Francisco Javier Murillo

Bedford Institute of Oceanography · Fisheries and Oceans Canada

Aim To characterize the functional diversity and selected ecological functions of marine epibenthic invertebrate communities at the ecosystem scale and to evaluate the relative contributions of environmental filtering, including bottom‐contact fishing, and competitive interactions to benthic community assembly. Location Flemish Cap, an ecosystem p...

The ecological diversity of benthic invertebrates from bottom trawl surveys was mapped for the Flemish Cap, a plateau of ~200 km radius in the northwest Atlantic. Species density (SpD), the exponential Shannon diversity index (e H′) and Heip's index of evenness (E ~ ') were measured at different spatial scales. Continuous surfaces of each were crea...

Deep-sea sponge grounds are vulnerable marine ecosystems, which through their benthic-pelagic coupling of nutrients, are of functional relevance to the deep-sea realm. The impact of fishing bycatch is here evaluated for the first time at a bathyal, sponge-dominated ecosystem in the high seas managed by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization....

Little information exists on the environmental requirements of sponges from the Canadian Arctic, increasing the necessity to establish baseline distribution data on sponge assemblages to predict their susceptibility to climate change. Here we describe the sponge taxa of Hudson Strait, Ungava Bay, Western Davis Strait and Western Baffin Bay collecte...

The structure, composition and distribution of epibenthic invertebrate assemblages on the Tail of the Grand Bank of Newfoundland and Flemish Cap (northwest Atlantic) were sampled using depth-stratified trawls. Faunal analysis of 152 uniquely identified taxa produced hierarchical synoptic tables of species associations with diagnostic indicators bas...

Identification of ecologically significant units at different spatial scales is essential for management of biodiversity attributes. This case study illustrates a coupled methodological approach to delineate benthic habitats and associated assemblages at different spatial scales. Two complementary analyses were employed based on the occurrences of...

Sponges have been identified as ecosystem engineers, providing habitat structure for many other benthic organisms, but are vulnerable to the impacts of bottom contact fishing. The Sambro Bank Sponge Conservation Area (SBSCA) protects a globally unique aggregation of the glass sponge (Vazella pourtalesii) off the east coast of Canada. Here, we prese...

Biodiversity changes and habitat shifts are two phenomena substantially reshaping marine life on our present and future planet. Although those phenomena are well recognized on the macrobial level, they currently do not receive similar attention on the microbial level. Generally, microbiome diversity and function, associated with and governing the h...

Aim Seamounts are conspicuous geological features with an important ecological role and can be considered vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs). Since many deep‐sea regions remain largely unexplored, investigating the occurrence of VME taxa on seamounts is challenging. Our study aimed to predict the distribution of four cold‐water coral (CWC) taxa, i...

The first multidisciplinary characterisation of Bowditch Seamount in the Sargasso Sea was conducted to provide new baseline knowledge of the biodiversity, geomorphology, oceanography and glacial history of this seamount. A dropframe camera transect 1483–1562 m deep on the seamount documented 77 megafaunal taxa including Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem...

Aim Protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) in the high seas has focussed on identifying concentrations of indicator species and prohibiting the operation of bottom‐contact fishing gears where those occur in significant concentrations. Most such species have planktonic larvae and depend on dispersal networks for inter‐generational persist...

Knowledge of the spatial distribution patterns of biodiversity in the ocean is key to evaluate and ensure ocean integrity and resilience. Especially for the deep ocean, where in situ monitoring requires sophisticated instruments and considerable financial investments, modelling approaches are crucial to move from scattered data points to predictive...

Deep-sea sponges are important contributors to carbon and nitrogen cycling due to their large filtration capacity. Species of the suborder Astrophorina form dense sponge grounds in the North Atlantic, where they serve as prey for spongivores, but also have non-trophic interactions with commensal epi- and endobionts. At the Flemish Cap (NW Atlantic)...

Sponges (phylum Porifera) play an important role in habitat creation and nutrient cycling. However, despite these key functional roles, sponge communities in Arctic marine environments are still poorly known. Sponges were collected between 2010-2014, in 2017 and in 2019 during annual multispecies trawl surveys conducted by Fisheries and Oceans Cana...

The Bay of Fundy presents a unique environment with extreme tidal range, strong currents, fresh-water river discharge, and diverse habitats that are also experiencing temperature increase at a faster rate than most of the world ocean. There is extensive commercial fishing, valuable beds of sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) being found in sever...

Deep-sea sponges are important contributors to carbon and nitrogen cycling due to their large filtration capacity. Species of the suborder Astrophorina form dense sponge grounds in the North Atlantic, where they serve as prey for spongivores, but also have non-trophic interactions with commensal epi- and endobionts. At the Flemish Cap (NW Atlantic)...

The large, habitat-forming bubblegum coral, Paragorgia arborea, is a vulnerable marine ecosystem indicator with an antitropical distribution. Dense aggregations of the species have been protected from bottom-contact fishing in the Scotian Shelf bioregion of the northwest Atlantic Ocean. We undertook an assessment of the predicted distribution of th...

