Distribution, associations and role in the biological carbon pump of Pyrosoma atlanticum (Tunicata, Thaliacea) off Cabo Verde, NE Atlantic

Stenvers, Vanessa I.; Hauss, Helena; Osborn, Karen J.; Neitzel, Philipp; Merten, Véronique; Scheer, Stella; Robison, Bruce H.; Freitas, Rui; Hoving, Henk-Jan T.

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-88208-5

Cited by 18 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…It is estimated that about 90% of surfacederived organic matter is respired within the mesopelagic zone and consequently recycled into nutrients for photosynthetic primary production in the upper ocean [19]. Furthermore, mesopelagic animals frequently perform diel vertical migrations (DVM) to search for food and avoid predators [20], thereby promoting export of organic carbon to the deep sea [21][22][23]. This daily mass movement may have significant impacts on the composition of host-associated microbiota by promoting turnover of microbial communities as an adaptation to differential oxygen exposure between the oxygen-limited mesopelagic zone [24] and oxygen-rich surface waters, though this has not been formally tested.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Composition and metabolic potential of microbiomes associated with mesopelagic animals from Monterey Canyon

Breusing

Osborn

Girguis

et al. 2022

ISME Communications

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There is growing recognition that microbiomes play substantial roles in animal eco-physiology and evolution. To date, microbiome research has largely focused on terrestrial animals, with far fewer studies on aquatic organisms, especially pelagic marine species. Pelagic animals are critical for nutrient cycling, yet are also subject to nutrient limitation and might thus rely strongly on microbiome digestive functions to meet their nutritional requirements. To better understand the composition and metabolic potential of midwater host-associated microbiomes, we applied amplicon and shotgun metagenomic sequencing to eleven mesopelagic animal species. Our analyses reveal that mesopelagic animal microbiomes are typically composed of bacterial taxa from the phyla Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidota and, in some cases, Campylobacterota. Overall, compositional and functional microbiome variation appeared to be primarily governed by host taxon and depth and, to a lesser extent, trophic level and diel vertical migratory behavior, though the impact of host specificity seemed to differ between migrating and non-migrating species. Vertical migrators generally showed lower intra-specific microbiome diversity (i.e., higher host specificity) than their non-migrating counterparts. These patterns were not linked to host phylogeny but may reflect differences in feeding behaviors, microbial transmission mode, environmental adaptations and other ecological traits among groups. The results presented here further our understanding of the factors shaping mesopelagic animal microbiomes and also provide some novel, genetically informed insights into their diets.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Composition and metabolic potential of microbiomes associated with mesopelagic animals from Monterey Canyon

Breusing

Osborn

Girguis

et al. 2022

ISME Communications

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“…Many species of salps undergo DVM (Madin et al., 1996 ; Stone & Steinberg, 2014 ), and Salpa aspera blooms and DVM behavior have been well documented from the western North Atlantic, where this species also contributed substantially to fecal pellet carbon export (Madin et al., 2006 ; Wiebe et al., 1979 ). Vertically migrating pyrosomes (another order of pelagic tunicates) within a cold core eddy in the southwest Pacific actively transported 11 mg C m −2 d −1 below the mixed layer (Henschke et al., 2019 ) and in the NE Atlantic 2–65 mg C m −2 d −1 (Stenvers et al., 2021 ), indicating related taxa can also contribute significantly to export. Active transport specific to salps has only been reported once prior to our knowledge (Stone & Steinberg, 2016 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Outsized Role of Salps in Carbon Export in the Subarctic Northeast Pacific Ocean

Steinberg

Stamieszkin

Maas

et al. 2022

Global Biogeochemical Cycles

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Periodic blooms of salps (pelagic tunicates) can result in high export of organic matter, leading to an “outsized” role in the ocean's biological carbon pump (BCP). However, due to their episodic and patchy nature, salp blooms often go undetected and are rarely included in measurements or models of the BCP. We quantified salp‐mediated export processes in the northeast subarctic Pacific Ocean in summer of 2018 during a bloom of Salpa aspera. Salps migrated from 300 to 750 m during the day into the upper 100 m at night. Salp fecal pellet production comprised up to 82% of the particulate organic carbon (POC) produced as fecal pellets by the entire epipelagic zooplankton community. Rapid sinking velocities of salp pellets (400–1,200 m d−1) and low microbial respiration rates on pellets (<1% of pellet C respired day−1) led to high salp pellet POC export from the euphotic zone‐up to 48% of total sinking POC across the 100 m depth horizon. Salp active transport of carbon by diel vertical migration and carbon export from sinking salp carcasses was usually <10% of the total sinking POC flux. Salp‐mediated export markedly increased BCP efficiency, increasing by 1.5‐fold the proportion of net primary production exported as POC across the base of the euphotic zone and by 2.6‐fold the proportion of this POC flux persisting 100 m below the euphotic zone. Salps have unique and important effects on ocean biogeochemistry and, especially in low flux settings, can dramatically increase BCP efficiency and thus carbon sequestration.

