Vertical cliff habitats in the deep sea represent structurally complex environments that support diverse communities. These steep and often overhanging surfaces provide unique ecological niches shaped by depth, substrate composition, and hydrodynamic conditions. This study aims to unravel the drivers for biodiversity in the deep waters by focusing on a first description of vertical wall megafaunal communities in the Galápagos. This study characterizes megafaunal assemblages along vertical walls within the Galápagos Marine Reserve (GMR), using high-resolution ROV video transects collected aboard the R/V Falkor (too) during a 2023 expedition. A total of 123 morphospecies were identified across 1,332 m² of vertical habitat surveyed at five sites spanning depths from 400 to 700 meters. Multivariate analyses, including NMDS and cluster analysis, revealed that depth, substrate type, and geo-location interact at fine spatial scales to shape community structure. Beta diversity was primarily driven by species turnover, rather than nestedness, indicating the presence of discrete faunal assemblages across different bathymetric zones. Importantly, 31 Vulnerable Marine Ecosystem (VME) indicator taxa were recorded. These findings underscore the ecological importance of deep vertical habitats and highlight the need to integrate them into spatial planning and conservation frameworks, particularly ongoing artisanal fishing in the GMR.
Key words: Galápagos Marine Reserve, Vertical walls, ROV imagery, Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems
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