{
  "id": 13852057,
  "title": "Pervasive effect of bottom trawling on benthic biodiversity unravelled by metabarcoding across the Tree of Life",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/11/pervasive-effect-of-bottom-trawling-on-benthic-biodiversity",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-11T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.05.756630v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Bottom trawling, a widespread human disturbance on the seafloor, has been found to significantly impact benthic biodiversity despite primarily being assessed for morphologically identifiable taxa. In a study conducted on the Gulf of Lion continental shelf, where trawling has been ongoing for decades, eDNA metabarcoding was employed to analyze prokaryote, protist, and Animalia benthic communities at eight different stations. The research, which considered three distinct timeframes - one month, three years, and ten years preceding the sampling, revealed that trawling intensity in the preceding month was linked to higher diversity of prokaryotes and Animalia communities. However, long-term trawling was associated with a notable decline in Animalia alpha diversity, suggesting a pervasive long-term impact on these communities. Interestingly, the study found no consistent vertical structure in the benthic communities, and the relative contributions of trawling and hydrodynamic reworking remain unclear due to the lack of untrawled reference sites. This study not only demonstrates the potential of eDNA-based assessment for monitoring trawling impacts but also underscores the importance of considering appropriate timescales in impact assessment and the complexity of assessing impacts when monitoring begins too late, particularly in the absence of reference sites.",
  "summary": "Bottom trawling is the most widespread human disturbance on the seafloor, known to affect seabed structure and benthic biota. Yet, its impact on benthic communities remains documented mainly for taxa identifiable through morphology, leaving microscopic benthic communities largely overlooked. The Gulf of Lion continental shelf has been trawled for decades by French and Spanish fleets, to the point…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}