Climate variation, carbon flux, and bioturbation in the abyssal North Pacific

Vardaro, Michael; Ruhl, Henry A.; Smith, Kenneth J.

doi:10.4319/lo.2009.54.6.2081

Cited by 47 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Deep-sea deposit feeders, such as thalassinid shrimps and worms (including polychaetes, echiurans and sipunculans), create extensive burrow systems that irrigate and transport organic material into subsurface sediments (Levin et al, 1997;Hughes et al, 2005;Shields and Kedra, 2009), resulting in a complex three-dimensional sedimentary matrix providing particular niches for other benthic fauna such as the microscopic meiofauna and microbes (e.g., Braeckman et al, 2011;Laverock et al, 2011). Mobile epifaunal megabenthic organisms can create and modify seabed habitats in high densities, especially urchins (echinoids; Vardaro et al, 2009) and sea cucumbers (holothurians; Billett et al, 2010), and large beds of featherstars (crinoids; Bowden et al, 2011). Even large-sized singlecelled eukaryotic microorganisms, protists, can form extensive habitats and alter local biodiversity.…”

Section: A R Thurber Et Al: Ecosystem Function and Services Providmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem function and services provided by the deep sea

et al. 2014

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Abstract. The deep sea is often viewed as a vast, dark, remote, and inhospitable environment, yet the deep ocean and seafloor are crucial to our lives through the services that they provide. Our understanding of how the deep sea functions remains limited, but when treated synoptically, a diversity of supporting, provisioning, regulating and cultural services becomes apparent. The biological pump transports carbon from the atmosphere into deep-ocean water masses that are separated over prolonged periods, reducing the impact of anthropogenic carbon release. Microbial oxidation of methane keeps another potent greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere while trapping carbon in authigenic carbonates. Nutrient regeneration by all faunal size classes provides the elements necessary for fueling surface productivity and fisheries, and microbial processes detoxify a diversity of compounds. Each of these processes occur on a very small scale, yet considering the vast area over which they occur they become important for the global functioning of the ocean. The deep sea also provides a wealth of resources, including fish stocks, enormous bioprospecting potential, and elements and energy reserves that are currently being extracted and will be increasingly important in the near future. Society benefits from the intrigue and mystery, the strange life forms, and the great unknown that has acted as a muse for inspiration and imagination since near the beginning of civilization. While many functions occur on the scale of microns to meters and timescales up to years, the derived services that result are only useful after centuries of integrated activity. This vast dark habitat, which covers the majority of the globe, harbors processes that directly impact humans in a variety of ways; however, the same traits that differentiate it from terrestrial or shallow marine systems also result in a greater need for integrated spatial and temporal understanding as it experiences increased use by society. In this manuscript we aim to provide a foundation for informed conservation and management of the deep sea by summarizing the important role of the deep sea in society.

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Section: A R Thurber Et Al: Ecosystem Function and Services Providmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecosystem function and services provided by the deep sea

et al. 2014

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“…Ongoing studies at Station M have used time-lapse (Smith et al 1993;Vardaro et al 2009) and towed cameras (Ruhl 2007;Ruhl and Smith 2004), sediment trap moorings (Smith et al 2001;Smith et al 1994), and sediment community oxygen consumption measurements (Smith and Kaufmann 1999) to characterize and identify seasonal, annual, and inter-annual variability. A broad range of seafloor, water column, and surface ocean observations have been undertaken at the PAP site (Billett and Rice 2001;Lampitt et al 2010b) that now provide data on surface-to-seafloor connections and dynamics in the NE Atlantic.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The longest studies of deep-sea ecology (Smith et al 2009) have taken place at two sites: Station M in the Northeast Pacific Ocean (4100 m), which has been observed nearly continuously by autonomous camera moorings since 1989 (Smith and Druffel 1998); and the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Sustained Observatory site (PAP, 4850 m) in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean (Lampitt et al 2010a), which also began autonomous deployments in 1989. Ongoing studies at Station M have used time-lapse (Smith et al 1993;Vardaro et al 2009) and towed cameras (Ruhl 2007;Ruhl and Smith 2004), sediment trap moorings (Smith et al 2001;Smith et al 1994), and sediment community oxygen consumption measurements (Smith and Kaufmann 1999) to characterize and identify seasonal, annual, and inter-annual variability.…”

