. Deep-sea biodiversity and ecosystems - a scoping report on their socio-economy, management and governance. UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Series 28. 1. Habitats, ecosystems and biodiversity of the deep sea Deep waters or "deep seas" are defined in this report as waters and sea-floor areas below 200 metres, where sunlight penetration is too low to support photosynthetic production. From a biological perspective, the deeper waters below the sunlit epipelagic zone comprise: the mesopelagic or the "twilight" zone (200 to about 1 000 metres], where sunlight gradually dims depending, f
. Deep-sea biodiversity and ecosystems - a scoping report on their socio-economy, management and governance. UNEP-WCMC Biodiversity Series 28. 1. Habitats, ecosystems and biodiversity of the deep sea Deep waters or "deep seas" are defined in this report as waters and sea-floor areas below 200 metres, where sunlight penetration is too low to support photosynthetic production. From a biological perspective, the deeper waters below the sunlit epipelagic zone comprise: the mesopelagic or the "twilight" zone (200 to about 1 000 metres], where sunlight gradually dims depending, for example, on water turbidity, seasons, regions; the bathypelagic zone from approximately 1 000 metres down to about 2 000 metres; the abyssal pelagic zone (down to 6 000 metres]; the hadalpelagic zone, which delineates the deepest trenches; the bentho- pelagic zone, which includes waters directly above the bottom in areas of at least 200 metres depth; and the seafloor itself (Figure ), The structure and topography of the deep-seafloor is as complex and varied as that of the continents - or even more so. Many submarine mountains and canyons/trenches dwarf their terrestrial counterparts. Numerous larger and smaller geomorphologic features (Table ) strongly influence the distribution of deep-sea organisms. Many of these features rise above, or cut into, the seafloor, thereby creating a complex, three-dimensional topography that offers a multitude of ecological conditions, habitats and niches for a wide variety of unique marine ecosystems. Biodiversity in the deep seas depends among other Figure : The main oceanic divisions Source: High <- water <-— Pelagic Neritic X Oceanic Epipelagic Photic 200 m Mesopelagic 700 to 1,000 m Bathypelagic. 11. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly rese
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