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

Steinberg, Deborah K.; Stamieszkin, Karen; Maas, Amy E.; Durkin, Colleen A.; Passow, Uta; Estapa, Margaret L.; Omand, Melissa M.; McDonnell, Andrew M. P.; Karp‐Boss, Lee; Galbraith, Moira; Siegel, David A.

doi:10.1029/2022gb007523

Cited by 33 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 75 publications

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“…Export was primarily facilitated by the sporadic influence of zooplankton whose grazing removed carbon from the recycling microbial loop and repackaged small particles into larger, gravitationally sinking particles (Maas et al, 2021;Stamieszkin et al, 2021;Steinberg et al, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, while carbon flow within the ML was dominated by the microbial loop, these processes had only a minor contribution to carbon export. In contrast, the more variable production and loss terms associated with patchy mesozooplankton and salps had little influence on the dominant flow of carbon within the food web, but the net effect of mesozooplankton and salp grazing dominated export flux Maas et al, 2021;Stamieszkin et al, 2021;Steinberg et al, 2022). Mesozooplankton and salps which have patchy distributions in time and space (Steinberg et al, 2022) were the major outlet for carbon to leave the microbial loop.…”

Section: Food Web Structure and Carbon Exportmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…The mesozooplankton community was dominated by crustacean zooplankton (such as Neocalanus spp. copepods) and sporadically by a salp bloom (Salpa aspera; Steinberg et al 2022). The diel migratory community, present in the mixed layer only during the night, consisted primarily of calanoid copepods including Metridia pacifica, salps, and the ontogenetic (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder.…”

Section: Biomass Distribution In the Food Webmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted March 22, 2023. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.03.17.532807 doi: bioRxiv preprint euphotic zone (Durkin et al, 2021;Estapa et al, 2021;Stamieszkin et al, 2021;Steinberg et al, 2022).…”

Section: Connectivity Among Food Web Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted March 22, 2023. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.03.17.532807 doi: bioRxiv preprint Microzooplankton fecal pellets, which attenuate rapidly with depth, were a small portion (3.7%) of sediment trap particle flux as was sinking detritus (10.6% of particle flux), which appeared to be fragments of larger fecal pellets (Figure 7) (Durkin et al, 2021). The majority of the observed export flux was composed of fecal pellets from mesozooplankton (58%) and salps (27%), which each efficiently repackaged small POC into sinking particles (Figure 7) (Durkin et al, 2021;Stamieszkin et al, 2021;Steinberg et al, 2022). Salps were episodically important for export and salp fecal pellets, due to their large size and high sinking velocity, accounted for up to 72% of POC produced and exported by the whole zooplankton community in the upper 100 m at night (Durkin et al, 2021;Steinberg et al, 2022).…”

Section: Food Web Structure and Carbon Exportmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quantitative analysis of food web dynamics in a low export ecosystem

McNair

Meyer

Lerch

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Food webs trace the flow of organic matter and energy among producers and consumers; for pelagic marine food webs, network complexity directly influences the amount and form of carbon exported to the deep ocean via the biological pump. Here we present a synoptic view of mixed layer food web dynamics observed during the late summer 2018 EXport Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing (EXPORTS) field campaign in the subarctic Northeast Pacific at the long-running time-series site, Ocean Station Papa. Carbon biomass reservoirs of phytoplankton, microzooplankton, and bacterioplankton, were approximately equal while mesozooplankton biomass was 70% lower. Live organisms composed ~40% of the total particulate organic carbon within the mixed layer: the remainder was attributed to detritus. Rates of carbon transfer among reservoirs indicated production and assimilation rates were well balanced by losses, leaving little organic carbon available for export. The slight positive net community production rate generated organic carbon that was exported from the system in the form of food web byproducts, such as large fecal pellets generated by mesozooplankton. This characteristically regenerative food web had relatively slow turnover times with small-magnitude transfers of carbon relative to standing stocks that occurred amidst a high background concentration of detrital particles and dissolved organic matter. The concurrent estimation of food web components and rates revealed that separated processes dominated the transfer of carbon within the food web compared to those that contributed to export.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Food Web Structure and Carbon Exportmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Biomass Distribution In the Food Webmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Connectivity Among Food Web Processesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Food Web Structure and Carbon Exportmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Quantitative analysis of food web dynamics in a low export ecosystem