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“…During the cruises POS520 and POS532 the manned submersible JAGO (GEOMAR, Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, Kiel, Hissmann and Schauer, 2017) was used for 30 deployments, each of approximately 4 h duration, between the surface and 375 m water depth. During the dives, video was recorded by a highresolution camera (see details in Stenvers et al, 2021). The videos taken during the PELAGIOS and JAGO dives were annotated manually using the Video Annotation and Reference System (VARS) developed at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (Schlining and Jacobsen, 2006), which allows annotation with the congruent collection of video frames.…”

Section: In Situ Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Integrative Assessment Combining Deep-Sea Net Sampling, in situ Observations and Environmental DNA Analysis Identifies Cabo Verde as a Cephalopod Biodiversity Hotspot in the Atlantic Ocean

et al. 2021

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The deep sea is among the largest, most biologically diverse, yet least-explored ecosystems on Earth. Baseline information on deep-sea biodiversity is crucial for understanding ecosystem functioning and for detecting community changes. Here, we established a baseline of cephalopod community composition and distribution off Cabo Verde, an archipelago in the eastern tropical Atlantic. This baseline served to test the hypothesis that Cabo Verde is biogeographically separated from other Macaronesian archipelagos and allowed the identification of cephalopod species which may play a role in the Macaronesian carbon cycle and oceanic food web. To investigate cephalopod community composition, this study used 746 individual cephalopods obtained by nets (0–1000 m) and 52 cephalopod encounters during video surveys with either towed camera (0–2500 m) or manned submersible (0–375 m). Additionally, environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding on 105 seawater samples (50–2500 m), using an 18S rRNA universal cephalopod primer pair, and a species-specific primer pair for Taningia danae resulted in the detection of 32 cephalopod taxa. When combined, the three methods detected a total of 87 taxa, including 47 distinct species. Each method contributed between 7 and 54% of taxa that were not detected by the other methods, indicating that multiple methodological approaches are needed for optimal deep-sea cephalopod biodiversity assessments. This study documents the occurrences of six species and three genera for the first time in waters surrounding Cabo Verde. Video surveys and eDNA analysis detected Taningia danae recurrently (100–2500 m). eDNA metabarcoding proved to be a powerful tool for cephalopod biodiversity monitoring and complementary to traditional sampling methods. When also including literature records, Cabo Verde hosts at least 102 cephalopod taxa including 30 families and 64 benthic and pelagic species. The total number and species composition of Cabo Verde cephalopods is similar to the Canary Islands and Azores, two known cephalopod biodiversity hotspots, but the Cabo Verde octopus fauna seems to differ. Due to a range of life history characteristics, we hypothesize that the squids Taningia danae (Octopoteuthidae) and Sthenoteuthis pteropus (Ommastrephidae) are important in the carbon cycle of Macaronesia. As a cephalopod biodiversity hotspot Cabo Verde could function as a model region to investigate cephalopod biology and ecology in a rapidly changing Atlantic Ocean.

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Distribution, associations and role in the biological carbon pump of Pyrosoma atlanticum (Tunicata, Thaliacea) off Cabo Verde, NE Atlantic

Cited by 18 publications

References 65 publications

Composition and metabolic potential of microbiomes associated with mesopelagic animals from Monterey Canyon

Composition and metabolic potential of microbiomes associated with mesopelagic animals from Monterey Canyon

The Outsized Role of Salps in Carbon Export in the Subarctic Northeast Pacific Ocean

An Integrative Assessment Combining Deep-Sea Net Sampling, in situ Observations and Environmental DNA Analysis Identifies Cabo Verde as a Cephalopod Biodiversity Hotspot in the Atlantic Ocean

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