Infauna are an ecologically important component of marine benthic ecosystems and are the most common faunal assemblage used to assess habitat quality. Compared to the shallower waters of the continental shelf, less is known about the benthic fauna from the continental slope, especially how the communities are structured by natural gradients and anthropogenic stressors. The present study was conceived to rectify these data gaps and characterize the natural, baseline structure of the benthic infauna of the upper continental slope (200–100 m) of the Southern California Bight. We aggregated benthic infauna, sediment composition, and sediment chemistry data from different surveys across the Southern California Bight region (750 samples from 347 sites) collected between 1972 and 2016. We defined 208 samples to be in reference condition based upon sediment chemistry and proximity to known anthropogenic disturbances. Cluster analysis of the reference samples was used to identify distinct assemblages and the abiotic characteristics associated with each cluster were then used to define habitat characteristics for each assemblage. Three habitats were identified, delineated by geography, depth, and sediment composition. Across the habitats, there were detectable changes in community composition of the non-disturbed fauna through time. However, the uniqueness of the habitats was persistent, as the fauna from each habitat remained taxonomically distinct from irrespective of the decade of their collection. Within each habitat, subtle, assemblage-scale responses to disturbance could be detected, but no consistent patterns could be identified among the component taxa. As with the non-disturbed samples, there were compositional changes in the fauna of the disturbed samples through time. Despite the changes, fauna from disturbed and non-disturbed samples remained taxonomically distinct from each other within each decade of the dataset. After considering both the spatial and temporal patterns in the fauna of slope ecosystem, it became apparent that there was a high degree of stochasticity in the taxonomic organization of all three habitats. This would suggest that the benthic fauna from these communities may be neutrally organized, which in turn poses interesting challenges for future development of condition assessment tools based upon the benthic fauna in these habitats.

Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) continues to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality among transplant recipients. Molecular assays have been developed for the detection and quantification of CMV nucleic acid. In evaluating the clinical utility of these assays, correlations with clinical outcome are essential. The Amplicor CMV Monitor and NucliSens CMV pp67 tests were compared to the CMV antigenemia assay for 45 transplant recipients and 1 patient with Wegener's granulomatosis. Twenty-three patients remained antigenemia negative throughout the monitoring period, none of whom developed CMV disease. In this patient group, both the Amplicor and NucliSens assays showed very high specificity; only 1 of the 324 specimens assayed by NucliSens and none of the 303 specimens assayed by Amplicor were positive. Twenty-three patients were antigenemia positive during the monitoring period, 12 of whom developed 13 episodes of symptomatic CMV disease. In this patient group, the NucliSens assay was positive at or before the development of symptoms in 12 of the 13 episodes of CMV disease. All eight patients with symptomatic CMV disease who were tested by the Amplicor assay were positive at or before the development of disease. For the 11 asymptomatic patients, the NucliSens assay was positive less frequently than the antigenemia or Amplicor assays. The NucliSens assay was more likely to be positive at higher antigenemia or viral load levels. Both the NucliSens and Amplicor assays appear to have clinical utility in monitoring patients for CMV disease.

Agreement M17PG00021. The David and Lucile Packard Foundation (MBARI projects 901023 and 706004) funded the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) participation in this study. Multibeam echo sounder data were collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) hydrographic research vessels Rainier and Fairweather and funded in part by NOAA. The authors thank the science parties, the crews of all three cruises carried out during this study, and the remote operated vehicle pilots for research vessel Bold Horizon: Dale Graves, Frank Flores, and Lonny Lundsten (all of MBARI). Eve Lundsten (MBARI) compiled a bathymetry mosaic from all surveys available in the south-central California region that were used in figures 1-3 of this report and in numerous other project documents. Diana Watters and Tom Laidig (NOAA) provided helpful peer reviews. We remember Rear Admiral R.T. Brennan from NOAA Office of Coast Survey for his instrumental assistance in coordinating vessel data collection with both BOEM and the U.S. Geological Survey.

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