• Canada
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• 2018-2022close
• Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. close

This work aims at characterising the seamount physiography and biology in the OSPAR Convention limits (north-east Atlantic Ocean) and Mediterranean Sea. We first inferred potential abundance, location and morphological characteristics of seamounts, and secondly, summarized the existing biological, geological and oceanographic in situ research, identifying examples of well-studied seamounts. Our study showed that the seamount population in the OSPAR area (north-east Atlantic) and in the Mediterranean Sea is large with around 557 and 101 seamount-like features, respectively. Similarly, seamounts occupy large areas of about 616 000 km2 in the OSPAR region and of about 89 500 km2 in the Mediterranean Sea. The presence of seamounts in the north-east Atlantic has been known since the late 19th century, but overall knowledge regarding seamount ecology and geology is still relatively poor. Only 37 seamounts in the OSPAR area (3.5% of all seamounts in the region), 22 in the Mediterranean Sea (9.2% of all seamounts in the region) and 25 in the north-east Atlantic south of the OSPAR area have in situ information. Seamounts mapped in both areas are in general very heterogeneous, showing diverse geophysical characteristics. These differences will likely affect the biological diversity and production of resident and associated organisms.

Marine mammal rescue centers around North America respond to calls from the public about animals that have stranded due to illness or injury. Each year financial planning must occur at these centers with little information on potential animal counts. For this foundational project, we examined the relationship of sea surface temperature (SST; proxy for prey availability) and California sea lion (Zalophus californianus, CSL) yearling stranding counts to determine if SST can be used to predict the number of strandings; information that might aid rescue organization to plan appropriately. Our results indicate a predictive potential between SST and stranding is possible but further investigation is needed. A more robust model including factors such as population dynamics, other environmental variables, or shifting temporal windows could derive more reliable prediction results. However, the prediction values from this study can provide some guidance for the stranding networks to assist them plan for upcoming years.