McNair

Meyer

Lerch

et al. 2023

Preprint

Self Cite

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Small particles and heterotrophic protists support the mesopelagic zooplankton food web in the subarctic northeast Pacific Ocean

Shea

Wojtal

et al. 2023

Limnology & Oceanography

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A quantitative understanding of the mesopelagic zooplankton food web is key to development of accurate carbon budgets and geochemical models in marine systems. Here we use compound specific nitrogen stable isotope analysis of amino acids to quantify the trophic structure of the microzooplankton and mesozooplankton community during summer in the subarctic northeast Pacific Ocean during the EXport Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing (EXPORTS) field campaign. Source amino acid values in particles and zooplankton provide strong evidence that basal resources for the mesopelagic zooplankton food web were primarily small (), suspended or slow‐sinking particles, but that surface organic matter delivered by vertically migrating zooplankton may have also been important. Comparisons of values of source and trophic amino acids provide estimates of food web length, which decrease significantly with depth and suggest that protistan microzooplankton are key components of the food web from the surface to at least 500. These results emphasize the importance of small particles as a source of carbon and nitrogen to mesopelagic communities in this region, support observations of an inverse relationship between zooplankton vertical migration and small particles as sources of carbon to deep‐sea food webs in low productivity environments, and document the role of heterotrophic protists as key trophic intermediaries in the mesopelagic zone at this location.

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Pan‐Arctic distribution modeling reveals climate‐change‐driven poleward shifts of major gelatinous zooplankton species

Pantiukhin,

Verhaegen,

Havermans

2024

Limnology & Oceanography

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Anthropogenic activities, including climate change, are hypothesized to cause increases in gelatinous zooplankton population sizes and blooms. In the most rapidly changing ecosystem, the Arctic Ocean, this hypothesis has not yet been verified, and gelatinous zooplankton is commonly excluded from large‐scale modeling studies. Our modeling study is based on an extensive biogeographic dataset, aggregating from four open‐source databases (Ocean Biodiversity Information System, Global Biodiversity Information Facility, Jellyfish Database Initiative, and PANGAEA). It includes data on eight of the most reported gelatinous zooplankton taxa of the pan‐Arctic region (Aglantha digitale, Sminthea arctica, Periphylla periphylla, Cyanea capillata, Oikopleura vanhoeffeni, Fritillaria borealis, Mertensia ovum, and Beroe spp.). By coupling three‐dimensional species distribution models with oceanographic components from the Max Planck Institute Earth System Model (MPI‐ESM1.2), run for historical (1950–2014) and future (2050–2099) periods under the shared socioeconomic pathway SSP370 scenario forcing, we identified species with expanding or contracting habitat ranges in response to climate change. Our projections indicated a general tendency for gelatinous zooplankton distributions to shift, with varying degrees of suitable habitat expansion (largest for the scyphozoan C. capillata ~ +180%) or contraction (largest for the hydrozoan Sm. arctica ~ −15%). Seven of the eight species modeled, which—similar to the majority of gelatinous taxa occurring in the Arctic Ocean—predominantly represented arcto‐boreal and boreal taxa, are projected to shift to northern latitudes. Hence, profound impacts on the Arctic marine environment and associated ecosystem services can be expected.

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

Cited by 33 publications

References 75 publications

Quantitative analysis of food web dynamics in a low export ecosystem

Quantitative analysis of food web dynamics in a low export ecosystem

Small particles and heterotrophic protists support the mesopelagic zooplankton food web in the subarctic northeast Pacific Ocean

Pan‐Arctic distribution modeling reveals climate‐change‐driven poleward shifts of major gelatinous zooplankton species

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