ABSTRACT: Water masses are bodies of water with distinctive physical and biogeochemical properties. They impart vertical structure to the deep ocean, participate in circulation, and can be traced over great distances, potentially influencing the distributions of deep-sea fauna. The classic potential temperature-salinity (θ-s) diagram was used to investigate deep-sea sponge (demosponge genus Geodia) association with water masses over the North Atlantic Ocean and Nordic Seas. A novel analysis was conducted, based on sampling the curvature of climatological mean θ-s curves at sponge locations. Sponges were particularly associated with turning points in the θ-s curves, indicative of intermediate and deep water masses. Arctic geodiid species (G. hentscheli and G. parva) were associated with Arctic intermediate and deep waters in the Nordic Seas, and with dense overflows into the northern North Atlantic. Boreal species (G. atlantica, G. barretti, G. macandrewii, and G. phlegraei) were associated with upper and intermediate water masses in the Northeast Atlantic and with upper, Atlantic-derived waters in the Nordic Seas. Taken together with distributional patterns, a link with thermohaline currents was also inferred. We conclude that water masses and major current pathways structure the distribution of a key deep-sea benthic faunal group on an ocean basin scale. This is most likely because of a combination of the physical constraints they place on the dispersal of early life-history stages, ecophysiological adaptation (evolved tolerances) to specific water masses, and the benefits to filter-feeders of certain phenomena linked to water column structure (e.g. nepheloid layers, internal waves/tides, density-driven currents).

中文翻译：

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水团限制了北大西洋和北欧海中深海海绵的分布

摘要：水团是具有独特的物理和生物地球化学特性的水体。它们赋予深海垂直结构，参与环流，并且可以远距离追踪，可能影响深海动物群的分布。经典的潜在温度盐度（θ -小号）图被用来研究深海海绵（寻常海绵纲属Geodia与水团在北大西洋和北欧海域）的关联。基于对海绵位置气候平均θ - s曲线曲率的采样，进行了新颖的分析。海绵特别与θ - s的转折点相关曲线，指示中间和深水团块。北极的大地水生动物物种（G. hentscheli和G. parva）与北欧海中的北极中间水域和深水区域有关，并与北大西洋北部的密集溢流有关。北方物种（G. atlantica，G。barretti，G。macandrewii和G. phlegraei）与东北大西洋的上层和中层水团以及北欧海中的大西洋上层水域有关。结合分布模式，还可以推断出与热盐电流有关。我们得出的结论是，水团和主要水流通道构成了海洋盆地规模上一个关键的深海底栖动物群的分布。这很可能是由于以下因素的综合考虑：它们限制了生命早期阶段的散布，对特定水团的生态生理适应性（演变的耐受性）以及某些与水柱结构有关的现象对滤嘴的好处（例如，肾小球层，内波/潮汐，密度驱动的电流）。