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3.4 Benthic Invertebrates, Algae, and Plants The workshop group with expertise in marine invertebrates, algae, and plants arguably faced the greatest challenge in trying to summarise and highlight the biodiversity of New Zealand’s oceans. The challenge stems from the fact that invertebrates make up 33 of the world’s 34 animal phyla and have more species than all other domains and kingdoms combined (Ministry for the Environment 1997). There are an estimated 15,300-16,400 marine invertebrates in New Zealand, of which 7,462 have been described (D. Gordon, personal communication, March 2004). For protista, algae, fungi, and plants, there are estimated to be 17,900-32,900 species, of which 2,700 have been described (D. Gordon, personal communication, March 2004). Many marine invertebrates, algae and plants are so small, or live in such obscure or isolated habitats that their existence has so far gone unnoticed. Sampling efforts are regularly uncovering new species. At the current rate of new species descriptions, it will take at least 90 years to complete an inventory of the New Zealand marine biota 6 , not including unicellular organisms (D. Gordon, personal communication, March 2004). Marine invertebrates, algae, and plants occupy all marine habitats, from the sea floor to the sea surface, with the photosynthetic organisms restricted to the euphotic zone. The marine scientists at the workshop concentrated on benthic invertebrates and plants that dwell on, near, or are attached to the sea floor because their expertise centred on the benthic environment. During several work sessions the participants identified 24 important areas for marine biodiversity in New Zealand. While the group was able to delineate certain locations that are known to host special invertebrate, and algal, or plant communities, other important features of the marine environment were more difficult to represent geographically. These features include habitats such as kelp forests, mangrove forests, and rock wall suspension feeding assemblages, which are critical places for marine biodiversity, but have patchy distributions around the country. Participants decided to include these features as a list of “special habitats”, which are represented in the last nine entries of this section, although all known locations for such habitats are not depicted on the map. Contributors: Peter Batson, Dennis Gordon, Ken Grange, Michelle Kelly, Daphne Lee, Alison MacDiarmid, Patricia Mather, Wendy Nelson, Mike Page, and Stephanie Turner. 6 Including the Protozoa (and prokaryotes) the task of inventorying New Zealand’s marine biota could take up to 400 years (D. Gordon, personal communication, March 2004). Bladder kelp ©2004 DOC, Te Papa Atawhai BIODIVERSITY – NEW ZEALAND’S MARINE ECOREGION ■ 47
Key areas for benthic invertebrate, algal, and plant biodiversity in the New Zealand marine ecoregion Key Biodiversity Areas 1. Kermadec Ridge 2. Trench environments 3. South Norfolk Ridge and Three Kings Rise 4. The Three Kings Islands and shelf, Spirits Bay, and Pandora Bank 5. Cavalli seamounts 6. West coast harbours of the North Island 7. Rocky coast of the northeast North Island 8. Active submarine volcanoes and hydrothermal vents 9. Hauraki Gulf/Bay of Plenty estuaries 10. Ranfurly Bank 11. Convergent margin cold seeps 12. Deep sea wood habitats 13. Rocky coast seagrass habitats 14. Marlborough Sounds 15. Cook Strait 16. Bryozoan coral beds 17. Farewell Spit region 18. Kaikoura shallow water 19. Chatham Rise and Chatham Islands 20. Fiordland 21. Fouveaux Strait/Stewart Island/Snares Plateau shelf 22. Subantarctic plateaus and islands 23. Southeastern continental margin/Deep Western Boundary Current 24. Macquarie Ridge Depth (metres) 0 - 250 250 - 500 500 - 1000 1000 - 2000 2000 - 3000 3000 - 4000 4000 - 5000 5000 - 6000 6000 - 8000 8000 - >10,000 48 ■ BIODIVERSITY – NEW ZEALAND’S MARINE ECOREGION
Page 1 and 2: Shining a
Page 3 and 4: Shining a
Page 5 and 6: Acknowledgments This report was pre
Page 7 and 8: concern about the challenge of addr
Page 9 and 10: 1.2 Scope of this report and relati
Page 11 and 12: Scallop, Fiordland ©2004 DOC, Te P
Page 13 and 14: ©2003 WWF-New Zea
Page 15 and 16: 12 ■ BIODIVERSITY - NEW ZEALAND
Page 17 and 18: Surface currents in the New Zealand
Page 19 and 20: The dinoflagellate, Karenia brevisu
Page 21 and 22: References and further reading Bowm
Page 23 and 24: Key areas for cetaceans, seals, and
Page 25 and 26: Chatham Islands Map ID number: 2 Lo
Page 27 and 28: South Island southern and eastern s
Page 29 and 30: West coast of South Island Map ID n
Page 31 and 32: Hauraki/northeast coast of North Is
Page 33 and 34: Kermadec Islands Map ID number: 16
Page 35 and 36: Imber, M.J., Harrison, M., Wood, S.
Page 37 and 38: Key areas for fi sh biodiversity in
Page 39 and 40: Northeastern New Zealand Map ID num
Page 41 and 42: Eastern Stewart Island Map ID numbe
Page 43 and 44: Subantarctic Map ID number: 11 Loca
Page 45 and 46: Seamounts Not mapped during the wor
Page 47 and 48: References and further reading Ande
Page 49: 46 ■ BIODIVERSITY - NEW ZEALAND
Page 53 and 54: Trench (hadal) environments continu
Page 55 and 56: Cavalli seamounts Map ID number: 5
Page 57 and 58: Active submarine volcanoes and hydr
Page 59 and 60: Ranfurly Bank Map ID number: 10 Loc
Page 61 and 62: Marlborough Sounds Map ID number: 1
Page 63 and 64: Kaikoura shallow water Map ID numbe
Page 65 and 66: Foveaux Strait/ Stewart Island/ Sna
Page 67 and 68: Biogenic carbonate/ bryozoan habita
Page 69 and 70: Mangroves Map ID number: Examples i
Page 71 and 72: Deep rock wall/high gradient hard b
Page 73 and 74: Choat, J.H. and Schiel, D.R. 1982.
Page 75 and 76: Kelly, M., Wilkinson, M. R., Alvare
Page 77 and 78: 3.5 Information gaps and other obst
Page 85 and 86: Appendix 2 Informationbased initiat
Page 87 and 88: Appendix 4 Workshop participants Al

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