ISBN 978-1-927797-37-2 ISSN 1198-273X PICES SCIENTIFIC REPORT No. 57, 2020 Report of Working Group 32 on Biodiversity of Biogenic Habitats PICES Scientific Report No. 57 2020 Report of Working Group 32 on Biodiversity of Biogenic Habitats edited by Janelle M.R. Curtis and Masashi Kiyota September 2020 North Pacific Marine Science Organization (PICES) P.O. Box 6000, Sidney, BC, V8L 4B2, Canada www.pices.int PICES Scientific Reports Published since 1993, the PICES Scientific Report series includes final reports of PICES expert groups, proceedings of PICES workshops, data reports and reports of planning activities. Formal peer reviews of the scientific content of these publications are not generally conducted. PICES Scientific Reports can be found at: https://meetings.pices.int/publications/scientific-reports This report was developed under the guidance of the PICES Science Board and its Biological Oceanographic Committee. The views expressed in this report are those of participating scientists under their responsibilities. Front cover: The cold-water coral Primnoa pacifica (top) and sponge Farrea occa (bottom) are biogenic habitat- forming species found in the Northeast Pacific region of Canada (Photo credit: Jackson W.F. Chu/ CSSF-ROPOS). This document should be cited as follows: Curtis, J.M.R. and Kiyota, M.. (Eds.) 2020. Report of Working Group 32 on Biodiversity of Biogenic Habitats. PICES Sci. Rep. No. 57, 158 pp. Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................... v Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................... vii Activities of Working Group Members and Colleagues ........................................................................... 1 1. MaxEnt modelling of biogenic habitat-forming cold-water corals and sponges in the Northeast Pacific region of Canada Jackson W.F. Chu, Jessica Nephin, Samuel Georgian, Anders Knudby, Chris Rooper, Katie S.P. Gale and Janelle Curtis ..................................................................................................... 1 2. Predicting glass sponge (Porifera, Hexactinellida) distributions in the North Pacific Ocean and spatially quantifying model uncertainty Fiona Davidson ................................................................................................................................ 21 3. Mapping biogenic habitats: Distribution of glass sponge reefs and key variables likely to influence their condition Anya Dunham ................................................................................................................................... 67 4. Potential indicators for assessing and monitoring diversity of biogenic habitats Anya Dunham ................................................................................................................................... 72 5. Potential indicators for assessing and monitoring diversity of biogenic habitats Hiroya Yamano and Naoki H. Kumagai ........................................................................................... 76 6. Selection of the proper spatial resolution for habitat modeling of cold-water corals Mai Miyamoto, Masashi Kiyota, Hiroto Murase, Takeshi Nakamura and Takeshi Hayashibara ... 78 7. Method for assessing the validity of the VME indicator taxa in the Emperor Seamounts area Mai Miyamoto and Masashi Kiyota ................................................................................................. 81 8. Application of association analysis for identifying VME indicator taxa on the basis of sea-floor visual images Mai Miyamoto and Masashi Kiyota ................................................................................................. 84 9. Assessment of species diversity and dominance of shallow water corals using environmental DNA Go Suzuki and Chuya Shinzato ......................................................................................................... 87 10. Studies of the distribution and diversity of biogenic habitat forming taxa in the USA Christopher N. Rooper, Samuel E. Georgian, John M. Guinotte and Les Watling .......................... 88 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................................... 109 Recommendation ................................................................................................................................... 111 PICES Scientific Report No. 57 iii Appendix 1 WG 32 Terms of Reference ............................................................................................ 113 Appendix 2 WG 32 Membership ....................................................................................................... 114 Appendix 3 Publications related to WG 32 Research ........................................................................ 117 Appendix 4 Meeting Reports and Topic Session/Workshop Summaries from Past Annual Meetings ..................................................................................................... 119 Appendix 5 PICES Press Articles related to WG 32 .......................................................................... 153 iv PICES Scientific Report No. 57 Acknowledgements We thank all members of WG 32 for their insightful contributions, for their rich body of research on the biodiversity of biogenic habitats, and for diligently ensuring that WG 32 met its Terms of Reference. We are grateful to Anya Dunham (Canada) for making perceptive research contributions and for stepping in to serve as the interim co-chair from 2016 to 2018 while Janelle Curtis (Canada) was recovering from an accident when hiking in the mountains. We appreciate thoughtful guidance from the BIO Committee over the years. We also thank members of the PICES Secretariat for their support of WG 32, especially during Janelle Curtis’ recovery. WG 32’s contributions support the work of the North Pacific Fisheries Commission (NPFC), which now works closely with PICES through the joint PICES–NPFC Framework for Enhanced Scientific Collaboration in the North Pacific Ocean. Janelle M.R. Curtis and Masashi Kiyota Co-Chairs, Working Group 32 PICES Scientific Report No. 57 v Executive Summary Executive Summary PICES’ Convention came into force in 1992 while the North Pacific Fisheries Commission’s (NPFC) Convention on the Conservation and Management of High Seas Fisheries Resources in the North Pacific Ocean came into force in 2015. In 2019, the two organizations agreed on a joint PICES–NPFC Framework for Enhanced Scientific Collaboration in the North Pacific Ocean. This framework identified three broad areas of joint interest to PICES and NPFC including research on stock assessment for NPFC’s priority species, an ecosystem approach to fisheries management, and vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs). NPFC identified four orders of corals – Alcyonacea, Antipatharia, Gorgonacea, and Scleractinia – as indicators of potential VMEs, but recognized that sponges and other invertebrates may also be identified as VME indicator taxa in the future. Although NPFC was formed a few years before the onset of the joint PICES–NPFC framework, WG 32’s activities on the biodiversity of biogenic habitats support joint research activities related to VMEs. One of the many motivations for developing a working group to focus on the biodiversity of biogenic habitat (WG 32) are the threats of bottom fishing and climate change to the distribution and abundance of corals, sponges, and other organisms that provide habitat for marine organisms, including commercially valuable species. Biogenic corals and sponges provide habitat for early life history stages of fishes and perform important functions in nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration. Catches of rockfishes and other commercially important species are higher where corals and sponges occur as bycatch. The goals of WG 32 centered on collating data on the distribution of corals, sponges, and associated fauna, using models to predict the distribution of these biogenic habitats, proposing indicators for assessing them, and reviewing their associations with commercially important species. WG 32 members collaborated effectively with each other and accomplished the overarching vision of contributing to a deeper understanding of the diversity and distribution of biogenic habitats in the North Pacific Ocean, and by doing so, enhancing the ability to engage in ecosystem-based fisheries management. The distribution of fauna is difficult to monitor in marine environments, particularly in the deep sea. Yet, assessing the distributions of biogenic habitat is a precursor to understanding their role in the greater dynamics of the entire ecosystem (e.g., biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, fisheries, etc.). Knowledge of the spatial distribution of species is valuable for understanding ecosystem structure and function. However, extensive sampling plans in logistically challenging environments are expensive, so data on biogenic habitats will continue to be sparse, particularly in the deep sea, in the immediate future. Hence WG 32 reviewed modeling approaches to predict the potential distributions of species and habitat suitability for corals and sponges and identified environmental and ecological predictors of patterns in the distribution and biodiversity of corals, sponges, and associated taxa. Predictive modeling