During the past few decades, our understanding of deep continental-margin habitats (from shelf break to abyssal rise, 200 - 4000m water depth)... » More

 

During the past few decades, our understanding of deep continental-margin habitats (from shelf break to abyssal rise, 200 - 4000m water depth) has changed more than for any other large area of Earth.  While it has been known for a long time that the ocean margins are a mixture of rugged mountainous scenery and sediment covered slopes, it is only in recent times, with higher resolution bathymetry and increased bottom sampling, that even areas once envisioned as monotonous landscapes are now acknowledged to have a high degree of complexity and diversity. The great variety of geological and hydrological settings on continental slopes produces many different habitats.Continental margins are both very complex and active regions ecologically, geologically, chemically, and hydrodynamically. Collectively, these processes create unique ecosystems, which we are just beginning to discover and understand, while they are already at risk by resource exploitation and global changes.

In order to enlighten the hidden beauty and fragility of continental margin habitats, the Census of Marine Life Project COMARGE has produced an animation, aimed at a general public, that shows key habitats and ecological processes promoting biodiversity on continental margins and how these might be threaten by human activities.

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