Meiobenthos of the hatteras abyssal plain and Puerto Rico trench: abundance, biomass and associations with bacteria and particulate fluxes

Tietjen, John H.; Deming, Jody W.; Rowe, Gilbert T.; Macko, Stephen A.; Wilke, Richard

doi:10.1016/0198-0149(89)90058-7

Cited by 81 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Rowe (1996) modelled the influence of the presence or absence of different benthic size classes on the transfer of organic carbon through the benthic system. In contrast to other deepsea areas, in which a bimodal shift in size-groups parallels an increase in mobile megafauna and fishes and also in microbiota (Haedrich & Rowe 1977, Tietjen et al 1989, Rowe et al 1991, very few megafauna and fishes have been found in trawls from deep-Arctic basins (E. Rachor pers. cornrn.).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Mediterranean deep sea, similar low macrofauna abundance was also found (Fiege et al 2000). Therefore, we stress that the greater part of the Arctic Ocean is an extreme oligotrophic environment-a 'desert', dominated numerically by bacteria and other small heterotrophs as in other deep-sea areas (Tietjen et al 1989, Rowe et al 1991. Rowe (1996) modelled the influence of the presence or absence of different benthic size classes on the transfer of organic carbon through the benthic system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is known from other deep-sea areas that the body size of benthic organisms decreases with increasing depth (Thiel 1979, Tietjen et al 1989, Rowe et al 1991, Tselepides & Eleftheriou 1992.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Different benthic size-compartments and their relationship to sediment chemistry in the deep Eurasian Arctic Ocean

Kröncke¹,

Vanreusel²,

Vincx³

et al. 2000

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Different benthic size-compartments and their relationship to sediment chemistry in the deep Eurasian Arctic OceanIngrid ~roncke'~', Ann V a n r e u s e 1 2 , Magda Vincx2, Jutta wollenburg3, Andreas ~a c k e n s e n~, Gerd ~i e b e z e i t~, Brigitte ~e h r e n d s~ ABSTRACT: During the Arctic Expedition ARK VlII/3 (August to September 1991) with RV 'Polarstern', the macrofauna, meiofauna, foraminifera, bacteria were sampled and sediment chemistry was determined at 13 stations along a transect from the Barents Sea slope across the deep Arctic Eurasian Basins towards the Lomonosov Ridge. Water depths ranged from 258 to 4427 m. In general, higher values for all benthic compartments as well as total organic carbon (TOC) and total hydrolysable amino acids (THAA) were recorded for the Barents Sea slope than for the deeper stations in the basins and the ridge slopes. The only signiEicant correlation found was between macrofaunal abundance and depth. Bacterial and all faunal abundances as well as bacterial and macrofaunal biomass decreased significantly with increasing latitude. Although correlations between food items such as TOC and THAA and the fauna were weak, significant relationships between the bacterial and faunal size-classes reflected a distinct food chain typical of oligotrophic systems. The smallest compartments-bacteria, meiofauna and foraminifera-were more abundant than the macrofauna in the central Arctic Ocean. Macrofauna biomass dominated the biomass on the Barent Sea shelf and slope and on the Lomonosov Ridge, but bacterial biomass was equally or even more important on the Gakkel Ridge and in the deep basins. The results reveal the Eurasian Basin as one of the most oligotrophic regions in the World Ocean. Although primary production is low, recent foraminiferal investigations have revealed that benthic communities in the central Arctic Ocean are driven by the sedimentation of fresh organic material. Lateral transport of organic material from the Siberian shelf may provide additional food. The various benthic compartments compete either for fresh organic matter or for refractory material that is transferred to higher levels of the food chain by bacterial mineralisation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Different benthic size-compartments and their relationship to sediment chemistry in the deep Eurasian Arctic Ocean

Kröncke¹,

Vanreusel²,

Vincx³

et al. 2000

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…larger nematodes will have higher mobility (Schratzberger et al 2004) and consequently a better colonisation ability; (H 4 ) The presence of high-quality food (in the form of diatoms) enhances rates of colonisation, i.e. food acts as an attractant for nematodes and can be sensed from a distance (Höckelmann et al 2004);and (H 5 ) The presence of high-quality food supports higher abundances and number of nematode species over time as detritus-enriched deep-sea sediments generally support higher abundances of meiofaunal organisms (Tietjen et al 1989, Gallucci et al 2008) and a larger number of coexisting species (Lambshead et al 2002, Fonseca & Soltwedel 2007.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Active colonisation of disturbed sediments by deep-sea nematodes: evidence for the patch mosaic model

