Table 1 Variations in megafauna standing stock and diversity by disturbance level.

From: Biological effects 26 years after simulated deep-sea mining

 

Distance from plough tacks

F[3,21]

p

η2

0–1 m

1–10 m

10–50 m

>3500 m

Standing stock (ind ha −1 ) a

Total megafauna

649

(603, 696)

790

(740, 842)

798

(747, 850)

592

(561, 624)

23.5

<0.0001

0.770

Deposit feeder

443

(409, 480)

471

(435, 509)

470

(435, 508)

316

(295, 337)

29.6

<0.0001

0.809

Predator/scavenger

141

(128, 155)

161

(146, 176)

159

(145, 174)

115

(106, 124)

14.7

<0.0001

0.677

Suspension feeder

63.4

(50.7, 78.2)

158.3

(137.5, 181.)

168.0

(146.6, 191.4)

161.7

(146.7, 177.7)

28.5

<0.0001

0.803

Anthozoa

18.9

(13.1, 26.1)

32.6

(24.8, 41.8)

42.3

(33.3, 52.7)

63.4

(55.4, 72.2)

21.1

<0.0001

0.751

Porifera

12.6

(7.8, 19.0)

69.1

(56.8, 83.1)

62.3

(50.6, 75.6)

58.0

(49.9, 66.9)

26.4

<0.0001

0.790

Holothuroidea

185

(159, 214)

165

(141, 192)

178

(152, 206)

151

(134, 169)

1.81

0.1771

0.205

Ophiuroidea

227

(209, 247)

273

(253, 295)

258

(238, 279)

136

(126, 147)

69.0

<0.0001

0.908

Crustacea

92.6

(80.1, 106.3)

71.4

(60.5, 83.6)

55.4

(45.9, 66.2)

56.9

(49.9, 64.4)

9.93

0.0003

0.586

Actinopterygii

17.7

(12.8, 23.7)

45.7

(37.5, 55.0)

63.4

(53.7, 74.3)

29.1

(24.5, 34.3)

25.8

<0.0001

0.786

Diversity (number of taxa in c. 3500 m −2 ) b

Richness

43.4

(39.8, 47.0)

51.0

(47.4, 54.6)

51.8

(48.2, 55.4)

47.7

(45.2, 50.2)

4.38

0.0153

0.385

Exp[H’]

18.4

(16.3, 20.5)

21.6

(19.4, 23.7)

22.3

(20.2, 24.4)

27.5

(26.0, 29.0)

17.8

<0.0001

0.718

1/D

7.11

(5.91, 8.31)

7.55

(6.35, 8.75)

8.41

(7.21, 9.61)

13.37

(12.53, 14.22)

35.3

<0.0001

0.834

  1. Tabulated as mean (and 95% confidence interval) for disturbance levels represented by distance from plough tracks: level-A, 0–1 m; level-B, 1–10 m; level-C, 10–50 m; level-D, >3500 m. Statistical significance of variation by disturbance level is indicated by F-value and associated p-value of corresponding generalised linear model. The effect size measure η2 is similarly tabulated. Mean values shown in bold are those that exhibit statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) from the Southern reference area (>3500 m) in pairwise comparisons (see Fig. 3 for further details).
  2. aQuasi-Poisson error; bGaussian error.
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