Descending into the abyss: bathymetric patterns of diversity in decapod crustaceans shift with taxonomic level and life strategies

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the depth-related changes in the diversity of decapod crustaceans from the intertidal to abyssal zones off Madeira Archipelago, a chain of islands in the subtropical North East Atlantic Ocean. The bathymetric gradient in species richness was evaluated using the reported ranges of 175 out of approximately 186 decapod species known in this archipelago. The depth-related changes at different taxonomic (order, sub-orders and families) and life strategy (pelagic, benthopelagic and benthic) levels were investigated and different ecological hypotheses (species-energy, mid-domain and Rapoport's effects) were tested to explain the observed patterns. No unimodal trend of Decapoda diversity was revealed and, instead, a monotonic decrease towards the abyss was observed, mainly as a consequence of the depth-related changes in the benthic diversity of the suborder Pleocyemata. Nonetheless, all bathymetric gradients of pelagic diversity (at order and suborder levels) displayed parabolic trends. There was also a general increase in bathymetric range towards greater depth, and the major faunal break was identified within the continental shelf area. All species richness–depth patterns were significantly nested, but there was a clear increasing trend in randomness from the benthic to the pelagic realm. The present study shows for the first time that even within the same taxonomic group and geographic region different bathymetric patterns of diversity can be observed, depending on the taxonomic level and, more importantly, on the group's life strategies. Moreover, our analysis supports the species-energy hypothesis, implicating a combination of temperature and food availability as the main causal predictors explaining diversity variation.