.1. Sampling strategy ................................................................................................................ 39 6.2.2. Multivariate statistical analyses ............................................................................................ 41 6.3. RESULTS .................................................................................................................................... 43 6.3.1. Distribution patterns ............................................................................................................. 43 6.3.2. Species composition and indicator species .......................................................................... 46 6.4. DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................... 50 I 7. CHAPTER III: Spatial description of demersal fish biodiversity patterns within the Colombian Caribbean continental slope. ........................................................................................................................ 55 7.1. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 55 7.2. MATERIALS AND METHODS ..................................................................................................... 57 7.3. RESULTS .................................................................................................................................... 60 7.4. DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................... 66 8. CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................................................. 72 9. BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................. 74 10. APPENDIX ....................................................................................................................................... 91 11. RELATED PUBLICATIONS ........................................................................................................... 175 12. CV ANDREA POLANCO FERNÁNDEZ ......................................................................................... 188 II TABLE OF FIGURES Figure 1. Area covered by this study. The dot lines and the black line indicate the bathymetric range in the continental upper slope of Colombian Caribbean sea (200-1000 m). .......................................................... 20 Figure 2. Major submarines basins, ridges and surface currents in the region. .................................................. 21 Figure 3. Deep bottoms trawls made by the different foreign and national cruises in the Colombian Caribbean Sea territorial waters. ....................................................................................................................................... 24 Figure 4. Cumulative number of deep demersal fish species found by the different cruises that collected samples in the Colombian Caribbean region until today. ............................................................................. 26 Figure 5. Holotype of Eptatretus aceroi Polanco F. and Fernholm from the Colombian Caribbean................... 31 Figure 6. INVEMAR’s research vessel B/I Ancón .................................................................................................... 39 Figure 7. Sampling method: sieving process (>500 mm). ...................................................................................... 40 Figure 8. Six discrete assemblages associated to the bathymetric and geographic distributions: 1) USa yellow; USb green; USc dark green; 2) MSa dark blue; MSb cyan; MSc dark cyan. ................................... 44 Figure 9. (A) Groups obtained by multivariate regression tree analysis based on abundance data. (B) Ordinal representation (NMDS) of the data including an ordisurf function indicating the depth where the sites are located. Identified groups are represented by different colors: MSa dark blue; MSb cyan; MSc dark cyan; USa yellow; USb green; USc dark green. ............................................................................................. 45 Figure 10. Dominant fish orders in terms of number of species (≥7%) included in the different fish assemblages of the Caribbean coast of Colombia. ....................................................................................... 47 Figure 11. Grid of 10 minutes per side used to spatialize the main cruise collection samplings points in the Colombian Caribbean territorial waters. ......................................................................................................... 57 Figure 12. Corresponding color value for the largest species range obtained in the square area is assigned.