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Over a three-year period, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration organized and implemented a Pacific-wide field campaign entitled CAPSTONE: Campaign to Address Pacific monument Science, Technology, and Ocean NEeds. Under the auspices of CAPSTONE, NOAA mapped 597,230 km 2 of the Pacific seafloor (with ~ 61% of mapped area located within US waters), including 323 seamounts, conducted 187 ROV dives totaling 189 hours of ROV benthic imaging time, and documented more than 347,000 individual organisms. This comprehensive effort yielded dramatic insight into differences in biodiversity across depths, regions, and features, at multiple taxonomic scales. For all deep sea taxonomic groups large enough to be visualized with the ROV, we found that fewer than 20% of the species were able to be identified. The most abundant and highest diversity taxa across the dataset were from one class and two phyla (Anthozoa, Porifera and Echinodermata). We further examined these phyla for taxonomic assemblage patterns by depth, geographic region, and geologic feature. Within each taxon, there were multiple genera with specific distribution and abundance by depth, region, and feature. Additionally, we observed multiple genera with broad abundance and distribution, which may focus future ecological research efforts. Novel taxa, records, and behaviors were observed, which are suggestive of new species interactions, drivers of community composition, and overall diversity patterns. To date, only 13.8% of the Pacific has been mapped using modern methods. Despite the many new contributions and insights to the Pacific deep-sea, CAPSTONE is far from the culminating experience the name suggests. Rather, it marks the beginning of a new era for exploration that will offer extensive opportunities via mapping, technology, analysis, and insights.

Additionally, we observed multiple genera with broad abundance and distribution, which may focus future ecological research efforts. Novel taxa, records, and behaviors were observed, suggestive of many new types of species interactions, drivers of community composition, and overall diversity patterns. Brian R. C. Kennedy1,2*, Kasey Cantwell2,3, Mashkoor Malik2, Christopher Kelley2,4, Jeremy Potter5, Kelley Elliott2, Elizabeth Lobecker2,6, Lindsay McKenna Gray2,7, Derek Sowers2,6, Michael P. White2,6, Scott C. France8, Steven Auscavitch9, Christopher Mah10, Virginia Moriwake4, Sarah R. D. Bingo4, Meagan Putts4 and Randi D. Rotjan1* * 1Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA, United States * 2NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research, Silver Spring, MD, United States * 3MAXIMUS, Metro Center, Reston, VA, United States * 4University of Hawai'i at Manoa Joint Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Research (JIMAR), Honolulu, HI, United States * 5Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Camarillo, CA, United States * 6Cherokee Nation Strategic Programs, Richmond Hwy Suite, Arlington, TX, United States * 7Athenium Analytics, Dover, DE, United States * 8Department of Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA, United States * 9Department of Biology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, United States * 10Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, United States