Organic matter in sediments of canyons and open slopes of the Portuguese, Catalan, Southern Adriatic and Cretan Sea margins

Pusceddu, Antonio; Bianchelli, Silvia; Canals, Miquel; Sánchez-Vidal, Anna; Madron, Xavier Durrieu de; Heussner, Serge; Lykousis, V.; Stigter, Henko de; Trincardi, Fabio; Danovaro, Roberto

doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2009.11.008

Cited by 131 publications

(104 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…However, knowledge of nematode feeding ecology and their actual contribution to carbon mineralisation processes in the 20 deep sea is poor (Soetaert et al, 1997). In canyons, such as the Nazaré Canyon on the Portuguese continental margin, where sediment deposition rates and levels of bioavailable OM are high (Arzola et al, 2008;de Stigter et al, 2007;Garcia and Thomsen, 2008;Pusceddu et al, 2010), meiobenthos might play an important role in benthic food webs. Ingels et al (2009) concluded that nematode assemblages in the Nazaré Canyon showed particular adaptations (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An insight into the feeding ecology of deep-sea canyon nematodes — Results from field observations and the first in-situ 13C feeding experiment in the Nazaré Canyon

Ingels

Billett

Gaever

et al. 2011

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An insight into the feeding ecology of deep-sea canyon nematodes — Results from field observations and the first in-situ 13C feeding experiment in the Nazaré Canyon

Ingels

Billett

Gaever

et al. 2011

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

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“…Deep-sea submarine canyons host hotspots of OM and biomass (Gage et al, 1995;Vetter and Dayton, 1998;Duineveld et al, 2001;Bianchelli et al, 2008;Ingels et al, 2009;Tyler et al, 2009;de Leo et al, 2010;Pusceddu et al, 2010;Vetter et al, 2010). Within canyons, biodiversity is high as a result of their topographic complexity and spatio-temporal variability (Bianchelli et al, 2008;Ingels et al, 2009;Tyler et al, 2009;Vetter et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The trophic biology of the holothurian <i>Molpadia musculus</i>: implications for organic matter cycling and ecosystem functioning in a deep submarine canyon

et al. 2010

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Abstract. Megafaunal organisms play a key role in ecosystem functioning in the deep-sea through bioturbation, bioirrigation and organic matter cycling. At 3500 m water depth in the Nazaré Canyon, NE Atlantic, very high abundances of the infaunal holothurian Molpadia musculus were observed. To quantify the role of M. musculus in sediment cycling, sediment samples and holothurians were collected using an ROV and in situ experiments were conducted with incubation chambers. The biochemical composition of the sediment (in terms of proteins, carbohydrates and lipids), the holothurians' gut contents and holothurians' faecal material were analysed. In the sediments, proteins were the dominant organic compound, followed by carbohydrates and lipids. In the holothurian's gut contents, protein concentrations were higher than the other compounds, decreasing significantly as the material passed through the digestive tract. Approximately 33 ± 1% of the proteins were digested by the time sediment reached the mid gut, with a total digestion rate equal to 67 ± 1%. Carbohydrates and lipids were ingested in smaller amounts and digested with lower efficiencies (23 ± 11% and 50 ± 11%, respectively). As a result, the biopolymeric C digestion rate was on average 62 ± 3%. We estimated that the population of M. musculus could remove approximately 0.49 ± 0.13 g biopolymeric C and 0.13 ± 0.03 g N m −2 d −1 from the sediments. These results suggest that M. musculus plays a key role in the benthic tropho-dynamics and biogeochemical processes in the Nazaré Canyon.

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“…the determination of lipid, protein and carbohydrate relative contents) is emerging as an important and valuable tool for the discrimination of several oceanographic parameters, for example, as an indicator of trophic levels or in the distinction between autochthonous and allochthonous OM inputs (Dell'Anno et al 2002, Pusceddu et al 2010. However, this technique has been seldom applied to such research goals in the study of the geological record (Mendonça Filho et al 2010a).…”

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confidence: 99%

Can biogeochemistry aid in the palaeoenvironmental/early diagenesis reconstruction of the &tilde;187 Ma (Pliensbachian) organic-rich hemipelagic series of the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal)?

Silva¹,

Filho²,

Silva³

et al. 2012

Bull. Geosci.

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Data on lipids, carbohydrates and proteins of the most expressive black shale (s.l.) intervals of the Early-Late Pliensbachian (Early Jurassic,~187 Ma) organic-rich hemipelagic series of the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal) were determined using a method that has been successfully applied over the last two decades in the characterization of biomass and very immature sediments. The goal of this paper is to test the applicability of these techniques to the ancient geological record. To our knowledge, this is the first time that this type of biogeochemical data from sedimentary series older than Oligocene is reported and tentatively used for palaeoenvironmental/diagenetic inferences. Carbohydrates and proteins are present in low concentrations, reaching up to 385.13 and 451.13 μg/g rock, respectively. The main variations are observed in the lipid contents, ranging from 197.67 to 8446.36 μg/g rock. The samples with the highest amounts of lipids seem to correlate with low [O 2 ] time intervals determined by independent data, such as organic petrography, micropalaeontology and sedimentology. This was probably related with selective lipid preservation under oxygen and hydrogen sulfide-rich depleted environments. The good overall match between the determined lipid contents and specific depositional/early diagenetical conditions seem to favor the idea that the easy to perform and inexpensive method applied here has the potential to add useful information to the study of ancient organic-rich carbonate sedimentary series.

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Organic matter in sediments of canyons and open slopes of the Portuguese, Catalan, Southern Adriatic and Cretan Sea margins

Cited by 131 publications

References 78 publications

An insight into the feeding ecology of deep-sea canyon nematodes — Results from field observations and the first in-situ 13C feeding experiment in the Nazaré Canyon

An insight into the feeding ecology of deep-sea canyon nematodes — Results from field observations and the first in-situ 13C feeding experiment in the Nazaré Canyon

The trophic biology of the holothurian <i>Molpadia musculus</i>: implications for organic matter cycling and ecosystem functioning in a deep submarine canyon

Can biogeochemistry aid in the palaeoenvironmental/early diagenesis reconstruction of the &tilde;187 Ma (Pliensbachian) organic-rich hemipelagic series of the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal)?

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Organic matter in sediments of canyons and open slopes of the Portuguese, Catalan, Southern Adriatic and Cretan Sea margins

Cited by 131 publications

References 78 publications

An insight into the feeding ecology of deep-sea canyon nematodes — Results from field observations and the first in-situ 13C feeding experiment in the Nazaré Canyon

An insight into the feeding ecology of deep-sea canyon nematodes — Results from field observations and the first in-situ 13C feeding experiment in the Nazaré Canyon

The trophic biology of the holothurian &lt;i&gt;Molpadia musculus&lt;/i&gt;: implications for organic matter cycling and ecosystem functioning in a deep submarine canyon

Can biogeochemistry aid in the palaeoenvironmental/early diagenesis reconstruction of the &tilde;187 Ma (Pliensbachian) organic-rich hemipelagic series of the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal)?

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The trophic biology of the holothurian <i>Molpadia musculus</i>: implications for organic matter cycling and ecosystem functioning in a deep submarine canyon