Figure 1.
The ecosystem services framework for the example of deep-sea ecosystem services (ES).
Environmental policies can either influence the management of final ES directly (arrow B) or indirectly via the intermediate ES (arrow C). The latter requires a sufficient understanding of the dependencies between intermediate and final ES (arrow A). Our understanding for the benefits provided by deep-sea ES (arrow D) and the values associated with them (arrow E) is currently very limited. The framework was simplified from [53] and adapted to the ES used for this expert consultation.
Figure 2.
(A) Overview map of Portugal and the Nazaré Canyon area. (B) Nazaré Canyon bathymetry map with the Portuguese coastline to the east. Contour lines (blue) at 1000 m intervals; the 200 m depth contour, indicating the shelf edge, is marked in green. Data courtesy of Instituto Hidrografico, Lisbon and National Oceanography Centre, Southampton.
Figure 3.
The survey phases of the submarine canyon expert consultation.
Survey steps where experts were directly involved are highlighted as black boxes.
Table 1.
Submarine canyon ecosystem services.
Table 2.
Submarine canyon ecosystem principles with expert ratings on their plausibility and evidence base.
Table 3.
Submarine canyon ecosystem principles continued from Table 2.
Figure 4.
Links between ‘water circulation’ (black box) and other canyon ecosystem services explained through ecosystem principles.
The intermediate services are in the lower half (dark grey and black boxes) and final services in the upper half (light grey boxes) of the diagram. Principles are indicated as arrows with their respective ID (cf. explanation in Table S1). Research gaps highlighted as question marks with dotted lines. Principles unrelated to ‘water circulation’ were omitted from this figure.