In this contribution we provide the first images of the submarine landscape of the Namuncurá Marine Protected Area, Burdwood Bank, at the SW Atlantic Ocean. This non-invasive approach revealed and offered a complementary view of the seafloor and its fauna, only previously reported from trawl catches.En este estudio proporcionamos las primeras imágenes del paisaje submarino del Área Marina Protegida Namuncurá, Banco Burdwood, en el Océano Atlántico Sudoccidental. Este enfoque no invasivo revela una vista complementaria del fondo marino y su fauna, sólo conocida hasta el momento a partir del estudio de las capturas registradas con artes de arrastre de fondo.Fil: Schejter, Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencia Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Martín de Nascimento, Jacobo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; ArgentinaFil: Lovrich, Gustavo Alejandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas; Argentin

Lovrich, Gustavo Alejandro

Martín de Nascimento, Jacobo

Schejter, Laura

CONICET Digital

Revelando el paisaje submarino del Área Marina Protegida Namuncurá, Banco
Burdwood, Océano Atlántico Sudoccidental

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Unveiling the submarine landscape of the Namuncurá MarineProtected Area, Burdwood Bank, SW Atlantic OceanLAURA SCHEJTER1*, JACOBO MARTIN2 & GUSTAVO LOVRICH2 1Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo Pesquero (INIDEP) and Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC-CONICET). Paseo Victoria Ocampo 1, Mar del Plata, Argentina.2 Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas (CADIC-CONICET), Bernardo Houssay 200, Ushuaia, Argentina.* Corresponding author: schejter@inidep.edu.ar Abstract. In this contribution we provide the first images of the submarine landscape of theNamuncurá  Marine  Protected  Area,  Burdwood  Bank,  at  the  SW Atlantic  Ocean.  This  non-invasive approach revealed and offered a complementary view of the seafloor and its fauna,only previously reported from trawl catches. Keywords: benthic richness, habitat structure, submarine image, ArgentinaResumen. Revelando el paisaje submarino del Área Marina Protegida Namuncurá, BancoBurdwood, Océano Atlántico Sudoccidental.  En este estudio proporcionamos las primerasimágenes del paisaje submarino del Área Marina Protegida Namuncurá, Banco Burdwood, en elOcéano Atlántico Sudoccidental. Este enfoque no invasivo revela una vista complementaria delfondo marino y su fauna, sólo conocida hasta el momento a partir del estudio de las capturasregistradas con artes de arrastre de fondo.Palabras clave: riqueza bentónica, estructura del hábitat, imagen submarina, ArgentinaIn  July  2013  Argentina  established  its  firstoffshore  Marine  Protected  Area  (MPA)  named“Namuncurá”, at the Burdwood Bank, a segment ofthe North Scotia Ridge in the SW Atlantic Ocean.The bank is located about 150 km east of Isla de losEstados,  Tierra  del  Fuego  Province,  and  200  kmsouth of the Malvinas Islands. The rocky slopes ofthe bank rise from more than 4000 m depth in theYaghan  Basin  (Drake  Passage)  to  form  a  wideplateau with depths as shallow as 50 m. This largeMPA circumscribed by the 200 m isobath (Fig.  1)has  joined  the  43  already  existing  Coastal-MarineProtected Areas in Argentina (Caille et al. 2013). Formanaging purposes,  it  was  divided  into  a  Core,  aBuffer and a Transition areas (National Law 26875,Argentina).  The  direct  influence  of  the  AntarcticCircumpolar  Current  and  persistent  westerliesblowing at the “fifties” (50°S) make the region anextremely  dynamic  environment  of  subantarcticwaters, fairly homogeneous vertically in the plateau(without a thermocline), ranging seasonally from 4to 9ºC and with a  mean salinity  of  34 (Piola  andGordon 1989; Guerrero  et al. 1999). Although thisplateau is known since 1842 (Findlay, 1867), and thefirst  faunistic  sampling probably dates  from 1903,performed by the S/Y “Scotia” during an AntarcticExpedition (Scottish National Antarctic Expedition,1908),  the  benthic  realm  is  only  scarcely  studied.Schejter  et  al.  (2016)  have  recently  recorded  250species of epibenthic organisms, comprising fragileand  vulnerable  taxa,  which  provide  a  baselineinventory for the MPA. Additionally and accordingto the ongoing research,  the bank is  also home tomore than 90 species of small organisms belongingto Peracarida (Doti et al., 2014; Chiesa et al., 2015)and  also  to  new  species  recently  described  (i.e.corals: Cairns, 2012; sponges: Schejter et al., 2017). As  a  first  attempt  to  obtain  images of  thesea-bottom and the benthic realm of the MPA, a GO-Pan-American Journal of Aquatic Sciences (2017), 12(3): 248-253The submarine landscape of Burdwood Bank 249Figure 1. A. Study area in South America. B. Namuncurá MPA, Burdwood Bank: zonation of the MPA and stationsvisited during the CG “Prefecto García” research cruise. PRO  Hero-4  Silver  camera  with  a  flashlight(Subacqua  W40V,  2600  lumens,  White  light  LEDCREE XM-L U2) were housed in a special pressurecase (IqSub) designed to fit a GO-PRO camera andmaintain water tightness down to 150 m depth. Thisequipment was attached to a CTD probe, and sent tothe bottom of  the  Namuncurá MPA at  120-140 mdepth during a research cruise conducted aboard thevessel  “Prefecto  García”  (Prefectura  NavalArgentina  -  Argentine  Coastguards)  in  December2015. The camera was set to film at 25-frames persecond with a video resolution of 2.7 k and a whitebalance of  5500K.  Three videos unveiling the seabottom  scape  were  obtained  from  stations  10(54°16’01’’S;  60°41’37’’W,  120  m depth)  and  17(54°27’10’’S;  59°07’23’’ W,  130  m  depth)  in  theBuffer  area,  and  from  station  18  (54°30’31’’S;58°23’11’’W,  137m  depth)  in  the  Transition  area.These movies were not a primary goal of the cruise,but rather a “collateral” opportunity to obtain themat the same time as we vertically profiled the watercolumn properties with the CTD, without any extraconsumption of time or burden to the operations ondeck. Screen captures of the videos of the three siteswere  obtained  using  free  software  (Bandisoft  andVLC Media Player) and are presented in Figures 2 –4. The scales shown in the photos are approximateand  were  estimated  considering  the  sizes  of  thefauna  collected  during  the  research  cruises.  Thisnon-invasive approach revealed the first  records ofthe submarine landscape of the MPA and offered acomplementary view of the seafloor and its fauna,only  previously  reported  from  bottom  trawlingsamples.  Additionally,  some  pictures  of  trawlcatches  performed  on  board  the  RV  “PuertoDeseado” during a cruise in 2016 are provided forcomparative purposes. Based  on  the  images,  our  results,  revealedhighly  heterogeneous  substrata  over  the  bank.  Atstation  18  at  the  Transition  area  (Fig.  2),  theunderwater  images  unveiled  a  rocky  environment,punctuated by patches of living and dead valves ofbrachiopods  and  tubeworms,  along  with  a  richsessile  community  dominated  by  many  species  ofbryozoans, hydrozoans and stylasterid corals (Errinaantarctica).  The  three-dimensional  architecture  ofthis  kind  of  habitat  provides  home  and  refuge  topolychaetes, crustaceans and echinoderms. An imageof  the  biogenic  sediment  that  covers  the  seafloor,together with some of the most conspicuous species,is  also shown in Figure 2,  from samples collectedonboard the RV “Puerto Deseado” cruise, conductedduring 2016.  The submarine images from the west of theBuffer  area  (station  10)  revealed  also  a  rockybottom, mainly colonized by bryozoans, brachiopodsand  serpulid  tubeworms  among  the  mostconspicuous  elements  of  the  sediment.  Hydrozoancolonies were also evident in this station, as well asthe primnoid corals. Living specimens but also manydead hard parts of all these organisms were gatheredby trawls. Camouflaged fauna could be also detectedafter  a careful  inspection (Figure  3).  Among themwe  found  the  sea  star  Glabraster  antarctica,  thecommon  brachiopod Terebratella  dorsata, thePatagonian  scallop  Zygochlamys  patagonica,  theophiuroid Ophiacantha vivipara and the spider crabEurypodius cf. latreillii. The site located in the east of the Buffer area(station 17) was dominated by coarse biogenic sandover which king crabs were detected; some spongeswere also visible in the distance (Figure 4).  Otherconspicuous  organisms  were  primnoid  corals(probably Primnoella sp.) and a colonial ascideacea. Pan-American Journal of Aquatic Sciences (2017), 12(3): 248-253250 L. SCHEJTER ET AL.Figure  2.  A.  