Network analyses on photographic surveys reveal that invertebrate predators do not structure epibenthos in the deep (~2000m) rocky Powell Basin, Weddell Sea, Antarctica
Predator-prey interactions in marine ecosystems control population sizes, maintain species richness, and provide intermediate disturbance. Such ecosystem structuring interactions may be rare in Antarctic epibenthic communities, which are unique among marine ecosystems worldwide for their dominance o...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1408828 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1408828/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/fmars.2024.1408828 2024-09-15T17:46:54+00:00 Network analyses on photographic surveys reveal that invertebrate predators do not structure epibenthos in the deep (~2000m) rocky Powell Basin, Weddell Sea, Antarctica Khan, Tasnuva Ming Griffiths, Huw J. Whittle, Rowan J. Stephenson, Nile P. Delahooke, Katie M. Purser, Autun Manica, Andrea Mitchell, Emily G. Natural Environment Research Council UK Research and Innovation Cambridge Trust 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1408828 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1408828/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Marine Science volume 11 ISSN 2296-7745 journal-article 2024 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1408828 2024-07-09T04:03:11Z Predator-prey interactions in marine ecosystems control population sizes, maintain species richness, and provide intermediate disturbance. Such ecosystem structuring interactions may be rare in Antarctic epibenthic communities, which are unique among marine ecosystems worldwide for their dominance of soft bodied fauna (sponges, soft and hard corals, and echinoderms) and a simultaneous paucity of shell crushing predators (sharks, rays and durophagous decapods). In the shallow benthos, instead of durophagy, important Antarctic predators such as starfish, pycnogonids (sea spiders), nemertean worms, and nudibranchs employ grazing, scavenging, or sucking strategies. Far less is known about deep sea (>1000 m) Antarctic benthic communities due to the challenging nature of polar data collection, so that photographic surveys provide one of the only means of making in situ observations of these deep sea communities. We used seabed photographs of the deep (~2000m) slope of the Powell Basin, northwest Weddell Sea, taken by the Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System on board the RV Polarstern (PS118, April 2019) to investigate the epibenthic community composition, and Bayesian Network Inference (BNI) to determine the ecological network, namely the ecological associations, including potential invertebrate predator-prey relationships between taxa. Photographs show that the rocky substrates of the basin slope support between 10-22 morphotaxa per photo, and highly abundant communities (density between 106 to 553 individuals/m 2 ). BNI results reveal a network of associations between the sessile and mobile suspension and filter feeding organisms and their physical environment. However, associations between invertebrate predators like starfish, and other organisms, were not detected in the network. This lack of inclusion within the network suggests that, despite the presence of these normally important mobile predators, invertebrate predator-prey interactions on the rocky Powell Basin slope do not have the same ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Weddell Sea Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Marine Science 11 |
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Frontiers (Publisher) |
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crfrontiers |
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unknown |
description |
Predator-prey interactions in marine ecosystems control population sizes, maintain species richness, and provide intermediate disturbance. Such ecosystem structuring interactions may be rare in Antarctic epibenthic communities, which are unique among marine ecosystems worldwide for their dominance of soft bodied fauna (sponges, soft and hard corals, and echinoderms) and a simultaneous paucity of shell crushing predators (sharks, rays and durophagous decapods). In the shallow benthos, instead of durophagy, important Antarctic predators such as starfish, pycnogonids (sea spiders), nemertean worms, and nudibranchs employ grazing, scavenging, or sucking strategies. Far less is known about deep sea (>1000 m) Antarctic benthic communities due to the challenging nature of polar data collection, so that photographic surveys provide one of the only means of making in situ observations of these deep sea communities. We used seabed photographs of the deep (~2000m) slope of the Powell Basin, northwest Weddell Sea, taken by the Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System on board the RV Polarstern (PS118, April 2019) to investigate the epibenthic community composition, and Bayesian Network Inference (BNI) to determine the ecological network, namely the ecological associations, including potential invertebrate predator-prey relationships between taxa. Photographs show that the rocky substrates of the basin slope support between 10-22 morphotaxa per photo, and highly abundant communities (density between 106 to 553 individuals/m 2 ). BNI results reveal a network of associations between the sessile and mobile suspension and filter feeding organisms and their physical environment. However, associations between invertebrate predators like starfish, and other organisms, were not detected in the network. This lack of inclusion within the network suggests that, despite the presence of these normally important mobile predators, invertebrate predator-prey interactions on the rocky Powell Basin slope do not have the same ... |
author2 |
Natural Environment Research Council UK Research and Innovation Cambridge Trust |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Khan, Tasnuva Ming Griffiths, Huw J. Whittle, Rowan J. Stephenson, Nile P. Delahooke, Katie M. Purser, Autun Manica, Andrea Mitchell, Emily G. |
spellingShingle |
Khan, Tasnuva Ming Griffiths, Huw J. Whittle, Rowan J. Stephenson, Nile P. Delahooke, Katie M. Purser, Autun Manica, Andrea Mitchell, Emily G. Network analyses on photographic surveys reveal that invertebrate predators do not structure epibenthos in the deep (~2000m) rocky Powell Basin, Weddell Sea, Antarctica |
author_facet |
Khan, Tasnuva Ming Griffiths, Huw J. Whittle, Rowan J. Stephenson, Nile P. Delahooke, Katie M. Purser, Autun Manica, Andrea Mitchell, Emily G. |
author_sort |
Khan, Tasnuva Ming |
title |
Network analyses on photographic surveys reveal that invertebrate predators do not structure epibenthos in the deep (~2000m) rocky Powell Basin, Weddell Sea, Antarctica |
title_short |
Network analyses on photographic surveys reveal that invertebrate predators do not structure epibenthos in the deep (~2000m) rocky Powell Basin, Weddell Sea, Antarctica |
title_full |
Network analyses on photographic surveys reveal that invertebrate predators do not structure epibenthos in the deep (~2000m) rocky Powell Basin, Weddell Sea, Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Network analyses on photographic surveys reveal that invertebrate predators do not structure epibenthos in the deep (~2000m) rocky Powell Basin, Weddell Sea, Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Network analyses on photographic surveys reveal that invertebrate predators do not structure epibenthos in the deep (~2000m) rocky Powell Basin, Weddell Sea, Antarctica |
title_sort |
network analyses on photographic surveys reveal that invertebrate predators do not structure epibenthos in the deep (~2000m) rocky powell basin, weddell sea, antarctica |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1408828 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1408828/full |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Weddell Sea |
op_source |
Frontiers in Marine Science volume 11 ISSN 2296-7745 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1408828 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
container_volume |
11 |
_version_ |
1810495330684239872 |