Spatiotemporal faunal connectivity across global sea floors

Timothy D. O’Hara (), Andrew F. Hugall, Margaret L. Haines, Alexandra A.-T. Weber, Angelina Eichsteller, Martin I. Brogger, Marc Eléaume, Toshihiko Fujita, Jon A. Kongsrud, Pedro Martinez Arbizu, Sadie Mills, Jennifer M. Olbers, Gustav Paulay, Fran Ramil, Sarah Samadi, Chester J. Sands, Javier Sellanes, Francisco A. Solis-Marin and Adnan Moussalli
Additional contact information
Timothy D. O’Hara: Museums Victoria
Andrew F. Hugall: Museums Victoria
Margaret L. Haines: Museums Victoria
Alexandra A.-T. Weber: Museums Victoria
Angelina Eichsteller: Deutsche Zentrum für Marine Biodiversitätsforschung (DZMB), Senckenberg am Meer
Martin I. Brogger: Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos, IBIOMAR CONICET
Marc Eléaume: Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (MNHN)
Toshihiko Fujita: National Museum of Nature and Science
Jon A. Kongsrud: University Museum of Bergen
Pedro Martinez Arbizu: Deutsche Zentrum für Marine Biodiversitätsforschung (DZMB), Senckenberg am Meer
Sadie Mills: National Institute of Water & Atmospheric Research Ltd (NIWA)
Jennifer M. Olbers: WILDTRUST
Gustav Paulay: University of Florida
Fran Ramil: Universidade de Vigo
Sarah Samadi: Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle
Chester J. Sands: British Antarctic Survey
Javier Sellanes: Universidad Católica del Norte
Francisco A. Solis-Marin: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
Adnan Moussalli: Museums Victoria

Nature, 2025, vol. 645, issue 8080, 423-428

Abstract: Abstract Our knowledge of biogeographic patterns and processes in the deep sea has been limited by the lack of integrated datasets that cover its vast extent1. Here we analyse a new global dataset of genomic DNA sequences, spanning an entire taxonomic class of benthic invertebrates (Ophiuroidea), to obtain a broad understanding of phylogenetic divergence and biotic movement across all oceans, from coastal margins down to the abyssal plains. We show that regional faunas on the continental shelf are phylogenetically divergent, particularly at temperate and tropical latitudes. By contrast, assemblages in the deep sea are much more connected. Many temperate deep-sea lineages have achieved distribution ranges across the planet, including over the Quaternary period. A close relationship exists between deep-sea faunas of the northern Atlantic and, on the opposite side of the globe, southern Australia. Bathymetric interchange is not only reliant on vertical migration through isothermal polar waters but also occurs across the thermal depth gradients of tropical regions. The connected nature of deep-sea life should be an important consideration in marine conservation assessments.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09307-1 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:645:y:2025:i:8080:d:10.1038_s41586-025-09307-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09307-1

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().