Abstract
Climatic fluctuations may significantly alter the taxonomic and biochemical composition of phytoplankton blooms and subsequently phytodetritus, the food source for the majority of deep-sea communities. To examine the response of abyssal benthic communities to different food resources we simulated a food sedimentation event containing diatoms and coccolithophorids at Station M in the NE Pacific. In one set of experiments we measured incorporation of C-diatom and N-cocco into the macrofauna using isotopically enriched C-13-diatoms and N-15-coccolithophores. In a second experiment we measured incorporation of C and N from dual-labelled (C-13 and N-15) diatoms. The second experiment was repeated 2 months later to assess the effect of seasonality. The simulated food pulses represented additions of 650 - 800 mg C m(-2) and 120 mg N m(-2) to the seafloor. In all cases rapid incorporation of tracer was observed within 4 days, with between 20% and 52% of the macrofauna displaying evidence of enrichment. However, incorporation levels of both C-diatom and N-cocco were low (
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e80510 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | PloS ONE |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 26 Nov 2013 |
Keywords
- tricarboxylic-acid cycle
- deep-sea nematodes
- particulate organic-carbon
- antarctic peninsula shelf
- benthic boundary-layer
- Eastern North Pacific
- time-series station
- food-web structure
- NE Pacific
- stable-isotopes
Cite this
Feeding preferences of abyssal macrofauna inferred from in situ pulse chase experiments. / Jeffreys, Rachel M; Burke, Ciara; Jamieson, Alan J; Narayanaswamy, Bhavani E; Ruhl, Henry A; Smith, Kenneth L; Witte, Ursula.
In: PloS ONE, Vol. 8, No. 11, e80510, 26.11.2013.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Feeding preferences of abyssal macrofauna inferred from in situ pulse chase experiments
AU - Jeffreys, Rachel M
AU - Burke, Ciara
AU - Jamieson, Alan J
AU - Narayanaswamy, Bhavani E
AU - Ruhl, Henry A
AU - Smith, Kenneth L
AU - Witte, Ursula
N1 - This work was supported by Natural Environment Research Council Grant (UK) awarded to UW and the National Science Foundation (US) and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation awarded to KLS. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. We would like to acknowledge one anonymous reviewer and Dr. Hidetaka Nomaki for their useful comments on the manuscript. We sincerely thank the Captain, officers and crew of the R.V. Western Flyer and the pilots of the ROV Tiburon for assistance at sea during PULSE 52. We are also grateful to Jacob Ellena for logistical support/assistance at sea, Amanda Khan for helping RJ with sieving sediment cores and Markus Moeseneder for collecting samples during PULSE 53. We would also like to thank Barry Thornton for his help with the isotope analyses
PY - 2013/11/26
Y1 - 2013/11/26
N2 - Climatic fluctuations may significantly alter the taxonomic and biochemical composition of phytoplankton blooms and subsequently phytodetritus, the food source for the majority of deep-sea communities. To examine the response of abyssal benthic communities to different food resources we simulated a food sedimentation event containing diatoms and coccolithophorids at Station M in the NE Pacific. In one set of experiments we measured incorporation of C-diatom and N-cocco into the macrofauna using isotopically enriched C-13-diatoms and N-15-coccolithophores. In a second experiment we measured incorporation of C and N from dual-labelled (C-13 and N-15) diatoms. The second experiment was repeated 2 months later to assess the effect of seasonality. The simulated food pulses represented additions of 650 - 800 mg C m(-2) and 120 mg N m(-2) to the seafloor. In all cases rapid incorporation of tracer was observed within 4 days, with between 20% and 52% of the macrofauna displaying evidence of enrichment. However, incorporation levels of both C-diatom and N-cocco were low (
AB - Climatic fluctuations may significantly alter the taxonomic and biochemical composition of phytoplankton blooms and subsequently phytodetritus, the food source for the majority of deep-sea communities. To examine the response of abyssal benthic communities to different food resources we simulated a food sedimentation event containing diatoms and coccolithophorids at Station M in the NE Pacific. In one set of experiments we measured incorporation of C-diatom and N-cocco into the macrofauna using isotopically enriched C-13-diatoms and N-15-coccolithophores. In a second experiment we measured incorporation of C and N from dual-labelled (C-13 and N-15) diatoms. The second experiment was repeated 2 months later to assess the effect of seasonality. The simulated food pulses represented additions of 650 - 800 mg C m(-2) and 120 mg N m(-2) to the seafloor. In all cases rapid incorporation of tracer was observed within 4 days, with between 20% and 52% of the macrofauna displaying evidence of enrichment. However, incorporation levels of both C-diatom and N-cocco were low (
KW - tricarboxylic-acid cycle
KW - deep-sea nematodes
KW - particulate organic-carbon
KW - antarctic peninsula shelf
KW - benthic boundary-layer
KW - Eastern North Pacific
KW - time-series station
KW - food-web structure
KW - NE Pacific
KW - stable-isotopes
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0080510
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0080510
M3 - Article
VL - 8
JO - PloS ONE
JF - PloS ONE
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 11
M1 - e80510
ER -