Abstract

Biodiversity data are critical for marine conservation planning, but biological surveys, particularly in offshore locations, are resource intensive and dependent on favorable conditions at sea. In areas with few biological data, abiotic variables are used as surrogates for marine biodiversity. The South Texas Banks are hard-substrate sites with bathymetric relief on the otherwise flat, soft sediment continental shelf in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico where biological data are sparse. This study focused on 12 outer-shelf South Texas Banks that support ecological connectivity among nearshore and offshore, hard-bottom, natural and artificial sites. High-resolution multibeam echosounder data were used to create maps and a dataset of geomorphic variables to be used via multivariate statistical analyses as an abiotic surrogate for biodiversity patterns. The detailed site maps are important tools to guide future studies, such as identification of reef fish spawning sites and biodiversity trends. The statistical approach produced a ranking tool to guide prioritization of future biological explorations and site selection for design of marine protected areas. A minimum of five of the South Texas Banks is proposed for place-based protection. Similar methodology can be applied to other regions of the Gulf of Mexico to identify sites for inclusion in the International Gulf of Mexico Marine Protected Area Network.

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