Authors:
Jennifer A. Brown, Erica Burton, Sophie De Beukelaer
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary
This natural resources assessment synthesizes the current scientific knowledge of the physical and biological resources in the offshore habitats of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS). The main body of this report is organized into sections by offshore habitat category. Benthic habitats categories were defined by substrate type (hard and soft) and depth: shelf I (30-100 m), shelf II (100-200 m), slope (200-3,000 m), and rise (>3,000 m). Additional offshore habitat categories included in this report are open ocean, submarine canyon, seamount, oxygen minimum zone, chemosynthetic biological communities, and macrophyte detritus. For each of these habitat categories, information was compiled on topics spanning many levels of ecological organization (e.g., population, species, community) and various ecological processes (e.g., productivity, dispersal). Information sources included primary literature, unpublished data, and expert interviews. The purpose of this document is to identify sources of regional information, and describe natural resources and processes in federal waters of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary .
Key Words:
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, natural resources, site characterization, continental shelf, continental slope, continental rise, open water, submarine canyon, seamount, oxygen minimum zone, plankton, algae, invertebrates, fishes, seabirds, marine mammals, sea turtles, species diversity, species richness, species composition, sensitive species