Submarine  landscape  at  station  18  (~140  m  depth)  during  the  “Prefecto  García”  cruise,  in  2015.Conspicuous organisms are pointed using arrows; from collected specimens, the same species are shown separately asfollows:  a,  hydrozoan colony; b,  Sterechinus agassizii;  c,  Reteporella  magellanica (Bryozoa);  d,  Errina antarctica(Stylasteridae) with epibiotic stalked barnacles  Ornatoscalpellum gibberum; e, Serpulidae (tubeworm); f, Ascophora(Bryozoa); g, epibiotic primnoidae (soft coral) on a pebble. B, the possible composition of the substrate is suggested,based on the catches.Pan-American Journal of Aquatic Sciences (2017), 12(3): 248-253The submarine landscape of Burdwood Bank 251Figure 3. Image of the submarine landscape recorded at station 10. Some of the camouflaged species recorded arepointed with arrows and showed from collected samples as follows a, Glabraster antarctica; b, Terebratella dorsata; c,Zygochlamys patagonica; d, Ophiacantha vivipara; e, Eurypodius cf. latreillii.Figure 4.  A.  Underwater  image recorded  at  station 17,  130m depth.  Arrows correspond to  the  most  conspicuousspecies,  as  follows:  a,  colonial  ascideacea;  b,  primnoid  coral,  probably  Primnoella sp.;  c,  king  crab  Lithodesconfundens; B. Image of a trawl catch from a neighboring region collected during a 2016 cruise on board RV “PuertoDeseado”. Most likely, catches taken by research cruises in thiskind  of  bottom  patches  should  look  alike  to  theFigure  4B.  In  this  image,  a  catch  dominated  bysponges (mainly of the genus Mycale and  Tedania)was evident. King crabs (Lithodes confundes) werealso conspicuous, together with the longtail southerncod Patagonotothen ramsayi. Other species showedup after  a careful  inspection of the catch (such asPan-American Journal of Aquatic Sciences (2017), 12(3): 248-253252 L. SCHEJTER ET AL.ascidiaceans,  Primnoid  corals,  polychaetes  andechinoderms,  among others).  Similar  catches  wereobtained in the Core area during a cruise conductedin  2013  (Schejter  et  al.,  2016)  and  also  during  acruise performed in 2016 (L. Schejter, Pers. obs.).Images from such a simple dispositive, as ourGOPRO camera, with its limitations, provide a veryuseful,  cheap  (compared  to  Remote  OperatedVehicles) and non-invasive tool to understand howbenthic  species  are  actually  distributed  in  theseafloor, how the species are associated to each otheror  how  the  three  dimensional  structure  of  thecommunity  looks  like.  Furthermore,  this  approachcomplements the information and records obtainedwith more traditional approaches, such as the trawlsand dredges used for benthic sampling. Estimationsof in-situ monitoring of macrozoobenthos by meansof  images  and  videos  taken  using  similar  deviceswere  previously  conducted  in  Antarctica  byMcClintock  et al. (2010) and Peirano et al. (2016),among others.  Summarizing, the images here provided of thesubmarine landscape at 130-140 m depth inside theNamuncurá MPA, Burdwood Bank, are only the “tipof  the  iceberg”  regarding  the  existing  biodiversityand of our understanding of the benthic community,but constitute a valuable contribution to increase ourcomprehension of the arrangement of this particularseascape. This highly heterogeneous bank representsa very important piece in the “bridge” between theMagellan Region and the Antarctic Continent (Arntzet al.,  2005; Griffiths  et al., 2008), home of manyendemic  species  (Schejter  et  al.,  2016),  and  thatmust  be  studied  considering  also  its  geologicalhistory (Thomson, 2004). AcknowledgmentsWe thank the officers and crews of the vessels“Prefecto García” (Prefectura Naval Argentina) and“Puerto Deseado” (Argentine Navy/CONICET) fortheir help at sea. We also thank to J. López Gappafor  the  bryozoan  identification.  This  research  waspartially supported by the National Initiative “PampaAzul” (MINCyT), by the PICT 2013-0629 (to LS)and  PICT  2014-3106  (to  JM).  This  is  INIDEPContribution N° 2046.ReferencesArntz W. E., Lovrich G.A and Thatje S (Eds)., 2005.The Magellan-Antarctic connection: links andfrontiers  at  high southern latitudes.  ScientiaMarina, 69 (suppl. 2): 365 pp.Caille G, Musmeci JM, Harris G, Delfino SchenkeR. 2013. Sistema Inter-Jurisdiccional de ÁreasProtegidas  Costero  Marinas  -SIAPCM  -Argentina  (Proyecto  ARG/10/G47  GEF-PNUD). Frente Marítimo, 23: 55-64.Cairns SD, 2012. New primnoid genus and species(Alcyonacea:  Primnoidae)  from  thesouthwestern  Atlantic.  Proceedings  of  theBiological Society of Washington, 125: 180-8Chiesa  IL,  Urteaga  D,  Martinez  AI,  Doti  BL,Roccatagliata  D  (2015).  Biodiversidad  deanfípodos bentónicos del AMP Namuncurá –Banco  Burdwood.  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Revelando el paisaje submarino del Área Marina Protegida Namuncurá, Banco Burdwood, Océano Atlántico Sudoccidental

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