Talk:Benthos

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"NPOV Dispute: Benthic Communities at Risk" This section does not have any citations and simply talks about some vague risk of mining for undisclosed minerals on hydrothermal vents. I'm fairly certain this is actually referring methane mining on cold seeps, and while there is cause for legitimate concern for the implicaitons with this, the section seems biased (in that the entirety of the sections is about why one potential issue is terrible) and lacks any sort of scientific basis for concern. Also, seeing as any part of the ocean floor can be a benthic community, and the type of mining and people interested (again, I'm assuming oil companies who wan't to mine cold seeps) in question aren't specified, the argument is heavily generalized. This section is important, but the content really does not do justice for environmental concerns. Perhaps this is a better place to discuss more prominent concerns for benthic communities such as ocean acidification, effects of climate change, overfishing, and eutrophication (which is shown in an image but not explained?). On a somewhat unrelated note, this article cites itself. 66.55.115.75 (talk) 23:40, 24 June 2012 (UTC)

Yes. I've removed this uncited section and replaced it with a link to Deep sea mining. Also reverted uncited changes made to the lead by the same editor. --Epipelagic (talk) 03:39, 25 June 2012 (UTC)

Wiki Education assignment: Advanced Writing Science

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 29 August 2022 and 16 December 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Cedarwaxwing25 (article contribs). Peer reviewers: Mountsainthelena.

— Assignment last updated by Mountsainthelena (talk) 16:54, 19 October 2022 (UTC)

Bibliography Damásio, Joana; Fernández-Sanjuan, Maria; Sánchez-Avila, Juan; Lacorte, Silvia; Prat, Narcís; Rieradevall, Maria; Soares, Amadeu M. V. M.; Barata, Carlos (2011-06-01). "Multi-biochemical responses of benthic macroinvertebrate species as a complementary tool to diagnose the cause of community impairment in polluted rivers". Water Research. 45 (12): 3599–3613. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2011.04.006. ISSN 0043-1354. This is a scientific paper (primary source) that discusses the various roles of benthos in determining water quality parameters. It provides concise facts about benthos and water pollution: a topic that is commonly associated with benthos. Rodrigues, Carolina; Guimarães, Laura; Vieira, Natividade (2019-08-01). "Combining biomarker and community approaches using benthic macroinvertebrates can improve the assessment of the ecological status of rivers". Hydrobiologia. 839 (1): 1–24. doi:10.1007/s10750-019-03991-7. ISSN 1573-5117 This is a review paper that indicates the importance of benthic macro-invertebrates and their internal biomarkers to detecting stream contamination. Bettinetti, R.; Ponti, B.; Marziali, L.; Rossaro, B. (2012-06-01). "Biomonitoring of lake sediments using benthic macroinvertebrates". TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry. Chemical Monitoring Activity for the Implementation of the Water Framework Directive. 36: 92–102. doi:10.1016/j.trac.2011.12.008. ISSN 0165-9936. This is a review paper that looks at benthic macro-invertebrates in lakes and their indication of lake sediment quality. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cedarwaxwing25 (talk • contribs) 02:36, 5 October 2022 (UTC)

Merge proposal

I propose merging benthic zone into benthos. There is clearly a deep content fork: the benthos are the organisms that inhabit the benthic zone and the benthic zone is... an ecological zone (i.e., a zone defined by the organisms that inhabit it). Kind of a chicken-egg situation. The merge could perhaps go the other way, but this article is the older of the two and it seems to have the more appropriate title. — An anonymous username, not my real name 00:37, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

Yes, there is some point to that. But it should be merged the other way round, benthos should be merged into benthic zone. Benthos means life in the benthic zone, in other words, it is a subset of things that happen in the benthic zone. There is a parallel with the article demersal zone, the zone imediately above the benthic zone, which includes sections describing life in this zone.

Also, saying the benthic zone is an "ecological zone" means it plays a part in the functioning of, or as habitat for organisms. That is not the same as saying it is a zone "defined by the organisms that inhabit it". The zone is more defined physically by its proximity to the seafloor.— Epipelagic (talk) 04:31, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

That's a reasonable stance and I would support that as well. — An anonymous username, not my real name 15:45, 5 February 2026 (UTC)

An anonymous username, not my real name, this discussion seems to be inactive. Has a decision been made on what to do here? Thebiguglyalien (talk) 05:24, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

@Thebiguglyalien, I'll go with Epipelagic's vote to merge benthos into benthic zone. — An anonymous username, not my real name 14:36, 15 March 2026 (UTC)

Merged — Epipelagic (talk) 03:50, 16 March 2026 (UTC)