In support of the 2020 NAFO review of the closed areas to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) in the NAFO Regulatory Area, kernel density analyses (KDE) of the biomass of Large-sized Sponges, Sea Pens, Small and Large Gorgonian Corals, Erect Bryozoans, Sea Squirts (Boltenia ovifera), and Black Corals were undertaken using all available rese...

Supplementary tables and figures offering more details of the methodology and results of our study: Wang S, Murillo FJ and Kenchington E (2022) Climate-Change Refugia for the Bubblegum Coral Paragorgia arborea in the Northwest Atlantic. Front. Mar. Sci. 9:863693. doi: 10.3389/fmars.2022.863693

The large, habitat-forming bubblegum coral, Paragorgia arborea, is a vulnerable marine ecosystem indicator with an antitropical distribution. Dense aggregations of the species have been protected from bottom-contact fishing in the Scotian Shelf bioregion off Nova Scotia, Canada in the northwest Atlantic Ocean. Recently, basin-scale habitat suitabil...

Indicators are key tools used to assess the ecological status of the environment for ecosystem based management. Anthropogenic disturbances produce changes to habitat condition, which include modifications in species composition and their functions. Monitoring a group of sentinel species (from a taxonomic and functional point of view) provides usef...

From June 30 through July 29, 2021, the NOAA Ocean Exploration and partners conducted the "2021 North Atlantic Stepping Stones: New England and Corner Rise Seamounts" expedition, a telepresence-enabled ocean exploration expedition aboard the NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer. The mission objectives were to collect critical baseline information about unkno...

NAFO has used kernel density analyses to identify VMEs dominated by large-sized sponges, sea pens, small and large gorgonian corals, erect bryozoans, sea squirts (Boltenia ovifera), and black corals. That analysis generates polygons of significant concentrations of biomass for each VME indicator which are spread across the spatial domain of the NAF...

Vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) are particularly susceptible to bottom-fishing activity as they are easily disturbed and slow to recover. A data-driven approach was developed to provide management options for the protection of VMEs under the European Union “deep-sea access regulations.” A total of two options within two scenarios were developed...

Sponges (phylum Porifera) are benthic filter feeding animals that play an important role in nutrient cycling and habitat provision in the deep sea. Sponges collected between 2010 and 2014 during annual multispecies trawl surveys conducted by Fisheries and Oceans Canada in Baffin Bay, Davis Strait and portions of Hudson Strait were taxonomically exa...

Syngnathids are considered as flagship species for marine conservation. Seahorses and pipefish are highly vulnerable to anthropogenic and environmental disturbances, but most species are currently considered Data Deficient by IUCN, requiring more biological and ecological research. Although syngnathids are well known for their unusual breeding biol...

Two new species of Crellidae Dendy, 1922 from the east coast of Canada are described. The first is Crella (Pytheas) cutis sp. nov., a massively encrusting species of Crella (Pytheas) collected from depths of 84 to 249 m in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on the Scotian Shelf. The second is Crellomima mehqisinpekonuta sp. nov., a thinly encrusting spon...

In support of the NAFO review of the closed areas to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) in the NAFO Regulatory Area, biomass estimates of Large-sized Sponges, Sea Pens, Sea Squirts (Boltenia ovifera), Erect Bryozoans, Black Corals, Large Gorgonian Corals, and Small Gorgonian Corals were undertaken using all available research vessel (RV) s...

In support of the 2021/2022 NAFO review of the closed areas to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) in the NAFO Regulatory Area, previously established kernel density estimation (KDE) methods were applied to four important ecological functions provided by benthic communities: A) Bioturbation; B) Nutrient cycling; C) Habitat provision; and D)...

Shallow-water sponges are often cited as being ‘climate change winners’ due to their resiliency against climate change effects compared to other benthic taxa. However, little is known of the impacts of climate change on deep-water sponges. The deep-water glass sponge Vazella pourtalesii is distributed off eastern North America, forming dense sponge...

En el litoral español la Familia Syngnathidae está constituida por un número limitado de géneros y especies de peces, en las que se incluyen caballitos de mar y peces pipa. El nivel de conocimiento de la biología, ecología y distribución de los signátidos en nuestro litoral es limitado. El principal objetivo de este trabajo fue generar modelos de d...

NAFO. 2019. Report of the Scientific Council Working Group on Ecosystem Science and Assessment, 18 - 29 November 2019, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. NAFO SCS Doc. 19/25. The NAFO SC Working Group on Ecosystem Science and Assessment (WG-ESA), formerly known as SC Working Group on Ecosystem Approaches to Fisheries Management (WG-EAFM), had its 12t...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

The deep sea plays a critical role in global climate regulation through uptake and storage of heat and carbon dioxide. However, this regulating service causes warming, acidification and deoxygenation of deep waters, leading to decreased food availability at the seafloor. These changes and their projections are likely to affect productivity, biodive...