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confidence: 99%

A Southeast Atlantic deep‐ocean observatory: first experiences and results

Vardaro

Bagley

Bailey

et al. 2013

Limnology & Ocean Methods

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As human activities continue to move further offshore (Bett 2001;Glover and Smith 2003), they come into contact with deep-sea environments and populations that are often not well understood. Deep-ocean basins cover more than 60% of the Earth's surface, yet much of the deep-sea remains unexplored. Recent efforts have been made to address the historical under-sampling of the deep sea by establishing long-term seafloor observatories, some autonomous and some connected to shore stations via electro-optical cables. Here we describe the first results from two long-term autonomous observatory platforms used to study deep-sea ecology in the vicinity of oil and gas industry activity in the Atlantic Ocean offshore of Angola. AbstractThe DELOS (Deep-ocean Environmental Long-term Observatory System) project is a long-term research program focused on understanding the impacts of oil and gas extraction on deep-sea ecosystems. We have installed two seafloor observation platforms, populated with ROV-serviced sensor modules, at 1400 m water depth in the Southeast Atlantic off the coast of Angola. The 'impact' Near-Field platform is located 50 m from subsea oil production facilities. The 'control' Far-Field platform is 16 km distant from any industry seafloor activity. Each platform includes oceanographic, acoustic, and camera sensor modules. The latter carries two still cameras providing close-up and wide-angle views of the seabed. The Far-Field platform is also equipped with a sediment trap that deploys to 100 m above the seafloor. The instrumented platforms were installed in Feb 2009, and the sensor modules subsequently serviced in Aug 2009, Feb 2010, and Aug 2010. Here, we report on our first experiences of operating the observatories and present some of the first data. The oceanographic data (temperature, salinity, oxygen concentration) and biological observations (demersal fish and benthic invertebrates) suggest that the two study sites have near identical environmental characteristics. We, therefore, believe that these sites are appropriate as control and impact locations for long-term monitoring of potential anthropogenic effects referenced to natural background environmental variation. We suggest that DELOS-type observatories, particularly operated as pairs (or in networks), are a highly effective means of appropriately monitoring deep-water resource exploitation-both hydrocarbon extraction and mineral mining.

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“…The surface chlorophyll between 1998 and 2013 has ranged from 0.2 to 1.2 mg m -3 , while the estimated net primary production over the same period went from a winter low of 282 up to a spring maximum of 1001 mg C m -2 day -1 . The seafloor is occupied by mobile megafauna such as holothurians and echinoids which serve as bioturbators of the sediment (Vardaro et al 2009), and conspicuous stationary fauna such as sponges and polychaete tubes projecting into the bottom water (Beaulieu and Smith 1998;Kuhnz et al 2014;Lauerman et al 1996). The sediment is punctuated with burrow openings and mounds of biological origin.…”

Section: Area Of Investigationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decadal Change in Sediment Community Oxygen Consumption in the Abyssal Northeast Pacific

et al. 2016

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Long time-series studies are critical to assessing impacts of climate change on the marine carbon cycle. A 27-year time-series study in the abyssal northeast Pacific (Sta. M, 4000 m depth) has provided the first concurrent measurements of sinking particulate organic carbon supply (POC flux) and remineralization by the benthic community. Sediment community oxygen consumption (SCOC), an estimate of organic carbon remineralization, was measured in situ over daily to interannual periods with four different instruments. Daily averages of SCOC ranged from a low of 5.0 mg C m

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Climate variation, carbon flux, and bioturbation in the abyssal North Pacific

Cited by 47 publications

References 32 publications

Ecosystem function and services provided by the deep sea

Ecosystem function and services provided by the deep sea

A Southeast Atlantic deep‐ocean observatory: first experiences and results

Decadal Change in Sediment Community Oxygen Consumption in the Abyssal Northeast Pacific

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