The Role of Benthic Foraminifera in Deep-Sea Food Webs and Carbon Cycling

Gooday, Andrew J.; Levin, Lisa A.; Линке, Петер; Heeger, Thomas

doi:10.1007/978-94-011-2452-2_5

Cited by 162 publications

(128 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…This seems to be the reason for the low macro-and megafauna abundance and biomass, as well as TOC contents, at the southernmost areas. On the other hand, the TC content was higher in these areas than in the north, and it was obvious that the sediments contained a higher amount of foraminiferans than the northern sediments, which are indicators for oligotrophic environments and sudden food supply (Gooday et al 1992, Linke 1992, Pfannkuche 1993, Linke et al 1995). This confirms the lower food availability in the southern areas compared with the northern ones.…”

Section: Pelago-benthic Couplingmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Jumars et al (1990) mentioned that meiofauna is favoured in the deep sea because of particle selection, but Soltwedel (1997) found no correlation between meiofauna and chlorophyll a content in the coastal deep Angola Basin, and nor did Gooday et al (1996) in the north-eastern Atlantic. Gooday et al (1996) explained this as outcompetition of meiofauna by foraminifera, which possess extremely efficient food-gathering organelles and are able to raise their levels of metabolic activity, as found by Gooday et al (1992), Linke (1992), Pfannkuche (1993), Linke et al (1995), and Kröncke et al (2000).…”

Section: Feeding Types and Food Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Structural and functional aspects of the benthic communities in the deep Angola Basin

Kröncke¹,

Türkay²

2003

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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During the RV 'Meteor' expedition 'DIVA I' the macro-and megafaunal communities were studied in 6 areas of the deep Angola Basin in July 2000. Water depths varied between 5162 and 5497 m. The macrofauna was dominated by polychaetes, peracarids and bivalves; the megafauna by ophiurids, bivalves and actiniarians. Abundance and biomass of macro-and megafauna were similar to other non-oligotrophic deep sea areas > 4000 m. Predatory polychaetes, peracarids and facultative surface deposit feeders or predatory sipunculids occurred in similar ratios in all areas. Facultative subsurface deposit-feeding or predatory nematodes and oligochaetes increased towards the northern Areas 4 to 6. The percentage of surface-deposit and interface-feeding organisms such as polychaetes and ophiurids, which dominated in Areas 2 and 3, decreased towards the north. For megafauna, the ratio of organisms feeding as suspension feeder or predator as well as surface-deposit feeder increased from south to north. In the northern Areas 4 to 6, high numbers of bivalves occurred, which feed as surface or subsurface deposit feeders. TOC and chlorophyll a contents in sediment, as well as macro-and megafaunal abundance and biomass, were lower in the southern Areas 1 to 3 than in the northern Areas 4 to 6. These differences seem to be connected to the different water masses north and south of the Angola-Benguela Front, which cross the transect of our 6 study sites. In the north, the Angola Basin is a highly productive region fed by the South Equatorial Counter Current and water masses from the Zaire (Congo) River, whereas in the south, the cold Benguela Oceanic Current is less productive. The structure and function of the benthic fauna in connection with sediment data give evidence for differences in food supply north and south of the front.

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Section: Pelago-benthic Couplingmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Feeding Types and Food Availabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural and functional aspects of the benthic communities in the deep Angola Basin

Kröncke¹,

Türkay²

2003

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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“…polychaetes, bivalves, crustaceans, and sipunculans); (2) metazoan meiofaunal taxa (taxa generally belonging to the meiobenthos, e.g. nematodes, copepods and ostracods); (3) Foraminifera (Protista) that can constitute a major part of the benthos, generally of the meiobenthic size class Foraminifera A (calcareous, agglutinated and soft-shelled); and (4) the group of less 'familiar' large agglutinated deep-sea Foraminifera, Foraminifera B (astrorhizids and komokiaceans: Gooday et al 1992).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bacteria and Foraminifera: key players in a short-term deep-sea benthic response to phytodetritus

Moodley¹,

Middelburg²,

Boschker³

et al. 2002

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

192

195

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The deep-sea floor has long been considered a 'food desert' but recent observations suggest that episodic inputs of relatively fresh organic matter (phytodetritus) occur and that benthic processing of this material may be rapid. Although the responses of the total community in terms of oxygen consumption and of some individual benthic groups have been identified, the quantitative role of the different groups in the short-term response remains largely unknown. We examined the short-term response in major benthic compartments in an in situ experiment in the NE Atlantic (2170 m water depth) using 13 C-enriched diatoms as a tracer of labile carbon. Within 35 h, 6 mg C m -2 was processed by the benthos, with the majority of the processed carbon recorded as respiration (45%). Among the fauna retained on a 300 µm sieve, Foraminifera were rapid consumers which, together with Bacteria, accounted for 50% of the processing. Therefore, although Bacteria dominate long-term carbon mineralization (as suggested by their general dominance in the benthic biomass), some faunal components, in this case Foraminifera, may play a central role in the rapid initial processing of fresh organic carbon in deep-sea sediments.

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“…Their ecological role becomes particularly important in deep-sea environments, where they can constitute up to 50% of the total biomass (Gooday et al, 1992). It is currently accepted that the distribution of benthic foraminifera in marine sediments is principally driven by the availability of organic matter as food source .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Living deep-sea benthic foraminifera from the Cap de Creus Canyon (western Mediterranean): Faunal–geochemical interactions

Contreras-Rosales

Koho

Duijnstee

et al. 2012

Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers

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The Role of Benthic Foraminifera in Deep-Sea Food Webs and Carbon Cycling

Cited by 162 publications

References 76 publications

Structural and functional aspects of the benthic communities in the deep Angola Basin

Structural and functional aspects of the benthic communities in the deep Angola Basin

Bacteria and Foraminifera: key players in a short-term deep-sea benthic response to phytodetritus

Living deep-sea benthic foraminifera from the Cap de Creus Canyon (western Mediterranean): Faunal–geochemical interactions

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