Macrofaunal Diversity and Community Structure of the DeSoto Canyon and Adjacent Slope

Abstract Macrofauna within the DeSoto Canyon, northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM), along the canyon wall and axis, and on the adjacent slope, were sampled along with sediment, terrain, and water mass parameters. Within the canyon, abundance and species richness decreased with depth, while evenness increased. Cluster analysis identified three depth-related groups within the canyon that conformed to previously established bathymetric boundaries: stations at 464 – 485 m, 669 – 1834 m, and > 2000 m. Abundance differed between depth groups. Species richness was lowest for the deepest group and evenness was lowest for the shallowest. Community structure within the canyon most related to fluorometry and oxygen saturation, combined with any of salinity, particulate organic carbon, sediment organic carbon, or slope. Canyon wall abundances were higher than the canyon axis or adjacent slope. Community structure differed between all three habitat types. Ordination of community structure suggests a longitudinal pattern that potentially tracks with increasing sea-surface chlorophyll that occurs in the eastward direction across the northern GOM. Canyon and slope differences may result from seasonal water masses entrained by canyon topography characterized by high salinity, oxygen saturation, fluorometry, and turbidity. Higher fluorescence and turbidity in the canyon did not translate into higher sediment organic matter. Flushing along canyon wall channels and the canyon axis may explain the low organic matter. Differences in abundance and structure between the canyon wall and axis may result from microhabitat heterogeneity due to potential hydrocarbon seepage, organically enriched sediment deposits along channels, or remnant influence from the Deepwater Horizon blowout.