Gallucci¹,

Moens²,

Vanreusel³

et al. 2008

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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An on-board experiment was performed during a research cruise to investigate the ability of deep-sea nematode species to actively colonise defaunated sediments. Small cylinders of 500 µm wire mesh filled with defaunated sediment were inserted into microcosms containing sediment with indigenous meiofauna collected from 1300 m depth in the Arctic Ocean. The defaunated sediments were either enriched with the diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii, or remained unenriched. Samples from the defaunated sediment were taken after 9 and 17 d. As controls, microcosms with sediment containing the indigenous meiofauna but without an internal cylinder were also sampled at each time interval. Nematodes colonised both enriched and unenriched sediments with abundances of up to 20% of the controls. Irrespective of the time of sampling, abundance and number of species were significantly higher in the enriched treatment, suggesting that the presence of food enhances colonisation and resilience. Nematode assemblages in the defaunated sediments were species-rich and differed from the controls. The majority of colonising species were rare or undetectable in the controls, suggesting that episodic disturbances may be necessary for their persistence in deep sea sediments. Colonisation was in part determined by species characteristics such as size and motility. At the same time, a large number of different species colonised the empty cylinders, resulting in poor similarity in community composition between replicates, particularly between samples enriched with diatoms. Our results indicate a poor predictability of community composition of recently disturbed sediments despite highly reproducible abundance and diversity patterns and lends experimental support to the existence of a spatio-temporal mosaic that emerges from highly localised colonisation patterns.

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“…A pesar de lo anterior, en los resultados de este trabajo no se ve reflejada contundentemente la relación inversa entre densidad y talla postulada, pero esto es consecuente con los hallazgos de estudios de mar profundo que indican que a diferencia de lo que se observa en zonas someras, hacia aguas profundas, la relación entre talla y densidad no es muy evidente, a pesar de que se presenta una notoria disminución de la densidad de individuos bentónicos con la profundidad (debido a la disminución en la oferta de alimento hacia zonas profundas) (Abele, 1974;Tietjen et al, 1989). Se ha observado que las tallas promedio de los individuos pueden decrecer, aumentar, o no cambiar, a pesar de la disminución paulatina de la abundancia de organismos en el perfil batimétrico (Rex & Etter, 1998).…”

Section: Discusión Los Resultados Demuestran Que Seis Especies (Astrounclassified

Variaciones adaptativas en la talla de la megafauna bentónica de fondos blandos tropicales en función de parámetros bióticos y abióticos

Gómez

García

2017

RBT

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Understanding and predicting adaptations in body size of megabenthic invertebrates remains a major challenge in marine macroecology. This study was conducted in order to investigate size variations of benthic megafauna in the tropics and to identify the effect of biotic and abiotic factors that may produce changes to these organisms, testing unresolved hypothesis and paradigms of deep sea ecology from subtropical and temperate areas. The study area covered the continental shelf of the Colombian Caribbean. The samples were collected during 1998, 2001 and 2005, using semi-globe demersal net for a water depth of 10 to 500 m. The most common species were selected for further study: Eudolium crosseanum, Cosmioconcha nitens, Nuculana acuta (mollusks), Astropecten alligator, Brissopsis atlantica, B. elongata (equinoderms), Anasimus latus, Chasmocarcinus cylindricus and Achelous spinicarpus (crustaceans). Generalized Additive Models were used to detect significant changes in size and to infer the effects of biotic and environmental factors on organisms’ size. The dependent variable was size and the predicting model variables were depth, temperature, intraspecific density, interspecific density, richness, latitude, and longitude. A total of 7 000 individuals were measured. Six species showed an increase in body size towards deeper and colder sites. These species inhabit shallow and deep environments that exceed a variation in temperature of 10 °C. There was a remarkable size reduction in areas affected by the Magdalena River, possibly due to major physicochemical changes caused by the river. This region has the lowest planktonic primary productivity within the study area. An increase in sizes was observed north of the Magdalena River (long 74°W - 71°W & lat of 11°N - 13°N), which may be attributable to the coastal upwelling occurring in this part of Colombia. The relationship between the density of benthic organisms and size was not clear. However, five species showed an inverse relation with intraspecific density and three with interspecific density. Temperature and depth were the variables that best explained the variations in size. Most of the studied species showed an increase in body size when temperature dropped along the bathymetric range. The trend of increasing size in deeper zones is contrary to the prediction of the optimal size theoretical model (but consistent with recent studies), which indicates a reduction in organisms’ size in the deep sea, due to food limitation with increasing depth. It is possible that this increase in size is an adaptation to maximize energy, which is frequently observed in the coldest habitats of several species. Future studies in Caribbean should examine variations in size of benthic megafauna towards deeper zones (more than 500 m), were temperature is less variable and then other factors can play a more important role determining the size of these organisms.

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Meiobenthos of the hatteras abyssal plain and Puerto Rico trench: abundance, biomass and associations with bacteria and particulate fluxes

Cited by 81 publications

References 13 publications

Different benthic size-compartments and their relationship to sediment chemistry in the deep Eurasian Arctic Ocean

Different benthic size-compartments and their relationship to sediment chemistry in the deep Eurasian Arctic Ocean

Active colonisation of disturbed sediments by deep-sea nematodes: evidence for the patch mosaic model

Variaciones adaptativas en la talla de la megafauna bentónica de fondos blandos tropicales en función de parámetros bióticos y abióticos

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