The role of geological feature shape on the abundance and diversity of deep sea corals

The role of geological gross geomorphology (shape) as an abiotic control governing the abundance and diversity of deep-sea corals has not been previously considered, but has the potential to provide easily-accessible and transformative insight into deep water coral community dynamics. This study aims to investigate the influence of geological shape (e.g. atolls, islands, banks, guyots, conical, ridges) on deep-sea coral genera and habitats in the Pacific Ocean to determine whether feature shape is an important predictor of deep water biological communities. Multivariate analyses were used to test whether the gross geomorphology (shape) of islands and seamounts influences the abundance and diversity of deep water coral genera. Geological features across the entire Pacific basin were categorized using a standard classification scheme to determine their shape category. Across the 50 most abundant deep water coral genera in the data set, all 50 showed a statically significant preference for at least one geomorphology. Additionally, the abundance of the different feature shapes was not evenly distributed across the Pacific basin. Gross geomorphology influences the abundance and diversity of deep-sea corals across the central Pacific, which provides insight into deep water coral community structure and resulting conservation implications. • Feature shape predicts coral distributions; genera show strong feature preferences. • Coral communities cluster by feature type in multivariate analyses. • Banks host the highest coral richness and act as biodiversity hotspots. • Feature shape affects coral communities even after controlling for depth and temperature. • This study mapped 12,597 features, showing uneven shape distribution with conservation value.