In support of the 2020 NAFO review of the closed areas to protect vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) in the NAFO Regulatory Area, kernel density analyses (KDE) of Large-sized Sponges, Sea Pens, Small and Large Gorgonian Corals, Erect Bryozoans, Sea Squirts (Boltenia ovifera), and Black Corals were undertaken using all available research vessel sur...

In the last two decades the use of species distribution modeling (SDM) for the study and management of marine species has increased dramatically. The availability of predictor variables on a global scale and the ease of use of SDM techniques have resulted in a proliferation of research on the topic of species distribution in the deep sea. Translati...

Over the course of the past decade, in response to United Nations General Assembly resolutions calling for the protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs), the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization has closed 14 areas around the high-seas portion of Grand Bank and Flemish Cap to protect deep-sea coral and sponge habitats from impacts by b...

Emerald Basin on the Scotian Shelf off Nova Scotia, Canada, is home to a globally unique aggregation of the glass sponge Vazella pourtalesi, first documented in the region in 1889. In 2009, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) implemented two Sponge Conservation Areas to protect these sponge grounds from bottom fishing activities. Together, the two co...

Presence and absence response data of V. pourtalesi collected between 1997 and 2017. Data source are DFO's multispecies trawl survey, DFO optical surveys, and commercial catch data from the Fisheries Observer Program (FOP). Note that records from the FOP program do not have a unique trip identifier. (XLSX)

Predicted presence probability of V. pourtalesi from a random forest model built on V. pourtalesi presence-absence data, and areas of model extrapolation (i.e., those areas where the environmental data are outside the bounds of those used to train the model) indicated by the grey polygon. Also shown are the presence-absence data used to train the m...

Correlation matrix based on Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (ρ) between all 63 environmental predictor variables considered for random forest modelling. Circle size indicates the magnitude of the correlation (large circles = highly correlation; small circles indicate lower correlation), and colour indicates direction (blue = positive; red =...

Distribution and composition of benthic invertebrates collected on the 2017 DFO Summer Research Vessel Multispecies Survey (NED2017020) on the Scotian Shelf and Slope and Bay of Fundy (NAFO Divisions 4VWX5Z) between 49 and 1348 m depth are described. Pending a more detailed taxonomic study, the total number of benthic invertebrate taxa identified f...

Deep-sea coral aggregations represent important ecosystems in the Flemish Cap, where some areas have been closed to bottom fisheries by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization in order to implement conservation and management measures and prevent significant adverse impacts on Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs). Flemish Cap is an offshore Ba...

Deep-sea coral aggregations represent important ecosystems in the Flemish Cap, where some areas have been closed to bottom fisheries by the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization in order to implement conservation and management measures and prevent significant adverse impacts on Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems (VMEs). Flemish Cap is an offshore Ba...

There are two basic pieces of information required for implementing Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s (DFO) Policy on Managing the Impacts of Fishing on Sensitive Benthic Areas: The identification and delineation of Significant Benthic Areas, and The overlap between these Significant Benthic Areas and fishing activities. This analysis builds on the m...

Supplementary material for associated publication.

We examined four species of sea pen (Anthoptilum grandiflorum, Halipteris finmarchica, Pennatula aculeata and Pennatula grandis) collected from the Gulf of St. Lawrence and mouth of the Laurentian Channel, eastern Canada. An exponential length-weight relationship was found for all four species, where growth in weight was progressively greater than...

Significant Benthic Areas are defined in DFO’s Ecological Risk Assessment Framework (ERAF) as “significant areas of cold-water corals and sponge dominated communities”, where significance is determined “through guidance provided by DFO-lead processes based on current knowledge of such species, communities and ecosystems”. Here we provide maps of th...

Species distribution models were performed using a random forest model for Crinoids (Phylum Echinodermata: Class Crinoidea), Ascidians (Phylum Chordata: Class Ascidiacea) and Bryozoans (Phylum Bryozoa) for the spatial extent of DFO’s Placentia Bay-Grand Bank and Newfoundland and Labrador Shelves Large Ocean Management Areas (LOMA). Sixty-six enviro...

Species distribution modelling using a random forest (RF) machine learning approach was used to predict the probability of occurrence and biomass of sponges, sea pens, and large and small gorgonian corals in the Hudson Strait portion of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada's (DFO) Hudson Bay Complex Biogeographic Zone (sponges only), and in the eastern ext...

Effective fisheries and habitat management processes require knowledge of the distribution of areas of high ecological or biological significance. On the Scotian Shelf and Slope, a number of benthic ecologically or biologically significant areas consisting of habitat-forming species such as sponges and deep-water corals have been identified. Howeve...

We used a species distribution modelling approach called random forest (RF) to predict the probability of occurrence and biomass of sponges, sea pens, and large and small gorgonian corals across the entire spatial extent of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada's (DFO) Newfoundland and Labrador Region. A suite of 66 environmental variables from different da...