Hypothesis 1. Due to the expected levels of endemism of benthic fauna within seamount and island groups, we expect significant differences in faunal composition when comparing the northern transect (Nazca-Desventuradas, San Félix and San Ambrosio PM) with the southern transect (the marine protected areas of the Juan Fernández Islands), and the observed differences will be more pronounced with the meiofauna than with the macrofauna.
Hypothesis 2. Within each of the transects (north transect – Nazca-Desventuradas PM, and south transect – Juan Fernández Islands Marine Protected Areas) we expect diversity to be highest at the eastern end of the seamount chains and to decrease moving towards the west, with each subsequent seamount supporting a subset of the fauna of the seamount immediately to the east.
